Inside Man Mishap: Why Our Double Date with Deals Didn't Work

Hello and welcome to the show. Today's episode is going to be a debrief. It's a conversation that I had with someone, a former classmate who's now a management consultant, was supposed to have done some work together. We put out two bids, it didn't work and I figured I'd jump on the show real quick and share with you guys why it didn't work so that those of you who are in similar situations can take some learnings from it and then improve the quality of outreach that you do if you're looking for business. So like I said me and this guy we went to school together law school maybe close to two decades ago or more than law school and the fellow is now a management consultant you know networking on LinkedIn we find each other the conversation resumes this is what you do this is what I do it looks like there's you know room for partnership you know we can prospect together look for some business and so we decide to get things on the road now there are some people who say that at this stage before you decide doing business with someone you guys should sit down draw up a partnership agreement you know blah blah blah stuff like that ideally I guess that is something that you should do but let's face it you're going to be talking to other stakeholders potential business partners you know dozens of time in a year so to sit down and to draw a partnership agreements every single time and stuff like that might be unnecessarily informal and it also might be unnecessarily cumbersome might not be workable let me just put it that way so my own attitude on these sorts of things is actually you know somebody comes person says hey what's up we can do some work together my dad my attitude is oh yeah sure no problem let's see this room here and then if it looks like there's room and you guys are doing some stuff and you can say hey look oh boy or girl or whatever you know you know it's been cool looks like this thing is serious it looks like there might be room for some growth here you know why don't we sit down and hash out a few things about how we're going to do partnerships in the future so that's my own way of looking at it it's not what I am recommending I'm just saying it's a possibility because I want to validate that things can work in the first place instead of every single time I run into an old classmate or a potential business partner you know every single time if I meet let's say 20

people this year that I might do business with then every single time I'm sitting down and drawing our partnership agreements and stuff like that so I prefer to validate first see if there's some life see if we even flow everything is even juicy you know if we're vibing and then can't worry about all those things later so no partnership agreement between us then let's see okay so we had two potential prospects to work on the fellow had two companies in his sights one was a mobile phone company I'm not going to go into specifics so tech and mobile phone company and then the other was a real estate company now this person like I said is a management consultant who offers trainings on all sorts of things you know human resources company culture things like that and of course he runs into companies where sometimes the problem goes beyond the management training beyond human resource training you know they definitely have a sales problem so that's the reason why we were both keen on having a chat together and see how this thing can work so for the phone company the my friend my former classmate had an inside man and the inside man was kind of the one who was telegraphing how things would go now I was uncomfortable about that for a couple of reasons why didn't tell him at the time because this is the way that I looked at it now I am the sales specialist and so I should be the one giving advice about you know the best way to sell and go about these sorts of things but I do recognize one thing now for both of these opportunities my former classmate my friend has inside people in both organizations so it seemed more realistic or practical at the time to just take dressing from the guy as in let him lead and then do my best to support the bid and if it worked then I'll be like okay this dude has his own way of selling let's just roll but if it didn't work then I

figured we'd have the conversation about how I think we can improve our joint selling process and that is how that conversation came about and I'm now sharing it with you guys because for the phone company and for the real estate company neither of the bids worked and I wrote proposals on both of them for those of you who've been listening to my podcast for any length of time you know that I am not a proposal person I

believe in following your process you know before you write a proposal you need to be sure that people even want what you're looking for in the first place before you write a proposal because writing proposals takes a lot of time you know three hours four hours you know that's time that you can spend do other things so instead of me writing three four proposals every week I

prefer having phone conversations first figure out who the viable people that I may end up working with then that is what will determine who I'm writing a proposal with or a presentation or a what -have -you so for the phone company one of the things that made me uncomfortable and one of the reasons why I think it didn't work is because we were single -threaded now single -threaded means that you only know one person in the company and that's always a problem because things happen the person in the company can get moved the person in the company can get sacked the person in the company might not be telling you the truth or the person in the company might be honest and honest but maybe the person doesn't have a good read on what the priorities are of the company so it always helps if you're trying to sell into a company that you have multiple people on the inside that you're talking to and I've done lots of episodes about how in the complex sale you have to be looking out for different kinds of decision -makers so you're talking to the auger at the top or at least you know the PA

of the auger at the top maybe you know somebody in procurement maybe you know somebody in accounts maybe you know somebody in legal or maybe you know somebody there that's your friend that you went to school with when you're taking a multiple -threaded approach and you're talking to different people like that you now have a better chance of winning because there are lots of people there who are rooting for you who want this deal to go through and you'll be able to get a better sense of what the company's priorities are so that if one or two people are ghosting you there somebody you can call to say hey Kule how far now remember that deal I was talking to you about man it's like these people are ghosting me what's up what's happening and you might find to get some good intel you might find out like the MD managing director is not interested and you know now it's nice to know you now know that you don't have to keep passing this company anymore because I got the top MD

or CEO or whatever is not it's not interested or you might find out okay the guy no longer works in the company anymore and then in that case it makes sense he's moved on to another company he's embarrassed because he promised you that you're my guy who see this thing through but he's not there anymore so he doesn't know how to tell you so it's obvious why the guy is ghosting you so you have more support and you have multiple ways of getting intel about what is going on so don't single -thread and for me I

thought that that was a bad that I was a bad sign it also was a bad sign because well first off I am I figured if it's something really really interesting eventually you're going to be able to talk to the head honcho in charge so you can have a conversation about how the bad the problem is or you be able to talk to other people of the food chain but not only were we single -threaded this guy I

got the sense like he didn't want us talking to anybody else it's not a good sign you know when people are trying to do that well that's a podcast for another episode but summaries don't single -thread multiple -thread you're trying to get into there talk to a couple of people so receptionist be cool with the receptionist or guard the top be cool with or guard the top's PA

one or two other people in the organization you know knew everybody so that the different ways that you can pursue pursue this thing and follow up so if you're single -threaded this key man risk if your key man risk misbehaves gets act or is no longer interested then there's a problem then also another thing I took to be a bad sign was because while my guy was trying to sort out the person on the inside of the company I figured let me just reach out to one of the branch managers anyway and have a conversation with them to try and figure out what their sales challenges are because after all people walk into stores all the time anonymously to talk to the manager it's not a problem but the thing was even though I came from the angle of a mr. manager how you doing now I got your number from so -so so -and -so we think you can make you guys more money help you move more merchandise in your in your branch you know are you open for a meeting would you like to talk even though that was the scope I was taking okay branch manager would say yes but okay branch manager was not returning phone calls or willing to show up for meetings and I just figured you know it's not really that much of a problem because really somebody who doesn't have a problem is not going to take action on anything so if you try to approach someone and the scope is a bro I can help you guys make more money and the person is like oh really let me hear what's up you know there's room but if you say guys I can help you guys make more money and the person is not interested then yeah they don't have a problem a money problem or they have bigger problems to fry and the bigger problems are XYZ so I didn't think that was going to work was single -threaded and then the boys on ground branch manager people in the store you know the one bothered then let's see what else on the phone do okay so we didn't was single -threaded we didn't have a good sense of the decision -making unit now decision -making unit is something that boys in the construction boys and girls in construction engineering space is a concept that that they really champion when somebody is trying to win a bid for construction and things like that they try to get a sense of the DMU decision making unit who are the top people that you should be consulting with to get this deal to seal through because if you want to do something let's say for dangote let's say dangote they want to get security guards for their factories or something like that for a kind of thing you need to have a sense of okay who should I be talking to who is the decision -making unit obviously talking to dango to himself to hire security guards for all the whatever I mean that's a bit much down get it as much more important things to do down to decide who has security guards so you're going out to you need to get a sense of which department is in charge of hiring for security guards you know is it personnel is it personnel or human resources is it payroll is it factory operations is it so you have to start thinking in those terms okay who are the key departments who should I be talking to and then you map it out on paper that okay guys girls this is the decision -making unit these are the four five six people who need to talk to to make this deal go through and then you don't know how to pursue it this kind of thinking is not just limited to corporate situations I was talking about it again time and time on the podcast about how I started off as a wedding photographer and in my own experience and I

realized that this whole thing of relying on the bride was a mistake because you talk to the bride she's good she loves it she wants to go ahead but then actually it is her mom that is paying for the photography meanwhile you spent three months talking to the bride only for you to meet mom see after three months and her mom sees like nope I already have my own photographer now the thing is if mom see was such a key decision maker it is nice to know that at the beginning of the journey instead of wasting three months talking to the bride so it's the same sort of concept with decision -making unit and then there's sometimes that you're cool with the bride you're cool with mom see but then they come from a culture where it is actually the parents of the groom who pays for wedding photography and video and yes I have wasted three weeks with the bride and her family only for at the end of the day they now try to pass me off to the groom's family because in their own culture is the groom the groom's family who pays you can see how that is a like that's a problem and now of course by the time I introduced I was introduced to the groom at that stage he had already been making his own plans running concurrently so this whole thing of decision -making unit who are the people you need to be consulting with it cuts across the board for simple commodities like if you're going to the market to go and buy Yam or Iguci decision -making unit yeah you don't need to know that but the more complex you get you're selling a house it's not just about because he's the man who came I met you then he's only the man you're talking to at some point you ask the guy hey bro so far now you know at some point when again wants to buy the house you know at some point madam comes for an inspection you know how far now we haven't seen madam you know you put it out there and you will hear whether anyway just put it out there if it's usually husband and wife that show up but you've only seen one party put it out there ask it's part of the decision -making unit it helps to get your deal go through so was single threaded for the phone company we didn't know the DMU so that was a problem then okay I already mentioned that one hundred to sort out if there was a need that's the training that we're offering if there was a need for that if there was a priority I

don't think was a priority because usually you know the store manager who is normally compensated on sales as per he has a salary but then if the team does well like the sales people on the floor will make more money you know things like that so like if they're not bothered about increasing the number of phones and computers and routers and everything that they're selling and it probably is not a priority so those are the reasons why I

don't think the phone deal went through and yeah that was the the the basis of our conversation that's me and my guy my classmate now for the real estate company similar things single threaded all the one inside man we don't know the DMU the decision -making unit and we have no idea about what their business priorities are and I think those are the reasons why it didn't go through in either case what happened was I mean surprise surprise inside person started ghosting so you receive the proposal and then ghost no answering phone calls not replying to emails now these are things I could have told my friend ahead of time but I

didn't because I was trying to show some goodwill now okay if my guy thinks this is how we're going to sell this thing then no I'll let me roll it might work if it works a cool then I know that on some kinds of deals where my friend says I know somebody at the inside so I'm running points you know no I'll let the guy do it I mean after all who doesn't like the smell of good money so if he does it money comes up so good but now that the thing didn't work my had a meeting with him and I just want to clarify a couple of things give some suggestions about how we're going to handle future prospects and these are some insights on learnings that I hope you guys don't learn from as well now since my guy is a letter of introduction person proposal person inside man person I said okay no problem we can incorporate that sorry he's a proposal person we can incorporate that but instead of the first document that we sent to them being the proposal my recommendation was let our first proposed our first document that we send it let that be a letter of introduction this is who we are this is what we do these are the sorts of problems that we solve in the letter who hint at the kind of priorities and challenges that people in that industry might be facing and then of course we'll ask if they are facing any of these challenges of they'll be interested in having a meeting later on so that we can figure out if there's room for us to work together so that's the approach that I recommended so you can see it satisfies both ends for me I want to be sure we're dealing with the right people can only do that if we have a meeting to figure out who are you people and what's going on my friend who likes to drop proposals well it's still some sort of documentation it's not a full -fledged proposal but it is a document of some sort that says this is us this is what we do these are challenges I suspect you people are having it's having meeting to try and figure it out if people say sure we're down for the meeting you can see that it's a step in the right direction they might have a problem and the cool thing is at that meeting you're going to see one or two other faces this is how you're now broadening your sphere of influence within the company so it's no longer just your inside man but let's say the inside man is there sales manager is there and maybe the store manager is there you've now seen three faces there's nothing wrong that says after that meeting you say by the way let me collect your phone numbers you know so I can follow up with you guys later on no it's absolutely no problem with that but of course be looking at your key man because there's some key men who don't want you to have the phone numbers of anybody in the company but that's a topic for another day so that's what I

recommended that of introduction in the introduction states on priorities and challenges request for a meeting if you get a meeting then you figure out what their business needs are and then I can now call for a second meeting where we will now do the almighty presentation on the proposal the PowerPoint the everything and after that second presentation or proposal we now ask for a time bound decision so you start off the meeting saying that okay based on what we understand from the last meeting we think our problems are so so so and so based on if our understanding is correct then this is what I think this is what we think we should do to help you make more money in your business and then you walk through the whole thing blah blah blah blah so now that we're done with this we expect that we should have a decision within XYZ time frame or most of our happiest clients at this stage usually are ready to make a decision within XYZ

time frame and then you ask them is there anything that has gone on so far that would stop that from happening and then you keep quiet and then you listen and they will get back to you they will say ordinarily that sounds okay but we have to con we have to have a meeting with MD first you say okay fine no problem that makes sense you guys can't just be paying money without talking to managing director and then you ask them okay how long do you think meeting with MD will take and it's okay MD traveled home for his mom's burial or she traveled home for her granddaughter's christening so she's going to be back in three weeks you can see now you're now getting a sense of their timelines you now know that follow up time is you getting in touch in three weeks instead of you leaving this meeting now calling them tomorrow calling them in four days calling them in 10 days then in 12 and then you know just being in nuisance you now know that you're calling a follow up in two or three weeks time when MD or CEO or whoever is back so yeah ask for a decision ask for a time bound decision try and figure out timelines that's what's going to determine your your your follow up processes and then I also recommended to my classmate that we should be taking these things two at a time as per we started off with two phone company real estate this is what I'm proposing about how we should tackle these sorts of challenges so let's just drop with a list of two more prospects I'll see how we're going to tackle them and then after the two we'll review and then make amendments so I figured with this failed attempt failed attempts and with the issues that were raised I thought it'd be a good idea to share it with you guys over here on the podcast because a bunch of you listening to these things you know you're pursuing your trade you're trying to hook up these deals you're wondering why some of them are not working these are some of the possible reasons why your deals might not be working through you might be single -threaded you only know one man or one woman inside the organization no try and spread it you don't know how they make decisions and who the decision -making unit is you don't even know if these people even have a need for the things that you offer these are the sorts of things that you should be looking at and in a general sense if you must if you are these kind of people that like to submit letter of proposal to start of the process delay letter of proposal let it be letter of introduction state some key challenges that they may be facing and then ask if they're open for a meeting to try and figure out their business need if they say yes it's a meeting it's a good sign if they say no to the meeting it's also a good sign it might mean that they don't have this problem or they have the problem but that they have a way to figure it out I

mean you never know at the meeting have conversations with everybody try and figure out their business priorities try and figure out their problems and also try and get contact details of other people and then try and what's the word network love up become friends so that the other people that you can call to follow through on your proposal and then always ask for next clear steps let everything be time bound we finish this normally it takes about three weeks for this to be approved is there any reason why it might take you guys longer and then you leave it like that or even if you don't want to be that bold and you're kind of on the timid side you can say okay now we're done we've given the presentation so what would you guys like to do next if they say let us think about it no problem and then push for a timeline okay how long would you guys need to think about it and it will say two or three weeks look at your calendar and then you make it specific again you say two or three weeks so is it okay if I call you back on March 31st 2024 or 2020 whatever and the person will say okay yes it's okay fine no problem putting it down in my diary right now so uh Mr.

Tunde I will call you March 31st to find out how far but in case I can't reach Mr. Tunde is it okay if I call Madam Alice Madam Alice you say yeah sure no problem if you can't reach Tunde you can call me so no problem and then you mark it down there you can see that now it is very specific you're calling Tunde or Alice on March the 21st 2024 to figure out how far with the proposal so these are some of the ways that you can keep things on track so thank you very much for listening to the show I

remember to connect with me on WhatsApp the phone number 080 64662140 country code is lost 234 for those of you who are not Nigerian and you can find me on LinkedIn or other socials my name is Tavishima Ayede I'm the host of the show you can confirm my spelling sorry the spelling of my name rather from the link where listening to this episode so thanks for your time and attention I'll catch you guys on the next episode okay yes that was the alarm that it's 20

minutes so I'm glad I wrapped it up right now all right so catch you guys next time