Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / The Real 3 Steps to Selling in Nigeria
Transcript
- 0:01Today on the podcast, we're going to look at the question,
- 0:04what does it mean to sell? Now, if you've been listening to
- 0:07the podcast for the last three or four days, this is a
- 0:10continuation of the Tech Pro series.
- 0:13So this is me running commentary on a video that I received about
- 0:18the Tech Pro somewhere in Lagos, Nigeria, talking about what new
- 0:24startup founders, new people into the tech space, you know,
- 0:29people who are getting into the game, what they have to expect
- 0:31when it comes to sales and marketing.
- 0:33So we're going to be talking about some of the things that he
- 0:35got right, some of the things that he could have said better
- 0:39and then maybe clear up a couple of misconceptions.
- 0:42Now some of you are wondering like, ha ha, this is already
- 0:45like series 4 IB Series 5I was still commenting on the video
- 0:50and yeah, we are because it was a 20 something 30 minute video.
- 0:57And as is often with these things, people just casually
- 1:00throw out something here, throw out something there relating to
- 1:04sales and marketing. You know, some right things that
- 1:07we ought to emphasize, you know, some wrong things that we ought
- 1:09to correct. So I usually find that at these
- 1:12events there are lots of things that I said.
- 1:14So don't be surprised that this is like Series 4I be series 5I
- 1:19was still commenting on the guy. So obviously the guy said some
- 1:24things about what it means to sell and that is what we're
- 1:27going to be tackling today. What does it mean to sell?
- 1:32Now, if you love these sorts of issues, what does it mean to
- 1:34sell? How do you sell?
- 1:36How can you sell more effectively?
- 1:38How do you handle customer service issues?
- 1:41How do you get people to come back and buy again?
- 1:43How do you maximize customer lifetime value?
- 1:46If you're interested in all these sorts of questions, then
- 1:50this podcast is for you. So subscribe on Spotify, on
- 1:54YouTube, on Apple, or any player of your choice because we have a
- 1:59plethora of resources over here. Over 1300 episodes so far, so
- 2:04immense value. Like even if you want to listen
- 2:07to 10 episodes everyday, which is impossible by the way,
- 2:10because you guys are running a business.
- 2:12I mean, imagine it's going to take you a very long time to
- 2:14exhaust all the value that we have here.
- 2:17And if you would like to connect with me because you have
- 2:19questions, you have comments, you have queries, or maybe you
- 2:22want to send me another video so I can run some commentary on it.
- 2:25Perhaps you're curious, you know, this influencer, this
- 2:31guru, you know, they've said this about selling.
- 2:33What is your opinion Then by all, by all means, you know,
- 2:36take my contact details so you can call, send me a text message
- 2:41or send me a WhatsApp message on 0806466 2140.
- 2:49My name is Tavishima Ayede, I'm the host of the podcast.
- 2:52You can also find me on YouTube. So if you want to get the
- 2:55spelling of my name, just check the details of whatever player
- 3:00that you are listening to right now where you're listening to my
- 3:03voice, you see the correct spelling of my name there.
- 3:05So you can connect with me on YouTube.
- 3:07You know, I don't mind interacting with you guys as
- 3:09well. So what does it mean to sell?
- 3:13And this, our tech bro, what did the guy say when he was on stage
- 3:17about what it means to sell? I'm happy to report that he said
- 3:22three things that are absolutely correct.
- 3:25But of course, the guy just said it casually and then moved on,
- 3:27which is the problem with these things.
- 3:30You know, you spit some gospel truth, but then you don't give
- 3:33time to elucidate, to go in, to dig in, to flesh out, to
- 3:39explain, to expound so that people will understand that what
- 3:43you're saying is correct. And not only that, they will
- 3:46know how to apply. That's the reason why people
- 3:51like are still important because some people just say something
- 3:53is casual. You just assume everybody knows
- 3:57or maybe self you, the person who is quoting the thing, you
- 3:59don't even fully know the implications.
- 4:01So that's what we're going to talk about today.
- 4:04Now, the tech bro, he stood on stage and he said very, very, I
- 4:09say unto thee, OK, maybe he didn't say it in such a dramatic
- 4:12way, but he told people, he told the tech Bros, he told the tech
- 4:17sisters, the new founders, the people coming up with fintechs
- 4:20or whatever. He told them that, look, when
- 4:24you're trying to sell, you're going to do three things.
- 4:27And I agree with him. He's correct.
- 4:28He said #1 you identify, and that's correct.
- 4:33He said #2 you analyze. And my guy was correct and he
- 4:37said #3 you now provide solution.
- 4:40The guy was, we'll give him 70% on that one.
- 4:45But sha, the three things that he mentioned are absolutely
- 4:47important. I repeat, the tech bro stood on
- 4:50stage and he said when you're selling, first thing you do is
- 4:54you identify. Second thing you do is you
- 4:57analyze. The third thing you do is you
- 5:00provide a solution. And then the guy just moved on
- 5:02and started talking about a whole bunch of other stuff.
- 5:05So there's some people who are now wondering now, OK, you said
- 5:08identify, analyze, provide a solution.
- 5:09OK, So what next? And that is what we're going to
- 5:12do in today's podcast episode. We are going to be discussing
- 5:15the what next? He said you identify, analyze,
- 5:18provide a solution, but he didn't say who you are
- 5:20identifying. So yes, identifying is the right
- 5:24place to start. In the beginning, you're trying
- 5:28to make sure that you are talking to the right prospect.
- 5:30That is what identification is all about.
- 5:33Now, a prospect is somebody who might have a need for your
- 5:36product or your service. So in the early stage, there is
- 5:39no need to get too fancy. This is not about writing APHD.
- 5:43You're just asking yourself a very common sense question.
- 5:46Who might be interested in this product?
- 5:48Who might be interested in this service?
- 5:50Who might be interested in this app?
- 5:51Who might be interested in this fintech?
- 5:53Who might be interested in whatever it is that you are
- 5:55trying to create common sense? Get a sheet of paper, write
- 5:59everything down or get your phone and write down as many
- 6:05names as possible. Now, this is also where
- 6:08artificial intelligence tools or augmented intelligence tools as
- 6:14I like to call them, Chachi PT, Google Gemini, this is where
- 6:17they come in handy. Create a prompt.
- 6:21I'm a Nigerian based in Lagos, based in North Korea, based in
- 6:24whatever. I have an idea for an app.
- 6:26The app is going to do this, this, this, none than that.
- 6:29Who are the typical people who fall into the ICP for these
- 6:33kinds of products or services? ICP is ideal customer profile.
- 6:36Or who do you think should be the target audience I should be
- 6:40reaching out to? Or what kind of individuals or
- 6:43what kind of people, what kind of businesses should I include
- 6:46in my prospecting list? And then you hit send and it's
- 6:49going to give you a bunch of stuff you're beginning to
- 6:52identify. The whole point of this stage
- 6:55identifying is because remember like 2 episodes back I said that
- 7:01when we talk about sales, sales one O 1 targeting is key.
- 7:06There is no amount of toasting the wrong kind of person, the
- 7:10wrong kind of client base, the wrong kind of market segment.
- 7:14There's no amount of toasting that you want to do, no amount
- 7:17of sweet mouth. It will not materialize into
- 7:19good business because you're talking to wrong people from the
- 7:22get go. If you're creating an app, for
- 7:26instance, which monitors the sounds of babies breathing and
- 7:30babies sleeping, and then in the morning, the app will now give
- 7:33mommy and daddy a report to say that, oh, your baby had a rough
- 7:37night, maybe humidity was too much so baby was coughing.
- 7:40You know, that kind of thing. If you now take down your app
- 7:46and you go and start talking to people who are already in
- 7:48retirement home, do you think you're going to get good
- 7:50business from that? Your targeting is already off.
- 7:55These things supposed to be used by people who have children, one
- 7:58or two kids you're going to go and talk in retirement home.
- 8:01People that have really finished giving birth, like what are you
- 8:04doing there? The most that will happen is,
- 8:06OK, maybe some grandparents might convince their children,
- 8:10but you can see that that's a stretch.
- 8:12You're better off going direct straight to the source.
- 8:15Where are parents or where are intending parents?
- 8:18How do you get to schools or how do you get to what do you call
- 8:22these things? Again, pre prenatal, I'll be pre
- 8:25maternity. You understand those classes
- 8:27that you do when you're expecting.
- 8:31How do you get into marriage classes?
- 8:32People who want to have children, how do you get into
- 8:35hospitals? How do you get into classrooms?
- 8:36People already have, OK, no classroom.
- 8:38That would be too late. Would that be too late?
- 8:41OK, maybe like not just school level because that won't be OK.
- 8:43There'll still be some young kids in the class but you can't
- 8:47see we're trying to get the right prospect.
- 8:55So we should always asking ourselves that question and the
- 8:58tech bro is correct. Identify who's the ICP, who's
- 9:01the ideal customer profile, who's our ideal audience.
- 9:04We're trying to match them. Come up with a list of
- 9:06demographics. Demographics are the things that
- 9:09they taught us in Nigerian school, in business studies,
- 9:13social studies. That's for those of you who are
- 9:16my set. The same things that they taught
- 9:19us, demographics, age, height, location, sex, occupation,
- 9:24salary, you know, blah, blah, blah.
- 9:26That is demographics. So what am I ideal customer
- 9:29audience? Is it male or female?
- 9:31How old, where do they live? What jobs do they have?
- 9:36You know, things like that. OK, so like back to this idea
- 9:38now, for instance, that startup is an app that tracks, tracks
- 9:42children breathing and sleeping at night.
- 9:45And then in the morning, he gives mommy and daddy a report.
- 9:48So obviously, since we're targeting Nigeria and we're
- 9:53targeting parents and maybe we want to use common sense as in
- 9:57let's go to areas that we can quickly monitor.
- 9:59My assumption is at first, you'll be targeting parents
- 10:03based in Lagos or Abuja. And of course, Lagos, Abuja
- 10:09won't be everywhere. In Lagos, you might not think as
- 10:12far as you could do, you know, because of transport, for
- 10:14instance, if you want to go and talk to customers and things
- 10:16like that. Maybe in the beginning your
- 10:18rollout is, you know, Ikeja and then maybe Victoria Island or
- 10:23something. It was in Abuja.
- 10:26Maybe you concentrate in what's it called, city center, central
- 10:31business district, you know, within reach.
- 10:34So you can see demographics, men and women who are parents maybe
- 10:40between the ages of let me see, when do people born these days?
- 10:45Because people know they marry too quick again like before.
- 10:48So let's say, I don't know 28, should we say 28 to 35 or
- 10:54something? But I think I'm just making
- 10:56stuff up because, you know, you know, I'm not a sociologist so I
- 10:59don't know these things. So they'll be the demographics
- 11:02now. So parents living in these parts
- 11:05of Lagos, these parts of Abuja, aged between 28 and 35, then you
- 11:11enter in all the other information.
- 11:15Let's see what else? Occupation.
- 11:17OK, yes, I guess occupation. We might be interested in
- 11:21earning capacity as well. My guess is maybe people in
- 11:25rural areas might not be interested in this, maybe they
- 11:28might, but then they won't be able to pay the kind of money
- 11:30that you're looking for. But you see what it is that I'm
- 11:33aiming at. So identify the right people.
- 11:40What are the demographics then, of course, what are the
- 11:42psychographics, the things that people are interested in?
- 11:45So that'll be part of your targeting as well.
- 11:48So when babes don't they search, you know, maternity, what else?
- 11:56You know, all this maternity, maternity stuff on Instagram.
- 11:58OK, we now know that, OK, perhaps these are people that we
- 12:02can target. So this is part of the identify
- 12:06stage and you can see why it is crucial to the support of your
- 12:10startup or whatever it is that you're trying to do.
- 12:13You can see that this applies whether your startup or whatever
- 12:17you're doing, Isha, even if it's bread you want to sell, you're
- 12:21selling bread. You still have to identify.
- 12:24You still have to go through this stage.
- 12:28So the spirit behind identifying is want to talk to people who
- 12:32want what it is that we have, who need what it is that we
- 12:35have, who can afford what it is that we have, and who have some
- 12:38sense of urgency around what we have.
- 12:40Urgency just means there is something internal or external
- 12:44that is going to prompt them to make a decision anytime soon.
- 12:48So the babes were there online who are already searching
- 12:51maternity, maternity, maternity. The assumption is you know, they
- 12:57don't marry and maybe you know, she don't chop beans.
- 13:00So 1 is on the way. Maybe she go born in like 4
- 13:04months. You can see now that is urgency.
- 13:08There is something internal and external to her.
- 13:10The baby is going to drop soon. Or perhaps it might make some
- 13:14sense to buy this new gadget or subscribe to this new service so
- 13:19that when the baby comes, we can be tracking baby sleep very
- 13:22well. We can be monitoring baby sleep
- 13:25very well. By the way, for those of you
- 13:29listening, I am not you, you know, tech, many people, I'm not
- 13:31saying go and create this product or I'm not saying it
- 13:34will work. I'm just, you know, now I'm just
- 13:36giving an example. But sure, you can see this
- 13:39period behind what we're doing, people who want what we have,
- 13:41who need what we have, who can afford what we have and who have
- 13:45a sense of urgency. I keep on stressing urgency,
- 13:48urgency, urgency because Nigerian business owners,
- 13:52somehow we always forget this last part.
- 13:55Once the person wants it, they need it to be like sitting here,
- 13:57Pepper. Then we'll just leave it like
- 14:00that. They wonder why people are
- 14:03ghosting you. The reason why they were
- 14:04ghosting you is precisely because there was nothing that
- 14:07was compelling them either internal or external to take
- 14:10action anytime soon. And since there's nothing
- 14:13compelling them to take any action and take action anytime
- 14:15soon, why would they move? They're not ready yet.
- 14:21So urgency really important now that simple framework of looking
- 14:26at things, want, need, afford, that's from Brian Tracy.
- 14:29Then urgency, you know, other people talk about urgency.
- 14:32I can't remember who in particular talks about urgency,
- 14:36but one need and afford is a very old one that I got from
- 14:39Brian Tracy. So you can see that people have
- 14:42been talking about these things since, you know, 1960 Borogo as
- 14:46is we've been talking about this thing for a very long time. 60
- 14:48something, 70 something, 80 something.
- 14:50So it is not brand new, which is also another reason why I say
- 14:54Eboo should stop allowing people to bamboozle you over the
- 14:56Internet. Brand new revolutionary sales
- 14:59something framework. These are like brand new
- 15:02waiting. These things are as old as hell.
- 15:05These things are older than me. Things are older than your
- 15:08parents. Don't let anybody bamboozle you.
- 15:11The knowledge is out there. All right, then another
- 15:16framework of thinking about these things.
- 15:17Although this is more of a qualification framework.
- 15:19I'll talk about what qualification means later.
- 15:21Is you're trying to figure out people.
- 15:24It's called BANT. By the way, BANT is an acronym
- 15:27Budget Authority, need and timeline.
- 15:30So people will have a budget like they have pepper to spend
- 15:33on this thing. Authority.
- 15:35That just means they are capable of making a decision and they
- 15:38have the authority to make a decision.
- 15:40So let's say you reached out into a household and yes, the
- 15:43household is expecting a baby. So let's say me and my wife,
- 15:46would they expect another one? By the way, we're not anyway,
- 15:50but if you want to hear that, you know we don't born again,
- 15:52then pray for serious pepper because that's all I'm looking
- 15:55for. Now, if I can get some good
- 15:57money, like serious M's, serious millions in my bank account,
- 16:01like I've told my wife now that if we finish this year and then
- 16:05in my spending account, not corporate account, the one where
- 16:08I dispel from, if I look inside, I see something like 70 M
- 16:12inside. I say why not let's try again.
- 16:15Let's just see. Maybe the next one will enter
- 16:17will be a girl. Let's just try, you know, since
- 16:20my mom said me, I didn't give her a girl and my wife said me,
- 16:25I refuse to give her a girl. So you know, so pray for your
- 16:28boy that the business will move. So if by December end, I look
- 16:32inside, I see 70 M I'll say correct babe, where are you?
- 16:36I said, babe, where are you showface?
- 16:38Oh yeah, it's time to show walking.
- 16:39Let's get a girl. So let's say now with this your
- 16:44idea, you know that this household we're expecting a
- 16:47baby. But the person that you're
- 16:49talking to is my sister-in-law, that's my wife's younger sister.
- 16:54Is my wife's younger sister in a position to decide on the kind
- 16:59of apps or things that will be bought for this brand new baby
- 17:03when the baby arrives? You know, I'm not going to
- 17:07answer yes or no. I'm just trying to get you to
- 17:10see that when you're talking to somebody and you're trying to
- 17:12close a business deal, it's also important the level of authority
- 17:17that the person has. If you're talking to somebody
- 17:19who has no authority, then you are wasting your time.
- 17:23So by the way, yes, with the family dynamics that we have
- 17:25here, you know, my wife listens to our younger sister.
- 17:27So if my, if we're expecting another one and our younger
- 17:31sister says, oh, sis, I think you should try this out.
- 17:34You know, she might listen. But then again, some families,
- 17:37some dynamics, some context, depending on what it is that you
- 17:40sell, you know, talking to the sister of somebody or the father
- 17:44of somebody or the PA of somebody might not be enough to
- 17:51get your proposal through, to get your agenda through.
- 17:57So authority is important. And then of course, N in band
- 18:01that is need, you know, do they need this thing?
- 18:03Then after that timeline, timeline, you know, just means
- 18:06when are they getting ready to take action anytime soon?
- 18:10So yes, when we're selling, what does it mean when we say sell?
- 18:18It means identify, analyze, provide solutions.
- 18:21We've spoken about identify. These are the ideas, These are
- 18:24the principles that are evolved, sorry, involved in identifying.
- 18:29So just in case you're one of those people who watch those
- 18:31videos, they watch the video I'm talking about.
- 18:34And then when the guy said identify, analyze and provide
- 18:36solution, you wrote it down because you could see that was
- 18:39gospel truth. But then after the video, you
- 18:41now realize that, OK, I don't know how to identify.
- 18:44I've given you the answer. So next, analyze.
- 18:50Analyze just means when you're talking to someone, you need to
- 18:54understand what the situation is.
- 18:55You need to understand the situation because the next stage
- 19:02is provide solution or make a proposal or make a presentation.
- 19:06There are too many of you that go ahead and make presentations
- 19:11and but the problem is the presentation that you're making
- 19:13is from your own mind, as in like you feel that this is what
- 19:17is important. If you've been listening for the
- 19:20last week, you know that what's important here is understanding
- 19:22value. It's not about what you think,
- 19:24it's about what the other person thinks is valuable.
- 19:26So you need to understand, analyze the situation,
- 19:29understand what it is that they find valuable so that by the
- 19:31time you get to provide solution, the solutions we
- 19:34prefer those solutions that you are providing is something that
- 19:37is resonating with them. You say something, the person
- 19:40will feel it in their chest that yes, this guy is talking.
- 19:43It makes sense. So that's why I analyze is
- 19:47really, really important so that you will make the right
- 19:53proposal, make an effective presentation, you provide the
- 19:59right solutions. Well, I'll talk about this some
- 20:04more because I just did some catching up with a former client
- 20:07today and you know, they don't begin to mess up unfortunately
- 20:10in one or two areas. And it's around this proposal
- 20:12stage, so I'll talk about that in the in the future episode.
- 20:16So this is what analyze is about.
- 20:18Now, when you are talking to people, you're trying to sell,
- 20:20you're trying to get them to buy your product or your service.
- 20:22You're trying to get them on board for your whatever the
- 20:25analyzing stage. How do you analyze?
- 20:27How do you figure out what's going on?
- 20:30Well, first of all, as you are hearing analyzing it, it's kind
- 20:35of a passive thing, as in you are not in the driver's seat you
- 20:42are looking at, you are listening to, you are reacting
- 20:46to stuff. All right, So when you are
- 20:48analyzing, you are not the main actor.
- 20:51You will ask one or two questions to get the ball
- 20:54rolling, but then the people should be talking you, you
- 20:57should be listening, you should be taking notes.
- 21:02So when you're analyzing, you need to try and figure out
- 21:05people's current situation. In fact, one of these models is
- 21:07called a spin and that is from Spin selling.
- 21:10This is a book I was written in, I think it was 1986, I can't
- 21:13remember, 86 or 76 by Neil Rackham.
- 21:16Neil Rackham N i.e. LIBEZNEILLLA Neil.
- 21:21Just go on Google it then Rackham, I think it's RACKHAMI
- 21:28think Bashar googled it. The book is what used to be
- 21:31famous by the way. You can see that's why I'm
- 21:37saying nobody should bamboozle you that the information is out
- 21:39there and the information is old 1976 when 2025 now.
- 21:44So that should be like, is that like 50 years?
- 21:48Yeah. So that means this book is about
- 21:4950 years. This book is around like 40-50
- 21:51years old. So then body bamboozle you new
- 21:54revolutionary groundbreaking, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
- 21:57For the other thing, the information is already out
- 22:02there. So now Spain is an acronym.
- 22:06S stands for situation, situation questions.
- 22:10P stands for problem questions, I stands for implication
- 22:13questions, N stands for need payoff questions.
- 22:16So essentially spin selling is just how I put it, the
- 22:23framework, all the kinds of questions you should be asking
- 22:26people when you're talking to someone.
- 22:29You want to sell your app ID, you want to sell your whatever.
- 22:32Before you start saying use this app, this app is the best.
- 22:35This app is the brightest or you're looking for investment
- 22:38before you say invest in this, it is the best is the brightest
- 22:40is whatever. Do spin selling, ask situation
- 22:44questions, ask problem questions, implication questions
- 22:48and need payoff questions now situational questions.
- 22:50You're just trying to figure out, you know, how far, what's
- 22:53up, What's the 411? What's the situation on ground?
- 22:56So simple questions that ask what the current situation is.
- 23:02So in this case, you're talking to the parent, you know,
- 23:06congratulations. How far along are you guys?
- 23:098 months, That's good. That means baby is going to be
- 23:11here in two months time. Congratulations.
- 23:13You guys must be excited. You know, you're just
- 23:16understanding the situation. Waiting day on ground.
- 23:20That is the spin question. Then you also ask, you know, not
- 23:26just what was on ground now, but like what have they done in the
- 23:29past? It'd be nice to know what are
- 23:31they doing to prepare for baby's arrival or you guys have got the
- 23:34cot, you've got this, you've done this, you've done that.
- 23:37You know, women go through nesting phase.
- 23:40I thought it was just my wife, but then I found out later on
- 23:42that it's something that lots of women do.
- 23:45Some men do it too. But you know me, I didn't catch
- 23:48the as in I didn't go through the nesting phase phase.
- 23:51You know, that's when baby's coming.
- 23:52And also, I think I will need to prepare the room.
- 23:55We have to buy a cot. We have to buy this.
- 23:56We'll buy this. We'll buy that.
- 23:58Yes. So my wife was in serious
- 24:00nesting mode when we were expecting serious nesting mode.
- 24:05I see. At first I thought it was
- 24:08stress, unnecessary stress. So by the way, young men
- 24:11listening, when your wife is in nesting, in nesting stage, this
- 24:15is what you do. It looks like it's unnecessary,
- 24:20but don't worry, it's instinctive, it's hormonal.
- 24:22These women know what they're doing.
- 24:25I say for our first child nesting stage, all the things
- 24:30that my wife bought, it seemed like was unnecessary at the
- 24:33time, but I won't like we used it for I think 3 1/2 years
- 24:40before we had to buy anything else.
- 24:44I'm serious. Beep beep.
- 24:48That's the one you put on the neck.
- 24:49You know, for when you know children vomit.
- 24:51You know how kids can be now you give them a small cereal, like
- 24:53next thing just throw, pull over themselves.
- 24:56So you buy B, you buy this one's called onesie, onesie, that's
- 25:03the fancy pajamas. So B plus onesie plus what
- 25:08again? Sterilizer to sterilize the
- 25:10feeding bottle. What again?
- 25:13And then plenty Boscha, all those things.
- 25:16We used it for like 3 1/2, four years.
- 25:19Let me even say five years, because between the first child
- 25:21and the second child, the age gap is 4 years.
- 25:26By the way, that's not really smart that for four years gap, I
- 25:28beg is too big. You should try and do 2 years.
- 25:31Four years is stress. Because by the time the second
- 25:34baby was coming, I was now saying where will I start from
- 25:37now how? How do you change diaper?
- 25:39I've forgotten everything. Where was I anyway?
- 25:44Don't mind me, where was I now guy OK situation so waiting
- 25:51there on ground. What have you guys done in the
- 25:52past? You know all these sorts of
- 25:54things. So you ask all these sorts of
- 25:55questions then you now get into problem questions.
- 26:01Problem question is where you now try and figure out you know
- 26:04is there any problem here or how bad is the problem.
- 26:07So for this OK, I picked the wrong example to do this now
- 26:11because how will I do problem question now for this baby app
- 26:15now OK maybe you ask since we what you guys are doing is
- 26:20breathing up happy after monitors baby breathing.
- 26:23So you know some personal questions you know any history
- 26:26of asthma in the family, you know blah blah blah.
- 26:28You say that this is questions around the problem.
- 26:32It will also give you a sense of how bad this problem is.
- 26:37So if on the boys side, history of asthma, on the girl side,
- 26:41history of allergy, then maybe the baby is, is what's it
- 26:47called? What's this called?
- 26:49What's this thing called again? Now, is it preterm or something?
- 26:53You know, babies that have to be born early because of different
- 26:56things, you know, you give birth to them, maybe put them in the,
- 26:59in the, what's it called incubator.
- 27:02Uh huh. So those kinds of parents, you
- 27:07know, for those who also have been parents before, you know,
- 27:09plenty of anxiety during those stage, you know, you're always
- 27:11wondering how will baby come out healthy?
- 27:14You know, you go for a visit. So is baby OK?
- 27:16Are they growing well? Are they too small?
- 27:18Are they, are they too big? You know, all those kind of
- 27:20things. So you're asking all these
- 27:22questions. Those are problem questions.
- 27:28You know what, let me let me switch because I, I don't think
- 27:32this is let me switch. Let me think of another
- 27:35scenario. I think of another scenario.
- 27:37Let's look at the much more business setting because I'm
- 27:40assuming that for the those of you who have tech ideas or
- 27:44whatever, you're probably thinking B to B, you know,
- 27:47selling in the business space. So let me just keep it there.
- 27:50It'll be easier to illustrate these principles.
- 27:52I'm talking about where Naira and Kobo is involved, know where
- 27:55human life is involved. And also to be honest, you know,
- 28:00you know, it's getting emotional small because we had one or two
- 28:05tragedies along the way. Parenthood is not easy.
- 28:09So where was I? I had a problem with stage now.
- 28:15So let's say something that is business related problem
- 28:21questions we OK, what are the problems that they're facing in
- 28:23their business now? How bad the problem is, what the
- 28:29solution? OK, let me just use this client
- 28:30I was talking about one that I caught up with because they
- 28:33they're in the content production space.
- 28:34So problem questions will be you now discussing their social
- 28:38media strategy. What is their current social
- 28:40media strategy? The content that they use on
- 28:43social media? What is level of engagement been
- 28:45like? Has it been a problem?
- 28:47What have they done to try and solve the problem before?
- 28:50All those are problem questions. We need to know all these things
- 28:54because later on now we're going to create a proposal to say this
- 28:57is how we can create contents to solve this, your business
- 29:00problem, then your proposal, the flesh of the proposal, the cocoa
- 29:09of the proposal. The main points in the proposal
- 29:11has need, needs to come from things that they have said,
- 29:14problems that they have identified, not the problems
- 29:17that you think are important. And in fact, this is where this
- 29:20is my former client standing messing up.
- 29:24The guy was giving problems that he, he thinks they're important,
- 29:27but it's not about you, It's about the client.
- 29:30Like I can have a conversation with you right now.
- 29:33And I think that out of your business problems, business
- 29:36problem 123, I myself, I can think that business problem 3 is
- 29:41the most important. But if you don't agree, then
- 29:43there's nothing I can do. If you think problems 1 and 2
- 29:46are the most important, well, the best I can do is to say,
- 29:49look, boss told you straight up that problem 3 is the most
- 29:54important. And I really think we should be
- 29:55paying attention to problem 3. But you know, now you be your
- 29:58guy. You're the one that is pain.
- 29:59So if you insist, let's be doing one and two, no problem.
- 30:03Let's continue on that route. Let's solve problem 1 and #2 But
- 30:07sure, yeah, don't talk calm. Like straight from my heart.
- 30:11I really think we should be solving problem 3.
- 30:13But sure, you're the clients now.
- 30:14You did drop back. So if you say 1 and 2, we'll
- 30:17focus on one and two. So those are problem questions.
- 30:21Then implication questions. This is also something that
- 30:23Nigerian businesses don't do very well.
- 30:26You need to ask implication, implication questions basically
- 30:28are the questions that you ask, where you ask the person.
- 30:30OK, look, this thing is a serious problem.
- 30:32Like if we don't fix this thing, like what's the worst that will
- 30:34happen? You have to ask because there's
- 30:37some people who can't be bothered.
- 30:39So I had to remind this, my client that look, remember that
- 30:41time when we spoke to one business because we checked
- 30:44their Instagram handle and they hadn't posted for 1 1/2 years,
- 30:47not a single new post. And so it's something I asked
- 30:51them when I know the post because I was the one, I was
- 30:54handling the phone calls from my client then and I asked them I
- 30:58found out when I know the post like why now?
- 31:00It's not going to slow your business down.
- 31:02And who must say slow fire? The problem is we have too many
- 31:10enquiries. We don't have enough space.
- 31:12It was because it's a Co working space.
- 31:14We don't have enough Co working space to service the demand that
- 31:16we have. We're currently seeing how we
- 31:18can even get more space. You see, This is why problem and
- 31:24implication questions are important.
- 31:27So my client or my former client is sending out proposals to
- 31:31people around creating content and around social media
- 31:34management and stuff like that. And the proposal is being
- 31:37received by people who, quite frankly, do not have content
- 31:40problems, do not have social media problems, social media
- 31:43management problems. They have different kinds of
- 31:45problems entirely, like that one person who for them, they have
- 31:49ignored Instagram, they have ignored website, they have
- 31:54ignored everything because quite frankly their problem is not
- 31:58that they can't create content. Their problem is the people that
- 32:00are knocking on the door to say give me office space, they don't
- 32:03have office space to give them. So that's why they just ignore
- 32:07all of that. So if we don't fix this problem,
- 32:12if you just ignore this problem, like what's the worst that will
- 32:14happen? For that kind of woman that I
- 32:16was talking to, she said there's no problem.
- 32:19Now I've been ignoring it for 1 1/2 years.
- 32:21He has not caused any problem. I can still ignore it some more.
- 32:24Now that kind of person, what's the point in giving her a
- 32:26proposal? What will you help her achieve?
- 32:32It's the problem, but it's the minor problem.
- 32:34She has bigger problems somewhere.
- 32:38So we don't ask implication questions.
- 32:40The idea behind implication, implication questions, like I
- 32:42said, if we don't fix this, any hour, any problem, any busy, the
- 32:47person says no, I didn't manage them like that.
- 32:49Then leave the person. That's one thing that mechanics
- 32:55do well in this part of the world.
- 32:56The mechanic will tell you that, Sir, this thing where I don't
- 33:00show you, you know, you can do like this, you can do like this,
- 33:02you can do like this, but so far, you know they shake when
- 33:05you're driving. You think they shake because I
- 33:07know they shake. Usually hear any noise.
- 33:10No, I didn't hear any noise. OK, Bill, I say you want
- 33:14manager. The person was saying yes, I
- 33:16want to manage it. Then the mechanic will just
- 33:18leave it. The mechanic has done his own.
- 33:21The mechanic said Olga, this is the problem.
- 33:23It could lead to this. And as they're discussing, the
- 33:27mechanical asked some questions. Is he shaking when you're
- 33:30driving? No.
- 33:31Are you hearing any sounds? No.
- 33:32Did anything break? No.
- 33:35Did any castle happen? No.
- 33:38The mechanic will just leave it when the thing breaks.
- 33:40You know you will come back and you will not have to deal with
- 33:42it. So mechanics I give you guys a
- 33:45thumbs up. You do implication questions
- 33:48where so be like mechanics too be asking implication questions.
- 33:55Then the N in spin that is need pay off.
- 33:59Need pay off is just where you explored.
- 34:01OK, if we fix this for you, how much money could you be making
- 34:05or how much money could you be saving or how much time can you
- 34:09be gaining or how much productivity or how much you
- 34:11know, the different things that people the different benefits
- 34:16that people get when they engage with your product or your
- 34:19service. You need to ask.
- 34:23So back to the woman. Let's say she has a serious
- 34:25problem with the social media and she thinks that out of every
- 34:3010 people who inquire for office space in the Co working hub,
- 34:35they only get to sign up. Out of every 10 only get to sign
- 34:38up too. And woman thinks she's losing
- 34:41maybe about four or five. Now you can send proposal
- 34:46because in our own mind, if we can't fix this problem, we're
- 34:49going to be losing 3344 inquiries every week.
- 34:54And it's a problem. So you have to ask.
- 34:59So that is how you analyze, but remember, when it comes to
- 35:04analyzing, you are in the passenger seat.
- 35:08You just ask some questions, throw the question out there.
- 35:11You know, like how you throw grenade.
- 35:13Just throw the question and then you keep quiet and you'll be
- 35:15listening and take notes. Please take notes.
- 35:21The problem with I'm bringing is you have a wonderful
- 35:23conversation. You say thank you, you leave.
- 35:25By the time you drive back to your house, by the time you
- 35:27drive back to your office, you'd have forgotten half of the
- 35:29conversation. Look, this is a scientific
- 35:31something that has been monitored, you know, in
- 35:34different countries, so there's no point in arguing with it.
- 35:37If you hear a whole bunch of stuff now, you know, over one
- 35:40hour or two hours, I can't remember the decline rate, but
- 35:44it's just a normal something when you hear now everything.
- 35:47In fact, try it with this podcast, all the things I'm
- 35:50saying, everything that makes sense.
- 35:51Abby, you're thinking, ah, good, good, good.
- 35:54Wisdom, wisdom. That's what you're thinking that
- 35:55correct? This guy's dropping knowledge.
- 35:57This guy's dropping knowledge. Finish listening to the podcast,
- 36:00go about your daily life, wake up tomorrow and then ask
- 36:02yourself this intervention. I was saying yesterday, what did
- 36:05he say? Get a sheet of paper.
- 36:06Try and write it down. You'll be able to write down two
- 36:08things because you've forgotten. It's normal.
- 36:11So please, when you're with people, write things down so you
- 36:17might think it's odd. It's not odd.
- 36:19Or you have to just tell them that.
- 36:20Look, I don't want to get anything wrong.
- 36:22I don't forget anything important.
- 36:24I hope you don't mind if I take a couple of notes while we talk.
- 36:28Most Nigerians are here. Sure, sure, sure.
- 36:30Not a problem. If you want to record the
- 36:33conversation ahead, that's what will cause problem because lots
- 36:35of us are camera aware everything is being recorded.
- 36:41Most Nigerians, if it's being video recorded, most Nigerians
- 36:43would lock up or become too formal.
- 36:45If it's audio recording, you know they'll now be careful on
- 36:48what it is that they say so. So long as you're not doing
- 36:52video recording or audio recording, you're just using
- 36:54pencil. Don't be writing down a few
- 36:56things. You'll be fine.
- 37:01So this is the analysis stage. Then final provide solution.
- 37:06Because remember the tech bro said when we're trying to sell
- 37:10or what does it mean to sell, it means we're doing three things.
- 37:12Number one, identify. Number 2, analyze #3 provide
- 37:16solutions on provide solution. I'll give him 60% because really
- 37:23one, one try to do is not really provide solution per SE.
- 37:26It's more like suggest because this is sales, it's business,
- 37:30you know? So you put it out there now you
- 37:32know, in my own opinion, or I strongly recommend, at the end
- 37:35of the day, it's up to the person to accept or to decline.
- 37:41So you can't really provide solution, you just suggest it,
- 37:44OK. I suggest in my professional
- 37:47opinion, I think this is what we should do next in order to
- 37:50achieve XYZ results. I strongly recommend that, but
- 37:54you know, you can't pass. I strongly recommend because
- 37:57it's up to it's up to them. Now when it comes to this
- 38:02providing solution stage or like I would rather say suggest a
- 38:05solution. One problem that you guys make
- 38:08is some of you are trying to propose something and you just
- 38:12propose it like that. What you need to do is you need
- 38:14to walk people through your decision making process.
- 38:18So first of all, you recap. So OK, Sir, thank you very much
- 38:21for the meeting. If I understand it correctly,
- 38:24this is where you are with your business.
- 38:26This is the problem you're facing.
- 38:27These are the problems. These are the solutions you've
- 38:30tried in the past. This is what worked.
- 38:31This is what didn't work. And you're actually trying to
- 38:34achieve XYZ goals. You know, Chief, is that
- 38:36correct? The reason why you're asking,
- 38:40Chief, is that correct, Sir? Is that correct, Madam, Is that
- 38:43correct? Are my own points, Is there
- 38:46anything I've missed out? Is there anything you'd like to
- 38:48correct? The reason why you ask for this
- 38:50kind of feedback is because if there's anything you've missed,
- 38:53this is the stage that you hear it so that you can now go and
- 38:58amend your proposal. Cause some of you just go
- 38:59straight into the proposal and you'll realize that some
- 39:01fundamental things are missing if you do it like this.
- 39:06This is my understanding of the situation.
- 39:07This is my understanding of the problem.
- 39:09This is what you tried in the past.
- 39:11This is where you're hoping we can achieve if we end up working
- 39:14together. Is that correct?
- 39:17If Chief says no, you've missed out something very important.
- 39:20You forgot that this, this, this, that, that, that.
- 39:23Now you know you've missed out something and now you know that
- 39:25this thing really, really is important to Chief or important
- 39:28to the client. And if somebody says, oh, you're
- 39:31100% correct, we now have confidence that we can move
- 39:35forward. Our understanding is correct.
- 39:37Therefore the proposal, the suggestions, the presentation,
- 39:42the you know, whatever it is I want to propose next, the thing
- 39:45will make sense because they've told us you're on point.
- 39:49Go on. So recap verbally with your
- 39:56mouth, say it, give the recap, and then get some feedback.
- 40:01Did I understand it correctly? Is there anything I've missed
- 40:04out? Is there anything that needs
- 40:06correction? Are we in agreement so far?
- 40:12However, it is use the way that you you talk naturally.
- 40:16Recap, seek feedback. It is when everybody says we're
- 40:21on point. If you're talking to two people
- 40:24like it's a husband and wife, something, you know, hear it
- 40:27from the husband. The husband say, ah, yes, yes,
- 40:29yes, one point, we can go ahead. So what about you, Madam?
- 40:32And Madam says, well, you know about this, about this, that is
- 40:37very good because now you know that our guy is OK with
- 40:40everything. But for Madam, he still gets one
- 40:42or two things where we suppose address before we move forward.
- 40:47So please, very, very important. You're listening to me now.
- 40:51If you are over 50 years old, don't do this exercise.
- 40:55Or for those of you who are younger than if you're like 30
- 40:58years old, hold your ears. I repeat, after me you say recap
- 41:03and their feedback. Hold your ears, say one more
- 41:06time, recap and their feedback. You do that before.
- 41:11I now go into proposal or presentation or solution or
- 41:15suggestion or whatever that is about where you say OK, if my
- 41:18understanding of everything is correct, this is how my XYZ, my
- 41:22product, my app, my. This can help you achieve this
- 41:28benefit, achieve this physical benefit, achieve this financial
- 41:32benefit, achieve this psychological benefit.
- 41:35OK, so now I can go back to the baby example and also the
- 41:39business example, the content creation example.
- 41:42So if I've understood everything correctly, this is how our hap,
- 41:45our app, sorry, forgive me, speaking in Yoruba, you know,
- 41:48it's already would that say hap hap in sort of an app who say
- 41:53hap our hap. So that was I.
- 41:58So if I understand correctly, this is how our app can help you
- 42:02keep babies safe. But give them proposal that's
- 42:06physical benefit. Is there any financial OK?
- 42:10No, there's no financial OK. There's financial benefit too.
- 42:12This is how our app can make sure that you don't spend too
- 42:16much money in hospital visits because the baby will be
- 42:19sleeping in very good clean, 100% purified air.
- 42:24No need for hospital visit. That's financial benefit and
- 42:28then also psychological benefit. If I understand everything
- 42:31correctly. This is how our app can give you
- 42:34Peace of Mind. You can sleep every night
- 42:37knowing that baby is safe and baby is secure.
- 42:40So you can see that's the value Trinity there.
- 42:42That's what Victor Antonio calls it.
- 42:43Value Trinity. That in business, your product,
- 42:46your service, your app, your whatever serves 3 purposes.
- 42:50It gives people physical benefits, financial benefit or
- 42:54psychological benefit. So figure out which benefits
- 42:57you're providing and tailor your proposal accordingly.
- 43:01Physical, financial, psychological.
- 43:04My guy called DD3 FS, even though none of them is built
- 43:08with F, but because they have, you know, fee fee.
- 43:11So physical, financial, psychological.
- 43:14Oh, financial is F OK? Physical, financial,
- 43:17psychological, psychological. That's PS, that's S Anyway, you
- 43:23get the point. Do three FS, even though it did
- 43:25not start with F. And then back to the business
- 43:32example, the content production example.
- 43:35So if I understand correctly, and if we're trying to achieve
- 43:40this, this and then that, that this is how our subscription
- 43:43service or our this plan or that plan can help you achieve these
- 43:48physical benefits. OK, content, would there be any
- 43:51physical benefits? Is there physical?
- 43:55If the Instagram handle or the website looks nice, it's not a
- 43:57physical benefit. OK, scratch that.
- 43:59I don't think there's physical benefit, but then there'll be
- 44:02financial benefit. If this is how our app, our
- 44:09subscription can help us increase your engagement.
- 44:11And through that engagement, we should be able to increase your
- 44:14sales by, you know, one extra customer per week.
- 44:19And that's financial benefit. And then is there psychological
- 44:22benefit? Psychological, OK, I guess
- 44:25engagement to be a psychological benefit.
- 44:26You know, more likes and more shares and more retweets.
- 44:29But sure, you catch the point. Whatever it is that you're
- 44:32selling, your startup idea, your product idea, your whatever,
- 44:36there's a value Trinity that is involved.
- 44:38There is a physical benefit, a financial benefit or a
- 44:44psychological benefit. You don't give them the
- 44:47proposal. Now, this is a mistake that lots
- 44:51of Nigerian business owners make at this stage.
- 44:53They relax in their chair and they say nothing else.
- 44:56This is the stage where the man or the woman that you're talking
- 44:59to across the table will say, you know, if you give me a lot
- 45:02to think about, I'll get back to you.
- 45:05Can I call you next week Friday? You say, Oh yeah, sure.
- 45:07Please take your time. Take your time.
- 45:09That is how you enter into ghost mode after you have given it to
- 45:14them like this. This is the physical, this is
- 45:16the financial, this is psychological benefit.
- 45:18This is not the time to lean back in your chair and relax.
- 45:22Remember feedback. Gain some feedback.
- 45:27How does that sound to you? Are you interested?
- 45:31Which part of the proposal are you most excited about?
- 45:35When would how soon would you like to start working on this?
- 45:38Not that. Share some kind of feedback.
- 45:41That is what allow you to take you to the next stage and do a
- 45:44trial close or please after you get to this age or provide
- 45:50solution where you've made your proposal, you've done your
- 45:52PowerPoint, you've done your pitch deck, you've done your
- 45:54whatever. This is not the part where you
- 45:56now lean back in your chair and then be smiling in your mind.
- 46:00You'll be thinking, man, I was dope.
- 46:03I was on fire with that presentation.
- 46:05I was on point. No, no, that's not the stage.
- 46:09Gain some feedback. Anyway, we're talking for 15
- 46:12minutes so let me just bring you to a close.
- 46:14But basically on this one, tech bro was 100% correct.
- 46:17The only mistake he made was he didn't break it down and tell
- 46:20you guys, this is how we identify.
- 46:21He didn't tell you, this is how we analyze.
- 46:23He didn't tell you. This is how we provide
- 46:24solutions. Now please, something I need to
- 46:27point out all the ideas that I've discussed here.
- 46:30You know them plenty. So go back and listen again and
- 46:33again. But these are not the only ways
- 46:35that you can identify, analyze or provide solutions.
- 46:38I've just given some simple, easy to remember frameworks.
- 46:43So if you come across anything that sounds a little bit
- 46:45different, you know, it doesn't mean I see the thing will work.
- 46:47It will work. It's just, you know, somebody
- 46:50coming at it with, you know, through a different, a different
- 46:54angle. But essentially we're all doing
- 46:56the same thing. When we try to sell, we're
- 46:57trying to identify the right people.
- 47:00We're trying to analyze the situation, make sure that we
- 47:02have the correct problem. Then after that, we're trying to
- 47:05give a solution. And hopefully we'll now collect
- 47:10our money. We now collect 10 million
- 47:12deposits or whatever it is that you're trying to seek.
- 47:17So let me bring it to a close here.
- 47:19So thank you very much for listening and remember, if you'd
- 47:23love to connect because you have a question, you have a query,
- 47:26you have a comment or you came across something, you want to
- 47:30know what I think this is incorrect or is it BS?
- 47:34Then here's my phone number. You can call, send me a text
- 47:39message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
- 47:46So thank you very much for your time and attention.
- 47:48I'll catch you guys some other time.