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Stop Blowing Up Their Phone: Why Complex Sales Need Follow-Through and Not Follow-Up · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Today's podcast is going to be a very noisy one because I'm out
• 0:06
  and about but I'm not going to say exactly where I am in Abuja.
• 0:10
  So I expect to hear lots of noise in the background.
• 0:12
  Now the question that we're going to tackle today is how to
• 0:15
  do your follow-ups or follow through.
• 0:18
  I know everybody says follow up, but for some of us conservative
• 0:23
  sales trainers, we say follow through and I'm going to explain
• 0:27
  why in a couple of moments. So today, how do you space your
• 0:31
  follow-ups, your follow through? Should I be calling somebody
• 0:34
  every day? Should I be calling every two,
• 0:36
  two days? Can I call five times in a day?
• 0:39
  Can I call 50 times in a month? How do I space it?
• 0:42
  These are the sorts of things that we're going to tackle
• 0:44
  today. Now, if you like dwelling on
• 0:47
  these sorts of business issues or you have these sorts of
• 0:50
  concerns in running your own business, then this podcast is
• 0:53
  for you. So subscribe on Spotify,
• 0:55
  YouTube, Apple or any player of your choice.
• 0:59
  I'm your host, Tava Shima aide, and if you would love to connect
• 1:03
  with me and also get a chance to ask a question as well, then do
• 1:07
  so call send a text message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 1:16
  So let's get straight into it. How do you space your
• 1:19
  follow-ups? How do you space your follow
• 1:20
  throughs? Now the reason why is because,
• 1:24
  why we're tackling this today is because it's a listening
• 1:25
  question from Lucia who is with Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone
• 1:31
  Realty in Abuja. So she's a real estate
• 1:34
  professional. And it looks like, looks like
• 1:38
  this is your week because apart from Lucia on Radio Maria, my
• 1:43
  radio show, the business booster Show, I'm also currently
• 1:46
  tackling 2 questions from real estate professionals as well.
• 1:49
  So real estate people, this week is your week.
• 1:54
  So this was the actual question, Lucia said I enjoy making calls,
• 1:59
  but sometimes people don't pick. That means people don't answer.
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  How long do I wait before calling again?
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  Can I call twice in one day? I repeat her question was I
• 2:14
  enjoy making calls, but sometimes they don't pick.
• 2:18
  How long do I wait before calling again?
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  Can I call twice in a day? Spoiler alert, my answer to her
• 2:27
  was no. And you're going to see why
• 2:29
  shortly. But before we get to the answer
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  and why it's not a good idea to be calling somebody twice a day
• 2:34
  to be blowing up somebody's phone, let's just go through
• 2:37
  some definitions. So like I said, Lucia said
• 2:41
  follow, follow through. Sorry.
• 2:45
  Yeah, Lucia said follow up. And all the real estate
• 2:51
  professionals who have reached out to me so far always say
• 2:54
  follow up. In fact, it's a Niger thing to
• 2:56
  say follow up. However, like I said,
• 2:59
  conservative sales trainers like myself, we say follow through.
• 3:04
  And this is the difference. There was a book written in 19
• 3:14
  things like 86198687 I think, I'm not sure, maybe 76.
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  Anyway, the book is called Spin Selling by Neil Rackham, SPIN,
• 3:25
  Spin Selling by Neil Rackham. Now in Neil Rackham's book, he
• 3:31
  explored some really interesting, all I say, dynamics
• 3:37
  that occur in sales and that help people to close sales.
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  And two of these ideas were called continuations and the
• 3:44
  other idea is called advancements.
• 3:47
  Let me repeat. One of them is called
• 3:49
  continuations. Another one is called
• 3:52
  advancements. Doris, what if you are wondering
• 3:55
  where am I heading? Door.
• 3:56
  You, you, we'll see. We'll get there.
• 3:59
  So continuations is a dynamic that Neil Rackham observed when
• 4:07
  researching professional salespeople.
• 4:10
  And continuations is the situation where you're having a
• 4:13
  conversation with someone. You guys might be friendly or
• 4:16
  maybe you're not, but either way, you are not entirely making
• 4:20
  progress in this conversations. You're reaching out to people
• 4:24
  only to find yourself reaching out again and again and again.
• 4:28
  And he's our safe, you know, ringer, ringer, Rosie, as in his
• 4:31
  job, round, round, round, round, round.
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  But you're not going forward. You've called somebody 20 times
• 4:37
  in the last month or 100 times in the last year, but shy,
• 4:41
  you're not making progress. That is called a continuation.
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  You're calling somebody, but this deal, no, they move.
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  Where is this deal? You don't know.
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  If your wife asks you how far, you don't know.
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  Your sales manager asked you how far you don't know.
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  You just know that we are talking.
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  That is called a continuation. Now, Neil Rackham noted that
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  high performing salespeople and high performing, yeah,
• 5:08
  salespeople. No entrepreneurs, because his
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  research was around salespeople. High performing salespeople
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  always have advancements. Now advancement means you spoke
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  to somebody last week, last year, you know, whatever.
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  But The thing is at that conversation, you and the person
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  on the phone or you and the person in the meeting, you guys
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  agreed clearly this is what we are going to do next.
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  So that when it is time for you to call that person to go to his
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  office to go and visit the person, you know, whatever there
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  is something specific that you are chasing that both of you
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  need to do. Let me repeat, I hope you guys
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  understand the two dynamics. 1 is shy you just the call, but is
• 5:53
  this deal moving forward or moving back?
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  You don't know. So let's say you borrowed like
• 5:57
  600K from your wife because you're working on something,
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  you're hoping that the deal will pull through.
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  And you know, this thing could be you could net in maybe like,
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  you know, 4.3. So of course your wife's eyes on
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  it, she wants her 400K back and she's hoping that you'll be a
• 6:12
  good husband. And you know, actually we turn
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  her like 100K or maybe one M, you know, that kind of thing.
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  So reasonably your wife is asking you how far now, how far
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  would that deal? And the honest answer you can
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  give her is, I don't know. We spoke last week.
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  So what did he say? Well, you know, we chatted, Bob,
• 6:32
  babe, to be honest, I'm not sure if I'm getting this deal or not.
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  And then her heart will now sink.
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  The reason why her heart is sinking is because she knows
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  that that 400K is gone because you are trapped in continuation.
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  You're calling somebody for the sake of calling somebody.
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  Whether you're moving forward, you don't know.
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  Moving backward, you don't know the status of the deal, you have
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  no idea. But then advancements on the
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  other hand is your wife asks you how far you say, oh, babe.
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  Yeah, I did have that meeting with engineer who know her last
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  week and we agreed that based on the samples and the sediments
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  and the everything, we agreed that yes, it might be a good
• 7:16
  place to start drilling for nickel.
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  So we agreed that the next step is we are going to go to Umua
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  here in two weeks time. He's the one that is going to
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  fund the trip. So I will take some boys to go
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  there, will now do greater Geological Survey to see whether
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  we have this thing in mining quantity.
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  If we have it in mining quantity, then we'll be going
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  ahead based on something, something, something.
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  Now when you give your wife that kind of good news, you know she
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  won't exactly start shouting for joy.
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  What she will nod ahead because she can't see that there is
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  progress. Because when you, an engineer
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  has spoke, you agreed on one or two things.
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  So she now knows that in two weeks time you an engineer, you
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  will be on the road to UMUA here to go and do Geological Survey
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  to see whether there is nickel there in mining quantity.
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  So you can see that that deal now you can see that even though
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  it is not closed, you can see that there is there is room
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  forward. You're taking one small step.
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  That is what is called advancements.
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  That is what is called advancements.
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  So the difference between a follow up and follow through
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  basically is continuations versus advancements.
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  I repeat, the difference between continuation, sorry, between
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  follow up and follow through is just the continuation.
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  Sorry, forgive me, sorry, forgive me.
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  I got, I got distracted over here.
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  I mean a public place and somebody's trying to catch my
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  attention or something. Anyway, so the difference now
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  between follow up and follow through is just continuations
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  versus advancements. When you're following up, you're
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  calling somebody for the sake of calling somebody.
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  Why you're calling that person, you have no idea now because you
• 9:12
  don't have any idea why you're calling the person.
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  The other person too has no idea why you're calling them.
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  And that's the reason why they're not answering your
• 9:19
  phone. So you're stuck in this game or
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  follow up calling for the sake of calling or the person answers
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  the phone and you say, bro, so far I just say I agree to you
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  and they say I have my brother, how are you?
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  How's the family? You talk nice, you talk polite,
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  you say OK, now you know, we'll catch up.
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  We'll catch up. And then the guy calls the phone
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  call. Have you made progress?
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  You don't know if you're making those kinds of calls.
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  You are following up. And that is the reason why lots
• 9:46
  of you real estate professionals in Abuja or Lagos or a Kitty or
• 9:51
  wherever, I just say Abuja, Lagos security because you know,
• 9:54
  the real estate pros I've spoken to so far happened to be from
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  those three states. So the reason why you're
• 10:01
  exasperated is because you're in a game of follow up, you're
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  actually not making progress. You don't have advancements,
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  You're not making any advancements.
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  At the last meeting that you had with the prospect, you guys did
• 10:15
  not agree on what the next step was.
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  If you agreed on what the next step was, you could call the
• 10:19
  guy. If he didn't answer, you could
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  send a text message saying Bros, you know how far was supposed to
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  blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's the reason why I was
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  calling. And then the person cannot
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  respond and say, oh, my sister, I'm sorry.
• 10:31
  We agreed on that. But I had to travel to the
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  village sharply because Mumsy was not feeling well.
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  I beg, can we reschedule? You can see that the turn off
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  the conversation is different. If you're not getting
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  advancements, you will be stuck in this game of follow up
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  forever until the guy blocks you or until you give up or until,
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  well, maybe you're lucky and he decides that, OK, let me just
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  reward this person for persistence.
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  So that is the real problem that you're facing anytime you're
• 11:05
  listening to a podcast or you're talking to a business consultant
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  or you're at a business seminar and you're asking somebody
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  what's the problem with my follow up any before I continue,
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  she made some comments that she enjoys calling and by the way
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  that is good. I just want you guys to catch
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  that. That is very, very good because
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  real estate is a high value transaction.
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  It is a complex sale and when you're in complex sales, you're
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  better off, you know, calling, visiting, you know, face to face
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  because those kinds of communications are high on the
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  communications hierarchy. Those that's, those are the
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  things that you do that give you results.
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  It's a complex sale. So if you're in her situation,
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  you had better enjoy calling. You had better.
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  If you don't like calling, start training yourself on how to make
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  phone calls because that's what we need to move the deal
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  forward. Now, what is a complex sale?
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  A complex sale is just any situation where you have a high
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  price, you have a complex subject matter, you have
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  multiple parties that are involved and then it has a long
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  sales cycle. So let me repeat, if it's a
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  complex sale cycle, if you have a high price, real estate is not
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  cheap, at least in Abuja is not cheap.
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  We're talking 10s of millions, hundreds of millions.
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  It's expensive. Then the subject matter is
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  complex. When we say complex, it just
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  means that there are lots of moving parts, lots of things to
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  consider. And so for real estate is not
• 12:37
  just plot of land. The person is thinking location,
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  which location is ideal Or the person is thinking, you know,
• 12:44
  house. Does my wife like this house?
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  Is it suitable for children? Is it close to the school?
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  Is it close to the church? How close is it to the airport?
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  How close is it to the nearest hospital?
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  You know, is this the kind of building that matches my status?
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  You know, on and on and on. So you can see that there are
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  lots of parts to consider and these are the things people are
• 13:01
  juggling in real estate. Then there are multiple parties
• 13:05
  that are involved when it comes to real estate.
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  You might be talking to Olga, but The thing is Olga has to
• 13:09
  talk with Madame or you might be talking with Madame.
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  Madame definitely has to liaise with Olga.
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  So whether you like it or not, you know, two parties are
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  involved most of the times in real estate.
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  Well, that's if you're dealing with a family situation
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  basically. Then let's see what else ahead.
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  Long sales cycles. What that means basically is
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  there are some situations, there's some sales situations
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  where people take a long time to make up their minds.
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  If you want to buy a mobile phone, it doesn't take you a
• 13:39
  long time to make up your mind. That's not a complex sale
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  scenario. It's very simple.
• 13:44
  You either like Samsung V Fold or you don't.
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  Oh, by the way, it's a triple V Fold.
• 13:48
  So if any of you want to bless me with the triple V Fold, you
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  know, just hit your boy up on the phone and you know, let me
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  know, You know, I'll be glad. I would like to accept your
• 13:55
  gift. So you aren't like it or you
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  don't. You either have the money or you
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  don't. You've either saved it or you or
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  you haven't. Somebody has either dashed you
• 14:03
  the money or you or they have not dashed you the money.
• 14:06
  You can decide to buy a phone. You know, quick, quick.
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  You can decide today. Let me get some something, fold
• 14:13
  and then in the next three weeks you buy it.
• 14:15
  That is not how it works in real estate.
• 14:19
  You don't decide today, January 1st, I want to buy a piece of
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  land and then January 21st we have bought a piece of land.
• 14:25
  It doesn't work that way. People need a long time to make
• 14:27
  up their mind. So if you are in any kind of
• 14:30
  sales situation where all these factors are present, you are in
• 14:33
  a complex sales scenario and you had better start enjoying making
• 14:39
  phone calls and visiting people and talking to people.
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  This is not the kind of deal that you can close by sending
• 14:44
  text messages yes, you can close real estate deals by text
• 14:48
  message from beginning to end or e-mail.
• 14:50
  I'm just saying that to be the most effective and to improve
• 14:56
  the to give you the best chances, you better enjoy and
• 15:01
  start liking visiting people, calling people, going to
• 15:04
  somebody's office, doing WhatsApp video call, you know,
• 15:08
  all those sorts of things. So the implications now for
• 15:15
  complex sales scenario is this, some of you are wondering why am
• 15:17
  I talking complex sales scenario?
• 15:18
  Don't worry, I'll tie it back. Why you need to understand
• 15:21
  complex sales scenario before you now understand how you
• 15:25
  should be chasing somebody. The implications of a complex
• 15:28
  sales scenario is this, the person you're talking to is not
• 15:31
  making a decision anytime soon. Standard, just take it.
• 15:35
  If you're selling real estate and you spoke to the person
• 15:38
  today, this week, the person is not going to decide next week.
• 15:40
  It does not work like that. Those are not the dynamics.
• 15:46
  It's not happening. Well, except in case of urgency.
• 15:51
  But ordinarily, all things being equal, the person is not making
• 15:55
  any decision anytime soon. It's a complex sales scenario.
• 15:59
  So real estate, solar, or you're selling airplanes or you know,
• 16:05
  whatever or you're selling, let's say you're an architect.
• 16:09
  You know the person is not deciding today.
• 16:15
  So when you're in a context complex hill scenario, what you
• 16:18
  have to do is you have to be a consultant.
• 16:22
  Pretend like you're a consultant form as if you're a medical
• 16:24
  doctor. Don't be making sales speeches.
• 16:27
  Don't be begging for a sale. Don't be chasing people up and
• 16:29
  down. Do doctors beg people?
• 16:31
  No, the doctor does not beg you. The doctor will ask you
• 16:34
  questions, figure out what needs to be done, and the doctor will
• 16:37
  tell you, OK based on my recommendations is what we're
• 16:40
  supposed to do next. You're supposed to do miss
• 16:42
  surgery, blah blah blah. He gives you the options and the
• 16:45
  rest is up to you. You either do the surgery or you
• 16:48
  don't. So pretend you're a doctor.
• 16:52
  For those of you in complex health scenarios.
• 16:54
  We cannot be chasing people. We can't.
• 16:57
  Doesn't work that way. Every time you hear me say
• 17:02
  consultative or consultant on this podcast, pretend that
• 17:06
  you're a doctor. Pretend you're a medical doctor.
• 17:08
  Pretend you're a brain surgeon, you're a cardiothoracic surgeon.
• 17:12
  They don't chase people. So since we know that it's a
• 17:21
  complex hill scenario and this person is not making any
• 17:23
  decision anytime soon, why will you be calling the guy twice a
• 17:27
  day? Why it's not going to work.
• 17:36
  Calling somebody twice a day on the complex hill scenario is not
• 17:39
  realistic because there is no emergency and because they're
• 17:42
  not going to buy today. Look, it depends.
• 17:47
  If the person said, let's say you're supposed to chase CFO at
• 17:52
  government's office and you know they're about to sign the
• 17:54
  document today, you need one or two information.
• 17:56
  Oh, yes, in that case, blow up the guy's phone, you know, six
• 18:00
  times in one hour so that he knows it's an emergency and let
• 18:02
  him call you back. But in the beginning, when
• 18:04
  people are not making progress, don't be blowing up anybody's
• 18:07
  phone twice a day in a complex sale scenario.
• 18:10
  So if you sell expensive digging, construction tractor
• 18:14
  equipment, you should not be blowing up somebody's phone
• 18:16
  twice a day. If you are selling real estate,
• 18:19
  don't be blowing up somebody's phone twice a day.
• 18:22
  If you sell cars, do not blow up somebody's phone twice a day.
• 18:27
  If you're selling mining services, you know to go and
• 18:30
  mine nickel and gold and you know whatever, do not be blowing
• 18:33
  up somebody's phone twice a day. But for simple sales scenarios,
• 18:36
  if you're selling Ankara, yes, call somebody's phone twice a
• 18:40
  day. Please do.
• 18:42
  I'll collect your 75412 yards. In simple sales scenarios, it is
• 18:47
  fine. For complex sales scenarios, it
• 18:49
  is not play cool. When it comes to complex sales
• 18:52
  scenarios, play it cool.