Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Why 3 Months Without a Deal Isn't Always a Failure

Transcript

Why 3 Months Without a Deal Isn't Always a Failure · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:00
Hello and welcome. If this is your first time
0:03
listening to the podcast, this is a Part 2.
0:06
So this is not going to be and if this is your first time of
0:09
listening, you're catching us midway in a set of discussions.
0:14
We're having a three-part series on how to deal with general poor
0:19
performance. That's if you are a salesperson,
0:21
you sell on behalf of someone else.
0:24
So if you are an employee and you have an auger and your guy
0:31
is holding you to certain standards that you have to sell
0:35
X amount every single month or X number of customers and you're
0:38
suffering with general poor performance, you know, these are
0:40
the sorts of things that we are dealing with now.
0:44
So if this is the first time listening to the podcast, after
0:47
you're done listening to this, go and listen to the episode
0:50
that came immediately before this so that you will get the
0:54
fuller picture, the background. Now, the guy that we're talking
0:57
about, we're going to call him Fresh Prince.
1:00
And of course, that's not his real name.
1:03
Sorry. Excuse me.
1:04
So Fresh Prince sells roofing sheets, Abhi.
1:07
Yeah, sells roofing sheets for his employer in Lagos.
1:10
He's been having general power performance and he's been
1:13
dealing with one troublesome client in particular.
1:16
So this set of three, this is episode Abhi.
1:21
This is Part 2. After Part 2, there's going to
1:24
be a Part 3. The reason why I broke it up
1:26
into a three-part series is so that we don't take up too much
1:29
time with any particular with anyone episode per SE.
1:33
So in the last episode, we looked at some of the things
1:36
that we can use to diagnose why people are performing poorly in
1:42
sales, why you're not selling well.
1:44
And some of the things we looked through yesterday were perhaps
1:49
you're not selling well because you're targeting the wrong
1:50
people. You're not talking to the right,
1:54
you're not talking to the right prospects, you're not talking to
1:55
quality people. So if you're talking to people
1:58
and those people are not quality, you understand what I'm
2:00
saying. In Nigeria context, you know
2:03
when you say that this is a quality guy, this is a quality
2:05
babe, you know, it means that the person is interested, the
2:08
person has money, It's something that the the person wants right
2:12
now. They're ready to take action and
2:14
the person can indeed take action and transfer the money at
2:19
the end of the day. So that's all mean when we're
2:20
talking about quality people. So if you're not talking to
2:22
quality people, you can't get the quality deal at the end of
2:25
the day. Then we also spoke about other
2:27
skills that are necessary to move the deal forward like
2:30
advancements. Advancements just means you're
2:33
able to get the person to take the next step.
2:34
Both of you agree on what the next step is going to be.
2:37
And we also looked at different kinds of conversation frameworks
2:40
that you will need to help sell or move the business
2:45
relationship forward. Because at the end of the day,
2:48
selling is relationship and selling is conversation.
2:50
So you have to be good at both and you can't be good at either
2:55
if you don't have a framework that is guiding you through.
2:59
So those are some of the things that we looked at yesterday, but
3:02
yesterday's episode was a long one, I think close to 15
3:04
minutes. So after listening to this, go
3:06
listen to that and yeah, you get caught up to speed.
3:10
OK, so like we said yesterday in our Fresh Prince, the guy hasn't
3:14
closed the deal, a deal in three months.
3:18
Now the question now becomes, is that bad in itself because you
3:24
started work for someone else? You haven't closed the deal in
3:26
three months. Does that mean it's a bad thing?
3:29
The answer is it depends. It depends on the typical sales
3:32
cycle. The sales cycle is just the
3:37
length of time between, oh boy, how far, good morning, Sir, you
3:41
know, blah, blah, blah. And the person now transfers you
3:45
money, anything in between. Good morning, Sir.
3:49
Do you have this available? How much?
3:50
And then the person transfers money.
3:52
That is called the sales cycle. So I have a Bluetooth keyboard
3:57
that I'm using with this phone right now.
4:00
The sales cycle for the length of the Bluetooth keyboard is
4:02
very short. You enter into the shop so boy
4:05
how how far now I bet you get 1 keyboard where I define which
4:09
kind of keyboard. I don't know shy because you
4:12
know it look like this look like this I'm using you know my phone
4:16
blah blah blah. So you mean this kind of
4:17
keyboard hand this kind of keyboard how much 20K20K on top
4:21
keyboard blah blah blah blah blah back and forth back and
4:25
forth. Well if you don't like this you
4:26
don't like this one you get this chinko one.
4:29
See this one here 7575 where I give me for 6K6K blah blah.
4:33
You know I'll go back and forth. Shall you give the person 5K?
4:38
In that case sales cycle is 5 minutes because the gap between
4:44
oh boy how far and you transfer 5K was just 5 minutes.
4:50
That's the sales cycle for Bluetooth keyboard.
4:53
Now, the sales cycle for a car is different.
4:56
Good morning. I'm looking for Toyota Corolla.
4:58
Something, something. So.
4:59
OK, well, we don't have the. But we have this one.
5:01
Or let me see, is it accidental? Is it Belgium?
5:03
Is it America? Is it whatever?
5:05
Yeah. OK.
5:06
How much? Maybe like this, you know?
5:08
OK. Are they come?
5:10
Then the person will go. Then the person will come back
5:12
again. Maybe next week.
5:14
This time he will come with maybe his brother or his wife.
5:17
And then they'll look at the car again.
5:18
Babe, this was the car I was showing you.
5:20
Something, something, something we can do, test drive and show
5:23
now. No problem, the entire ADO test
5:24
drive will come back and the person will say, you know, I'm
5:28
interested. This price that you called, you
5:30
know, is too expensive. But you know what, let me come
5:33
back with my mechanic. They will go and the guy will
5:35
come back again with the mechanic.
5:37
But long and short is if you want to buy a Bluetooth
5:40
keyboard, sales cycle, 5 minutes Max, OK, maybe 1020 minutes for
5:46
people who like to price. If you want to buy a car, sales
5:49
cycle could be two weeks, could be 3 weeks.
5:53
So the length of time between good morning, Sir, somebody
5:56
sliding into your DM, somebody walking into your shop, somebody
6:01
sending you an e-mail, somebody responding to your advertising
6:04
campaign, the gap between that and when they transfer the
6:07
money, that is what we call sales cycle.
6:10
So whether you close a deal in three months, whether it's good
6:13
or bad depends on your sales cycle.
6:15
If you're selling something and the sales normal sales cycle is
6:19
2 years, the fact that you've not closed the deal in three
6:22
months, it doesn't mean anything.
6:25
Hope you guys are following me. If normally it takes 2 years to
6:29
close this kind of deal and then it's three months, you haven't
6:32
closed anything. OK, well, why are you worrying
6:34
why you live here? You're anxious.
6:36
OK, let's see if there's any reason for for for your anxiety.
6:40
It normally takes 2 years to close these kind deals.
6:42
So in three months, maybe you're not supposed to be shaking like
6:47
that. So not closing a deal in itself
6:50
in three months is not necessarily a bad sign.
6:53
But the reason why I'm bringing this up is because lots of
6:55
Nigerian employers don't look at things this way.
7:00
You bring somebody in, let's say it's a real estate firm, and
7:04
let's say for that particular real estate firm, their sales
7:07
cycle are typically maybe like 8 months before they sell a plot
7:11
of land. But then, you know, two months
7:14
in, you're shouting at the sales staff that he hasn't closed any
7:18
deal. Realistically speaking, excuse
7:22
me, realistically speaking, if your sales cycle is usually 8 to
7:25
9 months, you know, why are you shouting at the guy for not
7:27
closing any deal in two months? You should be having the
7:30
conversation. OK, young man.
7:33
Yes, sales cycles are typically 8 months, But in months two, we
7:37
expect to see certain signs of progress.
7:40
We expect to see certain kinds of meetings booked.
7:43
We expect to see a certain number of side visits.
7:46
We expect to see a number of this and above that.
7:49
So you as the employer, you as the founder, you as the business
7:53
owner, you should know your sales cycle.
7:55
Then you should also know the key metrics, I'll be what they
7:59
call the KPI's. I have the key performance
8:01
indicators, the kind of things that you expect to see in people
8:04
who close deals and then you hold the person to that.
8:07
So if a sales deal takes 8-9 months to close, but, and then
8:15
for most people who close deals, you know, maybe like 8 or 9
8:17
months, you know, usually, let's say by months, do you expect
8:20
that they would have done maybe like 10 site visits?
8:22
And then there's somebody in the office who has only done one
8:24
site visit in two months. OK, then there's room for
8:27
quarrel because you can now see that, OK, this guy know they
8:31
match up. He know they keep up by this
8:34
stage would have expected that he would have done 10 site
8:37
visits, but he has only done one.
8:39
OK, now there's a problem. But whether you close in three
8:44
months, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, it depends
8:47
on the typical sales cycle. So the sales cycle is going to
8:51
depend on the number of factors. It's going to depend on the
8:53
industry, it's going to depend on the skill set of the person,
8:57
what else, you know, the different conventions that you
8:59
have at the time and also on and on and on.
9:01
So it depends really. It depends because like in the
9:06
West, for instance, let's say like in America and in the UK,
9:09
there are people who enter a car shop today and they will buy a
9:13
car today. But that's UK.
9:16
In Nigeria that is not going to happen.
9:19
Nobody is going to go to a car lot today and look at the car
9:22
for the first time today and then transfer money in food
9:25
today. You know, so things are
9:28
different in America. It happens.
9:30
Somebody walks in today, the person will walk out with a
9:33
brand new car today. In Nigeria, we're not there yet.
9:39
So sales cycle for closing a car in America, different sales
9:43
cycle for closing car sales in Nigeria, different.
9:47
Maybe the sales cycle for closing a car sales a car, a car
9:51
sale in Ethiopia or Australia, you know, maybe it might be
9:53
different or so it depends. But three months doesn't
9:57
necessarily mean that it's a bad thing.
9:58
I need to have a conversation with you to try and figure out
10:01
like what's going on, what's a difficult sales cycle.
10:03
So I did some fooling around online and it looks like in this
10:07
part of the world, again, remember I did some fooling
10:10
around online. So please go and verify these
10:12
figures for yourself if you are in the roofing industry because
10:16
I am not the professional when it comes to roofing.
10:18
I'm just the professional when it comes to sales, closing
10:22
deals, moving things forward. OK, so it looks like when it
10:26
comes to residential buildings, you know, one man, you want to
10:31
put a roof on your house, It looks as if, looks as if a
10:34
roofing deals can be closed, you know, in anything between two to
10:37
six weeks. And when I saw it, I was like,
10:39
yeah, I think that kind of makes sense because like for Mumsy's
10:41
house, when they were building Mumsy's house, because we didn't
10:44
trust the quality of materials in Makuti, where Mumsy lives, we
10:48
bought the materials here in Abuja.
10:50
And you know, I'm here in Abuja. So I went to Builders Market
10:53
myself and yeah, it was about, yeah, it was about two weeks.
10:57
I went, I met a couple of people, you know, made a few
11:01
phone calls, did small research, no blah, blah, blah.
11:04
You know, 2-3 weeks later the roofing sheets were in Makuti so
11:08
that we can use our mumsy's house.
11:09
So I think that sounds about correct.
11:12
So if you're selling roofing sheets and you're selling in the
11:16
residential sector, you haven't sold anything in three months,
11:18
then yeah, there is a serious problem.
11:22
Because on a normal, normal, the deal should be closing anything
11:25
between two to six weeks. So if you're selling
11:27
residential, which is normally two to six weeks, you haven't
11:30
sold in three months or more days.
11:31
Serious problem. So yesterday's episode now
11:34
becomes more important. Let us start looking.
11:36
Are you talking to the right people?
11:38
Are you talking to quality people?
11:39
OK, you're talking to quality people.
11:41
Do you know how to gain advancements?
11:42
Do you know how to move the conversation forward?
11:46
Do you know how to build rapport?
11:47
Do you know how to build credibility?
11:50
Do you have any conversation framework, Abby?
11:52
Every time you go, your jaws chatting with them freestyle.
11:58
Do you know how to close? We need to start looking at some
12:00
fundamental issues. We now need to figure out that
12:02
OK, isn't supposed to close six weeks Max, but meanwhile 3
12:06
months we've not seen anything. Why?
12:07
Yeah, let us start figuring out what is going on then.
12:11
From what I found online, it looks like when it comes to
12:14
large scale commercial, is there anything between 3:00 to six
12:16
months? And I think that kind of makes
12:18
sense, like if somebody is building a small estate or
12:21
something, you know, you shop around, you want to get some
12:25
prices, you have to you make that on the a bid a a high down
12:32
all I put it now like you make it like a high volume bid.
12:35
You try and play two or three contractors off of each other.
12:38
So I think three to six months maybe sounds just about right.
12:42
So in that case, if you're selling large scale commercial
12:46
products, you haven't closed the deal in three months.
12:48
Yeah, it may be a bad thing. It might not be a bad thing if
12:51
you haven't closed in three months and let's say in that
12:55
three months you haven't even done plenty site inspections or
12:59
plenty visits. People haven't even come into
13:01
the office. OK, yeah, in that case then
13:02
there's a problem because it's been 3 months, we've not even
13:05
seen any activity, as if you're even doing something to try and
13:09
sell. So in that case, there may be a
13:11
problem. Then for government contracts, I
13:16
wasn't able to find the time, but you know, we're in Nigeria.
13:19
You know how things can be in Nigeria.
13:22
In fact, I was talking to someone who is in the NGO space
13:26
and he's trying to secure an Mou with a government department,
13:30
Mou memorandum of understanding. They're supposed to organize a
13:34
festival of youth and something, something in Abuja.
13:37
And then they started this process a while ago, but you
13:40
know that now everybody is in election fever.
13:43
So he's as if the the the project now just hang the team,
13:48
just hook. Are we going forward?
13:50
Well, we don't know. Are we going back for we don't
13:52
know because, you know, the politics is in the air.
13:55
So, you know, then they wait, you know, OK, primary, this
13:57
thing, this thing, you know, president will be here, party
14:00
chairman, this, that that. So all these things have just
14:02
slowed the thing down. So I'm surprised if, you know,
14:08
if it's a government contract then for roofing sheets, you
14:11
know, maybe a government building project or something.
14:13
I'm surprised if you know, we can't take one year or two years
14:16
or whatever because these things happen.
14:19
First of all, you will do appreciation in quote, if you
14:22
know what I mean. You will see people you have to
14:24
kiss us up and down. You have to show appreciation
14:27
and then the all you know anyway.
14:29
So if it's government contract, bottom line, what I'm just
14:33
trying to say is it depends. Are you selling residential?
14:37
Are you selling large scale commercial or are you selling
14:39
roof sheets to government projects?
14:41
That will determine whether closing in three months is good
14:43
or closing in three months is bad.
14:49
But there's one thing that lots of Nigerian business people,
14:55
business owners, sales people don't pay attention to when I
14:59
say right, that the way you sell is the distinguishing factor
15:03
because lots of people try to distinguish themselves first of
15:06
all by price. You know, let me be the cheapest
15:07
or whatever. And then some people try to
15:10
distinguish themselves by packaging.
15:12
You know, let my website be fine, let my dressing be good,
15:14
let me speak with one, blah, blah, blah.
15:16
Yeah, all of that is important. Price and packaging is
15:18
important. But people forget that the way
15:21
you sell in itself also is a distinguishing factor.
15:26
The way you sell will set you apart as a professional above
15:32
other people. Let me explain.
15:39
I keep on talking about and I mentioned in the last episode
15:42
how you need to do need analysis or qualification or discovery.
15:48
How you go about doing your need analysis can set you apart as a
15:51
professional and can make people trust you.
15:54
So for someone who is in the roofing sheet space, you should
15:58
be using your diagnostic process to build trust.
16:02
The way you diagnose the whole thing, the way you try and
16:04
figure out who is this person, what kind of roofing sheets do
16:07
they need, what kind of problems do you have?
16:09
The very way you go about diagnosing the problem should
16:13
build trust. For instance, how do I do this,
16:21
for instance, OK, since it's roofing sheets, now you need to
16:23
know angle of elevation. You need to know square meter,
16:27
square meter, the square meter that you know, you know, you
16:29
need to know all these sorts of things.
16:31
Now there are some people like when I went were looking for
16:34
roofing sheets, There's some people who just said that, oh,
16:38
that mumsy can just send the is this survey plan or something?
16:43
Then they will now use the survey plan and then engage and
16:47
then rely on that to give a quote.
16:51
Then there's some other people who will say, you know what
16:54
survey plan, like, how do I put it?
16:58
You know, when you're trying to build, the architect will design
17:00
something. But then when you start
17:01
building, you know, things change.
17:02
So sometimes, especially in Niger, what you have on the
17:06
architect sheets on the survey plan or whatever does not fully
17:10
match, define out something because like even Muncie's house
17:13
was, you know, was the same thing beside the building.
17:16
And after a while, you know what, these rooms are too small,
17:18
you know, dorm like this dorm like that, you know, and then
17:21
things change. So there's some people who
17:22
insist that let me go and see the building and let me do
17:27
actual measurements for myself so that don't be any go calm
17:32
that once we agree, we negotiate and I send over the roofing
17:34
sheets. It is exactly what it is that
17:37
you need. The guy we ended up going with
17:40
eventually, of course, since the building is in Makuti, he asked
17:43
for the layout. He asked for all those paper,
17:47
paper things as I send it so that he can look and then do his
17:50
own calculation. But then he also said snap
17:53
picture, let me see. When he saw the picture, he said
17:57
no, no, no, this thing, it can't be correct.
18:00
I don't know how. Maybe it's because, you know,
18:02
after a while building people just get an eye for certain
18:04
things. Once he saw the picture, I said,
18:05
no, this is not correct. So using his eye, he was able to
18:09
make an estimate of the, I don't know, square meter and all those
18:13
fancy things that European people do.
18:16
And then he now told Mumsy that OK, Mumsy shabby, you have
18:19
somebody on ground engineer. OK, when next engineer come tell
18:23
engineer to please confirm if these my specifications are
18:25
correct. An engineer confirmed and we saw
18:29
that they were correct. But the guy still advised that,
18:34
you know, sometimes accident can happen, you know, somebody who
18:37
caught the roofing sheet the wrong way and so you might need
18:39
extra. And so he said because of that,
18:41
we should build in a, a, what's it called all?
18:46
I put it down like margin of error.
18:47
So you get extra sheets. And then it turns out that that
18:51
was good advice because just like the guy advised, you know,
18:54
some accidents did happen, some things were caught wrongly.
18:56
And so you needed new sheets to finish up the whole thing.
19:00
But see, my point is this because of the way when I was
19:03
talking with the guy, this roofing sheet person, because of
19:07
the way he was handling himself, we could tell me and my siblings
19:12
and Mumsy, we could tell that we are dealing with a professional.
19:15
This guy I know as in he's not just vendor like this one is a
19:19
professional from the very way he was conducting himself during
19:23
the process, from the very way he was doing the needs analysis.
19:30
What's the measurement of the house?
19:31
What is this? What is the elevation?
19:33
OK, which can easy long span. Abby were doing step tire.
19:36
Abby were doing stone coating. What is the difference?
19:38
The difference is this dot dot dot.
19:40
What are you trying? Like from the way we were having
19:43
the you could tell that this guy was a professional and that kind
19:46
of thing instilled us, instilled the feeling of trusting us.
19:49
OK, we're dealing with a knowledgeable somebody here.
19:56
So it doesn't matter what you sell, Roofing sheets,
19:59
architectural services, business consulting services, you run a
20:02
startup or whatever. Your process of diag well, why
20:06
you try and diagnose whether your customer has a problem or
20:10
what it is they're trying to achieve.
20:11
Your very process should instill confidence in people.
20:17
These are the things you do that instill trust in the customer.
20:24
These are the things that make people want to continue talking
20:27
to you. Sorry.
20:30
One moment my attention is required making today's
20:32
recording at home. Let me just answer the door and
20:33
I'll be right back. OK, sorry about that.
20:37
I just needed to attend to something briefly.
20:40
OK, so I think I was in the middle of talking about how your
20:44
diagnostic process when you're trying to do need analysis, when
20:47
you're trying to figure out what people want.
20:49
Because if you remember, before we started talking about Fresh
20:51
Prince, again, not his real name, before we started talking
20:54
about Fresh Prince, we were talking about Cinderella, who is
20:58
a salesperson who sells solar and inverter solutions.
21:03
The very way that you talk to people, you're trying to figure
21:06
out what they want, trying to figure out what they need,
21:07
trying to figure out what the problem is, something that can
21:10
build trust with people. So if you're one of those people
21:14
who sells roofing sheets and you want to go to site yourself to
21:19
get accurate actual measurements before you deliver a quote or a
21:23
proposal or whatever, by the time you climb up, you know, you
21:26
look around, you check the, is it called carcass in all that
21:30
wooden frame that you use before you put the roof.
21:32
You know, by the time you go up there, you check the carcass and
21:34
you say, boss, you know, this is your carcass.
21:38
Dinger key leg here. Get key leg.
21:40
Yeah, get key leg. Yeah.
21:41
As in before we put this kind of stone coated roof tile, because
21:46
stone coated is heavy with this carcass.
21:48
It can't support the weight. You know, you need to fix this.
21:51
You need to fix that. By the time you point out one or
21:53
two things like that, those say correct, we're dealing with a
21:56
very knowledgeable somebody here.
21:59
If somebody wants to replace the roofs instead of just saying it
22:02
is 2500 naira per square inch or whatever, but actually start
22:07
asking questions. Oh, the see the the type, the
22:11
one that you had before, was it long time?
22:12
Was it stepped out? Was it stone quoted?
22:14
And what happened? What was the problem?
22:16
Oh, leak because of what? OK, let me see the carcass.
22:20
OK, let me see the this. Let me see the that.
22:22
OK, Look, based on this, I think this was the problem.
22:25
If you don't fix this problem, man, even if you buy from me
22:27
now, the problem will occur again in another three years.
22:30
So boss, you need to fix this. You need to fix this.
22:32
You need to fix this before you have this sort of thing.
22:34
So if you show up, you're trying to do your need analysis, you're
22:38
looking out for structural issues and you know, things like
22:40
that. You're asking questions, OK?
22:42
You're replacing roofing sheets, OK?
22:43
Why are you replacing them? What went wrong with them in the
22:46
first place? Or Oh, I put it, yeah, exactly.
22:54
You're trying to figure out like what even went wrong in the 1st
22:55
place that makes you need these roofing sheets.
22:58
And then you're everyone giving them tips about, oh, this is how
23:01
you extend the lifespan, the lifespan of your roof, whether
23:04
you're doing maintenance schedule or you know, something
23:06
like that. You know, those of you who sell
23:08
roofing sheets, you know, you, you will, you will understand.
23:10
But for the rest of you, I hope you're getting the gist of what
23:13
it is that I'm, I'm trying to say.
23:18
There's a way that you carry yourself when you're on site,
23:20
when you're talking to people, that will show that you are the
23:23
subject matter expert, how people can see that you're the
23:27
experts, that you know what's up.
23:28
Then people will be calm and people will have a conversation
23:30
with you. So yes, we can position
23:37
ourselves, you know, by packaging.
23:39
So yes, dress well, yes, speak with one there.
23:42
Yes, spray perfume and yes, borrow your father's
23:45
Mercedes-Benz and drive on site so that when they see you, they
23:48
say you're a big boy. Yes, do all that.
23:53
But know that the very way that you're trying to diagnose the
23:57
problem, the way you're trying to do need analysis, the way
24:00
you're trying to make a recommendation, you should have
24:03
a framework and a process for that that sets you apart from
24:05
other people. Because remember this guy that
24:09
we bought roofing sheets from, other people just said they
24:12
should snap architectural plan. I can't remember it was a snap.
24:16
Was it that we should snap a bill should scan or something
24:18
shall and just send. But one person took it a step
24:24
beyond. The person said OK, well let me
24:26
see. But you will are based in
24:30
Makudi. Whether you buy from me or not,
24:34
there's going to be expense that is involved in transporting this
24:37
thing down from Abuja to Bengal estate.
24:41
So therefore we need to make sure that we get this thing
24:43
right. So send me the architectural
24:45
something, something. Then also go and snap the house,
24:49
front elevation snap, side elevation snap, this elevation
24:52
snap. And then the guy looked at it
24:55
and say, ah, this thing is not correct.
24:59
Me, I was impressed. I was impressed as hell that
25:01
somebody can just look at picture on the phone and say
25:04
this measurement is not correct from looking at picture alone.
25:08
You guys say how many bedroom? I told him he said and then this
25:10
information you're giving me is not correct.
25:12
Brought our calculator deep bank, bank, bank, bank, bank,
25:14
bank, bank, bank, bank, bank me say I think they should be do
25:16
whatever. Please tell mumsy that is there
25:20
anybody that I can confirm saying yes, engineer is coming
25:22
on Thursday. OK, Tell engineer to confirm
25:25
whether this thing is correct. If it's correct, then on
25:29
Thursday let's continue the conversation.
25:32
Engineer talks and then the thing was even correct.
25:36
I mean, come on, given that situation, won't you feel like,
25:41
OK, we are this person I'm talking to, you know, he knows
25:43
what he's doing. Anyway, let me move on.
25:49
There's also another thing that I want to point out that's for
25:51
those of you who are in this kind of business selling roofing
25:57
sheets and stuff like that. There's a couple of things that
26:00
you guys don't do or you're not aware of, but if you try, it'll
26:06
make your job a whole lot easier.
26:09
Now, one of those things is called referral looping.
26:12
Looping in this sense now just means gather.
26:15
Like we'll just gather everything together, gather it
26:17
in one bunch. Now, the idea behind referral
26:21
looping is this. Now for those of us who live in
26:23
Abuja where you know people are building estates all the time,
26:26
you will understand what I mean. Roofing usually happens in
26:30
development clusters, so like the different parts of Abuja
26:33
that are opening up right now, like even in Lagos itself, you
26:35
know, like is it Lekki? No, not Lekki.
26:38
What's it called? Not Banana Island.
26:42
Anyway, you get one. I'm sure you understand what I'm
26:43
saying. Estates are being built all over
26:45
the place now because those estates are being built all over
26:48
the place and they are being built roughly at the same time.
26:52
When one person wants to do roofing sheet, most likely
26:56
there'll be three or four other people who are at the same stage
26:59
in that estate who also need roofing sheet.
27:02
So there's a way that you can come to do roofing sheet for one
27:07
house in the estate. But if you play your game well,
27:10
you can do referral looping. Referral looping just means you
27:12
gather, you ask this guy, oh, this is your neighbor that is
27:15
building here that, oh that, do you know him?
27:17
Oh, yes, members, I beg now, may I talk to the guy now as I'm
27:22
here now on site, you know, at least I'll be able to do that.
27:25
Let me do his own as well, you ask.
27:29
You never know, he might give you the person's number.
27:32
And you know, from there, from there, referral looping, just
27:34
they gather everything OK. I've entered the estate.
27:37
I'm on one person's roof now and other houses that are around in
27:41
the vicinity. Yeah.
27:43
May I gather them? Let's see how we can just
27:44
gather. So you look for development
27:50
clusters, building estates, stuff like that.
27:52
And you're trying to do referral looping.
27:54
You enter based on one person. You try and gather all the
27:56
referrals. Oh, let me have this person's
27:58
phone number. Let me have this person's phone
28:00
number. Or you just stroll on site.
28:02
You see that the foreman is there.
28:03
It's Olga Foreman. Olga engineer.
28:05
How now? So well done.
28:07
This is your house. If I know.
28:09
OK. Oh, I don't finish decking.
28:11
OK, So now roofing. Now you remain.
28:13
Now, Abby, so OK, you know, I'm working on that house over there
28:17
now we're the ones that you see that one that's no coat in
28:20
there. Yes, I read 1.
28:22
You see, I see fine, happy and I'm I work with that.
28:25
And then that's how you do you start the conversation referral
28:28
looping. You're trying to gather
28:29
everything. Then in America, I think in the
28:35
solar industry, I think I heard it in solar industry, people
28:37
talking about T selling. Now this is the idea behind T
28:40
selling. Just imagine a letter T, capital
28:42
letter T. So this is scope that they do
28:46
when they do T selling. Let's say you're working on
28:49
house number. How do I say it now?
28:53
OK, let's say there's a street. Now on that street, the houses
28:57
on the left and on the right and on the left you have houses from
29:02
#1 to 5. On the right you have houses
29:04
from #1 to 5. And let's say you're working at
29:07
house 3. What you do is before you start
29:11
work on house 3, you will go to house 2, which is on the left
29:17
and then you will knock on the door and then you tell the
29:21
person money. So I am working in house 3.
29:26
So no vex. I just wanted to let you know
29:28
that we are going to start work tomorrow.
29:30
So I'm very sorry. There's going to be some noise
29:33
there's going to be some whatever, whatever, whatever.
29:35
So I just wanted to let you know ahead of time, but you know, if
29:39
there's anything that we can do to make this thing more
29:41
pleasant, you know, just just let us know while we're here.
29:45
Also, you know, just to be security conscious.
29:47
That's also the reason why I'm coming to let you know.
29:50
So anyway, here's my business card, you know, just let lay
29:53
hold of it, you know. So I'm here, I'm on site.
29:56
If you need us for anything, just let me know.
30:00
That is house 2. You now leave, leave house 2.
30:03
Remember you're working on house 3.
30:05
Then you now go to House 4. Sorry, Abby.
30:08
Three. Yes, you now go to house 4,
30:10
which is on the right hand side and you have the same
30:15
conversation with the person who owns the house.
30:17
Hey, hello, we're just in the neighborhood.
30:19
Your neighbor in house 3 has hired us to do the roofing.
30:23
Sorry, just trying to let you know ahead of time.
30:26
We're going to be here tomorrow. There's going to be a bunch of
30:28
noise. We'll try our best to work as
30:29
quietly as possible, but you know, just in case of anything,
30:33
let me know. Anyway, here's my business card.
30:36
Sorry, just wanted to be polite. Just to let you know.
30:39
Also, you know, nowadays, now security consciousness, you
30:41
know, so at least you know, you can see my face.
30:43
So, so if you see any of the boys there, you see my face.
30:45
Don't worry, they're my people. So you've had that conversation.
30:49
Now you're working on house three.
30:52
They paid you to work on House 3.
30:53
But you have that conversation with people in House 2.
30:55
You have the conversation with people in House 4.
30:58
Then you will now go opposite the roads, directly opposite the
31:01
road to house. Let me see, there's 12345678,
31:07
OK, opposite now. So opposite House 3 will now be
31:09
House 8. You will now have that
31:11
conversation with the people in House 8 again.
31:13
It will be the same thing. Hello.
31:15
Good morning, Sir. Your neighbor just hired us.
31:17
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh, I was just trying to be
31:19
polite. Also security conscious.
31:20
I beg no vex, in case you make noise and this and that and
31:23
that. You know, just in case one of my
31:25
boys mistakenly pack and block your gate or something.
31:27
I beg organ. No vex.
31:29
Here's my business card. You know, if there's anything,
31:31
you know, just call me. If any of the boys I've been in
31:33
Houston, just call me. You know, blah, blah, blah,
31:35
blah, blah, blah conversation. Just leave.
31:37
This is the scope you came to do working house 3, but you're
31:41
doing T selling. So you moved one house to the
31:44
left, you introduce yourself. You move one house to the right,
31:48
you introduce yourself, you move one house down, you introduce
31:50
yourself. In that case, it's reasonable
31:53
for you to do that, Abby, is it not?
31:56
You're also trying to set yourself apart as a
31:58
professional, is it not? But most importantly, by the
32:01
time you finish the working house 3, now that they know your
32:04
face, you can actually go back to house 2.
32:07
I say, oh, I don't know, we're leaving.
32:10
But just in case you don't mind our business, we have a policy.
32:15
We give free roofing inspections.
32:18
You know, let's let me just, if you don't mind, let's you know,
32:20
we're here with the ladder. Let me just hop up on the roof.
32:22
Look, we can just do a brief assessment just to let you know
32:26
the state of your roof, you know, whether it's healthy and
32:29
everything. I know what not just, you know,
32:31
and I hope you don't mind. Of course, some people who say
32:33
no, no problem. They say no, no Allah.
32:37
Then you go to house 4, that's the house to the right.
32:41
And then you have that same conversation again.
32:43
OK, we're done. There's no problem.
32:45
I'll be sorry for the stop here and everything.
32:46
No. Oh, by the way, since we're
32:47
already here, since the boys are here, since the ladder is here,
32:50
how far Now let's just do free roofing inspection now.
32:53
Abby, do you have any leaks? If you have any leak is not a
32:56
problem. So we won't have, we have some
32:58
material that's leftover. If it's just minor roofing leak,
33:00
we'll just patch the leak for, you know, that kind of thing.
33:04
So from doing T selling, talking to somebody on the left, talking
33:07
to somebody on the right, talking to the person opposite,
33:09
by the time you climb their roof, you give them estimate if
33:11
they have roofing, you fix it there.
33:13
You know, you can say, oh, by the way, Sir, you remember I
33:16
gave them my business card. You still have it.
33:18
Oh, you lost it. OK, here's my business card
33:19
again. You know, if you ever need
33:21
repairs on your roof, this is your number, Just give me a
33:23
call. I'll attend to you myself
33:25
personally. Or if you know somebody who
33:27
needs or whatever or whatever, you know, needs a roofing sheet,
33:30
you know, just give me a call. You see that is T selling, you
33:34
enter the neighborhood you're working on one house, move to
33:36
the left, move to the right and then move opposite, more people
33:41
to talk to. Every single time you get to any
33:43
neighborhood, you just be doing it like that.
33:46
Any estate you work in, you do it like that.
33:48
If you're doing large scale commercial cause like in Abuja
33:53
we have industrial estates not far from where we are.
33:57
So if you enter into an industrial estate, maybe, let's
34:01
say like maybe Thermo Cool is doing their warehouse and you're
34:05
the one that is supplying the estate for Thermo Cool, it's not
34:07
a problem. You start work on Thermo Cool.
34:09
But then if you look to the left and you see that there's Elisa
34:11
de Elisa de Plaza where they sell, where they manufacture,
34:16
sorry, not assemble and maintain Toyota Hilux and all those kind
34:20
of things. It's not a problem for you to
34:22
leave Thermo Cool. You just move to the left, you
34:27
enter and that's all that you want to speak to the manager,
34:30
you say why is there any problem?
34:32
I say no, we are the ones that are doing roofing project over
34:35
there over at Thermal Cool. We just want to introduce
34:38
ourselves, you know, you know as Nigeria is nowadays, you know
34:41
security reasons now everything. So just so that you will know
34:44
that you know is us and also, you know, security reasons, I
34:49
say, may I just show face and then, you know, just in case of
34:53
anything, that's why I said let me just see the manager.
34:55
You know, if you put it like that, security guards.
34:57
Oh, OK, no problem. Manager is not around now.
34:59
Manager will be there by two, no problem.
35:01
You'll come back by 2:00 and then you'll try again.
35:03
Eventually, maybe you see the manager and then you see how
35:05
these conversations happen so that later on in Eliza Day Plaza
35:12
or Eliza Day, whatever, if they need roofing sheet later on, the
35:16
manager remember, ah, OK, there was this time when blah, blah,
35:19
blah, blah, blah, he can go and start checking his drawer.
35:21
Where's this person's card? Where's this person's card with
35:23
this person's card, Then they call you.
35:27
So these are some things Now for those of you who are in the
35:31
roofing industry in Nigeria, these are some things that they
35:34
do in other parts of the world that you can copy referral
35:37
looping. If you enter the estate, you
35:39
look around, you'll see that this person that hired you, if
35:43
they are decking stage and don't want to move to roofing, I bet
35:46
you there are other people in the estate who are that level 2
35:49
when you're on the roof. Look around, OK, this house,
35:51
this house, this house, this house.
35:53
Tomorrow you call Mellie, you go around, you look for the
35:56
engineer, you look for the foreman, you start talking.
35:57
That's how you get some business.
35:59
Then for residential, you do T selling, move to the left, move
36:03
to the right. You know, there are lots of
36:04
people that can do it, but who don't, like, take, for instance,
36:08
DSTV installation is something that you can do.
36:11
You're installing. OK.
36:12
No, no DST installation. That's not a good idea because
36:15
everybody has the STV. What would I say now?
36:18
OK, let's say solar. Yeah, let's say solar.
36:22
You come, You're installing solar for this man here.
36:25
It's not a bad idea. You move to the left.
36:27
Hello. Good morning.
36:28
Is Madame around? Oh, no problem.
36:30
Where the contractors were installing solar over here.
36:33
And of course, we're going to be making some noise.
36:35
There'll be some strange people, stuff like that, you know, just
36:37
security reasons. I just say let me come.
36:39
And I just want people with the estate just to, you know, know
36:42
my face now, my round. And then plus just in case my
36:44
boys are being a nuisance, you know, anything like that, you
36:47
know, you get to speak to Madame and it's the same spiel.
36:50
Madame, here's my card. But this time you're finishing.
36:53
It's not a bad idea, I say. OK, Madame, we finished.
36:55
Oh, sorry. I hope the noise is not too
36:56
much. We didn't to disturb you.
36:58
None of my boys destroyed any of your property.
37:00
OK, no problem. Madame.
37:02
I was noticing you. You don't have solar.
37:05
Your neighbor. Just this solar now.
37:06
So Madame, how far you can start conversations that way?
37:11
Then another thing, this whole thing of not closing a sale in
37:17
three months, It also depends on the time of the year for some
37:23
industries because some industries are seasonal.
37:26
Now I know this because my friend, one of my friends in
37:29
Lagos, one of my very good friends, Michael Okuda, that's
37:32
back when I was a teenager, his mumsy started off business.
37:35
I think first, no, not his mom's, I think was his popsy.
37:38
He started off business selling paint.
37:40
That's the first time I realized that some industries are
37:42
seasonal. Is it rainy season?
37:45
Is it dry season? You know, these things depend
37:48
are some of things that determine whether market to be
37:51
good or not. So if you're in the roofing
37:55
space, you haven't sold anything in three months.
38:00
Your, your, your, your business is seasonal.
38:02
You also have to ask yourself, OK, at what part of this up and
38:07
down cycle of seasonality, you know, at what part are we in
38:11
right now? So from what I've found online,
38:16
again, I'm not a roofing expert, but I think there's some truth.
38:20
It is because I remember I was roofing Mumsy's house.
38:24
If it is rainy season, you can't do work.
38:30
I repeat, if it is rainy season, you can't do work because if you
38:33
create the carcass that is the wooden frame and everything in
38:36
rainy season, the rain will touch the wood.
38:39
When the sun comes out, the wood will start to bend.
38:42
And you can't be putting roofing sheets on a carcass that is
38:46
already bending, bending, bending.
38:48
So for Mumsy, we had to wait. I think we had to wait until dry
38:53
season to do the roofing. So now in that case, I suspect
38:58
that OK, you've not sold in three months.
39:00
But if the three months we're talking about, we're inside the
39:02
rainy season, then what are you talking?
39:06
It stands to reason that since you're in rainy season where
39:09
nobody's putting up roof, of course it will be hard for you
39:12
to sell. If it is dry season on the other
39:17
hand, then you've not sold in three months.
39:20
OK, now we need to start looking.
39:22
And this is the reason why I say we need to do a consultation.
39:26
You're targeting is you're targeting, right?
39:29
Are you building the relationship well?
39:31
Are you able to establish authority and credibility?
39:33
Are you able to build advancements?
39:35
Can you move people, move them along from one step to another?
39:39
What kind of conversational frameworks are you using when
39:42
you're talking to people? How do do your diagnostics?
39:45
Does your diagnostic process help to instill trust with the
39:48
people? What kind of closing techniques
39:50
are you using? Have you heard of closing
39:51
techniques at all? We need to start breaking down
39:56
exactly what it is that is going on.
40:00
So you see why I said yesterday that for some of you who ask,
40:07
you know, I'm not closing sales for the last three months, I'm
40:09
not closing sales for the last four months, you know, blah,
40:11
blah, blah. It's not just that I'm trying to
40:14
collect money from you. Yes, I am trying to collect
40:17
money from you. How the hell think I pay my
40:18
bills? So yes, I'm trying to collect
40:19
money from you. But also honestly speaking for
40:24
some kind business problems, we actually need to sit down and
40:26
figure out. OK, pause.
40:28
First let's try and figure out what's going on.
40:31
And like any doctor is when you know what is going on that you
40:33
now prescribe the remedy, I need to know what's going on 1st Is
40:36
it malaria? OK, who prescribed this?
40:38
Is it typhoid? Who prescribed this?
40:39
It's the same approach. Need to figure out what it is
40:42
that is going on. So for those of you who are like
40:46
Fresh Prince during roofing sails, you know, these are some
40:49
of the things that are going on. And this is the reason why even
40:51
though I like to answer one question for free for everybody
40:54
else, this honestly is one of the reasons why, you know, for
40:57
some of you, I can't just say, oh, do this, do that.
41:01
Like it depends. I need to figure out what it is
41:03
that is going on. So let me stop here another 41
41:08
minutes. So that is a Part 2.
41:10
We're going to move on to a part three.
41:14
I'll see if I can do that. I'll see if I can do it tonight
41:17
or maybe tomorrow. But Part 3, essentially, we're
41:20
going to deal with this guy. This guy has a proud troublesome
41:22
client. And the reason why I wanted to
41:25
address this one is because this kind of troublesome client is
41:28
not just Fresh Prince. Again, remember, not his name.
41:30
It's not just Fresh Prince who is dealing with troublesome
41:32
client. Half of you who are listening to
41:36
the podcast now, I know that you have dealt with this kind of
41:39
troublesome client before. If you haven't dealt with them
41:43
before, maybe you're new in business, don't worry, you will
41:45
come across this kind client in the next broadcast episode.
41:48
Now we'll explore that when we meet this kind of troublesome
41:53
person. What's the way forward?
41:58
So with that podcast episode, we'll now bring this to an end.
42:03
That's using Fresh Prince, again, not his real name, using
42:06
Fresh Prince as a case study, but I'm hoping that the other
42:10
people who are in roofing sales who are listening right now and
42:13
who are being blessed by what we're talking about.
42:17
Even if you're not in roofing sales, you do something else
42:20
house related. You're doing solar, you're doing
42:22
DSTV installation, you're doing painting, you're doing, I don't
42:28
know, scaffolding sales or, you know, you sell scaffolding
42:33
equipment or whatever, or you do borehole drilling or whatever
42:37
your business. I'm hoping that you've heard
42:39
some things that you can apply to your Business Today and
42:41
that's going to make a difference in your Business
42:43
Today. So Please remember, as you
42:46
listen to this podcast, as you subscribe and as you continue to
42:49
listen, even though the case study that we talk about will be
42:55
involving another person's business, there are always
42:58
principles that I can apply to your own business.
43:02
So don't be listening to a podcast episode, whether it is
43:05
my own or any other podcast episode.
43:07
So because today I'm talking about roofing sheet, don't say a
43:09
roofing sheet doesn't apply to me.
43:12
Even if you are an accountant. There are some things that I've
43:14
said today concerning roofing sheet that an accountant will be
43:18
able to apply. Let's say like this T selling,
43:20
for instance. Nothing stops you an accountant.
43:25
You've got to go and visit your client.
43:26
You enter into this building. Nothing stops you from doing T
43:29
selling. You come out of your building,
43:31
You come out of the building. Maybe your client is escorting.
43:34
You say, oh, these people over here so, so, so and so.
43:38
Oh, those are our neighbors. So.
43:39
Oh, yes. Do you happen to know the owner?
43:41
Oh, yeah, me. He's a good friend.
43:42
I said, oh, I'd appreciate that introduction.
43:45
There's nothing that stopped you from doing that.
43:47
That is T selling. You go inside your client's
43:49
office. You have the meeting.
43:51
On your way out, you look at another business.
43:53
You're like, OK, these people make nice clients.
43:55
You ask if the guy knows, he knows if he's willing to
43:59
introduce, he's willing to introduce.
44:01
And if he introduces, you never know.
44:02
You move to the left, you move to the right, you move opposite,
44:05
you never know. But of course, you do it in a
44:07
classy way because you can't be an accountant.
44:09
You dress in your nice suit and then you now behave as if
44:12
you're, you know how I put it, shy.
44:16
You can't do it in a classy way. So no matter what it is you do,
44:19
there are things that are spoken about today that can apply to
44:21
your business. So that is the mind frame that
44:23
you should be using when you listen to this podcast or listen
44:26
to any other podcast. OK, this podcast is for people
44:29
who are brain surgeons. OK, no problem.
44:33
But it's a business podcast. Are there any principles that
44:37
brain surgeons are using to improve their business?
44:40
OK, these are the principles. Can I apply those principles to
44:42
my business? That's the mind, mind frame.
44:45
I mean, the mindset that she used to listen to these sorts of
44:47
things. So if you'd love to connect with
44:49
me like Fresh Prince, again, not his real name.
44:51
If you want to connect with me like Fresh Prince, just call me,
44:53
send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 0806466
44:58
2140. If you want me to audit any of
45:02
your business processes, then you contact me on the same
45:05
number 08064662140. Or if you want to join my
45:11
WhatsApp channel, then you send me a message on the same number.
45:16
And I hope you're looking forward to the third and final
45:18
episode where we will help The Fresh Prince deal with
45:22
problematic clients, especially those problematic clients that
45:26
especially the problematic clients who keep saying you're
45:28
too expensive. So that's what we're going to do
45:30
at the next episode. So thanks for your time and
45:32
attention. I'll catch you some other time.