Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Stop Disturbing Your Clients: Follow Through, Don’t Just Follow Up

Transcript

Stop Disturbing Your Clients: Follow Through, Don’t Just Follow Up · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

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  Lots of Nigerian business people and sales people have problems
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  with their cash flow, have problems with their revenues,
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  have problems with their profits because their follow up game is
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  weak. They have some problems with
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  following up. And of course because of that,
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  it's messing up with their money at the end of the month, at the
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  end of the quarter or at the end of the year.
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  So this is one of the things that we're going to be tackling
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  today. Now, one of those sins or one of
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  those mistakes that people make when they try to follow up is
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  they send multi pronged messages.
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  In other words, a multi pronged messages.
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  Sorry, forgive me. A multi pronged message, Abby.
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  OK, very cool. So a multi pronged message is a
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  message that has 23456 different things that are embedded in the
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  message. And it's not a good idea either
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  in physical conversation with someone or in an e-mail exchange
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  or in a phone exchange or in a WhatsApp exchange to send multi
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  pronged messages. Because if you send a message to
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  someone and the message contains item ABCDEF at the end of the
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  day, which one is somebody going to respond to specifically?
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  So I know it seems kind of counterintuitive, but if we're
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  going to be good at this follow up game, what we need to do is
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  we have to become really good at sending a message.
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  And each message has just one key point that the person is
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  supposed to respond to. And then that way we can get a
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  conversation going. So I send one message and the
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  key theme or the keying point of the message is A and then I end
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  the message trying to get some feedback on that and the person
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  responds and then we continue and that is how the conversation
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  goes. And then it becomes a salvo.
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  So instead of sending one message that is multi pronged
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  and we throw absolutely everything into it, we need to
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  learn how to send shorter, smaller messages that have just
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  one key element. And then plus when we try to
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  send multi pronged messages, the problem is the messages look
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  unwieldy. They look very big.
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  And to be honest, most people don't read the whole thing.
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  So you're trying to stuff the message with all the value that
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  you can get, but the person is just going to skim or scam.
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  I'm sorry, scam scan. Yeah, scan person is going to
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  skim or scan through the message and pick a couple of things.
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  And so some things are going to get lost in the details anyway.
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  So instead of sending multi pronged messages, just send one
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  message that has one key theme and that is what we are going to
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  discuss today. But before we get into the meet
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  of today's episode, if you would love to connect with me, you can
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  call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on the
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  080. 6466. 2140 Also, if you're interested in the 15 minute sale
• 2:52
  audit for your business then you can WhatsApp me on the same
• 2:54
  number 0806. 466. 2140 If you would like to join my WhatsApp
• 3:01
  channel, that's not a problem. Send me a WhatsApp message on,
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  you guessed it, 0806. 466. 2140 OK, now back to the topic for
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  today, how to make sure that our follow up game is strong.
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  Now for the benefit of those that are discovering the show
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  for the first time, I have to make a distinction.
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  Now in traditional sales and business development, we don't
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  say follow up, we say follow through.
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  And this is the reason why typically whenever you're
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  following up with someone, you are calling someone to stay top
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  of mind, you're trying to advance the conversation.
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  But usually when you're trying to follow up, you don't have any
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  specific item, any specific agenda that you are trying to
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  push. So in Nigeria, if you've dealt
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  with vendors and vendors are in the habit of calling you to say,
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  bro, so far happy new month or as a family, I just say I won't
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  greet you, happy Salah, all those sorts of things.
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  That is what we call follow up because people are reaching out
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  to you. It's kind of pointless.
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  There's no agenda really. You're wondering why is this guy
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  just buzzing my phone? This guy already called me last
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  month. Why is he calling me again this
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  month? That is follow up.
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  Now in sales and business development, we prefer this.
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  We prefer to say follow through. Now, follow through is what
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  happens when you have a specific item on the agenda that you want
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  to get some feedback on. And usually it is something that
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  both of you mutually agreed upon before this current call.
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  So in other words, let's say I'm dealing with someone this I'm in
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  the business of running house cleaning, that's why I do house
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  cleaning and office cleaning. And then I have a conversation
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  with someone and I send over a proposal to someone.
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  We talk on the phone briefly about some of the highlights of
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  the proposal, and then I tell the person.
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  Most of my happiest customers usually take about four to five
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  days to consider the proposal. Madam, do you think that I'll be
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  OK four to five days so that we can talk again and see which
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  package you're interested in? Now, if Madame says yes, the
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  next thing I'm going to push for is now say OK, Madame.
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  So in that case, what I'm going to do is today is the 1st of
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  March. I'm going to call you again on
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  the 5th of March so that we can have this conversation.
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  How does that sound, Ma? And my dad might say, oh I'm not
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  going to be in town then because I'm travelling because my
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  uncle's brother's son's sister's wife is getting married.
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  So OK, no problem. So when I'm going to be back Ma?
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  OK, I'll be back the following Monday.
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  OK, perfect. No Allah, let's say you rest one
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  day. So can I call you on Wednesday
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  Ma? OK, no problem.
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  Wednesday is fine. OK, Thank you very much Ma.
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  I'll talk to you then. And then you end the call.
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  Now in this case you have secured and advancement.
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  Both of you have mutually agreed that you're going to do
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  something in the next, you know XYZ coming number of days.
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  Now when you decide to call Madam again on that date that
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  has been agreed, there is a purpose for the call.
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  And the chances are that since Madam mutually agreed, because
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  remember you guys discussed this explicitly, it is not going to
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  be a pointless call. You are following through on
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  something that both of you decided together the last time
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  that you spoke. In fact, when you're done with
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  the conversation, you can send a message reinforcing that.
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  Thank you very much Madam. Glad to have the conversation
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  with you. I'm looking forward to having
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  you on board as one of my clients because I'm looking
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  forward to serving you when you're travelling for your
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  uncles, husbands, wives, nephews, sisters, nieces
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  wedding. Have a safe trip.
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  Have a safe trip for the wedding.
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  Have fun. Have a safe trip.
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  Coming back to Abuja. I'll call you on the 7th of
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  March, just as we agreed. So simple message like that.
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  So this is the difference between following up and
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  following through. So if you have been following
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  up, you are wrong. You should learn how to follow
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  through. You should be securing
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  advancements when you're having conversations with people so
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  that you can follow through with them after the conversation is
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  done. Now I know some of you might
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  find this a little bit difficult, but no holla.
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  That's the reason why I give my contact details during the
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  episode. So you need me to explain a
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  couple of stuff much more clearly then just call me, send
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  me a text message or a WhatsApp message.
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  Again, the number is 0806. 466. 2140 So the fault that we're
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  looking at today is people sending multi pronged WhatsApp
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  messages. And the way that I defined it,
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  you're trying to follow up and then you send a message and the
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  message contains too many elements.
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  Now let me give a practical example that I was trying to
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  work with someone on, but this was a very long time ago.
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  So I just saw the screenshot in my message.
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  So this was a very, very, very long time ago.
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  Sorry. The screenshot was in my notes.
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  So the person signed a message to try and follow up on someone.
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  By the way, remember we don't see a follow up follow through.
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  And in this case, yes, it was a matter of following through
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  because the person spoke to a prospect, the prospect was
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  supposed to have a meeting with the CFO that is the chief
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  financial officer. And after that they agreed that
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  they were going to talk again. But the mistake was they did not
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  agree on a specific date. So you see some of the mistakes
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  that we make when we're trying to do a follow up in quote,
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  didn't agree on a specific date now because they didn't agree on
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  a specific date when this guy was now trying to reach out back
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  to the prospect. A couple of things are unclear.
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  OK, you're reaching out now. Are you reaching out too soon or
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  are you reaching out too late? You don't know.
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  And the reason why you do not know is because you did not gain
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  an advancement. You people did not mutually
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  discuss it very clearly about what the expectations were.
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  So you don't know if you're calling too soon.
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  You don't know if you're calling too late, you don't know if
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  you're being a pest, you don't know if you're being a bother.
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  You don't know if you're being lackadaisical, you don't know if
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  you're being lazy. You have absolutely no idea.
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  You're just restyling because you people did not discuss this
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  ahead of time. So if you're having a meeting
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  with someone, if you're having a conversation with someone and
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  the person says the next step is he needs to discuss with the
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  CFO, the chief financial officer, what you do is you say
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  fantastic, that makes a lot of sense.
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  I would have expected that that would be the case anyway.
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  So when next are you going to be having this meeting with the
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  CFO? If the person responds that, Oh
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  yes, we meet regularly, the board meets regularly every
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  month. The next thing we say was oh,
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  every month. This is currently 31st of so I'm
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  just checking my watch. So this is currently 31st of
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  March. So does that mean you guys are
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  meeting early next week in April or you're going to be meeting in
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  another 3-4 weeks at the end of April?
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  And then you hear what the person has to say.
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  If the person says the board meeting is going to be at the
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  end of April, the final week, it's usually a Wednesday or a
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  Thursday. You say, oh, OK, all right, no
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  worries. How about we do things this way?
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  I'll send you a reminder in the third week just to be sure that
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  what we discussed is still on the item for discussion.
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  Would that be OK? And of course, the person will
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  say, sure, it's OK that you can send the reminder and it's OK.
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  Fantastic. Cool.
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  And then after that, would it be OK if I now call you the first
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  week following, which is the first week in May, just to find
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  out how the meeting went with the CFO and so we can discuss
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  next steps. So excuse me.
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  And of course, the person is going to say, sure, no problem.
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  Now, in this case, you have discussed this thing explicitly.
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  The person said I need to have a meeting with the CFO.
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  You didn't say, oh, OK, no, Allah.
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  So we go, Yanabi, we'll be in touch.
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  No, you took it further. You said, when are you likely to
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  have a meeting with the CFO? And then the person said, oh, we
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  usually meet during the board meeting.
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  And then, so excuse me, I'm recovering from a, a sore
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  throat. So you took it another step
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  further and he asked the person, OK, the board meetings, is that
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  typically at the beginning of the month or at the end of the
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  month? And then the person said at the
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  end of the month, And then you quickly check your watch and you
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  realize that oh, you're already at the end of the month.
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  So when this guy says at the end of the month, that means the
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  meeting is going to be in another 4 weeks.
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  And you asked and the guy confirmed and then you asked for
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  permission to send a reminder the week before the board
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  meeting just to make sure that your matter is on the agenda.
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  And the guy said he's OK. And then you now asked him if
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  you can call the week afterwards to see how the meeting went and
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  to discuss next steps. And then the person said OK.
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  Now in this case, if and when you do try and follow up in
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  quote. But remember, I prefer to say
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  follow through. When you do decide to call and
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  follow through on the person, can you see now that you're
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  going to have the confidence that you are not being a pest
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  because you discussed all of this ahead of time.
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  You took permission from the person about the reminder of the
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  notification that you are going to send before the meeting.
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  And you also agreed mutually on when and how you're going to
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  reach out after the meeting. So when you call or when you
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  send a WhatsApp message, you are not going to be a pest.
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  You are just following through on what has already been agreed
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  upon between both of you. So this is the difference
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  between follow up and follow through.
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  So in this case, that was the mistake that this guy made.
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  He the guy just, you know, I suppose.
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  Yeah, we CFO and I was like CFO and no problem.
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  So you will be now we'll be in touch.
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  And the guys say sure, no problem.
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  I will boss you. I go boss you.
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  And even though that sounds nice, I will boss you.
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  I'll be in touch. We will.
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  Yeah. And my guy now don't worry,
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  Shabina. You know nothing, sport,
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  nothing. Apple.
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  Don't worry, Don't worry. You know, I got you, my brother,
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  I got you. Even though all of these things
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  sound sweet, even all of them sounds nice, that is not an
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  advancement. We still don't have anything on
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  the table. It is very unclear.
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  If somebody says I you're my guy now.
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  I got you. I got you and I got you.
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  Doesn't mean nothing. It doesn't tell me when am I
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  supposed to call you or when next are we going to talk?
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  I'll be. Am I supposed to come to your
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  office? I'll be the one that will call
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  to my office. Abby maker send you e-mail as in
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  all those sweet sounding stuff amounts to zero amount to
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  nothing. When the time comes now to
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  follow up or to follow through, you now be feeling like a pest.
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  The reason why you're feeling like a pest is because you guys
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  are not very very clear about what needs to happen next.
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  So now back to the message. Because remember the focus today
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  is on having multi pronged messages.
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  So this guy's now sent a message saying summary of the messages
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  was like, bro, I hope all is well.
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  I'm just reaching out to circle back concerning the meeting with
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  the CFO. Is there any additional
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  assistance that was needed? Now this is a multi pronged
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  message because you know, you've thrown in too many things, all
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  is well, that's one thing. Circle back, that's another
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  thing. Meeting with CFO, that's another
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  thing. Additional assistance needed,
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  that's another thing. Some of you say and take it
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  easy, that it all makes sense to put all of them in one message.
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  And maybe, but for the purposes of sales, The thing is, when we
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  are sending messages, WhatsApp messages or e-mail messages,
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  we're trying to get the person into a conversation.
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  And when you throw 345 things into the message, think of it
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  now, which one is the person going to respond to?
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  And if you're in the habit of having conversations with people
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  this way on WhatsApp, I'm sure you will notice that you put
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  four or five things in a WhatsApp message you send, but
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  then the person replies and responds to only one thing.
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  And you're the one who now has to let the person know that, oh,
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  you didn't respond to this. You didn't respond to that.
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  So actually, what you should have done was to break this
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  messaging sequence into several messages.
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  This could have been broken into two, three, let me see, 1234,
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  probably even 4 messages. But before we continue, one
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  thing I need to point out the use of language and idiomatic
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  expressions. Idiomatic expressions just means
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  slangs and expressions that are commonly used by some folks.
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  Now, because a lot of us have schooled abroad or a lot of us
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  are listening to foreign business podcasts, we have
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  started using words like circle back.
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  You know, you hear it in America, you hear it in the UK.
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  You see, I just want to circle back.
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  See, in Nigeria, circle back doesn't mean anything.
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  It's not part of the, it's not part of the idiomatic, I'm
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  sorry. I say idiomatic, idiomatic
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  expressions that we have over here in this country.
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  So stop using all these fancy words that we hear abroad or
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  that we hear in podcasts. Circle back does not mean
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  anything to most people who see it.
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  So use whatever local equivalent that you can find.
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  Don't say, you know, I'm just reaching out to circle back.
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  So the way that I would have broken up these messages would
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  have been something like even if I was going to slam everything
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  into one message, it would have been something like this.
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  First of all, you greet the person, so you say hi, hello,
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  what's up, whatever. And then you say regarding XYZ
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  agenda, you stated clearly there are there any developments with
• 15:58
  the CFO question mark send? You see, that's a short message.
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  And at the end of the day, there's only one call to action
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  and I've highlighted on what the main item is that we're trying
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  to, we're trying to resolve. So hey bro, how are you doing
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  now regarding our agenda from last week?
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  Any any updates with CFO question mark send?
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  Now that is the kind of message that somebody can reply to and
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  say, ah, Bros Novicks. I didn't see CFO or I see CFO,
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  but the guys say blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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  Or guy, I'm busy, I can't talk now, you know, let's let's talk
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  later or something. But shy is the kind of message
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  that prompts a response. Now, one thing on pleasantries
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  because I like to use pleasantries in in messages.
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  I hope all is well. Happy new week.
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  How's the family? How's the wife?
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  How's this? How's that?
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  Yeah, I get it. You know, it's part of our
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  culture somewhat. But sometimes when we use some
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  of these pleasantries in business, you know, it's kind of
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  fake, you know, asking about family, kids, spouse, blah,
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  blah, blah, when actually it's very clear that you probably
• 17:07
  don't care about these sorts of things because, you know, when
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  you met the guy, did you even ask him about family, wife,
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  children? Did you guys build rapport, talk
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  about any of those things? So those things are just fluff.
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  They're just taking up what necessary space in your
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  messages. So if you're not the kind of
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  person who when people actually spoke, you actually spoke about
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  family, about children, about things like that, just pressure
• 17:30
  all those pleasantries. It is OK to greet and then state
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  the prior context. The prior context is you're just
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  trying to refresh or to re roll as in our refresh rehash.
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  I'll be just remind the person about what these are you guys
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  spoke about last and then go straight into your intention,
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  which is what I would have done if I was going to reward this
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  message. So bro, are you there now
• 17:54
  regarding that team where we are, any developments with the
• 17:58
  CFO? It's a very simple straight
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  what's up message, very clear call to action.
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  The person can respond to it and then you're on your way.
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  But assuming we're going to take the person's initial breakdown,
• 18:14
  which was is all well, ought to circle back meeting with the
• 18:18
  CFO, any assistance needed. If you must stick to that format
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  that the guy did, then you're best trying to, you're best
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  breaking this off into multiple messages, stagger them into
• 18:31
  different messages so we can get a conversation going.
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  So the first message was, bro, how you doing?
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  I hope all is well. Question mark sent.
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  That is all so that you respond. I said, ah, guy, I do long time,
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  long time you say, yeah, so yeah, it's been a long time.
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  So I mean the response to him will be yeah, so it's been a
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  long time. That thing where we discussed
• 18:54
  last week now concerning CFO, how far you see that's another
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  servo one message the girl respond then you can now go with
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  that whole any additional assistance needed part.
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  So don't stop one message with 456 things.
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  That's not an effective way to do things.
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  If you're going to follow up again, remember we prefer to say
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  follow through. If you're going to follow
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  through and follow through effectively, one message and
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  that message should have one key point.
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  That one key point or that one item of the agenda should have a
• 19:30
  strong call to action at the end.
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  Call to action just means what you want the person to do next.
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  In fact, this is the way I explained it to my clients
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  because some of my clients struggle to understand this
• 19:40
  concept of a call to action. So basically what I tell my
• 19:43
  clients is this, so long as we're trying to close the sale,
• 19:47
  never you send any message that does not end in question mark.
• 19:52
  Every single message you send was ending question mark because
• 19:55
  we're trying to get the person to respond to something, to
• 19:58
  engage in a conversation. So if you understand the concept
• 20:01
  of ACTA, a call to action Pro calls to actions in all your
• 20:04
  messages. If you don't understand the
• 20:06
  concept of a CTA, just take it that as a general rule, every
• 20:10
  single message you send should end in a question mark because
• 20:14
  you want the person to respond to something in particular and
• 20:17
  that is how you're going to move this business conversation
• 20:21
  forward. So applying these principles can
• 20:26
  be very tricky. So if you need me to look at
• 20:28
  your own particular circumstances, that's not a
• 20:30
  problem. You can connect with me, you can
• 20:33
  call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 080.
• 20:36
  6466. 2140 Remember if you're interested in my 15 minute sale
• 20:43
  audit, you can WhatsApp me on 080. 6466. 2140 and if you'd
• 20:48
  like to join my WhatsApp channel, of course send me a
• 20:51
  WhatsApp message on the same channel.
• 20:54
  Sorry, I said on the same number and I will send you the link so
• 20:58
  that you can join the channel. So that's it for today.
• 21:01
  If you got value from today's episode, please subscribe on
• 21:04
  Spotify, iTunes, Apple or whoever it is that you listen to
• 21:08
  your podcast and then of course share with other people who are
• 21:11
  going to get value from the show as well.
• 21:14
  And yeah, that's it pretty much. So thanks for your time and
• 21:18
  attention. I'll catch you all the next
• 21:20
  episode.