Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Stop Taking Orders: How a Simple Sales Process Fixes Everything

Transcript

Stop Taking Orders: How a Simple Sales Process Fixes Everything · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishima Aide.
0:05
I'm the host of the podcast and I'm making today's recording at
0:07
home is a late night recording. So even though everybody's
0:11
asleep, you're still going to hear some noise in the
0:12
background. If you would love to connect,
0:15
you can call SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140.
0:23
Sorry about that. Now today on the podcast, oh
0:28
boy, how am I going to call this now?
0:30
OK, so today on the podcast, we're going to review a LinkedIn
0:33
article that might show you how most of your problems in
0:38
business come about because you don't have a sales process, not
0:44
because of some other business issues, or like in this case,
0:47
not because of branding. So let me repeat today.
0:50
What we're going to be looking at on the podcast is to show how
0:53
a lot of your business problems come up precisely because you
0:58
don't have a sales process. So if you don't even know what
1:01
the sales process is, and that goes to prove my point because
1:05
some of you are going to go through stuff in business, you
1:09
will sit down, you try and troubleshoot, you try and
1:13
brainstorm, you try to figure out what's going on and you will
1:16
diagnose the problem to be something else.
1:19
Because you know, you have an Inquirium brand, you have this,
1:22
you have that, but you won't realize that the route problem,
1:26
the root cause is because you don't have a sales process.
1:29
So let's get straight to the LinkedIn article.
1:33
So this is the scenario for the LinkedIn article that I saw
1:37
earlier today. So there was a design and
1:43
branding professional. That's the person who wrote the
1:45
article. So let's call her Caroline.
1:48
So Caroline is the design professional.
1:50
She's one that wrote the article.
1:52
Then there's Kemi, who is a client and the client is a
2:00
business person. She's in the beauty and the skin
2:02
care space. By the way, this is not their,
2:05
these are not the real names. I just made these names up to
2:08
protect their identity. So now we have remember we have
2:10
two people. There's Caroline, she's a design
2:13
and branding professional, and there's Kemi.
2:16
Kemi is Carol's client and she's in the business of beauty and
2:22
skin care. So basically Cami said Caroline
2:26
how far now And Caroline said I'm good this is it, I beg I'm
2:30
doing some kind promo. Sure you designed something for
2:32
me. And Caroline was like sure no
2:33
problem, no holla what do you need?
2:36
So that's how the conversation continued.
2:39
So the client now Cami, when she saw the design, she was not to,
2:49
you understand, she was not retrieved.
2:52
And so she complained to Caroline that look, this thing
2:56
is no good and that's why Caroline wrote the article.
3:01
Caroline basically said I did something for this my client and
3:06
this babe corrected me sharply. At first I was angry, but excuse
3:12
me. And I realized that what she did
3:14
was actually was good and I was grateful.
3:17
And that was the whole point of the article, that I did some
3:20
work for my client. My client didn't like it.
3:23
She corrected me and I am grateful that she corrected me.
3:27
So that was the whole thrust of the article.
3:29
And in that sense, it was very, very good, very good for
3:32
Caroline because most Nigerian business owners, most Nigerian
3:39
service providers, most Nigerian entrepreneurs, we can be very
3:44
defensive and open to feedback. You know, somebody says your
3:48
pictures are OK, but you know, this particular photo or here I
3:53
saw a pimple, you know, because I've been in this space, you
3:57
know, begin the vex. Like, what the hell?
3:59
Like what do they know about photography?
4:01
I'm the photographer. They don't know anything about
4:03
it. You know, I start getting
4:05
defensive. So excuse me.
4:09
So they now start getting defensive and it happens.
4:13
Or like you're a caterer, you gave it your all.
4:17
And then the client said we saw her in the food, you know, you
4:20
know, so I get an angle. How can you see here?
4:23
All my people wear hairnet, I cook according to international
4:28
specifications, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
4:30
What to hell with these clients? What do they know?
4:33
So all of us, you know, we have that defensive streaking us.
4:36
So it's always good when, excuse me, there's a Nigerian
4:41
professional who you do something for a client, your
4:44
client to correct you. And then you say, you know what,
4:46
I'm glad that this person corrected me is good.
4:50
So we should be open to feedback no matter the line of business
4:53
that you're in. Also because this open posture,
4:59
it leads to business growth. If you're a customer, well,
5:02
first of all, know this that most Nigerian customers won't
5:05
even complain. So the person that complaints
5:08
actually is doing you a favour. Let me repeat, you do business
5:12
with 20 people in Nigeria and let's say 15 of them are angry
5:15
with you. Most of them will keep quiet.
5:19
They won't tell you anything. They'll tell other people that
5:22
this babe doesn't no work but they won't tell you.
5:26
So the fact that one or two people come forward to say
5:28
something, tell them thank you. Be grateful because I can assure
5:32
you there are other people that did not say anything to your
5:36
face but have been going around and telling all kinds of crap to
5:40
people in your back, spoiling your business.
5:43
So actually we should be grateful when somebody comes
5:45
forward. So this is how this open posture
5:50
is going to lead to business growth because when they tell
5:53
you what's up, you now know how to correct, how to take dressing
5:56
and how to grow your business. It also is another good
6:00
opportunity because especially for those of you who study CX,
6:04
you know, customer experience, it's an opportunity to convert a
6:08
negative experience into a +1. And figures have shown at least
6:14
in the West, you know, North America and in the UK.
6:17
So, and there's no reason to believe that it won't also apply
6:20
in Nigeria. I'm sure that when somebody has
6:23
a negative experience, was able to convert it into a positive
6:26
experience, a lot of times that client now becomes a loyal
6:31
customer for you. And now would he wrap you around
6:36
like, no, this girl, like she's a correct babe, she's a
6:39
professional. So open posture when it comes to
6:44
these kinds of things, taking correction from clients, taking
6:48
criticisms from client, very, very good, very, very good.
6:51
It's hard though, because me, I've been there when somebody
6:54
who criticized my photos and in my mind I'm like, what do you
6:56
know? Which kind of skill do you have?
7:00
If you had the skill, will you be calling me?
7:02
So I know I've been there. We've all been there.
7:05
So the humility and the growth, excuse me, you'll take time.
7:12
So now some of you've been wondering that was this beef.
7:15
Now why can't we call the brief Carol?
7:19
Like what's going on? So this was the problem.
7:22
Cami the client is in the beauty and skin care space.
7:28
She needed Flyers for sales promo.
7:31
Caroline designed the Flyers. But the problem was this as far
7:36
as Cami the client was concerned.
7:37
And what this thing that you do? No too pure.
7:40
No, too pure. Your designs are flawed.
7:45
I didn't like it. So that was the quarrel.
7:51
Now the design professional, Caroline, according to her
7:59
article, she thinks that the problem was that the client or
8:03
that chemi, the client, the client herself did not have
8:07
brand strategy and the client herself did not have brand
8:11
strategy. So in other words, she took
8:14
dress, you know that year is good that the client spoke out,
8:18
but she was now saying that the problem was with the client, the
8:22
problem was not with her. She now continued to talk.
8:26
So Carol or Carol said is this client came in, she went to go
8:29
and do photo shoot ahead of this campaign and for the photo shoot
8:35
she did everything read. I ever saw the picture herself.
8:41
You know, it was a deep set plunge.
8:43
Everything red suit was red lipstick red, everything red,
8:48
red, red deep plunge bra, everything red.
8:53
Save me to when I saw it, I was wondering is true self this
8:57
client, you know, try because like I think you know, when
9:01
you're working with a design person and you are walking
9:03
towards the campaign, you know, you suppose let your guy know
9:08
ahead of time or let your girl know ahead of time.
9:09
OK, this is what we're doing, you know, blah, blah, blah, like
9:12
you're supposed to last. So they declined when I took
9:17
that kind of picture without consulting her.
9:20
Yes, it was it was bad, you know, I admit, but the problem
9:24
is not that the client took the picture.
9:26
I didn't consult her or that the client does not have brand
9:30
strategy or that the client does not have brand identity.
9:33
The problem is Caro, the design professional does not have a
9:38
sales process and that is where things started to fall apart.
9:44
Now what is a sales process? So excuse me, I've been talking
9:49
a lot, had a couple of meetings today and then coaching
9:51
sessions. Then of course it's late at
9:53
night. So I'm like, I'm tired.
9:55
You just like I don't record this thing.
9:57
Now I'll sleep, I wake up and I'll remember.
10:00
So as I was a sales process, now the sales process is just a
10:04
simple plan by the business owner has or a business has or a
10:10
salesperson has for talking to any individual who comes across
10:14
them. And the plan is we're trying to
10:16
figure out what is it that this person needs.
10:20
Also trying to figure out this problem that the person has.
10:22
How bad is this problem? Do you know how bad the problem
10:27
is? So you can do some internal
10:28
source searching, you know, to try and figure out OK, this
10:32
problem that the person has. Do I have the skills to be able
10:36
to hook this person up or do I have the assets to to help the
10:47
client so that we can help them achieve, you know, what it is
10:49
that they're looking for. The sales plan also helps you to
10:53
come up with a proposal or a course of action.
10:58
So excuse me one moment. OK, sorry about that.
11:04
I'm back. So yeah, I was in the middle of
11:07
talking about what the sales process is.
11:09
So just any plan to try and figure out who is this person
11:12
that I'm talking to? What is it that they need?
11:16
Can I come up with a proposal or a course of action on how we're
11:20
going to deal with these clients needs, how we're going to remedy
11:23
this situation. Then the sales plan also
11:26
includes trying to make sure that the customer is happy or
11:34
trying to make sure that the customer is happy because if
11:37
they're happy, they will come back and do business with us
11:39
again. And then the plan also includes
11:46
trying to figure out how to get referrals from them in the
11:49
future. So you can see that lots of
11:53
elements go into this thing that we call a sales plan.
11:56
But you see that most Nigerian business owners, most sales
11:59
people that was using idea, you just wake up and be
12:01
freestanding. It's not as if they have a
12:04
particular plan. If you sit down, if you see them
12:06
downtown, where was the plan? They'll be looking at you
12:09
somehow. And that is one of the reactions
12:12
that I get when I'm coaching people.
12:14
I was OK, you know what this call that you want to call this
12:16
customer now, where was the plan?
12:19
There also people who look back at me and say what do you mean?
12:20
What's the plan? I'm going to make a call like
12:23
no, there has to be a plan. You can't just be, you just pick
12:29
up your phone and say I'm going to call this customer.
12:30
Like why? Like why are you calling the
12:33
customer? What's the overall sales plan?
12:37
Now that we know the overall sales plan, what stage of the
12:41
relationship are we at? What is the most appropriate
12:44
call you should be making at this moment?
12:46
What do you think the goal, the goal for this call should be?
12:49
What kind of information do you need to elicit during this call
12:53
and how's it going to factor into the overall proposal that
12:56
you're going to give? At the end of the day, supposed
12:59
to be a plan. Unfortunately, lots of Nigerian
13:02
business owners, service professionals, you ask them
13:07
what's the plan? Like, trust me, this year I've
13:12
asked, this year at least four people have said to me this year
13:19
when I said like what's the plan?
13:20
They'll say what do you mean? And I'm quoting them, They'll
13:22
ask me what do you mean? So you need a plan.
13:29
So if you have a process that answers all these questions,
13:33
then you have a sales process. If you have a sales process and
13:40
you follow it as the framework for whatever you do in business,
13:45
you will uncover a lot of problems or you will preempt.
13:50
Is it preempt or you prevent? You will prevent a lot of
13:53
problems in business. For example, the client can be
13:59
because of course, Karu as a professional as she is advised
14:03
camera that you say, you know what, we suppose investors on
14:06
brand work first before we do this campaign.
14:10
But then the client came. We say, you know, I know we
14:13
should, but I'm not ready to invest in branding yet.
14:17
So shall make me anyhow. Shall let's just let's just do
14:21
this thing. So, yeah, I admit it's not ideal
14:27
if the client tells you this kind of thing.
14:29
But and is where the big mistake happened.
14:33
Caroline, our design professional designer, brand new
14:36
professional, she assumed that she knew what the customer
14:39
wanted. She just went based on the fact
14:42
that this babe shot everything in red.
14:45
Blouse was red, plunging neckline was revealing red, red
14:50
lipstick, everything red. So Carol now went to design
14:54
everything in red. The design was all red on the
15:02
design looked even we saw I saw the red design was like oh nice,
15:06
very nice was very, very good. And then gave it to the client.
15:10
But then guess what? The client saw the design and
15:13
the client said I don't like it. Carol said why now say see this
15:20
thing red, red, red, red. This thing is reminding me of
15:23
love. This is reminding me of
15:25
Valentine's. This is reminding me of
15:26
Christmas and that is not what I'm trying to evoke Now.
15:32
Service professionals, are you listening?
15:34
Can you see how quarrel starts? Because I say it time and time
15:37
again. You have limited information.
15:40
You go and make a design according to your best
15:42
professional opinion. And of course your work is not
15:46
bad because even we just saw the red design.
15:48
The red design was sweet, but whether we like it or not, what
15:55
we have produced is not what the customer, what the client had in
15:58
their mind. But because you don't have a
16:00
sales process to even discover what the client is, is only
16:03
thinking to try and figure out what's on the client's chest.
16:06
This is how these quarrels begin and we can't keep blaming the
16:10
clients to say it is the client that does not know what she
16:14
wants. The problem is with you, the
16:17
business owner, you, the sales professionals.
16:19
You don't have a process for figuring out what does this
16:22
person want. So whenever you're making your
16:25
professional recommendation, whenever you're making your
16:27
design, you are just using idea. You the freestyle.
16:32
When you freestyle, it is hit and miss.
16:35
Sometimes you'll be on point, sometimes you won't.
16:38
So the red design is sweet, but for the client, when she sees
16:42
red, she thinks love, she thinks Valentine, and she thinks
16:45
Christmas. If you want to be going around
16:51
saying that the problem is your clients, well, no problem.
16:53
It's just that it won't help you when it needs to make money when
16:57
one of them needs to be right. So what should have Carol
17:02
Caroline, our design professional, what should she
17:05
have done? I've been saying these things so
17:09
many times on the podcast. Well, some of you, this is your
17:12
first time listening, but for those of you who've been
17:13
listening for a while, I'm sure you're tired of hearing me
17:16
saying it. But I will never be tired of
17:17
saying it because it's fundamental to sales.
17:23
It's fundamental to business. Cairo should have done
17:28
qualification and discovery. That is a part of the sales
17:33
process. When we're in conversation with
17:35
someone where we're asking questions about them, the person
17:39
and questions about the problem. When we do good qualification
17:42
and discovery, when we ask questions about the person,
17:45
questions about the problem, we're going to get all the
17:47
information that we need to design a good job, to do good
17:52
work, to make a correct proposal, to make an appealing
17:58
sales pitch. Also, most importantly, we'll
18:01
get all the information that we need so we can price them
18:03
accordingly. Because this thing also happens
18:05
where somebody will come and say this is what I want.
18:08
You say OK no problem, give me 250 K, the person was OK done,
18:12
they'll transfer you 250K. But by the time Queryl starts
18:16
everything back and forth, you now realize that I collected
18:19
250K but level of work that I've given actually 750K.
18:26
You would have known to charge the person 750K straight from
18:30
the beginning if you asked the right questions that you needed
18:34
to ask. So in this case, now let's stop
18:38
talking too much grammar. Let's look for some concrete
18:40
examples. What are the kind of questions
18:42
that Carol Caroline, our design professional, should have asked?
18:46
By the way, remember, that's not her real name.
18:48
I'm just, you know, making up names.
18:51
First of all, she's have asked questions to try to understand
18:54
the why. Why is this person coming to
18:56
meet me? That's why for some of you, I
18:59
say, look, sometimes the question is as simple as how can
19:02
I help you today? Some of you say that's a stupid
19:05
question. I'm a photographer, if somebody
19:09
comes to meet me, obviously the person wants photography.
19:12
I know it sounds stupid, but please trust me on this one.
19:16
For some of you, just simple, how can I help you?
19:20
Today is not a bad way of opening up the conversation.
19:24
I know it sounds stupid, but just give it a try.
19:29
Trust me, if you're not that brief, no problem.
19:33
The other things that Caro could have said, remember Cami, the
19:38
client, she came because she's planning sales drive.
19:41
Just use open-ended question. So Cami, tell me about this
19:46
upcoming sales drive. What is the main reason why
19:49
you're launching it? And then keep quiet.
19:51
Some of you say it's a stupid question that somebody who's
19:54
planning sales drive, are they not looking for money?
19:56
Yes, they're looking for money. But we need to know a couple of
19:58
things about this campaign. We need to get Cami the clients
20:02
to open up and to start talking the more she talks about the
20:07
campaign. About the customer, about her
20:09
goals, about her desires, about her wants, about was on her
20:13
mind, the greater the chance they'll be able to design
20:16
something sweet for her. Not sweet for us.
20:20
Because service professionals are the one that is sweet for us
20:24
or appropriate for us is not always the thing that the client
20:26
at the end of the day wants. So it's a simple question.
20:32
Tell me about this upcoming sales drive.
20:34
What's the main reason? What's the one thing you want a
20:39
potential customer to think? What do you want your customers
20:42
to feel when they see this new design?
20:44
Ask questions, learn about the target audience because if you
20:49
understand who this who the design is supposed to speak to,
20:52
you guess on kind ideas because there's some things that your
20:57
client will tell you that you say.
20:59
You know what? Based on who her audience is.
21:01
I should not be using red in this design at all because these
21:04
people will look at red and they'll think something.
21:07
I mean think about it. For Chinese people, red is, is
21:14
what's it called? Red is colour of progress and
21:16
good luck. Well, in some contexts, red
21:22
might mean danger. So you know, it depends.
21:25
What are you designing for? Are you designing for a Chinese
21:27
person? Why are you designing for
21:28
Nigerian people? You know all these Nollywood
21:32
films here, the DBR's shrine is always red that is there now.
21:37
OK, well, sometimes white. But you see it depends on who
21:40
you're designing for. So ask me the client who is the
21:47
primary audience for this campaign, who are you targeting?
21:50
Can you describe him in a few words?
21:51
I need to know who they are. So I know how to design this
21:54
thing because somebody who is designing campaign and they're
21:58
trying to target Nigerian men between the ages of 60 and 75 is
22:04
not the same kind of design you do if somebody's doing a
22:07
campaign, but they're targeting the primary audience of Nigerian
22:11
young women between the ages of 18 to 23.
22:14
The colors will be different, the font will be different.
22:21
Somebody can't just show up and say design this in show, no
22:23
problem, I got you. Then you now start designing
22:25
like you got who you don't know what's up.
22:27
Ask question first. Who's primary audience?
22:33
How do your customers see you now?
22:36
Or how do you want your customers to see you after this
22:39
campaign? What do you think is the biggest
22:41
problem or challenges that your customers, your target audience
22:44
are facing? How do you want us to address it
22:48
in this campaign? Ask, even though she says she
22:51
doesn't want to do brand work, still you can ask some questions
22:57
you're trying to figure out, you know, like the kind brand
23:01
identity that she has in mind or her vision.
23:05
It's OK. Even though you don't want us to
23:06
do brand work still. What would you say are the core
23:11
values of your brand or your own personal core values?
23:15
How does this factor into your business or how does all this
23:19
fit into your long term strategy?
23:22
This one is my favorite one. I've been asking since I was a
23:24
photographer. Can you share any example that I
23:30
can see about brands you admire or about particular ideas or
23:35
about particular aesthetics? I've always been asking that one
23:38
since I was a photographer. The reason why I ask is because
23:43
the client will show you some kind images and you, you know
23:46
that this image, this is not my style, I'm not doing.
23:50
And you know that you have to evade like around that time in,
23:56
in Niger, there was this time when, so it was almost like, it
24:02
was very brief. But you know, there was a time
24:04
when Nigerian brides were using dark lipstick looking almost
24:09
like not, not noodle. I'm saying dark like almost
24:13
blackish brown kind of colour. If it was traditional.
24:18
I understand because I know that like from like some Fulani
24:22
brides, I think like they use that kind of native kind of
24:26
lipstick. But I trained didn't last for
24:28
too long. And there's a friend of mine,
24:30
Alexa was a makeup artist. So I asked Alexa on there say if
24:33
somebody comes, I meet you and say this is the kind of lipstick
24:36
that she wants to do that, will you do it?
24:39
Alexa said no. I said why?
24:42
She said no, because I don't want my business to represent
24:44
this kind of thing. See, but it's the reason why I
24:46
ask somebody questions first. You don't ask this kind of
24:50
question. You show up on that day, you
24:52
bring red lipstick, you bring nude, you bring cream, you bring
24:56
everything. You better say no.
24:57
What we're going to do is we're going to do blackish brown.
25:00
It is there that you will not be quarrelling with the client.
25:03
So that's why for me, I like asking that question.
25:06
Any example that I can see, any visual collateral, I can see any
25:12
screenshots, any whatever that you admiring, Let me see you see
25:17
some kind of things, you know that you know what?
25:19
This job is not for me. And then there's some things
25:21
that you see, you say, based on what you show me.
25:25
I have some fantastic ideas. We can try like this.
25:27
We can try like this. So someone in Cairo's situation,
25:33
our designer Caroline should have been asking any visual
25:37
example, any collateral, any something you've seen before,
25:41
anything you designed before? Let's see, let me see what the
25:44
theme looks like now by asking all these kinds of questions.
25:49
In fact, this one reasons why I say we should do qualification
25:54
and discovery. We will stop being order takers.
25:56
Lots of you in your business, you're just order takers.
25:59
Hello, how can I serve you? What do you want?
26:01
OK, no problem. Your cost is 450,000 naira and
26:09
they deliver. That is just what they're
26:11
taking. You're not adding value to that,
26:14
to that situation at all, at all, at all at all.
26:17
For those of us who are service providers, we should try to be
26:20
strategic partners. This is the thing that makes
26:22
people to recommend us to somebody else because we seem
26:25
like we're a valuable resource. We're strategic partner.
26:28
You will not come across as a strategic partner if all you do
26:31
is just order taking. If it is fast food restaurant,
26:37
then sure, no problem. You can be an order taker.
26:39
Yes, hello. Welcome to Auntie Andrew of you.
26:42
What do you need we have on the menu here?
26:45
There's Marmoid, there's a Gucci, there's, you know,
26:47
there's how many rappers of a Gucci do you want?
26:49
How many diseases? Your money is 8K5.
26:52
Thank you very much. Please come back later.
26:57
Supposed to be strategic partners here.
27:01
By asking these kinds of questions, you're positioning
27:03
yourself as an expert. If you're a design specialist
27:09
asking these kinds of questions, you're positioning yourself as a
27:12
design professional. All the other people who are
27:15
order takers who just say, who are you available?
27:19
This is what I want to do. You now give them price sheets
27:24
to select the package that they want.
27:27
No, no, no, no, no, no. You're being an order taker.
27:29
Ask some questions, engaging conversation first, like this,
27:36
you get all the information that you need that will help you in
27:39
your design process, your recommendation process.
27:42
So you can see that even though the client has not done any
27:48
conscious brand work, it doesn't mean we still couldn't have gone
27:51
ahead with this, this job as it was.
27:56
So Carol, now Caroline, our design professional, was her
28:00
solution. She now changed the design and
28:04
she now made it a soft shade of brown and I won't lie, even the
28:08
brown one too. I think the brown 1 sweet, the
28:10
red one was sweet, the brown one was sweet.
28:12
She made a soft shade of brown and she even did this thing that
28:16
I marvel at you people who are Wizards when it comes to
28:19
Photoshop. She now changed the color of the
28:21
suit of the lady during the shoot and I made the theme, you
28:25
know, brown so that everything will now blend with the with the
28:28
design. You Photoshop people, you are
28:31
wonderful. And the result was now the
28:35
client was happy. However, there's a bigger
28:39
question because the client is happy.
28:41
Now, remember, this design is for sales.
28:44
What sales drive? Does it mean that the flyer is
28:48
going to deliver results for the sales campaign?
28:52
Anyway, let's wait and see. But The thing is, if you don't
28:56
engage in qualification and discovery, trust me, you don't
28:59
have all the information that you need to execute an effective
29:04
campaign. That you design something that
29:08
you like and add a client like that is good, does not mean that
29:11
the thing will be effective. If you didn't ask all the
29:14
questions, you don't have all the ammunition that you need.
29:20
And it's been 30 minutes. So let me just wrap it up here.
29:22
And then besides, I'm tired with late night recording.
29:25
So this is not just for design people though there are other
29:33
Nigerian service professionals who need this kind of thinking.
29:37
If you are a lawyer, you need this kind of thinking.
29:41
Somebody will come and meet you. And especially in Niger, you
29:44
think, yes, we need to go to court.
29:47
But if you sat down and you ask the person some correct
29:50
questions, you might realize that oh, in this case, what we
29:55
actually need is. So excuse me, you now realize
30:00
that look, in this case, what this person actually needs is
30:03
maybe they need you to first of all write a letter, cease and
30:05
deceased. Then maybe from there you now
30:07
swing into settlement, you know, mediation or something like
30:12
that. But you know, unless you try to
30:15
understand what the customer is going after, what their ultimate
30:18
goal is. And it's one problem that I had
30:21
when I was in legal practice and it's more thing caught, caught,
30:23
caught, caught. Yes, based on our training when
30:27
we were in university, that's the first thing we will always
30:32
think of. Somebody comes, the first thing
30:33
we'll think of is let's go to God.
30:36
Well, ask the person questions first.
30:37
I'm trying to figure out where they're coming from, where
30:39
they're heading to what they're trying to achieve.
30:43
So lawyers, you will need this kind of thinking.
30:45
Consultants, you need this kind of thinking too, but they're in
30:50
the management field, in human resources, in IT.
30:53
Like I remember very early when in undergraduate studies, we had
30:59
a consultant coming to talk to us on a couple of things in the
31:04
law student body. And then next in the consultant
31:08
started doing SWOT analysis. I say from where to where?
31:13
Sort analysis, just a tool, but for some reason, management
31:15
consultant, anytime you enter in the organization, you will just
31:18
bring out SWOT analysis like you like.
31:22
What are you sorting? Come and talk to people 1st and
31:26
figure out what's going on in the organization.
31:28
But the default Nigerian thing is any management consultant
31:31
that enters your office, the first thing they will do is
31:32
they'll bring chat. NASA doing SWOTT analysis,
31:35
strengths, weakness, opportunities, threat.
31:38
Yes, that is what they taught you people when you were
31:42
studying business management university.
31:44
It does not mean that every single person that you have to
31:47
come and talk to, you must be doing SWOT analysis.
31:51
Those of you in HR, those of you in IT, all of you consultants
31:55
sit down with somebody 1st and have a conversation with the
31:58
person before you come up with a plan.
32:02
As a consultant, my say coma implement software.
32:04
But by the time you do discovery, you ask them
32:07
questions, you realize that is not really software
32:11
implementation as the problem, that maybe it is the team's
32:14
structure. Maybe the team structure is
32:16
dysfunctional. There are some rules that they
32:18
don't have. That is why implementation,
32:20
implementation is a problem. Ask questions.
32:25
Those of you who are coaches ask questions.
32:29
Some may come and approach you. Your fitness court, don't coach,
32:33
don't want to lose weight, and you're just helping them lose
32:37
weight. But if you ask questions, you
32:38
might figure out that, you know, the guy just wants to feel as
32:41
if, like he just wants more energy when he's playing with
32:43
his children. Yeah.
32:44
Password. That's why I know.
32:47
Or maybe they're coming for school reunion.
32:50
They just want to look in shape or the baby is getting married
32:55
in six months time. In fact, for those of you who
33:01
have fitness coaches, you know the wedding oneself.
33:06
That's the one that is even even the best.
33:08
If you ask and you realize that oh, for her weight loss is not
33:14
really the go per SE, but she just wants to stay on her
33:16
wedding day. You will even know how to design
33:19
a good program for the bride that will help her snatch, you
33:23
know, Tommy flat, the one that needs to protrude the protrude,
33:28
the one that needs to retreat. We retreat you jaws, you
33:32
understand. But when you ask the question
33:34
that you'll be able to deliver the appropriate program because
33:39
if you don't say, oh, your goal is you want to lose weight.
33:42
OK, how many KG do you want to use?
33:43
20 KG And then you help the bride be help the lady and she
33:48
loses 25 KG with even 5 KG more but still she's not happy.
33:52
She doesn't recommend you. You now be saying Nigerian
33:55
customers, they don't know what they want.
33:57
The problem is not with the customer.
33:59
You didn't ask questions, you didn't know what she was trying
34:01
to achieve and because of that you didn't come up with a plan
34:04
that helped her achieve what she wanted to achieve.
34:06
So on paper, yes you achieved your goal.
34:08
She told you 20 KG by next month you got her down to you got her
34:15
to remove 25. But he didn't ask.
34:19
And because he asked, even though on paper you achieved the
34:24
right goal, still she was not happy because you didn't hit the
34:28
spot. You didn't know what what it was
34:30
that she needs photographers and videographers.
34:36
I am your brother, so I can speak directly to you people.
34:40
I came from you, you should be asking questions like somebody
34:47
that was angry that the person has for corporate shoot.
34:51
They went and they give corporate shoot.
34:53
Abby, by the end of the day, what the client had in mind was
34:57
do I try to do some kind marketing campaigns?
35:01
You know, The thing is the clients, they don't speak
35:05
photography language. So of course they came and say
35:09
give us corporate shoot because, you know, how else are they
35:13
going to describe it? But if you ask questions, I say,
35:16
oh, you know what what you're talking about.
35:19
Yeah, I know you called the corporate shoot.
35:20
But to be honest, in the light of this campaign will planning,
35:25
this is not the kind of photography that we should be
35:27
doing. Because when we say corporate
35:29
shoot, this is what we mean. You show them sample.
35:31
Those say, oh, no, no, no, no, this is not what I mean.
35:33
Say hey, based on what you said, I think these are the kind of
35:36
photos you mean you show them samples.
35:38
Oh, yes, exactly. This is what we mean that is all
35:43
will avoid those situations where somebody calls you for
35:45
photo shoot on paper you deliver a good job, but in the client is
35:50
still not happy. You didn't ask questions ask
35:53
questions about the purpose of the shoot.
35:55
What are we going to shoot this thing for?
36:00
If somebody just says come and shoot a picture of my of my
36:04
father. You don't just show up an issue
36:06
picture ask questions. Oh photo of your dad.
36:10
All right, sure. No problem.
36:11
Miss Popsy. So I've seen in town already.
36:13
He's staying with you. OK, cool.
36:15
Oh, by the way, what do you need the photo for?
36:17
Oh, really? Popsy is 2075.
36:20
Ah, you are blessed, my sister. You are blessed.
36:23
How we thank God. Many more, many more years
36:27
ahead. Daddy will live to see the
36:28
grandchildren and the great grandchildren.
36:30
And what do you people have planned?
36:32
Wood is going to be a party. You see, as they're talking,
36:35
you're getting idea, idea, idea, idea for this photo shoot.
36:41
You can be able to make some helpful recommendations.
36:43
So by the time you come and you take picture, you deliver,
36:47
they'll be over the moon. But as somebody who say come and
36:51
take a picture of my father, you just show up with your roller
36:54
banner, you roll it down, you just take picture like passport
36:58
style. You know, you do a good job with
37:00
the best of your ability. Then they're angry and saying
37:03
that junk customers don't know what they want.
37:05
The problem is not the customer. You didn't you don't have a
37:08
sales process. You didn't ask question
37:10
architects, material designers, it's the same thing.
37:14
See The thing is I can go on and on and on and on and on about
37:18
how our service professionals, Nigerian service professionals,
37:22
we need to have a sales process and a well thought out
37:24
qualification and discovery process where we ask people
37:28
questions to try and figure out who they are, what they want,
37:31
what they're trying to achieve, where they're running from,
37:33
where they're running to. We need to ask is this process
37:39
is important? I know I said, but let me repeat
37:47
it again. One reason again why sales
37:50
process is important is because if you don't have one, you come
37:54
across as an order taker. What we're trying to do is we're
37:58
trying to become a strategic partner.
38:01
That is when people refer us. So if you implement the sales
38:05
process, especially as a service professional, you prevent
38:09
misunderstanding. Lots of times misunderstanding,
38:13
it's not because Nigerian clients are confused, it's
38:15
because you, you didn't ask, you didn't know what they wanted.
38:18
I asked questions upfront. You reduce the risk of quarrel
38:22
in the future. It will also increase your
38:26
value. When you understand the true
38:27
problem, you can offer much more valuable solutions or
38:32
suggestions. And when you get in the habit of
38:36
doing that is the kind of thing that give you confidence to
38:38
start attracting higher fees because you know yourself, you
38:43
know the kind of results that you give people, the clients
38:47
will now be happy. So trust me, I know some of you
38:53
will not agree. The problem is not with the
38:55
client. The problem is not that the
38:57
client is confused. OK, well, yes, there's some
39:00
problem. Well, nobody's perfect.
39:01
So yes, there's some problem with the client because after
39:05
all, not all our clients in Nigeria and all of them have
39:07
sense. But the big responsibility lies
39:12
with us, your business owner, the service professional.
39:16
We need to come up with the sales process.
39:19
We need to think about the quality of conversations that
39:21
we're having and we need to think about the kind of
39:23
information that we tease out from people before we put pen to
39:27
paper to say, OK, I can do this job.
39:29
I'm going to charge you 850K. All right, it's been 45 minutes,
39:36
so let me bring today's episode to a close.
39:39
So that's it. And that's all for today.
39:41
Remember, if you'd love to connect, you can call, send me a
39:44
text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
39:50
Thanks for your time and attention.
39:52
I'll catch you next time. Same place in your headphones or
39:55
in your speakers.