Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Beyond the Pitch: Using Your CRM to Close More Deals

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Beyond the Pitch: Using Your CRM to Close More Deals · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

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  During my last podcast recording, if I remember
• 0:03
  correctly, I spoke about how if you're looking for a perfect
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  sales person, you need to find somebody who is process
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  oriented. And that's because to be
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  effective at setting, to be effective at persuading people,
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  to be effective at getting people along with your agenda,
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  you need to have a process that you follow rigidly.
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  Yes, I said the word rigidly, slave slavishly all the time
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  because that's the only way that we're going to stay on top of
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  the stay on top of it and not lose focus, not be derailed and
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  also carry out best practices. Now I've also, I've spoken about
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  on the podcast a lot about how we all should be using CRMS in
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  our business and the CRM is a customer relationship management
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  tool. OK.
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  So I'm sure some of you are familiar with CRM from a
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  technical point of view. But the way that I like to
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  explain the CRM for every single person, whether they have a
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  technical background or not, is the CRM is just that tool.
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  It's just that repository. It's just that thing where you
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  keep the contact details of everybody that you've spoken
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  with in the past, people that you intend to speak to, the
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  things you've spoken about, the things you hope to talk about,
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  the particular lines of discussion that you are
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  currently having at the moment, The stage of the relationship,
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  the stage in the relationship that you guys are at, the thing
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  that you need to do next to move the relationship forward and
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  what else? Anyway, those sorts of things.
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  So the reason why I talk about it this way is because I started
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  off as a lawyer. For those of you who are long
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  time listeners of the podcast, I'm a former lawyer, now turn to
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  business consultant. So back in the law days, you
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  know, the starter of legal practice back when, you know,
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  tech was not really a thing per SE, you know, in Niger, you
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  know, back then early, early, early, you know, Abacha or
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  Basandra or, you know, that kind of era.
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  So I haven't done well law in a while.
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  So I don't know how things run now in legal circles in Niger
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  because I've been out of it. But back then we lived and died
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  by our Diaries. There was an office diary.
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  The chamber manager would have a diary, all the lawyers would
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  have Diaries, all the partners would have Diaries.
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  When we have conversations with clients we will note it in our
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  Diaries. When you go to court, you note
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  it in the diary. When you come back, you talk to
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  the practice manager. Significant things will be put
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  on the Diaries. We lived and we died by our
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  Diaries because that is how we made money.
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  So the contact details of people, our clients are there,
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  the people were supposed to talk to the what we spoke about is
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  there. The next course of action is
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  there. So by following our Diaries
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  rigidly, we would stay on top of things and would end up making
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  money. You do not use your diary.
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  You forget to call specific people, you forget to show up
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  for specific meetings, you forget to do certain things that
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  are supposed to move the deal forward.
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  So I define CRM tools this way just so that anybody who's
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  listening to this podcast, if you're not from a tech
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  background and you're still in an industry where that diary,
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  then they use, you know, diary and filing cabinet and stuff
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  like that. So long as you have something
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  that exists beyond you, you're not running it from memory, bam,
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  just take it. That's your CRM.
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  So to be an effective salesperson, you need something
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  whether and a diary, whether and a post it notes, whether or not
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  Google Calendar, whether CRM tool, whether, like whatever it
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  is, so long as there is a system that exists outside your head,
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  you follow it because that is where the money is.
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  You don't do that. You'll lose track of
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  appointments by losing track of appointments.
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  You'll lose track of deals by losing track of phone calls.
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  You'll lose track of deals by losing track of phone calls and
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  meetings and things like that. That is where you your business
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  will start falling apart. Now I was working with a
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  salesperson recently who's a newly hired person who's
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  responsible for selling solar and let's just call her
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  Michelle, not a real name. Now Michelle is brand new to the
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  job and to give Michelle kudos. I like her vigor as in should
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  know the rest you understand as if she showed up OK, I'm done
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  with today's tasks. Why I give me work.
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  Nobody's giving her work. She will go and start looking
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  for work to do. So she ended up calling some old
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  clients that were not on her list.
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  And because of that, I clap for her.
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  So if you're a salesperson working on behalf of somebody
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  else, that is a good thing to do.
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  Some of you say, why would I bother?
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  No, be salary. Well, yes, it's salary, but it's
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  directly tied to your commissions.
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  And then apart from that, by taking this kind of attitude,
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  you are deliberately setting yourself up to be a real badass
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  babe, a real boss babe in the future because you are imbibing
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  some habits. You are imbibing some
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  disciplines so that when you start your own business and
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  you're ready to step into your calling as a boss babe, you for
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  don't learn certain kind fundamentals.
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  So the level of your game will be up and above your
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  contemporaries. So when you do things like this,
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  it's not just your guy you're helping, you're also helping
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  yourself because you're effectively becoming a badass
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  babe, a boss babe. So she called somebody now and
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  we ran over the the conversation.
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  But then and I realized one thing that she didn't too check
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  the CRM before she called like she checked the CRM recent
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  reports, but she didn't scroll from the bottom and read to the
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  top. Now with this example, some of
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  you will see the reason why the CRM is a very important tool and
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  you have to use it effectively. And you know, if you use it
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  effectively, that's where the money is now.
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  Because for me, because I don't know this contact, I scrolled to
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  the very bottom of the company's CRM and I started reading back
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  from last year, 2025, when they started contacting this
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  customer. So this customer was not her own
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  customer. She just joined the company
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  brand new. It was another person's
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  customer, but the person is no longer with the company.
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  So she has picked up from where this person off.
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  So remember Michelle, she's responsible for selling solar.
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  Now for this particular account, the old salesperson had come up
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  with a case study for how they can help this person review,
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  reduce, sorry, their electricity bill by 9.6 M every single
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  month. 9.6 M Hold that in your mind. 9.6 M So that was buried
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  in the CRM. Now, if you show up and OK, it's
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  your own case, but you're not reading the old details, the old
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  details in your CRM or you just join the company new, but you're
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  not going through the CRM, you'll be missing details like
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  this that you can use to start a valuable conversations with
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  potential customers and prospects.
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  When we say valuable, remember valuable is not from your own
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  point of view, but valuable is what from the customer, from
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  what the end client will feel is important or valuable to them.
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  Now remember that when we talk about value on this podcast, I
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  talk about Victor Antonio's value Trinity.
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  There are other ways of talking about this, but Victor Antonio's
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  value Trinity is very easy to understand.
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  So first of all, he calls them the four FS, sorry, the three
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  FS, even though they're not three FS, but that's what he
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  calls them anyway as a joke. So Victor Antonio talks about
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  things like this that people buy or people get involved or people
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  whatever, when it comes to commercial relationships, when
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  they see three kinds of benefits, when you see a
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  physical benefit, when you see a psychological benefit or when
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  you see a financial benefit. So you see the joke, you know,
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  three FS. Meanwhile, none of them are F.
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  It's just that, you know, financial, OK, F is financial.
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  OK, yes, so financial, that's an F.
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  But then the other two is PP. So physical benefit,
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  psychological benefit, and then financial benefits.
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  So Victor Antonio says that that's how people get on board.
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  So when you show them that, look, if you buy this my
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  product, this is what you will enjoy in your body.
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  This is how your skin will shine.
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  This is how you will glow. This is how you will grow
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  taller. This is how you will get BBL.
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  This is how you will do this and have physical benefits, then
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  they'll be on board. Then financial benefits.
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  If you get on board, you buy this product, you buy this
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  service, you will make this amount of money or you will save
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  this amount of money or whatever.
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  Sit down this financial benefit then psychological benefits.
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  If you take this thing, you go feel good.
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  You know babes go, they like you, they go they rush you.
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  You know you will be popular in your circles.
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  You know whatever you have all your power, you will attract the
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  laws of the universe, you know blah, blah, blah.
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  So those are the main benefits physical, financial,
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  psychological now buried within this CRM.
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  Now that Michelle looked at to her credit she looked at it, but
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  she didn't scroll to the bottom. So note to those of you who are
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  using the CRM, always scroll and start from the bottom just to
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  refresh your mind. Even if now you right hand, just
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  know that you forget things from time to time.
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  Scroll from the bottom, read everything, then your mind will
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  not be allowed and be refreshed. You now as a creative somebody,
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  now as a salesperson, you now know, oh, OK, this is how I'm
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  going to tackle this particular conversation.
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  So always so buried deep in there, like I said, was a
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  conversation by somebody from the team who spoke to the
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  potential customer. And in the year before, year
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  prior, in 2025, the person had done some quick, quick numbers
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  to just show that. Look, right now you're currently
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  doing about 13.8 million annually.
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  So I can't remember who's annually or monthly.
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  You're doing about 13.8 million, OK, Let's just say annual you're
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  doing about 13.8 million in electricity costs.
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  Electricity, diesel, D dot dot dot dot dot if we implement this
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  kind of plan for you, we could be saving you.
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  We could be bringing your something down to 4.2.
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  That's the mathematics that they did for the guy.
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  Now, of course, me coming in now as a business consultant, just
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  to make the thing simpler, I say let's just extract the value.
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  So 13.8 -, 4.2, that comes down to 9.6 M So I told her that is
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  the conversation. Now that is the conversation
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  that when you reach out to the guy will be a matter of, hey,
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  how are you doing, Sir, this is Michelle.
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  So so, so company, one of my associate was in touch with you
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  last year. He had a couple of discussions.
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  He's no longer with us. And I've been charged with the
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  responsibility for making you a happy customer, you know, blah,
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  blah, blah. You know, that kind intro, early
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  gist and then from there to have a valuable conversation.
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  It will be a matter of my colleague Boniface when he spoke
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  to you last year said that we could save you up to 9.6 million
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  naira cash every single month if we go with you.
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  OK, sorry, I said annual. I can't remember whether it's
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  annual or monthly, 9.6 million naira annual on your current
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  utility bills. Are you still interested in that
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  conversation that you started with Boniface last year?
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  And would you like to know how we can help you do this in your
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  factory, Sir? Question mark, you ask question,
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  you keep quiet. Now you see how she who's going
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  to be able to start a valuable conversation that way.
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  Now the reason why we're discussing this particular case,
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  let's just call the guy Johnny Bravo, the client.
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  Let's call the client Johnny Bravo.
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  So the reason why we're talking about Johnny Bravo now was she
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  reached out to Johnny Bravo. She tried to start conversation.
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  Johnny Bravo said you know, send me quote, send me estimate and
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  then he was not answering. So I was now telling that oh you
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  know what, if you had gone through the CRM, if you had
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  looked through the CRM, you had seen the history, you could have
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  picked up some good ideas for how to start this conversation.
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  And honestly speaking, this is how you should have started the
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  convo NASA, based on what I see on file, you and Boniface, when
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  already done, the yarn and Boniface talk saying will help
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  you remove 9.6 million of savings on your electricity
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  bill. So are you still interested in
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  continuing that conversation? That is a very valuable way of
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  bringing somewhere to the table. Because you know that when
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  somebody says semi proposal, semi quote, send me this, you
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  know what's going to happen. You send the e-mail and then
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  ghost or you send the WhatsApp and then ghost because it will
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  take your proposal compared to two or three other people and
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  then go for the cheapest or go for whatever they think is the
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  most professional. But either way, I guess the
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  point of what it is I'm trying to say today is that this R.E.M.
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  is a very good tool for unlocking sales in your
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  business. This is only going to be
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  possible if you have good data hygiene.
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  Data hygiene means you're putting in all the relevant
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  information that you need to be able to move the deal forward.
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  So be putting in there. I spoke to Johnny Bravo today.
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  This is what we discussed. This is our next step.
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  You know, this dot dot dot dot dot, you put all those things
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  down there so that sometime in the future when you're out of
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  ideas, I open the CRM, you see the whole history.
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  You will now know, oh, OK, I can try it like this.
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  I can try it like that. Or if you leave the company and
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  somebody else comes new, the person who's coming after you
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  will say, oh, OK, I can run it like this.
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  I can run it like that. So that's some of just what I
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  wanted to say today basically. So if you'd like to connect with
• 13:44
  me, you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on
• 13:47
  08064 662140. If you'd like to have a 15
• 13:53
  minute sale audit, call me WhatsApp me on the same number
• 13:56
  08064662140. Or if you'd like to join my
• 14:00
  WhatsApp channel, WhatsApp me on the same number and we will hook
• 14:04
  you up. But whether you do reach out to
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  me or not, just remember the CRM is an important tool.
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  The CRM doesn't always have to be tech, OK?
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  Doesn't always have to be tech, doesn't have to be high tech.
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  Remember I started off when lawyers were using Diaries.
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  So it's the same thing. You just joined the firm, You're
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  the baby lawyer, you're the youngest of staff.
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  Before you go and see the client, Madam Ogadingbay, take
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  the diary, take the case file open to the beginning and then
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  scan all the way through to the end.
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  It will give you a sense of OK. The person that started talking
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  to Madam Ogadingbay last year, this is where they talk, this is
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  where they stop. This is where they hook.
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  These are depending matters. If I want Madame Ogadenbay to
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  become a client of the firm, then maybe I'll try this idea.
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  Maybe I'll try this idea. That's how it works.
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  So if you're an architect, I don't know if architects are
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  high tech in Niger now, but let's just assume that Niger
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  architects are not high tech yet and you are still using diary.
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  You're an architect and using diary.
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  It's the same thing. You join the the the firm brand
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  new. Then you're supposed to go and
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  see Mr. Johnny Bravo. You will take the file and you
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  open it. You will start from back skim
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  all the way through. This is Johnny Bravo.
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  This is what he does. This is what he needs.
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  These are the proposals that were on ground before.
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  This is where the conversation stopped.
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  OK, this is how I might revive the conversation and get things
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  going again. So whatever it is, Google
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  Calendar, a proper CRM tool, diary, whatever it is, please
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  use your tool and remember that to be a professional
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  salesperson, we have to think of ourselves like medical doctors
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  and remember the old school medical doctors.
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  Well, you know, when we're children and we used to go to
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  hospital, the doctor will say, how are you doing?
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  And as you are talking, what's the doctor doing?
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  The guy is going back into the file.
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  The guy is scrolling from the beginning and reading everything
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  just so that he has a general knowledge of every, every.
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  So whatever your profession, you will definitely have some sort
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  of CRM, some sort of repository of customer information,
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  recording the history of the interactions.
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  Whatever it is, avail yourself of it.
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  There is money that is lurking in there, and there are ideas
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  for how to push these conversations forward.
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  And remember the value Trinity people buy when they see a
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  benefit. Victor Antonio says value
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  Trinity. He says physical, financial,
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  psychological, if you can show them that look do business with
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  us, psychologically, you go do you like this bam, that is
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  value. If you can say benefit financial
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  do business with us, this is how much you will earn, bam, this is
• 16:44
  value there. Or if you say physical do
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  business with us, you go do you for body like this bam, that is
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  benefit there. And it applies no matter the
• 16:54
  industry that you're doing. So beauty and skin care, there's
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  physical benefit, there's psychological benefit.
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  If you're a lawyer, there is psychological benefit because
• 17:04
  you give people Peace of Mind. Yeah, you, you know, be them
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  Peace of Mind or give them revenge or whatever, or you help
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  your people make money. If you are an architect, there
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  is, there is psychological benefit.
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  Abby, you see the building, the build work will move smooth.
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  What are that benefits? Again, they could be cost
• 17:21
  savings. Like if you're designing a
• 17:23
  factory, your factory design might help them achieve, I don't
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  know, 15% savings, you know, on the factory belt or something.
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  So no matter your industry, just look at it from that point point
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  of view. So Value, Trinity and then the
• 17:39
  CRM 2 random things I just wanted to talk about today.
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  So remember, applying these things can be tricky.
• 17:45
  If you need help, you want me to look at your particular
• 17:47
  circumstance, just connect with me, call me, send me a text
• 17:50
  message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 17:56
  Thanks for your time and attention.
• 17:57
  I'll catch you all some other time.