Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / The Confidence Lie: Why Motivational Speakers Are Hurting Your Sales

Transcript

The Confidence Lie: Why Motivational Speakers Are Hurting Your Sales · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:02
  Hello and welcome to the podcast.
• 0:04
  Today we're going to talk about how to gain confidence or how to
• 0:08
  get confidence when selling. The reason why we're looking at
• 0:12
  that today is because people have misconceptions when it
• 0:16
  comes to this sort of thing. You are new to business and new
• 0:21
  to sales. You're trying to sell something
• 0:23
  and people just say, you know, young man, be confident or you
• 0:26
  know, you're a woman, I'll be confident.
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  You're a young woman, you're not a girl anymore.
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  Be confident. And because of that, people do
• 0:33
  not understand what confidence is or how confidence plays into
• 0:38
  selling. Now, confidence isn't something
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  that comes before you do the thing.
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  Let me repeat, all of you who are running around telling
• 0:48
  people that look isn't our sales, be confident.
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  You're getting it wrong. Confidence does not come before
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  you do the thing. Confidence comes after you do
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  something. Let me repeat, confidence
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  doesn't come before. Confidence comes after you do
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  the thing. Oh, First off, introductions.
• 1:10
  My name is Tava Shima Ayedi. I'm a former lawyer turned
• 1:13
  business consultant. In case you're listening to the
• 1:15
  podcast for the first time. And if you like these sorts of
• 1:18
  things, how do you sell? How do you grow your business?
• 1:21
  How do you grow your revenues? Then make sure you subscribe to
• 1:24
  the podcast on Spotify, on Apple iTunes, on YouTube, or any
• 1:29
  player of your choice. And if you'd love to connect
• 1:31
  with me, you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp
• 1:35
  message on 08064662140. So, yeah, we're talking about
• 1:45
  how to get confidence or how to gain confidence when selling.
• 1:48
  And that's because lots of people think you can just tell
• 1:50
  somebody, come on now, be confident, no B sales.
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  And then they will just share somehow confidence will
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  materialize. And I was trying to explain
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  before I introduced myself, before I took that little break
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  that confidence comes after you do something, not before.
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  Now this is how you define confidence.
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  I'm not going to talk about the dictionary definition.
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  Confidence is that feeling of I can do this.
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  And for those of you who are worried that your salespeople
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  can't sell well or maybe you are in business and you can't sell
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  well, you think that by looking at yourself in the mirror, you'd
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  be telling yourself I'm confident, I'm confident, I'm
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  confident. Because of that, magically
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  you'll just feel as if I can do this.
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  Now, unfortunately, that's not how it works.
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  Confidence is I can do this, but the feeling of I can do this
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  usually comes because I have done this thing before and I did
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  it successfully. Even if I did it wrongly.
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  At least now I know one or two things that can't work, so
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  therefore I'm confident. Maybe 3-4 podcast episodes ago I
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  was talking about similarities between sales and chess and it's
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  the same thing. The reason why I can step to the
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  board and be confident as a chess player is because I have
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  played it before. I have succeeded before and
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  there are times that I have messed up severely.
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  But the combination of those two, the times any what and the
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  times where therefore I know that I should be able to have a
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  steady hand so long as I'm in this kind of situation, that
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  kind of situation that is confidence.
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  Confidence is I can do this thing because I have done it
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  before. So the confidence speaker is
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  confident not because he stood in front of the mirror said I am
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  huge, I am magnanimous, I am blessed, I am ample, I am
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  abundant, I am confident. No, that's not what they did.
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  The confident speaker, believe me, is confident on stage
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  because he or she, they've done it before.
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  The confident lawyer that you see, because of course, you know
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  I should be a former lawyer, is not because they manifested
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  confidence, is because they have done the lawyering before.
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  They have done the research ahead of time.
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  They have familiarized themselves with the position
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  before they show up in court to start arguing the motion in
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  front of the judge. They are confident because they
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  have done the thing before, not after.
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  The confident doctor, the confident salesperson, the
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  confident architect, the confident pilot, the confident
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  whatever. Even the confident village chief
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  or DBR, they're confident because they have done the thing
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  before. So for those of you who keep
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  shouting, no, B Sales isn't not talking.
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  Be confident. What you're actually trying to
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  tell your people is you're trying to tell them, find
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  courage. Now, what is courage?
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  Courage is, I'm afraid, but I have good reason to go ahead.
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  That is simply what courage is. For those of us who are married
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  now, young men remember, like not primary school into junior.
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  Secondary school is that baby or class that you like.
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  You like being, you know, but you don't know how you go and
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  play with her or how you say what's up or how you sit next to
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  her. What you needed at that time was
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  not confidence. What you need at that time was
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  courage. I'm afraid I like being.
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  I think being doesn't like me, but I can find good reasons to
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  go ahead. What you're looking for is
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  courage. So there are lots of good
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  reasons to go ahead. One good reason to go ahead is
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  I've prepared or I've studied or I know the framework or I know
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  what to expect. I know what to say.
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  I know what the risks are. The risks are not really that
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  big or so long as I avoid this aspect and that aspect, I should
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  be OK. But there will always be an
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  element of fear and we will always need courage before we do
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  the thing. So for those of you who think
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  because I've been on the radio now for over a year, I've been
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  podcasting now for over six years and I've been doing public
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  speaking for a very long time. For those of you who think I
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  just step on stage and it's easy and I don't need a dose of
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  courage, you are wrong. In fact, I remember the first
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  time I had to address an audience of 1600 when I was
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  discussing with organizers. I was like 1006.
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  I was now wondering, I say my mind Tavishima, honestly, I've
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  even addressed 500 before. So what I did was we went ahead
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  with the whole thing, the same market details.
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  Then the next day, because my kids were home, then I told
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  them, you know, I'm going out, I'm going, I'm going to do a
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  recce. I say, what's a recce?
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  And I say recce. Reconnaissance is all we used to
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  do as wedding photographers. Before you shoot at the venue
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  for the first time, you go out and you scalp the venue.
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  How big, how small, how high is the ceiling?
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  Are the walls white, black? Would there be any problems?
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  Any nice places where you can do portraits?
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  You know, those simple sorts of things.
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  So I decided to do a recce. I went to the venue just to look
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  at it, just to see what 1006 feels like because I'd never
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  spoken in front of 1600 people. Then when I got there, I was
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  like, oh, because it turns out that, you know, it's a simple
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  haul, the kind of things would shoot back in my wedding
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  photography days. I was like, he was like, there's
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  no problem now I got this. So I found good reason to go
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  ahead because I went to go and scout the place and I went to
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  and I saw that OK, if 1006 is this kind of hall, it's not that
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  bad. It's a kind of venue I would
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  even normally have shot at as a wedding photographer.
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  So I found courage. Then the speech went off well,
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  now I have confidence. The next time they said Tavish
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  and Malcolm and speak in front of 1006 or 2000, I'll say and
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  2000 and is all the same 1/6/2001 eight.
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  What's the difference? Because I've done it before and
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  I have confidence. So you can find lots of good
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  reasons to go ahead whenever you are scared.
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  Now, if you are a newbie, you are a jam bite.
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  This is your first time selling. This is your first time in
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  business. This is your first time in
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  selling, in sales, in business. My advice is, unfortunately, I
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  have to bend with your gas in this case.
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  Yeah, you need to find some courage.
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  But don't worry, the confidence will come later.
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  Confidence will come as you build competence.
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  For those of you who've been listening to the podcast for a
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  while and you're familiar of familiar of Tom Hopkins and his
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  frameworks, because I talk about Tom Hopkins quite a bit.
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  Competence, credibility, competence.
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  The competence will come. Just continue to build.
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  So if you're new to selling, new to sales, new to business, there
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  are a couple of things that you need to keep doing over and over
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  again until you get confidence. So #1 prospecting.
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  Prospecting is when you try and figure out who might be
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  interested in your product or your service.
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  Then you come up with a strategy for how you're going to talk to
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  those people and how you, you know, start off the
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  conversation. Whether online or offline, you
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  need to do prospecting over and over and over and over again so
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  that you get confident in prospecting.
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  Lifting up the phone to dial A stranger to try and sell
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  something is hard and it's scary.
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  It will only get easy the more you do it over time.
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  So the salesperson that you see who grabs the phone and he
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  handles the conversation masterfully is because the guy's
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  been doing it for a while, the paper's been doing it for a
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  while. Somebody who's been doing sales
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  15 years and somebody who has been doing sales 15 days,
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  there's a difference. Relax, you will get there.
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  So you need to do prospecting over and over and over again.
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  Another thing that you need to practice over and over again so
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  that you gain confidence is need analysis or being consultative
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  with people. Being consultative with people
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  just means when you're in front of someone, you need to be able
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  to figure them out, suss them out, listen to them, ask
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  questions, know what the problem is so that you can make an
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  effective recommendation. I was talking to Miss Oma
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  recently. She's a listener of the podcast,
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  and she used to be in the beauty space.
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  She's currently now the manager of a store where they sell
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  electronics. And it's a conversation, you
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  know, that we had about the people that she's now managing.
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  Your people need to be more consultative.
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  You don't just tell people who come into the shop, buy this
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  fridge because Thermocool is the best.
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  Who told you Thermocool is the best?
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  Even if Thermocool is the best, is it the best for this
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  particular person that you're talking to?
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  You have to get good at doing need analysis and figuring out
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  who it is that you're talking to.
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  Because even if Thermocool is the best fridge, there are some
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  people that OK, which other fridge is there?
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  Phillips. There are some people that
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  Phillips is the best fridge for them.
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  So you need to learn how to be consultative.
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  So the more you start talking to people, asking them questions,
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  trying to figure them out, trying to figure out what they
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  need, the better you will get and the more confident you will
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  get. You also need to.
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  Another thing you need to do over and over and over again to
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  get confidence is you need to do lots of proposals and lots of
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  presentations. The proposal or a presentation
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  is not part of the selling conversation or the selling
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  relationship where you say auger, Madame Bros.
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  Sir, based on what we have said so far, if my understanding is
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  correct, if XYZ are the problems that we're trying to solve, then
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  I think that option one, option two, option three, either of
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  them are going to be good for you because they will help you
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  solve ABC problems. And we're going to do that.
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  We're going to be able to do that.
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  Option A will require XYZ investment.
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  Option B will require this. Option C will require this.
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  So a proposal or a presentation is the stage where you say, if I
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  understand you correctly, this is how we can solve your problem
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  and this is what will be required of you.
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  And of course, this is what we are going to do in return to
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  help you solve this problem or achieve your vision.
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  That is what proposal is. You have to do that over and
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  over and over and over again so that you can build confidence.
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  Then another thing that you ought to practice.
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  And in fact, Nigerians, Nigerian people, my brothers and sisters,
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  we need to practice this one because for some reason, I see
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  I'm in the same boat because in the beginning I was like that
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  too as a young wedding photographer, even as a young
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  lawyer. OK, well, as a young layer, I
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  was my old guy who used to close deals, so that was not my own
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  problem. But as a young wedding
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  photographer, he quickly became our own problem.
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  I'll make a proposal. We'll look at samples, you know,
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  look at everything. And once I dazzle them with all
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  my fizzy, I'll now keep quiet and lean back.
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  And then the bride will say those those dreaded words.
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  So we say I'll get back to you. And of course, we all know that
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  when people say I'll get back to you from there, you enter into
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  ghosting. Don't be picking call again or
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  you know how to pursue the conversation again.
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  I didn't know how to secure commitments and lots of you
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  manage young brothers and sisters listening to this
• 14:30
  podcast. You don't know how to secure
• 14:32
  commitments. So it's something you have to do
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  over and over and over again so that you can gain confidence.
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  You need to get into the habit of trying to secure commitments.
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  So after you do the proposal, which is Bros SA Madam OGA
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  buying committee, panel of buyers, you know, whoever you're
• 14:52
  addressing, if I understand the situation correctly, the main
• 14:56
  problems we're trying to achieve is ABC and 123.
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  If that is the case, this is how our product and our service can
• 15:04
  help you achieve that. We can do that by exploring
• 15:06
  options 1-2 and three. Just follow me for a bit.
• 15:10
  Let's try and figure out which option will suit you the best.
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  Option A will require this. Option B will require this.
• 15:16
  Option C will require this. You will have to do this.
• 15:18
  We will have to do this. The investment required for
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  option A will be 2.5 million. The investment required for
• 15:25
  option B will be 4.5. The investment required for
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  option C will be 6.8. Then the part about securing
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  commitments is where you start doing trial closes or where you
• 15:36
  start trying to narrow things down and where you start trying
• 15:38
  to get them to commit to something.
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  So when you start asking questions, like for the options
• 15:43
  we have discussed so far, option A, option B, option C, where do
• 15:47
  you think you fall within that spectrum?
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  You're not telling the person buy now, pay now what?
• 15:53
  You're beginning to narrow things down.
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  You're beginning to get somebody to commit to something small.
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  You didn't say give me the money, make the transfer.
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  You just ask for a small commitment.
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  Of the options that we have looked at so far, where do you
• 16:06
  fall? Of the options that we've looked
• 16:08
  like, looked, looked at, which one do you like?
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  Of the options that we've looked at so far, what matches the
• 16:15
  allocation that you guys had in mind?
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  You know something, but you're beginning to narrow things down.
• 16:20
  Small, small, small. You'll be need to get people to
• 16:23
  commit to something, no matter how small.
• 16:27
  You need to do this over and over and over and over again so
• 16:31
  you can get confidence. All right, it's been 15 minutes.
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  Let me bring this. We're close.
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  Summary. What I want to achieve in this
• 16:40
  podcast recording is this. For those of you who are
• 16:44
  newbies, even if you're not a newbie, you have a certain level
• 16:47
  of experience. Stop trying to compare yourself
• 16:52
  to smooth talkers or stop trying to compare yourself to people
• 16:55
  who are smoother than you. These people have had a very
• 17:00
  long time to get there. What you just need to do at your
• 17:03
  own stage is gather some courage and look and move forward.
• 17:06
  Look for some reasons, some good reasons why you should be going
• 17:09
  ahead and let me moving forward. Don't worry, the more you do,
• 17:13
  the more confidence you get. The confidence will take care of
• 17:15
  itself over time. Stop looking at the mirror and
• 17:18
  stop chanting and stop trying to manufacture confidence.
• 17:23
  Look for reason just to gather some courage.
• 17:26
  That's all. The confidence will come then.
• 17:32
  Some of you might not like this, but I have to say it for now
• 17:38
  anyway. When you become advanced in
• 17:40
  sales, no problem. But for now that you're a
• 17:41
  beginner, please stop listening to motivational speakers.
• 17:46
  Motivational speakers mean well and they're teaching lots of
• 17:49
  advanced techniques when it comes to elocution, carriage,
• 17:54
  body language, spatial control, special awareness, what else?
• 18:02
  What else? Manifesting Abby They mean well.
• 18:06
  But The thing is, if you listen to plenty of motivational
• 18:08
  speakers right now as you're a newbie, you'll get into plenty
• 18:12
  of trouble because you're going to head into situations with
• 18:16
  false confidence. Meanwhile you have no actual
• 18:20
  competence in the matter. When I was a secondary school,
• 18:26
  they used to say empty barrel. If you listen to motivational
• 18:29
  speakers, you end up becoming an empty barrel.
• 18:32
  You look in the mirror, you hype yourself up, you're feeling
• 18:34
  good, you puff up your chest. If you're a guy, you wear your
• 18:37
  correct suit, you strut into the situation.
• 18:39
  You're feeling all confident, all confidence in the world.
• 18:44
  And then people are impressed by your confidence.
• 18:46
  But when? But then by the time you open
• 18:47
  your mouth, the lack of experience will begin to show
• 18:50
  and everything will start to crumble because you don't have
• 18:53
  actual competence in the matter. You have not done the thing.
• 18:58
  So motivational speakers, motivational speaking is good,
• 19:01
  but it's not what you need for now.
• 19:04
  There are some fundamentals. There are some basics that you
• 19:07
  need to master when it comes to sales and selling.
• 19:09
  Master those foundational things first.
• 19:12
  After that, you cannot worry about whether you should wear
• 19:15
  black suit or pinstripe suit. You now worry about whether you
• 19:18
  should do power poles or whether you should stand with your arms
• 19:21
  crossed. You now worry about whether
• 19:23
  you're manifesting to the universe or whether you are
• 19:25
  calling on you know, whatever you cannot worry about special
• 19:29
  awareness and how you use the stage or how you use your props
• 19:33
  or how you use your microphone. All our advanced techniques is
• 19:38
  not for now. For now, learn the fundamentals
• 19:42
  and you'll be fine. But please just know that this
• 19:45
  whole thing of and get confidence that no, no, no, no,
• 19:49
  confidence doesn't come before. Confidence comes after you do
• 19:52
  the thing. So your job is just to make sure
• 19:54
  that you do the thing as often as you can get lots of reps.
• 19:59
  And if you want to know the kinds of things that you should
• 20:01
  keep on repeating and doing over and over and over to get better
• 20:04
  ad sales, I've already spoken about a couple of them.
• 20:07
  So pause this thing, rewind. I'll be start again and listen
• 20:12
  and you should be OK. So thank you very much for
• 20:15
  listening again. I'm Tava Shima Ayede, the host
• 20:17
  of the podcast. Remember, if you'd love to
• 20:19
  connect with me, you can call. You can send me a text message
• 20:22
  or WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 20:29
  I'm available for questions, comments, queries, or
• 20:32
  collaborations. And if you enjoy all the things
• 20:34
  that we're talking about over here so far, please subscribe to
• 20:37
  the podcast on Spotify, on Apple iTunes or YouTube or wherever it
• 20:42
  is that you listen to the podcast.
• 20:44
  Also, please give your boy a review.
• 20:46
  I mean I have 4000 subscribers, only 90 of you have given me a
• 20:49
  review on Spotify. Like come on now.
• 20:52
  Help you boy. Help you boy.
• 20:54
  All right, so that's it. Thank you very much for your
• 20:57
  time and attention. I will catch you all some other
• 21:00
  time.