Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / How to Write Proposals That Win New Clients

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How to Write Proposals That Win New Clients · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishima Aide.
• 0:04
  I'm the host of the podcast and I'm making today's recording at
• 0:07
  home, so expect to hear some noise in the background.
• 0:10
  If you'd love to connect, then call SMS or send me a WhatsApp
• 0:14
  message on 08064662140. Now today on the podcast, we're
• 0:21
  going to be looking at how to prepare a proposal or
• 0:26
  presentation for a new client, potential client, the prospect,
• 0:31
  potential customer, whatever it is.
• 0:33
  You want to call it shy. You're faced with a situation
• 0:36
  where you're having a conversation with someone.
• 0:38
  You open that this person was going to make a transfer soon so
• 0:41
  that both of you can start a business relationship.
• 0:44
  So how do you prepare your proposal?
• 0:45
  How do you prepare your presentation?
• 0:48
  Now the proposal, the presentation on the pitch, the
• 0:50
  whatever it is that you're going to prepare should show that you
• 0:54
  understand the client's needs and is positioning you as the
• 0:59
  best solution. So remember that supposed to do
• 1:03
  2 things, this document or this stage because it always doesn't
• 1:09
  have to be a document. Because in fact, for me, I don't
• 1:12
  like creating documents. I only create a document at the
• 1:14
  end when I have a reasonable expectation that I'm going to
• 1:18
  collect money. That is when I send it.
• 1:21
  And my own spirit of sending a proposal or presentation is, OK,
• 1:25
  we've been talking and we've agreed on a couple of stuff.
• 1:29
  Before you transfer, let me send you paper so that you will see
• 1:32
  in black and white exactly what it is that you're going to get.
• 1:37
  And let's confirm exactly how we're moving forward.
• 1:40
  So for me, I send it at the end, but there are lots of you who
• 1:43
  like to use the proposal, the presentation on the page or
• 1:46
  whatever. Should I like to use paper at
• 1:48
  the beginning? So whether you prepare paper or
• 1:53
  you just handle it as a stage like I do, you're trying to
• 1:57
  demonstrate 2 things. Number one is that you
• 2:00
  understand the client's needs. Then #2 position you as the best
• 2:04
  solution. Now the reason why I'm bringing
• 2:06
  this up is because there are lots of you who handle this
• 2:10
  stage and you totally forget about #1 you go straight into do
• 2:16
  business with me. I'm the greatest, I'm the best,
• 2:19
  I'm the newest, I'm the brightest, I'm the shiniest.
• 2:22
  I'm the this, I'm the that. And you make it all about you.
• 2:26
  So this document, this PowerPoint, this PDF, this
• 2:32
  spreadsheet, this whatever this stage of the conversation,
• 2:38
  you're trying to do 2 things. First of all, show that you
• 2:42
  understand the client's needs before you present yourself as
• 2:46
  the best solution. So it has to go in that order.
• 2:50
  So don't do the Nigeria thing or showing up.
• 2:53
  You have the PDF and the PDF says this is me, this is my
• 2:57
  company, this is my team. This is why we're the greatest.
• 3:02
  Six of us are partners, Five of us have two masters.
• 3:06
  The other one that doesn't have master, he finished from
• 3:08
  Harvard, you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 3:10
  And because of that, this is the reason why we're the best to
• 3:12
  serve you. No, started off by saying this
• 3:15
  is my understanding of your company.
• 3:17
  This is my understanding of your needs.
• 3:19
  This is my understanding of what is that people are trying to
• 3:21
  achieve, and these are the assumptions that I've made so
• 3:24
  far. You know about you and about the
• 3:26
  problem. Now, if all these assumptions
• 3:28
  are correct, these are the ways that you know me and my boys, we
• 3:32
  can best serve you and your business.
• 3:33
  We started off that way. So let's look at some best
• 3:37
  practices now for preparing and presenting proposals to clients.
• 3:42
  Now, First off is the preparation phase or the
• 3:45
  research phase, because some of you are going to have to make
• 3:50
  proposals to people, especially if he's in the very office,
• 3:52
  office setting. You understand you have to do
• 3:55
  some research ahead of time, research the clients, business,
• 3:58
  research the industry, research their goals, you know, things
• 4:03
  like that. Because the whole point, what
• 4:06
  we're trying to do in this research stage is we're trying
• 4:08
  to show that we understand who they are, their pain points, the
• 4:14
  challenges, their long term vision, you know, things like
• 4:16
  that. So that's research stage.
• 4:19
  But of course, if you've been listening to this podcast for
• 4:20
  any length of time, you know that for me, I say let us
• 4:24
  downplay that research stage first.
• 4:28
  The main thing that we're going to do is should be you're in
• 4:30
  conversation with one or two people within our company.
• 4:33
  Start asking them questions, probing questions to try and
• 4:37
  clarify who they are, what they want, what they're trying to
• 4:40
  achieve. We'll do that one first.
• 4:43
  By the way, if you're trying to sell into a company, it's a bad
• 4:46
  idea that you're only talking to one person.
• 4:48
  Depending on what it is they are trying to sell.
• 4:50
  You should be talking to it's called multi threading.
• 4:53
  You should be talking to a bunch of people, as many people as
• 4:56
  reasonably possible. So if some guys call me and they
• 5:03
  say I want to go and do documentary for Ministry of
• 5:07
  Finance, you know, my my uncle is in Ministry of Finance.
• 5:13
  So why I put together a proposal?
• 5:15
  You know, it's nice that you have your friends uncle there,
• 5:19
  but you realistically speaking, you can't only just be talking
• 5:23
  to the uncle there. The more people they are talking
• 5:26
  to, the better. If you know somebody in DD's
• 5:30
  office is good. If you know somebody in
• 5:32
  corporate communications office is good.
• 5:35
  If you know somebody in easy work requisitions, I mean the
• 5:40
  people that paid the money at the end of the day as the
• 5:42
  requisitions are be procurement. If you know somewhere in
• 5:45
  procurement do good, even good. The more people that you know
• 5:48
  the better. So you're trying to sell into an
• 5:50
  organization. Don't be talking to only one
• 5:52
  person. That's called single threaded.
• 5:55
  You should be multi threaded, multi threaded any which way you
• 5:58
  want to call it. Two or three people, the more
• 6:01
  the better so you can figure out what's going on, what do they
• 6:05
  want to achieve? So let's say you're a fashion
• 6:11
  designer now, the reason why I'm putting our fashion designer now
• 6:16
  is because remember I said at the top of the episode that this
• 6:19
  stage of proposal, presentation, pitch, whatever it is you want
• 6:23
  to call it, does not always have to be written.
• 6:27
  And this is one of those situations.
• 6:28
  If you're a fashion designer, it is rare that your proposal is
• 6:32
  written. A lot of the time you fashion
• 6:35
  designers, you go through this stage, but you do it on a talk
• 6:37
  talk level, whether you call the person able to talk or whether
• 6:41
  you've gone to their house and they people are talking now for
• 6:45
  some real fancy sophisticated people like my the client I did
• 6:51
  like 2 months ago who was into music videos as the guy has done
• 6:54
  some correct music videos for Boner Boy boy.
• 6:59
  Again, this guy Bados Near what's his name Bados Near this
• 7:07
  YNBL boys or Lamy Day and all of them some correct videos.
• 7:12
  But he also he has two businesses, so he also does
• 7:16
  fashion design for clients who want really elegant and
• 7:21
  sophisticated weddings. So for folks like him, part of
• 7:24
  this stage involves drawing stuff, you know, because you
• 7:26
  actually do some fancy drawing to show the bride.
• 7:29
  OK, this is the corsets that we use, this is the silhouette that
• 7:34
  we'll use, you know, will be like this.
• 7:35
  They think would they drape like this, like this, you know, but
• 7:39
  what I'm just trying to say is that there are some of you that
• 7:40
  preparation proposal presentation on pitch, whatever
• 7:44
  it is you want to call it, you guys won't you won't write
• 7:46
  anything. It will be verbal.
• 7:48
  So that's why I'm using fashion designer.
• 7:51
  So the fashion designer is not going to make PowerPoint
• 7:54
  presentation at all. So these people, fashion
• 8:01
  designers and a lot of us, we're making proposals, we're making
• 8:05
  presentations. In fact, we're doing it two or
• 8:07
  three times a week. We just don't know who that that
• 8:10
  is the stage we're in, because in our mind, we've been taught
• 8:14
  to assume that is only when you prepare PowerPoint that that is
• 8:17
  proposal or presentation. So now at the research stage now
• 8:22
  if you're a fashion designer, you ask them some simple
• 8:25
  questions, you know, what's your budget for this project or
• 8:29
  anyhow you want to have the money conversation.
• 8:31
  You need to have the money conversation to see where
• 8:34
  they're at. What is your deadline for this
• 8:38
  garment? When do you need this dress?
• 8:40
  When do you need this suit? When do you need this?
• 8:42
  Whatever you need, no timeline, of course.
• 8:45
  You ask about the occasion, you ask about the purpose.
• 8:48
  What kind of event is he reading?
• 8:50
  Wedding. I'll be his red carpet, I'll be
• 8:52
  his corporate end of year party or whatever.
• 8:57
  It will help you to understand the level of formality or the
• 9:00
  level of style or the kind of materials that you use.
• 9:05
  Then for guys like that, my client from two months ago, you
• 9:09
  asked the person if they've worked with a custom designer
• 9:11
  before, so you can understand whether they have any insight to
• 9:17
  how these things work. Because for these custom people,
• 9:20
  it's a very collaborative process.
• 9:24
  So you talk on phone, you come to the studio or they'll measure
• 9:27
  you, you know, you talk about mood board.
• 9:33
  I be vision board, I be style board.
• 9:35
  You look at different things, draw design, you know, and just,
• 9:39
  it's a very collaborative process.
• 9:41
  So it's not like working with regular tailor where you just
• 9:43
  go, you sit down, they measure you and then you say how much
• 9:48
  for embroidery, they pay them for embroidery and then they
• 9:51
  tell you to come back in in, in three weeks and pick up your
• 9:55
  material. So you ask them if you've worked
• 9:58
  with a custom designer before. You also ask questions about
• 10:01
  their expectations for working together, how you guys
• 10:04
  collaborate, how you guys will communicate, you know, things
• 10:07
  like that. This is part of the research
• 10:10
  process and this is part of getting to know who this person
• 10:15
  is and to know what the problem is, what the project is that
• 10:19
  they are working towards. So for me, this is the kind of
• 10:23
  qualitative research I prefer qualitative because you get
• 10:26
  quality stuff. But of course, for those of you
• 10:30
  who are in the big business space, you know, like you are
• 10:32
  going to present to Zenith Bank for instance, well, you know, I
• 10:34
  guess you have to go and do your research on Zenith Bank so that
• 10:38
  that part where you talk about the client, we're talking about
• 10:40
  Zenith Bank. You have facts and figures, you
• 10:42
  know, good stuff to say about Zenith Bank.
• 10:44
  But for me, I will start from the human element.
• 10:47
  Do I know one or two people in Zenith Bank?
• 10:49
  Let me last with them, let me party up with them, let me build
• 10:53
  up all with them. Let me talk with them and try
• 10:57
  and figure out, you know what the problem is.
• 10:59
  Let me get some some insight first.
• 11:02
  Then all that research I'm going to do on on the outside, maybe
• 11:06
  from online or whatever. It will now buttress what it is
• 11:09
  that I found. So the tailor you also have to
• 11:13
  the fashion designer, Sorry, forgive me because I know I say
• 11:16
  Taylor once in a while, I know some of you vex you say no, no,
• 11:19
  no, no, no. I'm not a tailor.
• 11:22
  Taylor is just somebody who buy a sewing machine and can't.
• 11:25
  You don't be matching the team. I know I do more than that.
• 11:30
  I'm a style connoisseur and I'm trying to bring out the best
• 11:35
  individualized expression of of yourself.
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  So forgive me if I keep saying Taylor.
• 11:41
  Forgive me or if I say seamstress.
• 11:43
  So the fashion designer. Now you have to ask the person
• 11:46
  what their style preferences are.
• 11:47
  Ask for inspiration, ask for a mood board.
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  Visuals are very, very important in this kind of business because
• 11:55
  like I said in last episode, I'm saying now, at least if you see
• 11:58
  mood board and you see visual, you will now know whether this
• 12:01
  is your kind of client or not. Now, some of you who believe,
• 12:05
  for instance, that plunge neckline is too tacky or that
• 12:08
  approach is too tacky. So if the person shows you a
• 12:12
  dress with plunge neckline and the dress is made of approache,
• 12:15
  you now know that this is the kind of client that you will run
• 12:17
  away from because you don't want people to see you associated
• 12:22
  with that kind of work. So he has them about fabrics,
• 12:28
  textures that they like, you know, know their preferences,
• 12:32
  specific details or features that they like in design, you
• 12:34
  know, different kinds of neckline, different kind of
• 12:36
  sleeve, different kind of embellishment.
• 12:38
  So you'd be wondering that, you know, as a guy, how do you know
• 12:42
  all this much? Yeah, The reason why I know this
• 12:44
  much is because I'm married. So, you know, at least my wife
• 12:48
  goes to the tailor. I'm I'm paying attention.
• 12:51
  I'm I'm listening, I'm learning. Then you also ask about the
• 12:55
  kind, the parts of their body that they want to accentuate or,
• 12:59
  excuse me, all the parts that they want to downplay, you know,
• 13:01
  things like that, because they're trying to create a
• 13:03
  flattering and well fitting design.
• 13:07
  So you can see that all these so excuse me, all these kinds of
• 13:12
  questions. This is the research, research
• 13:18
  stage. But of course, remember, the
• 13:20
  reason why I'm using examples like this is just because I need
• 13:23
  to show you how it applies for businesses where you don't
• 13:28
  actually have to write down, where you don't have a written
• 13:33
  proposal. So for those of us who are in
• 13:35
  the consulting space, yes, who have written proposals, but for
• 13:38
  those of you who are in, let's say, wedding photography space
• 13:41
  or in the fashion space, you don't always have to use written
• 13:44
  proposals or presentations. Of course, identify the key
• 13:48
  decision makers, you know, know who they are.
• 13:51
  Because for some of you, like website designers instead, so
• 13:56
  like, yeah, like website designers, you know, you need to
• 13:58
  know like who it is that you're talking to, who I'm making
• 14:00
  presentation to so that you now tailor your language.
• 14:04
  You now use the appropriate language or the appropriate
• 14:07
  terms or the appropriate approach or the right context
• 14:11
  depending on who it is that you're talking to.
• 14:14
  So you're building website, yes, but when you're talking to the
• 14:18
  the CFO, you now know that you're supposed to emphasize,
• 14:22
  you know, return on investment and how much money this website
• 14:25
  can help them make or how cost effective is going to make the
• 14:27
  business. Then if you're talking to the
• 14:30
  manager, you now know that you know, you focus on something
• 14:33
  else. I don't know what a creative
• 14:36
  strategy, I don't know, I can't think of anything.
• 14:38
  But then if you're talking to the person who is the head of PR
• 14:41
  and branding, you know, you will now be emphasizing the, you
• 14:46
  know, the web flow and how everything just looks modern and
• 14:49
  intuitive and easy to use and sophisticated and everything you
• 14:54
  know. So there's one presentation
• 14:57
  about as you're talking to different people in the buying
• 15:00
  committee, the thing you emphasize will now change.
• 15:04
  So excuse me, website designers take note.
• 15:08
  And the reason why I'm bringing up this one is last month, last
• 15:13
  month I saw through representation for one of my
• 15:15
  clients not trying to revamp their website.
• 15:18
  So they got somebody in to work on the on the UI user interface
• 15:25
  of the website. On our presentation was one hour
• 15:29
  of them just showing maps and flows.
• 15:31
  This thing will look like this. This is side map.
• 15:34
  The thing where they flow like this, This is how we look for
• 15:37
  one hour. That's all we did.
• 15:40
  I didn't want to interrupt, so I just kept quiet.
• 15:42
  I said let me know. Let me know.
• 15:43
  Flush that the babe. So I just left it.
• 15:46
  But that's not how you make an effective presentation.
• 15:50
  Those of you who are website designers, it's not just site
• 15:54
  maps and site flows and excuse me, things like that.
• 16:01
  Then in crafting the proposal, of course, with all these
• 16:06
  questions that we're asking, the proposal should be customized.
• 16:10
  There are some businesses that have A1 size fits all, you know,
• 16:13
  just general templates that it just copy and paste and send to
• 16:16
  everybody and you know, no one day somebody will read it and
• 16:21
  see that you know, it isn't just a bunch of fluff.
• 16:25
  Your proposal should be custom fit and should directly address
• 16:30
  challenges, problems, the goals, you know, whatever it is that
• 16:33
  the people are trying to do. And of course, use the words use
• 16:37
  technology to show that people are on the same page.
• 16:39
  Show that you're feeling them was always make sure that we
• 16:43
  define the problem. That's the reason why for me, I
• 16:47
  tell business owners, excuse me, business owners, sales people,
• 16:52
  that one easy way to be sure if you're on course is just to say,
• 16:56
  OK boss, So based on all these things that you're, we've been
• 16:59
  saying, if I understand you correctly, the problem is this.
• 17:02
  Is this all we're trying to achieve?
• 17:03
  Is this this that this is me trying to define the problem,
• 17:08
  trying to articulate it properly.
• 17:10
  So I say it as I understand it and I spit it out and I ask
• 17:13
  them, am I correct? If I'm off point, It is good
• 17:17
  that they tell me now that I'm off point so I can start paying
• 17:19
  attention. Because if you're off point from
• 17:23
  the beginning, I can assure you the proposal that you're going
• 17:25
  to issue at the end will be off point.
• 17:29
  So we should learn to define the problems early.
• 17:32
  And that's why I use that simple formula, Bros.
• 17:35
  Madame Ogar, my guy, based on what you said, it looks to me as
• 17:42
  if ABC and XYZ is the problem and you want us to go from 1 to
• 17:49
  #8 Am I correct? And they'll clarify, they'll
• 17:53
  say, yeah, I want us to go from 1:00 to 8:00.
• 17:55
  But to be honest, ABZ to XYZ, that's not really the main
• 17:58
  problem. Or the main problem is starting
• 18:00
  from option D over here. So let me take dressing early,
• 18:05
  then let's see what else? Yeah, be clear in your language.
• 18:13
  Use simple language. Avoid jargon, avoid technical
• 18:16
  terms, except if you're talking to technical people.
• 18:20
  Yes, I want to pick on you Web three people again because the
• 18:23
  problem that you people have, you just love yourself, you love
• 18:26
  your tech. And so you know, every time Web
• 18:30
  3, front end, back end computer, node, quantum computing, cloud
• 18:34
  storage. So I'm just calm down.
• 18:37
  Yes, all these things make sense and some of us are intelligent
• 18:40
  and we can figure it out. But a lot of the time you're
• 18:43
  talking to everyday, normal, average people cut down on all
• 18:46
  these technical jargon. Now, if you're selling to
• 18:50
  somebody who is technical, then please use all the technical
• 18:54
  jargon so the person will know that you my you know what's up.
• 18:58
  So if you're a website designer and you're designing some web 3
• 19:04
  something to people who are also in that space, then just go all
• 19:09
  out computer node quantum these something, but hasn't used every
• 19:13
  every bamboozle them with all the technical language.
• 19:18
  Show them that, you know work. Show them that you go school.
• 19:20
  But then when you're talking to a normal person, you know, calm
• 19:24
  down, Simplify, simplify. It's of front end, back end.
• 19:30
  Why can't you guys just say, OK, mommy, now it's time for us to
• 19:32
  now work on how this website is going to look when somebody
• 19:36
  opens this website. How would you think load
• 19:40
  instead? You seen in front of mommy as a
• 19:43
  simple business owner that she is and trying to tell her about
• 19:47
  UIUX front end, how we should understand what you're saying.
• 19:55
  Just calm down, OK? Mommy want to make sure that
• 19:59
  when the website opens, the thing will load well, the thing
• 20:03
  will look smooth and the thing will appeal to your customers.
• 20:08
  You know, just use regular talk. None of that UIUX front end.
• 20:15
  Quite frankly, for some of us, when we hear front end and back
• 20:17
  end, we think of something else. Anyway, what was that?
• 20:24
  Let's see. OK, so I'm looking at my notes
• 20:27
  and I'm presenting the proposal now.
• 20:29
  Respect people's timeline. I told you guys that last month
• 20:32
  for my client, they're redesigning their website.
• 20:35
  The person that came and what she kept us for one hour.
• 20:38
  It's just, I didn't want to say something and just threw her off
• 20:41
  because to be honest, I have sympathies for anybody who is
• 20:45
  trying to make their daily bread, you know, because you
• 20:47
  know, that's my life too. That's how I make my daily
• 20:49
  bread. So I just, well, I just kept
• 20:52
  quiet. Everything went on for one hour.
• 20:54
  We're looking at side map or looking at side flow.
• 20:57
  I'm sure the baby thing she was doing by Bangla presentation.
• 21:02
  So respect people's time. Keep it concise, keep it focused
• 21:05
  to the most important point, and you won't know the most
• 21:07
  important point if you did not ask them plenty questions in the
• 21:10
  beginning about what is important to them.
• 21:12
  Because the poor babe. But I was halfway into the
• 21:16
  presentation, you know, the owner of the company, my client
• 21:19
  had to tell her that, you know what, since our first
• 21:23
  conversations, things have actually changed.
• 21:26
  So the focus of the business is no longer going to be this and
• 21:28
  this and that and that. So all these things that you've
• 21:31
  been saying up to now on this aspect of the business, you can
• 21:34
  just cut it out because we're only going to focus on this,
• 21:39
  see? But I was after 30 minutes, you
• 21:42
  should have come into the proposal saying thank you very
• 21:44
  much for everybody's time, really pleased to make this
• 21:48
  presentation. Let's get straight to the point.
• 21:52
  The last time that we spoke, it was my understanding the
• 21:54
  business was focusing on this and this and that and that and
• 21:57
  you are trying to achieve XYZ with your website.
• 22:00
  Is that still the case? Then Chairman would have now
• 22:04
  said, Oh no, no, actually they've been some changes is
• 22:06
  when we spoke. So we're only going to be
• 22:10
  focused on this and this and this.
• 22:11
  So immediately on the spot, the people now know that OK, all the
• 22:16
  part of the slide where I'm talking about this and this and
• 22:18
  this, let me ignore and then go straight to the one that is
• 22:22
  choking them, straight to the one that is important for them.
• 22:26
  Then when you're making the proposal, the presentation
• 22:29
  always try and you know, anticipate problems, anticipate
• 22:32
  objections, you know, complaints or questions that you know they
• 22:35
  will have and then bring it up proactively.
• 22:38
  So that's about where sales people say things like, oh, at
• 22:41
  this stage, most people are concerned about the price of
• 22:43
  this is this. But actually most of the
• 22:48
  happiest customers have found out that if you go beyond and
• 22:51
  you do it like this and like this, that pricing concern is no
• 22:55
  longer an option because it actually gives you a better
• 22:58
  return on this and this and that and that.
• 22:59
  What, Sure, you're just trying to figure out what complaints
• 23:02
  are they going to have and then how in the presentation you deal
• 23:06
  with that straight up. But the most important thing
• 23:09
  that I want to stress is this thing of dialogue.
• 23:13
  Presentations are supposed to be dialogue.
• 23:15
  Don't go there and then be talking at somebody for one
• 23:18
  hour. This thing is dialogue.
• 23:19
  You say A, they say B, you say C, they say D, and then we are
• 23:23
  flowing. It's a conversation.
• 23:28
  The good thing about dialogue, our conversation, is that if
• 23:30
  there's a problem, you will find out about it early.
• 23:34
  People will not fall asleep. People will not.
• 23:39
  What's that word? You know when you black out and
• 23:42
  you're not paying attention to someone anymore?
• 23:46
  Dialogue is two way is not one way.
• 23:50
  You don't go and stand and make no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 23:53
  That time has passed is no longer 1978.
• 23:59
  Excuse me, Business conventions have changed now.
• 24:01
  So dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. You make this thing engaging,
• 24:06
  you will build rapport, people will feel free, they will ask
• 24:10
  questions. You'll be able to tackle many
• 24:13
  more things in your proposal, in your presentation with your
• 24:16
  pitch, and then end your pitch and your proposal or send your
• 24:22
  proposal along with a clear call to action.
• 24:25
  Too many people just send the proposal or deliver the pitch
• 24:28
  like that and there's no call to action.
• 24:30
  So excuse me. So that's the thing that now
• 24:34
  causes people to say, let me think about it.
• 24:36
  I'll call you later. Let me send it to my wife.
• 24:38
  Let me hear what she thinks. You know, I'll call you when I'm
• 24:41
  ready. Give me like one month.
• 24:42
  You know all those things that people say.
• 24:45
  So what you should be looking for is a clear call to action.
• 24:52
  Try and look for, ask the client what they want to do next or
• 25:00
  tell them what the next step is. Either way you're looking for
• 25:04
  reasonable small, small steps, micro steps towards making a
• 25:07
  decision. So let me give an example now
• 25:09
  for solar sales. Yeah, and that's because you
• 25:14
  know my client from last month. So let's say, you know, you're a
• 25:19
  sales professional now in the solar space, you have made a
• 25:22
  presentation to the person or you've sent over a proposal.
• 25:29
  The goal of a call to action, Nazi CTA call to action is to
• 25:34
  move the prospect, the contact, the potential client, move them
• 25:39
  closer towards making a decision.
• 25:42
  So this is not really about selling, you know, per SE, we're
• 25:45
  just, we're just trying to continue the conversation
• 25:48
  anyhow. Shall mode to continue small,
• 25:50
  small in case they have any concerns that we haven't
• 25:55
  addressed. Shall let's just be pushing it
• 25:57
  one step, one step, because if you don't have that plan and you
• 26:01
  just hand over this document, they will go ghost.
• 26:05
  So there are some approaches where you try and question or
• 26:08
  clarify. So you say Bros, now that we've
• 26:12
  looked at this proposal, what questions or what thoughts do
• 26:17
  you have for now or what questions have come up since we
• 26:20
  reviewed this proposal? You can see CTA call to action.
• 26:24
  OK, well that is not really a call to action Basha.
• 26:26
  We are continuing the conversation on a small level.
• 26:30
  I've asked the question, the guys duty bound to say
• 26:33
  something. Is there anything in this
• 26:37
  proposal that needs clarification?
• 26:40
  The financial breakdown, you understand it back the
• 26:43
  installation process and technology, you're good with
• 26:46
  that. Like ask anything question
• 26:51
  clarification, you're moving the conversation small, small,
• 26:54
  small. Then you can also be asking
• 26:57
  questions around, you know, next step and commitment, you know,
• 27:01
  toasting them small, small. So if it needs the presentation,
• 27:04
  say, OK, are we ready to agree on an installation date?
• 27:07
  Some people say that's too forward.
• 27:10
  Well, if you think that's too forward, no problem.
• 27:12
  But for me, I like using stuff like that because lets me know
• 27:15
  where I'm headed. If I say, are we ready to move
• 27:17
  on to installation dates on people's installation bow and I
• 27:22
  got you already running, you didn't see this price.
• 27:23
  Are we finished on the price you see?
• 27:27
  But me asking this question, are we ready to agree on
• 27:28
  installation date? And the person says installation
• 27:31
  date, how you didn't see this price?
• 27:33
  At least now I know that OK, price rejection, price
• 27:36
  objection, I remain, we have to tackle the price.
• 27:40
  It's better than just handing over the document.
• 27:42
  And they will say, oh, thank you very much.
• 27:43
  It's been a wonderful presentation.
• 27:46
  Do you have soft copies available?
• 27:48
  Can you send that to my secretary, please?
• 27:50
  OK. Well, no problem.
• 27:51
  OK, Mr. Ayer. I'll be in touch next week.
• 27:54
  OK. Thank you very much.
• 27:55
  Have a wonderful day. Goodbye.
• 27:57
  And then you will hear from them.
• 28:00
  And now go ghosts. You might be wondering what
• 28:03
  happened now. Was the PowerPoint ugly?
• 28:06
  Was my mouth smelling? You now won't know what's up.
• 28:10
  But because you asked at the end of the presentation, you will
• 28:14
  now know that. OK, money matter is still on the
• 28:16
  table. Propose the next step.
• 28:21
  So, OK, so Sir, the next step for us is we now have to start
• 28:26
  planning for the survey or the inspection.
• 28:29
  What day next week works best for you?
• 28:31
  And then keep quiet. I hear what they have to say.
• 28:34
  Remember, we're talking so that now you know you're trying to
• 28:39
  propose next step, trying to propose commitment based on what
• 28:43
  they will say. You now know whether you've been
• 28:45
  heading in the right direction or whether you've been off point
• 28:47
  from day one. You got one of my video guys, my
• 28:53
  longest partner in the video space.
• 28:55
  This was what he used to do, the next step.
• 28:57
  That was his exact formula and he was oh OK mommy looks like
• 29:02
  we've discussed everything now so we have agreed is video.
• 29:06
  We're now going to have 4 camera people blah blah blah.
• 29:08
  We'll make 5 DVDs and this and this and that and that and then
• 29:12
  smoke machine on top. It's OK no problem.
• 29:14
  So mommy you know now today is 1st of September and this
• 29:19
  wedding is December 25th and mommy you know we guys arrange
• 29:26
  everything on ground well ahead of time.
• 29:29
  So what we do is we need a deposit of 80% no later than
• 29:39
  four weeks before 4 weeks before the event so that we can start
• 29:44
  arranging everything. So Mummy, are you OK with that?
• 29:47
  That was his exact reasoning. Mummy will say well OK now my
• 29:55
  guy will now get specific. You say, OK, so wedding date is
• 30:00
  December 3rd, four weeks is November 3rd.
• 30:05
  We were currently in September. So you're saying mommy, that
• 30:08
  basically in the next three weeks you'll be able to you'll
• 30:10
  be able to raise me like you'll be able to raise me 620 K.
• 30:15
  You can see that he's now getting even more more direct so
• 30:20
  that mommy now knows that in order for everything to be cool
• 30:24
  in December, she now needs to raise 620K as deposit in the
• 30:31
  next three weeks. And then you hear what she has
• 30:33
  to say. So you can see how you're
• 30:35
  proposing things, small, small, small, moving things forward,
• 30:40
  forward, forward. So this, the next step is it's
• 30:43
  not a bad formula if we're in agreement in this and this and
• 30:47
  that and that. The next step is we have to do
• 30:49
  this by social and so date. Are we good to go for that?
• 30:53
  Are you cool with that? Some people, in fact, if you're
• 31:00
  watching both movies, you see this one a lot.
• 31:02
  They'll finish your presentation and they'll say, OK, let's move,
• 31:06
  let's move forward, Let's get this paperwork started so that
• 31:09
  we can begin saving on your energy bills.
• 31:11
  So can I send you the payment details and E signature
• 31:14
  documents now? So that's how we both people in
• 31:17
  film, that's how they like to round it up.
• 31:19
  But you can see that you see the scope now.
• 31:22
  OK, if we're cool, if we're in agreement, the next step is let
• 31:26
  us start on the paperwork. Why are we wasting time?
• 31:30
  I will send you e-mail, payment details and E signature
• 31:33
  documents. Although in Niger also add you
• 31:35
  know. So should I send you over
• 31:36
  WhatsApp or e-mail? And regardless of whatever the
• 31:39
  person says, may I always send it over WhatsApp and the e-mail
• 31:43
  because WhatsApp is conversational and how to keep
• 31:46
  the conversation going. Some people like to add, they
• 31:52
  like to do what's it called again, social proof, either
• 31:57
  adding value or social proof as way to move the conversation
• 32:00
  forward. So OK, yeah, so it looks like
• 32:04
  we're OK with this and this and that and that organ.
• 32:06
  Is that the case? OK, no problem.
• 32:08
  So Sir, I will be happy to connect you with a few of our
• 32:11
  customers in your area or the current team that I'm coaching
• 32:15
  right now. They like to use the video
• 32:17
  route. So, Sir, I'll be happy to show
• 32:19
  you videos of some of customers that we've worked with in your
• 32:23
  area who have a system that is similar to the one you want to
• 32:27
  pay for. Would you like to have a look at
• 32:28
  that video? You see, we're trying to move
• 32:31
  the conversation on small, Small, OK.
• 32:35
  In some industries, they will send case study, case study
• 32:39
  video, you know, whatever. And then some people like to
• 32:44
  bite the bullet. I said, Sir.
• 32:46
  Yeah, I'm glad that you're OK with everything we've discussed
• 32:48
  so far. But Sir, feel free share this
• 32:51
  proposal with your wife because the next step is we want to
• 32:55
  fall, we want to do follow up call to be sure that everybody
• 32:59
  we can answer everybody's questions.
• 33:01
  I want to be sure that Madam is on board.
• 33:02
  So Sir, Monday 10 AM. How is that, Sir?
• 33:07
  Now if we want to come up with calls to actions or ways that we
• 33:11
  can continue the conversation, we can't keep talking about this
• 33:15
  thing from now on to next year. But bottom line, what I'm trying
• 33:19
  to pass across is there is a way to move the conversation
• 33:24
  forward. If all you do is you take your
• 33:26
  proposal, take your presentation and you say, OK, I will send it
• 33:30
  to you tomorrow, 8:00 AM, then you send it to them tomorrow,
• 33:33
  8:00 AM, they will say thank you very much and you won't hear
• 33:37
  from most of them again. So we need to have a plan for
• 33:44
  including calls to action, sending a proposal with a call
• 33:48
  to action or sending a proposal with something that will help us
• 33:52
  continue the conversation. Me, I'm in favor of, I have
• 33:56
  already prepared the proposal, but I'll call the person and
• 33:59
  say, oh, I have that proposal ready for you.
• 34:00
  They asked for, but there are a couple of things I need to talk
• 34:03
  you through with. So are you free now?
• 34:06
  Let's continue to flow. The person says they're free.
• 34:11
  Yes. OK, no problem.
• 34:12
  I'm sending it to you now over on WhatsApp. 1 moment I've
• 34:16
  forwarded it. Have you seen it?
• 34:19
  OK, no problem. Do you have your hands free?
• 34:20
  You can open the document. Now let's start talking through
• 34:22
  a few things. That's something I prefer to do
• 34:24
  it so that as they're looking, I'm here and I'm walking them
• 34:29
  through the proposal. I'm trying to get feedback on
• 34:31
  specific things. I'm trying to figure out what's
• 34:33
  the what's the problem, if any. But apart from that, I guess the
• 34:39
  main thing I'm trying to, one of the main things I'm trying to
• 34:41
  pass across today is this. Trying to create a successful
• 34:45
  proposal, the successful presentation or page or whatever
• 34:48
  is not just about creating brochure or PDF or e-mail or
• 34:52
  flow chat. They now send it and then wait
• 34:53
  to hear from them. No, there's a whole lot more
• 34:58
  that goes into this and I hope I'll be able to open your eyes
• 35:00
  to lots of things that maybe perhaps you haven't been
• 35:04
  considering before. But then there's one more thing
• 35:09
  in order to think about from a traditional sales and business
• 35:11
  development perspective. Because if you've noticed, I've
• 35:14
  been going on the assumption that you were only going to
• 35:16
  issue one proposal. That is because for some reason,
• 35:21
  lots of Nigerian business people or sales people only like to
• 35:24
  give one proposal. Or from traditional sales and
• 35:28
  business development perspective, we give three
• 35:31
  options. Even if it is one document, we
• 35:35
  are going to give them three option, option A, option B,
• 35:38
  option C, option ideal, option practical or option.
• 35:45
  Worst case scenario, either we were going to give them three
• 35:49
  because we're trying to use the process of sending this proposal
• 35:53
  or presentation or trying to use the the presentation itself to
• 35:57
  narrow down what people want, what they need, or what they can
• 36:01
  afford. Because when you only give one
• 36:03
  option, you say this is a proposal is going to cost you
• 36:06
  2.5 M, there's only one option. The answer you will get to
• 36:10
  either be yes or no. Yes, you'll be happy, No, you'll
• 36:15
  be heartbroken. But if you offer three options
• 36:18
  like you say, OK Sir, I've heard, I think I understand
• 36:22
  correctly is what we're trying to achieve.
• 36:25
  So this is what I'm going to do, Sir.
• 36:26
  I'm going to come back with a proposal for you where we are
• 36:29
  going to explore 3 scenarios. We're going to explore the
• 36:32
  ideal, what I would like to deliver to you as a professional
• 36:36
  to make this thing happen. Then I'm going to come up with a
• 36:39
  midway budget where we stick to the exact parameters of what you
• 36:43
  have in mind. And then fed, we're going to
• 36:46
  have a last, last like option. Like like money is really,
• 36:51
  really an issue. Last, last.
• 36:53
  What is it going to be? Will that be OK?
• 36:56
  Most people will say, OK, I will now go and prepare the document
• 36:59
  and they will be there. Now, the good thing about this
• 37:03
  scenario is instead of just saying yes or no, you might now
• 37:06
  hear somebody say something like, you know, the option AI
• 37:13
  don't like 80% of it, only like this thing here.
• 37:16
  But initial option C, this is your last, last option.
• 37:18
  I really love that thing that you said, the option C.
• 37:21
  So how far how can we take this one from option A, this one from
• 37:24
  option C? How can we put it together?
• 37:26
  How much will it cost or how feasible is that?
• 37:29
  So you can see that with this approach of presenting two or
• 37:32
  three options, you're now in the realm of creative problem
• 37:36
  solving. But when you just send over one
• 37:38
  proposal, you say, oh guy, your B is 2.52 point 5 million.
• 37:43
  You're now in the problem because you either say yes or
• 37:47
  no. Oh, and by the way, yeah,
• 37:47
  there's some price. I say B, that's how my people
• 37:50
  call it. Is your name B?
• 37:53
  That's Bill. BILL.
• 37:56
  But for some reason in some languages, you know, when we're
• 37:58
  saying Bill will move the LL. So yes, there's some people that
• 38:01
  say, oh guy, your B is is 2.5. So go there with three options.
• 38:07
  Go there with the 2.5 M, go there with the two M, then go
• 38:11
  there with the 1.8. You have more options for
• 38:15
  discussing. I'm trying to narrow down what
• 38:19
  do you want? What do you need?
• 38:21
  What can you afford or what is ideal, what is practical?
• 38:25
  What is bare bones? What is last, last.
• 38:29
  So, yeah, so this is just some options, just some things I need
• 38:33
  to share about proposals presentations, just because I
• 38:35
  was going over my notes and I realized that I've been talking
• 38:39
  a lot with customers this year about their proposal process.
• 38:44
  There's also another thing I would have liked to say about
• 38:47
  premature proposal, because people have premature proposal
• 38:50
  syndrome. You talk to the person today, on
• 38:53
  Monday and then Tuesday or sending proposal like calm down,
• 38:56
  it's too quick. Now that's a recipe for ghosting
• 38:59
  because you have the conversation on Monday, you send
• 39:01
  a proposal on Tuesday. As far as they're concerned,
• 39:03
  they don't need you for anything else.
• 39:04
  Again, they already have the proposal.
• 39:06
  So Wednesday they will ghost you when I make a podcast episode
• 39:10
  about that later. So remember, if you'd love to
• 39:12
  connect, you can call, send me a text message or WhatsApp me on
• 39:16
  08064662140. Thanks for your time and
• 39:21
  attention. I'll catch you next time.
• 39:23
  Same place in your headphones or in your speakers.