Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Is Your 'Follow Up' Killing Your Profit?

Transcript

Is Your 'Follow Up' Killing Your Profit? · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Today on the podcast, we're going to look at when to stop
• 0:04
  following up with a contact, when to stop chasing a potential
• 0:08
  customer, when to stop chasing a potential client.
• 0:11
  So I repeat what we're going to be looking at today.
• 0:14
  You're talking to someone, You hope the person might become a
• 0:16
  customer. You're hoping the person might
• 0:18
  transfer you some money. You're hoping the person will
• 0:21
  transfer a deposit. You are hoping that this miracle
• 0:25
  money will come in so that you can buy fuel or so that you can
• 0:28
  buy Internet or so that you can flex because things have been
• 0:31
  rough. But then sometimes it's as if,
• 0:35
  man, this thing is not going anywhere.
• 0:38
  So when should we stop? Those are the sorts of things
• 0:41
  that we're going to look at today.
• 0:42
  I'm making today's recording at home.
• 0:44
  So there will be noise in the background.
• 0:46
  And then of course, you know, today's a Tuesday.
• 0:48
  The house always gets clean on Tuesday.
• 0:50
  So the lady is going to be here soon and start.
• 0:52
  So you start hearing noise in the background.
• 0:54
  So that's what all the noises. Now, this podcast is not about
• 0:59
  my personal life and it's not about my sanitation habits.
• 1:02
  Here we try to solve business problems, especially in ways
• 1:06
  that relate to the Nigerian market.
• 1:09
  If you're interested in all these sorts of things, then you
• 1:12
  are in the right place. Welcome to the podcast.
• 1:15
  I'm your host Tavi Shima IED and for the last 5-6 years, this is
• 1:19
  all I've done. I bring you guys practical,
• 1:22
  realistic, relevant insights, tips, tricks, strategies, things
• 1:26
  that work in the Nigerian market.
• 1:29
  And of course, just like in Nigeria or in any part of the
• 1:32
  world, we have this question that we face every week or more.
• 1:36
  Does this have legs? Should I continue?
• 1:39
  Should I stop, should I pursue and overtake or should I just
• 1:42
  give up? So if you're ready to continue
• 1:45
  learning about stuff like this, then stay tuned in.
• 1:49
  Stay locked in to the podcast, subscribe on Spotify, YouTube,
• 1:54
  Apple, or any player of your choice.
• 1:56
  And if you would love to connect with me, call, send me a text
• 1:59
  message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 2:05
  And yes, by the way, that is my real number for those of you who
• 2:09
  are curious. I may not respond immediately.
• 2:11
  It might take 3 or 4 days, but I'll get to you eventually.
• 2:14
  All right. Also, one moment, I think
• 2:16
  cleaning lady is here. OK, I'm back.
• 2:21
  Sorry about that. It's a good thing I told you
• 2:23
  guys ahead of time because, yeah, actually was the cleaning
• 2:25
  lady. She showed up late, you know,
• 2:27
  because, you know, personal difficulties.
• 2:31
  And anyway, and that's what Najabi, we all have personal
• 2:34
  difficulties. May God help us all.
• 2:37
  So where was I? Yeah.
• 2:39
  Yeah. So when to stop following up
• 2:41
  with the contact Now, this is the reason why.
• 2:44
  Oh, by the way, I suppose I made this podcast episode a while
• 2:47
  ago, so I'm just looking at some of my old notes.
• 2:49
  So you know, I'm just saying I should have done this a while
• 2:53
  ago. So I'm running some things from
• 2:56
  memory here, but this is the background We are in the context
• 3:00
  of solar sales. So the person that I've I was
• 3:03
  talking to the client of mine or rather the employee of my client
• 3:09
  than the solar business. And so this particular guy now
• 3:16
  let's call him Randy. Let's call the salesperson
• 3:19
  Randy. So this particular guy now
• 3:20
  Randy, by the way, he's not a Randy fellow.
• 3:23
  So Randy now was chasing one contact.
• 3:25
  Let's call the guy Mr. Oh. So Randy had been chasing Mr.
• 3:29
  Oh, and the conversation seemed to be flowing smooth.
• 3:33
  But then he reached one point and then Mr. Oh begin the ghost
• 3:37
  guy know the pic call guy will respond to message if I forget
• 3:40
  e-mail calls from beginning. The guy was never responding to
• 3:43
  e-mail. Maybe once in a while Mr. OP
• 3:46
  call and say oh Randy, how now I beg no vex.
• 3:50
  You know how they rode, You know I had to go shobo.
• 3:52
  I'm coming and I will land Lagos around that kind like 5:00 PM.
• 3:57
  Randy, you know what, let's let's talk tomorrow, 10 AM, 10
• 3:59
  AM. We'll see how we'll go forward.
• 4:01
  10 AM 10 AM Call me. 10 AM. And that's how they got the
• 4:04
  call. Then 10 AM tomorrow.
• 4:06
  Now Randy will call Popo, Mr. O will not be call.
• 4:10
  Mr. O will not respond to message.
• 4:11
  And then the game starts again for another two weeks of
• 4:14
  ghosting. So that's the game that they
• 4:16
  have been playing back and forth, back and forth.
• 4:19
  And I know there's somebody listening to this podcast right
• 4:22
  now, right now. I know there's somebody
• 4:25
  listening who is going through this rubbish right now.
• 4:28
  It's normal. That's the first thing I want
• 4:31
  you to know. It's normal.
• 4:33
  It's not you. It's not as if the guys taking
• 4:35
  you for granted, you know, it's not as if you're an idiot.
• 4:38
  It's not as if, you know, it's just this whole game of phone
• 4:41
  tag, ghosting, e-mail, catch up and let's follow up.
• 4:46
  It's normal. It's not the best and there are
• 4:49
  things that we can do to prevent it, but it happens to everybody.
• 4:53
  It happens to everybody, so don't feel bad.
• 4:56
  It is just one of those things. It is the nature of the trade.
• 5:00
  It is the nature of business. This is not the kind of thing
• 5:03
  that is supposed to depress you. This is not the kind of thing
• 5:06
  that is supposed to get you down.
• 5:08
  It is just one of those things, we learn how to deal with it, we
• 5:13
  learn how to prevent it, we learn how to anticipate it, but
• 5:17
  it's just a daily part of the job.
• 5:19
  It should not bring you down. All right, So all the Mr. OS or
• 5:26
  Madame O or whoever that we come across, this is not the kind of
• 5:29
  thing to bring you down. So Randy and Mr. O, this is how
• 5:34
  the conversation started. Initially, the proposal that
• 5:39
  Randy had given Mr. O was 13 million.
• 5:42
  Then the quarrel back and forth, you know, you haggle, haggle,
• 5:45
  haggle, the price went down 12 million.
• 5:49
  And then they started negotiating again, back and
• 5:51
  forth, the price went down 10.9 million.
• 5:54
  By the way, you see, this is the reason why for me, I don't like
• 5:58
  selling based on discounts. I prefer to head straight, you
• 6:03
  know, to the heart of the matter.
• 6:06
  Are we in the same price range reasonably?
• 6:10
  If we're not, there's probably no reason to continue this
• 6:12
  conversation, to prevent stories that touch so I won't get
• 6:18
  emotionally invested and so that you you won't feel harassed.
• 6:22
  Is there a need that I can meet? Do you think I'm the most
• 6:24
  professional alternative, the the most professional, the most
• 6:29
  viable option to solve your problem?
• 6:31
  Do you believe that? And do you trust me or not?
• 6:34
  If you don't, there's probably no need for us to continue this
• 6:37
  conversation. That's why I believe in tackling
• 6:39
  these things heads on, because this whole game of Randy and Mr.
• 6:44
  Oh, call me tomorrow, 10 AM. Call me Friday noon, Call me
• 6:49
  Wednesday, 5:00 PM. You don't realize it, but if you
• 6:52
  go and check your records, you'll see that you've been
• 6:54
  playing this game with this person for like one month of
• 6:58
  back and forth. Meanwhile, you're not making
• 7:00
  progress, meanwhile you're feeling bad.
• 7:03
  Meanwhile you're taking up mental and emotional space that
• 7:06
  you have been using to chase other people who are ready to
• 7:08
  give you money. You go from 13 million to 12,
• 7:13
  from 12 to 10.9. What did you achieve?
• 7:19
  Anyway, if you've been listening to the broadcast for a while,
• 7:20
  you already know my feelings about discounting.
• 7:22
  So let me stop there. Let me not go another 10 minute
• 7:24
  rant. So, well, let's just define some
• 7:30
  terms first of all, so that you understand some of the things
• 7:32
  that we're trying to tease out in this podcast episode.
• 7:34
  Now, first of all, I use my word follow up.
• 7:37
  Those of you who've been listening to the podcast for a
• 7:39
  while, you know that I don't believe in the word follow up.
• 7:42
  It's not just me. There's a whole host of
• 7:45
  professional sales trainer trainers who do not use the word
• 7:49
  follow up, who prefer to use the word follow through.
• 7:52
  In fact, we can distinguish between the words follow up and
• 7:55
  follow through. When you follow up with someone,
• 7:59
  you're stuck in this loop where you're chasing someone, but
• 8:03
  honestly, you're not even making any progress.
• 8:06
  Have you guys agreed to anything new?
• 8:08
  I'm not sure. Is there a problem?
• 8:11
  We don't know. What is the next step?
• 8:14
  I have no idea what is slowing things down.
• 8:18
  I have no idea. When you're stuck in that loop,
• 8:21
  you're a Randy calling Mr. O over and over and over and over
• 8:25
  again. Yes, what you're doing is follow
• 8:27
  up because you're in an endless cycle.
• 8:32
  What you have achieved so far is called a continuation.
• 8:35
  Continuation is when communication is established or
• 8:38
  you are trying to establish communication but you're not
• 8:40
  making progress. So it's a continuation is a
• 8:42
  cycle is a circle, round and round and round around ringa
• 8:46
  ringa Rosie, you know, but you're not making progress.
• 8:50
  That is what follow up is. So sales trainers you prefer to
• 8:56
  talk about follow through. Follow through is when you
• 9:02
  establish contact, you will agreed about something.
• 9:05
  You are clear about what the next step is, whether you are
• 9:09
  supposed to do something or the customer is supposed to do
• 9:12
  something. But sure, the next step is very,
• 9:14
  very clear. When that happens and you call
• 9:16
  someone, what you're doing is following through because the
• 9:19
  whole point of the call is to say, oh boy, how far we agreed
• 9:23
  on ABC and XYZI have done XYZ and you know boss, how far would
• 9:30
  you how far we ABC? That is the point of following
• 9:35
  through. That is what the follow through
• 9:37
  is. So that's the reason why if you
• 9:39
  have been listening to YouTube videos, it's slight, but just
• 9:43
  pay attention. You will see sales trainers.
• 9:45
  We don't say follow up, we say follow through.
• 9:47
  You call the customer to follow through on ABC.
• 9:50
  The only way you can follow through on 123 is if you guys
• 9:53
  agreed at the last call that this is what we're going to do
• 9:56
  next. Those are called advancements.
• 10:00
  So in our business, what we are streaming, I say streaming,
• 10:04
  streaming what we are, Abby, what we are trying to achieve,
• 10:10
  let me not use the word I don't know.
• 10:11
  What we're trying to achieve is advancements.
• 10:15
  That is the ideal. If you're in a continuation,
• 10:19
  calling to call, to call and then to call and then to call
• 10:23
  again, that is not good. If you talk to a Mr. O and Mr. O
• 10:27
  says I'm on the road, I'm coming back from Mashoba.
• 10:31
  I'll be in Lagos around 5:00 PM. So call me tomorrow 10 AM and
• 10:37
  you say OK, Sir, you caught the call.
• 10:39
  You think Oh is good? Mr. Oh picked up the phone.
• 10:41
  No, it is not good. You did not achieve an
• 10:43
  advancement. You do not agree on the next
• 10:45
  step. Sure, no problem.
• 10:47
  Mr. Oh, I will call you back tomorrow 10 AM.
• 10:51
  But also we stay on track. Is there anything in particular
• 10:54
  that you want us to talk about? Mr. Oh?
• 10:59
  He responds, whatever it is that he says, that is your
• 11:03
  advancement for tomorrow. If he decides to speak with his
• 11:08
  futures and say, you know what, this price that you gave me, to
• 11:13
  be honest, I'm not very comfortable with it.
• 11:16
  And that's the reason why I've been shanking your call.
• 11:21
  You know, that kind of thing. You cannot ask that right now.
• 11:24
  OK, so so you know why, Nigel, now we can negotiate anything.
• 11:29
  So if you're opening, if you're open to negotiations, is that
• 11:32
  what you want us to talk about tomorrow at 10:00 AM?
• 11:34
  If it says yes, that's what I would like.
• 11:35
  It's OK, No problems. I'll call you back tomorrow.
• 11:38
  But you see, now you've asked some questions.
• 11:40
  Excuse me, You've tried to tease what the issues are.
• 11:42
  You've tried to get an advancement tomorrow.
• 11:45
  He's more likely to pick up the call because we have agreed on
• 11:48
  an advancement. We're calling to go and tackle a
• 11:51
  particular issue because you've been able to tease out what the
• 11:53
  problem is. So we should always be looking
• 11:57
  for advancements. What are we going to talk about
• 12:02
  next? What is the next step?
• 12:04
  What is the next reasonable thing to do?
• 12:06
  We should always be the ones taking the agenda as a
• 12:09
  salesperson, sorry, setting the agenda as a salesperson or as a
• 12:12
  business owner to determine what that next step is and then get
• 12:16
  buying from that person. OK.
• 12:18
  Do you think this is a reasonable thing?
• 12:19
  Do you think, would you be OK with us talking about that
• 12:22
  tomorrow, talking about this next week?
• 12:26
  This is one way that we avoid this game of follow up for the
• 12:31
  sake of follow up. Call me today, call me next
• 12:33
  week. You didn't call me next last
• 12:35
  week. Friday.
• 12:36
  Now we said Friday, but you know what?
• 12:38
  I'm at a wedding right now. Call me on Wednesday, 12:00 PM.
• 12:43
  And then over and over and over again.
• 12:45
  And then six weeks later, no progress.
• 12:47
  Are you going forward? You don't know.
• 12:48
  Are you going forward backward? You don't know.
• 12:50
  I stay in the one spot you don't know.
• 12:52
  Are you on a high jump? You don't know.
• 12:56
  So let's get a follow up out of our vocabulary.
• 13:01
  We will follow through on advancements.
• 13:03
  The only way to follow through on an advancement is if at the
• 13:06
  last meeting or at the last phone call, me and Mr. O agreed
• 13:13
  that this was the next step. Now, another thing that is at
• 13:17
  fault that causes all these follow up for the sake of follow
• 13:20
  up is we do not do good qualification and discovery.
• 13:24
  If this is your first time listening to the podcast,
• 13:26
  qualification and discovery is the part of the sales process or
• 13:30
  the part of the business relationship where we try and
• 13:32
  figure out who is this person, what is their problem?
• 13:35
  Do they have a need? Is it a significant need?
• 13:38
  Does it look as if they're ready to take action anytime soon?
• 13:41
  Are we in agreement when it comes to money issues?
• 13:43
  You know all these sorts of things.
• 13:48
  If you do good qualification and discovery, everything is on the
• 13:53
  table. Everybody's being honest and
• 13:55
  there's really no reason for anybody to to, to, to ghost you
• 14:00
  anymore, especially if you establish good rapport.
• 14:06
  We should be doing good qualification and discovery.
• 14:08
  Excuse me now, lots of you, lots of us Nigerian business owners,
• 14:17
  for some reason, we do not have a qualification and discovery
• 14:20
  process, Excuse me, we do not have a questionnaire a, a
• 14:26
  checklist or a questionnaire or whatever issues and questions
• 14:30
  that we run through when we talk to people.
• 14:35
  The client that I been talking about a lot recently, just
• 14:39
  because they their new sales team, so the people in the
• 14:43
  content production space. So we're basically setting up
• 14:46
  all their systems fresh at some point.
• 14:50
  I assumed that, you know, they had some things locked down.
• 14:53
  So we agreed on the agenda for a meeting and I said, this is how
• 14:55
  we're going to start the meeting.
• 14:57
  I will introduce the meeting. We'll start on this and these
• 14:59
  issues and then I'll hand over to you people to continue the
• 15:02
  rest. The first meeting went OK, so
• 15:05
  there was no problem. The second meeting, by the time
• 15:08
  we were asking questions, I just realized that oh, oh, oh, oh,
• 15:11
  oh, oh, these boys. Then the freestyle, I just
• 15:14
  assumed that they have a process that they were following.
• 15:17
  So after we caught the call, I told her, look boys, you know
• 15:19
  what? Back to the drawing board.
• 15:20
  We need to come up with a list of questions that we're going to
• 15:23
  be asking you applying the content production space.
• 15:25
  So there are some things that you have to be asking people.
• 15:30
  What kind of content do you produce?
• 15:33
  Who produced your content calendar?
• 15:35
  Let's see what else? OK, We even had some financial
• 15:41
  questions there. How much do you pay your content
• 15:43
  team the goals that they have for their content production?
• 15:51
  I can't remember because, you know, I'm freestyling right now,
• 15:54
  but I think we came up with a list of about 10 questions or so
• 15:56
  that they should be asking their potential customers.
• 16:02
  We all need that. We all need a checklist or a
• 16:08
  script or a framework or whatever of issues that we
• 16:13
  should be asking people. It would, it changes depending
• 16:17
  on the industry, but we all need it.
• 16:19
  So if you're an architect and you're designing the house for a
• 16:21
  person, I'm assuming some of those questions would be this
• 16:25
  house I want to build, is it official or residential?
• 16:28
  That would be one question. Another question perhaps will be
• 16:31
  location. Where is he going up?
• 16:33
  Is he going up in Abuja, in Port Harcourt or is he going up in
• 16:35
  Obama shop? Another set of questions I
• 16:38
  believe an architect will ask is when can we go and see the site?
• 16:41
  I want to know if it is rocky ground or low me ground or swamp
• 16:47
  infested area. I'm assuming there will be some
• 16:49
  of the questions that the architect will ask, by the way,
• 16:52
  since I'm not in the building space in case I get any of these
• 16:54
  questions wrong. And I'm saying some things that
• 16:57
  engineers are supposed to say, you know, forgive me, but I'm
• 16:59
  just trying to show you that whatever business it is that
• 17:01
  you're involved in, you should have a checklist, you should
• 17:04
  have a framework, you should have a set list of questions
• 17:07
  that you're asking people. If you are not doing good
• 17:12
  qualification and discovery, people fall into ghost mode.
• 17:16
  And the reason why people fall into ghost mode is because we're
• 17:20
  not clear what the next step is. Since you have not done good
• 17:24
  qualification and discovery, you cannot even propose what the
• 17:27
  next step should be. Since you have not done
• 17:30
  qualification and discovery, you do not know if there are any
• 17:35
  underlying problems or not that the person is afraid of talking
• 17:39
  about or refusing to talk about. So we need a good qualification
• 17:44
  and discovery process. After you finish listening to
• 17:46
  this podcast, this is your first time.
• 17:49
  No problem. Take your ChatGPT or your Google
• 17:51
  Gemini and then this is your prompt.
• 17:53
  You will say I am a Nigerian XYZ, I'm a Nigerian capital, I'm
• 17:57
  a Nigerian engineer. I, I would love to work with
• 18:01
  clients who are blah, blah, blah.
• 18:03
  I want to serve clients in the so, so, so and so and so space.
• 18:07
  I just listened to a podcast where it spoke about
• 18:09
  qualification and discovery as a means of having fruitful
• 18:13
  conversations with potential customers or clients.
• 18:16
  With this background, what are the kind of issues I should be
• 18:20
  discussing with potential customers or what are good
• 18:22
  qualification and discovery questions I should be asking my
• 18:25
  potential clients? They hit send.
• 18:28
  It will come up with a list of plenty things, maybe like 20 or
• 18:31
  30. Some will make sense.
• 18:34
  Leave it. The ones that don't make sense,
• 18:36
  delete. If you start your next meeting
• 18:39
  going through those questions, believe you me, you will see
• 18:42
  that the difference is clear in the quality of conversations
• 18:45
  that you will have. The problem is some of you, I
• 18:48
  don't know if it's pride or laziness, You feel like you're
• 18:52
  too old. You're not in primary school
• 18:54
  anymore. How can I have a sheet of paper
• 18:56
  in front of me with a list of questions that is supposed to
• 18:59
  guide the conversation? I'm old enough I should remember
• 19:01
  it don't work that way. Over time, with practice, the
• 19:05
  questions will be internalized and you won't need that sheet of
• 19:08
  paper anymore. But in the beginning, just print
• 19:10
  out that damn thing and leave it on your desk when you're making
• 19:13
  the call. By the time you've handled a few
• 19:17
  conversations with that list, you know 20304050 customers.
• 19:21
  Now it is inside you and you know it in your sleep.
• 19:23
  But in the beginning, please print out that thing on a sheet
• 19:26
  of paper, write it down and it's really 19 minutes.
• 19:31
  Let me know around too much. So in this case, some of the
• 19:36
  reasons why between Randy and Mr. Oh while we're just going
• 19:41
  round around around around is was there really a need?
• 19:47
  Mr. Oh was very clear that he got an alternative quote for 8
• 19:51
  million naira. But for some reason, Mr. Oh was
• 19:56
  not taking up that quote. Because when I eventually I got
• 19:58
  through to Mr. M is something I asked him.
• 20:00
  I said OK. I said, oh, you say that?
• 20:02
  You got a quote from 8 M and say yes now, and he's my brother.
• 20:06
  And I said, do you trust your brother?
• 20:07
  I said that he's my brother now. Of course he's my brother.
• 20:10
  And OK, you know what? That the gap between us is big
• 20:16
  right now. We're at 12 million.
• 20:17
  You're at 8:00. If you really think your
• 20:22
  brother's quote for 8,000,000 is a viable option, you know, why
• 20:25
  don't you go in ahead with that? I asked him upfront, you know,
• 20:28
  the guy wove it. He didn't say anything here, he
• 20:30
  didn't say anything there. But you can see that we didn't
• 20:32
  press down hard enough on whether there really is a need.
• 20:36
  The guy has options. The guy has alternatives.
• 20:38
  It's not as if he has a need for what it is that we want or what
• 20:41
  we can provide. And you can see that now that
• 20:44
  we're talking money, you can see that the gap is wide.
• 20:46
  The gap between 12 M and eight M is big.
• 20:52
  Then there was also the matter of timelines and urgency.
• 20:56
  Mr. O wants it for his house, but they haven't completed the
• 20:58
  house. The house is still being built.
• 21:01
  Perhaps that is one reason why he's not engaging any company
• 21:04
  yet, precisely because he has not finished building the house.
• 21:09
  That is also another thing that we didn't press hard upon.
• 21:17
  We ask, OK, Mr. O, you want it for the house?
• 21:21
  What stage is the house at? Oh, OK.
• 21:22
  You are the decking stage. Yeah.
• 21:24
  Since you are at the decking stage now, it's not looking as
• 21:27
  if this is something that you're willing to take delivery of, you
• 21:30
  know, this month or next month. You ask and the guy will say,
• 21:34
  yeah, you know, actually we probably want to finish decking
• 21:37
  around November. We'll do plastering around
• 21:40
  January. So to be honest, my brother
• 21:44
  Randy, to be honest, I think we'll be like around that time,
• 21:46
  February 2026, before we're ready to take delivery.
• 21:51
  You have that conversation now, you know, there's no need to be
• 21:55
  chasing somebody week after week after week, month after month
• 21:58
  after month, because you're currently in September and is
• 22:01
  looking as if realistically speaking, the guy might not be
• 22:03
  ready to take delivery of nothing until February of 2026.
• 22:12
  This is the reason why we have these conversations,
• 22:15
  qualification and discovery, and we ask questions.
• 22:20
  We're trying to figure out the particulars.
• 22:22
  What does this person want? What does this person need?
• 22:25
  What are the person's timelines? What is the problem?
• 22:27
  Can we solve it? Is it a problem worth solving?
• 22:33
  So anyway, so again, I'm getting sidetracked.
• 22:36
  Let me just answer the question. When should you stop following
• 22:39
  up with somebody? It's very easy.
• 22:40
  If you can't secure an advancement, it is time to give
• 22:43
  up. Remember, an advancement is the
• 22:45
  next step. If you can't secure a next step,
• 22:47
  if you can't agree to a next step, if the person will not
• 22:50
  give you a next step, if you can't think of a next step,
• 22:53
  there's no point in calling and calling and calling and calling
• 22:56
  because you're just calling to waste somebody's time.
• 22:59
  If you can't add value to the situation anymore, like OK, this
• 23:02
  phone call, I'm going to call. Will he add any value to this
• 23:05
  person? No.
• 23:06
  Will he add any value to me? No.
• 23:08
  Even if the person picks, what are we going to discuss?
• 23:10
  I have no idea. That is time for you to stop.
• 23:13
  You're not adding value, you're now being an irritant and that's
• 23:16
  why the person is not answering your phone call.
• 23:18
  It's like, oh, Randy, this irritant won't let me rest.
• 23:22
  If you can't get a firm budget or a timeline, OK, We have
• 23:27
  different packages of AB and C between the cost of eight M to
• 23:30
  like 12 M. Which one sounds reasonable to
• 23:32
  you? The guy is not showing his hand.
• 23:34
  The guy is not saying anything. It's time to give up.
• 23:42
  You have no information, You have no idea what are you
• 23:44
  chasing? Timelines.
• 23:46
  The person is not saying when it is that they are ready to take
• 23:49
  action or when they might be ready to take action, when they
• 23:51
  might be ready to take delivery. So it's time to give up.
• 23:54
  What are you chasing for? You have no information.
• 24:00
  If you can't get an advancement, you're not adding value to the
• 24:02
  situation. The person, you can't get a
• 24:05
  sense of their budget, you can't get a sense of their timelines.
• 24:07
  It's time to give up. Send a break up message.
• 24:12
  This is the point of a breakup message.
• 24:13
  A breakup message, no point. It gives you emotional closure.
• 24:17
  The breakup message basically just says, oh boy, this game we
• 24:20
  are playing, I know they play them again.
• 24:22
  I'm not calling you again. It gives you emotional closure.
• 24:25
  You've done your own, you freed. Then the other advantage is
• 24:29
  sometimes when you send a breakup message, it revives the
• 24:32
  conversation because there's some people who say, Oh my dear,
• 24:35
  I'm totally sorry this happened. This happened.
• 24:37
  And then conversation continues. The most dramatic case that I've
• 24:41
  given on the podcast. I'll repeat again because yes,
• 24:43
  now I was the most dramatic, but it doesn't happen all the time.
• 24:46
  The lady responded and said, Ah, Mr. Eddie Novaks Bumpsi just
• 24:51
  died. So my siblings just came back
• 24:54
  into the country. We've been planning for the
• 24:55
  wedding this sorry for the burial, blah, blah, blah, blah,
• 24:58
  blah. You know, it's like, ah, sorry,
• 25:00
  ma, this is is not about that. When is the burial?
• 25:04
  God grant your family the grace to be at a loss.
• 25:06
  You know, this is this, that, that, that.
• 25:08
  And you know, yeah, eventually we went ahead with the project.
• 25:11
  But for her, the reason why she was going ghost is because moms
• 25:14
  you don't buy. So when she didn't pick my calls
• 25:21
  was because seriously speaking, she had more important things to
• 25:24
  deal with. For me, I was thinking school
• 25:27
  fees. For me, I was thinking Sharma,
• 25:30
  for me I was thinking Internet, for me I was thinking pinging
• 25:33
  deposit for her, she was thinking I need to bury Mumsy.
• 25:41
  But I followed my process. I sent a breakup message and
• 25:44
  I've read it. She now responded.
• 25:47
  You know, I sent my condolences when I asked when was the
• 25:51
  burial. It's yeah, it's because I was
• 25:53
  concerned also so I can pray for them, but also so that I know
• 25:56
  when to continue with the follow up.
• 26:00
  Yeah, I know some of you will be saying hi, this guy, you're a
• 26:02
  criminal. No, no, he's not being criminal.
• 26:04
  It's unfortunately, you know, that's just life.
• 26:08
  We need to know people's timelines so that we can plan
• 26:10
  around them. If the burial is January 29th,
• 26:15
  most people will stay back in the village 2-3 weeks, arrange
• 26:18
  headstone, this, that, you know, stuff like that.
• 26:21
  So if the burial is January 29th, yeah, it's not a bad idea
• 26:24
  to send text messages 1st and 2nd week of February and then
• 26:28
  maybe call them again like February 28th and then, you
• 26:33
  know, get the conversation back on the road.
• 26:38
  Anyway, let me not dwell too much on that example.
• 26:41
  But yeah, so that's the reason why we send the breakup message.
• 26:44
  Now, the sample breakup message that I told Randy to send is
• 26:47
  this. Good afternoon Mr. O Looks like
• 26:52
  you've really been busy. Are we finally moving ahead on
• 26:58
  the 10.9 million naira offer or have circumstances changed on
• 27:03
  your end? Send the text message so you
• 27:06
  might think it's too direct. No, it's not too direct.
• 27:10
  You're actually trying to ask some legitimate questions.
• 27:12
  The last time we spoke, I gave you an offer, 10.9 million.
• 27:18
  You said let's talk on Wednesday so we can move forward.
• 27:24
  You visited the call on Wednesday and you said you were
• 27:26
  in a meeting. So you're sending a text message
• 27:28
  now. Are we going ahead with 10.9 or
• 27:32
  how circumstances change on your end.
• 27:34
  It's very simple. Now.
• 27:38
  I knew that Mister Oh was going to ghost and I told him when Mr.
• 27:44
  Oh ghosts. This is the next message that
• 27:46
  you're going to send. Good afternoon, Mr. Oh.
• 27:50
  Neither I or my colleagues have been able to reach you
• 27:53
  concerning your interest in solar.
• 27:55
  Now, I'm going to assume that you've either gone ahead with
• 27:58
  your brothers 8 M offer or personal circumstances have
• 28:04
  changed on your end. Either way, we're not going to
• 28:07
  be in touch anymore. Best of luck, Sir.
• 28:10
  Please reach out if you need any support or information in the
• 28:13
  future. And that's the second message.
• 28:15
  So that's what I told Randy. Call Miss O today, Wednesday.
• 28:19
  The guy who ghosts. No problem.
• 28:22
  Call him again next week. He's going to ghost.
• 28:25
  Send a breakup message. Once you've done that, you,
• 28:28
  Randy, are done. You'll be playing this game for
• 28:31
  two months. You can't continue with this
• 28:34
  game for two months. You are done.
• 28:38
  You will move on and talk to other people in the pipeline
• 28:42
  because you've been wasting two months chasing Mr. Oh.
• 28:45
  The more time you spend chasing Mr. Oh means the less time you
• 28:49
  have to be spending time with Mr. A or Madam B or Orga C or
• 28:56
  Alhaji D, and either of those could be good customers.
• 29:01
  If you've been playing this game of catamouse with anybody,
• 29:03
  please listen to me. If you have a Mr. Oh in your
• 29:06
  life, you've wasted three months chasing Mr. Oh.
• 29:09
  It means you're taking up mental space in your head, in your
• 29:15
  mind, in your chest, in your heart that you could have been
• 29:17
  spending chasing or Boyfi A, Marzi B, Alhaji D, or you know,
• 29:27
  DMF either. Those people could be good
• 29:30
  customers. Once you reach this stage where
• 29:34
  you cannot secure an advancement, you are not adding
• 29:37
  value. You can't get a line on the
• 29:40
  person's budget. You can't get a sense of the
• 29:43
  person's timeline. It is time to send up, send a
• 29:47
  break up message. I exit the situation if they're
• 29:52
  serious and they're legitimate concerns, you know, they'll get
• 29:54
  back to you later on. Like the Madam who said you know
• 29:57
  my why, don't buy. But either way, free yourself.
• 30:03
  This game is tiring, it's exhausting.
• 30:06
  Free yourself. Go and talk to other people who
• 30:09
  might be interested, other people who could be good
• 30:13
  customers. So in summary, when we're having
• 30:15
  conversations with people, please, qualification and
• 30:17
  discovery is key. Figure out what do they want,
• 30:21
  what do they need? Figure out what they can afford,
• 30:23
  figure out their timelines. Is there any sense of urgency?
• 30:26
  Ask it in simple conversational ways.
• 30:28
  Then you will know how to pace yourself.
• 30:35
  So like when the Madam reached out to me, it was the same
• 30:37
  thing. Oh, sorry about that man.
• 30:39
  You know, blah blah blah. God grants your grace, your
• 30:42
  family grace to be at a loss. Or when is the burial?
• 30:46
  This is this take out man you know small talk because even me
• 30:51
  my mom's still alive, but I lost my dad.
• 30:53
  You know some small talks from my poor building my name.
• 30:55
  I understand these village people.
• 30:57
  They can be weakened sometimes it was like that when my father
• 30:59
  died, you know blah blah blah blah blah bills on my poor show
• 31:03
  some concern. We're human beings yes all
• 31:06
  money, so I can flex, but you know I'm also a human being.
• 31:08
  You know, Mumsy just died, so I know how that thing can be, but
• 31:14
  before we ended the call want I need.
• 31:17
  OK, So, Ma. So, yeah, you need time off to
• 31:19
  bury mom, but I'm assuming that we're still on board with the
• 31:22
  last proposal. Oh, yeah, definitely.
• 31:24
  I'm on board. I just can't get to get to that
• 31:26
  right now. No, no, no.
• 31:27
  It's OK, Madam. No problem.
• 31:28
  I understand. I understand.
• 31:30
  We're good with all the terms and you're interested, so that's
• 31:32
  not a problem. Since the burial is January
• 31:35
  29th, you know, you probably need like 2 weeks to clean up in
• 31:39
  the village. So I think let's just say
• 31:42
  February ending. I'll call you.
• 31:44
  Is that OK, man? Yeah, sure.
• 31:45
  No problem. You see, Does she still have a
• 31:49
  want or I need? Is she still interested?
• 31:51
  The terms we discussed before, are they OK?
• 31:53
  Yes, they can afford it. Because if there's also been
• 31:59
  situations where somebody would say, OK, and this is one of the
• 32:01
  cases that Randy faced where the woman said, oh, yes, you know
• 32:04
  what? We agreed and everything.
• 32:05
  But to be honest, after we went for this burial, I also know.
• 32:10
  So I beg Randy, I need a discount.
• 32:12
  So you can see that situation where we're having a frank
• 32:14
  conversation. So we run through it again,
• 32:16
  won't need afford urgency. We schedule the advancement.
• 32:25
  Madam says it's OK to talk. February ending, no problem.
• 32:29
  I go and pencil it into my diary, into my calendar,
• 32:32
  February ending, qualification and discovery, asking people
• 32:37
  questions. What do they want?
• 32:39
  What do they need, What can they afford?
• 32:40
  What are their timelines? What budget are they working
• 32:44
  with? Who is the person going to be
• 32:45
  making decisions? Is there any project that they
• 32:48
  are planning for? Because remember Mr. who is
• 32:49
  building a house And I think Randy lost sight of that fact
• 32:54
  that Mister who is building a house, the very set of
• 32:56
  conversations that they should have been having is our
• 32:58
  congratulations, Sir, you're building your own house.
• 33:01
  Hey, no more saying yes, Sir to landlord.
• 33:04
  Congrats. So when I grow up and I become a
• 33:07
  big boy, I want to be like you meet you.
• 33:08
  I want to build my own house. You know, you laugh about those
• 33:10
  also things. It looks like you're making idle
• 33:13
  conversation. No, you're trying to figure out
• 33:14
  who is this person? You're trying to figure out
• 33:17
  their timelines. And So what are you planning for
• 33:20
  decking? What are you planning for this
• 33:21
  stage? What stage are people at now?
• 33:23
  OK, so that means you'll be like next year, like March will be
• 33:26
  when you'll be moving into the house.
• 33:27
  Now, Mr. I will say by the grace of God, by the special grace of
• 33:31
  God, then you write it down in your book, Moving into his
• 33:35
  house, March 2026. By the special grace of God,
• 33:38
  you're now talking in September. If you're talking in September
• 33:41
  and somebody's moving into his house by the special grace of
• 33:43
  God in 2026, and you're selling solar, solar needs to be
• 33:47
  installed in somebody's house. Of course, the house needs to be
• 33:50
  completed before you do that. What makes you think following
• 33:54
  up every week is going to move this deal forward Anyway, let me
• 34:04
  stop here. Don't waste time chasing Mr.
• 34:07
  Owes. Send your breakup message.
• 34:09
  Follow your process. Just leave the chips to fall
• 34:13
  where they may. We should always be scheduling
• 34:17
  advancements, scheduling next steps.
• 34:19
  But I'm so Mr. This was a pleasure talking to you.
• 34:23
  Based on what I've heard, I think the next step for us is we
• 34:25
  should do these days and that that that Madam.
• 34:27
  What do you think? Madam will either say yes or no.
• 34:30
  If she says yes, very good. You have something on the
• 34:32
  calendar schedule the next step on the meeting.
• 34:36
  If Madam says no, I don't think so.
• 34:38
  So. Oh, sorry Madam.
• 34:40
  It's as if I missed out something that is really, really
• 34:42
  important. Can you feel me in my what have
• 34:44
  I missed and then my Now we'll talk our own.
• 34:48
  Either way, you don't have information about how you are
• 34:51
  planning the next step. So summary, when you have a
• 34:57
  contact, the first thing you need to do when I say contact is
• 35:01
  a phone number you're supposed to call.
• 35:02
  So if somebody says that, oh, I think my cousin needs blah blah
• 35:05
  blah, call my cousin. When you call the contact, oh
• 35:09
  hello, I got your number from your cousin, blah blah blah,
• 35:11
  they're trying to confirm are they interested?
• 35:13
  If they're interested, you know, do some small talk, try and
• 35:15
  figure out the extent of their need.
• 35:17
  Then the next step is set a meeting.
• 35:20
  Then of the meeting, you go in depth to try and understand the
• 35:23
  problem. After that, maybe you agree that
• 35:26
  you go over two or three options, you call the person
• 35:28
  back, OK, based on what we discussed last week, these are
• 35:30
  the 2 three options that I think can solve this problem.
• 35:35
  And then get some feedback, try and get confirm what it is that
• 35:40
  they're keen on and say, OK, all right, no problem, I think I
• 35:43
  have enough information. I should be able to send you a
• 35:45
  proposal by next week, Wednesday.
• 35:47
  How does that sound? Oh, next week Wednesday sounds
• 35:50
  OK. You know what?
• 35:51
  No. I'll be travelling on Wednesday.
• 35:52
  I'll be back by Friday. Send it to me on Friday.
• 35:54
  OK. No problem.
• 35:55
  I'll send it to you on Friday. Then you shuttle it down.
• 35:58
  You can see you have your next advancement now and you call up
• 36:03
  on Friday. Hey.
• 36:05
  Hello, Ma. The last time we spoke, we said
• 36:06
  I was going to send you a proposal.
• 36:08
  I'm ready to send it to you right now.
• 36:10
  But quick question, man. Usually when we send proposals
• 36:13
  over to our clients, most of them, most people typically get
• 36:16
  back to us in 72 hours. Do you think that sounds about
• 36:19
  right for you? Say 72 hours?
• 36:21
  Yeah. Yeah, it's Friday today.
• 36:22
  So if I send it, I'm assuming like by Wednesday, you should
• 36:25
  have made-up your minds. I know Wednesday is too far.
• 36:28
  Send it today. By tomorrow morning would have
• 36:30
  made my decision. Oh, tomorrow morning.
• 36:32
  Oh, yes. OK, no problem.
• 36:35
  So do you think I can call you 10 AM tomorrow morning so that
• 36:39
  we can discuss implementation and next steps if we're going
• 36:41
  forward? You see advancements,
• 36:46
  advancements, advancements. One step, one step, one step.
• 36:50
  That's how we move things forward at any step in the
• 36:54
  process. If you don't end up with this CD
• 36:56
  game offering up for the sake of following up, my friend, just
• 37:00
  free Disney, free it. Send your breakup message and
• 37:06
  then move on. If they get back to you, good.
• 37:08
  They don't get back to you. Even better.
• 37:10
  You not have free time. You go and start chasing other
• 37:13
  people who might be able to become better playing clients.
• 37:17
  And let me stop here. It's been 37 minutes.
• 37:19
  Of course, I give my phone number at the beginning and at
• 37:21
  the end of every episode. So if there's anything that I've
• 37:23
  said that is unclear, please reach out to me and we can have
• 37:28
  a chat. And in fact, that would now
• 37:30
  inform the next podcast episode that I make, you know about
• 37:35
  these sorts of things. So that's it.
• 37:37
  And that's all for today. Remember, if you'd love to
• 37:39
  connect, you can call, send me a text message or WhatsApp message
• 37:42
  on 08064662140. And if you're ready for more
• 37:48
  talk like this, what realistic relevant stuff that we can use
• 37:51
  in the Nigerian market, then you are in luck because we have over
• 37:54
  1200 episodes. So just scroll, keep listening.
• 37:58
  There's lots of useful stuff as you listen.
• 38:01
  No doubt things you want to apply and then apply those
• 38:05
  things when things work, reach out to me, let me know If
• 38:12
  something doesn't work, reach out to me.
• 38:14
  Let me know if I have confused you.
• 38:17
  Reach out to me. Let me know if I've helped you
• 38:19
  achieve clarity. Reach out to me, help me know.
• 38:23
  Either way, I will be glad to hear from you.
• 38:27
  So that's it and that's all. I'll catch you guys later.