From Stalemate to Action: Closing the Deal in Business & Life

Hello and welcome to the show today. We're still on how sales skills can help for personal growth and development. Now the sales skills that we've been looking at just for a little bit of a recap, The skills that we need to build trust and rapport with potential customers and clients, also to help understand clients better. Also, how to make effective presentations, getting people to commit to the next step, making sure that everyone is happy and then getting repeat business and referrals.

So what I've done for the last two or three days and what I'm going to do for the next few days would be to show how these skills, even though we talk about them in a business context where someone is promoting a business or promoting a specific product or service. We're going to try and see how if you learn these skills, if you get a handle on these skills, then it's also going to make you a better church worker, a better employee at the office,

a better, you know, village person when you go home for your town's meeting and you guys are trying to deliberate on this community development project or that community development project. So we've done a couple of items on this list so far. So today what we are going to be paying attention to, how to get people to commit to the next action steps. In the previous episode, what we did was we looked at how to make effective presentations.

Yes. And the reason why we're taking this step now is because there's no point in saying you had an effective presentation, or if you had a beautiful presentation or a convincing proposal or whatever it is. And if at the end of the day, nobody took the next action step, nobody took the next desirable action that you want them to take. So if you make what you think is a beautiful proposal, but nobody took the desired action, then your proposal actually wasn't effective or as wonderful as beautiful as you think it was.

So getting people to commit and take the next action step is important because if at the end of this current meeting, at the end of this proposal, at the end of this departmental meeting, at the end of this, whatever it is that you're doing right now, no next clear steps have been taken. Then the business transaction, the sale, the committee meeting, the departmental meeting, whatever it is that you're involved in, is not going to make progress and you're going to end up having meetings for the sake of meetings.

Those of you who work in the civil service are familiar with these sorts of things. That's how people get together. You have a four hour meeting, everybody shouts at each other. At the end of the day, it looks like there's some consensus. Everybody feels happy. But then all of you go home without deciding on what are we doing next? Who is going to do whatever is who is going to do the next thing that needs to be done.

Then you show up in a month or in two months or three months for the next committee meeting, and then you start having to rehash all the issues all over again. This is what we said. This isn't what we said. This is what we agreed. This isn't what we agreed. Why didn't you do this? Nobody told me to do this. We didn't do this. We didn't do that. And so if you've been in civil service meetings and sometimes there's some church meetings,

this is the, the, the dynamic that keeps going on and on where you're having meetings for the sake of having meetings. And it takes, you know, three or four meetings before you make progress on any specific action item or agenda. And that's because the chairman, the chairperson, the lady chairperson, whoever it is that is handling the meeting and people in the meeting, there's no one there who is skilled in getting people to commit to the next action steps.

So these sorts of things happen, and then the meeting, the initiative, the whatever, just sometimes some of these things just dead quiet death. And the reason why this happens? Because people are not good at getting future commitments or agendas at the current meeting. And also because people are scared of asking for a commitment or asking for a close of some sorts. Now if we're talking about a sales or a business scenario,

it's obvious because usually we're dealing with huge sums of money. And in the beginning, anyway, it's hard to open your mouth, especially if you haven't handled real money before and say that, you know, drop a deposit of 500K or drop a deposit of 1.5 or something. So in the beginning, you know, that is kind of scary. And then of course, in interdepartmental meetings, church meetings, those sorts of things, it's scary to put your hand up and to try and be a leader of some sorts.

So yeah, so these are the reasons why these sorts of things happen. And then a lot of us just end up in meetings just for the sake of meetings. Now if you want to get a future agenda or a future course of action or gain commit commitment on something at the current meeting where we are, because remember, we should always be securing the commitments at this current meeting. So if I'm having a meeting now with the potential customer now,

I want us to agree on what the next thing we are going to do before we end this meeting. So if it's a phone call, I should be wrapping up the phone call with a clear sense with both of us, me and the potential customer. Having a clear sense of this is going to be the next step. So that next time I call the customer, I'm not just following up for the sake of following up. And it's the same thing if you're on the civil service or if you're in the church departmental meeting.

You guys want to wrap up this current meeting with everybody having a clear sense today right now that this is the next thing we're going to do. This person is going to be responsible for doing this and we must have achieved XYZ before we come back next month for the next meeting. So if you want to get future agendas at the current meeting, first of all you have to realise that there's a distinction between two really important things.

One of them is called a continuation and the second one is called an advancement. Now this is a distinction in traditional sales theory from about late 1970s into 80s, and it's from a book called Spin Selling, if I remember correctly written by Neil Rackham. So yes, it might sound unnecessary theoretical, but the distinction is important. So just pay attention. Now. The continuation is what happens when people have a meeting I

call a potential customer or we have that church meeting, or we have that political caucus meeting, or we have that departmental meeting, you know, our Ministry of Finance or whatever civil service organization that we belong to. Everybody's having cordial fun. Everybody's getting along. We have wonderful meetings, but we're never really sure what's next. We're never really sure what we're supposed to be doing, and we Well, anyway, you get the whole idea.

If we're having this meeting, and the meeting was fun and it looked like we achieved consensus, but we're not really sure what it is that we need to do next, then this is what is called a continuation. Because you're stuck in a circular loop, you're not really making progress. Because we finished this meeting, we're not sure what we're supposed to do next when we come from when we come for the next meeting, We're just continuing from the same confused point where we were before and we're not really making progress now.

An advancement, on the other hand, is when we have a next clear step for the next meeting, for the next phone call, for the next departmental meeting, and of course advancements. The next agenda has to be decided at this current meeting. Now let me use an example. I hope it's not inappropriate, but I hope that this is going to help you guys get the picture in case I haven't been able to explain it explain it properly so far.

Now there was a young man and that young man is me and more than a decade ago. OK, well, we've done 12 years of marriage so far so and we dated 4 years. So let's say is that 1617? So let's say 1617 years ago I was a young man and I was toasting my girlfriend who was now who is now my wife. And we had a wonderful afternoon of grilled chicken and chips because, well, I don't cook, but you know, I wanted to impress her. So I got some oven fried potato chips and then some oven fried chicken.

Gosh, what are they called? You know, all those small chicken stuff, finger foods. So I figured I'd show up at her flat and impress her with this wonderful meal. So I prepared it there and we watched some of her TV shows because Mark is ATV person. She's always watching all kinds of game shows. So if it's a game show, she has watched it. So Steve Harvey, Family Feud, What else? You know, those ones where they do house renovations.

The ones that are bridal shows, comedy stand up shows, Desperate Housewives, I mean, you name it, if it exists, she has watched it. America's Next Top Model with Tyra Banks, you know, on and on. So she has lots of shows that she watched. So that was how we spent the afternoon, grilled chicken and chips, and we had fun. And by the time I was leaving her flat, I asked if she had fun and she said yes. And so I asked if I could come by in the evening because I knew a place, a Kismat, on campus,

where they had some really nice raps, really wicked raps, you know, shawarmas and all that fancy stuff. And she said, yes, She said OK to that. Now that is an example of an advancement. If you're in this kind of situation personally or professionally, then you are making progress and the deal is going to close soon. And evidence of that is that we are married today. So we had a fun afternoon before I left. I got a clear advancement about what the next course of action was, and it was a sign that we were making progress and was a sign that the deal was going to close.

And we are married today and we have kids. Now let's consider an alternative. Let's say I came over that same afternoon and after the grilled chicken and the chips and the programs on TVI asked if she had fun. But she was kind and noncommittal and she said it was OK And then I asked if I can come by later in the evening because I have from real cool a cool place. I have to. I asked if I can come by in the evening so we can go to the Kismat so she can try out, you know, some kosher arm and stuff like that.

And she says no, that she has something else to do this evening. And then I ask her about tomorrow and she says she has a church meeting. And then I say, how about Saturday? And then she says, Oh no, she's going to be washing the bathroom all day. And then I, you know, I'm desperate, so I decide to just leave an open way commitment. And I say, OK, but can I see you some other time or can I call you some other time? And then she says yes, Yeah, no problem, Call me when you're free.

Now, in this case, there is no clear commitment. What we have here is a continuation. A continuation is just an agreement to agree, a meeting to meet. You're not really making progress, so just going round and round and round. So what we'll have there will be lots of polite conversations, some polite visits, but this is not a deal that is going to close unless you figure out what the objections are or what the problems are.

So maybe it's that she thinks I'm an OK guy, but my breath stinks. I need to find a way to be able to get to the root of the problem so I can fix my bad breath. Maybe go and see my dentist so they remove my tonsils in case halitosis is the problem. I mean, you see my point, but The thing is, you come when it comes to personal matters and political matters, you know, you want to attend caucus meetings and departmental matters.

A lot of people are OK with being stuck in this whole meeting to meet, talking, to talk, chatting, to chat, agreeing to agree. But you're not really making progress. So excuse me. So if the sales meeting or the business meeting or your boardroom meeting or your church committee planning meeting, let's see if you are planning to raise, you know, 10 M to rebuild the church or something or a political caucus meeting ends with let's keep in touch.

Or people say you go be no Allah or people say surely we go run them. I'll call you later. Or people say this was a fun meeting, let's talk in the future then. Please don't deceive yourself. You do not have an advancement and things are not looking good for this deal because any kind of response that sounds like that is just really an agreement to agree a meeting to meet, a phone call, to call following up for the sake of following up.

You are not making progress. This is not an advancement, it's just a continuation. You guys are going round and round and round in circles now. Now that we've used my dating history to try and flesh out what an advancement is and what a continuation is, the second part of the equation is Now, how do you get people to make a commitment? It's very simple. Well, there are lots of ways, but there are two easy options that I'd like to introduce to you guys today.

Number one is you take the lead and just tell them what you think the next best step should be. So back to the example of me and my girlfriend, now my wife, I told her what I thought the next best step should be and she thought was OK and you know, things panned out. All right, Next is to ask the person what they think the next best step should be in their own opinion. Now, some people are going to argue one way or another that one is better than the other.

I'm not here to say which is best. I'm just here to tell you that these are the options. That it? At the end of your sales meeting, at the end of the business meeting, the boardroom meeting, the church meeting, the political caucus, the options are #1. You say, OK, yeah, we've had a good meeting. And then you tell people this is the next step. So excuse me. And you tell people this is the next step. And then you wait and hear what it is Now they're saying, or you ask them, OK, now that we've discussed all this, what do you think the next step should be?

Either way, whichever approach you take, you'll find that you're going to leave this meeting with very clear next steps of what people are supposed to do, and people would have committed to something and their own share of action to make things happen. Whichever of these ways you follow, if you don't leave this meeting, if you take these two approaches and you don't have an extra course of action, it's a sign that, well, there's a problem.

You didn't build rapport on scenario. We actually aren't agreed on what the core issues are. You know, it's a sign that there's a problem that we hadn't resolved, that we hadn't resolved in the past. But let's now pretend that there are no unresolved problems. So in a business scenario, it might look like something like this. So let's say there's a realtor. You know, real estate people, yeah, I think they're called Realtors.

So let's say there's a realtor who has a potential client that is looking for investment properties for their portfolio. There's some people who buy buy houses because they want to live in them. And there's some people who buy houses as part of investment portfolio properties. They buy because they want to sell or they buy land because they think it's going to appreciate, and then later on they sell it. So let's say that this is the scenario.

You as the realtor, you've done value discovery. If you don't know what value discovery is, listen to the immediate two or three episodes. Before this, I did a whole section on that. That's where you're just trying to figure out what is valuable to this person. Those are the things that are going to form the core of your presentation. So you've done value discovery and you've been able to narrow down into narrow down three properties that they have looked at that matches their key, their key criteria because people who buy properties for investments usually have a specific criteria.

They're thinking Abuja property is hot or Lagos property is hot or alluring property is hot. You know these cities are opening up, so they want properties close to central area. This is just my guess by the way. They want properties close to the central area that cost cost not more than so and so and they're hoping they can appreciate in three to five years or you know whatever. Every investor has their own criteria. So you are the realtor, you've done value discovery, you know what they're looking for.

You've given them three properties and then this week you the realtor, you've gone on inspection with this person or with this couple and you have viewed three of the properties. Now this is what happens for most people at this stage. After you look at the three properties, the average business prospect will say something like thank you very much for the wonderful properties that you have shown me. Please give me 3 weeks to discuss with my husband, to discuss with my wife, to discuss my business partner, to discuss my pastor, blah blah blah, blah blah.

And I will get back to you. And the average realtor will say sure, no problem because it sounds reasonable and you think you're making progress. Actually, you are not making progress. You are stuck in a continuation because there is no clear sign about what the next step is supposed to be. Most people are happy with this kind of soft commitment, so it might be enough for the average business person. But if you're listening to this podcast, then you're a consummate sales professional,

you're a consummate businessman, a businesswoman, so that should not be enough for you. You should ask for a commitment at this stage. And in this case, it could be something like this. By the way, I am guessing I've not handled any realtor transactions. So I'm guessing this is this sort of thing that should happen next. So let me see. OK, so asking for the commitment, in this case, you could sell. OK, where was I? Yeah.

So I told you that there are two options. Number one is where you determine what the next step is going to be and you just tell them and give feedback. And then next would be to ask them what they think the next step should be. And then same thing, you wait and you see what their response is. So option one, you can tell them what the next step is going to be. So it'll be something like this. If you're happy with all the options that we've looked at so far for most of our clients, the next step at this stage is the payment of a deposit for XYZ

amount or to fill a form for lot allocation or you know, whatever the usual processes are if you're somebody in the realtor space and then you keep quiet and you wait for a response. So let's go over this again. So if you're happy with everything we've seen so far, for most of our clients at this stage, what they do is if they're ready to move ahead, it's a payment, a payment of the deposit for XYZ amount. Then you keep quiet, you see the response or we can do the host for you and then say the next step is we're going to fill a form for lost allocation.

Now, if somebody's not willing to move forward with the payment of the deposit, I mean there's some people that of course will try and haggle on the deposit amount. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But if at this stage somebody is refusing to commit, then it means that there's a problem that we have not paid attention to earlier in the sales process. Perhaps the properties that we looked at are a mismatch. Perhaps we are mismatched when it comes to price and budget expectations and other expectations.

So if at this stage, truly, truly, truly, this was someone that was qualified for the meeting and that you found options that seem to suit the person's investment appetite, then if the person is not willing to go ahead at this stage, then there's something wrong we hadn't paid attention to prior. So this is an option where you tell them what the next step should be. So if you're a realtor. If you're a realtor, OK, I should have spoken to a realtor before I came up with this scenario any.

So if you're a realtor, this is a point where you just tell them the next typical thing. So the next step is pay a deposit. Or the next step is come over to the office on Wednesday morning and let us fill the lot allocation form so that we can do governor search and blah, blah, blah. And all the things that need to be done when you're trying to sort out all these land transactions. Now, if you are scared and you're not that bold, you don't want to seem to be forcing them to.

You don't seem to be forcing them to do something. Or maybe the money is sounding heavy in your mouth. Maybe this is your first transaction and you've never handled 500K before. So you opening your mouth to say payment of the deposit for two M You know, maybe it sounds heavy in your mouth. That's not a problem. The other option is that you now ask them what you think the next appropriate step should be. So if you as the realtor, you're not sure or you're afraid, then you just ask the question and put the ball in the court.

So you said, OK now that you've had a look at property lots AB and C, which of them is more to your liking, They will now tell you that, well, A was not bad, C was OK. But that property B, that B is looking, is looking sweet. It's looking OK And then you ask them, OK, Sir, Madam, Mr. and missus, what would you like to do next? And then you keep quiet. So whichever step that you take at this stage, it's fine. The most important thing is that you have put the potential customer in a situation where they have to make some sort of a decision.

Whatever their answer is, they are now committed to doing something. And like I said, if they remain non committal then it means we have made a mistake in the sales process leading up to this. Remember the example of my girlfriend who is not my wife? If I said can I come in the evening? He says no. I'll be sleeping. What about tomorrow? I'm studying. What about Friday? I'm going to church. What about Saturday? I'm washing the bathroom.

OK, Sure. Can I call you up anytime? Yeah, sure. No problem. You can call me whenever you're free. That is being noncommittal. You're not making progress. It means that there's a mistake. There must be a problem with me. Maybe I said something that offended her. Let's see what else It could be Any number of things. There's something that we need to go back and to fix before we can make progress, because until that thing is fixed, we're not going to make progress.

So it's the same personal affairs, business affairs, political affairs, any kind of affair. Because if someone is remaining non committal at this stage, they're refusing to fill the form, they're refusing to pay the deposit, they're refusing to suggest the next step. Then it means there might be uncertain about certain aspects of the land, certain aspects of title. Maybe they're not comfortable, maybe, probably could be on their own end, maybe they think the property it costs good at 30

M but they're worried about how they're going to finance this transaction. There could be any number of things about the value proposition as a whole that we have in front of them. So if we get to the stage where people are noncommittal or the beginning to hesitate, then we have to requalify and we have to do recovery. We're trying to figure out if we're talking to the right person, if they have capacity to go ahead with this transaction and if the proposition that we have put forward meets their needs.

We also have to be sure that we understood their needs properly in the 1st place. Because it's possible that you just assumed the person is looking for investment property and you have shown them investment property. But actually what they're looking for is a home where they can move into later on with their teenage children. So obviously in that kind of scenario, of course the person will remain noncommittal because you've shown them stuff that makes sense for investment but doesn't make sense as a family home.

Now, how does all this grammar we're talking about? How does all this work in the career context, in the boardroom context or other interpersonal context, the philosophy is the same. So at the end of your meeting, when people are in Ministry of Finance or your Incentive Banking, people have had the meeting as a point where you stand up and you say Mr. Chairman or you say Lady Chairperson or however it is that you address your Orga in these institutions.

So. So you address them properly. And then because you know this, Nigel, you have to be respectful. If people think you're a rude twat, it's going to cause problems for you. So and that's the point where you now summarize and you, yes, kind of summarize everything. So you see now that we've deliberated on all the options, it's looking like option four, option 10 and option 12 are the most feasible things that we should do as a department to move forward.

What I propose is, well, there are some organizations where you have to actually move a motion. Yeah, I know for those of you who are listening from other parts of the other parts of the world, it might sound somehow, but there are some Nigerian institutions that can be bureaucratic like that. So yeah, if you're in one of those organizations, then you say you now say lady chairperson, I propose I move the motion for, you know, blah,

blah, blah. So this is stage where you start moving motions. So you move the motion that we should vote and narrow down to one course of action. So you can see that if you start moving things like this and lady chairperson or Mr. Chairman takes your suggestion, after 20-30 minutes it's going to be clear that OK, this is what we need to do next. And it's only going to make sense that if we're doing option 10, then this the people is in charge, the people who are in charge of it at this department and that department.

So you know, they're supposed to do this and supposed to do this and supposed to do that. So that's option one, You trying to decide or trying to suggest. This is what the next lecture is supposed to be. Now for the second one, where you toss it into your other person's court, you just say lady chairperson. With all this talk that we've done so far, it's looking like option four, option ten, option 12 looks like these are the most suitable option so far.

So, Lady Chairperson, what would you like us to do next so that we won't leave this meeting and then come back and then start on issues all over again? So, Lady Chairperson, what do you think we should do next? Now, whatever answer that Lady Chairperson gives, you're most likely going to have a clear course of action and people are going to be committed to some course of action today. Because I doubt that Lady Chairperson or the chairman is going to say, you know what,

we've had a productive meeting. But let me let me think about this. We'll we'll decide at the next meeting. I doubt that Madam Chairperson is going to do that. So OK, wow, this is 30 minutes. I've gone on for too long. OK, So what are the key benefits, basically, of adopting these kinds of sales and business development practices in your company? If you're an employee or in your church, if you're a church worker, or if you're volunteering in the charity, or if you guys are travelling home for your annual village Christmas meeting?

Oh, by the way, these strategies that I'm talking about, they work whether you do them in English or in IBO or Hausa or Yoruba. The reason why I'm emphasizing this is because I have been at an event where somebody thought was unprofessional for a this one was actually a realtor realtor client relationship, and the person thought that it was unprofessional for the realtor to switch into pigeon or to switch into vernacular.

Now it is not unprofessional. OK, well, if you work for organizations like the British Council and the American Embassy and stuff like that, they have strict language policies that you have to adhere to. But in a general business, in the general business setting, provided that other people also understand and get the gist of what is going on, it might actually be much more effective to switch into vernacular if it is going to help to get the point be made.

So this strategy works whether you're speaking English or EBO SO or Yoruba. So do whichever way you feel much more comfortable with. So the key benefit of adopting this way of gaining commitment and moving things forward is that you're going to become a valuable member of the team or the organization. Everybody is going to know that, that Kingsley is a sharp guy or that Catherine, she's a correct girl because every time they're in a meeting, we make progress,

we move things forward. You're going to be gain the reputation of being a problem solver. You're going to gain the reputation of being a go getter. And that's a good thing. It helps you get along in the church. It helps you get along in your ministry work. It helps you get along with your village association meeting, you know, stuff like that, of course, so long as you're also paying attention and deferring to the appropriate authority structures.

So if you're going for a village village meeting in December, you know, please don't. All I said, don't be too forward. You know, always defer to the older people, you know, things like that. But you can still exercise influence. Now, there is some downside if you adopt this approach. There are some people in your church, in the village meeting, and in the departmental meeting, especially if you work in the civil service.

There are some people who are not as progressive as you are, and they're going to become increasingly jealous of your growing influence. That is the downside. So if you don't want people to become jealous of you, then please ignore everything I've said in this podcast episode. Keep your head down. Go below the radar and let people to continue to meet, to meet, call to call, agree to agree, let them continue to follow up, to follow up.

So just keep your head down and let things move along. But if you're not scared of people with being jealous of you, then this is how you go ahead to make sure that things get done. And tomorrow, we're going to deal with sales skills that help you ensure customer satisfaction. And then we'll see how that can help you move your career along or move your political ambition or help you with, you know, your PowerPoint meeting or your Omuna meeting or whatever.

So that's all for today, folks. Remember to connect with me on WhatsApp. The phone number is 08064662140. Country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian, then connect with me on LinkedIn. My name is Tavishima Ayede. I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of my name and my e-mail address from the link. We're currently listening to this episode. Thank you very much for your time and attention.

I'll catch you guys at the next recording.