Building Trust from Scratch: How to Handle "Bad Past Experiences" and Close Deals

Hello and welcome to the show. Today has been a long day because I spend a lot of time hanging out with my colleagues from the APVAI think that's the is it association of professional voice actors or is it podcasters and voice actors or something like that? Well anyway, they're the APVA. If you're curious because you're thinking of starting a podcast, then use those initials search on Instagram or, you know, search for the website.

You know it should come up and it might be a useful, handy resource in case you're looking for community of podcasters. And yeah, if you're trying to get into the industry, you know, to be a voice actor or to be a podcaster and you're looking for an easy way in, then apart from the podcast episodes that I've made where I talk about those sorts of things, there might be a good resource to have a look at as well. So my hanging out with them today was mostly was a social thing.

But if we ever do business related things in the future, then I'll hop on here real quick, let you guys know so that you can share some of the business goodness that we've been up to. So yeah, that's why I spent both of my day doing so. Today is a late night recording just in case I sound a little slow, a little foggy. That's the reason why it was a long day came back home and you know the usual kids homework just so that we can head into Sunday relaxed and free and so that Monday we can head into school without any hassles.

So OK the the what we had been on was dealing with business objections. Yes. And of course objection is anything that any reason that people give you for not wanting to go ahead with the sale or not wanting to go ahead with the relationship or not wanting to go ahead with the agenda. And of course I'm talking about primarily a business context, but like I've said the same also apply to those of you who are in the work context or a career context because it works as well.

So I think from the last episode what did we do? I think that's where we handled when people say I need more time to think about it, I think that's what we did the last time. I need more time to think about it. These are things that also come up in a work environment in the corporate context, you know, where your head of department says I need to think more, need to think some more about it, and some of the reasons why that can happen.

We explored some of those in yesterday's episode about how there might be genuine misunderstanding about what it is that you're proposing. Might be some misinformation, you know, things like that. And I give a couple of suggestions about how you can work through these sorts of issues. So this is your first time listening to the podcast, and you want to know how to get around situations where people say I need more time to think about it, whether in the business context or in the corporate context.

Then listen to yesterday's episode, Although I was focusing primarily on sales and business, but you can take and apply the principles in the work environment as well. So today we're going to look at a, we're going to look at an objection that my brothers and sisters who also started off in the wedding or the event space, this is something that we used to get all the time. Now, for those of you in other business fairs, maybe you're an architect, you're a business consultant, or you sell catfish.

Oh, let's see what else? You're a fashion entrepreneur. I don't know if you guys get these objections that much, but in the wedding space, especially photographers, event planners, yeah, we used to get this a lot. And that is when someone says we have had bad experiences in the past. Now, the person that you're having a conversation with is most likely not going to be that eloquent or that forthright to say we have had bad experiences in the past.

So in the wedding photography space, this was, these were the kinds of variations that we would get. You'd be talking to someone, the conversation would seem to be going OK, and then the lady would now say, ah, well, you know what, At my sister's wedding, her wedding photographer. Then this happened. Then that happened. Then that happened. And you know, they don't come out and say it, but the implications are clear. You talk a good game, looks like you can do what you say you're going to do.

I like the album, but at my sister's wedding, the guy also looked like he knew what he was saying. I know what not. But then this happened and then that happened and then that happened. So those are the kind of ways that it will come off in wedding photography. And I know a an event planner and I think everything seemed to be going smooth. And then the person said, well, at my grandmother's burial, you know, the wedding planner this,

the event planner this, the party planner this, and then this happened and then this happened and then that happened. So people might not be that forthright or eloquent or come out and say I've had bad experiences in the past. That's the reason why I don't trust you. That's the reason why I don't want to go with you. But it is an an objection that exists nonetheless. Some of you might have heard about it, but if you haven't,

I'm sure these examples that I've given from the wedding and the event space, you guys should be able to relate where the person starts talking about. Yeah, this happened, that happened to me, that happened to my friend, that happened to my sister, and that happened to my brother, that happened to my blah, blah, blah blah, blah. So these kind of situations arise where there have been previous vendor issues. Now, I know that in the past I

have said let's not call ourselves vendors for particular reasons, and if you're interested in knowing why, I say we shouldn't call ourselves vendors no matter what professional it is that we're involved in, Whether we sell solar panels or we do wedding photography or we sell catfish. If you want to know what my opinions are on that, then search within your podcast app. And no, there's this other service. What's it called?

I can't remember anyway, but if you can find the website, there's a podcast aggregator. Search within my own podcast. The podcast episodes just put vendor over there. The episode will come up and then you can listen to it. But. So even though I've said let's not call ourselves vendors before, permit me to just use that term for lack of a better term now. So there might be situations where people have had previous vendor issues.

Sometimes there's issues around customer service. Sometimes there's issues around product failure, service failures. Sometimes there's issues around unmet expectations. They thought you said you were going to do this, though, expecting you to do this, but you didn't end up doing that. So these are the sorts of ways where these things can come about. Sometimes it's not really your fault because there's some internal dissatisfaction on the part of the customer, maybe because you implemented something poorly.

OK, well, in that case it would be your fault. But what I'm just trying to say is sometimes you're kind of missing the plot, but they're not saying anything. So at the end of the day, you don't even have the chance to try and redress and to make things right. So these things happen, Vendor issues on your end, internal dissatisfactions on their own end, on the customers end, and they don't say anything and sometimes is because there might have been unrealistic expectations that might have been set by the vendor or by other people as part of their own sales team.

And this happens in situations where the sales and marketing function is separate from the fulfillment function or the technical function. So if you're one of those businesses where, let's go back to the wedding example, all you do is you grab the camera and you shoot, but then your sister or your wife or your brother handles the sales, there are times when your brother or your sister will say, ah, that's not a problem, my guy can do this,

He's the man. He's the best for the job. And then you book the gig, but then they don't pass along those expectations to you. So on the day of shooting and when it comes to fulfillment, you're not able to meet all those expectations. So this is where some of these breakdowns can occur. And I'm currently working with a company that are in the alternative energy space where there might have been situations I haven't quite clarified, but it's looking like there might have been situations where these sorts of things happen.

Sales and marketing people say this can be done, but then the technique technical people show up on site, they've not been told or the things that the sales people told the final customer are kind of inaccurate. And you know it leads to some complications along the way. So this happens because there's a communication breakdown or ineffective communication between the sales and marketing people and the fulfilment people or the technical people where it's separated.

And that leads to frustration on the part of the customer and also on the part of the people who have to deliver the service. So these are the reasons why you're talking. Everything looks like it's going OK and then they start giving you the story of, well, my neighbor down the street and yeah, he goes to La Panos and they said it was Dubai grade, blah blah blah. About two weeks ago his house burnt down, blah blah, blah.

That whole conversation basically is just the customer saying I don't trust you because we've had bad experiences in the past or I've heard of bad experiences in the past. So these things can come up now. If you've been listening to the podcast for the last couple of episodes, it's not going to come as a surprise what I'm going to say to you right now because the principle, the formula, the framework is still the same.

First off, you want to acknowledge, show some empathy because nobody feels like, nobody wants to feel like they're just, you know, talking out of their bum, bum. You know, I said they're just manufacturing things just for the sake of manufacturing. So acknowledge, empathize and validate their concerns. So like, oh wow, terribly sorry. So sad to hear that these things do happen. Unfortunately, blah blah blah. Just acknowledge.

Let them know you don't think that they're talking total BS. Then a mistake that people make. They try to defend their industry. Do not try to defend your industry. Don't make it look like no wedding photographers are totally ethical. And this and this and that and that. Clearly something went wrong. You should not be making a judgment one way or another. Whether it was your brother, wedding photographer, sorry, your fellow colleague wedding photographer who was at fault or not, or if it's back to the solar place.

You know you should be making a judgement one way or another who is at fault. So don't defend your industry. Rather, you should be asking clarifying questions should be trying to figure out what went wrong or what were you expecting. What did the other person say? How soon did you realize there was a problem? You know, all those sorts of things. And the reason why you're asking all these sorts of questions is because when you get all this background information, it is now that you're going to be able to make a play for what we call risk mitigation.

Risk mitigation is just this. The customer thinks that doing business with you is a risky proposition, so you have to do a couple of things to calm them down. Sometimes coming down down means you show how your company is anticipating for these kinds of failures. It is only when you've asked all these questions you'll be able to tell the person, oh, OK, Madam, I understand. Yes, yeah, truly. It might have been Dubai grade batteries or by the way, I'm just making stuff up.

I'm not in the alternative energy space. So yeah, it could have been this kind of battery, that kind of battery, this kind of installation and blah blah, blah. But sometimes because of poor building codes in Lagos and in Abuja, sometimes the house is wired like this. The house is wired like that. It can cause this problem, that problem. That is the reason why in our own company we not only install the solar panels, we also have this electrical panels that we fabricate, Sorry that we fabricate that 'cause you know that isolate systems and trip off in the case of in the case of faulty wiring and blah blah blah, this is a fail safe.

It'll prevent the house from burning down and apart from that it will automatically flag. Our system will now be able to call you to say Madam, did this happen? Did this happen and we can start troubleshooting and solve the problem. The only way you can have this conversation is if you ask questions in the 1st place. Madam, what went wrong? OK what did your neighbor say? When did this thing start? What did they notice before this?

Oh can I even come and have a look? Because sometimes you know, that may help. If your looks like this is a sweet deal. It was looking like it was going to close. Wanted lady started talking about her neighbor. It might be worth driving down to the estate, having a look at the neighbor's house, asking a few questions. These are ways of showing credibility and building trust. So it's by asking all these questions they can now move into risk mitigation.

You can now tell the person that, oh OK, no problem. I understand how it happen like this. It happen like that. But for our own services, for the way we shoot our own weddings, this is the reason why we do it like this. We do it like this so that we can avoid this problem, XYZ problem, that problem, and we can deliver on this and we can deliver on this and deliver on that. So that is part of risk mitigation. You're trying to anticipate for these kinds of failures that this person has had bad experiences in the past or had heard of bad experiences in the past.

Part of risk mitigation sometimes also involves giving guarantees or a trial or some money back guarantee or maybe a warranty or something like that. These are also parts of risk mitigation strategy. I'm not saying that this is what you should do. Quite frankly, I'm not a fan of these tools because a lot of people just quickly rush to this sort of thing and well, anyway, let me not poison your minds. But it's an option when it comes to risk mitigation.

So just know that you can't move to risk mitigation. This is how we're covering from the risk. This is how we're different. You can't get to that unless you ask questions. OK, Then also it would help. You can provide case studies or references, some form of third party validation. That's exactly what is going on there. And remember, I've told you guys in the past that I don't say this is a project I did for Orga Chukudi.

Here's Orga Chukudi's phone number. You call him, he can vouch for me. I don't go that far, but I tried to talk about similar projects that the person can relate to, you know, things like that. I'm just trying to put it out there that I've done something similar. We've worked on a on a similar situation. This is how we cater to this. This is how we cater to that. Just to leave open that idea for excuse me that possibility that you know if need be.

I can't provide third party validation. I'm not a total jam bite. This is not the first time I've handled this sort of thing. Then it also helps where after you ask the questions and you try and show how you guys are different, try and set some realistic expectations. You need to be able to say what is possible and what is not possible. So back to the solar pal solar panel and inverter thing. You've spoken about the fabrication, how the circuit is going to protect the building and everything.

You still need to let the Madam know that. OK, Madam, even with all these things put in place, still, these are some things that you need to do to make sure that there is no, you know that Yawa is not going to burst here and there. You need to make sure that you don't iron with the inverter. You need to make sure that you don't put water pump on the inverter. Like I said, this is not my space, so I'm just making stuff up.

I'm assuming that sometimes maybe excessive load can be a problem. It's just my own guess. But whatever it is, those of you who are in the alternative energy space, you will know what are the do's and don'ts. So you need to have that conversation so that Madame Kundayo or Madame Garba or whoever you know she knows going in, these are realistic expectations. If you're doing this, you're pushing things too far. If you're doing this, you get optimum results.

If you're doing this, something is going to break, so set realistic expectations. Now your tone in all of this should be respectful. Your tone should be concerned. Your tone should be curious. You shouldn't be pushy. It's not about trying to close the deal, by all means, and it shouldn't be about being aggressive. You're trying to build comfort or trying to build trust here, so be mindful of your tone, especially for guys like me.

If you think you're like me, who can be a little bit more on the direct side. So watch your tone before you make things worse. And the goal of asking all these questions is we want to use this person's past experience. What have they experienced or what have they heard happen to their friends, to their neighbor, to their whoever? We're trying to use these experiences to differentiate ourselves because we're trying to build a long lasting relationship here.

Because the goal is not to just sell solar panels to this lady. The goal is that you do such a correct job here that she even talks to the other neighbors. Like, OK, yes, what happened to Engineer Conley's home? It's unfortunate, but these people, they had the real deal. They handled my house. It's been six months. There's been no issues. If you want to do solar, let me, you know, talk to me. Let me call my guys. That is what we're looking for.

So we're trying to build long lasting business relationships here. But I want to give a word of caution because there are sometimes that we have all these conversations, but then we have a nagging feeling at the back of our minds. And I'm talking about the business provider here. You have a nagging feeling and I think This is why there are some businesses like wedding photography that are different from, you know, solar panels,

inverters, those kind of thing. When it comes to wedding photography, there are some artistic considerations that go in there. Now when it comes to solar panels and blah, blah, blah and things like that, there are lots of technical considerations that go there. Now when it comes to technical specifications, it is easier to satisfy. If you say you're going to hook up the system, it's going to provide, how do you measure electricity now?

Is it amps or whatever? It's going to provide 80 amps of power consistently for 40 weeks. Sorry, 40 hours in a week. If there's no Napa, You know, that's a technical specification. At the end of the day, your sister might have provided 40 hours of power during the week, or it didn't. That's a technical specification. You met it. You didn't meet it. When it comes to artistic things, wedding photography, videography, you know, is there's some, you know, personal taste, personal sense of style that is involved.

So there are times when you might be talking to someone and you think like, ah man, it's like this this babe, this bride, It's like she's a little fussy. You feel like you might deliver on everything and she might still find some reasons to say something went wrong, something went wrong, something went wrong. If you're in that situation. And you're still having like, a nagging thing at the back of your mind, even though you followed all these processes.

Maybe it's time to follow your intuition and to run away because all money is good, but clean money, clean revenue without hassle. That's the best. Because me, I can't testify. I've been in situations where I had my nagging feelings but sharp. I like I needed the money And then you take the money and then sometimes that you hold 400, you know, 300, four, 100K in your hand. But after all the Wahala, you're like, should I even have collected this money?

And then there's some money that the one that enters your pocket is only 100K. But the experience is so clean and so good that your mind is at rest. So it's a personal thing. It depends that some people don't say whoa, money is money. Let me correct. Let me collect that 400K and go with the hassle. It's better than me collecting 100K. That'll give me Peace of Mind. So it depends on you. Yeah, that's just my word of caution.

At the end of the day, you can run through these processes and you just feel like this is nagging at the back of my mind. If I took head inside here, you can't blow up here. It can't blow up there. So just consider. Should I just go in it for the money or should I just run away? By the way, I've known some people who say, you know what, this is a potentially dicey situation. So let me go all in for the money. What I'll do is I'll Jack up my price so that when this quarrel,

at least it's worth the issue or at least there's money that can use to, you know, fix the mistake or fix whatever the issues are. But you know, that's a personal, that's a personal issue between you and your business partners. But for now, when people just know that when people say we've had bad experiences in the past, sorry, even though they don't say it, but it's not giving you stories about my brother did this, this is what happened.

My neighbor did this. This is what happened the last time I had a caterer. This is what happened. When they do that, you're trying to be respectful, courteous, concerned, curious, trans, slow things down, ask questions. You're trying to figure out what went wrong, What were the expectations. You're just trying to show that, OK, this is how you're different. And if things go wrong, this is how you guys deal with these sorts of things.

What different? So why can't we be just best friends and let's go ahead and make this thing happen? So that's the whole approach. Pretty much. So thank you very much for your time and attention. It's 23 minutes. OK. So let me just wrap this thing up. Yeah. So connect with me on WhatsApp. The phone number is 080, 64662140. The country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian then LinkedIn. My name is Tabishima Ayede.

I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of my name from the link where you're listening to this episode. So thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next recording.