Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / How to Craft Sales Proposals That Actually Convert

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How to Craft Sales Proposals That Actually Convert · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Today I'd like us to look at sales process optimization or
0:05
before I begin, the usual apologies because I'm not in my
0:08
audio booth today. And then my sore throat, my cold
0:13
slash sore throat is getting worse.
0:17
But I figured anyway, I've been gone for two days, so might as
0:19
well just go ahead and make the podcast recording because I
0:21
can't tell you know how soon I'm going to get better or not.
0:25
So I hope you guys appreciate what it is that I go through for
0:28
your own benefit and let's see what else.
0:31
OK, Then I was having a conversation with someone
0:33
earlier. I'm a friend, you know, slash
0:35
client. And he asked me, you know,
0:37
what's the truth behind my sore throats.
0:41
And, you know, I explained that growing up as a kid, I was
0:44
always prone to these sorts of things.
0:46
But then, you know, I grew up and then they stopped happening.
0:49
But then now that I have children constantly sneezing on
0:51
me, I, you know, sneezing and hacking and bringing stuff back
0:56
from school. So I, I've started getting those
0:58
things again. So what I told him was that in a
1:01
couple of years I should be free because my boy should be
1:04
teenager soon. The baby should be a teenager in
1:07
roughly 88 years, 7-8 years. The baby should be a teenager in
1:12
7-8 years. So in less than 10 years, I'm
1:15
going to be free. So it was only after we finished
1:18
the conversation that I thought that, OK, perhaps even there was
1:21
some shade, you know, going on there, like, what's the truth
1:23
behind, you know, your sore throats and everything.
1:28
So just in case there are a couple of you who are thinking
1:30
in that line, you know, I might as well just put it out here in
1:32
the open that as far as I know, you know, sore throats and sore
1:37
throats and colds and things like this, you know, I'm not
1:39
sexually transmitted. So it's not because I'm leaving
1:44
the Vida loca. That's the reason why I have
1:46
these infections. But don't worry.
1:48
Yeah, they come and they go. So it's just part of life.
1:53
So where was I? So today, sales process
1:56
optimization, that is what I want us to tackle today.
2:00
So First off, what is it? What is sales process
2:02
optimization? Of course, if you check the
2:07
interwebs or your business book, business books for those who
2:11
have access to those sorts of things, you'll find technique,
2:14
correct definitions. But the working definition that
2:16
I'm going to go with for the purpose of the podcast is this,
2:21
that every single time you hear sales process optimization,
2:24
we're just talking about making your proposals effective so that
2:28
they address the main concerns that your customers have.
2:32
Now, some of you are going to say proposals.
2:34
What does that have to do with me?
2:36
Because as far as you're concerned, you don't issue
2:37
proposals. But think of it in this sense,
2:40
don't think of a proposal as a document, but think of a
2:43
proposal rather as a stage in business and selling
2:47
conversations. So if you're a wedding
2:49
photographer and you do not send a two page document in PDF
2:53
saying this is my proposal, but you do get to that stage where
2:57
you say, OK, Mr. and Missus Brighton, I heard you guys out.
3:01
I think this is what we can achieve.
3:02
This is what we're going to be able to do.
3:04
I'll guarantee this, I'll guarantee this.
3:05
I should have your photos ready in about 3 weeks.
3:07
And to do all of that, all you have to do is to make an 80%
3:11
deposit. The total cost is going to be
3:13
350,000 naira. Now that conversation that you
3:17
have had, even though you didn't reduce it to a document, that is
3:23
a proposal because a proposal is just something that somebody can
3:25
say yes to or they say no to. Because after all, for those of
3:28
us who are married, when we're proposing to our wives, you
3:30
know, we didn't send over APDF, we got down on one knee.
3:34
I mean, for those of you who got down on one knee, I still
3:36
receive Flack till today that I didn't get down on one knee.
3:40
So if you're single, you're a single man, please get down on
3:44
one knee so that you don't receive any Flack for that in
3:47
the future. OK, Sorry about that.
3:53
What was I? Yeah.
3:54
So a proposal is just something that somebody can say yes or no
3:57
to, whether it's a customer or whether it's your babe.
4:00
So. Yeah.
4:02
So it doesn't have to be something that is written on
4:04
APDF document. So yeah.
4:08
So I don't think of a proposal as a document, but think of a
4:10
proposal as a business stage. So if you're making sure that
4:13
your proposal, whatever it is that you write or whatever it is
4:16
that you ping in the WhatsApp or whatever it is that you say
4:18
verbally when they're sitting in front of your office or excuse
4:24
me, when they're sitting in front of your front of you or
4:27
whether you're at the office or wherever it is.
4:30
So whatever it is they say, we just need to make sure that the
4:32
thing, the proposal is on point. Because if your proposal is off
4:36
point, if your proposal misses the mark, then it's not going to
4:40
add any credence to the sales process that is not going to
4:42
make it easier for you to seal the deal.
4:45
So you actually might be the best wedding photographer, the
4:47
best Carpenter, the best engineer, the best project
4:49
management specialist, the best graphic designer, the best
4:54
whatever it is that is the market in your city, in your
4:58
location, in your whatever. But The thing is, if your
5:01
proposal misses the mark, if the PDF that you send is off points,
5:06
if when you're yawning or yawning total or better, then
5:09
it's not going to help you seal seal the deal.
5:11
So when we're talking about sales proposal optimization,
5:14
trying to make our proposals effective, there are a couple of
5:17
stuff that we should be paying attention to.
5:19
Now, for those of you who've been listening to the podcast
5:21
for any length of time, you already know some of them.
5:23
But for the newbies, this is your first time listening to the
5:26
show. Now, let me run through a couple
5:28
of things real quick. This is not going to be an
5:31
exhaustive list because proposal optimization, you know, like
5:35
anything in sales, you know, we can say plenty, plenty, plenty.
5:38
We can talk for hours about these things.
5:39
But here's a couple of stuff that you ought to be paying
5:41
attention to that excuse me. If you give it your best, then
5:47
your proposal should be much more tight and much more on the
5:53
mark. So one thing that we need to pay
5:54
attention to is jargon. Now jargon is not a good idea.
5:58
A jargon is just another way of saying technical lingo.
6:02
Now the problem with technical lingo, technical words and stuff
6:05
like that, it leads to confusion unless you're talking to a
6:10
technically literate crowd. So wedding photographers, you
6:15
are not talking to somebody who's technically literate.
6:18
So stop talking about aperture and shutter speed and stuff like
6:22
that. The average boy does not know
6:24
what's up and you're just confusing her.
6:25
It's another thing that adds to the mix.
6:27
So don't say stuff like that. However, I spoke about you
6:32
project management specialist. If you're a project management
6:34
specialist and you're trying to design a system for people in
6:37
the oil and gas space and that's different.
6:39
You know, you, you're a specialist, the person is an
6:41
engineer, blah, blah, blah. So you guys can be talking your
6:45
technical jazz because you know, it's it's your people, so you
6:49
won't understand yourself. So when you're not dealing with
6:54
a technically literate crowd, just keep the jargon to a
6:58
minimum. Some people like to use the
7:00
jargon because it helps you to build credibility.
7:03
So back in the day, I'll see some new people coming into the
7:06
field. Wedding photographers will be
7:07
talking about, oh, ISO, aperture, blah, blah, blah,
7:10
micro, 3rd, 4th camera, full frame.
7:12
Something, something, something. Yeah, I get it.
7:14
When you talk like that, some people be like, oh, more like
7:17
this guy knows the shit. Like we have to use this person
7:21
because he's talking the con D3 something something full frame,
7:25
whatever camera aperture this blah blah blah night control
7:28
ISO. Yeah, you can you can impress
7:31
some people that way. You can make it appear more
7:35
impressive than you actually are.
7:37
But use this tactic sparingly because anything backfires.
7:41
But anything will backfire real huge and you'll find out that
7:45
they'll leave you and they'll go and do the deal with somebody
7:48
else that you might, you know that this person is an idiot.
7:51
Like how can they go with this person?
7:52
It's just because the person being an idiot did not use heavy
7:58
language. The person use idiot level
8:00
language and they're able to understand the idiot and that's
8:02
why they went with him or with him, even though you're the
8:04
better photographer or the project management specialist or
8:07
whatever. Next is readability.
8:11
Sorry, one moment I'm sniffing too much.
8:13
Let me just go sort myself out and I'll be back real quick.
8:20
OK? Yeah, I'm back.
8:23
Sorry about that. I guess I might have to take a
8:25
couple more pauses as the records recording goes on.
8:29
Now, I guess this is one of the benefits of just making this
8:32
podcast an audio only podcast because actually, if you guys
8:35
can see me, I don't, I don't think that would be a good idea,
8:38
making a podcast episode this way.
8:41
Yeah, with puffy eyes and sniffles and all that.
8:44
All right, so jargon, that's the first thing.
8:46
Keep your jargon down to a minimum unless you're talking to
8:50
a technically literate crowd. So if you're a professional
8:54
accountant, because there's there's a body in Abuja called
8:57
the Association of Forensic Accountants, blah, blah, blah.
9:00
I think those are the people you call in when you think your
9:03
accountant is doing you or Joro or you feel like, you know,
9:07
people are investing money here or there.
9:08
I need a specialist to dig deeper, find out, you know,
9:11
what's the formal one, what's going on?
9:14
So those are the people you call.
9:16
So if you're a forensic accountant and you come in and
9:20
you're talking to the CFO of the organization and fellow
9:23
accountants, yeah, sure, no problem.
9:24
You can be telling them accrualities, cash basis, that
9:30
net withdrawal, this, you know, blah, blah, you know, all those
9:33
gross, this net, this, you know, talk about technical terms,
9:35
that's cool, they understand you.
9:37
But if you're a member of the Association of Forensic
9:40
Accountants of Nigeria and the person that you're talking to is
9:43
a lowly, let's say the person is a lowly primary school
9:46
principal, you know, like at my own level, you're now telling
9:50
the person cash accrual net, this gross, this, you know, EBDA
9:56
earnings before interest depreciation and you just, you
10:00
just lose the guy. So yeah, that's the thing about
10:03
jargon. The next is readability.
10:05
That's for those of us who send PDFs or invoices or whatever.
10:09
Now our readability just means make this document, make it
10:13
relatively easy to read. So you should be using sparse
10:16
sentences. Don't do paragraph, paragraph,
10:18
paragraph, paragraph, small, small sentence space, small
10:22
sentence space, small sentence space because the average person
10:26
is skimming. Even children of nowadays don't
10:29
read again, they skim. It's something I've been
10:32
quarreling with with my kids. I'm like, look, calm down.
10:34
I understand you're trying to get through this thing quick,
10:37
but you need to learn how to read properly first before you
10:41
learn how to speed read. Everybody they try speed read
10:44
these days. So just keep it sparse.
10:47
Don't, don't do block, block, block, block, block.
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Simple sentences, give space, short sentences.
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Let it be the kind of thing that somebody can just skim through
10:54
and understand that. Oh, OK, four days of coverage,
10:58
350 images, photo book will be delivered in two weeks.
11:03
OK, The amount you're supposed to pay is 400K if they just look
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at a flash with the whole thing. No Allah, no problem.
11:10
So readability, pass out your sentences.
11:14
Keep the words simple, let people be able to read it sharp.
11:20
Of course, in my own opinion, the number of pages, I mean the
11:23
less the pages the better. I think A2 page proposal is
11:27
better than a 15 page proposal. You know, does just me.
11:31
And also it depends on like I said, the technical literacy of
11:34
the crowd. So if you're dealing with back
11:38
to the accountant thing, you're a member of the Association of
11:43
Forensic Accountants of Nigeria and you're preparing the
11:45
proposal for the CFO and the chief accountant and whatever.
11:49
And yeah, sure, no problem in that case, 15 page document, no
11:52
Allah, because you know, it's all of you know, you will know
11:55
yourself. So they will know how to read
11:56
the whole thing. But he's a common simple guy
12:00
like me. When I say simple, I don't mean
12:02
dumb. I just mean relatively speaking,
12:04
as far as, like, accounting is concerned.
12:06
You know, I'm a layman. So if he's a layman like me, one
12:09
part, one, one page proposal, that's all.
12:11
That's all somebody like me needs.
12:15
Let me understand. I know that.
12:16
Oh, OK. OK.
12:17
OK. OK.
12:18
Yeah. This thing is confusing at all,
12:19
but OK. This is what this guy thinks we
12:21
can do. This is how he thinks we can do
12:23
it. He thinks we can do it by this
12:24
date. And he wants me to pay him this
12:26
much. OK.
12:27
I agree yes, or I don't agree no.
12:31
Now this is something that I think is a Nigerian problem.
12:34
The next one, and I'll say turn the structure upside down.
12:37
I'm assuming it's a Nigerian problem because well, of course
12:41
I schooled here in Nigeria now just like most of you guys
12:43
listen to the podcast. But then by the time I got for
12:46
my masters, I just realized that the way we Nigerians write, it's
12:50
we have a unique writing style. First off, we have verbose as in
12:55
we use a lot of words. I've used plenty of big language
12:59
and then the structure of our essays or proposals is
13:02
different. What we do, and that's how we've
13:04
been taught over here, is we start from premises and then we
13:06
go to conclusion. So we start off by saying based
13:12
on this condition, based on that, based on this and this and
13:14
this and this leads to that and that leads to that.
13:17
And then the conclusion is going to be the final paragraph.
13:20
So for the purposes of exams, yeah.
13:22
Those of you who are still in uni, follow that structure.
13:25
Start from your premise, argue all the way, get to your
13:28
conclusion. In fact, for those of you who
13:30
are currently doing your undergraduate in law, please
13:34
start from your premises. Show your premises, show your
13:37
work. Then the final paragraph is
13:39
going to be conclusion. So for the purposes of school,
13:42
those of us who are still in school, this is how you do it.
13:45
Premises to conclusion. Now for business purposes, turn
13:49
the thing upside down on his head.
13:51
Say the conclusion first, then go into the premises for
13:55
business purposes. Your first paragraph should
13:57
well, first of all, OK, that's another one.
14:01
That's first of all, talk about your customer, your client, show
14:04
your understanding of their problem and their situation.
14:06
Don't talk about you, excuse me, don't talk about you.
14:09
Don't talk about your passion, your founding history, your
14:11
board of directors, blah, blah, blah, things like that.
14:13
If you must put all those things, all that one, you know,
14:17
founding history, My passion is photography, my passion, there's
14:20
my passion that, you know, blah, blah, blah, my unique vision.
14:22
Put all of that in the end. The beginning should be say
14:25
something about them. OK, No, no.
14:28
OK, let me go to forensic. That'll make more sense since
14:31
most Nigerian wedding photographers don't submit
14:34
proposals anyway. Those have been written
14:36
proposals. So yeah, forensic accounted.
14:40
So you start off with the person that Shashikmur Primary School
14:45
is the leader in something, something in Abuja, blah blah,
14:48
blah, blah, blah. You've spoken about them, then
14:51
next you know do Nigerian writing, but then you turn it
14:54
upside down. You start with your conclusion.
14:56
You will now say that my conclusion for Shashi More
14:58
International Primary School is that we pursue this diseases
15:03
that, that, that, that, that to try and uncover fraud, outline
15:07
their books and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
15:09
You will now start going into details.
15:11
Now the reason for your recommendation is this, that
15:14
because if you understand correctly, this has been going
15:16
on, that has been going on. You need this material, you need
15:18
that material. You want to do this, you want to
15:20
do this. If you do this, it might show
15:22
this. If you show this, it might show
15:23
that as where you now enter the whole story, Excuse me, but for
15:29
the purpose of business writing. The thing is, the reason why we
15:32
turn it upside down is when the owner of Shasha Primary School
15:36
holds this proposal, he's able to read the first two paragraphs
15:39
to understand that, oh, OK, this is where this guy is going to,
15:42
as in all these two pages. The whole point of these two
15:47
pages is to say this is what we're supposed to do.
15:50
So in fact, what I recommend for people to do for sales, people
15:54
that I've worked with when it comes to these sorts of things,
15:56
I tell them, just go ahead, write your proposal normal as
15:59
you normally write it. I don't touch it.
16:02
When they bring it, I now say, OK, please send it to me.
16:06
Soft copy Microsoft Word. When they send it, soft copy,
16:10
all I do is I just cut and paste, cut and paste, copy and
16:13
paste. I just turn the whole thing
16:14
upside down. I send it back to them.
16:16
Some people see it and get the point, like, oh, OK, but there's
16:19
some people you know now it's how I've been taught to read in
16:23
Nigeria. So some people just don't like
16:25
it. Wasn't able to get it, like, oh,
16:26
OK, I didn't add anything to it. All I did was I just turned it
16:29
upside down as well. The effect is still the same.
16:33
So yeah, for academic purposes, premises they show to your
16:37
conclusion, but for the purpose of business persuasion, at least
16:42
in Nigeria and in Commonwealth based countries.
16:45
So Nigeria, UK, I'm assuming Malaysia, you know Australia,
16:49
that sort of thing. Start with conclusion first,
16:52
then I'll show your work later on.
16:55
Let's see what else? OK, technical.
16:57
Sorry, hold on, let me go sort myself out and I'll be right
17:00
back. OK.
17:04
All right, I'm back. And by the way, if any of you is
17:07
going to give me a one star or a two star review, just because
17:10
I've been sniffling in this episode, I'm going to hunt you
17:12
down and I'll knock you on the head.
17:13
So still leave your reviews. Five stars.
17:17
Yeah. So where was I?
17:19
Let me see. OK, So turning proposal upside
17:22
down. OK, that's cool.
17:26
I came up with what was it? OK, Shashagun.
17:28
Yeah, I remember Shashagun because I think it was one of
17:30
our textbooks back when I was studying law in Obafemi.
17:33
Or all of university. The greatest university on the
17:37
African continent, in fact, the greatest university in the
17:39
world. Where was I?
17:42
So now technical data. Now that some of you who in the
17:45
process of what you're doing, you gas put technical data.
17:47
So if you're an engineer know how know how the technical data
17:50
has to be in the report because you can't put the report, you
17:53
can't submit your proposal. I'm not sure the amount of load
17:57
that the building is going to carry or the amount of wear and
17:59
tear and something, something, something.
18:01
So all that technical data gas be there.
18:03
You have to put everything there.
18:05
So that one is duly, if you let's see what else those of you
18:09
in the technical space now. So like I said in the beginning,
18:11
project management people will do online gas work.
18:13
All that technical data has to be there because your people
18:16
they have to scrutinize now, because you will send a proposal
18:19
to the client. The client is of course going to
18:21
take it and give the engineering house and say I organ engineer,
18:24
this is the proposal that they gave me.
18:26
Scrutinize this thing. Is this thing workable?
18:28
Is it not workable? If it's workable, how can we
18:32
reduce money, you know, blah, blah, blah.
18:34
So excuse me. So all your technical data has
18:39
to be there for those of you who are writing stuff.
18:42
But The thing is, just know that you shouldn't be putting this
18:45
thing in the beginning because it's overwhelming and confusing
18:47
for most customers. So yes, OK, MD is the person who
18:51
is going to receive the report. But like I said, turn the whole
18:53
thing upside down. Let Olga MD or whoever it is, if
18:57
you're an architect, let mommy and daddy who's reading the
19:00
report, let them see and understand.
19:01
OK, this is where you're heading.
19:03
Then the technical data and all the overwhelming, overwhelming
19:07
and confusing stuff now will be in the middle so that if daddy
19:10
and mommy see it and they like it, they said, OK, yeah, this
19:12
house thing, it will work. Then for technical
19:15
recommendations, maybe they'll show that one to their child who
19:18
just finished studying architecture or just finished
19:20
studying civil engineering to say, hey, cool, this is what the
19:23
person showed me. Like, I like the drawing, but
19:26
you know, you look at this one, see if it makes sense.
19:28
So that's how you structure it. All that technical stuff, all
19:31
that data, all your diagrams, all your everything is going to
19:34
be in the middle. Now for wedding photographers,
19:39
OK, photographers don't do it. Let's see who else can I use?
19:43
Anybody get the point here? For those of you who are doing
19:46
non-technical stuff, there's no need for this.
19:50
For those of you who are doing highly technical stuff, it has
19:52
to be there because you have to show your homework because
19:54
people need to know how you arrived at your conclusions.
19:57
Now, does it have to be pretty? Your proposal?
20:00
Does it have does it have to look fine?
20:02
Now it's not a bad idea to have the marketing people look at it
20:08
and give you thing colour, give it font, you know, write
20:12
letterhead. You emboss this place and you
20:16
what's the opposite of embossing?
20:18
Embossing is when you do the thing and then the.
20:20
The letters will now come up, then the.
20:22
The opposite of embossing is what is a depression or whatever
20:26
anyway. So you emboss or you depress or
20:27
you do. So yeah, you make the whole
20:29
thing look fine. So it doesn't have to be fine.
20:33
In my own opinion. I I don't think so.
20:36
It depends that things get more technical and more complex or
20:43
more whatever. I guess it's going to look good
20:45
that even though the 30 pages inside the proposal normal,
20:51
normal printing on Microsoft Word, it might help if the first
20:55
page is nice, glossy, embossed with correct logo and
20:59
everything. You now do a spiral binding, but
21:02
you don't do this plastic spiral binding that you do when you go
21:05
to when you go to a business center and the local business
21:10
center that is around the neighborhood, you give it that
21:12
spiral binding that that correct one, that one that looks like is
21:14
metal. Everything is nice and shiny.
21:17
You now package everything and you send it in.
21:19
So it depends. Yeah.
21:21
By my own opinion, I I pay more attention to all the other
21:24
things we've been talking about. What's the structure?
21:26
How readable is it? You know, things like that.
21:28
How relevant is it? But if you have time to make it
21:31
look pretty, then by all means. Yeah, sure.
21:33
Yeah, pretty the thing up. But if you're going to pretty
21:35
far, do you think don't use your own eyeballs or other people
21:39
have specialty in these sorts of things, Just go and give it to
21:41
the person who knows what's up. So excuse me.
21:46
So like back to this whole Cyber Cafe thing.
21:48
If I'm going to beautify something, I won't use my own
21:50
eye and do it because what do I know about Microsoft Word and
21:53
layout and everything? Better off sorting out the text.
21:57
I take it to the Cyber Cafe and I say, bro, how now our
22:00
business, I beg you, help me work on this proposal.
22:02
They're the ones that will now know that OK, for the title
22:05
page, I will increase the text to size 20 or whatever.
22:08
Then in the middle of the prompt, sorry, in the middle of
22:12
the I say prompt, middle of the proposal for header, you now use
22:17
H1 graphics and that is size 16 font or size whatever fonts.
22:20
So like don't try and freestyle this thing yourself.
22:23
The thing is the people who own this Cyber Cafe, if you just go
22:25
to Cyber Cafe just to format the thing, you've already done the
22:29
whole stuff. I don't think they'll collect
22:31
more than 100 bucks from you at least in this part of Abuja
22:34
anyway. I don't think you'll collect
22:35
more than 100 bucks from you. Is if you want them to type the
22:38
whole thing that will not cost you.
22:40
But are you typed it? And you say, bro, just format
22:42
this thing and print. I don't think they'll collect
22:44
more than 100 car from you. So you must beautify.
22:47
Well, look for the people who know how to beautify.
22:49
Don't use your own eye because the thing will now just will not
22:52
blend. You will now use font this on
22:55
the heading here and you now use font, you know, something or
22:58
another heading. It just won't add up.
23:02
And I know because I've done this before.
23:03
I beautified the whole thing. I thought it made sense and only
23:07
for people to start telling me that, you know, font is off and
23:10
this and this and this and this and now anyway, you, you catch
23:12
my gist. So it's just 100 bucks.
23:15
Take it down to the Cyber Cafe. How do people look over for you?
23:19
Let them format the whole thing. I'm sure in Abuja and in Lagos,
23:23
the Cyber Cafe definitely will have one of their employees who
23:27
know how to do the whole, you know, you take your letterhead,
23:30
you shift the logo, you do this, you do that, you know, let them
23:33
prepare the whole thing. Make it nice for you, make it
23:34
look real good. So next, let's say relevancy
23:39
relevance is just making sure that you've understood the
23:41
problem adequately from the customer's point of view.
23:44
This is what determines whether something is on point or off
23:47
point. So if they read this document
23:51
and they say that this guy didn't understand our vision,
23:53
back to the architecture thing. If mommy and daddy look at this
23:56
thing, but they're like this guy didn't understand our vision,
23:59
you already lost the proposal because they spoke to you.
24:02
They said that they like the they like the house that Udogu
24:07
Chukuti did two houses down or something.
24:09
And then because of that, you now you know your wisdom, you
24:13
want to go and do the exact design of Udogu Chukuti's house.
24:19
I mean, if they wanted the exact design of Udogu Chukuti just
24:22
told Udogu Chukuti, who is your accountant?
24:25
Abe, give us that floor plan. Let's use it.
24:28
When they say I want something like this, I want something like
24:30
that. It is your job as the architect.
24:32
You say, OK, Mommy and daddy are sure, no problem.
24:34
But I beg I didn't ask you a question.
24:35
Questions to understand exactly. Now, OK, this building that
24:38
you're looking at, this old goose house, what exactly about
24:41
it do you like? Is it the facade?
24:42
Is it the Dis? What about the Dis?
24:44
What about the that? Then you know, all the questions
24:47
that the architects have to ask. If I'm asking all these
24:49
questions that, you know, understand their vision that
24:52
yes, they want a house that looks like Udogu's house, but
24:55
not exactly the same thing. Because you will now know
24:58
whether OK, spiritually these people are thinking of
25:02
postmodern designs or, or classical, you know, classical
25:09
ratios and all architecture stuff.
25:11
You know, you understand Archie people.
25:14
So, yeah, make sure you understand the problem so that
25:18
once you put the proposal down, you'll see that it is relevant.
25:21
Like this guy, he understands or this babe, she understands.
25:25
Then yeah, you will not start pricing whether you're going
25:28
ahead or not. So make sure everything is
25:30
relevant then. Sorry, one try 25 minutes.
25:35
OK, you know what? This is what I'll do.
25:37
So I'll stop giving guys a nightmare.
25:39
For those of you who can't stand ASMR during audio recordings,
25:44
I'll pause, I'll sort myself out, I'll come back.
25:48
Then I just finish this thing in, in, in the rest in another 5
25:52
minutes. OK, All right, I'm back now.
25:57
Let me see if I can bring this thing to a close.
26:01
Where was I? Oh yeah, someone I forgot to
26:03
tell you guys. Sometimes I reach out to a bunch
26:05
of you and you guys are like, what's the YouTube link?
26:09
What's the YouTube link? And I said I'm sorry.
26:11
You know, my podcast is not on YouTube, so Spotify is on iTunes
26:15
and blah, blah, blah. And there's a whole host of
26:17
people who do not like listening to podcasts on the podcast
26:20
Catcher, like my wife is one of them.
26:22
So there's some podcasts that she has no choice.
26:24
She has to listen to it on the podcasting app like Daily TV
26:29
Mass because they're both Catholic.
26:31
But the Daily TV Mass people, they're not on YouTube.
26:34
They're on, they have their own proprietary app.
26:36
But everything else I said, what I said on this bunch, you know,
26:39
all those kind of podcasts, she listens to them on YouTube.
26:42
So for those of you who are YouTube people, you'd be happy
26:44
to know that YouTube has finally sorted out the whole podcasting
26:47
thing. So my audio is going to be
26:49
available on YouTube pretty soon.
26:51
I've done all the paperwork, I've done video submission, I've
26:55
submitted the RSS feed and everything.
26:57
I don't know how long the process is going to take, but
27:00
just be patient. Give me like a week.
27:01
And I'm sure the podcast episode should be available on YouTube
27:05
soon. So if you're one of those people
27:07
who've been listening to the podcast, what you've been using
27:09
the web link because you don't want to download Spotify or any
27:14
other podcast player, don't worry, it's going to be on your
27:17
daily beloved YouTube pretty soon.
27:19
So yeah, that's it. I'm going to be available on
27:22
YouTube, but it's just going to be audio.
27:24
It's not going to be video. So you're not going to see me
27:27
with puffy eyes and big nose sniffing and all that.
27:33
Let's see. OK, yes.
27:34
So before you submit the proposal, make sure you confirm
27:38
your premises before you send out the proposal.
27:41
Now, for those of you who've been listening to my show for a
27:43
while, you you know, you know my proposal, you know I'm what I'm
27:47
going to recommend this thing should be by phone call.
27:50
If you even be face, face to face, worst case scenario, video
27:54
phone call. Don't try and confirm over
27:55
e-mail. So sit down with the proprietor
27:58
of Shasha Bone School and then you tell cabbie see, OK, let's
28:04
say his name is cabbie see Shagun.
28:06
OK, so cabbie see Shagun. OK, thank you very much.
28:09
Blah, blah, blah. So if I understand correctly,
28:13
the reason why you called me in is because you think you have an
28:15
accounting problem. You think people are stealing
28:17
from you because of this. That, that, that, that, that is
28:20
that correct? You have to ask and let him say
28:23
Benny or he'll say, and that's not it.
28:26
And then you now know that you have to go back and start asking
28:28
more questions to try and figure out what the problem is.
28:31
So all the architect example, you say, OK, daddy, mommy, I
28:35
think I understand right now the kind of house that people want
28:39
to build. You don't want it to be like
28:40
exactly like Godogo's house, but you like this and this and this
28:43
elements and we can incorporate these sorts of things and still
28:49
incorporate local elements into design and bond bricks and
28:52
everything so they can fit your own unique sense of style.
28:57
You know, is have I understood everything correctly?
29:00
And then you hear mommy and daddy say, yes, my son, you've
29:03
got it correctly or no, my daughter, you didn't quite get
29:05
it or this everything that you are saying makes sense why you
29:10
mention Bond brick. I didn't say Bond brick.
29:12
So you need to ask because if you are thinking you want to be
29:16
a clever architect and you want to deliver this sort of thing,
29:18
and at the end of the day, you now put Bond Brink in the design
29:21
and stuff like that, they'll see Bond brick and they'll be where
29:24
did Bond brick enter into this matter?
29:26
You might be thinking it's a stylic, stylistic, elegant
29:30
choice or whatever, but bring up all these things you know or
29:32
confirm your understanding, confirm your premises, confirm
29:35
all your conclusions, confirm everything.
29:38
The reason why I say do this over the phone or do it face to
29:40
face is because face to face if you're missing the mark, you
29:44
will see it from the person's face that you have.
29:46
You have started talking off point when people start glazing
29:49
over or they start frowning or there's a way you can see each
29:53
other. OK, all these things I'm saying
29:55
is not I'm missing the mark. So that's the reason why I say
29:58
face to face or phone call, phone call if you can't do face
30:02
to face is because it's easy for somebody to interrupt you and
30:04
say, Oh no, no, no, actually what I said was this dot dot,
30:06
dot. And your own job is not to
30:09
argue. I say no, actually Madam, you
30:11
said this. Just take it out, OK?
30:13
Just make sure that you confirm again before you put everything
30:15
down on paper. Now some of you don't like this
30:20
whole confirming your premises thing before you send.
30:23
You want to prepare the proposal and then you now send it.
30:25
OK, No Allah, no problem. Well, this is what you do if
30:28
you're one of these confirmed people.
30:30
At the very least when before you send the proposal or on the
30:35
day of sending the proposal, call the person and talk them
30:38
through the proposal that same day.
30:40
On the day of sending this whole thing of you send the proposal
30:43
January 1st, you now call back January 14th to say, oh, I'm
30:47
calling to follow up to find out how far of course they're going
30:50
to ghost you. I mean, like, what do you
30:51
expect? You send the proposal January
30:53
1st and like, what do you think? Don't you know that they're
30:56
talking to two or three other architects?
30:59
Of course they're going to ghost you.
31:00
So as you're sending the document, so Daddy, I'm emailing
31:04
it to you now, but just stay on the phone.
31:06
I want to confirm whether you've you've seen it.
31:08
OK, Daddy, I've sent it. How far have you seen it?
31:12
I was in the OK. Is mommy there with you?
31:14
OK, people on the iPad, just give me 5 minutes please.
31:17
There's something the proposal that I want to explain to you
31:19
people. So just open it on the iPad.
31:21
Then while you're there on the phone, you'll now be talking to
31:23
them. I now start talking them through
31:24
this or whatever that this and this and this based on Adugu
31:28
whatever. I now thought I should put bond
31:30
bricks because it is hyper modern.
31:32
So I know hyper modern. It is classical modern design
31:37
and Nigerian influence to make your house one in town blah blah
31:40
blah. Start talking them through
31:42
specific parts of proposal. Don't not a 30 minute
31:45
presentation, just 5-10 minutes. Walk them through through
31:50
quickly. So this way you know that at
31:53
least they've given your proposal and once over.
31:55
So that whole thing off, you send it January 1st, you now
31:58
call January 15th. You know how far I'm just
32:00
following up. I said I should greet you, blah,
32:02
blah, blah. This is how people enter into
32:04
ghost mode. So yes.
32:07
So at the very least for those of you who want to finish and
32:09
then send it that day, you know, talk them through the proposal
32:12
that same day. Now when you're doing that, make
32:15
sure you get an advancement after this proposal stage.
32:18
So after you say, oh daddy is mommy there?
32:22
OK, open 2 pages on the PowerPoint, blah, blah, blah.
32:25
Finish the whole thing and then ask, ask them what would you
32:28
like to do next? And then keep quiet and then
32:30
hear whatever they say. That is your advancement.
32:34
That is the next stage you need to do.
32:36
By the way, if they say, let me think about it, that's not a
32:39
good, that's not a good thing to hear.
32:42
But anyway, we will talk about that in the future episode.
32:45
So I prefer that you say what the next step should be, but
32:49
some of you don't want to be rude.
32:50
So ask them what would you like to do next?
32:52
And then keep quiet. The way I prefer it is you be
32:54
more assertive. You can say something like, OK,
32:56
mommy, most of our customers usually take like 3 days to
32:58
review this proposal. You know, would that be OK for
33:01
you? And then they'll say yes or
33:03
they'll say no. Some people might say yes, three
33:05
days is OK. But you know, Kunle is still in
33:07
school, he's coming back, he's coming back in two weeks time.
33:13
And you know, since he studied architecture, I want he's my
33:16
first son. I want him to look at it before
33:17
we say yes. So but see this is the thing.
33:22
Now that you've brought up this thing and they're now saying it,
33:24
you yourself, you now know that. Oh okay, normal normal though
33:28
have taken 3 days to look at this thing but they want their
33:31
first son Kuli to come home from writing exams from UI and then
33:35
to look at the whole thing because you know, we're getting
33:37
old. We don't make any decision until
33:40
our oldest son looks at something or our oldest daughter
33:42
looks at looks at something. So as people are talking back
33:47
and forth like this before the phone call leaves ends, you now
33:50
know that OK, even though I'm sending this in January 1st,
33:53
realistically speaking, I'm not going to get a yes or a no until
33:57
February 14th when the oldest son or when the oldest daughter
34:00
is back from exams. Now you know, this is how you
34:03
stop getting headache because you're calling to follow up and
34:06
you're wondering, did they read it?
34:07
They didn't read it. I thought we had a nice meeting.
34:09
What happened? They don't like me.
34:11
Is it that my body is smelling? Do I need to work on my
34:14
elocution? Is it that I didn't package
34:17
myself well, you know, blah, blah, blah.
34:19
And all the heartache that we get when we send people
34:21
proposals and then we haven't heard from them.
34:23
So we should make sure you get the advancement at this current
34:26
proposal stage as you guys are talking.
34:29
So that's how I prefer you take care of the whole thing.
34:31
So at this stage, most of our customers usually do ABC, you
34:35
know, does that make sense to you?
34:37
Excuse me, Do you want to say yes or they'll say no, You know,
34:44
different ways. Like another thing I like to say
34:46
is, OK, if this proposal hits all the key problems, or if this
34:50
proposal can guarantee you ABC and XYZ, how soon would you be
34:54
ready to begin? And then you keep quiet and then
34:56
you're now here. That's the stage where somebody
34:58
will say, Oh yeah, sure. If the proposal guarantees me
35:00
XYZ, I'll be ready to go by the end of the month.
35:03
I'm expecting some money. But when that money comes, we'll
35:05
still negotiate because that 2.5 you've quoted is, is is too
35:09
much. You see, now that's a hopeful
35:11
conversation. If somebody says, let me think
35:13
about it, that's not a good thing, there's a problem.
35:16
But we'll get to that in, in another podcast episode then,
35:22
OK. Apart from advancements, just
35:23
make sure you're getting feedback repeatedly at this
35:26
proposal stage, you know, as you're having conversations with
35:28
them, as you're talking to Cabbie about his school, you
35:32
should be asking, is there anything we haven't covered so
35:34
far? Most of our customers experience
35:37
XYZ. Is that a problem for you as
35:38
well? You know, blah, blah, you know,
35:41
just beginning feedback show as you're going because a whole
35:44
bunch of continual feedback is to make sure that you understand
35:47
their problem and that you haven't left anything out.
35:51
If you've left anything out of the proposal, it's going to come
35:53
back and it's going to bite you. So we need to figure out all
35:56
these things. One, be sure we're emphasizing
35:59
the right thing also, because sometimes you assume something's
36:02
a big problem, but there for them is a minor problem.
36:05
So you need to find out about those sorts of things now.
36:09
Then also make sure that you have figured out the decision
36:13
making process before you send over your proposal because if
36:18
you haven't figured out the decision, who is making the
36:19
decision what the decision making unit is?
36:23
OK, back to the mommy and daddy, the Akita case.
36:27
If you don't figure out that on everything they do, they want
36:30
their oldest daughter to say yes.
36:31
If you don't figure that out, then you're just going to be
36:33
wasting your time. You need to know that oldest
36:36
daughter is always included and then you need to find a way to
36:39
start including oldest daughter in this conversation because as
36:42
you're talking to mommy and daddy, you get off the phone,
36:44
you know, call oldest daughter and you say hi, Yaboha now,
36:46
blah, blah, blah. This is architect Kuli.
36:49
I just finished talking to mommy and daddy about some also, how
36:52
are you, how's the family, blah, blah, blah.
36:53
You people talk everything and then give her updates.
36:56
You're following her along. You know, it's a different thing
36:59
than you've been talking to mommy and daddy for three months
37:02
straight and then now they want you to start talking to Yabo,
37:04
the oldest daughter in month 5. You know, Yabo doesn't know you.
37:10
That whole thing of building relationship, building trust.
37:12
You don't have to start all over again.
37:13
It's plenty of wala. So figure out early that oldest
37:16
son or oldest daughter is going to be involved in it and then
37:20
try and find a way to reach out. All this on oldest daughter.
37:23
Start keeping them in touch. These things make easy for you
37:25
to seal the deal at the end. So excuse me.
37:30
Also, one more thing about this whole decision making thing and
37:35
people that have authority to make decisions is there's no
37:37
point in sending the proposal out to the houseboy if Madam is
37:42
the one that's going to make the buying decision, right?
37:45
Except if Madam and the houseboy have a special relationship.
37:48
Now I know that that's an off color joke, but you get my
37:50
point. You need to make sure that the
37:52
proposal is being reviewed by someone who has the right level
37:55
of authority to say either yes or to say no.
37:59
Now, I know that the houseboy and the Madam thing, yeah, I was
38:01
just being tongue in cheek there.
38:02
But honestly, as was, I was submitting a proposal to one of
38:08
these oil and gas firms in Abuja and I did everything that I
38:14
thought I should do. I was in touch with everybody.
38:17
Some members of the board even graduated from OAU.
38:19
So I was even using that OAU angle, you know, greatest
38:22
affair, blah, blah, blah, that whole thing going to the office
38:25
once in a while, I greet everybody and I thought that we
38:27
were good to go. I don't believe that the whole
38:30
proposal got torpedoed because the secretary there didn't like
38:33
me. So I'm telling you guys, this
38:36
thing live now, the secretary can stand in between you and
38:39
your children's school fees. I know it sounds like a joke,
38:41
but it can happen. The thing was that that
38:44
secretary, she joined at a very low level and worked her way all
38:48
the way to the top, and she's now secretary for the MD.
38:50
But The thing is, secretary, because she's been there for a
38:53
very long time, has been responsible for planning every
38:55
single thing that goes on in the organization.
38:57
I didn't do my homework, so I didn't know how important this
39:00
secretary was. And there was one of those days
39:02
I was having brain touch. So I didn't pay her respect.
39:05
And to be honest, that's how everything just died.
39:08
She she had her own person. So decision making authority
39:11
doesn't always mean you're looking at Orga and MD and or
39:14
not, you know, sometimes houseboy has authority.
39:18
Sometimes secretary also has authority, you know, so play by
39:22
ear, use majority, use wisdom. Don't disrespect anybody because
39:27
you think she's just a secretary.
39:28
Don't disrespect her can turn around and bite you in the bomb.
39:31
You find out that when it comes to planning events in this
39:34
organization, nothing gets planned until the chief
39:38
secretary has has looked at it. So yeah, I've been in that
39:41
situation before. So the benefit of figuring out
39:47
all these things, optimizing your proposal is basically
39:50
increase conversion rates. You increase your chances of
39:54
turning people from prospects or contacts into customers.
39:57
You shorten your sales cycle. You make decision making faster.
40:01
You're going to enhance your reputation because if you handle
40:03
things like this mommy and daddy who want to build a house, they
40:09
might not know why. They would just know that you
40:11
are a correct architect and they will refer you time and time
40:15
again. That can be architect Benny, as
40:18
in she's a correct architect, you know, blah, blah, blah,
40:21
blah, blah. There's all these things making
40:23
sure that you real professionally your sales
40:27
process and following a well thought out framework.
40:30
So make it look like being professional then yes, let me
40:35
just wrap it up here since it is 40 minutes now, what should you
40:38
do after listening to this episode?
40:40
Take all your proposals that you have, stuff that you've even
40:43
sent out before, and then listen to this episode again.
40:46
And now consider if there's any particular aspect of sales
40:49
process optimization that you've heard before, whether it can
40:52
help improve proposals that you sent out.
40:55
So you can think about content improvement, for instance.
40:57
You know, that's deciding what goes into the proposal from the
41:03
customer or client's point of view.
41:05
Now, remember, design enhancement is OK, but if you
41:10
must beautify, don't beautify by yourself, except if that's your
41:13
profession. So design enhancement is cool
41:16
and that's what most people go to.
41:18
Well, please, it's not about how beautiful the proposal look
41:21
because I have seen plenty of beautiful proposals that are
41:24
just rubbish. They're not going to do
41:25
anything. It starts off with technical
41:28
report with Jing jargon and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
41:31
There's no how anybody's going to understand this thing.
41:33
So design enhancement is cool, but just tap it down.
41:36
Tap it down for now. Focus on content improvement.
41:39
Focus on what it is that is going in there.
41:41
So tell your marketing people. Yeah, yeah, we'll beautify this
41:43
thing, but let's be coming down 1st until we figure out the
41:46
right information that's supposed to be in the proposal.
41:49
So let me wrap it up here. Sorry for the sniffling.
41:52
I'm sorry, that was a long episode.
41:54
And don't give me a one star review because of the sniffling.
41:58
Like I said, I'll find you and I'll knock you on the head.
42:00
So keep it 5 stars because I know that some of you have you
42:03
guys acting the fool with all the value that I deliver here.
42:06
How can you come on, give me anything that's less than five
42:08
stars. So yeah.
42:12
So that's all folks. Connect with me on WhatsApp for
42:14
questions, for quick tips and for insights.
42:16
The phone number is 080 64662140 and the country code is +234.
42:23
Also connect with me on LinkedIn.
42:24
LinkedIn is the best social network for business and career
42:27
development and networking. So if you're about if you're
42:30
finna take these things serious, then you should be on LinkedIn.
42:33
So the name to search for once you get on LinkedIn is Tavishima
42:36
Ayede. I'm the host of the show, so
42:38
thanks for your time and attention.
42:39
I'll catch you guys at the next episode.