Part 2 Crafting Winning Proposals: The Secret Lies in Client Questions

OK, I'm back. Sorry. I needed to go and clear my throat because it was becoming quite irritating. I'm sure it must have even been more irritating for you guys to listen to. So like I was saying, you also need to ask about the areas of concern if you're in the cleaning space because people have different things that they are concerned about. So houses in Abuja are really crap, apart from those houses that were built by FCDA, that's the Federal Capital Development Authority that these to handle lots of the constructions, you know, houses and bridges and those sorts of things.

So every single house that I enter into has mold and every single mom that I know in Abuja does not like mold. So every single mom including my wife always complaints about the mold. But unfortunately husbands or people like me have kind of accepted that doesn't matter. Jerry, any single house that you enter into in Abuja, the first thing you do is you do painting, you do screening. But after a while the mold will start to grow.

And in fact, those of you in the building industry, please, you guys need to take this thing seriously because I really think we're causing all kinds of health, health hazards, what else? You know, health hazards, allergies and all kinds of things for our kids. So please, you guys should be making your buildings up to spec because even in places like the UK where it rains all the time, I mean, the and buildings are made of wood.

I mean, think about it, the buildings are made of wood and then it rains half the year and they don't grow mold. But then in a place like Abuja that is dry half the year, every single building has mold. I don't get it. So you need to ask about people's area of concern. OK. So yeah, sure, we can do that. OK, It's commercial. But so like, what things are you concerned about there? Is it the mold in the building? Do you have mold or are you worried about equipment?

What kind of equipment do you have at your office? And then do you have high ceilings, low ceilings, you know, all these sorts of things you need to ask because this will determine the kind of equipment that you use, whether you need to bring scaffolding onto the site because of the people have high ceilings. OK. Just take for instance, the average Catholic Church in Nigeria, the average Catholic Church in Nigeria has a very high ceiling.

So if you're going to do is that commercial cleaning? No Catholic Church, can we call that commercial? OK, Let's just call it commercial cleaning in this case. So you're doing commercial cleaning. What you want to do commercial cleaning for the neighbourhood store is not the same thing as you're going to do it for the Catholic Church because Catholic Church would have high ceilings. So you need to bring scaffolding in.

And if you're going to bring scaffolding in, you need to pay for the scaffolding. You need to pay for equipment to move the scaffolding in. You know, all these sorts of things. Because somebody just calls and says, you know how much I say, OK, 10,000 per square meter. And then you show up to the site and then you see that the site requires scaffolding and you now call the person back. You know, it would lead to a nasty quarrel.

The person said, look, you told me it was 10,000 per square meter. It is 50,000 square meters. I have paid you 50,000, you know, times 10,000. So go ahead and do the job and you will start getting back and forth like no, I didn't realize that we need scaffolding and blah, blah, blah. So you can see why you need to be asking all these questions before you start delivering a quote. So areas of concern. Then you also need to ask about the kind of cleaning.

Is it basic cleaning? You know, just sweep and mop. Let's see, is it moving ready? Moving ready is when you clean the place sharp, you clean it tight so that all the person has to do is just carry their TV, carry their mattress, carry the whatever and then just move into the place. And then the showroom cleaning. Showroom cleaning, on the other hand, is absolutely spotless. I mean, I walked into the showroom of JC. JC is a Guangzhou, Guangzhou automobiles.

Now they have an office in Gariki that is not far from where I live and they have some correct cars there. There's one car, 1 Jeep behind. It's called the GS8. That car is fire. You need to check it. The grill is something else. Keyless entry now fingerprint entry. You see the dash. The dash of the cars is is like iPad. I mean, it's just, I don't know, it's just something else. Independent controls on the seats. Let's see what else not 4 wheel drives us in.

Each of the wheels can spin independently on their own. It's a fuel car. But as in this car is just die used to die for. I know people don't like Chinese cars, but as I'm concerned, man, that GS 8 sweet, sweet car. And if I get some cool pepper right now, I want to buy me AGS 8A star flexion. What was that? Yeah. So the showroom. The showroom was spotless, as in as I entered into the showroom, I could see my own reflection on the ground.

That was the level of cleaning and buffering and shining and whatever that they did to that floor. So there are different kinds of cleaning because the way you will clean my house is not the same way that you will clean a church, is not the same way that you will clean a construction site is not the same way that you will clean the showroom. So you also need to ask people these kinds of conversations if you are in the cleaning space and you're trying to do qualification and discovery.

So I hope you guys can see the reason why this whole thing is important. And this is one of the reasons why lots of you are suffering in your business. You don't do qualification, you don't do discovery. You go straight to a proposal, you go straight to a price. And of course your proposal is not tailored, is not accurate because you are telling somebody 10,000 per square meters. I mean, that's all the person needs to go on.

But if you just go through this simple process of what this woman did, now, now that I'm saying this thing, it sounds like it's long. But actually it was a sharp conversation. The woman was on the phone. If she stayed long, I think it was 10 minutes. And these were the kind of questions she was asking. Is it residential? Is it commercial? Is it industrial? OK, When did you guys finish cleaning? OK, What kind of equipment do you have there?

So ceiling height. What do you think? Do you guys, what kind of paint did you use? Is mold going to be a problem? We can do more treatment if that's and that's important. OK. What's the level of cleaning that we need here? OK, is it showroom level or? OK, I understand that you don't know all this information. You know what, just take a WhatsApp video real quick. Just pan from left to right, send it to me, let me have a look at it, and then if there's any other question, I'll call you back from there.

We'll now be able to discuss pricing and timelines. That is this long process I'm talking about was just 10 minutes, sharp, sharp, sharp. And you should be doing something like that for your business as well. Whether you're a Baker, whether you're a lawyer, whether you're an architect, whether you sell catfish or let me see, even if you're a housing agent, even if you're a housing agent, because right now we're looking for a place to move into.

You'd be surprised the number of housing agents that you call up and the only thing they ask is how many bedrooms. That's the only question they ask. They don't even ask any more questions outside that. You need to ask questions so you can show people the suitable house. Like there's one guy that asked me a couple of questions about the kids, about wifey, about, you know, this and you know different things about us. And there was one house that he wanted to that he said, well,

it's within your price range, but a guy you won't like it. And then he started showing me expensive stuff. I thought he was trying to be, you know, somehow, somehow. But I told him no problem. Let me, let me see it. And then we went there and true, true, I didn't like it because the interior of the house was nice. But based on the things that me and wifey had said about our kids, I know what not isolated environment, plenty of dust, no neighbors.

You think the house was built against the back of a Bush? So, you know, boys can just fly over at night and operate before you call police now, you know, all these sorts of things. And as we're leaving, I realized that that was possible because of the quality of questions, the quality of qualification and discovery that the guy had done. So he didn't even need to take me to the place because he knew based on what me and this guy have been yawning and questions about him, his wife, the kids and everything, I know they will not like this place.

So he said it. Now all guy, I told you I knew you not like this place, that it was a young man who is just starting off is just him. He's not married, you know, naughty, nothing. He just needs a pad, you know, crashing here every once in a while. I would have showed the guy before you. I know that this was not good for you. So this is the reason why we have to do qualification and discovery and this is how it helps our business is improved and this is how it helps us to close more deals.

If you do qualification and discovery, your proposal is going to be spot on, Your quotation is going to be a realistic, your proposal, your everything is going to be relevant to the client. But the most important thing about qualification and discovery is that it sets you apart as the professional. Because think about it, this guy that called this woman when she was in Makudi, you know why Nigel now, So definitely, I'm sure this guy has called 3 or 4

people before her. And I bet you the four people that you called before her, what they said was OK Sir, yes, we can do it. It is 10,000 naira per square meter. And then he said thank you very much. And then he caught the call. I'll call you back. And then he wrote that number down on a sheet of paper out of the five people, the way this woman responded, even if it's you, who do you think is The Who you think is the is the professional?

Everybody else just says 10,000 hyper square meter. The way the woman handle the conversation, you drop the phone. It's like, ah, this one, she knows her stuff. OK, It's unusual that the woman is the one that is doing the cleaning, but you know, she knows her stuff. This one is a professional. Let me go to the office or let me check out their website. Let me whatever that is the added advantage of doing good qualification and discovery.

It sets us apart as a professional. We should be doing it, especially now that Nigerians are not doing qualifications and discovery at all. Now. I hope you guys are seeing how when I say on the podcast that having a sales process will set you apart from the competition, will distinguish you from the competition, qualification and discovery phone game, how you handle conversations. These small, small things set you apart so that they'll look at you as the professional and they'll look at everybody else as the the wheat and the chef.

So anyway, let me bring this to a close. If you'd like to connect with me to explore opportunities. The phone number is 08064662140. The country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian, that's my WhatsApp number. Please don't send me any links or pictures or PDFs or anything like that. I don't know you yet. So I'm not going to click on any strange thing. After we have a relationship and if there is a need for us to explore more things in detail,

then yeah, sure, you can send me the extra stuff. So thank you very much for your time and attention. I also promise you guys that we're going to do a book review by Jeremy Hurowitz, the title of the book. Sorry. Let me look at my notes. OK, Sell like a spy. Sell like a spy. The art of persuasion from the world of espionage. So basically what we can learn about selling from spies and people in the diplomatic service. So we're going to go into the book review maybe tomorrow.

OK, Tomorrow kids are going back to school. And then I also have some houses to view because I have to move from this current place where we live because wifey is fed up and what else I'm robots keep tackling our transformer anyhow. Anyhow. Anyhow, anyhow, so you know NEPA Wahala and the usual stuff that all of us in Nigeria are used to. So let me stop complaining. It's nice if you are not dealing with it too. So anyway, if I don't do, if I'm not on the roads too much tomorrow and then looking at houses and doing repairs and moving and stuff like that, then we will go into the book review by Jeremy Hirowitz.

Sound like a spy, The art of persuasion. So thanks for the time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.