Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / The Blueprint for Hiring Top Sales Talent

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The Blueprint for Hiring Top Sales Talent · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

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Today on the podcast, I want to talk about how to hire sales
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people. Now the reason why is because
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recently, just this month alone, I've already helped 2 clients of
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mine to put together their sales team.
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And I think there's a couple of things that those of you who are
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employers of labour. So you are a business person or
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you're a self-employed person and you work with people that
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you contract your selling function out to.
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I think there's a couple of things that you all need to
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know. So First off, I'm not going to
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say that there's any universal or any preferred way for hiring
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your sales candidates because I work with different clients and,
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and they hire their sales team differently.
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But I think I'm just going to use my last experience for my
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client who is in tech, the cell tech and training services.
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And so I help them interview their sales team.
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And so we'll just tease out some best learnings or what I think
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are best learnings that the rest of you who are podcast listeners
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can take and use in hiring your own sales people.
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So the first thing that I want to say is that interviews have
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to be competency based. And I'll explain what that
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means. OK.
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Now in this part of the world, you know, it's been a while
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since I've been in the job market, but back when I was in
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university and you know, you apply for different clubs, you
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apply for different associations, you apply for
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internships, then of course, you come out, you apply for jobs.
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I noticed that there were two kinds of interviews and I've
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spoken to some people in human resources and yes, they have
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admitted that, yes, there are different interview styles.
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Now, there is one interview style where they just try to
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rattle you as far you sit down. People just they fire questions
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at you. Anyhow, anyhow, because you're
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trying to rattle the person, you're trying to test the
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person, you're trying to shake them up, you're trying to get
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get on their nerves because the people assume that when you do
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that, that's when you see the quality of the person.
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So there's that. Honestly, I don't think that
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that's a good way to interview for sales people because we
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sales people, we're performers. Yes, you try and rattle loss in
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the initial one or two minutes, we go confused, but eventually
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we'll find our footing. And trust me, sales people are
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good performers. They'll perform well to get the
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job. So if you're dealing with
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experienced sales people, I think this tactic is not going
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to work. You confuse them the first
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minutes, but after a while they're going to figure out who
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is who. In fact, let me give you one
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particular technique that I used personally to deal with this
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sort of thing. By the time I was coming out of
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university and I realized that, oh, now the scope be this, you
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know, don't want to throw you off.
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I started coming into interviews being on the offensive.
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So, for instance, I would enter into the interview and I would,
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you know, I'd take my jacket off and I would come in and I'd pull
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my, what do you call it? My this thing where you put
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your, your, your cuffs and I take my cuffs off and then I'll
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fold the thing twice, 1-2. Then I'd come in, sit on the
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chair, and then I won't relax. I would lean forward and then
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look the person in the center straight in the face.
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So that's my own thing. OK, will now unwrap to me.
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No problem. Me, I would be on the offensive,
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bad boy, offensive. So that was my own thing.
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And because of that, you might be a little shy, but at least he
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gave me a control over the interview process.
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Because the first thing was that somebody would try and wash me
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down over the interview process. And then what?
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Again, But I would adjust, put my coughs back on and then sit
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again, lean forward and look straight at the person was at
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the head of the panel. So I am the one who was
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determining the agenda, how things are going to flow.
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Then people would always keep on blasting questions, but I
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decided ahead of time that I would only answer the question
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that was posed by the last person and I would answer that
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question. Any other person I wanted to get
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a response that them would they beg me, You understand, as in
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they're playing psychological games with me and no Hala
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myself, I would play psychological games with you,
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But the point I'm just trying to make is those of us we, you
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know, like we are performers. We have our ways.
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You want to rattle us, We will cope.
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We had one or rattle you and that strategy never failed me.
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I always get got call back for Step 2, although people would on
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the side say, you know, oh boy, you rude go, you know, as they
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will tell me that like you're a rude guy, but that was my own
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way or just stepping things down.
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So and it doesn't work. It's a performance game is the
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person who can act well, that's going to win at the end of the
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day. So excuse me to hire
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salespeople. Don't try and rattle anybody.
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In fact, my fear is that in trying to rattle people, you
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might actually scare away somebody who might be the best
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performer. Don't try and rattle.
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So there are different kinds of interview styles or selection
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processes. Another one is competency based.
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Competency based just means you invite the person.
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The person has this person sits down in front of you and looking
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at their CV and their work history, you're actually trying
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to ask them questions to tease out how competent is this
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person. Competency just means I said be
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work. I know the work, I'm the
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professional. So that's what you're trying to
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figure out when you invite the person for a company based
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interview. So my own advice is you're
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trying to interview sales professionals.
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All your interviews ought to be competency based.
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Young woman, young woman, how you do young man, When I sit
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down OK, your CV and you said I work for so.
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So before then begin to ask them question, dialogue, try and
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figure them out. I would say that's the best way
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to run a competency based interview.
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Now in different parts of the world, in America and in the UK,
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they are now trying out different forms of interviews
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where first of all, you give them a, a test to run before you
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pull them in for a competency based interview.
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Now, as far as I know, that works very well in tech circles.
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So you're trying to hire a developer.
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You tell all of them that OK, all over.
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Now first, first, when I will sit down, when I go code this
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assignment. Now based on those of you who
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are cool and well, and then you come for appointment, you come
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for an interview. Now in a Niger setting, I don't
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know how you're going to use that kind of interview process
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to interview salespeople. I don't know whether you say
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they should go and make sales call in front of you or
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something. I have no idea.
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I haven't seen it at work. And by the way, if that's how
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you hire sales people in your own organization, just let me
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know so that you know, I can let's talk so I can see
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different things, you know, see how you apply it in your own
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context. But I would say the interview
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process so far, I think that will give us the best way to
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figure out who the candidate candidates are in front of us
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are competency based interviews. So remember the whole point of a
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competency based interview is you want the person to come and
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sit down and then you're trying to figure out who is this
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person? What is their work history?
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How good are they? Are they truly the professional
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that they say they are? So that's it.
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Oh, and then note of caution, there is no interview process
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that is 100% success rate. And from the little studies that
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have been seen out there available like Harvard Business
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Review and a couple of other publications, it looks as if
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interview processes usually turn up like a 5050% rate as per you
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do the interview and the chances that you get the best candidates
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are 5050, you know, so nothing quick.
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So people are always trying to, what's the word, innovate on the
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interview, interview and hiring processes all the time.
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So while we are waiting for people in human resources and
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you know, people management and all that, to work on those sorts
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of things because, you know, it's not a, you know, hiring
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people is not a sales skill. But because I'm a sales
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consultant, a sales coach and business development consultant,
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I have an inner look and inner working on what we should be
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looking at when it comes to evaluate sales candidates.
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So that's why some organizations invite me to sit on their panel
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for hiring people. But this all hiring people,
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conducting interviews, it actually is a human resources
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thing, human resources, personnel, stuff like that.
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So we'll be waiting for the personal people to come up with
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the perfect process. But just know that nowadays I
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know which process you take, you know now 5050, but please let
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your interviews be competency based.
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Now, if it's a company based, competency based interview and I
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am sitting in with your organization to hire people, I
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personally, I'm looking at three things in particular when I ask
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them questions. Now, some of you who like this
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whole Niger thing of you sit down and rattle people, you
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might, you might look as if I'm making friends with these people
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and or not and I'm being soft. No, nobody say I'm doing soft,
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soft, soft. I'm actually trying to get them
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to relax. I want the real person to come
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out and I'm trying to figure out three things.
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No more on their history because nowadays people deform all kind
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things on their CV and the number of people that are using
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AI to write their CV now, Oh boy.
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As in anyway, you'll see it yourself when you start trying
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to hire you see it yourself. So I'm actually trying to figure
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out from the history which one is authentic, which one is
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Jermaine, which one is the real thing.
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That's why I want them to relax. So OK, when you are with this,
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that that that be ask that question.
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But it's time they begin to fumble.
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You'll see that. Oh, OK, this one that the person
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is putting as a job. Actually, the person maybe was
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like an intern or maybe the person was doing NYSE that time,
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but the person no get full responsibility inside the
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organization. You get So for those of you who
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engaged me to sit on your panels when you're hiring your your
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sales team, you might be frustrated that look, this guy's
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too nice. Relax, you get waiting how they
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do. I know what I'm doing.
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I'm trying to catch them the place when they lie, I'm trying
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to catch them the place where they're telling you the truth.
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I'm trying to catch them. So history, that's one thing I'm
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looking at. Then another thing that I'm
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looking at when I sit on these panels is process of philosophy.
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Because in Niger, too many people believe that sales now
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friendship or sales now packaging and it's a problem
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because sales is not friendship. You can be doing friendship and
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bring lots of business from the company, but The thing is
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friendship is not replicatable because friendship now you like
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pass and all of us make friends differently.
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So if sales no matter of friendship and then you hire 5
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people, all of them come in and then they begin to make friends
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up and down. Like how are you going to be
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able to if there's a problem, how you diagnose it?
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If you want to increase revenue, how are you going to increase
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revenue? Will you tell them go out and
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make more friends? Sales will be friendship.
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Another problem is, you know, friendship in the real sense is
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when you and me like with the flow, you know, we're on the
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same level you get, but friendships are kind of mutually
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reinforcing. You know, it's not as if I they
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take, I, they take, I they take. But then when you try and do
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sales as friendship and then anytime your friends see you,
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you know, you're trying to squeeze something from them.
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You're trying to squeeze or trying to squeeze yourself.
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This is going to mess up your friendships.
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So for those of you who feel that you know, selling a
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friendship, stop that rubbish sales.
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No be friendship at all. Selling is process oriented.
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There's a process for selling. So I'm trying to figure out
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during the interview, what is this guy or what is this girl's
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process for selling? Is he or she a selling a
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friendship person or are they a selling a packaging person?
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Because there's some people that sells their packaging.
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So if you have any selfie or company, you know, you suppose
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package me well, you know, I suppose dress wear, suppose give
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me allowance, you know, company car, buy me laptop, blah, blah,
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blah. So I'm, I'm not against all that
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because there's some companies that pay well.
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That's one of my clients who was paying the senior sales, senior
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sales engineer that pay him closely like 700.
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That's if you Add all the entitlements.
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So I'm, I'm not against that. In fact, I think that people
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should be paid, paid well, but somebody who believes that
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sales, that packaging, it's the same thing when you want to
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increase sales, what you tell the person, why are packaged
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more? How do you define packaging then
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how are you going to, how are you going to be packaging for
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the rest of the the, for the rest of the organization?
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Now for those of you who are not Nigerians listening to this
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particular episode in Nigeria where we say packaging will just
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be in your perception, your appearance, in your positioning.
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So you look good, you sound good, you smell good, you talk
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good. That's just what packaging
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means. But looking good, smelling good,
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sounding good, composure good, everything on point.
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It's important in selling, but it's not it's not the main
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thing. So when I try to get people to
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relax and to calm down, that's what I'm trying to figure out.
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Do they have a process? Do they have a philosophy?
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Do they have a framework when it comes to selling?
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Now, I'm not even going to say that any particular process,
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philosophy or framework is better than the other.
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I just want the person to have some sort of process because
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then, OK, we now have something that we can start to work on.
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We can hire the person. I say, oh boy, oh girl, this
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part of your philosophy is not going to work in this business,
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this part of your framework now. So we do I'm here or this part
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of your selling, this part of your framework, this your
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selling habits here. You know, we suppose tune I'm
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like this or suppose delete them entirely, but there's something,
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excuse me, there's something that we can look at.
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Excuse me, there's something we can look at and we can start
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interrogating and start making changes When we hire the person
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because we've been able to establish that they have a
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process, they have a philosophy, they have a framework.
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Then another thing I'm looking at when I'm sitting on your
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panels, I'm trying to hire salespeople for your company's
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challenges because when it comes to sales challenges go every
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day. Sales is not like accounts.
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Accounting is very sorry. Accounting can be difficult.
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Yes. What I mean is 1 From managerial
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perspective, accounting is easy. Here's the book of accounts.
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Can you get it done, done, done and send it back to me in the
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next three weeks? Yes, I can.
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OK, no problem. After that, it's just a matter
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of staying on the ball. Where are my accounts?
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Where are my accounts? Three weeks don't reach.
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OK, thank you very much. Then the auditor will look at
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it. The accounts are either correct
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or they're not. If they're not correct,
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disciplinary action or you sack the person, you know, bring a
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new accountant. But either way, excuse me,
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accounting, auditing, all those kinds of things is, you know,
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it's a lot easier. We say this is different.
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We're dealing with personalities and people here.
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We're dealing with people as a resource.
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So quarrel whoever leading. Excuse me.
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So the sales people, first of all, don't quarrel with you,
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Olga, that you're hiring them. Don't quarrel with you because
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them they're coming from somewhere where they were
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selling before and they feel like no, me, not me.
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Be the authority, not you. So #1 don't quarrel with you,
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Olga. Then salespeople definitely go
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with quarrel among themselves. You have a team of five.
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Know how know how to go be quarrel.
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If you have a team of two, forget they'll be quarrel.
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The only way that you won't have quarrel among sales team is if
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you have a sales team of 1. Once you have two or more will
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be quarrier, then they'll also sales people also quarrel with
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their line manager. Normal, normal.
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They must require then sales people also once in a while they
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also quarrel with a customer. It's not ideal, but these things
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happen. So when I'm sitting on these
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panels and I'm trying to interview someone to sell for
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your company, I'm trying to figure out how well they had
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these challenges the last place that they work or the issues.
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How are they quarreling with people?
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How did they queer with talker when they had challenges with
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customer? How did they resolve it?
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Some of you say, how do you get people to talk about those
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things? Really hard to don't worry.
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Now my speciality now and my job, I know how to calm people
16:52
down. I know how to calm people down.
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But eventually I will get them talking.
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I will be able to know before we hire them, is this person a good
17:04
fit for this company? I'll be this person is not a
17:06
good fit. So when I sit on your interview
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panels, that is what I'm helping people to try and figure out.
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If you want my recommendations, I will give a recommendation.
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I say OK candidate, OK candidate B, OK candidate C, maybe this
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one, this one, I will give you my own interpretation.
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Sorry. I say recommendation.
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But The thing is, by virtue of me being on that panel, I want
17:33
all of us by the time we stand up and leave, do not be under
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any doubt that number one, we've not discovered who the real
17:40
person is. We've not tested their work
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history. We've not tried to figure out
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whether they have a, a process or philosophy for selling.
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And we've not been able to test that they have an, A, a
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disposition or a process for dealing with challenges in the
17:57
workplace, dealing with challenges with authority and
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dealing with challenges with customers.
18:03
So it is because of all this that I strongly recommend that
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any interviews that any of my clients are conducting, I
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strongly recommend that they should be competent, competency
18:16
based. Then also strongly recommend
18:19
that the interview atmosphere should be relaxed.
18:21
Relaxed doesn't mean, you know, we wouldn't love the seed palm
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wine. No, it just means, you know,
18:27
this whole Niger harassing thing that people like to do.
18:31
Yes. How can we know you?
18:33
Come on. Come on.
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Speak up. Speak up.
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Are you not in sales? Speak up.
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Are you not applying for this job?
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Speak up now. Sell me now.
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See, when you're beginning to harass people like that, I
18:41
really don't think you're putting people under the best
18:44
frame of mind. Also, remember, I'm trying to
18:46
get them to relax so that the ones with the like, the ones
18:50
with the bubble, we can figure out the bubble.
18:53
Yeah, so don't tune people up. No, they wind them.
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Don't be raising the atmosphere high.
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Keep things nice and relaxed. Professional points.
19:01
Oh, good morning, young lady. Young man.
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Tell us a bit about yourself. OK.
19:06
Impressive. Now, let me tell you a little
19:08
bit about the company. OK, now that we're done, these
19:11
are the members of the panel. We have Mr. A, Madam B and Olga
19:14
C We're going to ask you a couple of questions around this.
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Are you OK? Shall we continue?
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Then launch into it. Then if I'm there, give me time,
19:25
let me work my magic. Let's separate the wheat from
19:28
the chaff, the people where they lie.
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Well, let's separate the liars from the honest people, but
19:34
competency based and then relaxed.
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And remember, the goal is to get the people talking.
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Because if you didn't know it before, let me tell you now,
19:43
some of you have not figured it out.
19:44
So let me just say it again. It doesn't matter.
19:48
The country, Afghanistan, Australia, Nigeria, Ghana,
19:53
America, wherever. Salespeople are good performers.
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If you didn't catch it the first time, let me say it again.
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Salespeople are good performers. They will say anything to get
20:07
the job, you hear me? They will say anything to get
20:12
the job and they will convince you they'll perform well.
20:17
So your entry process should be aimed at discovering these
20:21
people's true colors before you hire them.
20:27
If you hire them first and then you quarrel after two months,
20:32
you have wasted your own time and you have wasted your own
20:36
money for salary and all that. So discover their true colors
20:41
before you hire them. Oh, by the way, if you'd love to
20:46
connect with me, you can call me, send me a text message or a
20:48
WhatsApp message on 08064662140. If you're interested in the 15
20:53
minute sale audit, WhatsApp me on the same number 08064662140.
21:00
So back to what we're talking about then.
21:05
Timing. Put time in between the
21:07
interviews because some of you are trying to save time because
21:10
interviews can be a hassle. I understand.
21:12
So because of that, some of you try and interview back-to-back
21:14
to back. The last people that I worked
21:16
on, they put 3030 minutes and they did it back-to-back and I
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said OK, 3030 minutes. The guy said yes.
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Now I don't want to be efficient.
21:25
You know, it's a tech company like I said.
21:26
And you know how tech tech Bros and Texas does like to be
21:30
everything efficient, everything on point.
21:31
You know, they forget that human being will be machine.
21:34
We're not machines. So accident, they happen, delay,
21:37
they happen all kinds of things. Funny thing is, for this
21:41
particular client, the delay was now on their own part, not even
21:43
on the candidates path. And the candidates show up on
21:45
time 5 minutes before ready. The guy wears suits, everything
21:50
guy they read. We now have to start making
21:53
excuses. Oh, sorry, we're waiting for
21:55
this. We're putting house in order.
21:57
I mean, come on. So yes, we expect these people
22:01
to show up on time, but then don't do things back-to-back
22:03
back because then you do back-to-back with no breathing
22:06
room in between. By the time you fumble the first
22:08
interview you go over, then every other thing too will now
22:12
just scatter. And that's exactly what
22:14
happened. The first one didn't start on
22:16
time, went over by 10 minutes. And then guess what happened?
22:20
Every other person back-to-back to back-to-back to back.
22:23
Everything just got thrown off. So put time.
22:27
How many minutes is ideal? I have no idea, you know,
22:29
because, you know, I'm not a human resources expert.
22:31
I'm not a hiring expert so I don't know if you should be put
22:34
in 1515 minutes so that maybe if you interview the first person
22:38
from 10:30 till 11:30 then maybe you give 15 minute gap.
22:42
So the next interview will now start at 10:45 and continue till
22:48
11:15 and you give around 15 minute gap then the next hour
22:52
now start at 11:30 and run on till 12.
22:57
You understand what a back-to-back to back-to-back
22:59
thing that that thing never works, doesn't work.
23:02
So don't do it. Any small mistake from their
23:05
part, from your own part, you just do everything off delays,
23:08
they normally happen. Emergency they normally happen.
23:11
Putting a house in order, they normally have these things
23:13
happen. So it happens back-to-back
23:15
doesn't work. Then let's see what else.
23:21
By the way, I really think 30 minutes is too short because
23:26
remember trying to get these people to talk, Do they have
23:30
what's their history? Let's interrogate that.
23:32
Do they have a process? Do they have a philosophy?
23:34
Let's interrogate that. How do they deal with workplace
23:37
challenges, challenges with colleagues, challenges with
23:39
authority and difficulties with customers?
23:42
How do they handle that? Let's interrogate all these
23:44
things well. So quite frankly, for me, I
23:49
think 30 minutes is not enough if we're talking sales people.
23:53
So the person that I just help them out with this 2 days ago I
24:02
told them I'll look for the next round.
24:03
Me alone, I don't know about other interview panel members.
24:06
Me alone just give me 20 minutes with these people, I need to
24:09
figure them out. But anyway, since you know,
24:15
they're tech Bros and I always try to well, at least in the
24:17
beginning, work on to the clients specifications a little
24:20
more. They had in mind.
24:22
They said that every each panel member is only going to ask
24:26
three questions, so I should write my questions ahead of
24:29
time. I say, haha, write my question
24:31
ahead of time. They say, yes, OK, no, no
24:33
problem. Because I wanted everything to
24:35
be objective and they had the scoring metric and everything.
24:39
That's OK, no problem. I submit my question.
24:41
So name I begin to think, I begin to think, I begin to
24:46
think, what kind of questions am I going to ask?
24:48
Because remember when I'm trying to tease out, I'm trying to
24:51
tease out their history. Which part is true?
24:54
Which part is fake? I'm trying to tease out their
24:56
process or their philosophy. Do they actually believe that
25:00
selling is a process? Do they have a process?
25:02
Do they have a system? Do they have philosophy?
25:03
Do they have a framework? Or do they believe that sales
25:06
now friendship sales now packaging?
25:09
Then I'm also trying to tease out how they deal with
25:11
challenges in the workplace. So I said Google Now couches
25:15
kind of question that would help me tease out all this
25:18
information. So I came up with three
25:21
questions. Now, I'm not putting them here
25:24
to recommend to any of you that these are the best questions to
25:27
ask. I'm just trying to tell you that
25:28
look for the constraints that I had that they say 3030 minutes
25:33
and we should only ask three questions each.
25:36
OK, no problem. I had to come up with something.
25:38
So my first question was, my first question was this.
25:42
Tell us about the recent complex deal you won from the first time
25:46
you spoke to them until the time the contract was signed.
25:49
What steps or systems did you use to figure out their problems
25:52
and when did you know for sure that the deal was going to
25:54
happen? So summary, that's my first
25:57
question to all of them. What complex deal have you
26:00
worked on Just us from the first time you spoke to that guy until
26:05
you close the deal, what system did you use to close this deal
26:08
and how did you know was in I gave you confidence that this
26:11
deal go close? So that was my first question.
26:16
So of course, obviously you guys can see that I'm trying to tease
26:20
out a couple of things. Like I said, history, process,
26:24
philosophy, challenges. So that's my first question.
26:29
The second question I asked all the candidates is, was you are
26:32
going to be selling software and training services here.
26:35
How do you change your approach when you're selling a technical
26:38
tool versus when you're selling a training program?
26:41
And how do you convince the budget conscious boss that soft
26:45
skill training is worth the money?
26:49
So I repeat, by the way, so it is also this problem with you
26:52
will only answer 3 questions. So the questions now have to be
26:56
comprehensive, you know, volume boku and tease out lots of
27:00
strands. So I was now asking the people
27:03
that look, these people that you're, you're, you're
27:06
interviewing for, they sell software and they sell training.
27:12
I wanted to figure out whether they can appreciate or whether
27:16
they think there's a difference between selling software versus
27:19
selling training. I also wanted to figure out
27:22
their approach. Would the approach change?
27:26
And then also wanted to see how they're going to deal with
27:28
people who say Nobi training, training.
27:31
No, we talk no, no, this your bill is too expensive.
27:35
Wanted to see how they would deal with people who customers
27:39
like that. Then the final question that I
27:42
asked them was tell us about a time that a big prospect stopped
27:47
responding to you or told you your price was too high.
27:50
What specific moves did you make to get them back to the table
27:53
without looking desperate? And what did that experience
27:55
teach you about handling high pressure sales?
27:58
So question #3 summary. I was just trying to tell them,
28:01
now look, what was the last time when you were talking to an ogre
28:03
or a Madam and then Madam goes to you, she knew the peak call.
28:07
And so because you know, the peak call, how what did you do
28:10
to make Madam start, you know, talking again, start having a
28:14
conversation again, What did you do?
28:18
That was a summary of what I was trying to test them with those
28:20
questions. So I'm not saying that these are
28:22
the best interview questions to to ask, but I'm just sharing my
28:27
experience that OK, since they say 3 questions, OK, well, I
28:30
have to send something. So that's what I sent.
28:33
Then also, I also couldn't ask, ask follow up questions.
28:37
So based on whatever response they gave me, that's not hard to
28:40
try and judge them. OK History.
28:43
Do they actually have a history of selling process?
28:46
OK. Did they actually have a
28:49
philosophy or I'll be there just doing anyhow.
28:53
Anyhow, when it comes to sales and then challenges, OK, how do
28:56
they work with difficult situations?
29:00
Those are the questions. OK, sorry, I was scrolling
29:07
through my phone. Yeah, so this is how the
29:10
candidates performed. I'm not going to use their real
29:12
names, of course, and I'm not going to say a summary of what
29:16
they've said, but there was one guy, let's call him what we call
29:21
him now. Let's just say Mr. A.
29:26
OK, so the first guy, Mr. A, the all men, by the way.
29:30
So the first guy, Mr. AI. Guess he was all right.
29:34
But my impressions about him and I told the my clients was that
29:40
the guy doesn't have a formal system.
29:42
He doesn't have a formal framework for selling.
29:44
He's just one of these people who they do was that thing now,
29:48
you know, like attitude, you know, like by force, by force,
29:52
like anyhow, anyhow, I'll close this deal, you know, effort,
29:56
strength, brute strength, that kind of thing.
29:59
So I just had time. Now look, this guy, no get
30:00
process. He's only just by force, by fire
30:03
will make this thing happen. Now those people are good
30:06
because those kind of people, they don't get tired, you know,
30:08
they don't get. Doesn't matter what happens.
30:09
Is it raining down the move? Is the sun shining down the
30:14
move? Is the customer rude?
30:17
They're on the move. Is the customer pleasant?
30:19
Down the move. You know, those people are good
30:21
'cause any which way, you know, then they go, then they move,
30:23
then they move steady, just like trailer, always on the move.
30:27
So I told him, look, if you walk with this guy, no problem.
30:30
He's just that he's going to need lots of leads at the end of
30:34
the day because he's wanting to eat high volume because he's
30:39
just going to keep playing through leads.
30:40
So if you hire him, yeah, just know that the kind of person
30:44
that you're dealing with and the second person Mr. B, Mr. B, who
30:49
is a typical relationship selling, you know, typical
30:54
relationship guy. So the guy just drop names
30:56
anyhow, if I after we're done, my client said that the guy was
31:00
talking like you like an Abuja contractor and that's Abuja
31:03
contractors are oh, the last time when I was with the
31:05
president, last time when I was with the Wicked, last time when
31:08
I was a minister, last time when I was a senator.
31:10
So and so and that, that, that, that so the guy just drop names
31:13
was a drop name anyhow. Anyhow, anyhow, that's what they
31:17
do millions we do millions here can do million Kaduna this
31:20
project, that project, you know, you know that kind of talk.
31:23
So tell him that look, this guy also doesn't have a process.
31:27
He's a relationship seller. So if you work with somebody
31:30
like this, yeah, no problem. Just know that you need to give
31:33
this person time because for him sales now friendship, so you
31:37
need to give him time to be doing his friendship
31:39
relationship up and down before one or two teams go close.
31:43
Or that's also another thing with friendship sales because
31:45
that friendship you can't really selling cannot be unpredictable
31:52
time timeline. Let me just put it that way
31:55
because my friendship. So I thought, OK, yeah.
31:58
And that's the guy. And then last person, Mr. C, Mr.
32:05
CI was from my own opinion. I was able to give a
32:09
recommendation that OK, look, I love the three people.
32:12
He's the one that I like or he's the one that I will endorse
32:15
because he understands that selling is a process.
32:18
He has a process and I told my client that if you remember when
32:21
answering the questions, he kept repeating a certain kind of
32:24
formula. If I let me look for my notes,
32:26
where is that note? So one moment I'm looking for my
32:31
physical note. When we had the conversation
32:34
with the people, there's something he kept on repeating.
32:36
So this was the formula that a candidacy kept on repeating.
32:41
Candidate C kept on talking about target, talking about
32:45
champion, and talking about follow up.
32:48
He kept on saying the target champion, follow up, target
32:50
champion follow up in not in a particular order, but you know,
32:54
this is me summarizing target champion follow up.
32:57
Now the idea behind targeting is this.
32:59
I've been saying on the podcast for a very long time that sales
33:02
begins with your ICP, your ideal customer profile, your target
33:05
audience, your target avatar, your target, whatever the people
33:08
who you do the best amount of business with.
33:10
That is where sales starts. You need to know who it is they
33:13
are chasing after before you start any sales process.
33:16
It's like trying to find a spouse.
33:18
For instance, you can't say, oh, I want to find husband, how to
33:21
find husband. Because of that, you start
33:22
talking to all kind of men. Don't be so oh, I want to find
33:25
wife. I want to find wife.
33:26
Because of that, you're talking to all kind of women.
33:28
Don't be. So you need to have a target
33:31
audience. There's some people who want
33:33
Mary and Maka. If you want Mary and Maka, good.
33:35
You now know the places to go to to find the Mary and Maka so
33:38
that you can marry. There's some people who are
33:40
looking for a sophisticated young lady.
33:42
OK, sophisticated young lady, no problem.
33:45
Now you know where you're supposed to go and start looking
33:46
at those. They're looking for those kinds
33:48
of people. Or there's some young women who
33:50
say, I'm looking for a provider. I'm looking for an ADO go.
33:52
Now that you have ADO go in mind, you now know the kinds of
33:55
places that you have to go to to start looking for those people.
33:57
And some people say, look, I don't want stress.
34:00
I'm looking for a homebody, stay at home dad.
34:02
Something, something, something. With that in mind, it will now
34:05
inform the places that you go to go and start looking for that
34:08
kind of husband or that kind of wife.
34:10
So it's the same thing in business as a salesperson #1 is
34:15
who is the target audience is when we know who they are that
34:17
will now know that OK, we'll be going to the market, or we'll be
34:22
going to networking session, or we'll be running advertisements
34:26
on Google or who is spending time on LinkedIn, or we will be
34:30
sending proposals to federal Ministry of Finance or whatever.
34:35
But it's from figuring out who the target audience is that will
34:38
start this journey. So I appreciated that this young
34:42
man, candidate C knew that anyhow, anyhow, targeting that
34:47
key part of the formula. Now somebody likes now that has
34:52
a process targeting championship champion and then follow up.
34:56
You can see that if you had a gas and performance no day, you
35:00
can sit down with him and you can start asking a question.
35:02
OK, target audience, are we really correct?
35:06
Are we looking at the right people?
35:08
The guy will say his owner, yes, I think these are the right
35:09
people because then the guy will give reason, The guy will give
35:12
justification. Everything makes sense.
35:13
OK, no problem. We'll move on to the next step.
35:16
But the justification make no make sense.
35:18
You now say, OK bro, you know what?
35:20
Yes, I can see why you thought that this was the ideal customer
35:23
audience, but you're fishing in the wrong pond.
35:26
We actually should be looking at this kind of individual, this
35:28
kind of individual. You see boys, because candidacy
35:32
in gear process, no be friendship, no be packaging and
35:36
the process now targeting champion follow up.
35:41
Now champion is a it's like a like a slang in sales.
35:45
They're there behind the champion is whenever you're
35:46
trying to sell into an organization.
35:48
If you have somebody who is your guy, somebody who's your inside
35:51
man, somebody who's your supporter, you go make the job a
35:54
lot easier. So I'm not saying all of you
35:59
should go around having champions or looking for
36:02
champions, but I'm just trying to say that this young man in
36:06
candidacy, he had a process. Step one was identify the
36:10
company. Which company are we going
36:11
after? Step 2 was let me enter the
36:13
company. Let me see if I can find a a
36:15
champion, find an ally, find a partner, find a supporter, find
36:22
an inside man, find an inside woman, find a, you know,
36:26
whatever it is you want to call it.
36:28
You see where I'm heading, But he had a process target.
36:32
Are we in the right company? Step 2 Champion.
36:35
Can I find me a champion? Now, this kind of person now if
36:38
there's problem, you can see that we can start breaking
36:41
things down. OK, no problem.
36:43
Who's your champion? And you only have one champion.
36:45
Why? Now you're supposed to get two
36:47
or three. OK, The people that say you're a
36:50
champion, what level of authority do they have in the
36:52
organization? This person no get access now.
36:54
So even though this person likes you, the person no get access
36:57
and the person will no get access is not going to be able
37:00
to help you close the deal. You have a champion, but the
37:03
champion is not in the corridors of power.
37:05
That champion is useless. You know, you know, we help you
37:07
in any way that kind of champion, we help nobody.
37:12
So you can start breaking it down.
37:14
You have a champion, but indeed, is your champion the correct
37:18
champion? Does the guy have access is a
37:20
useful somebody which kind of connects.
37:22
We can connect introductions the person can make for us.
37:27
You can start breaking it down. OK, target, we did a good job.
37:29
OK, champion. All right, let's look at this
37:33
champion thing here. There you can now have the
37:35
question about single threading versus multi threading.
37:38
Now, when you're trying to sell it into an account, single
37:41
threading is when you only know one person inside the company.
37:44
Simple single threading is a recipe for failure.
37:47
I know you can. OK, let me say it's a recipe for
37:49
failure. But you know, Brian Tracy says
37:51
that it's about increasing your statistical odds.
37:55
You don't increase that the odds being your favor.
37:57
If you're trying to sell into an organization and you only know
38:00
one person there. I have given regular listeners
38:04
who remember the story of a time when I was trying to sell into
38:07
one organization and the moment I entered there so that the CEO
38:11
was a tea boy just like me. So I started doing my brother,
38:13
my brother as per, you know, tea boys now, because it's not it's
38:18
not all the time that we're out in the field that we would a jam
38:21
ourselves and we jam ourselves as always as an event like your
38:24
team get to correct. Are you even from my finance
38:27
village? Oh boy, how now blah, blah,
38:28
blah, you know, just flow. So I turned it up.
38:32
I really turned it up. My brother, my brother.
38:36
Then I knew the programs officer.
38:39
That's how I entered into the organization.
38:40
Programs officer, then CEO and my brother, my brother.
38:43
Then they were going to bring in another member of the team who
38:48
was going to start running things for the company in
38:52
Makodi. They were trying to expand into
38:54
Makodi, into the North Central part of the the country, using
38:58
Makodi as a starting point. And of course, you know, me and
39:00
the lady were already connected on LinkedIn.
39:02
So I said I go run relationship again like that.
39:05
Then I also knew somebody who was in the programs department.
39:11
Yeah, programs, Apart from the programs officer, another person
39:14
was actually working in, sorry, in communications, the
39:17
communications department. So as I did try and enter that
39:20
company, now you can see that I knew three people.
39:22
Well, then I knew one person, you know Internet, not as if I
39:28
know her, know her like that. So some of you think that's OK.
39:34
Now you did try selling to your organization three people, you
39:37
know them well, one person CEO, my brother, my brother, the next
39:41
person programs officer. He's the one that introduced me
39:44
to the company. So not my guy.
39:45
I know I'm then the next person communications department, you
39:48
know, as per I use networking moves to make that one my
39:52
friend. And that's why I like physical,
39:53
physical and that's why I say, you know, physical is the is the
39:58
highest when it comes to communications, communications
40:03
hierarchy. It is because I used to go to
40:05
the office to say how far yummy, yummy they're around you don't
40:09
sit. That was the programs guy.
40:11
Because I used to go in there physical to see yummy that one
40:15
day I happened to catch CEO was around.
40:17
So I enter CEO office and then next thing you have my brother
40:21
self, my brother and my brother see physical physical and then
40:24
it's from there yummy day seats. No Oh, OK, right, no Allah.
40:28
I'll sit and wait. And then next thing lady from
40:30
communications department crossed by you said, oh, you're
40:33
the famous establishment and I maybe do so.
40:35
And then from there we start yarning.
40:37
You see physical physical where it is worth it because probably
40:41
physical physical is you know, you go waste money small, you
40:45
enter boss, you go do bolts or you'll buy fuel and right now
40:49
fuel is 1300 per liter and that is crazy.
40:54
You go to filling station, you pump 50,000.
40:58
You didn't even reach half of your car.
41:01
That thing is mad honestly mad that 50,000 won't even put you
41:06
in half half tank anyway. What was that?
41:12
So in that case, now you say that those people now know my
41:16
champions. What happened to my champions?
41:20
The CEO that was saying my brother my brother the guy
41:22
Jackpa on short notice. So he looks like he was really
41:27
planning on this jackpot thing. So they didn't click overnight.
41:29
The guy just evaporates. So the company was in disarray,
41:33
was now looking for a new CEO because my brother George
41:35
Jackpa, the guy said Niger too hash.
41:39
So the guy moved one time with his whole family.
41:42
Yeah, carry everybody then. Yeah, me, my friend now programs
41:47
officer. What happened?
41:49
The guy went for postgraduate study straight Japan.
41:53
He was now doing postgraduate in sorry, not PhD Abby PhD now
42:00
postgraduate and he was doing PhD in Japan.
42:04
I can't remember on International Development or
42:06
something like that. That's how yummy move the next
42:09
month. OK, so my brother, my brother,
42:12
the guy Jaguar then my guy Yummy in go school go and in the
42:17
pursuit PhD then the person in communications department.
42:23
Now what happened? She left the company.
42:28
I went to go and work for a rival company like that.
42:31
So that's how a company that I thought my hand was strong
42:34
because I know CEO, I know programs officer, I know the
42:38
person in the communications department.
42:41
I thought my hand was strong. In two months, I lost my folding
42:45
my my, my holding. Two months, I lost my footing in
42:51
the organization, could not run anywhere again now, so
42:56
everything just paralyzed grind to a halt.
42:59
So now you see why multithreading is important.
43:03
You want to have a champion, you want to have internal contacts,
43:05
No problem. You can say you know one person
43:07
and you're good. You can say you know two people
43:10
and you're good. In fact, like that, my example
43:12
showed, in fact, that's my worst nightmare.
43:14
You can't say because I know three people, all is well, but I
43:18
see that in Nigeria all the time.
43:20
So ah, the MD of that company, him and my father are best
43:23
friends. Therefore it's a done deal.
43:26
Who said, who said it's a done deal?
43:29
Even though in Apopsy's friend like 5 and six.
43:32
Who said it's a done deal? You only know one person but we
43:38
see that all the time anyway. Sorry, forgive me.
43:43
So what I'm trying to say is that this person had the process
43:47
target. Do we have the right company
43:50
champion? Can I get us a champion then
43:52
relentless follow up. So it's a rudimentary process,
43:55
but at least now some it's a process.
43:59
We can interrogate it. If there's a problem, we can
44:01
figure it out, we can fix it. We can we can make something
44:04
happen. So that's the reason why I said,
44:06
look, candidate C is the person that I put my money behind.
44:10
And if you're going to work with him, you should bring somebody
44:13
in to train them. Well, Oh, by the way, when I
44:18
make those recommendations, if I work for you, so excuse me if I
44:23
make those recommendations, I, you know, will be nice if that
44:25
person is me, but it doesn't have to be me.
44:27
Anyway, The thing is, you brought me in, you paid me for
44:30
my work. I've done my work, I've asked
44:33
the questions, I'll make my recommendations and then the the
44:37
rest is up to you. But in this case, honestly,
44:44
especially the way Niger is, you can work with any of these
44:49
people. But for me, I put my money
44:51
behind Mr. C because he has a process.
44:56
If he's trained up, we can, we can make it work.
45:01
So this is just a summary of my different ideas when it comes to
45:05
hiring. I've made other kinds of podcast
45:07
episodes about how if you're going to hire a salesperson, you
45:10
need to hire a salesperson with an internal local locus of
45:13
control. Person is self motivated.
45:18
What else? Person takes personal
45:20
responsibility for actions and failures and different kinds of
45:23
things I've spoken about. So if you just look for the
45:25
older episodes, if you just like, if you're listening to
45:28
this on YouTube, by the time you're done, if you use the
45:30
podcast name my own name and then search with a few key terms
45:33
like hiring salespeople or something, you're able to come
45:35
up with those other episodes. But excuse me, this is summary
45:41
of some of my ideas around hiring salespeople.
45:45
So applying these principles can be tricky, but if you need me to
45:47
look at your own particular company, that's not a problem.
45:50
You call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on
45:53
08064662140. You want me to talk about any
45:59
part of your business process or hiring process, then call me,
46:02
send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on the same
46:04
number 08064662140. So that's it.
46:10
And that is all for today. So thank you very much for your
46:14
time and attention. And if you are like these two
46:18
clients of mine that I helped in this last, this current month of
46:24
April, you're hiring a sales team, you're on boarding a sales
46:26
team. You know, I wish you best of
46:29
luck and everything will turn out well so long as you remember
46:33
that this sales team that you're going to hire, just remember you
46:37
have to train them. You don't bring in sales people
46:39
and say, Oh yeah, go and sell. Now, you don't have to look for
46:42
expensive consultants like me, but if you are the founder of
46:47
the company, whatever you have setting experience, you need to
46:50
have that conversation with them.
46:51
What you tell them. Now look, these are our ideal
46:53
customers. This is how we target them.
46:56
This is how we start conversations with them.
46:58
This is how we build relationships with them.
47:00
This is how we move the deal forward.
47:02
This is how we build a proposal. This is how we make an effective
47:05
presentation. When we make the presentation,
47:07
these are the closing techniques that we use when we are done
47:11
closing. This is how we try, try to
47:13
secure referrals, have that conversation with them.
47:16
I might, we shouldn't be one conversation.
47:18
So my client in the solar space just did his own onboarding and
47:22
for them it was an internal five step process.
47:25
OK. So actually they came in I think
47:28
a few days before the day was supposed to start.
47:30
They just set them up. Here's your company phone,
47:33
here's your company laptop, you know, here's this, here's that.
47:35
And then Monday resumption day one.
47:38
So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday was trading
47:40
covering all these sorts of things.
47:43
So just make sure you hire people and you should do OK one
47:47
then keep looking for resources like my own podcast, other
47:49
podcasts to listen to also give you other ideas about how you
47:52
can trade up your sales team. So that's it for today.
47:56
I'll catch you some other time.