Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Why Sales is Like Chess (Not Just "Toasting")

Transcript

Why Sales is Like Chess (Not Just "Toasting") · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Today on the podcast, we're going to look at why sales is
• 0:04
  like chess. Not just toasting.
• 0:06
  This is an article, or a post rather, that I wrote for my
• 0:11
  LinkedIn profile. So let's begin.
• 0:14
  It's a Saturday morning, which means one thing in my house,
• 0:19
  Akara for breakfast. While waiting for the vendor to
• 0:22
  process my order, I did what I always do.
• 0:25
  I pulled out my phone for a quick game of chess.
• 0:29
  Lately I've been experimenting with king and queen pawn
• 0:32
  openings. When you're playing a 2 minute
• 0:35
  blitz game, it looks frantic. To an outsider, it might look
• 0:40
  like I'm just pushing pawns randomly, but because my kids
• 0:44
  play a little, they can see the larger picture.
• 0:47
  I can make bold snap judgements because I understand three
• 0:51
  things #1 the principles or the rules of the game #2 the
• 0:57
  strategy, the specific plan I'm employing are #3 the context,
• 1:02
  how the board shifts with every move.
• 1:06
  Sure, I still get punished swiftly when I miss a detail,
• 1:09
  but the foundation is there. So why am I talking about chess?
• 1:15
  Because in Nigeria, people think sales and business development
• 1:18
  are just about two things, toasting and packaging.
• 1:25
  Toasting is being slick and having smooth, compelling lines.
• 1:30
  Packaging is branding yourself to create an aura of success.
• 1:35
  While these help, they are the full picture.
• 1:38
  Sales is a system. It's more like chess, Scrabble
• 1:43
  or football than it's like a magic trick.
• 1:47
  To win consistently, you have to move past the vibes and master
• 1:52
  the mechanics. Master the fundamentals.
• 1:56
  Learn the fundamentals, understand the why behind every
• 2:01
  move. Get your reps in.
• 2:05
  You don't get better by thinking, you get better by
• 2:07
  playing. Practice until the patterns
• 2:11
  become second nature. Iterate based on feedback.
• 2:16
  When you get beaten on the field, take that data, plug it
• 2:19
  back into your process and go again.
• 2:23
  Mastery isn't natural. People see me today and think
• 2:28
  you get out for body. They think I'm just a natural.
• 2:31
  But I wasn't born playing chess. I started as an adult.
• 2:36
  I wasn't born a salesman, a public speaker, or a radio show
• 2:39
  host either. I was a shy kid at the back of
• 2:42
  the class. I got good because I realized
• 2:46
  there were fundamentals to be mastered and I refused to stop
• 2:49
  putting in the repetitions. The lesson is simple, stop
• 2:54
  trying to toast or package your way to revenue success.
• 2:58
  Learn the game, master the math, and keep playing.
• 3:02
  The magic will follow. I hope you've enjoyed me reading
• 3:06
  the article that I put up for LinkedIn.
• 3:08
  And of course, if you'd like to see stuff like this, all you
• 3:10
  have to do is just follow me on LinkedIn.
• 3:13
  But let me know, send me a text message, a WhatsApp message on
• 3:18
  the 08064662140. If you like me reading up my
• 3:24
  articles on LinkedIn, let me know, Perhaps I'll do more of
• 3:27
  it. So that's it, thank you very
• 3:29
  much. I'll catch you all some other
• 3:30
  time.