Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Mastering the Sales Conversation: From Open to Close

Transcript

Mastering the Sales Conversation: From Open to Close · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello and welcome to the show. Today is one of those art and
0:04
about episodes where I expect the usual interruptions.
0:07
So let's get straight down to business.
0:09
And today the question that I'm going to tackle is a it's an old
0:13
one, but it's a good one. And that is how you can get your
0:15
sales people to be good closers. Remember I told you guys that in
0:20
the past on the podcast that had been paying attention to those
0:23
of us who are self-employed and, you know, people who take
0:26
financial responsibility for the growth of their businesses.
0:29
But then I have been paying attention recently to those of
0:33
you who do not own the business, but who work for someone else
0:37
who owns the business. And so, yeah, that's the way
0:40
that we're going to tackle the subject today.
0:43
We're going to look at how to get your sales people, that's if
0:46
you are the business owner and you have other people selling on
0:48
your behalf, how to get them to be good closers, how to close
0:52
more deals. Now, before we do that, I'd like
0:54
to go into listener shout outs. And today I'm going to shout out
0:58
a saucer at Tem Guaye. Sorry for not pronouncing your
1:02
name correctly. Interesting spelling of your
1:05
name, Esosa, by the way, because my goddaughter is Esiosa.
1:09
But people keep telling me that, yes, even though it's spelled
1:11
Esiosa, I shouldn't say Esiosa. I should say Esiosa.
1:15
So yeah, I'm going to assume that you that it's the same name
1:18
for you, but that you're spelling yours phonetically.
1:21
So shout out to Esosa at Tem Guaye, who reached out to me on
1:27
LinkedIn. Well, we've been having a chat
1:29
on LinkedIn because she shared one of the really old posts that
1:32
I put up with some comments on it.
1:34
And so we got chatting in the comment section.
1:36
So Esosa is a business and sales manager for Land Republic, and
1:41
she also describes herself as a financial literacy advocate.
1:46
So if you're interested in those sorts of things, hit up Esosa at
1:49
Tem Weyer on LinkedIn. Her Esosa is spelt ESOSA.
1:56
That's for those of us who are familiar with the essay of SAR
1:59
spelling, but hers is Esosa. So you can reach out to her on
2:02
LinkedIn. And yeah, I'm sure she'll be,
2:05
you know, we business and sales development professionals always
2:08
happy to meet other people in the field.
2:10
So I'm sure she's not going to mind.
2:13
Then let me see. Oh, yeah.
2:15
So she's a financial literacy advocate.
2:17
Excuse me. I was really happy to hear that
2:20
or to see that rather, because when I was little, when I was a
2:25
little boy, how old was I? Secondary school ish.
2:30
Just before secondary school, her father gave me a copy of
2:33
Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And I know it sounds was our
2:37
cliche, like everybody comes across Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
2:41
But actually it is a very important book for young men and
2:44
women to come across. So for those of us who have
2:47
kids, I recommend that. It's something that we expose
2:50
our young ones too, not because the book is the Bible or
2:53
anything, but because it's simply written.
2:56
It's kind of like a parable. It's easy to understand and at
2:59
the beginning of exposing young people to some very important
3:03
concepts. Number one, financial literacy.
3:05
So it's also a time where here it's a financial literacy
3:08
advocate. The first time I heard about
3:10
financial literacy was from Rich Dad, poor dad and financial
3:12
literacy just, it's just the idea that we should be able to
3:16
read the health of a company and read the health of your
3:20
pocketbook. You need to be able to
3:22
understand on a very basic level how much money is coming in, how
3:26
much money is going out. And that seems to make a world
3:29
of a difference to how you progress through your careers
3:31
and through your business. So keep up the good work that
3:36
you're doing, especially on the financial literacy front.
3:39
And for those of us who are parents or soon to be parents,
3:43
let's remember to continue the gospel.
3:46
Rich dad, poor dad, very easy to read.
3:49
It's not going to be one of those books.
3:51
And my father gave it to me before I started secondary
3:53
school. And I read it and I, I called
3:55
the Drift. I took different things from it.
3:57
So it's not a book written by Harvard professor or something
4:01
like that. So yeah, financial literacy.
4:03
And let's get our children started on these things early.
4:06
So the comments that is also a term where I made on my post
4:09
were around money qualification. She liked the idea that you have
4:13
to qualify people quickly. And it's part of the comments
4:16
that she built her own post around, which is say that if
4:19
you're selling a 7 million, excuse me, if you're selling a 7
4:22
million naira property, then you know, it beholds of you to get
4:27
these conversations out of the way rather than you start the
4:30
conversation. It's a 7 million naira property.
4:32
You invest time in building the relationship, you're trying to
4:34
move the conversation forward only to find out now that this
4:37
person, if you turn him upside down and shake him, he only has
4:39
1M in his pocket, You've just wasted your time.
4:42
So that's, I know for some of you, it might sound aggressive,
4:46
but keep listening to the podcast and you hear lots of
4:48
useful ideas about how we can approach money conversations.
4:52
Because I talk about using ranges and brackets to get
4:55
people into the conversation, You know, like, OK, oh, hello,
4:57
Sir, thank you very much, blah, blah, blah.
5:00
Ask some questions about the person's housing need.
5:02
I'm glad you're considering these properties, blah, blah,
5:04
blah. But with our firm, the typical
5:08
investment that is required for these kinds of properties is
5:10
anything between 7 and 14,000,000.
5:13
Is that something? Is that an investment that
5:16
you're willing to make anytime soon?
5:18
And then you keep quiet and then you hear so that the man who
5:21
only has one and will say 7 million.
5:23
OK, thank you very much. Or like one of the people that I
5:27
was coaching recently when she used that kind of language on
5:30
somebody, the person said, OK, thank you very much, go and sell
5:33
your XYZI won't say what it was. So go and sell your XYZ to
5:37
people on the island who have money.
5:39
Thank you very much. One day God will do it for me.
5:41
And then the person caught the phone call.
5:43
So it's an interesting experience.
5:46
Not all of us meet customers who react that way.
5:49
But The thing is, it is perfectly fine to have that
5:52
conversation now at the beginning and let the person
5:55
insult you and call the phone now for you to invest 3456 weeks
6:00
building a relationship with someone and then the person
6:02
insults you after six weeks and then cuts the phone.
6:05
So let the person insult you now and cut the phone rather than
6:08
insult you two months from now and then cut the phone.
6:11
So yeah, money acquisition. OK.
6:13
And then she said that she listened to the podcast on
6:16
advancements. I think that was maybe two or
6:17
three days ago, so excuse me. So for those of you who are just
6:21
listening to the show after you listen to this episode, those
6:23
are two things to look out for. The podcast is available on
6:26
YouTube. Use the search function in
6:28
YouTube. Just search my name and then
6:29
search qualification. And every single episode that
6:33
I've made around qualification and how to have money
6:36
conversations will show up. Then type my name and then type
6:40
hit advancement. And then you will also learn
6:42
about how to advance make how to advance the sales conversation
6:49
one step at a time. And in fact, advancements for
6:52
those of you who listened to the previous episode, you're going
6:54
to see how advancements ties into getting your sales people
6:58
to be good closers. So the answer to the question,
7:01
how can I get my sales people to be good closers?
7:03
The answer is very simple. There are several things that
7:06
you can do to get people to be good closers.
7:08
But for today, I just want to talk about 3, maybe 4.
7:13
I'd say 4, but two of them are more or less one thing.
7:16
So First off, to get people to be good closers, you have to get
7:20
people to open the conversation well.
7:23
Sometimes if IA lot of the, a lot of the time the reason why a
7:27
conversation the businesses are not closing is because we
7:29
started off the conversation on the wrong foot.
7:33
Those of you who start the conversation in a in an adverse
7:36
adversarial way is not going to end well.
7:39
If you start off the conversation in a closed manner,
7:42
it's not going to end well. If you start off the
7:44
conversation, I mean, we can keep going on and on and on, but
7:47
lots of times the business is not closing because you didn't
7:49
open well. Opening the conversation well
7:52
determines the rest of the relationship, the rest of the
7:55
dynamic. And so that is really, really
7:56
important. So we have to open well.
7:59
However, I'm not one of those people who would say open the
8:02
conversation well by being nice and personal and authentic and
8:05
friendly and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
8:07
All those things are important. However, I think when we start
8:12
off with this whole let me be authentic, let me be personal,
8:14
let me be nice, let me build rapport.
8:17
So excuse me, we might run into some problems.
8:21
Now, rapport, being authentic, all those things are essential.
8:24
But my own take is that these are things that flow necessarily
8:28
anyway during the course of the conversation.
8:31
So if I'm a likable guy or I'm an idiot, you're going to be
8:34
able to quickly determine that as the conversation goes along.
8:37
So I don't need to start off this sales conversation trying
8:40
to be your friend or trying to make myself seem likeable from
8:43
the beginning. If I'm unlikeable or if I'm
8:45
likeable, it's going to flow from the rest of the
8:47
conversation. So I like to get people to go
8:52
straight into needs analysis when open opening the
8:55
conversation. And you do that just by first of
8:58
all, being casual and conversational and excuse me,
9:01
using open-ended conversations. Sorry, forgive me.
9:04
I'm recovering from another cold.
9:05
In fact, right now I'm high on purity.
9:08
Well, I'm not really high, but I'm drowsy because these things
9:12
make me feel sleepy. But anyway, you catch your
9:16
drift. I'm recovering from stuff.
9:19
Where was I? So I prefer that people just
9:22
head straight into needs analysis.
9:24
Let the conversation be nice and open and frank and you'll be
9:26
well. So somebody that was coaching
9:28
recently, she said, OK, that the way she understands the whole
9:32
gist is that when she's going to start the conversation, she will
9:34
just say, well, how can I help you today?
9:36
Now I know for some people, how can I help you today?
9:38
Sounds like a daft conversation. Because if somebody is in the
9:42
clothing store, let's use the example where Madam opens a shop
9:45
and then she puts a sales girl there or a sales boy there.
9:49
And it's for children between the ages of, let's say, I don't
9:54
know, 13 to 20. Yeah, 13 to 20.
9:58
And everything is important from UK brands or USA brands or
10:02
whatever. So I know that for the average
10:05
person, you feel like it is stupid to walk up to somebody
10:08
who is in a clothing shop and then asking the person, how can
10:11
I help you today? Because I'm sure you're thinking
10:14
obviously Madam and Ogai here because they want to buy clothes
10:17
for their kids, right? But it's just to let you know it
10:21
is not a stupid question. And it's a very easy way to
10:26
start off a conversation. You sell cars, somebody comes to
10:29
your car lot, you walk up to the person and say, how can I help
10:31
you today? And you keep quiet and then you
10:33
listen. It's not, it sounds stupid, but
10:35
trust me, it's an easy way to start a conversation.
10:37
It is not a good way to start a conversation in the retail
10:40
setting because in most retail settings, people don't want to
10:43
be disturbed. So if you come and say, how can
10:44
I help you today, they will say no thank you, I'm just looking.
10:47
And then, you know, you're really tied off.
10:49
You're really blocked the conversation.
10:51
So that is not good for retail, but for other kinds of service.
10:54
Let's say you sell a car or your fashion design or something and
10:58
someone walks into your your your shop.
11:02
You bring the person into your consultation room.
11:04
It is perfectly fine to say how can I help you today?
11:07
The person will now start telling you the story now, oh I
11:10
like your shop real nice blah blah blah.
11:13
Anyway, my sister is getting married November 3rd.
11:16
I want to make peplum dress. Sorry, I keep saying peplum
11:19
because I know nothing about fashion and there was a time
11:22
when peplum was raining when I was a wedding photographer.
11:24
So that's the only start I know. So I want to do peplum jumpsuit
11:28
for my sister's wedding and I wanted to be in Ankara.
11:31
Something, something, something. So you can see how, how can I
11:34
help you today gets the conversation to start flowing
11:37
naturally. And because the conversation has
11:40
been opened has, has we've started the conversation on a
11:43
very conversational, open, warm note, the chances of it closing
11:49
are higher. This is not the only thing.
11:51
Remember I said that there are several factors, but this is one
11:54
way open the conversation. Well, by opening the
11:58
conversation. Well, for me it's let's go
12:00
straight to need analysis. We're trying to figure out what
12:02
this person is all about and who they are.
12:04
We're using open-ended questions. open-ended questions
12:07
are just questions that will get the other person to talk.
12:10
Who, what, why, when, how, whom, you know, all those sorts of
12:13
questions. So how can I help you today?
12:19
Yeah, OK, well, how can I help you today?
12:21
Let's see what else can we think of What question?
12:23
What can I do for you today? Oh gosh, sorry, forgive me.
12:30
Like I said, I'm Puritan has dulled my brain today, but you
12:33
get the whole point. Who, how, why, when, whom?
12:38
All those questions. So back to the car example, for
12:42
instance, let's see. OK, an easy way to open the
12:45
conversation back to the car example.
12:47
And that's because where I am right now, like, you know, I'm
12:50
out and about to unpack and I'm sitting next to somebody's car.
12:53
It's a reddish Toyota Camry, not bad looking, older model.
12:58
So let's just go with that. So somebody walks into your car
13:01
place and he's standing next to a red Toyota Camry.
13:05
So I know for you, it sounds kind of stupid that you're
13:07
walking to somebody who is standing next to a red Toyota
13:09
Camry and you're asking him, how can I help you today?
13:12
I know it sounds tough, but trust me, it works.
13:14
So you're going to say, well, how can I help you today?
13:17
And then the person will start talking like, Oh yes, I have my
13:19
brother-in-law got this car something, something I've been
13:22
loving this car. I want to get one.
13:23
How much does it cost? You know, and the whole
13:25
conversation, everything will just flow.
13:27
But going into needs analysis, you can also try and head
13:30
straight to the issue. Like for those of you who sell
13:33
cars, I'm sure you've realized that most of the people who jam
13:35
you at your your car lot or your what would I call it?
13:40
Let's just say car lot are people who are usually buying
13:43
for business, maybe don't want to do both or it's for family.
13:47
And in fact, the last time I went to a car loss, that's
13:49
precisely how the guy started with the conversation.
13:51
So Bros, how knows idea idea. I'm good so so far.
13:55
Now for both. Or is he family And that's how
13:58
the conversation started. And I think even that is
14:00
brilliant. The guy went straight to the
14:02
points. Is this for both or is this for
14:04
family? So because in your mind now
14:06
you're beginning to now formulate what's the word
14:09
options and scenarios and things like that about how you can be
14:12
helpful because if the person says it's for both.
14:18
I asked a couple of more questions and it's not an
14:19
executive boat service. So I'm not sure how it works.
14:22
Maybe there's an executive boat service where you only drive
14:25
Mercedes Benzes and Jeeps or something.
14:27
But you're going to be able to now it will help shape the
14:30
proposal that you give at the end of the day, you know, like,
14:33
OK, if it's for these purposes, you need to be buying this brand
14:35
of car because it's sturdy, it has resale value, it's easy to
14:38
maintain, the fuel consumption is low, blah, blah, blah.
14:41
So by starting off our conversation.
14:44
So bro, how you doing now? So not for both.
14:46
Why is it family? You can see that conversation
14:49
flows well. So start off the conversation
14:52
well and it's OK to go straight into needs analysis for most
14:54
people. You think it's rude, but don't
14:56
worry, it's not rude. The whole thing about building
14:59
rapport, the rapport, it will come if the guys are, you know,
15:03
there are times when you start off the conversation, the person
15:05
tries to be nice, but after 2-3 minutes you can tell that this
15:08
guy is an idiot and I want nothing to do with this person.
15:10
And then you weave and then you leave.
15:12
So don't worry too much about you should consciously try to
15:17
build rapport and to make a pleasant impression and things
15:22
like that. But you don't have to start off
15:24
the conversation that way. So don't worry about how you
15:27
sound, how you look. Brush your teeth, make sure your
15:30
teeth are brushed. You know, this is live and
15:31
direct because you walk up to someone and say, how can I help
15:34
you? You know the how you know your
15:36
breath will now carry. You know, that's that's not
15:38
good. So I'm saying use some common
15:40
sense. Make sure you're dressed right,
15:41
make sure you brush your teeth. Let's see what else.
15:46
Comb your hair, make sure your beard is nice.
15:49
What else? For females, you know, usual
15:53
things use roll on, but you know, you'll be fine.
15:56
You can go and get straight into needs analysis and all will be
15:59
well. Now the next thing I want us to
16:02
look at, the second thing that you need to tell your sales
16:04
people so they become good at closing is you need to teach
16:07
your sales people something. They need to realize all the
16:10
dynamics that go into closing. First of all, you even need to
16:13
define what closing is for them because most people think
16:16
closing means give me the money or is it going to be transfer or
16:24
is it going to be card. Most people when they hear
16:28
closing, that is what they think.
16:29
But you need to teach your sales people, get them to realize that
16:33
closing actually means, well, first of all, OK, let's put it
16:38
this way. Closing just means whatever it
16:40
is you say or do that gets the person to take the next step.
16:43
But get your sales people to realize that closing, the
16:46
closing doesn't always mean collect the money.
16:50
So collect the money. Is this going to be cash or
16:54
transfer? That is the ultimate close, the
16:59
end of the whole Turinchi, the end of the whole story that
17:02
we're talking about. But closing is in two stages.
17:06
There's something that is called the one time close.
17:09
That is what all of us know because we have seen it in
17:12
Hollywood film that somebody is a correct salesperson.
17:15
So he walks up to the person, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
17:18
You know, they talk, then they'll now do montage.
17:20
They're laughing and then the person walks out of the car lot
17:23
and the person has bought the brand new Mercedes-Benz.
17:26
Or maybe like in A Pretty Woman with Richard Gere and was
17:30
Richard Gere and Julia Roberts how they entered the store in
17:33
Julia Robert Park, Plenty of clothes, backpack Park park.
17:37
And then at the end she pays with her boyfriend's card and
17:39
everything. So that's what we know.
17:41
We know the one time clothes because we've seen it in film.
17:44
We've seen that in movies. But that is a really, really
17:48
high bar and we should not be aiming for that because it takes
17:50
people of exceptional skills and confidence.
17:52
And it's hard and it's brutal because if every single time you
17:56
see someone you're trying to collect the money, now, now,
17:58
now, now, now trying to collect the order, now, now, now, the
18:01
level of rejection that you go through is higher than other
18:03
people who take a much more piece meal approach.
18:06
Now let's come away from Richard Gere on Weibo Films and let's
18:10
come back to Nigeria. Things are harsh right now.
18:13
Let me go back to wedding photography because that's where
18:16
I started. Your wedding photographer right
18:18
now you want to be charging 500K.
18:20
Let's be real, somebody's meeting you for the first time.
18:23
You really, really, really think you're going to enter this
18:25
conversation now, day one, first time you guys are meeting them
18:30
and you'll collect your 500K upfront.
18:32
Let's get real. A better way to look at it is to
18:36
see that is to now think about what Tom Coppins calls A1 call
18:40
close. A1 call close just means that
18:43
every single time you meet somebody, there is one small
18:46
objective you should be trying to achieve.
18:48
Close on that objective and you'll be fine so long as you
18:51
close on the small small objectives.
18:53
Over time everything will add up.
18:55
So instead of coming in and saying you must collect your
18:57
500K now bam in one sitting. That is really hard.
19:01
I didn't say it's impossible please because some of you will
19:04
say my I saw this boy currently currently did it.
19:07
I saw this girl Cami. Cami did it.
19:09
Scale is different, context is different.
19:11
Maybe Cami has been building a brand for the last 20 years as a
19:15
high end wedding photographer. Social media game on point.
19:20
What else? Marketing collateral,
19:22
everything, you know so in our own context, yeah, that might be
19:24
possible that somebody would meet up to them and say oh
19:27
you're that chemical blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
19:29
Oh, so so so sure, no problem. Can I have your account?
19:32
In fact, let me book you now that you're free.
19:34
Yes, that can happen. It can happen.
19:37
I'm just saying that for most of us, let's get real eventually
19:42
we'll get there. One of the beginning, the idea
19:44
that we should have about closing is A1 call close.
19:47
I meet the person now and I'm trying to close on one small
19:52
step that will move the thing forward.
19:54
So I'm closing small, small, small, small, small.
19:58
And if all my small clothes line up, I will now collect the 500 K
20:01
at the end. So for the wedding photographer
20:04
guy or girl, you meet somebody today.
20:08
One clothes might be. Let me see, let me see how will
20:13
I do it now? OK, so you meet the person
20:14
today. Once more close might be get the
20:17
person to agree for a meeting so that you guys can look at
20:20
samples. So of course when you meet the
20:23
person you have all the money pre qualifying conversations
20:26
like oh OK yes I would love to take care of you and your family
20:29
at your wedding. Based on the ideas we've
20:31
discussed now it could cost anything between 500K and 800K
20:36
for a three day wedding celebration in orca blah blah
20:39
blah blah blah. Is that something that you'd be
20:41
willing to spend? The person says, my sister,
20:44
where's your 800K? Well anyway, anyway, no problem.
20:49
Let's let's be seen. Let's be seen that kind of
20:51
thing. OK, There might be room there.
20:54
The person who says 800K500K for what you want to build house on
20:59
top of my head. And yes, remember for me, my
21:02
first sales call, that's that's actually what happened.
21:05
The girl said you want to build house on top of my head.
21:06
Thank you very much. And I was now begging her to
21:08
stay on the phone. So someone who responds the
21:13
other way, you know, OK, there's no room here.
21:15
But so if somebody responds in a way that it looks as if there's
21:18
room, you can still talk, you know, blah, blah, blah.
21:21
So the next close would be you're trying to get an
21:23
appointment, and you just say it as it is.
21:26
OK. So the next step at this stage
21:27
is usually, I want people to have a look at samples because I
21:30
want them to be perfectly sure that they're happy with my
21:32
photography style and my deliverables.
21:34
So how soon can we have a meeting?
21:36
Are you free for Wednesday next week?
21:39
So yes, I'm free. OK, So what time?
21:41
Wednesday about 10:00 AM or 10:00 AM is good.
21:44
So where do you live? OK, you live here.
21:49
OK. Can you swing by the studio or
21:50
should I come to your place? You know, you start trying to
21:52
narrow it down where you can see that we're moving it.
21:54
Small. Small, Small.
21:55
Small, small. We're making the small close
21:58
off. Let them agree to have a
21:59
meeting, then we'll agree on a day and then we'll agree on the
22:02
venue. And then we have the meeting at
22:04
that meeting, the small clothes is to try and get them to
22:08
identify which style of book do they like or which style of
22:11
photography do they like or which style of frames do they
22:14
like and to agree on on what's it called on the deliverables.
22:20
Oh, you love this kind of album. How many albums will you be
22:23
taking? One or you'll be taking 3?
22:25
Is it one for you, one for your in law, one for Mumsy and Popsy
22:29
or you just let Mumsy and Popsy sort themselves?
22:32
You write it down, then how many frames you know, you write it
22:35
down, then after that, the next small close might be you now
22:40
send them a concrete proposal. Because remember before now you
22:43
guys have been talking in vagaries.
22:44
You said anything between 800K and 500K.
22:48
But based on this, now you'll be able to give them a specific
22:51
proposal and maybe it all comes up to 653 K or something or OK,
22:57
well, in this case, I'd recommend you give them, you
22:59
know, three options based on what we've discussed, we can do
23:02
Option A, this is how much it will cost.
23:04
Option B, this is how much it will cost.
23:05
Option C, how much this will cost.
23:06
And then you send it over. So you can see that what we're
23:09
trying to do is we're moving everything forward, small,
23:11
small, small, small. The goal is not the first time
23:14
you see them collect the 500 K on the spot.
23:17
The goal is each time you see them or you talk to them, we're
23:21
trying to do one small thing that mostly deal forward.
23:24
So that's the difference between a one call close and a one time
23:26
close. Let your sales people know that
23:28
there's a difference. One time close is possible.
23:31
That's what we've seen in the movies.
23:32
But let's relax first. When you become a pro pro pro,
23:35
you know you'll be able to be doing 1111 time closes with your
23:38
eyes closed. You walk up to someone, you
23:40
collect your 1.2 M or you collect your how much it is.
23:43
But for the rest of us, small and medium scales nano
23:47
enterprises realize that we're trying to do it one call close.
23:51
We're trying to do it incremental.
23:53
Small step, small step, small step.
23:56
If you get your sales people to realize that that is how the
23:58
deal is won, by taking small, small steps, they'll be fine.
24:01
Then qualify more. Get your sales people to qualify
24:05
more. Qualification is just the part
24:09
of the sales relationship, the part of the sales dynamic where
24:12
we're trying to figure out what does this person need?
24:14
What does this person want? And then in your head, you're
24:17
doing the mathematics. What this person needs.
24:19
Will my product or my service be able to fulfill?
24:23
Will he be able to deliver on the promise?
24:26
So that's the qualification thing.
24:28
So the whole point with qualification is this.
24:30
We're having conversation with the people who are flowing.
24:33
You know, outside you look like you guys are just just in and
24:36
like your friends. But you, the salesperson, you
24:38
know, they are trying to figure out what does this person want?
24:41
What does this person need? What can this person afford?
24:44
That's the whole point of qualification.
24:46
Because if you are dealing with someone who wants what you have,
24:49
who needs what you have, and the person can afford what you have.
24:52
And also there's a sense of urgency.
24:54
Please remember, urgency, something people forget as a
24:57
wedding photographer is something I had to learn very
24:59
quickly. If you're talking to the bride
25:02
who is getting married in 1 1/2 years, or if you're talking to
25:05
the bride that they proposed to her yesterday and she said yes,
25:08
but the family has not met, there's not really a deal there
25:11
because there's no urgency. Family has not met.
25:13
They have not seen where the wedding date is going to be.
25:16
But if you're talking to a bride that was proposed to yesterday,
25:19
but OK, proposed to last week, but the families have met.
25:24
And for now, the families are thinking, yeah, maybe December.
25:27
We just need to see whether Auntie can travel in December or
25:30
not, or whether grandpa and grandma can make it.
25:33
No, that's a different thing. We now have a sense of urgency
25:35
here because it's looking as if this wedding might hold in
25:39
December. So want, need, afford urgency.
25:44
If you're speaking to people and all that lines up, then the
25:46
chances of the deal closing go up.
25:49
So that's why we should qualify more because when you're dealing
25:52
with qualified people, the close becomes obvious.
25:56
When should you qualify? We should always be qualifying.
25:59
There's some people who do a good job of qualifying in the
26:02
beginning stage, but then after that, they just assume that all
26:04
is well. So you should always be
26:05
qualifying and should also always be asking for feedback
26:09
and things like that. So me, I'm always constantly
26:11
bringing stuff up like, oh, by the way, in our last
26:14
conversation you said this, that, that, that, that, that did
26:16
I understand correctly. Oh yes, you did.
26:17
So we're still, we're still good.
26:19
Like all is good. Oh yes, we are.
26:21
And I'm not OK, green light, I can continue.
26:24
So we should always be qualifying.
26:26
Then the final thing is this. If you do a good job of
26:31
qualifying, so excuse me, if you do a good job of qualifying, you
26:35
qualify often, you're going to now start seeing a certain kind
26:39
of picture. You will now realize that most
26:42
of my happiest customers are usually men or women between
26:45
jobs. So the age of so, so, so and so
26:48
they live typically in this part of Lagos or in this part of
26:51
Anambra. They usually are involved in
26:53
this kind of business or not or they are this kind of people
26:57
that that kind of people. You will now start getting a
26:58
mental picture of who your ICP is.
27:01
The ICP is the ideal customer profile.
27:03
So if you do a good job of qualifying, you now start
27:07
getting a good idea of who this person is, who your ideal
27:10
customer is. Once you qualify plenty and you
27:13
get an idea of the ICP, the trick is now this.
27:17
Only chase people who meet that ICP.
27:21
If your trading history in the past has shown that women who
27:26
are 65 years old, who live on Lagos mainland and who are from
27:32
a number of states are your happiest customers would
27:35
regardless of whatever it is yourself, then please by all
27:37
means spend most of your time chasing those kinds of women
27:43
because history has shown that that is your ICP.
27:46
If you're doing Instagram advertisement and in the past
27:50
you have seen that 25 year old men who live in Obama Shaw and
27:55
who are civil engineers are your ICP, then by all means when
27:59
you're doing your Instagram advertising, your Facebook
28:01
advertising, your Google advertising, sign it up to
28:03
target those sorts of people. So if there are lots of other
28:08
things that we can discuss, but we can keep talking about this
28:11
thing ad nauseam, but you know, we were pressed for time.
28:14
So let me just bring it to a close here.
28:16
If you do these three things or these four things, depending on
28:18
how you split it, you should be fine or getting your people to
28:22
now start closing more deals. By the way, please, it's not
28:26
magic. All those people who say do
28:29
these five things today and triple your sales next week.
28:32
It's it's not realistic. It's not realistic.
28:35
You can do one or two things now and and get immediate tweaks.
28:44
But when I put it, trying to 10X your business in one week is not
28:49
realistic. Let me just put it that way,
28:51
trying to 3X or 10X your business in one week is not
28:53
realistic. Realize that these things take
28:55
time and they compound. So get your sales people to open
28:58
the conversation well and go straight to needs analysis.
29:02
Then get them to realize the different closing dynamics.
29:04
There's the one time close. Tell them to chill on the one
29:07
time close for now, because trying to close one time and to
29:10
collect your money now for the average person, you come across
29:13
as desperate. So instead try and go for one
29:16
call close where you're trying to close the deal incrementally.
29:20
So depending on your business, depending on your industry,
29:26
depending on your industry, you know, the the stages should be
29:29
obvious. Like I said back in wedding
29:32
photography. So first as you meet people, you
29:33
source them out, then you guys have a meeting and you look at
29:37
samples, then you send a proposal, then they're OK with
29:40
the proposal. You know, I agree on payment
29:43
terms and payment schedule, and then once they pay, you now
29:46
mobilize and you know, on and on until you deliver the album and
29:49
then you come back to be sure that they were happy with the
29:52
deal. But you see how like for wedding
29:53
photography where I started, there are different stages that
29:56
you're walking people through. So build your sales process
29:59
around that and do things incrementally.
30:01
Then get your people to qualify more.
30:03
We want to make sure we're dealing with people who want,
30:05
what it is we have, who need, and who can afford.
30:09
As we do that, over time, it becomes clear who the ICP is,
30:12
the ideal customer is. Once we know the ideal customer,
30:15
let us spend most of our time chasing after the ideal
30:18
customer. So you do that.
30:20
Over time, your sales people will close.
30:24
Well, the close will increase. So that's it for today.
30:28
Again, thank you very much, Asosa Atem Guaya for coming
30:32
across the podcast, commenting on my stuff online, and also
30:35
sharing some of my material. It's always a pleasure running
30:38
into those of you who are podcast listeners.
30:40
This is how I get feedback on what I need to do to make the
30:45
show better and also to get questions to ask on the show.
30:49
Because when I meet you guys and we're chatting back and forth or
30:52
we have phone calls or whatever, this is where I get extra
30:55
questions as well. And that's the reason why the
30:57
show is growing in listenership. Also in the subscriber base,
31:00
whether on Spotify or on YouTube.
31:02
It's because I'm answering questions that you guys have.
31:05
So let's keep that bit up. So thank you very much for your
31:07
time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next
31:09
episode. You can connect with me on
31:10
WhatsApp. The phone number is 08064662140.
31:16
The country code is +234. Then connect with me on LinkedIn
31:22
and the name to look for is Tavishima Ayede.
31:25
I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of
31:28
my name from the link where you're listening to this
31:30
episode. So if you're on YouTube, look at
31:32
bottom left. You see my name right there
31:34
above the podcast title. Then let's see what else.
31:38
Depending on the podcast player that you're listening to, you
31:41
might have to click on more or click on details or click on
31:45
notes. And then you know, you'll,
31:48
you'll see all the extra information there.
31:50
So thanks for your time and attention.
31:52
I'll catch you guys at the next recording.