How to Find the 'Oga at the Top' in Sales

Today on the podcast, I'd like to slow things down a little bit because I've been talking a lot this past couple of days about qualification frameworks and how you use them to decide which kind of potential customer, which kind of prospect is worth spending time with? Who are the people that you should prioritize? Who are the people that you should follow up with Sharp Sharp and who are the people that you should just lean back,

take it easy because you still have time. So today I want to flesh it out just a little bit. Not in one of those long 45 minute episodes as I was done, but just look at one particular qualification framework band that is BANT, budget, authority, need, and timeline. We discussed that in yesterday's podcast episode and then show you how it's been applied live and in the flesh with one of my current clients and you'll be able to see how why these things are important, especially the a part which is authority, you know, who are you talking to?

Does the person have decision making power? All those sorts of things. So these are some of the things we're going to look at today. It's a random episode, not very ordered, but I just wanted to be quick, short, sharp and real life, not theory. Theory as in life, something that me and one of my clients are currently talking about. In fact, the case study we're going to use is something that happened maybe like two or three days ago.

So hello and welcome to the podcast. My name is Tava Shema Ayedi. I'm the host making today's recording our home and then the house is being cleaned at the moment, so there's going to be some noise in the background. Definitely. Now this podcast is not about my housing situation. I'm sure you've been able to figure out that over here we talk about business problems. How do I attract customers? How do I attract clients?

How do I know who is Wakapas? How do I know who I should be spending more time with? Who do I know that I should just block? Who do I know that I should ignore? How do I know who I should be following up with? Quick, quick, sharp, sharp. Those are the sorts of things that we talk about over here on the podcast. So if you run a business and these are the kind of things that are choking you, then this podcast is for you.

Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of your choice. And if you'd love to connect with me, call, send me a text message. Well, send me a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. And please don't reach out asking for mentorship because I've said it lots of times. I don't do mentorships. You know, this is a business. I do mentorships for the University of Aberdeen because that is my alma mater. Some of you say why University of Aberdeen?

Well, it's because University of Aberdeen. They asked me. Or where? You did not ask me where you asked. Yeah, sure, I'll do it. Or you did not ask. University of Aberdeen asked. So I mentor for them, then also for the Faith Foundation. So those are the only two organizations that I do free mentorship for Any other person who is reaching out, this is going to be a paid coaching engagement or a paid consulting engagement.

However, I understand times are rough and everybody has money. So that's the reason why anybody who reaches out to me, whether you pay me or you don't pay me, I answer one or two questions for free. So it's not a big problem. Just reach out, let me know what questions you have. And if you're interested in a coaching, you know, a paid engagement, you know, we'll, we'll figure something out, But I never let money stand in the way.

You have a question, Sure, I'll ask, but don't ask for mentorship because I don't do it so well. You know, I've been talking a lot about qualification frameworks and I just realized that, you know, I'm throwing a lot on you guys. Yesterday we discussed 3 qualification frameworks was a 45 minute episode. It's kind of heavy. It's kind of much. I say, let me jaws calm things down, slow it down today until let's just look at band, budget,

authority, need and timeline. Now remember, a qualification framework is a framework or a set of principles or a set of all I say now yardsticks, something that will just guide the conversation that you're having with a potential customer. And the whole idea is this. We're trying to figure out who is this person? Do they have a serious problem? Are they worth spending time with? Because a lot of us are losing money because us wasting too much time chasing people who will never, ever, ever, ever,

ever pay. They will never, ever become customers and we're wasting our time. So these are some simple tools, some simple framework, some simple yardsticks, some simple whatever it is you want to call it, that will help us decide quickly, should I stay or should I go? Just like Brandy said, should I stay? Should I go? Anyway, it's an old song. I don't expect those of you who are born in the 2000s, you know that song. But Brandy Aaliyah, who again,

Brandy Aaliyah, TLC, you know, this was a long time ago, where was I? So that's what qualification is about now. Now, the reason why I'm using band is because there's one part in band which is a authority that lots of Nigerian business people don't pay attention to. And today's example is going to show why. So it is all my clients now. They are trying to sell their solution to a school and so they called up the account and we're talking to somebody, let's say the person's name is Madam Ogadingly.

So they called up the school now and we're talking to Madam Ogadingbay. They highlight 3-4 convos and then all of a sudden Madam Ogadingbay as usual begin the ghost. She know the answer call, she know the answer message, she know they respond to e-mail. So my client now I said no problem, give me the phone number, let me see if I can revive this conversation. Let's see if I can get things back on track. She said no I'lla.

So she gave me the number. But before I called, I said, hey, this Madam Ogadingbay self, who is she? My client asked me what do you mean? I said I mean like, who is she now? Is she the owner of the school? I'll be she a secretary, I'll be she a principal, I'll be she head of admin, Is she head of finance? My customers, my clients said I don't know. I said no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I've told you this thing. Now that is the A in authority we suppose know who we're talking to.

If we know who they are, if we know how they fit in the organization, if we know their decision making power, if we know how they relate to our solution, we will now know how to plan the sale. And too many of you are approaching deals and you are not even bothering to find out who am I talking to. Whether we're talking to the secretary or the principal or the head of it, it will determine how we are going to pursue this thing.

So see, this is the reason why qualification frameworks are unnecessary. So in this case, BANT budget authority need timeline. Every time you're on the phone with somebody, you guys be having some conversations around budget, around money. Are we in the same ballpark? It's not as if we should agree. But if your product is 1.5 M, you need to know if you're talking to a 750K person. If you're talking to a 750K person, end this call now.

The gap between 750K and 1.5 is huge. If your product or service is 1.5 and you're talking to somebody who is a 1.2 person, there is room. You can educate them, you can toast them, you can beg them, you can offer discounts. You can like. The gap between 1.2 and 1.5 is doable. So that is be budget, then authority. Who am I talking to? Does this person have the authority to make decisions? Simple things like that. Simple things.

Because if you're going to sell your solution to a school and the person you're talking to is the secretary, does the secretary have the authority to make that kind of decision for the school? For those of you who sell to schools, let this sink in. Let me repeat it. Let this sink in. You're calling someone in school. You're talking to someone. You haven't bothered to figure out who you're talking to. Will he pay you to spend 3

months talking to a secretary who has no authority, who has no say, who has no push, who has no pull, who has no influence over the decision? Is that a smart thing to do now, even if the person is the secretary? But you discover that she is the proprietress's daughter or daughter-in-law. Does that now change? Doesn't that now change the equation? Now you know you can confidently invest two months in relationship building because even though on paper her title says secretary, really she's the proprietary proprietorsies.

Sorry, forgive me, Proprietorsies owner proprietorsies daughter. So it is important. Who am I talking to? What is their capacity? Sorry, 1 moment. OK, sorry about that. I'm back. Like I said, the house was being cleaned and so my attention was needed. So this a in authority like I'm trying to stress out now, very, very important to many of you are calling into a company, calling into a household, calling into a church, calling into a ministry, calling into a department, calling into a whatever.

You've been talking with someone who this person is. You don't know what their title is. You don't know what power do they have. You don't know what is their responsibility. You don't know if the company decides to go ahead to implement your product or your solution. What kind of influence, what kind of role will this person, however implementing this thing? You don't know A lot of you are setting blind. This is the importance of qualification frameworks.

You do not need to use bunt. You do not need to use spin. You don't need to use want, need and afford an urgency. Like I mentioned yesterday, there are different ones, there's medic, there's Med pick, there is, you know, all kinds of things. So anyone that you've come across honestly speaking is fine so long as you are following it religiously. But you need to have something. Calling and freestyling without having a guide is not going to help you.

The people that you look at who seem to do a wonderful job at freestyling, it looks like it's freestyling. It's not really freestyling. Someone has taught them, someone has trained them, or over time they have learned from practice what to do, what not to do, so their script is internalized. That's the reason why it appears fluid. So if I'm ever working with you and I'm coaching for your company like one of the sales people for my clients say, ah,

OK, I wish I had your confidence. From the outside, it looks like confidence. No, there's not really confidence. I am following a framework. I am following a thought process that is guiding this whole interaction is making it look easy, making it look smooth is because I have a process. I'm not freestyling and you shouldn't either. So this is a authority very important. Make it a habit of inquiring who it is that you're talking to.

So back to this example now, by the way, the other ones N&T that is need, what are they looking for? And then timeline. So now, like I said, Mrs. will getting by now she know the PIC call. She know to respond to message, not to respond to e-mail. So I called him. So getting by, I said I'm from so so so and so company. I just say, is it that one where Julia works? I say yes, my exactly. I just spoke to Julia, now she's my associate.

I just say you know what my son, let me be honest with you, the reason why the answer again is because Julia say people are in Lagos. I say yes ma, he said we were in a back Aliki. I said Madam, there's no problem now, I should have asked. Now that force is not a problem. Now we have executed projects in Abuja, we've restricted projects in Port Accord, we have executed in Ogo, we have executed all over the place. So travel is not an issue.

I want a Shah, you know, let's just sit down and see what the problem is and let's see how we can help you there, Madam Ogden said. And on is not a problem. But The thing is, before anybody come and install this system, I want somebody to come and look at the school and look at this place, look at that place. In fact, somebody just came and looked at it and they've already given us a quote. So that's not a problem. We can send somebody down there.

But for our company we just prefer that before we send somebody down, at least we have discussed money first to be sure that we are in the same range. So if we can agree on, you know, a range, you know, like if I say 2.5, you use, if I say you know, 2.5, you say 2.4, you know, he's looking. If he there's room, we can send somebody down because it looks like it's something that might close. I've been my, how do you see it?

It's OK if it's like that, no problem. That's OK. Good. So she now asked me, OK, so if it's like that, how you'll be able to determine the cost without sending somebody. That's all, Madam, that's not a problem. What we do is we ask about 1234 things and that would give us a good sense about what will be needed to carry out this thing for the school. And she said it's like that. I say it's like that, man. So we just need access to somebody who knows all your systems, the person who knows your computer systems, your,

this system, your that system. We will ask the person all the questions from the information we get. We can now start discussing budget. If our budget is similar, then we can send somebody down. She said, oh, OK, if it's like that, it's no problem now there's no problem. So I said, OK, so in that case, well, can you give me the phone number for your engineer? Remember when we talk about band BANT budget authority needs timeline.

Now for this particular thing that my client is selling, the person who is going to implement it, the person who's going to be on ground when everything is being installed and run and implemented is the engineer. So it will help me if I am talking to somebody who meets the A in band which is authority. I need someone with authority in this conversation. So that's the reason why I mentioned engineer says OK, sure, no problem.

I can give you the number of my engineer, but I'll talk to him first. That's OK. Thank you very much Ma, that will help. He said OK, that's OK. Sorry man. Before you caught the call. By the way, are you the proprietors of the school or you're the principal? I just said I'm the propriety. I was like, oh, congratulations, ma. Oh, by the way, on file I didn't even see the name of your school. What is the name of the school?

Excuse me? She now told me and then quickly I wrote it down. See, this is the reason why we need pen and paper when we are talking to potential clients. We need to be writing all these key information. She called the name of the school then. Now I know that she's the owner of the school, so you can see that he's looking as if we're making sense when it comes to a authority. I'm currently talking to the organ Patapata.

I'm talking to the owner of the school herself. Apart from that, she's going to hook me up. Now excuse me with the engineer who's going to be responsible for administering this solution when we install everything. So you can see that he's looking good. Now A is looking good authority. You can see now this is how you close deals. You can see why qualification framework is important. I've called into an account. So for my client, at first she's talking to them.

She doesn't know whether she's making headway. But in one phone call I've been able to establish that we're looking good on A. And I'm also, and now I'm also now going to be able to get the phone number of engineer. So this is called multi threading, not talking to just only one contact within an account, but two or more as many relevant parties as necessary. That is how you keep traction going in a sale. Think about it.

You're talking to Madam Ogling be all of a sudden. Should not a pick call, should not respond to WhatsApp, should not a reply e-mail. If you have engineer's number or you have the person who teaches it have the phone number. Those are people you can call up and say how far now I will try to reach Madam or getting big concerning this disease. Oh mother, she don't travel. There's one international conference that is happening now in Texas.

You know she has traveled. She's not going to be back until next month. You see that because you have some other phone numbers. So This is why a is important authority in band. Again, budget authority need timelines. A authority who makes the decision, who is this person? Who is relevant in this organization? Who is relevant to this service that we're selling, relevant to authorizing the decision, paying the money, implementing the thing.

You see why this thing is important? Now there are multiple people you can call or you can't maintain a level of traction and a level of relationship within this account. So excuse me recovering from a call. So anyway, that's how to call with me and Madam or getting Bill ended. I really called up the client and I say OK, you see, I've gotten the name of the school. This is information you should have gotten at 1st and I don't know who we're talking to.

We're talking to. She now says she's going to send the number of the engineer. As I was talking, my name was calling. I said hold on, let me call you back. I caught my clients and I said, but I'm Scott. I said, oh, I'm here with engineer, would you like to talk to him? I said, oh, fantastic. Me and engineer had a small chat, you know, oh, this is where I'm calling from. This is where we discussed about this is what we're hoping to achieve, so my own technical person will call you.

I was forming as if I'm in the company, you understand the scope I'm using, but actually, you know, my client just brought me in from the outside. You know, I'm just an outside contractor trying to help them fix their sales. So this is what we're trying to achieve. But I'm says we can send somebody down. So I told my dad not to worry, we can send somebody down only after we discuss on budget and see how close we are. But before we do that, we need to know this and this and that.

And engineer say you need to know about this. I'll be, I say perfect. That's exactly what we need to know. But you know what? I'm not technical, so. Let my engineer call you back. He said sure, no problem, she can call me. I said on this, on shall you give me a number? He'll say sure, no problem, I'll call it out for you. The engineer called it. I wrote it down. See, this is reason why we need a pen and paper every single time we're making these calls.

Some of you, when I tell you pen, paper, pen, paper, you think I'm just trying to make your life difficult. I'm being real here. We are trying to sell something. Excuse me? We're having conversations with people here. We're trying to move things forward. They will say things that are important that we won't have the chance to say. Can you repeat that again? Or I didn't write it down or something. Have your pen and paper handy.

As they're talking, be jotting small things. In this case. Name of the school. What else? OK, Number of the engineer. What else did I have to write down? I can't remember, but I should be done a few things and then later on our last with my clients and I give her all the information that she needs now and now it's up to her go forth and prosper. I have re established the connection. But the main thing I'm trying to pass across here is I know that when I talk about qualification and discovery and we talk about qualification and discovery frameworks, I'm you know, I keep on going on and on and on.

I understand sounds like a lot, but this is a real live example. You know, usually when I talk about these things I make stuff up. This one is not made-up. This is what happened 2 days ago. This is not theory, it is real, it is live. When you hear a authority in band, it is not just because it's a vowel sound and it makes something sound smooth, it's because the A actually means something. I need to know who I'm talking to.

I need to know how they relate in the scheme of things. I need to know who's responsible for what. I need to know who's going to be responsible for implementing what, and I need to know who's responsible for issuing payments. If I know who I'm talking to, I will know how I can arrange, how I can manage this call, manage this relationship. And you need to know the same thing too. So qualification frameworks and discovery frameworks really important.

Absolutely necessary. I speak about 3 on the podcast, not because they are the best, I talk about them because they only have 4 letters. 4 letters means you only have 4 things to remember. 4 things to remember means you will find it easier to do. Easy to do means you will do it a lot and you will improve upon it and you will be calm, somewhat of an expert in it over time. So that's the reason why I talk about band BANT spin, SPIN.

And then want, need, afford, urgency. Each of them only four things only. So there's medic. Medic is five. There's Med peak. I think Med peak is 9. And you know, on and on and on. There's some that is even 15. Excuse me? When you become a Dawn, you can't worry about those ones that are plenty, plenty, plenty. But for now, just keep it simple. Every single thing, every single letter in that acronym stands for a series of conversations or a series of information that you should be getting.

So for those of you who like a band, it sounds like something you can do. Please be be having budget conversations. Oh Madam or getting me. Based on everything we've looked at so far, it's looking as if we can sort out this problem. Three different proposals. The price ranges are between 800,000 and 1.2. How does that sound, Mark? Is that something you're willing to invest? That's the budget conversation. Have it. So if Madam Bodemi says, ah,

thank God, I was thinking people will say to M in your mind, you will say, hey, Jesus, I should have said 3,000,000. So that by the time we price will now end at 2.5 when you don't worry that one has passed. But if you say that between 801.5 and she says oh thank God, I was thinking we saved 3,000,000, what does that sound like? It sounds as if this one is a short deal because whom? I was thinking 3 M. What you're proposing is anything that is half the price or less than half the price.

But you can see how having a budget conversation is good. Also there's some people who say 800 Watt. Do you think I'm a thief, think I'm stealing money like you people in Abuja? Now you know that conversation is heading badly because realistically speaking you can sort it out between 801.5. But the woman is saying even at 800 which is your low budget. The woman is saying that that is for thieves and armed robbers. Butcher have a budget conversations then a authority who am I talking to this woman?

Am I good negotiating with? Does she have the authority for me to even be negotiating with her? Because there are times if I in my own wedding, excuse me, back when I was a wedding photographer, there was a time when I spoke to somebody, but I didn't ask who I was talking to. I assumed he was the bride. We looked at sample pictures. We negotiated, we agreed on the amount. I invested time with this young lady thinking she was the bride and he said OK, cool, everything checks out.

She now said, do you think that gave me a heart attack? She said, OK, so I will tell my sister, Imam, I'm like, what? Your sister, I thought you were the bride. Say no, no, no, I'm the sister of the bride. In my mind, I'm thinking, Jesus, I was wasting weeks talking to the sister of the bride. Now, for those of you who do events or who do weddings, you know that if you're not talking to the bride, you are giving yourself a serious long jump.

Serious because, you know, women are different, but the bride likes her own things her own way. Her sister likes her own things the other way. Talking to the sister of the bride, we're not talking to the bride is, is never a good sign. Never. It has only worked for me once. And that was because the sister of the bride also happened to be a wedding planner. So the sister of the bride said, I trust you, your wedding planner, go and do everything.

So that was different. But this thing of a authority, you need to know who are you talking to? By the way, when she handed me over to the bride, you guess what happened? I was not the bride's cup of tea. The thing did not work. So this is really important. You're wedding photographer. You're talking to a girl. Don't assume she's the bride. Ask. Don't just go ahead and say, are you the bride? No, you do it stylishly. You say, Oh, thanks for reaching out, congratulations.

How did you find me? Well, I saw you on Instagram, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So you must be excited now that your wedding is coming up. They say, no, I'm not the one that's getting married. I'm just a friend of the bride. You see, you say you got the information stylishly, not by interrogating. You just say, oh, you must be excited that your wedding is coming up in three weeks. She will now say, no, it's not me that is getting married.

You now know a authority. It's important have those conversations. Anyway, I wanted this to be a short episode, so let me stop here. I'm ready. Entry in 30 minutes. N&T need and timelines. We'll talk about all that later, but I hope this example has been instrumental to show you how all these things work together, how you can handle these things in simple conversations, and why each letter, each alphabet in the acronym is important.

I should be paying attention to them. But today, honestly, in particular, I want to stress the A in the authority because there are lots of people that I'm coaching and meeting and having conversations with, and they are not even having that. They're not handling that part of the conversation well at all. You're on the phone with somebody. You've had three conversations. Who is this person you don't know? What's the title?

You don't know. Are they the owner? You don't know. Will they implement? You don't know. Can they sign a cheque? You don't know. Can they authorize payment? You don't know. If they like you, can they sell you and push you forward within the company? You don't know. So a authority really, really, really important. All right, so let me end it here so I don't take up too much of your time today. I just hope that this reader,

for example, stressed why these things are important and how we go about doing that. So that's it. And that's all for today. Remember, if you'd love to connect, you can call send a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. Thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you same time. I'll be I'll catch you next time rather the same. Place your headphones on your speakers. Sorry. You know, for my radio show, I

say I'll catch you same time next week. So that's why I got my wires crossed. All right, I'll catch you next episode.