Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / How to Start Business Conversations with People You Don’t Know

Transcript

How to Start Business Conversations with People You Don’t Know · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Some Nigerian business owners and sales professionals have
• 0:04
  started trying Insight Bled selling techniques and that is
• 0:08
  really commendable. I've noticed because some of the
• 0:11
  WhatsApp outreach I've been receiving, the quality of the
• 0:14
  WhatsApp outreach I've been receiving is changing.
• 0:17
  It's improving and I'm glad that people are trying to sell in a
• 0:23
  way that is more, how I put it, more valuable to potential
• 0:28
  customers, more valuable to our audiences, to our potential
• 0:31
  clients because these are the kinds of things that spawn
• 0:34
  conversations. So that's the reason why I'm
• 0:36
  making today's podcast episode just to explore, to introduce
• 0:41
  some of you to that different style of selling by using
• 0:44
  insights to start the conversation.
• 0:46
  Then we're going to use a case study to show how one particular
• 0:50
  Nigerian business owner tried the process out with me.
• 0:54
  And then we'll run a couple of ideas about how he could have
• 0:57
  done it better. So that if you're going to try
• 1:00
  to sell using these kinds of techniques, you're going to be
• 1:03
  able to do it with greater success.
• 1:05
  Now before we get to the meet of today's episode, if you would
• 1:08
  love to connect with me, you can call me, send me a text message
• 1:11
  or a WhatsApp message on 08064 662140.
• 1:17
  If you're interested in the 15 minute sale audit or the
• 1:21
  business audit, then you can WhatsApp me on 08064662140 or
• 1:28
  join my WhatsApp channel. Just send me a message and I'll
• 1:31
  hook you up. Please, when you reach out to
• 1:33
  me, don't try to sell me something because obviously I'm
• 1:36
  trying to sell you something, so that's rude.
• 1:39
  Don't try to sell me something right now.
• 1:42
  Back to the meat of what we're talking about today.
• 1:45
  So inside LED selling now in this part of the world, people
• 1:51
  usually lead the conversation with buy my stuff because I'm
• 1:54
  the greatest, I'm the fastest, I'm the best, I'm the newest,
• 1:57
  I'm the brightest, I'm the cheapest.
• 1:58
  I'm the, you know, whatever people, what they do is product
• 2:03
  based selling. They're going with the product,
• 2:06
  they're going with features of the product.
• 2:09
  You know, it's all about the product.
• 2:10
  So if somebody wants to sell your headphones would be buy
• 2:12
  these headphones. It's from China, it's from
• 2:14
  America, it's 20 decibels, it's expensive, it's cheap, it's
• 2:17
  brand new, it is this, it is that at the second hand, it is,
• 2:20
  you know, whatever it is, they're talking about things
• 2:23
  about the product in order to sell the thing.
• 2:25
  So product LED selling is a way that most Nigerians know how to
• 2:29
  sell. Take this thing, boast about it,
• 2:32
  brag about it, try, convince the try, convince the person to buy.
• 2:37
  So part of the impetus behind this podcast is I'm trying to
• 2:40
  show my Nigerian brothers and sisters that there are other
• 2:44
  ways to sell that are much more effective and often can allow
• 2:49
  you to command a higher price. Because when you're doing a
• 2:52
  product based pitch, you are going to be put in that category
• 2:56
  of people who are just peddling. Because at the end of the day,
• 3:00
  if you're coming and you say buy this earphone, buy this speaker,
• 3:03
  buy my insurance, buy my whatever.
• 3:05
  Because it's the newest, it's the best, it's the brightest,
• 3:08
  it's the fastest, it's the cheapest, it's the whatever.
• 3:11
  You're going to be compared to absolutely every single other
• 3:14
  person who is using that same approach in trying to sell their
• 3:19
  product or their service. By the way, apologies for the
• 3:21
  noise in the background because I'm making today's recording at
• 3:23
  home. The kids are home, it's a
• 3:25
  holiday, so expect to hear some noise in the background.
• 3:28
  So a lot of Nigerians, what we do is product LED selling,
• 3:33
  product based selling, let me just put it that way please.
• 3:36
  It's not the same thing as product LED growth.
• 3:38
  Product LED growth is a different philosophy of selling.
• 3:40
  I'll talk about that in the In the Future podcast.
• 3:44
  So that's it. Most people just pitch the
• 3:46
  product. So this whole thing around
• 3:49
  Insights or inside LED selling is we're looking for ways to
• 3:54
  start the conversation with a stranger because at some point
• 3:58
  we're going to run out of friends and family members and
• 4:00
  we have to start talking to strangers.
• 4:02
  So we need to come up with a strategy for talking to
• 4:04
  strangers. And now this would be all these
• 4:06
  approaches about leading with insight is to try and figure out
• 4:09
  how to start a conversation with a stranger in a way that they
• 4:13
  will be open or receptive, that they'll want to hear you.
• 4:17
  Because look, this is Nigeria. Everybody's tired of the product
• 4:20
  pitch. People are tired of brush, you
• 4:22
  know, go buy. See, I'm now brand new, this
• 4:26
  fast, cheap. It is, is black is but you know,
• 4:30
  and the whole thing feature, feature, feature, feature
• 4:32
  product, product, product, product.
• 4:34
  Nobody wants to hear that. That's the reason why when they
• 4:36
  see you coming, they said no thank you, I'm not interested.
• 4:39
  You haven't even opened your mouth, but they see you.
• 4:41
  No thank you, I'm not interested.
• 4:43
  So one of the responses is to use insights to start the
• 4:47
  process. One solution or one way about
• 4:53
  how you can apply insights is when you approach someone and
• 4:56
  then you tell them something about them or about their
• 4:59
  business that is either good or that is bad.
• 5:02
  They want to hear what insights you have.
• 5:04
  Then that will now lead you to start talking about your product
• 5:08
  or your service, how your product or service can beef up
• 5:12
  the good things that they have or can get rid of the bad things
• 5:16
  that they have. So if you're trying to sell
• 5:22
  skin, I say and I say skin, I sell skin care products.
• 5:26
  And every same time you walk up to a lady and you say my sister
• 5:29
  buy this. My bleaching cream is purple
• 5:33
  cream is is potato cream. It is carrot cream.
• 5:36
  It is this cream. It is that cream.
• 5:39
  It is the newest. It is that other.
• 5:41
  This is the one that messy Johnson.
• 5:42
  OK, no Messy Johnson is black who is yellow Now?
• 5:46
  What's her name? What's her name now?
• 5:48
  Ty Danjuma's wife, What's her name?
• 5:50
  Dan. Anyway, you know, Danjuma now
• 5:51
  that celebrity Lagos housewives. So now the subway Danjuma they
• 5:55
  use now the one way Bianca or you could they use, you know,
• 5:57
  blah, blah, blah. That's product that's a product
• 6:02
  based selling. You're just pitching the
• 6:03
  product. But instead, if you come with
• 6:06
  some insights like our sister, this is your skin is very good.
• 6:09
  I like this your Sheen. I can see they're using a very
• 6:12
  beautiful product because see, how's your tone?
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  Just even everything nice, everything is sweet.
• 6:17
  Of course Uma will say thank you very much my sister.
• 6:20
  Thank you very much my sister. Then maybe you have some
• 6:23
  questions about the product that Lady is using.
• 6:25
  Of course you'll be willing to talk about what it is that is
• 6:27
  giving her this correct skin. But I need from there.
• 6:30
  You now say that our sister, you know all these soap way they use
• 6:34
  all this cream way they use you know is good.
• 6:36
  But the problem we say see as you are now, you just they sweat
• 6:41
  anyhow you they sweat, you sweat.
• 6:42
  The reason why you're sweating is because this thing is a is a
• 6:45
  cocoa bottle is a sheer butter kind product.
• 6:49
  But some other products the way you know, if you rub this soap,
• 6:53
  if you rub this cream, you know your natural color will show.
• 6:56
  But you know what is sweat like this?
• 6:58
  So you see that scope. If you come at this thing with a
• 7:01
  product pitch senses that buy my buy my so buy my so buy my
• 7:05
  cream, buy my cream now sheer bottle and this one pop on this
• 7:08
  PC people. No, thank you.
• 7:10
  I'm not interested. But then you try and come to
• 7:13
  some inside say, ah sister, this your skin is lovely, see her
• 7:16
  glow looking good, looking smooth.
• 7:19
  She blushes it. Thank you very much.
• 7:22
  And they say this your cream. Which one do you use?
• 7:25
  Which one do you know? Ask some more about it.
• 7:27
  Or is this product, it is SPV 45.
• 7:29
  Is this it is OK these ones are good or it's just that because
• 7:36
  it is cocoa based or shebutton based.
• 7:37
  You begin the sweat and you know your skin will now be doing
• 7:40
  Sheen and it's not good, you know, is you need something that
• 7:44
  give you that mark look. Then from there you see.
• 7:47
  So you use insights. You come as if you're as if
• 7:51
  you're delivering insight. From there, you begin this, you
• 7:53
  begin a pitch. So that's the idea.
• 7:56
  How do you start a conversation with a potential customer?
• 7:59
  So basically you show up, you give some insights.
• 8:02
  This is something I've noticed about you.
• 8:04
  This is something I've noticed about your business.
• 8:06
  This is something I've noticed about your skin.
• 8:08
  This is something I've noticed about your website.
• 8:10
  This is something I've noticed about your car.
• 8:12
  This is something I've noticed about your marketing.
• 8:14
  This is something I've noticed about your branding.
• 8:16
  This is something I've noticed about your.
• 8:18
  You know whatever. And you use that to start the
• 8:20
  conversation. Now, for those of you who are
• 8:22
  long time listeners for the product and you remember when I
• 8:26
  I changed over, I changed my last, the last podcast art
• 8:30
  design over to the one that I had currently.
• 8:32
  That is how the conversation with Elizabeth started.
• 8:35
  That is how it started. Elizabeth started off by saying
• 8:39
  wonderful podcast, love what you do, really inspirational, blah,
• 8:44
  blah, blah. But Sir Novak's, I noticed that
• 8:48
  your podcast that you know, is as if you designed it yourself.
• 8:52
  You know, is that the case? You know, we laugh about it, we
• 8:54
  talk about it and before you know it, she's now designing
• 8:58
  something new for me. Didn't started with insight.
• 9:00
  She didn't send me a message saying hello, this is me, my
• 9:03
  name is Elizabeth. What I do is this I'm the best,
• 9:06
  I'm the brightest, I'm the fastest.
• 9:08
  I'm the that wasn't how we went. She came compliments, insight
• 9:14
  and then from there, this is how my product or service is going
• 9:16
  to be for what is good or get rid of what it is that is bad.
• 9:20
  And then of course, after that, you know, ask the person if they
• 9:23
  are interested in having a meeting or in having a call.
• 9:27
  One moment. OK, sorry about that.
• 9:29
  I'm back. My kids were fighting.
• 9:31
  I had to go and settle it, you know, because I only have boys.
• 9:34
  That's the disadvantage of having boys.
• 9:35
  You know, they get up to all kinds of issues.
• 9:37
  All right, so where was I? So now the call to action is now
• 9:41
  are you interested in having a meeting so we can explore
• 9:44
  specific proposals, you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 9:45
  So that's the call to action. If people are interested, you
• 9:48
  know, then you're having a conversation.
• 9:51
  Now the advantage is this of trying to use inside LED
• 9:55
  approaches because it is something that is seemingly
• 9:59
  valuable. Lots of people are interested
• 10:01
  and their guard is down because it's value laden.
• 10:04
  Obvious. I'm obviously telling you
• 10:05
  something that is good about what you have or I'm telling you
• 10:09
  something that is basically I'm, I'm coming with good insights.
• 10:13
  I'm coming with value then this kind of selling.
• 10:18
  The benefits of doing this is that it gets you into a
• 10:21
  conversation immediately where the focus is on a solution.
• 10:27
  You can transition easily and quickly to focusing on what the
• 10:32
  main issue is on at hand. Then it also allows you to go
• 10:36
  easy into need analysis and then it also helps you to explore
• 10:41
  whether the person has any sense of urgency.
• 10:44
  So it is cream that you're selling because you take this
• 10:46
  approach. You can get straight to the
• 10:48
  matter of whether this woman thinks the oily skin is a
• 10:51
  problem or not because there's some people who like cream that
• 10:54
  will bring out their color, but as far as they're concerned, the
• 10:57
  fact that they're sweating is not a problem.
• 10:58
  In fact, they won't like the shine that they're shining
• 11:01
  bright. And there's some people who
• 11:03
  prefer the matte look like you're not oily, like your skin
• 11:06
  is mattered up, is dry. You'll be able to head straight
• 11:10
  into the meat of the matter if you take this kind of approach.
• 11:13
  Now, an example is a fellow reached out to me, his name is
• 11:15
  Jacob, well, not his real name anyway, but let's call him
• 11:17
  Jacob. Calling him Jacob because anyway
• 11:21
  it's not important, let's just call him Jacob.
• 11:23
  So he reached out to me on WhatsApp and he said he was
• 11:28
  reaching out to businesses, to people who are in the
• 11:30
  photography business based in Abuja.
• 11:32
  He noticed that I have a strong presence and he noticed
• 11:37
  something about my online presence that if we tweak can
• 11:41
  help me to attract premium clients.
• 11:44
  And then he went straight into his sales pages, one page
• 11:47
  website, three to five days, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 11:49
  And then he asked if he wants if I can show up for a short call
• 11:52
  so that he can show me what it is that he noticed.
• 11:55
  So you can see the inside letter approached, which is bro, I've
• 11:59
  seen your websites, I've seen your online presence, the thing
• 12:02
  looks correct. However, if we tweak one of you
• 12:06
  things, we will help get you premium clients.
• 12:09
  So how far are you interested? So anyway, I responded to him
• 12:12
  because I want to be polite and I told him I'm not in
• 12:14
  photography anymore. And I asked him is it
• 12:16
  photography only or other services?
• 12:18
  Because who knows, I might want to make a website soon and then
• 12:21
  I don't want a phone call. So I told him send a voice note
• 12:24
  to say what it is that you saw. Now this is the mistake he made.
• 12:28
  He responded through a voice note, but he responded by saying
• 12:32
  no, it's not just photography services, we do.
• 12:34
  And then he went into his sales speech again and he ended the
• 12:36
  sales speech with no call to action.
• 12:39
  He didn't say what it is that he wanted next.
• 12:41
  So me, I listened to the audio and then I just ignored because
• 12:44
  honestly speaking, it's not as if he asked for anything.
• 12:46
  I said send a voice note And the voice note was basically just
• 12:50
  buy from me because I'm the best, I'm the fastest three to
• 12:53
  five days is that blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 12:56
  He didn't give me the the insight that he promised.
• 13:00
  Now, if you want to use insight LED selling strategies, what you
• 13:03
  should do is actually deliver that insight because that's the
• 13:09
  whole point why somebody said yes, they don't want to listen
• 13:12
  to you or talk to you. So what he should have done was
• 13:14
  he should have lead into the conversation.
• 13:17
  I said I'm no longer into photography.
• 13:18
  He should have said, oh, sorry about that.
• 13:20
  Can you tell me more about what you do now?
• 13:23
  You're leading somebody into a conversation and you're building
• 13:25
  rapport. He could have asked, OK, for the
• 13:30
  new business, do I have a website?
• 13:32
  We could have engaged in conversation.
• 13:34
  You could have asked me what my goals were around having a
• 13:37
  website. We could have had that as a
• 13:40
  conversation. So he should have leaned in.
• 13:43
  Whenever somebody say something, don't just gloss over.
• 13:46
  Engage with that thing that they've said.
• 13:47
  In my own case, I said I'm not in photography anymore.
• 13:49
  He should have engaged with that and then tried to push forward
• 13:52
  for a conversation. Then another mistake he made is
• 13:56
  the guy just wanted to do his sales pitch anyhow, shot the guy
• 14:00
  on pitch. So opening message, the guy
• 14:02
  pitch, voice note the guy pitch. Look, sales pitch not be by
• 14:05
  force. It's not by force, by force.
• 14:08
  And even if you must do sales pitch, sales pitch is not at the
• 14:11
  beginning. You do it at the end.
• 14:13
  At the end of the process. That's when you try to pitch and
• 14:16
  try and get somebody to buy. So sales pitch not be by force.
• 14:21
  Stop doing it at the beginning. Know who you're talking to, know
• 14:25
  what the problem is. Then do it at the end.
• 14:27
  Then another big mistake that the fellow made.
• 14:29
  He didn't put any call to action.
• 14:31
  He just dropped the voice note by from me.
• 14:32
  I'm the fastest three to five days.
• 14:34
  Something, something, something and full stop, that was it.
• 14:38
  How will somebody reply if you do not end with a call to
• 14:41
  action? A call to action is when you ask
• 14:43
  the person to do something or if you don't end with a question.
• 14:46
  A question begs the response. You could have entered this
• 14:48
  message with a question. You could have asked if I'm
• 14:50
  willing to take a meeting. You could have asked if I'm
• 14:52
  still interested in the call. You could have asked if I wanted
• 14:55
  to learn more about his product. You could have asked if I want
• 14:59
  to see some samples, You could have asked me to show him
• 15:03
  samples of websites I like. In fact, that's a good one.
• 15:06
  OK bro, you know, I'd like to have a chat with you more, but
• 15:10
  you know, before we schedule a call, can you show me examples
• 15:12
  of what you would like your website to looks like or
• 15:15
  websites that you admire? He could have done anything to
• 15:18
  try and stay in the conversation, but he didn't do
• 15:20
  that. So if you want to do inside lead
• 15:23
  selling, it's good. Just make sure that you actually
• 15:26
  deliver the insights that you promised.
• 15:28
  And Please remember that selling is a conversation.
• 15:31
  It's not about the pitch. Pitching not be by force, by
• 15:34
  force. But if you must deliver a sales
• 15:36
  pitch, you don't do it at the beginning, you do it at the end.
• 15:38
  Let's look to relationships. You don't show up when you see a
• 15:41
  fine babe and you say why I marry me.
• 15:43
  It's not like that. Eventually you will tell her
• 15:45
  marry me, but you tell her at the end.
• 15:47
  You won't tell her at the beginning.
• 15:49
  It's the same thing. If you're a man and you know
• 15:51
  you're like a guy, you know you won't tell him at the beginning
• 15:56
  be my boyfriend. You start off by saying you're
• 15:59
  fine boy you, and then you will start laughing and gigging.
• 16:01
  Eventually you get to the point of you know where you're asking
• 16:03
  him that look, what are we? You see, that's how it is.
• 16:08
  Eventually you make your pitch, you make your move, but you know
• 16:11
  you don't move from the beginning.
• 16:13
  When you move from the beginning, you're pushing people
• 16:15
  away in relationships. If you move from the beginning,
• 16:17
  you're pushing people away. If you say I'm fine here, be my
• 16:19
  wife, you're pushing her away. If you say bye from me, I'm the
• 16:23
  greatest, I'm the brightest. You're pushing people away.
• 16:26
  This whole speech is at the end. Get to know her first.
• 16:29
  Later on you now say babe. If not be you, nobody else.
• 16:32
  You must marry me. Then you will sound dramatic.
• 16:36
  You put that stunt in the beginning.
• 16:37
  You sound like a creep. You pull it at the end.
• 16:40
  You're a romantic fellow. The same thing with babes.
• 16:43
  You put that stunt at the beginning.
• 16:44
  You're desperate. You put that stunt at the end.
• 16:47
  Say Kai this babe, love me, die. And you know what?
• 16:50
  Truly, she'll make a Good Wife. That's how it is in business.
• 16:54
  The pitch is not by force. It doesn't always have to be in
• 16:56
  the beginning. So applying these principles can
• 16:59
  be tricky. If you need me to help you to
• 17:02
  look at it in your particular business circumstances, then
• 17:05
  call me. Send me a text message or a
• 17:06
  WhatsApp message on 08064662140. If you're interested in the 15
• 17:13
  minute sales audit or business audit, WhatsApp me on the same
• 17:16
  number 08064662140. Or if you'd like to join my
• 17:22
  WhatsApp channel, send me a message on the same number and
• 17:25
  I'll hook you up. So that's all for today pretty
• 17:27
  much. And if you got value from
• 17:30
  today's episode, please share with someone else, get them to
• 17:33
  subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of their
• 17:36
  choice. Let's help the podcast grow.
• 17:38
  I'm making progress, and I like the fact that I'm making
• 17:40
  progress. Since you're not giving me any
• 17:41
  money, that's the least you can do.
• 17:42
  Help me grow the podcast. All right, so that's it.
• 17:45
  But anyway, seriously, reach out to me 08064662140.
• 17:51
  I'll catch you all some other time.