Revenue First: Prioritizing Sales Tasks and Handling Tough Questions

Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishima Aide. I solve sales and marketing challenges, and I'm making today's recording at home, so I expect to hear some noise in the background. Now, the goal of this podcast is business education. So by the time we're done, if you're impressed, please spread the words so that your friends and family members in Nigeria and abroad can benefit from the questions that we tackle. They can do that by subscribing on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of their choice.

And if you'd love to connect with me, then call SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Now today on the podcast is going to be another meeting summary for Rudolph LC and Shell. And that's just for that, you know, in the future, you guys, Rudolph, LC, Shell, my 3 Musketeers. I was just so you guys can refer back to these episodes. That's when our coaching engagement is over. At least these things appear readily available on the Internet.

So you can refer to things that we discussed and just get a general refresher. Now for those of you of course, who are not a part of the session still, there might be some good tidbits here that you guys will be able to learn from. Now if you listened to the first session, you will know that for Rudolph, LC and Sheryl, we're currently trying to establish a number of habits that are going to get them very productive at their job, which is selling solar installations and all the other good stuff that you sell in the alternative energy space.

So we're currently working on how we can we can get them to hit 10 net new calls every single day. Now when we say 10 net new calls, what we mean is you're talking to 10 people every day who are brand new fresh blood people you haven't spoken to before. Now the whole point of this exercise is this, if you're not making net new calls every day and you're not prospecting, you're not looking for new people to talk to, eventually you're going to run out.

The reason why you run out of people to talk to is because you will close some deals and that is good because when deals close, money comes into our pocket, Commission enters into our bank account. So that's good. Then you will lose some deals. That one is just standard. Not everybody wants what you have. Not everybody needs what you have. Not everybody can afford what you have. Especially when what you're selling is complex and expensive solar installations, then unfortunately, unfortunately some people will fall through the cracks.

The reason why that happens is because a lot of us don't have a good content. So no content contact management system, we're not using CRM, we're not using notifications on our phone book. So whether we like it or not, so long as you don't have these things in place, there are some people who might have been a good deal. You will forget. That person will fall through the cracks. You will now remember 4 weeks from now and you call the person and say, ah Madame Kimmy, blah blah blah blah.

You say oh sorry, we already bought a solar installation from someone else. These things happen. The only way that you can avoid it is use the CRM, a customer relationship management tool, or you come up with your own individual contacts management process where you outline your process. You know, when I call somebody, this is the next step. This is how I store the number. This is how I follow through. This is how I get a reminder.

But The thing is, it doesn't have to be fancy or complicated. For those of us who use Android phones, your Google Calendar is fine. You call the person today on the Monday, put the notes underneath the person's name. Then you go to Google Calendar and then you set a reminder for the next appointment. You just put it there in Google. You can even put the notes in Google Calendar. I called, but I'm coming today. We discussed about 10 kilowatts.

She wants the, she wants the me to issue a code. I can't issue a quote until I've spoken to facilities manager. Then, you know, fix the next appointment for next week Friday, put it on Google Calendar. The agenda is collect facility manager's phone number and then that's it. And then go about your business. And then you wake up on Friday, your phone will do zip, zip. You look at it and then you say, oh, I'm supposed to call Madam Cami and get facilities manager's phone number.

So we get this thing moving. If you don't do things like this, some people will just fall through the cracks. It is standard. And believe me, that one is painful. It always, always pains me to call somebody and they say, oh, you know what? We actually went. We saw so, so and so. We have already paid for this. We already found nothing. Really, really pains me because that is money that should have been in my own pocket.

Don't allow these things that happen to you. It happens to everyone because, you know, we're human. But get some sort of system. So that's the reason why we have, we're coming up with this plan for calling 10 net new customers every single day. Because if you're not calling 10 net new, you will close some deals. Hallelujah, you make some money, you will lose some deals because what you're selling in their own case, what they are selling is solar installations.

It's expensive. You won't catch everybody. And then if you're lazy or if you're sloppy, sometimes life happens. You have malaria, you have typhoid. Some things will fall through the cracks. And then you wake up one day and you see that you don't have anybody new to call upon. And then that is serious problem. So Rudolph, yeah, you made two calls. That's good. But it's still not good enough because, you know, our target is 10.

And I understand that you're trying to send proposals and admin work and stuff like that, but that's not a problem. So what we're going to do is our next session, we're going to come up with ways for improving our productivity and prioritizing work because we need to come up with a way for blocking time blocking techniques. You know, we'll set aside time for these projects, time for these projects, time for these projects.

And then we have to decide which one is more important because like I've explained, if we don't hit this 10/10/10 10:10, you know, in two months time you wake up and you'll be wondering, OK, who am I going to call? Now that is a very bad place for a salesperson to be in to wake up in the morning. And you don't know who am I going to call for my daily bread? It's a very bad situation to be in, especially for those of us who are in complex sales cycles.

Because when you're in the complex sales scenario, your sales cycles usually take, you know, two months, three months, sometimes longer, 8 months, 10 months, depends on what it is that you're selling. So in other words, if you wake up today on July 1st and you don't know who to call and your your industry or your the thing you're selling is a six month selling cycle. I can tell you for free. If you wake up today in July and you don't know who to call December, you'll be broke.

Is that simple? It's a six month cycle. You didn't call anybody in July, therefore December would be Cray as in tight as in December will be dry. There'll be nothing dirty about your December. So it's that simple. When I was a wedding photographer, it is something that we knew if wanted to do deals in January, if wanted to cover weddings in January, we made sure that we were talking to somebody, anybody talking to brides around that kind October,

November, because that's where the daily bread of January will come from. If you're in January and you're not talking to any brides, at least bus back when I was still in the game, January, you're not talking to anybody. You know that your March, April will be dry, very, very dry. That's just how it works. So please, this whole thing of 10 net new calls every single day. It's not because yoga doesn't have work. I mean, I don't have anything better to do.

So we say let's just torture you and give you people all these targets. No, no, no, no, no. It is just the normal mathematics of the profession. It's all based on probability. And like I explained to you guys, especially since you, Rudolph, you like football and shown you would like football. It's very, very simple. If you're on the pitch and you're not handling the ball, nothing for you. If you're handling the ball, you're not taking shots on goal,

nothing for you. So these are the stats that football teams, Premier League people, these are the things that you look at ball position, what percentage, what was our percentage? Let's increase our percentage. Shots on goal. How many shots on goal did we take? Let us increase because if you're not doing shots on goal, you won't score any goal. Goals don't come from nowhere. So as it is in sports, so it is in sales as well.

We need to be taking shots on goal and this your 1010 calls that we're going to be making every day, that is our shot on goal. But just like in football, it's not every single shot on goal that will enter that will score. You know, sometimes I used to laugh at, you know, all these people, you know, you pay their millions and millions and millions and then sometimes you play a whole game. They can't even score one goal.

You know, when I was younger, I used to say it's absolutely rubbish. Now if you pay me millions of pounds, I'll be scoring at least five goals every single game, you know? But now I'm older and I know that OK, that's unrealistic when you get the point. So Rudolph, more work on the calls. Sharon, you only did three more work on the calls. LC, well done. You did 7-3 to go more work on the calls. Yes, you people want to do admin, you want to send proposal the other things you need to do,

but that's not a problem. We're going to work on blocking techniques to manage our work. So we're going to come up with a hierarchy of tasks that we need to do. The customers that we need to call will put it down. The admin task that we need to do, we'll put it there. The proposals that we need to send, you know who put it there? We'll write it. We'll just put everything out. Excuse me then. So excuse me then. We'll now figure out which priority, which activities are supposed to take priority and we're supposed to prioritizing revenue generating actions because if we're not doing revenue generating actions today, you know that you're going to be broke in the future.

It is that simple depending on your industry. So if you are in any of you listening to this podcast right now, who is a different industry, just, you know, ask around, talk to your people, get a sense of the sales cycle. So let's say like you're in the construction space now and hence construction. I'm sure that one is a very long sales cycle. Maybe it's probably like 3 or 4 years. So if your construction sales cycle is 3 or 4 years, you know before you get the the contracts to build a road in your state or to build primary school buildings in your LGA or something like that.

If this is your business, if your sales cycles is 3 years, then it's very simple. If you did not talk to anybody in 2025, you will be dead broke in 2028. It's basic. That's just how it works. So please, we need to come up with cadences and we need to be looking for new, new people to talk to. Fresh blood, fresh blood, fresh blood every day or every week, every month, fresh blood or else will be broke in the future, dead broke in this economy.

Your children will now tell you that they want to go skating. You will now say skating. What do you want to do skating for? Go and sit down, go and watch TV. Meanwhile, it's because you're broke. Anyway, let me move on. Where are we then? Now social, you had some sales objections that you encountered and you know, that's good. That's normal because we get objections all the time. Now, for those of you listening to the podcast for the first time, an objection is just any reason that somebody gives for not wanting to go ahead with the conversation, not wanting to go ahead with the sale, not wanting to go ahead with your agenda,

you know, whatever it is. So if you travel to the village, you are discussing New Yan Festival and you want New Yan Festival to hold on October 1st. Some people are saying no, you should be, it should be July 29th or whatever. Any reason that people are giving are blocking your proposal with that is called an objection. We get that in sales as well. We're trying to move somebody along. We're trying to establish a relationship and the person says, let me think about it.

That's an objection. Let me talk to my wife. That's an objection. OK, this sounds interesting. e-mail it to my PE. I'll get back to you. That's an objection. You're too expensive. That's an objection. You want to build house on top of my head, That's an objection, young man, you're not serious When you're serious, come back. Let us talk. That is an objection. Objections come all the time is normal. So Cheryl has come across 2

interesting objections and we're going to look at them today roughly here on the podcast just in case, you know, there are some of you who have been falling into the situations. So Cheryl will call someone and then Duma is like, who is this? Why are you calling me now? He has spoken to the person before. He just assumed that the woman would have stored his number. But let me give you guys the bad news. None of our prospects are storing our phone number.

None if they end up selling your phone number, it's a good sign because it means that you are a serious contender and you're making progress. But until you collect money from this person, always assume that did not store your phone number. Always start of the conversation by saying, oh, good morning Ma establishment. We spoke last week concerning so so so so do you remember? So yes young man, I remember how are you? How's the family who I'm fine,

my heart is not a problem. How is work, walk is fine, we bless God. I heard so Madam concerning this thing that we spoke about and then you continue the conversation from there. Do not assume anybody store your phone number. They have better things to do with their time and nobody in Nigeria is looking for new friends. So trust me, they did not store your phone number. So the time that I called Madam and Madam says hey Tavishma, how are you?

In my mind, I now know yes, we're making progress. Madam has finally stored my phone number. All right, but don't take it personal that nobody's knowing your phone number. It's just normal. Everybody already has like 3004 thousand contacts on their phone. They don't want to store a new phone number unless they have to. But OK, so that's for shame out of the way. But now for those of you who seem to be getting this a lot people asking who are you?

Why are you calling me? Just remember that whenever you're reaching out to somebody brand new, fresh, total stranger, these are the main concerns that people have. So you need to come up with an intro that solves that problem. Now Elsie, the way she solves this problem is she always front loads everything in her own intro. Elsie always says, hi, my name is Elsie. I'm from so, so so and so company. And the reason why I'm calling you is because you responded to this advertisement concerning solar sales on so so so and so.

Is this a good time to talk now? That's how she likes to do it. You know, I don't prefer to do it that way because me, quite frankly, I leave my name out. I leave the company name out because I don't think anybody's interested. See, but The thing is, that's what works for her. So you can do that for you too. So you can call and say good morning, my name is Kelechi, I'm calling from XYZ company, and the reason why I'm calling you is blah, blah, blah.

So that simple kind of intro solves that problem. But the way I do it is I'm not so concerned about introducing myself and my company. I want to be sure that I'm talking to the right person. So I started the conversation by saying hello, am I speaking to Mr. Ogdenbe? Say yes, this is Mr. Ogdenbe. Yes, this is Mr. Ogdenbe speaking. Then I now continue. The reason why I'm calling is because you responded to advertisement also.

So so did concerning blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, solar panels. Is that something you're still interested in or have you sorted yourself out? And that's how I just moved straight into the conversation. He will not say yes, he's still interested or he will say, Oh no thank you, don't worry, I've already bought solar panels from blah blah, blah. And then conversation over if you're interested. I just continue the conversation like that.

I'm trying to get into needs analysis as quick as possible and to build some rapport so that later on I have information to drop a proposal and, you know, on and on and on. But I don't bother with my name because to be honest, I'm quite frank in the beginning. Nobody cares who you are, nobody cares who your company is. So that's just how I do my own. But either way, it's going to work. So you can do like LC and give your name, give your company,

say why you're calling, or you can do like me, which is just get straight to business, confirm. Am I speaking to the right person? Oh, yes, I'm the right person. OK. The reason why I'm calling is this disease that that that. Are you still interested? And then I continue the conversation from there. So either of those approaches work. And if you if you don't like some of the things that I'm saying over here on this podcast, it's not a problem.

Just go and check podcast Land is big. YouTube land is big. So check podcast, check YouTube. You'll find somebody who you vibe with. But either way, you find that everybody has some templates, some framework, some recommendations for getting things done. Just find the one that you like and then continue to implement it. Then the next objection that Sharon was running into is where people say things like, look, young man, you're asking for too much information because you know, when it comes to drawing up solar code, you actually have to ask The information is plenty.

How many TV? How many fridge? How many deep freezer? How many days? How many that? Where do you live? Is it double Decker? Is it bungalow? Is it So yes, I admit to the question is plenty. So there are some people that say, look, you are asking me for too much information and there's some people who say, look, all this information you're asking for, I don't have it or give me time to get back to you with all these things.

So that's a normal objection now on the standard, especially for something as complex as solar. So what I told Sharon, we came up with multiple ways to deal with this. One of the things we discussed was acknowledging and then redirecting. Let me repeat, acknowledging and then redirecting. You must always acknowledge when you're talking to people because people don't only feel like they're unreasonable. So you must always acknowledge so that person knows that, OK,

yes, we're on the same page and empathize with you. What you say makes sense. So you acknowledge. So yes, Ma, most people don't have access to this kind of information. Can I get the contact details for your facility manager? Once I get all the information from him, I'll be able to give you the quote that you're requesting. Because that one in particular, I was young man, he asked me too much information. Just give me a quote.

Just give me a quote. And I've told you people in previous episodes, of course, Cheryl and Rudolph and Elsino. But for those of you who are fresh listening to this podcast, I've mentioned in previous episodes that if you give a quote without asking all the right questions, you will hang yourself. You will hang yourself. Seriously. You go and quote somebody that we can do this job at 3.5. The person will transfer 3.5 and you'll be happy.

When you now execute the job and you finish. You now realize that you spent 4.2 M. You will hang yourself. Do not be given quote until you've asked all the questions that are necessary and you have all the information or you will hang yourself. There are some situations where you don't ask all the right questions. And you charge the person 4.5. At the end of the day, you only use 1.8 to do the job. In that case, you know, glory be to God, he came out well.

But believe me, you don't want to end up in that situation where you end up hanging yourself. Because that one, I can't describe how painful it is. You have to live through it to, to, to know it. Because now go back to that person and say Madam, you know I told you it was 3.5 but actually we spent 4.5. Before you collect that 1.5 extra from Madam or from Olga. Anyway, let me not talk too much. So the bottom line is don't be giving quote anyhow until you have asked questions that you can use to give a reliable quote or else you will hang yourself.

If you have not hung yourself, the time is coming. What do they say every day for the thief, one day for the owner or how do they say it? The time is coming when you hang yourself. And when that time comes, you feel it. And we've all been there. So I found myself to Sudan is normal, is a rite of passage experience is the best teacher. So I acknowledge and redirect. Oh, yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. Yeah, there are lots of questions.

But honestly, ma, I cannot give you a quote right now until I get OK. I'll put it. Oh, yes, ma'am. It sounds like I'm asking for a lot of information right now. But The thing is, I can't give you a quote until we figured out a couple of things concerning the power that you use, the infrastructure that you have in your house, because these are the things that will enable me to give you a reliable quote. So my is it OK if you're busy now?

I can call you back when you have more time so that we can talk about this. That's one approach. Another approach. Oh, Madam. Yeah, of course. I know. I'm asking you lots of questions right now. And for most people, most people probably don't know all these details. So do you have a facilities manager at the office, or is it your houseboy or your driver who has access to all this information? If she says his houseboy or driver, the next thing is, OK,

can I get your driver's number? I'll call him and get all the information from him. By the time we're done, I'll get back to you. The quote, if his facilities manager, the scope is the same. OK, Can I have your facilities manager's number? I will call him or I'll call her. By the time I'm done with all the information I need, I will be able to give you the quote. In fact, I told you if he says facility manager, that's that's the one that is even the sweetest, that's the best because facility manager not only has all the information that you need, it's from the facilities manager that you'll be able to get the background of what's going on.

Some of you do not realize that when a customer reaches out to you, it is because they have a problem or because they have a vision that they're trying to achieve. And before we can make a successful sales pitch, we need to know what the problem is. We need to know what the vision is. Somebody calls you and says, give me a quote for 10 KVA solar panels, something number of batteries, and then you just apply, ask questions and figure out what's going on.

By the time you talk to facilities manager, you will know that OK, you already have a standing 10 Virginia that they're using and they got it from this, this, this and this company. Because you've been in the business for a while, you already know the company. So it's nice to know the competition know what they're doing going from this company. But the problem has been that the battery is charging too long or the thing caused fire in this place or the thing did this, the thing did not.

You know, that's where you get the bank information like, oh really? What kind of battery do you have? Is it this model? That model was not supposed to be doing like this. Is not supposed to be doing like that. OK, Can you describe me the situation? Can you describe me that situation? When you're talking to facilities manager, you're getting all the background info on what the main, the main problem is. So by the time you make a proposal, you're coming in here as a valuable asset and to be like, this guy is a correct guy or this baby is a correct babe.

They know their stuff. And practically speaking, it also makes sure that by the time you deliver your own system, the problems that they've had in the past will not reoccur. Now they don't know all the technical gish bound, they don't know all the technical background. All they know is before we bought from a DBCI Obama and Co, today we bought from Chemi Kalani and Associates. But since we bought from Chemi Kalani and Associates, we have not had any problem.

That's their own. So for me, it's even sweet when Madame doesn't have all the information, but she can't put me in touch with somebody who has all the information that I need. So excuse me. And then also another reason why whenever people say you're asking too much information, blah, blah, blah, or I don't have all the information right now, if you can get in touch with other people in the team is even better. This is why for those of you who are new to the podcast, This is why whenever you're in the complex sales scenario, in this case, you're selling solar installations to a residence or to a business because it's a complex decision.

Usually the people involved making decision are many is not just one person. There are some things that Orga's CEO who signed himself or signed herself one time or procurement manager will sign one time, but then there's some things that they have to decide by board. And Rudolph, if you're listening to this episode, you remember the time we're discussing about that Canadian school in Lackey and you are talking to principal only and principal is the only person that you're talking to.

By the time we asked one or two questions, we discovered that the proposal has to be tendered to the board. You see, This is why we need to try and figure out the decision making unit. We have to try and figure out who else is responsible for making decisions. So the more people that we're in touch with within an account, the better. If you're only talking to CEO, we're not talking to facilities manager or procurement manager or you know, whatever, it's a problem.

The more people you talk to, the better. So now that you're talking about I'm CEO, if you hooked up with facilities manager or when I'm good, if facilities manager, if from there you're able to get the hook up for maintenance manager is good. If you're talking to five people in one account, it is good. It is better than definitely talking to one person in an account. So want to be able to figure out who are the important people whose voice is going to making these decisions and want to be able to have their phone number be on WhatsApp with them, be on SMS level with them, be on phone call level with them.

These are the things that make it easier for us to close deals. So these are some of the ideas that we explored around the objections that Shell is is facing. So who are you? Why are you calling me? Just work out your intro that will solve that problem of who are you then, Young man, you're asking me too much. I don't have the information. Call me back next week. You know, this is how you solve it. First of all, you acknowledge,

Oh yes, man, actually it is a lot of information, but I can't give you an accurate quote until I know this and this and that and that and that or OK, I understand. It's, it's probably a lot. The average person doesn't have this kind of information. So typically, who is the one that handles decisions around this thing? Do you have a facilities manager? Oh, you have a facilities manager. OK, no problem. If you give me the facility manager's phone number, I'll be able to get all the information that I need from him and then I'll be able to give you a quote.

Then I want to hook you up with facilities manager. You make sure that you're asking specific problems or people already have a system. What is the problem? How come you're looking for a new quote? What is the problem with this current one? I be you guys are upgrading. Upgrading to what? Upgrading to where was it that you think you need? As in keep on asking, asking, asking, asking. Then you have a very good quote. Then let's see what else?

What else? What else? What else? OK, I think that is just it. Of course, with these things, you know, when we have coaching, coaching sessions, you know, lots of issues are discussed. But I think these are just the main things that I want you guys to remember Elsie, Rudolph and Shell. And these I think are some of the good stuff that if you're listening to this podcast for the first time that you can take on board and put into your sales, into your sales process.

OK, one more thing. I'm not sure if I mentioned this in any podcast episode, but it's something I spoke, I mentioned to share in our conversation one-on-one. That's the subjection of give me the price because I've been faced with that before when somebody said, young man, you're talking too much, just give me the price. I am busy. So the I told Cheryl how I normally handled it, how I normally handle it. But I had a business partner who used to handle video.

We used to work on video projects together, you know, documentaries, wedding videos, things like that. His name is Sheryl. And I witnessed Sheryl handling one of these things where the woman said, sure, when you're talking too much, just give me the price. That is the way Sheryl handled it. Sheryl said, Mommy, I can't come and tell you that this thing will be 10 million. Then by the time we enter the field, we see that is now 50

million. It will be somehow I will hang myself. But then again, mommy, I can come and tell you now that this project is 10 M at the end of the day is 3 M that we'll use to now do the something because my yes, I ought to make a profit. But of course I'm not going to steal from you like that. So, Mommy, to be honest, before I give you a quote that makes sense that you can rely on me, so I can rely on. I need to come and talk to you and figure out what this documentary is about.

We'll figure out everything. Let's just come. It won't take. Let me just come. It won't take too much time, 1530 minutes. I've gotten all the information I need. I'll be able to give you a reliable quote. So Mommy, are you free Friday? I'll be in Matama around like 10:00. Is that OK? And then that's how he handled it. But why did I even give these things off? I can't remember. I lost my train of thought. But anyway, just in case that there's any of you dealing with that kind of price objection,

sorry, not that kind of objection. You know, that's those are other perspectives for how I how you can deal with it. OK, so 30 minutes. I think this is a good place to bring this podcast to a close. So that's it. And that's all for today. Remember, if you'd love to connect with me, then you can call, you can SMS, you can WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you next time.

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