Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / How to Turn Passersby into Customers: The Art of the "Pull"

Transcript

How to Turn Passersby into Customers: The Art of the "Pull" · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to the podcast.
• 0:02
  Today we're going to talk about how to start conversations in
• 0:06
  retail. Or if you own a retail shop and
• 0:10
  you have a sales boy or sales girl as we call them in this
• 0:12
  part of the world, how you can train them on how to start
• 0:16
  conversations in retail. Because when you have a retail
• 0:19
  establishment, when you have a shop in a place like City Plaza,
• 0:23
  Grand Square, you know, places in Abuja, let's see what else.
• 0:26
  OK, Spa Spa is a nationwide franchise.
• 0:30
  So is this spa? I mean, what's it called again?
• 0:33
  ShopRite. Yeah, ShopRite.
• 0:34
  So if you happen to have a retail outlet in any of these
• 0:37
  establishments, you know, there's lots of food, traffic,
• 0:39
  people are walking by the store. And sometimes you want to try
• 0:42
  and get people into the store so you can have a conversation
• 0:45
  because you never know, you might be able to get a sale that
• 0:48
  way. Because sometimes people walk
• 0:50
  into the shop because, you know, they come there because they
• 0:53
  want to buy something. And sometimes people walk in
• 0:56
  just because they, I mean, they walk by, they look through the,
• 0:59
  the glass window, you know, they're curious.
• 1:01
  So we're trying to have a conversation to bring them into
• 1:04
  the store. Now the reason why this is the
• 1:08
  topic I'd be the question that we're tackling today is because
• 1:12
  I happen to go by City Plaza, needed to buy AAA batteries and
• 1:18
  needed to buy some water. So OK, I was told they didn't
• 1:22
  the they don't sell water there, that's Seaway.
• 1:25
  So I put the Seaway bottles outside of the store.
• 1:27
  I went in, I got my AAA batteries and then I was
• 1:30
  leaving. Then as I was strolling now, I
• 1:33
  saw one of my long lost loves because back in the day when we
• 1:39
  moved to Lagos, when I was about 131213 ish at the time, there
• 1:44
  was one of my guys, one of my seniors, Benga, Benga
• 1:47
  Wellington, he's a lawyer now, was still in touch.
• 1:49
  So I noticed that he had this watch, it's called a Swatch.
• 1:54
  It's a Swiss watch. So you know, obviously Swatch
• 1:58
  and they make water resistant wristwatches.
• 2:01
  And I, I just fell in love with the brand back then, you know,
• 2:05
  as a little kid. And I just determined that I was
• 2:08
  only going to wear swatches. So I went for a very long time
• 2:12
  just wearing Swatch. If I'm not wearing Swatch, I'm
• 2:14
  wearing Casio. I was either Casio or Swatch or
• 2:18
  Shah. You know, those are the only two
• 2:19
  things you see on my wrist. Also because, you know, for
• 2:23
  swimming, for workouts, for exercise, you know, whatever, I
• 2:26
  wear my watch all the time. So that's how I fell in love
• 2:29
  with Swatch. But then, of course, you know,
• 2:31
  you grow up, you get more mature, you meet a girlfriend,
• 2:34
  you know, she starts trying to expand your horizons.
• 2:37
  And so my wife started buying me different kind of watches.
• 2:40
  So I think first she got me a police, police wristwatch.
• 2:44
  Then while we were dating, I decided to, you know, I decided
• 2:48
  to be promiscuous. That's why I moved on.
• 2:50
  I tried Cieco, I tried Cieco wristwatches.
• 2:53
  I tried what else? I tried a couple of things, you
• 2:57
  know, and you know, I was like that.
• 2:59
  But then by the time I first born, I was born, you know, I
• 3:02
  bought a Swatch again for me, for wifey.
• 3:05
  But then by the time we had the second kid, you know, anyway,
• 3:10
  Sharon, I'm just trying to think.
• 3:11
  I had been in a very long relationship with Swatch, as in
• 3:15
  like me and Swatch, you know, she's like my long lost love.
• 3:19
  So as I was leaving this place now and I saw a poster of a
• 3:27
  Swatch. Well, this one looked like it
• 3:30
  looked like a Casio, like AG shock.
• 3:32
  I was like Swatch. They're making this kind of
• 3:35
  wristwatch now, as in a very, very, you know, masculine,
• 3:39
  rugged, you know, not the simple kind of Swatch that we knew back
• 3:43
  in the day. So I said OK, no problem, let me
• 3:46
  just go and look. So as I was walking by now, I
• 3:50
  went to the glass section outside as I didn't enter the
• 3:55
  shop, I just walked by. I just walked past the front and
• 3:58
  then I went straight to the section where the kiddies
• 4:02
  watches were. And then next thing, the sales
• 4:06
  lady who was outside chilling with her friends, she said, hey,
• 4:09
  Olga, go inside now. And I said, no, no, thank you
• 4:11
  very much. And she said, Olga, he's free to
• 4:14
  look. He's free.
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  And then I started laughing. And then I went and I picked up
• 4:17
  my water bottles and then I left.
• 4:20
  So as I sat in the car and I said, OK, let me just make this
• 4:23
  podcast recording quick, quick, quick.
• 4:25
  Because if I get home first before I make this recording, I
• 4:27
  might forget. Oh, by the way, if this is your
• 4:29
  first time listening to the podcast, you're wondering who is
• 4:31
  this guy? My name is Tavishima Ayede.
• 4:33
  I'm a former lawyer turned business consultant, and all I
• 4:37
  do is talk about solving business problems, especially
• 4:40
  from a sales perspective. So we figure out how to grow
• 4:43
  revenue over here on the podcast and we figure out how to do that
• 4:46
  one conversation at a time. Having a conversation with one
• 4:50
  contact, 1 prospect, one potential customer, one
• 4:54
  potential, you know, whatever it is you call them in your line of
• 4:57
  business, we see how we can grow our revenues one conversation at
• 5:00
  a time. And of course, this girl that
• 5:03
  said, OK, go inside now, I'll clap for her.
• 5:06
  She did well because most sales boys or sales girls as we call
• 5:10
  them in this part of the world, they're outside.
• 5:13
  If somebody walks by and looks and the person leaves, they
• 5:16
  don't say anything. They're in their mind.
• 5:18
  They'll say if the guy's interested, he, you know, he
• 5:21
  will buy. By the way, sales boys and sales
• 5:24
  girls listening, this is the reason why you are underpaid.
• 5:28
  This is the reason why your orga looks at you as a lowly
• 5:31
  somebody, because you add no value to the business.
• 5:35
  They hire you, they put you there.
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  Your own mind view is that you know if they want it, they will
• 5:42
  buy. So because of that, you don't go
• 5:44
  to do anything extra to get people into the store.
• 5:48
  Your orga is looking, your Madam is looking.
• 5:51
  They can't see you. As far as they're concerned,
• 5:54
  you're just like a seat woman. So therefore that's the reason
• 5:57
  why they pay you cheap. If organ and Madam see that you
• 6:02
  have some initiative. I mean, what do you think they
• 6:06
  will elevate your profile or you man, you can even make an
• 6:09
  argument that Madam, by the time I joined the shop as a junior
• 6:13
  somebody, this is how much we are doing average on a monthly
• 6:16
  something. But then when Cammy left the
• 6:18
  shop and I became head of the show floor because of one or two
• 6:22
  things where they do to bring customers in.
• 6:24
  Madam, you can see how we have moved from 800K every single
• 6:27
  month. We're now doing like 1.7.
• 6:30
  Madam, I beg it's time for a pay raise.
• 6:33
  You can make the argument and then of course, remember Olga
• 6:38
  Madam, they're always looking. They can't see you.
• 6:41
  So as you see it, they will know that you know what this person
• 6:46
  actually is better than chemi that left because truly, truly,
• 6:50
  as I said, as as this person came in, we have seen a rise in
• 6:54
  profits. So you can see how even if
• 6:58
  you're a lonely somebody on the totem pole, they don't rate you
• 7:01
  in the shop and they pay you anyhow.
• 7:03
  You can see how you can use sales skills to better your
• 7:05
  life. Now The thing is this, even if
• 7:07
  your OGA or your Madam does not agree to a pay raise, right?
• 7:11
  But from listening to this podcast or learning other things
• 7:14
  on YouTube or you know, whatever, or from reading PDFs
• 7:17
  online, you're able to learn one or two things and become a
• 7:20
  better salesperson than that. It is possible that by the time
• 7:24
  you move to another organization you can come in at, even if you
• 7:30
  come in at the same pay scale, who knows, you might be able to
• 7:33
  get, you might be able to argue for a higher salary later on.
• 7:39
  So summary what I'm trying to say is the fact that that that
• 7:45
  Lady let me not say girl again so that nobody works.
• 7:49
  So the fact that that Lady looked at me and said Olga go
• 7:51
  inside now. I'll clap for her.
• 7:53
  She tried because that particular tactics Olga go
• 7:57
  inside now or mommy go inside. Now.
• 8:01
  The thing is, if you ask 10 people go inside now you never
• 8:04
  know, 2 might enter and all the two that enter, who knows, one
• 8:08
  might buy. It's better than just staying
• 8:10
  outside. You don't say anything and
• 8:13
  people just walk on by. So very good.
• 8:16
  OK, I'll go and enter. Very good.
• 8:19
  Oh, by the way, I forgot. If you'd like to get in touch
• 8:21
  with me, you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp
• 8:23
  message on 08064662140. Yeah, I'm free like that.
• 8:30
  I'd like to have conversations with people.
• 8:32
  So just let me know you have any questions you have any comments
• 8:34
  you have, any queries, reach out to me.
• 8:36
  If there's something that I, I've said on this particular
• 8:39
  episode that is not clear, let me know so I can come back and
• 8:42
  make a clarifying episode. Or you can also find me on
• 8:46
  LinkedIn. Then if you're getting value
• 8:48
  from this, subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, Apple or any player of
• 8:54
  your choice. So where was I now?
• 8:58
  So I gotta go inside now. Yes, we will give her some
• 9:01
  marks. We'll clap for her.
• 9:03
  But The thing is, OK, go inside now is not the most effective
• 9:07
  things you could have done. Now, lots of people don't know
• 9:10
  that the most effective thing that we can do when we are in
• 9:15
  retail actually is we try and spark conversations.
• 9:18
  We try and draw people into conversations.
• 9:22
  So if you own a shop in City Plaza, in Grand Square, in
• 9:28
  ShopRite, in Spa, in whatever you have one particular corner
• 9:33
  where you sell baby's clothes or where you sell wristwatches or
• 9:38
  where you sell computers or where you sell, you know,
• 9:41
  whatever it is because you know how these shops are partitioned.
• 9:44
  The best thing you're trying to do actually is to pull somebody
• 9:47
  into a conversation. So if you have a small corner of
• 9:54
  City Plaza and and you sell computer accessories because
• 9:57
  there's a place there that sell computer accessories and the
• 10:00
  gentleman walks in, what most of them do I notice they just come
• 10:04
  and stand next to you and then they don't say anything.
• 10:07
  Can you guys stop that, please? It's kind of unnerving.
• 10:11
  Anyway, let me talk about that later on.
• 10:13
  So we'll just go and stand there and they don't say anything.
• 10:15
  The trick is to try and engage somebody in a conversation.
• 10:18
  When you engage the person in the conversation and people
• 10:20
  start talking, you'll be able to know that the person standing
• 10:23
  here is the person curious, do they actually have a need?
• 10:26
  Do they want to buy something or are they just walking through?
• 10:30
  And then you'll be able to deal with them accordingly.
• 10:33
  So the goal is to pull somebody into a conversation.
• 10:37
  Now back to what this lady said. Olga, go inside now.
• 10:41
  We'll give her marks. Good.
• 10:42
  But what are more effective ways to start off from a
• 10:45
  conversation? How about good morning, Sir?
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  Would you like to come inside? See it's that is a better
• 10:55
  invitation. Another one is this.
• 10:59
  I'm standing next to the Swatch window and I'm standing next to
• 11:03
  the children's section. Now, because of how things work
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  in this part of the world, it will be OK for her to actually
• 11:07
  walk out to me and say, OK, good morning.
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  No, ASA, good morning. How are you doing, ASA?
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  ASA, how many children do you have in this part of the world?
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  It's OK. I'm standing next to a display.
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  The display is for children's wristwatches.
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  It is OK for her to assume that I have kids and start on that
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  level. You never know which way the
• 11:26
  thing can go. I said, oh, I have two kids, but
• 11:28
  actually it's not because of them that I'm studying here.
• 11:30
  I said, OK, Sir, how are you thinking about trying this
• 11:34
  watch? Have you thought about using
• 11:36
  this watch before? Now she can ask that kind of
• 11:38
  question because obviously I am not wearing a Swatch anymore and
• 11:43
  you know, she can see that. So those of you who sell stuff,
• 11:46
  you know, like this, you have to be sharp, you know, quick on the
• 11:49
  draw to size people up. So since I'm not wearing this
• 11:54
  watch, she could have started, Sir, the question could have
• 11:56
  been, am I, do I want to try out this watch or am I willing to
• 12:00
  consider this watch? Now that would have gone into
• 12:02
  that whole conversation about how, oh, actually I used to use
• 12:05
  this watch and I haven't used to buy from the shop.
• 12:08
  And then, you know, this part of the world, Niger, she kind of
• 12:11
  said, hey, Olga, So what happened now?
• 12:13
  Why did you stop buying from us? Remember, sales has to be
• 12:19
  conversational. We can't sell anything unless
• 12:22
  we're having conversations with people.
• 12:24
  Oh, and by the way, all these suggestions I'm making, I'm
• 12:26
  making them within the Nigerian context.
• 12:28
  So if you're in retail in the UK, you know, don't try some of
• 12:30
  this stuff that I'm saying. But in Nigeria, in this part of
• 12:33
  the world, it is absolutely OK for a sales girl in quote to
• 12:37
  walk up to somebody who is standing at a display where
• 12:40
  their children's things being sold and to ask is and to say
• 12:43
  good morning Sir, good morning Madam, you know, how many
• 12:46
  children do you have? It's not rude in this part of
• 12:48
  the world. But either way, what I'm just
• 12:51
  trying to show you is that or what?
• 12:53
  What I'm trying to stress is that we cannot sell something
• 12:57
  unless we draw people into a conversation, especially in this
• 13:00
  retail context. So those of you who are trying
• 13:05
  to get people to come into your shop or to get people to come
• 13:08
  into Madam shop who clap for you, you are doing well.
• 13:12
  But just remember the way you should try and do is you try and
• 13:14
  look for ways to be conversational, to draw people
• 13:17
  into a conversation. And from there you might be able
• 13:20
  to figure out if somebody is curious, if someone is
• 13:24
  interested or if someone has an active need.
• 13:27
  So if she tries more things like that, would you like to come
• 13:30
  inside? How long, how long have you been
• 13:35
  thinking of trying this watch? Is this your first time of
• 13:38
  coming through the store? Let me see, what else can I say?
• 13:43
  What else can I say? OK, maybe the particular section
• 13:48
  where the person is standing, all the models there are maybe
• 13:53
  black and purple. But then you notice that the
• 13:56
  gentleman standing there likes to wear lots of tan colours.
• 13:59
  You know, that can also be a conversation starter.
• 14:00
  So, oh, if you like, Sir, I could show you some of these
• 14:04
  models in brown and grey and blah, blah, blah and take it
• 14:10
  from there. So of course, I'm sure you guys
• 14:12
  have noticed that there's some level of assumption going on
• 14:14
  there and it's perfectly normal in one to 1 normal human
• 14:19
  conversation. You know, if you're being
• 14:21
  assumptive, people would like what's up with this guy now,
• 14:23
  this guy to forward. But when it comes to sales, it's
• 14:26
  not a problem. Everybody knows I'm in a shop,
• 14:29
  everybody knows I'm in a market. So if somebody shows up and is
• 14:33
  being assumptive, it's not a problem.
• 14:34
  We kind of expected. So for those of you who own
• 14:38
  shops and you don't want to be too forward, relax, the rules
• 14:42
  here are kind of different. If you're being assumptive here
• 14:44
  is not a problem at all. In fact, it's kind of expected
• 14:48
  that if I'm standing in the shop and I'm standing in the
• 14:50
  children's section, it's kind of expected that one of the sales
• 14:55
  attendance or the whatever or the owner of the shop will come
• 14:58
  to me and try to get me to buy something or try to help me out.
• 15:04
  So now let's see. OK, 15 minutes.
• 15:07
  What was I trying to say anyway? Let me just wrap it up like
• 15:11
  this. If you are a lowly paid sales
• 15:16
  boy in quote, that's what we call them in this part of the
• 15:18
  world or sales girl in quote. You can improve your lot by
• 15:22
  listening to podcasts like this, by watching YouTube videos like
• 15:27
  this, by looking for stuff online to learn how to be a much
• 15:30
  more effective salesperson. If you do that, you obviously
• 15:37
  will be adding a lot more to the bottom line of the establishment
• 15:41
  where you work. Nigerian employers are typically
• 15:46
  more appreciative than employers in other parts of the world
• 15:49
  because here everything is informal.
• 15:51
  There's not too much red tape. I told you guys in the previous,
• 15:55
  OK, not the previous one, but an old podcast episode about how if
• 15:58
  it is America and you want to ask your guy, you know, for a
• 16:01
  raise, you know, it's a formal something.
• 16:03
  You will involve HR, you will do this.
• 16:05
  You write letter you as in the whole thing is a long story, but
• 16:09
  in Nigeria, you can actually say Oga, Oga, I know you try for us
• 16:12
  and Oga will say, come on, what do you mean by that?
• 16:14
  Say Oga? See now that since I started
• 16:16
  here, I've been here 8 months, look at how profit has been
• 16:19
  growing from this this this and that that Oga, you can't even
• 16:21
  bless your boy. Will it be too much if you add
• 16:25
  like 75 K to my salary? Like you know, it's Nigel, you
• 16:29
  can have that kind of informal conversation, no red tape, no
• 16:32
  human resources, no wanting wanting.
• 16:34
  It won't become a very official. You can just have that kind of
• 16:37
  conversation, you know, 2-3 times, you know Olga laughs
• 16:40
  about it. You ask for 75 K.
• 16:42
  You know who knows maybe he will now, you know add 3550 K to your
• 16:47
  salary. It's better than nothing then,
• 16:52
  if you are trying to bring people into the shop.
• 16:55
  For those of you who say looking is free, Organto Madame calm
• 17:01
  inside. That's all right, but rather try
• 17:04
  and look for ways to draw them into a conversation so you can
• 17:06
  figure out if this person is curious, just walking by, or
• 17:11
  maybe they have an actual need. Then you'll be able to have a
• 17:14
  conversation with them. You'll be able to help them, and
• 17:17
  you will be able to. You might be able to get a few
• 17:20
  of them to buy. So yeah, that's it.
• 17:24
  That's the reason why I hopped on the microphone today.
• 17:28
  So like I said, if you would like to get in touch, you have
• 17:32
  questions, you have comments, you have queries, then you can
• 17:34
  call or send me a text message or WhatsApp message on
• 17:37
  08064662140. Also remember newest training
• 17:45
  going on right now, OK, well not right now, but pretty soon on
• 17:49
  how to start your business in three easy steps.
• 17:52
  Especially for those of you who are multi potentialates, multi
• 17:55
  hyphenates, multi creative, multi passionate, multi serial
• 17:59
  entrepreneur, you know, whatever it is you will call yourself.
• 18:02
  But basically there are some of you who have 456 different
• 18:05
  business ideas, but you're not making a single cover from any
• 18:08
  of them. So that's the whole point of
• 18:09
  this training. So reach out, let's have a chat.
• 18:12
  Let's help you select the right idea out of these 345 ideas that
• 18:17
  you have possibly for a business.
• 18:19
  Let's pick the right idea. Then let us validate the idea.
• 18:22
  Let us show that there's market demand that people are willing
• 18:25
  to pay for this product, for this service, for this idea, for
• 18:29
  this, whatever it is that you're working on.
• 18:31
  Then after that, let's come up with a selling system so that
• 18:34
  not only can you close sales now you can get people to come back
• 18:38
  and buy again. And you also will be able to get
• 18:40
  people to refer business to you in the future because when it
• 18:45
  comes to sales, it's a long game.
• 18:48
  I'm not just trying to collect money from somebody today.
• 18:51
  I want the person to be so happy that they'll come back again
• 18:54
  next month, next three months, another five months.
• 18:59
  And if we have a good relationship by the end of the
• 19:01
  year, I want them to send three or four people my way.
• 19:04
  That is how we're going to start seeing explosive business growth
• 19:08
  when everybody's happy and we don't have to be hustling and
• 19:11
  selling so much because people are bringing people our way.
• 19:17
  Yeah, so that's it. Again, if you'd like to connect
• 19:20
  with me on LinkedIn, my name is Tavish, and you can find it in
• 19:22
  the show notes. So thank you very much for your
• 19:24
  time and attention. I'll catch you all some other
• 19:26
  time.