Are You Selling Wrong? A New Look at the Buying Cycle

Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishma Ayede. I'm the host of the podcast and today we're going to be looking at how to give discounts and then some other random stuff. This is going to be, you know, an episode about my 3 Musketeers. If you've been listening for a while then you really know who they are. So if you'd love to connect, you can call SMS or send me a WhatsApp on 08064662140. And of course, I'm making today's recording at home, so there's going to be some noise in the background.

Now the things that we're going to look at today, I'm not sure if we have mentioned them before, so let me run through my notes. But to be on the safe side, let me just go ahead and do this. Now. One of them is on giving discounts. So I'm looking at the notes from my sessions with my 3 Musketeers Now. For those of you who remember my Musketeers now, they're part of a sales team for my client who is in the solar space.

And we get together repeatedly during the week. We're in the second, second month of our engagement. And then these are some of the old things that we discussed before. So there's not every single thing we discussed that I come over here or share on the podcast, but I think there are some things that are really important, foundational. So I come over here and discuss. And then one of them is this whole discount issue.

Now for those of you who've been listening for a while, you know that me and discounts, like I don't like discounts at all at all, at all. Anything that will make us stop playing the price game. In my own opinion, let's diminish that thing. Let's remove it fast and let's try and focus on selling on value because I have sold based on price in the past and I know you have as well. But you know that when you get into a price war, nobody wins.

As in you know, first to tire, first to lower price, all of those things, nobody wins. So in my own opinion, if you're a professional salesperson, just leave price alone. If your gases go and sell this thing for 2.5, look around. First of all, if you can see other people selling at 2.5, then that's your answer. Go and sell it for 2.5 even if you think the price is too high. In fact, sometimes that's the problem, we who are trying to sell market, whether it's for your own business of or another person's behalf, you really think the price is too high.

So it's your own business. You started off as a cake maker. You see that everybody is selling 2 inch tear cake at 75 K. You said you've done the costing. You've seen that it costs like maybe 65 K to make the cake. If you put 10K in your pocket, it won't be bad. But then you start thinking haha the economy is hard, times are hard. How many people can afford to pay 75K per cake? You know, blah blah blah. None of those things are your business.

Quite frankly, if you've done the numbers and it's costing expensive to bake the cake and it's looking as if around in your neighborhood, look to your left, look to your right, look around, check on Instagram is as if, OK, the going rate for two tier cake is 75 K, then it needs 75K. Now let's work on selling this thing. We start engaging in price battles. You know, you drop your own instead of 75, you drop it to 73. Next time we talk to her, she says, but I found somebody that will do it for 70 and then you drop it to 70.

And then before you know it, even though it's costing you 65 K to produce 1 cake, you're now selling it at 68 to make how much profit on top. So a lot of times it's because we were not sold on the value. You, the person that you're moving your own business, you're not sold on the value that you provide. You don't believe that you're selling value in this market. And then those of you who are employees, Olga, you're selling on behalf of Olga.

You don't really believe the value and what it is that you're selling. And so you start playing all these price games. So the very first thing that I will say don't touch as in leave it is price. So if I'm working with anybody and they say, but the price, the price, my own attitude is let's leave it. Let's leave it. However it is that they fix the price that fix the price. Our own is let's sell it. And always ask, is there somebody that is selling at this price?

The answer is always yes. Then let us sit down Rob mines together and let's see how we can sell this thing at this price. However, there are sometimes when some things happen like my client one day, you know, was not too happy, looked at the balance sheet and I called the whole team and say look, team, see here is what we have to be doing every month for everything to be buoyant, everything to be cool. And so far, look at where you guys at, you can see that there's a gap.

So that was the meeting. So one of these people now came out of the meeting and the guy just thought, you know what, let me call somebody and give them discounts. Maybe that will make them buy. So he called the guy, what's up blah blah. How you been? I've got good news. I've been able to give you a so so so so discount. And the person said, and let me think about it and then I'll start. Our conversation ended Then when we met up later on, we're now discussing the whole discount move.

So first of all, when the guy told me the amount he offered a discount. My mind wanted to. I said my mind wanted to bust. I said you offer how much has discount? The guy called you figure I said the organs say you can be discounting based on that. He said and that is within my discretion to give discounts. But that amount I said, Are you sure? You say yes. I said, OK, no problem, I'll discuss it with Olga. I wrote it down discuss with Olga discount policy because I've said in the previous podcast and lots of people don't realize this, but whether you're the salesperson or whether you're the business 1 are selling for yourself, every single time you make a discount now, you're creating more work for yourself in the future because you give a discount in your mind is small, 10 percent,

20% get the person to come and buy now. It still doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day, you have a certain revenue number that you want to hit. You want to make 200 mil by the end of the year or you want to make 5 mil. You want to make whatever every single time you discount now that go, that number that you still need to hit because let's face it, if you don't hit it, you won't be able to pay Internet. You'll be able to pay school fees and all of those things.

That number is still there. So every time you discount now you're increasing the number of contacts, the number of people that you have to call in the future to make that go, which is also another reason why I don't like discounts. I did one rough math for you guys on for my podcast episode. I can't remember the details but let me just re style it. You can hit your 1,000,000 go by selling four people at a profit margin OF250K you hit one meal or you can hit your 1,000,000 by selling Gosh I can't remember what I did so let me just do something ridiculous by selling 1,000,000 people at a profit at one naira.

Yes at a profit of 1 naira you can see hit your 1,000,000 go. Then the question is, which is easier to sell to four people or to sell to 1,000,000 people? I hope you guys are getting the math. It is easier to clock your quota by selling for people at the profit margin of 250. So for me, I'm in favour of, of course, let's not price gouge the market because at some point you're just being unreasonable. See, But The thing is when it comes to pricing unreasonable,

you never know if anybody had told me two years ago that you will sell mobile phone for 2.5 and Nigerians will be buying, I'll say is a lie. There is only people who steal that will buy like that. But lo and behold this fold the fold and the flip is not to M 2.5 and people are buying. So when it comes to this thing of price of is even hard, hard to gauge. Like when I when have you entered price gouging? My own opinion, the moment your phone is reaching 1,000,000, we don't begin the price gouge, but people are paying.

They're pained. See, this is also another reason why I say, look, let's just leave this price thing alone, especially those of us who are simple business people or simple sales people. This whole pricing thing, the psychology involved, this economics involved, There's all kinds of things involved. Let the people who know how to do that, let them do their magic and fix the price. I only shall let sell dazzle. So where was I now?

So I made a note, discussed with Olga price discount policy then and I told the guy, OK, you know what, I understand when things are tight in the office, I understand that some of you want to go out and you want to go into aggressive cash collection mode as in let me be calling them, oh, buyers owe me money. Let me call this guy. Oh, this person did he look like was OK? Let me call this guy. Let me call this babe. Let me call this person, you know, immediate aggressive cash collection.

Cash, Cash, cash, while looking at short term want to bring this money in. So I understand those moves, but if you're going to do those kind of moves either for your own business or because of somebody else's business, this is the scope, this is how you do it. Traditionally you don't want to offer huge discounts because unfortunately the problem of huge discounts is it sounds unbelievable. And then it also makes the person feel like you are price gouging, which is why I was not surprised.

That person said, let me think about it. If you call someone and say, hey, what's up now, are you there, blah, blah, blah. Hey, you know nothing we're talking about the we say 1.2 say, yeah, I remember, I'm still thinking about it. It's OK, no problem. Let me give you discount, remove 500K. In your mind, you're thinking that the person will say 500K, let me buy now the person might start thinking, so there was even margin OF500K on top before.

It means that this guy was trying to gouge me. The guy is not going to fall for it. He won't. Of course you would say, let me think about it and call up some other people and see how much he can get off. Because if you you are desperate, you can throw a 500. Then it means that the margins on top are plenty. He cannot call somebody up and say, hey, you know what I spoke to? So, so and so right now, the person removed 500 on the price.

But you, you're the one I like. You sound like you're a reasonable somebody, so look, let's be straightforward here. If you just remove 250 for me, I'll go ahead and buy from you. You know, buyers play those games, so don't just go and call big numbers. Big number can backfire. It can. So this is what you do traditionally this game. First of all, the discount you offer is small, 2 to 3%. Worst case enter 5% but don't want to be calling big big number at all.

Then you look at 2 criteria, 2 criteria. You look for people that are also called high value, high value clients and high urgency. High value means the money is big. If what you're talking about is costs 120K and you tell the person you're giving them 5% discount, 5% discount on 100K is not there's nothing. What if what you're selling is on big, big, big, big level, you know, 5M7M10M12M20M By the time you calculate 3% discount, the money will sound big.

So we did the math over there in the team and we saw that on their products of five M, 5% discount is 250 K SO250K on every five M You can see that the thing sounds, you know it sounds doable. In other words, by the time you are discussing with somebody for a system of 10 M and you save 5% discount, what you're doing is you're saving the person 500K. You can hear that 500K sounds large, but relative to the total amount, the money is small.

So we're talking 2 to 3% traditionally. Traditionally, I know some of you still want to go higher. Please do not pass 5%, but you can see that First off, it has to be high value. The amount must be beam, it must be big. If you're going to offer somebody a 5% discount on top something that costs 50K, the person is not going to pay attention to you because what is 5% discount? I should have done it before I started this episode, OK?

No, If I want to do it now, I might end up cutting this podcast recording because you know that I'm using my phone. So it has to be on big, big money, big, big, big, big money. So that's the first one, high value invoice, high value client. Now the second thing is there has to be someone who has high urgency. It means you've already decided ahead of time. You've been speaking to the person, you know that this person is ready to move.

They're ready to move now, now, now. So that kind of person, if you say 5%, so long as you can pay by next week Wednesday, the person has already been ready to move before they will take action. But if the person has no urgency, you're calling them now to give them this discount. There's still no intent. There's still no urgency, there's no motivation to move. Let me give an example. Back in my wedding photography days, let's say we sat down, we priced everything.

The babe's bill comes up to 800 K. But the problem is they're getting married next year. I can come and tell her that, OK, you know what? Remove 300K and then move your wedding date forward. I mean, like how like the date is the date. People's priorities are the priorities. That timeline is that timeline. You can't shift that timeline by giving them a sweet, a sweet deal. Now, when you're talking on big, big, big, big, big things, you know, like when multinational corporations are maybe negotiating with the Nigerian government, you know, you can't play those kind of games and offer some discount and, you know, get people to move early.

But that's because money is big, big, big, big, big. But we haven't entered those hundreds of millions, hundreds of billions level yet. So at this level, you offer this thing to somebody who already had high urgency to move. So somebody who told you that he wants to move by August 30th. And then, you know, you've had this conversation with your guy in the office and you know, well, it's August 1st. You can call the person and say,

you know what, we can lock in this price for you at a 5% discount. So long as you're ready to pay by next week Wednesday, then August will now just go ahead and start like that. That kind of person can quickly move. So remember this discount game that you want to play, high value and high urgency. The money is a big, if it's big, go ahead, make the call. Urgency is the person time bound? Is there something that they're aiming towards?

Have they let it slip or have they told you that look anyhow, anyhow, December 1st, we have to move that kind of thing. You really have a clear timeline then go ahead, call that person. Then the structure of the call is like this. Good morning, Sir, or good morning Ma. Good news. I've spoken to my OGA because you know, you're my guy. I've been rooting for you. So August say we can offer you concession. So what we can do is we can give you 5% discount.

What that means is on every five M, that's 250K. That's what it means for you. But The thing is, organ say we can only give this concession to people who want to pay before XYZ date. Are you interested? That's how you start the conversation. So Please remember, don't go with big number. Big number sounds impressive, but it can be counterproductive. Don't now disbelieve you. You say your price gouging and then there's this thing where it's not just a Nigerian thing,

it's rolled over. Somebody was saying everything is so good, why is it that cheap? So if you show up and you're willing to remove 50%, some people who actually start thinking this one, that these guys are moving 50%, this thing is not quality. The quality is not, is not good quality is not on par. So don't want to be calling big numbers. Remember, traditionally 2 to 3%, those of you who want to be stubborn, I know you've moved to 5% and then it's high value only big money, high urgency.

The person is ready, ready to take action. So that's one of the ways that we deal with the discounting issues. But to be honest, you know, I'm consulting for you or I'm training for you. You come at me with this price thing and I will say, look, let's leave this price thing. The price is the price. I'm just letting you know ahead of time for those of you who do call and then we start working together. I will not be entertaining pricing discussions.

The only pricing discussion that I will entertain is when we say can we review this price up because there are lots of you that are severely underpriced. Even me my making this recording right now. I know I'm underpriced. What I'm trying to do is I'm doing what do they call it again? Is it market entry, Market entry pricing? That's my strategy. But yeah, I know I'm underpriced. So for me, there's no price conversation where I'm removing something.

I'm only adding. I will only be getting more expensive with time. I'm not going to be getting cheaper, especially in Nigeria of the day with hyperinflation. So that's one on the discounting. So let me check my notes. So second thing, I didn't really bring it up with them sharp, but let me bring it up with you guys. That's this thing of the customer buying cycle. Now a lot of us are selling complex products. Complex products are, you know,

expensive stuff usually have multiple parties that you're talking with. What else? Relationships are important and the sales cycle is long. So that means you're going to be talking. So like, before you engage a consultant, it's not a simple thing that you call somebody on Monday, you pay them money on Wednesday. You know, you want to talk to them, shoot them out, check their website, think about it, think of your priorities, you know, before you pay.

So when you're in a complex sales situation and the deal is not going to close like that, like that because like for simple things like, OK, like mayonnaise. So my wife wanted to make breakfast this morning. She's actually gonna buy mayonnaise trying to make breakfast for the kids make them something nice, which is why mothers are good because left to me there's bread in the fridge, there's butter in the fridge. Like what are we talking about breakfast sauteed or she wants to make something nice sausage mayonnaise, you know, make something good.

So I appreciate your mother's. You know, they give color to to life. Where was I Uh huh. So go and buy mayonnaise. So down is a simple sale. I went there. Oh boy, do you have mayonnaise and say yes, so where is it? Say it's over there. The idiot he said is over there. See these are things that kill your business in other shops now in Abuja, they don't say it's over there, they say 1 moment Sir, let me go get it for you.

The person will now go and bring 3 containers and then show you and say this is what we have available. Sir, we have this one, this one is Heinz, this one is this, this one is this. This one is UK, this one is Niger, this one is Kotunu, this one is 50 L, This one is, you know which one do you want to buy? You see, that's how you move business forward. But idiot just sat down there and say he's over there. He pointed. I said to myself, it's not your fault.

It's because there's no other shop open on a Sunday morning. And I went to go and pick the thing myself. So how much is this one? How much is this one? This one is X amount, this one is X amount. The one that was expensive, I put that one down. I said I'll bro, I scanned this one. So I took that one and then I left. Is it as a simple sale scenario? No pricing, no haggling, no time, no nothing. Bros, do you have mayonnaise?

Yes, it's over there. By the way, those of you who are listening, stop. That is over there. BS Nigeria is changing now. We're becoming a much more customer, customer centric society, customer focused society. So please be professional about this. Somebody said you have mayonnaise. I say yes ma'am, we have mayonnaise in store. Just one moment. You walk over there, always present people with options. Pick three cans, you pick option A, option B, option C, and you bring you to Madame.

And then you let Madame make her choice. Madame doesn't know what's up. You educate her a little. It's OK, Madame. What are you trying to do with the mayonnaise? I say, oh, OK, sorry, it's me. That is my Oga. Oga. What are you trying to do with the mayonnaise? Well, my dad wants to make breakfast for the children. She says she wants to make a sandwich. Oh, OK, sandwich. So traditionally what we do is we do Heinz or we do this or we do that.

Those are the perfect whatever for for sandwiches. OK, How much does a sandwich one cost? Because this that, that, that, that. But I've already anchored that This is the one that is fit for purpose. Even though it's more expensive. Then you now sell the more expensive item. So you see how that thing works. Don't sit down. Your chance. It is over there. You're the owner of the shop. That's why people are paying you get off the chair and move and sell your product.

Anyway. Sorry, don't mind me, where was I? So that's a simple sale. Do you have a pussy? Do you have mayonnaise? Simple. But in cars complex sale. You go there or God. Do you have Nissan? Yes, I have Nissan. Which year? 2025 model day 2020 model day 1989 model day. You will now start discussing, discussing, discussing. I'm coming, You will talk to your wife, you will come back. You talk again, you say I'm coming, you come with your brother, you do test drive, I'm coming, I'm coming.

You go, you come back, you come with your mechanic. Look around. In other words, somebody can start discussing to buy a brand new car January 1st. The person might now pay. You know, February 3rd complex sale. You don't just come and buy immediately. So it's the same thing with my three Musketeers. Now what they're selling is solar. Nobody calls you to say what's up, do you have solar on January 1st? And then by January 3rd they have transferred the money.

Now there's some bigger boys or some bigger girls who look, they don't want stress. So that will happen. They'll come and say how much is it and 10 million, only 10 million. What's your account number? If I transfer it now, you will start work tomorrow morning and then they will just transfer. So yes, bigger boys day, but it's not a guarantee for most people. They will call you January 1st. You have 1-2 discussions, you say, let me think about it.

You'll call again, you'll call again and maybe end of the month targeting salary. That's when they will now pay. So complex sale when you're dealing with the complex sales environment, complex sales are high touch. High touch just means you will call them multiple times. This is not something you just do one call. Remember the mayonnaise? I went there. Oh boy, do you have mayonnaise? Yes, The thing is over there, 2 minutes, we finished.

There's no multiple touch. But as the price goes up and as the complexity of the situation goes up, by default, you need multiple touches. Yeah. What's up, Sir? The person that I spoke to yesterday. Oh, yes, yes, I remember concerning your interest in blah, blah, blah. I remember perfectly. I sent you a proposal on that, that that. Have you had a look at it? Oh, yes, but I'm concerned about this. That that that you people talk,

talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. You know what? I'm not convinced. OK, no problem. I can send the engineer over to the house next week Wednesday. Would that be OK? OK, yes. No problem. You caught the call. You see, high touch. The person called. The first time you guys spoke. You called The second time you guys spoke. You sent proposal, you called again, you guys spoke. He's not happy with one or two things.

Then you say you're sending engineer. Engineer will go and go and assess. You can see multiple touch. That's like 4 phone calls and then you send one engineer before you close the deal. Now, because the things we're talking about are expensive. For something to be a complex sale scenario, by definition it has to be expensive. So it's worth it. All these credits that you're doing, Internet that you're doing, then you pay your engineer transport, go come.

And of course engineer has to buy a gallon on the road now. I mean, he has to eat something. So all that money that you're spending, you know, it's OK because it's complex sales. So you can see that it's high touch. So for those of you who are spending expensive items, just know that it's high touch log. This is not for luxury. It's different. Luxury goods is different because part of the luxury experience is trying to show that you know you you have arrived like you're confirm big boy.

So expensive items in the luxury space. You know, that's now and is different. The trip is that they'll pay one time. So people who buy Lamborghini, they don't do part, part payments. There's no part payment for Lamborghini. You go there and you pay cash. In fact, you buy 2/1 for maybe you can buy 41 for you, one for your brother, one for your wife, your son that has done 18/1 for him too. So that's how it is. So in the luxury segment, even though it's very expensive, the payment is, you know, about one time, but we're not talking luxury now.

And those of you who sell luxury, please ignore the stuff that I'm saying about high touch. Well, for everybody else, because Sola is not luxury, it's going to be high touch. Be ready to make multiple visits, multiple calls, multiple Zoom session, multiple WhatsApp call, multiple messages. It's high touch now to maintain expectations or to give you the right sense of expectations. When we're dealing with high touch sales environments,

there's this thing that is called the, what's it called now? The customer. Hi, what's it called now? The customer journey, The customer journey, I think it's called the customer journey. I can't remember. I don't talk about it much because quite frankly, it's not something that I agree with because in most situations it's not as if the customer has a well laid out thought process of I want to buy solar. So you can't really say there's a customer journey per SE, but you know, if you look at things statistically, you see that yes,

people move through certain stages when they're trying to buy some things and they're trying to consider some things. So if you sit down and you think about the customer journey, you can map the different stages and you can now see, OK, this is how I fit into this process. So you now know how you'll be pacing yourself. When it comes to follow up. Remember, I prefer to say follow through. I'm not saying follow up for those of you who are on in on initiated in the ways of this broadcast.

So you will now know how to pace your follow up, how to pace your follow through because you understand the customer buying process, the customer mind map when it comes to buying. So traditionally now this is what people say when it comes to the product buying cycle. So stage 1 is awareness. Awareness is, oh, I have a problem, and stage 2 is consideration of research. Consideration and research is, yeah, OK, I have a problem, let me start trying to see how I can solve this problem.

Then stage 3 is decision and evaluation. OK, I've looked at one or two options, and I'm talking to Kelechi and Sons, I'm talking to Kemi, and I'm talking to Tavishima. Of the three of them, who am I going to go with then #4 is purchase and installation. That means I've decided let me transfer the money, let Tavishima come and install my solar system. So that's how it works. So again, the stages, awareness or problem trigger what the person realizes.

Hey, I have a problem. Consideration and research. That's where they're doing, fact finding, gathering information, checking online, talking to one or two people, then decision and evaluation. That's where they're now starting to control. Prices with a boy fee is this amount with Alhaji is this amount and then with Madam so, so, so and so is this amount then purchase and installation, you pay. We're ready to move ahead.

So now let's look at that regarding solar. And then you see how it helps you to be pacing yourself. You know how you go the follow person, you know, whether it's close marking, whether is you give them space, you know, maybe you call today and then you chill and then you call next week and then you chill or whether it's quick marking, call them Monday, call them Wednesday, call them Friday, call them Sunday. By the way, when we are talking complex sales, in complex sales,

close marking doesn't work. You come across as desperate. So we shall learn to have some restraint. So call somebody on Monday, call them on Tuesday, call them on Wednesday, call them on Thursday. I assure you by Friday they block you. Like this guy's a nuisance. I have a problem. But but honestly, these guys a nuisance. They block you. So when it comes to complex sales, relax. For simple sales, you can be doing close marking and you can do high pressure.

So like when I was standing in that guy's store now and I was looking at the mayonnaise, I was holding the three cans. The guy could have said OK, are you buying or not? That 1 is OK because it's a simple sales in the environment. If you have somebody like that, depending on how you ask, it might be rude. It might not be rude, but you can ask when it comes to buying car or buying solar or complex stuff, you somehow for it as a person who look orga are you buying or not?

If you're not buying, leave my shop. You know it's somehow. So that's why you need to know. Are you in a simple sale or are you in a complex sale? This is how it determines how you sell your how you sell your approach. You can be high torch and high pressure in some environments. In some environments, it will be too much. All right, so now in the awareness stage or the problem trigger stage, that will be like when people realize that there's a problem, People realize that look, you know what, in this neighborhood, never they take light too much.

There's a problem or the person realizes that what the hell? Last month, how much did we spend on diesel? 700K, This is madness. On top diesel alone, that's a problem For some people, it's noise. Remember when in Lagos, what was the noise? Because we lived on Amina Crescent, yeah, Miller Crest and I was off 20 St. then 20 St. was off Allen Ave. the famous Allen Ave. Whenever Nepal takes like just because everybody has Gen. even we had like, is it 7.5, is it kilowatt or whatever, you know,

big, big Gen. Now everything is supposed to have noise insulation, but still it doesn't change the fact that in your own compound, the neighbor compound everywhere, because Nepal is taking light and then I'll smoke again. So that one is also a sign that look there's a problem. This noise is much yes, we ran Jane overnight while I can't sleep. We need something quieter like I carried easy. Therefore, some people use equipment malfunction current goes up current goes down for you know it Olga decreases, but deep freezer.

How do we not fix compressor last month he said, do we know by fridge guard, but the current is jumping up and down blah blah blah. See, there's a problem. So awareness now around solar products or around inverters, these are the things NEPA don't take light too much. The cost of generator is too high, the fuel cost is too high, you know, because of teenable economy. Then the noise is too much and then things don't spoil around the house.

People now are aware I have a problem. How can I fix this thing my brother say or my neighbor said or I heard that inverter can this or solar can this or this disease that that the person is now problem aware. So you as a salesperson now when you meet the person at this stage your needs be a helpful resource. You know she said Olga, I understand no problem. Yes, these are the sorts of problems that we can solve. OK, so the next step is what we're going to do is we're going to do a power audit on energy assessment because we need to figure out exactly what it is in the house that needs to be powered or exactly where this problem is coming from.

Now your equipment is malfunctioning so that even when we install the solar, we'll know how we'll put backup systems in place or prevention systems in place to prevent this, prevent that. So I look, I'm not technically minded. So those of you who sell solar, you know, I'm sure you can see that I'm making some stuff up, but you get the idea where I'm heading to helpful resource. The next stage is consideration and research, whether trying to do information gathering,

information gathering. Now for people who are looking to buy solar, they'll be thinking of cost. First of all, how much my brother say he fixed his own at 15,000,000 or my brother is a big boy me, I'm not a big boy me, I don't want to spend more than 8 million. They are thinking cost me of course system size, how many kilowatts water can carry freezer and deep freezer, how many AC, all these kinds of things. Then of course types of brands.

And believe me, this is going to be very confusing for people in the solar space because the average Nigerian person like waiting concerning Nigerian concerning solar. So really this is the first time they're here in all these brands for you, you're in the space, you're comfortable with all the brands for them, it's the first time. All of this is overwhelming. And then financing options, that's for people who can't pay upfront.

So you can see consideration and research. Now they're doing all this information and gathering your job there as a salesperson is be a helpful resource, be educating them. One of the salespeople that I'm training, if I has even started using my own way of talking about it because may I say that look, information is free. Implementation is all we pay for. The guy started saying the thing to what is proper attitude. Yeah, Information is free.

Yeah. What questions do you have? I can ask any questions. Where are you stuck? What don't you understand? Don't worry about the information is free. Any question you have, just be, just be talking. Our answer, the scope is this. The more that they talk, the more questions that you answer, the more that you have an opportunity to build rapport and to form a connection so that you leave an impression in the woman's head or in the man's head.

Because let's face it, this Niger in fact is world over. Anybody who is trying to solve these kind of problems is talking to two or three people. You just happen to be the person on the phone for now. She can finish that call with you now and go and start talking to somebody else. Want to make sure that we're leaving a good impression. So education is free. Be educating the people. These are the things that go into determining the cost.

These are the factors when it comes to system size. These are the different kinds of brands that we have. Therefore, my own customer, my client now who they're particular about quality. So yeah, so these kind of brands exist, but the reason why we don't play with these brands is because if something happens, the equipment manufacturer, they don't send support staff on time. So we don't deal with them because we only want to deal with the brands that if something is wrong, our engineer will be on site today.

Then once we discover what the problem is, if we need support from the equipment manufacturer, they'll be on site tomorrow. So you educate them. Then of course, you know, financing well down is a touchy topic because unfortunately financing is is expensive because financing essentially is taking a loan to buy these things. So that's consideration stage and research. The next is decision and evaluation. That is where they're actively comparing.

So your job as a salesperson now in that environment is you're trying to, since they're doing compare and contrast, you too help them with compare and contrast. This is where you now start showing social proof. These are the kinds of buildings that we have worked on similar to yours and these are the similar products and similar, you know, whatever you don't start sending links to your website or the videos that you have stored on your phone about the projects that you have that you've done.

And then you now start discussing things in more details. The difference in quality and specs of the difference in warranty and guarantee. This one is OK, but it's only one year warranty. But if you go with this one, this one is five year guarantee. This is what the warranty means, ma this is what the guarantee means and essentially the 10 year guarantee what that means. If if any of XBCXYZ problems solved, we will come and fix it from our own pocket.

But the warranty only covers this kind of defect, this kind of defect. You have those conversations, of course, you're also chipping, you know, experience. We've been doing this for 25 years. Our installers are properly trained and so, so, so, so, so we have a reputation in the market to maintain, you know, all those sorts of things. That's when they had the decision and evaluation stage. So you're now talking, you know,

all these things. These are the things you're you're now discussing. Now the reason why I'm bringing this up, remember we're talking about customer, customer purchasing journey or the customer purchasing mind map or something, I can't remember. And you see now that that different stage awareness, consideration, decision of all these issues that we have been talking about. Can you see that there's no way to have all these conversations in one day.

You can't have all these conversations in one day. All these issues I've been talking about, which is why you need to pace yourself and have a plan. That is how I could follow them. Small, small, small, small. One call to one call to one call this I'll be following them like that, like that, like that steady. So don't be too, you know, like you're rushing, rushing, rushing, like calm down. The talk is plenty. All these issues that I've mentioned, you've seen that the issues is plenty.

As your black people say it's more the issues is more you can't just talk in one time so steady pace yourself. That is one thing unfortunately that lots of Nigerian sales people don't realize. This is a complex sale. You can't force this thing because the person called January 1st doesn't mean that you collect your money. January 7th, January 8th doesn't work like that. But of course, you take your dressing from the other person.

If the other person feels like we can move faster, be following them and move fast. If it sound like the person needs to move at the measured pace, follow them. I'll be measuring. Now the final thing is purchase and installation. And this is also where lots of people make the mistake. Purchase and installation does means the person pays money, but and then you come and install. Most people think my job is done, I've collected money,

that's it, that's a mistake. I repeat, that's a mistake. Lots of people talk about sales. They say closing a sale. Actually we're not closing a sale. We are opening a relationship. Because the hope is if we sell one solar system today, want the person to be on good terms, good vibes with us. So that by the time the person hears that somebody in church or somebody at work wants to do solar, they will say, I have some boys and these boys are professional.

Give my boys a call. They sorted me out. These boys do not disappoint you. So we're not closing a deal, we are opening a relationship. So the fact that they have transferred several M to your account doesn't mean, you know, we install and then we go. Now the people who are going to do installation, those ones, they're separate because you know, you, you're possible for sales. So what do you know about installing? Although in this guy's my clients company, the people are sales engineers.

So which really means that, you know, they know the work. They're also technical. So of the three people who sell, two of them are technical. So that means worst case scenario, they can go down a whole spanner and be doing everything too. So they know the work. By the way, it helps because Brian Tracy says that. What's it called? Again? Forgive me, you know, I didn't write all these things. Now that product knowledge, yes,

that product knowledge is the foundation of selling. Product knowledge means you know this product inside and out. If you're sleeping and they slap you and they ask you a question about your product, you'll be able to answer the question straight. So these are some of the things that make us convincing salespeople we know this thing inside, outside. If you're a cake Baker and somebody says no, why can't we use a saccharinic kind of sugar?

You say no, no, Madam, we don't use saccharin because of this. That, that that is the reason why we use sugar. You know it. You ask me any question about solar, you hand side. So product knowledge, the foundation, make sure you know your stuff. So where was I? So you're the salesperson. Now the installer is different. So an installer will now go and install, then they'll now do testing and then they'll now do handover.

But you as a salesperson, you still have a role to play. Number 1, you will now become project management coordinator for this kind of thing. You now once they've transferred 7M you go, you switch from sales mode to project management mode. You're the one. I'll now be coordinating everything. Good morning, Madam. Thank you very much for the transfer 7 them. We saw it yesterday. We sent you a receipt in the e-mail. Have you seen it?

Oh yes, I've seen the e-mail. Thank you very much, Madam. Don't forget the boys are coming to install by Friday. They're going to be there 8:00. Will you be at home? Oh, I totally forgot. I'm not going to be around. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. OK, that's not a problem, man. What about your house manager, your houseboy? Is he going to be available? Say yes. OK, no problem. So long as there's somebody there who can give us access to the roof, access to the DP,

access to whatever, we can start work. By the time you come back in the evening, you will still meet us there. Is that OK, Ma? So yes, that's fine. OK, Ma, since you say you'll be on the road, can I get the number of the person who is going to be at home, please, Ma, send it to me so I can call them now. OK. Thank you very much, Ma. Looking forward to hooking up. You know, now you understand customer service talk. She said OK, you caught the phone.

You now call the person. Remember, we are in project management mode. She brought what's up now how you did say I'm fine. Who is this? Oh, sorry. Forgive me. My name is Kalichi. I just spoke to Madam. She says you're going to be around on Friday. What ones are going to do? Solar. So OK, Yes, Yes, yes, yes. So I was spoken to Madam. We can confirm from her when we're coming Friday. We'll be there around 8-9. All we need is this, this that,

that, you know, she said you'll be able to give us access. There are no problems. OK, No, Allah. So we'll be seeing on Friday. Then when you're done, you will now call the boys in the office. Now look, Madam has paid. Oh, you boys don't, don't mess up. I told Madam 8:00. So 7:00, you boys must be on the road heading to Madam's house. And then warn them because, you know, installation boys, they can be very lazy at times.

So be on their case. You have collected the money. You finish sales. Now we're switching to project management mode. Because this project must align. Everything must go sharp, sharp, sharp. You promise, Madame 8 o'clock 8:00. Your boys must be there. And I'm project management mode. You're now functioning as a liaison. Fancy word liaison. I learned that word when I was in primary school. I remember asking my father. I can't remember what.

I pronounced it. The guy laughed. He said no, his liaison, and then he explained it's derived from French. He explained the whole thing. So you're now in liaison mode, project manager, liaison officer, begin the last with everybody to make sure that this project goes according to plan. And then you establish different points of contact. You are the point of contact for the business because the woman transferred the money to account manager, but she doesn't know account manager, she doesn't know CEO.

It is you that she knows, salesperson. As far as she knows you, you're the face of the company. Assume the face of the company. You're not the point of contact. You get points of contact for other people in the house, whether Madam is around or Madam is not going to be around. Get some other people's number. Oh, Madam. OK, no problem. But just in case you can't stay for the whole day. OK, Your son is still around. OK, Can we have his own number?

We just need to make sure that somebody who is lost in case we need this or we need that. Get all the points of contact. You see project management make sure everything because this is all part of the especially in Nigeria where boys are very, very unprofessional. Otherwise, not just boys, girls can be unprofessional too, but usually these boys who do installation. So boys can be very unprofessional. But you handle this part where somebody would like they'll be like, no, no, no, you people are the best.

In fact, it's some of you don't know how important this is. See on what's the day self? OK, today is Sunday. So during the week on Thursday, the British Council, they had a pre departure session for people who have just been awarded scholarships for Schervening, Schervening Scholarships and Commonwealth Scholarships. And they were the one who provided media. So even though I don't do wedding photography anymore, there's some people that they call me, you know, I will show.

So my corporate clients, I like to show for them because corporate money, you know, it's not as if it's fantastic, but at least they call a lot. So we went there. Now The thing is I had some normally what I, what I do for corporate classes, I like to show up 30 minutes early. Worst case scenario, sometimes I show up an hour early and then I just stay there and I'm just doing my work, you know, making sales calls, maybe record the podcast something.

But this time around, because you know, in Niger, like I said, boys can be unreliable. So when somebody says my event is starting at 4:00 and then they come downstairs, 3:00, you're already there. They might just be calm, they might just cool down in their mind. They begin, they rank you as if you're a professional, They're rating as a professional. So that's some of the steeds that you can use in the business. So this thing is really, let me show you how important it is.

So for this particular day now, I couldn't do my normal thing. I didn't show up one hour. I didn't show up 30 minutes, but 5:00, I was in the hall when the program was supposed to start and he organized it and made me answer. I did. Now, what happened? It's not like yourself that what happened. Was there any emergency when I had to say, well, yeah, you know, actually my wife travelled. So, you know, we had one or two things to sort out, you know,

But, you know, I'm really sorry that I didn't show up on time and say no problem, well, you're here, so we haven't missed anything. So we continued. So we see how important this kind of thing is. Now, once you establish A reputation for yourself, you know, you're that guy, always on time, everything always smooth. The day that you depart from it, small people will think, ah, no, the fact that this guy didn't pull through as he normally does, it must be an emergency because people are concerned for you not to be here as you normally do.

That it must have been a problem. Is everybody OK? So all these things being professional really, really on point. So now that you've collected money, you're now project management. You want to make sure that everything is professional, you know, on point. These are the things that will make us a very kind impression on all Madam or God. Now make them feel confident to recommend you to somebody else. People showed up on time, they worked when they worked, they cleaned, they didn't steal anything, they didn't break anything.

All of these things make makes a difference. Then you know, fall into the account management role. Account management means, so excuse me, so account management means somebody has given you money, the person is now customer. So you now treat them as if you know, as if they are family. You call them once in a while because we're trying to maintain good relationships with these people. You see how we can get repeat business or referrals because some people don't buy system for the house.

They just do need as tester. If it works out well, they cannot buy system for the office. So you're now in account management role. We are keeping up with people, you know. Happy New Year, Happy birthday. How's the system? I hope there's no problem. Oh, Madam, the system is almost six months old now. We're going to send an engineer over just to make sure that everything is working OK. No, don't worry. No, no maintenance is required.

It's just part of what we do as a company. There's no charge, man. Don't worry. The engineer will just come and have a look around to make sure everything is cool. OK Madam, the system has been there one year. Hope everything is good. It is now that we're now going to have to start doing regular maintenance. So the next maintenance will be in about 6 months, blah blah blah. You know all that, that is account maintenance.

So using the customer buying journey or buying mind map or whatever The thing is called, I'll try and confirm and then say it again next episode. This is how you pace yourself and this is how the role of the salesperson changes throughout the whole thing. So some of you, especially those of you who are new in the field, you need to adapt with the proper mindset. Some of you are being too fast. You're thinking sales, sales,

sales, sales, sales. Your job changes. Sometimes it's consultant, sometimes it's educator, sometimes it's advisor, sometimes it's hardcore sales and sometimes it's project management and then sometimes it's account management and then back into sales again because you're trying to get a referral from the person or get another deal. So your role changes. OK, it's close to one hour, so let me just bring it to a close here.

OK. I know for sure that I haven't spoken about this one before, this buying map thing, but for those of you who listen to an episode before where I've mentioned something about discounts, you know, apologies, I just wanted to make sure that I yeah, did I mention that? So summary, that's it. If you're involved in the context, in a complex sale, you're not going to close the deal with one phone call. It's going to be multiple phone calls.

Prepare yourself because there's a buying process, there's a buying cycle. Your role will change throughout the buying cycle. Be following people, small, small. That's how you close the deal. Then on the discount thing, if you need to be aggressive and collect cash now, now, now, now, now it is only high value customers that you go and meet. Don't want to meet somebody that is only only 100K and offer the person 5% discount, 5% discount plus 5%.

A 100K is nothing. So high value briefs and then high urgency, the one that people are ready to take action now. So that's it. Remember, if you would love to connect, you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. Thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys in the next episode. And Please remember, even though I used solar as an example here, all these principles apply to whatever business.

So if you're in the medical field, every time I said solar, remove solar and then insert medicine and then see how you can do it for medical. If you're on insurance, it's the same thing, Awareness, consideration, research, decision, evaluation, purchase, it's still the same. Remove solar, put insurance, it's all the same. So that's it. I'll catch you guys on the next episode.