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How to Decode Customer Conversations: Are They Ready to Buy or Just Being Friendly? · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. It's a wonderful Saturday
• 0:04
  afternoon over here in Abuja. So let's get right down to
• 0:07
  business. Today's question, or rather it's
• 0:10
  not really a question today because I didn't get this
• 0:12
  question, but I think it's something that we ought to be
• 0:14
  talking about working on the podcast because I'm currently
• 0:17
  coaching a sales engineer and two sales sales staff for a
• 0:24
  client of mine. And this is something that has
• 0:26
  come up time and time again because when we're having
• 0:29
  conversations with prospects, with potential clans, it's nice
• 0:33
  to be able to figure out when we're getting buying signs or
• 0:38
  buying signals or if we're interpreting things the wrong
• 0:41
  way and what we have is a misleading signal.
• 0:43
  So how can you differentiate between a buying signal or a
• 0:48
  misleading signal or a buying sign or, you know, you get the
• 0:51
  whole idea. You have to be able to figure
• 0:54
  out when you're having a conversation with someone, what
• 0:57
  do you see that gives you the green light so you can press on
• 1:01
  or what are you seeing that gives you the yellow light or
• 1:04
  the red light and perhaps you need to lean back and maybe
• 1:07
  there's some something that needs to be repaired in the
• 1:10
  relationship. So that's essentially what we're
• 1:12
  trying to figure out today. If you still don't understand
• 1:16
  what it is that I'm grasping at, I'm going to assume that if
• 1:20
  you're listening to this podcast right now since the youngest
• 1:23
  listeners, that we have 18. OK, Well, we do have some 16
• 1:27
  year olds, but that's the smallest cohort people who
• 1:31
  listen to the show. But even if you're that young,
• 1:35
  I'm sure you guys remember from. OK, Well, yeah, I remember.
• 1:39
  Or you're currently experiencing that you're in secondary school.
• 1:43
  There's this guy that you like, there's this girl that you like,
• 1:46
  you're trying to have a conversation with them.
• 1:49
  And sometimes some things happen and it makes you feel like we're
• 1:52
  making progress. We might actually get into a
• 1:54
  relationship and then some things happen and you feel like
• 1:59
  that was cringe. It looks like I'm going to be
• 2:03
  dropped. Or she prefers someone else, or
• 2:06
  he likes a different kind of girl.
• 2:08
  But you get the whole point. So this is essentially what it
• 2:10
  is that we're trying to discuss today, but in a business
• 2:13
  context. How do you know if this
• 2:16
  relationship is off to a good start or how do you know if the
• 2:20
  person is just trying to be polite and really they're not
• 2:24
  just that into you? So let's start off by defining
• 2:28
  the terms what the buying signal is.
• 2:30
  The buying signal is any statement, any action.
• 2:34
  So it has to be something that the person has said, something
• 2:37
  that the person has done. It could be somebody language
• 2:40
  that shows that this potential customer that I'm talking to,
• 2:44
  this prospect that I'm talking to is ready to move ahead with
• 2:47
  the transaction, move ahead with the relationship, move ahead
• 2:50
  with the agenda, move ahead with whatever it is on the table.
• 2:53
  So if they do something, they say something that shows they
• 2:57
  might be interested in moving ahead, then what we have is a
• 3:01
  buying signal. Sometimes the buying signal can
• 3:04
  be a cost. And that was why, that's why I'm
• 3:07
  considering this question today because for the sales engineer
• 3:10
  that I'm coaching, OK, I'll, I'll define what a sales
• 3:15
  engineer is. Well, basically it's a technical
• 3:16
  sale. And so for the sales engineer,
• 3:18
  the customer said something and I considered it to be a buying
• 3:23
  signal. So if the customer says ask the
• 3:25
  question, like, how much does it cost?
• 3:27
  How soon can you deliver? Is this thing going to match
• 3:31
  with my XYZ when you guys install it?
• 3:33
  Because remember, we're talking about the technical situation
• 3:35
  here where the firm in question sells some technical components
• 3:39
  that have to be merged with the other person's business.
• 3:42
  So when people start asking questions like that, it could be
• 3:45
  a bang signal. So it's not every single time
• 3:48
  that someone says, how much does it cost that, you know, you
• 3:50
  start salivating and you think, oh, I have a deal.
• 3:53
  I'm going to be, I'm going to be rich.
• 3:55
  It's not every single time somebody asks how soon can you
• 3:57
  deliver or, you know, all these sorts of questions.
• 4:00
  But I'm just saying that depending on the context,
• 4:03
  depending on how we read it, what came before, what goes
• 4:05
  after, it might be a bang signal or it might not be a bang
• 4:10
  signal. So it's going to be a misleading
• 4:13
  signal or it's going to be a misleading indicator, or it's
• 4:16
  going to be a false signal, or it's going to be whatever it is
• 4:19
  that you want to call it. If the statements or the
• 4:23
  actions, if you have misread them to think that the buyer is
• 4:27
  ready to go ahead and you're trying to press forward and then
• 4:29
  you're meeting some resistance. So what is the difference
• 4:32
  between a buying signal and a misleading signal?
• 4:35
  The difference is it's contextual, so it's not down to
• 4:39
  the thing itself. So it's not what did this person
• 4:41
  say in particular, but what did this person say within this
• 4:45
  context in combination to whether whichever factors that
• 4:49
  is what let you know what they have a buying signal or not.
• 4:53
  Now, the reason why this is important is because if you
• 4:55
  don't figure out these sorts of things, buying signals,
• 4:58
  misleading signals, red light, yellow light, green light, if
• 5:01
  you can't figure all these things out, you're going to have
• 5:03
  a lot of misplaced optimism in your business deals.
• 5:06
  You're going to be running and thinking or more, this is a
• 5:08
  deal. This is a deal, this is a deal.
• 5:10
  And then you get your heart broken and then tomorrow you
• 5:13
  think, Oh my man, this is a deal, correct?
• 5:15
  I'm going to get like 1M on this deal.
• 5:17
  And then you get your heart broken And then next week you're
• 5:19
  thinking, oh, this is a deal. Like I'm going to make so much
• 5:22
  money from this thing. And then you tell your wife,
• 5:23
  I'll be, we're going to be able to do this.
• 5:24
  We'll do this, that, that vacation.
• 5:26
  I promise you something, something, something.
• 5:28
  And then you get your heart broken.
• 5:30
  You don't figure this thing out. Misplace optimism.
• 5:32
  I mean, after a while, the thing it wears on your, on your,
• 5:38
  what's that word? Motivation?
• 5:39
  Yeah, can get your motivation all out of whack.
• 5:42
  So the problem is that you just don't know how to figure these
• 5:45
  things out. And that is why it is important.
• 5:47
  We need to know so that we don't have misplaced optimism.
• 5:50
  We don't have wasted effort when talking to potential customers.
• 5:53
  If you know how to figure out red light, yellow light, green
• 5:56
  light, you will be able to pace yourself accordingly.
• 5:59
  You'd be able to lead in hard on the green lights, slow down and
• 6:05
  reconsider on the yellow lights and on the red lights.
• 6:08
  So that's why all of these things are important.
• 6:10
  So how do we navigate these ambiguities?
• 6:12
  Because believe me, there are loads of ambiguities, especially
• 6:16
  if you're coming into this thing new.
• 6:18
  If you didn't realize that these sorts of things exist, so #1
• 6:22
  remember what I told you that one signal is not enough.
• 6:28
  So we should be looking for a pattern of behaviours.
• 6:31
  If somebody says how much does this cost?
• 6:35
  And then you give the price and she's scrunching her nose and
• 6:39
  folding her hands and, you know, it looks like she's about to
• 6:44
  walk away. I mean, clearly in that
• 6:46
  situation what you have is not a buying signal.
• 6:49
  So we're not looking for one signal.
• 6:51
  We're looking for a combination of different things.
• 6:54
  We're looking for a pattern of positive behaviours, positive
• 6:57
  behaviour, positive behaviour, positive behaviour.
• 6:59
  She now ask how much does this cost?
• 7:01
  That's a good thing, but if she's been negative throughout
• 7:04
  the whole thing and then she's asking how much does it cost it,
• 7:07
  it might not signal anything in particular.
• 7:10
  So we're actually are looking for a pattern of positive
• 7:13
  behaviours. And that's the reason why I keep
• 7:15
  telling listeners over here on the podcast that we should have
• 7:19
  a much more process oriented philosophy when it comes to
• 7:23
  sales. You're following the process.
• 7:25
  Step one, Step 2, Step 3. If you have green lights on step
• 7:29
  123, yellow on 456 and then 789 look green and maybe red on
• 7:36
  number 10. Overall is looking like the
• 7:39
  normal ups and downs, time of business.
• 7:41
  You know, it's something that you might be able to close.
• 7:43
  So we're looking for a pattern of positive behaviors. 1 signal
• 7:48
  is not enough. So it is possible for somebody
• 7:52
  to say, OK, let me go to the wedding photography example
• 7:56
  since that's why I started off. This was for somebody to say you
• 7:59
  are the best wedding photographer I have seen in my
• 8:02
  life hands down. But that might not be a
• 8:05
  positive. That might not be a buying
• 8:07
  signal. The person might just be giving
• 8:09
  you props because props is due, but you're not going to close
• 8:14
  that deal because of a number of factors.
• 8:17
  So I'm looking for a pattern of positive behaviors.
• 8:19
  So if you've had a pleasant rapport, they give you the
• 8:25
  props, they say, how much does it cost and how soon can we
• 8:29
  begin? Then in that case, you can see
• 8:31
  that positive things are lining up.
• 8:33
  So we're not looking for one signal, we're looking for
• 8:36
  multiple signals. Then one thing that a lot of us
• 8:40
  fail to do, we also have to evaluate their urgency and
• 8:43
  commitment. People don't ask questions about
• 8:45
  timelines. We should, but it definitely is
• 8:48
  a good sign when the customer is the one who is asking about
• 8:51
  timelines and next steps. That's a very good sign.
• 8:55
  If if you have had the pricing conversation and the person say
• 8:58
  I am but will still price, will still price, but then they're
• 9:01
  still asking you, I need this thing by social so and so.
• 9:04
  So how should we install or when are we going to install?
• 9:07
  Can your engineer come to site by social so and so?
• 9:10
  OK, what should the next step be and blah, blah, blah.
• 9:12
  If they're asking those questions, actually it is a good
• 9:15
  thing because most people if they're having a bad experience
• 9:18
  or they're not convinced and not going to ask those kinds of
• 9:20
  things. I remember my first phone call
• 9:23
  when I started off as a wedding photographer, I decidedly
• 9:26
  becoming and start high end. So the lady called me and this
• 9:29
  was a while ago, let's say 15 years ago.
• 9:33
  So the lady called me, we had a nice chat and this is OK.
• 9:36
  How much? And I said 400 K.
• 9:38
  She said thank you. And of course I was stumbling
• 9:41
  and stuttering, tried to get the conversation going again and she
• 9:45
  was like no, no, no thank you. You want to build house on my
• 9:47
  head? No, no problem.
• 9:48
  Thank you. It's OK.
• 9:49
  Thank you. Thank you.
• 9:50
  It's OK. And that's how the conversation
• 9:52
  ended. So if I said 400 Ki was like,
• 9:56
  OK, fantastic, no problem. So when do you need the payment
• 10:00
  by how many wedding photographs are they going to be?
• 10:04
  How am I, how soon am I going to get the wedding album?
• 10:09
  Do I have to come to your studio with my my fiance so we can have
• 10:13
  a look at samples? So that's a different kind of
• 10:15
  conversation. So you can see that we have
• 10:17
  multiple signals there and then the person is now the one who is
• 10:20
  bringing up commitment issues and timeline issues and things
• 10:24
  like that. So we have to be discussing
• 10:26
  these things. If they bring it up, it's a good
• 10:28
  sign. But even if they're not bringing
• 10:30
  up, you are the one that should be bringing up these things.
• 10:33
  So whether you are the wedding photographer, you're a cake
• 10:36
  Baker, or you're a deep sea engineer and you're discussing
• 10:40
  with Shell or whatever, your Shell is not asking you those
• 10:43
  questions. You need to be asking Shell
• 10:44
  these questions. OK, this project on the side ML
• 10:47
  something, something, something when is ground breaking
• 10:50
  ceremony? When are we expected to break
• 10:56
  grounds to lift oil to do this to do you know, you engineering
• 10:59
  people, you you know what it is I'm talking about.
• 11:01
  You should be asking these kinds of questions.
• 11:03
  When you ask these questions, you're going to get all the
• 11:05
  information that you need to be able to evaluate that.
• 11:07
  OK, all these things that are going on now, is this green
• 11:10
  light, yellow light or red light?
• 11:13
  Is this buying signal? Well, of course.
• 11:16
  Or is this you're missing the plot.
• 11:19
  You know you don't miss Rd. This deal is dying.
• 11:22
  We need to be asking urgency, commitment questions.
• 11:24
  We should be asking questions about timelines, asking
• 11:26
  questions about next steps, asking questions about potential
• 11:29
  obstacles. We should be bringing these
• 11:31
  things up. Let's not assume that because
• 11:33
  they haven't said anything that there's no problem.
• 11:35
  We need to ask then. I already made podcast episodes
• 11:39
  on how on this whole thing of handling objections or handling
• 11:43
  conditions, but we need to know what the difference is.
• 11:47
  An objection basically is when somebody has a challenge or a
• 11:49
  concern, somebody might think this thing is a good idea and
• 11:53
  the person wants to buy your, your, whatever it is.
• 11:56
  Let me think of something. Gosh, what can I think of?
• 11:59
  OK, AC, the person wants to buy. Let's say you sell air
• 12:02
  conditioners. The person wants to buy your AC,
• 12:04
  your 7 horsepower, whatever. But then the person is thinking
• 12:08
  that OK, the room that I the room that I want it in actually
• 12:12
  is a portacabin. So if it is a house, we know
• 12:16
  that you dig a hole in the wall and something, something,
• 12:18
  something. But what I have is a portacabin
• 12:21
  on an engineering site or something.
• 12:23
  How do we So excuse me, sorry about that.
• 12:28
  My children as long as usual cold and then now I'm the one
• 12:33
  who has usually I'm one who mops up the viruses as I just get the
• 12:37
  the illness after them. I guess it's the weather, you
• 12:41
  know, as by rainy season and all that.
• 12:43
  So I was like, OK, so objections.
• 12:46
  So objection is when someone has a concern, how is this thing
• 12:48
  going to work? I don't understand this, you
• 12:50
  know, blah, blah, blah. Those are objections.
• 12:53
  Now if someone is giving you sometimes an objection can be an
• 12:57
  excuse. That's why somebody wants to
• 12:59
  politely decline because they don't want to don't want to
• 13:01
  avoid confrontation. So sometimes if a man says, let
• 13:04
  me talk to my wife, sorry about that.
• 13:08
  So sometimes if a man says, let me talk to my wife, I'll get
• 13:10
  back to you next week. It could be an objection because
• 13:14
  he has challenges and concerns. He doesn't know that Omo, I like
• 13:18
  this thing, but will wifey like this thing.
• 13:20
  Let me not go and spare 500K or something.
• 13:22
  And then my wife will now be will now be squeezing her face.
• 13:27
  But you need to ask the question.
• 13:29
  Someone says I'll get back to you next week.
• 13:32
  Let me speak to let's speak to my wife about it.
• 13:34
  You know, you lean into objection.
• 13:35
  So yeah, sure. Fantastic.
• 13:37
  You know, me personally, I wouldn't spend close to 500K
• 13:40
  without discussing my wife. You know, I know Allah.
• 13:42
  But if wifey was here, like, what do you think she would feel
• 13:46
  about this or feel about that? I think I have the conversation
• 13:48
  that you know me, I like this thing about wifey is like this
• 13:51
  wifey is like that. You know, I'm not sure.
• 13:54
  Excuse me. I need to confirm this.
• 13:55
  I need to confirm that. And if you ask the question, are
• 13:59
  you able to get him to start talking on the matter, you will
• 14:03
  now be able to adapt according to say, OK, I know Allah, no
• 14:06
  problem. If these are these are the kind
• 14:07
  of concerns, how about we set up a phone call with wifey
• 14:10
  tomorrow, like around that kind 10:30 so that any questions you
• 14:14
  ask me, I'll be able to answer. How about that?
• 14:17
  If the guys in here he will say no Allah, no problem.
• 14:19
  That works. You say 10:30 I'll be and 10:30
• 14:22
  is good and no problem. And then yeah, you're good to
• 14:25
  go. He gives you wifey's number or
• 14:28
  you agree you're coming out to the house or they're coming over
• 14:30
  to your office or whatever it is.
• 14:32
  So you see that in this case, that's an objection.
• 14:34
  The guy had a challenge. He had a concern.
• 14:37
  You resolve it by helping him out.
• 14:38
  Sometimes it's an excuse. Sometimes.
• 14:41
  Let me talk to my wife. I'll get back to you next week.
• 14:43
  Actually, what the guy is thinking is you're an idiot.
• 14:47
  You want to charge me 500 K for what?
• 14:49
  You're an idiot. No problem.
• 14:51
  You will see mobile. No problem.
• 14:52
  But he doesn't tell you that That's what he's thinking in his
• 14:55
  mind. He just tells you, well, let me
• 14:57
  talk to my wife. I'll call you back next week.
• 14:59
  You're not going to know if it's an objection or if it's an
• 15:02
  excuse unless you engage in more conversations leaning and you're
• 15:07
  trying to figure out what it is that is going on.
• 15:09
  So we have to be able to figure out what an objection, what an
• 15:12
  excuse, what is the condition. Conditions are prerequisites.
• 15:17
  There are things that absolutely need to happen before you go
• 15:21
  into business with someone. Let me give the example of, OK,
• 15:24
  let me go back to wedding photography things.
• 15:27
  The lady that I was talking to, the one I said 400 K, she said
• 15:31
  thank you. No, no, it's OK.
• 15:33
  No, no problem. You want to build house, you
• 15:35
  want to build house on my head and no problem.
• 15:37
  Thank you, thank you. No, I say it's OK now there's no
• 15:39
  problem. And really that was how the
• 15:41
  conversation went. It was it was pathetic.
• 15:43
  I think that's the worst business conversation I've ever
• 15:45
  had in my entire life. And then plus after that, I now
• 15:48
  got scared and I went the other way and I started charging 50K
• 15:51
  ended up doing my first wedding at 50K.
• 15:53
  So I started off on one end. Let me do high end.
• 15:55
  I charge 400 grand, the leading diagreed the next person and I
• 15:58
  went down to 50K. Wendy, that's a conversation for
• 16:01
  another day. And I know that there are people
• 16:02
  listening to the podcast right now who have gone through that
• 16:05
  kind of swing as well. So yeah, you hit me up on on
• 16:11
  LinkedIn or WhatsApp. It'll be nice to trade stories,
• 16:14
  you know, hear your own examples, especially if you
• 16:16
  don't mind them being shared over here on the podcast.
• 16:19
  So where was I? Conditions and prerequisites.
• 16:24
  If the babe calls you to ask how far are you available for so, so
• 16:28
  and so date? How much does it cost for
• 16:29
  wedding photography? But The thing is, she's not
• 16:32
  engaged. The boyfriend has not proposed
• 16:33
  yet, or he has proposed but the family has not met and they've
• 16:36
  not agreed on the date. There are some conditions and
• 16:39
  there are some prerequisites missing.
• 16:41
  You need to ask these questions and find out because it shows
• 16:43
  that it's likely that this deal might not close because the
• 16:47
  conditions or the prerequisites have not been met.
• 16:51
  So you can see now that this is a range objection, excuse,
• 16:55
  prerequisite. You have to become good at
• 16:57
  deciphering, freaking out these sorts of things.
• 16:59
  That is why it's important to listen to these kinds of
• 17:01
  podcasts. Apart from listening to Jizz
• 17:04
  podcast, music podcast, everything.
• 17:06
  Pay attention to these kinds of podcasts as well.
• 17:08
  It doesn't have to be my own podcast, any podcast, so long as
• 17:10
  we're discussing these sorts of things.
• 17:12
  They make you more astute in business to be able to figure
• 17:16
  out what it is that is going on. Then to try and figure out if we
• 17:21
  have red light, green light, do we have a bank signal?
• 17:24
  We have to start seeking specific commitments or what
• 17:28
  some of us call advancements or agreements or the next action to
• 17:32
  take or the next item on the agenda.
• 17:35
  Don't allow somebody to say something like I'm interested,
• 17:37
  this looks good. And then you start rejoicing and
• 17:40
  then you send your wife a message and be like, ah, babe,
• 17:42
  this deal is going to close. You know, don't you know, start
• 17:45
  asking for specific things. If someone says I'm interested,
• 17:49
  you don't celebrate and say, ah, correct, this is a close deal.
• 17:53
  So OK, cool. So you're interested, what part
• 17:55
  of the proposal I guess you jazzed up or what particularly
• 17:59
  in this do you like? Oh, OK, all right.
• 18:02
  So if you like this and this and this, then if you like this and
• 18:07
  this and this, these ranges, they come up within cost.
• 18:11
  Anything between this and this and I would need between that
• 18:13
  and that to be able to make this happen.
• 18:14
  Is that something you can do right now?
• 18:17
  You can say I'm asking a specific question that if you
• 18:19
  like option one and option two, they can cost anything between
• 18:22
  400K and 600K. So between both of them, is this
• 18:26
  something you'd be willing to invest in right now?
• 18:28
  I asked the question. You can say that I'm asking
• 18:31
  something specific. And then the person says, Oh
• 18:34
  yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I would like to price, but that
• 18:36
  can work. The person says something like
• 18:39
  that. That's good.
• 18:40
  We're getting some specific specificity.
• 18:44
  Yes, we're getting some specificity.
• 18:46
  So in that case, that's a good sign.
• 18:48
  I can still even make it more specifically.
• 18:50
  OK, no problem. You want to negotiate?
• 18:52
  Well, we're talking right now. How about we go ahead and just
• 18:55
  hand it out. See, you can always move things
• 18:59
  one step forward, get one small commitment, move things forward
• 19:04
  one step, one step, move from item 3 to item 4 to item 5 on
• 19:08
  the agenda. So we should always be speaking
• 19:10
  that trying to do that. We should be seeking for that.
• 19:12
  We should be aiming for specific commitments.
• 19:15
  So try and book a follow up meeting or let me see or try and
• 19:22
  get a date when both of you are going to discuss the proposal
• 19:25
  that you've already sent. Or you guys can start examining
• 19:31
  timelines and making commitments based on timelines.
• 19:33
  That's also something I told the engineer that when somebody says
• 19:37
  Oh yes, we're good to go on this, you need to now press with
• 19:40
  the timeline now, OK, if you're happy to start with this
• 19:44
  particular product, if we need this project to be viable by
• 19:48
  December 30, the boys need to be on the field by October 1st.
• 19:54
  For the boys to be on the field by October 1st, they need to be
• 19:59
  mobilized 2 weeks before. If they're going to be mobilized
• 20:03
  2 weeks before, we would need payment to be made not later
• 20:08
  than one week before XYZ date. So our got potential customer if
• 20:13
  you want this project to be finished by.
• 20:16
  December 30, you actually need to make the first payment today,
• 20:20
  7th of June, or you know, next week, 21st of June or whatever.
• 20:25
  You need to have that conversation.
• 20:27
  You see, we're getting commitments, we're sharing
• 20:31
  timelines, we're trying to get advancements or making things
• 20:33
  clear, clear, clear, clear, clear.
• 20:35
  If we're having green lines, if everything has been green light,
• 20:39
  green lit all through, then of course, we'll move straight into
• 20:43
  the execution phase. If the person starts stalling,
• 20:46
  let me talk to my wife, let me talk to my business partner, let
• 20:50
  me talk to my investors, let me talk to other stakeholders.
• 20:53
  Then you know that you've missed something in the sales process.
• 20:56
  And I've made podcast episodes about how you deal with
• 20:58
  objections. So after you're done listening
• 21:00
  to this one, skip back a couple. You'll be able to find it or
• 21:05
  just use listen notes. Listen to my podcast through
• 21:08
  Listen Notes. You'll be able to search within
• 21:10
  the podcast and then find the episodes where I've spoken about
• 21:13
  things like that, like how to deal with objections.
• 21:16
  Then let's see finally. Aha, yes, the big one,
• 21:19
  especially the one that I saw in the wedding space, the one that
• 21:23
  used to reduce us to tears and utter confusion, as in utter
• 21:27
  confusion. Do not confuse friendliness with
• 21:31
  commitment. Let me repeat it one more time.
• 21:35
  Do not confuse friendliness with commitment.
• 21:40
  The fact that somebody is friendly with you, the two of
• 21:42
  you are shining teeth and laughing now does not
• 21:45
  automatically translate into a deal.
• 21:48
  It does not mean that it's going to happen.
• 21:50
  And those of us in the wedding space, we have seen this plenty.
• 21:53
  OK, I'm no more in the wedding space, but I started off there.
• 21:55
  We have seen it plenty. You be with the bride, you guys
• 21:58
  are flowing, you and the groom, you guys are jisting, you even
• 22:01
  buy them beer. And you guys are just like
• 22:04
  you're getting on like a house on fire.
• 22:07
  And I wonder you call them and like how far they say, oh,
• 22:10
  sorry, I forgot to tell you, but we're actually going ahead with
• 22:14
  a coolie coolie photo photograph our wedding instead and after
• 22:17
  the queer now watching that ha, what happened now like we were
• 22:20
  vibing, we were cool. They came to the studio,
• 22:22
  everything was cool. I wanted their house, everything
• 22:25
  was cool. We won't hung out.
• 22:27
  So like everything was going on fine.
• 22:29
  Like what happened now it's coolie.
• 22:31
  The one that happened to me was my my uncle.
• 22:34
  I called him to say what's up next.
• 22:35
  I said sorry, my uncle, my uncle gifted us a photographer for the
• 22:40
  wedding and now I was now confused like I thought we were
• 22:43
  friends anyway. So don't confuse friendliness
• 22:46
  with commitment. It happens all the time.
• 22:48
  You guys can be now, you can be best friends, you like the same
• 22:51
  football teams, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 22:54
  It doesn't mean that the deal is going forward.
• 22:56
  That is the reason why all the preceding tips, all the
• 23:01
  preceding ideas that we've spoken about over the last 20
• 23:04
  minutes, that is why all these things are important so that you
• 23:07
  can be vibing and be feeling cool and feeling friendly.
• 23:11
  But if this is not a deal, you will know quickly and you know
• 23:14
  when to stop and you know when to get out and not waste your
• 23:16
  time. There's no point in spending
• 23:19
  three months with people becoming best friends only for
• 23:21
  the deal to not close. If you will are doing best
• 23:24
  friends, but this deal is not going to close.
• 23:25
  It will pay you to find out in week one or week two and then
• 23:29
  move on to someone else instead of wasting three weeks, sorry,
• 23:33
  three months. Building rapport, building
• 23:36
  friendliness, and anything is not going to work.
• 23:38
  On the other hand, there are those deals where both of you
• 23:41
  are like strangers in church or something and there's no love,
• 23:47
  there's no vibe. So excuse me, but then somehow
• 23:50
  the deal closes. You need to be able to figure
• 23:52
  out these things too. Maybe you're dealing with people
• 23:54
  who are emotionally unavailable or more shy or more reserved or
• 23:57
  more, whatever. You have to be able to figure
• 23:59
  out what it is that is going on. Is this a green light?
• 24:02
  Is this a yellow light? Is this a red light?
• 24:04
  So that's why all the things that we've spoken about so far
• 24:06
  are important. So summary of everything I've
• 24:09
  been saying is you have to take the initiative to figure out
• 24:11
  what is really going in really going on.
• 24:14
  Don't fall into the camp of people who say buyers are liars
• 24:17
  because they've made friends with people the deal did not
• 24:19
  close or they say customers aren't serious because you
• 24:23
  thought you had a good deal here.
• 24:24
  You think you didn't close. Or they say people don't know
• 24:26
  what they want. I've heard that one a lot like
• 24:28
  don't mind them customers. I've had it in the wedding
• 24:30
  space. I don't mind them.
• 24:31
  This bridge, she doesn't even know what she wants.
• 24:34
  She actually knows what she wants.
• 24:35
  You just didn't take the initiative to figure out exactly
• 24:38
  what it is that was going on. Nigerians are polite, so she
• 24:40
  didn't want to be rude. That's why they were just you
• 24:43
  know, you guys have the conversation, you buy them beer,
• 24:46
  they will drink your beer. You guys hang out, you know,
• 24:48
  they'll pay you compliments about how you're the best
• 24:50
  photographer and or you went to University of Aberdeen to OK,
• 24:53
  yes, I was there, that's where we met blah, blah, blah.
• 24:55
  She just doesn't know how to tell you that you're a nice guy,
• 24:58
  but actually we professional. So the problem is not the
• 25:01
  customers. The problem is you stop being a
• 25:04
  victim of the sales process. Take control over how some of
• 25:08
  these things turn out. Keep listening to this podcast.
• 25:10
  Also subscribe to other business podcasts and you will learn how
• 25:13
  to figure out. Do I have a buying signal?
• 25:16
  Is this a green light? Is this a willing partner in
• 25:19
  business or is this a red light? Do I need to make AU turn
• 25:23
  because this deal is never going to close.
• 25:25
  So that's all for today. Remember to connect with me on
• 25:27
  WhatsApp. The phone number is the same
• 25:29
  08064662140. The country code is +234.
• 25:34
  And also connect with me on LinkedIn.
• 25:35
  My name is Tamashima Ayede. You can confirm the spelling of
• 25:38
  my name and e-mail address from the link you're currently
• 25:41
  listening to. The link you're currently using.
• 25:43
  Abby, how do I say it again? I've forgotten.
• 25:45
  I've forgotten my closing spiel. You sure you can confirm
• 25:48
  everything from the link where you're listening to this
• 25:50
  episode? So thanks for your time and
• 25:51
  attention. I'll catch you guys at the next
• 25:53
  episode.