The Art of Closing High-Value Deals: A Consultative Approach

Hello and welcome to the show. I'm not in the audio booth today, so expect to have some interruptions. Today's episode is Oh yeah. So today's episode is I decided to move back to a list of running list of questions that I compile. And how I get these things basically is whenever I'm at an engagement and people asking ask questions and I think they're interesting, I just write them down in the book or, you know, transfer them to my phone.

So I have a running list. And then there are also some interesting things that come up in client engagements. You know, those sorts of things just like the intimate training session that we had, OK, well, relatively intimate because it was a gathering of close to 70 people. So I guess that is not intimate ish, but I like to get people involved anyway. So I was out in the crowd but I really couldn't do my thing much because breathing was a problem for me because of my nose and throat issues.

So yeah, I was trying to involve people and it turned out to be a fairly intimate thing. Most of them are young anyway, between the ages of 17 and 25, so we had loads of fun. So they were rowdy and disrespectful and I was also, I also matched their youthful vigour. So we turned out to have a really, really good time. You know, by the time I was leaving people, Twilight high 5, you know, stuff like that. So it was real nice.

So anyway, that's how I get my questions. So I had engagements, people ask questions, I try and answer. I think that's interesting. I put it down on the list and then I try and tackle it on the podcast episode so that we can the family over here on the podcast, you can share some of the some of that goodness. So today's question, we're going to look at how to win high value deals. And one assumption that I'm going to make in tackling this question is that you already have the deal before you.

So I'm not going to go into prospecting strategies about how you run after high value clients. You know we can do that in a future episode. I'm trying to make sure that what we do here is manageable and not to unwieldy. So today we're going to look at how to win high value deals. Before we get into that, let's have a look at the geek list or the nerd list. So currently on Spotify, I'm listening to Scott Storch. Now, Scott Storch is a music producer.

For those of you who are born, I don't know, those of you who are born 2000s, I don't expect you guys know who Scott Storch is. He's a music producer. He's done some really, really cool stuff. Chris Brown. Let's see. Busta Rhymes. He also did some work where I'm with the Roots. That's the Band of the Roots exhibit. Mario, Beyoncé, Terror Squad. Terror Squad. That's that Used to be Fat Joe and Fat Joe, his guy, what's his name?

Big Pun. Yeah, Big Punisher. My Carrie has in the guy has done lots of work, so nice steady hip hop beats. So that's what I'm listening to right now on Spotify. Scott Snorch, of course, he's a music producer, so he's not as if he sang on any of them. But it's just a compilation of stuff that he's worked on. And he's really, really good. But the caveat is if you're born again Christian, this is probably stuff that you would not like to listen to because most of his songs, most of the artists that he works with, you know, is about the three BS.

Let's see, three BS. What are they again? Boobs, babes and Bom Bom, I can't remember. Anyway, so most of his most of the stuff is, you know, kind of three BS. So if you're born again and wifey is born again or your husband is born again or your parents are born again, this is not the kind of playlist that you want to have playing in the car, basically. So Scott Storch on Spotify, then on Netflix, I finally started the House of GAA, something from Bolale Austin Peters Momsie recommended it.

Watching it now, I can see why Momsie recommended it because production value is also on point, just like Lisabi. And then my mum's first degree was in theatre arts. So you know, this is kind of like a background. So from a production value standpoint, I see my mum, she recommended it and I would recommend it to you guys to watch as well. House of God, I'm not done with it yet. The only problem that I have with it and you know, people that have discussed these kinds of things with per say, they don't think it's a problem.

It's just, you know, the whole thing of this portrayal of the oil empire as one of tyranny. And you know, when you talk about empire, you know, it's hard. You know, it's rough, but it is what it is. All of humanity has a history with empire. So in this part of the world or your empire, Kaano Empire, the Korrafa empire, that didn't last too long. Benin, what else? Dahomey then, you know, go over to those of you in the West,

Mongolian Empire, Roman Empire, you know, on and on and on. And some people would say British Empire kind of. And I'm one of those people who would say the American Empire. But you know, that's a very loose way of talking about these sorts of things. So empire conquest is part of human history. But I don't really think we should keep making all these movies where every single time we portray Nigerian Empire like or your empire, it always has to be tied back to tyranny.

I think the other aspects of the empire that we can explore because fortunately or unfortunately, empires also mean that there is a certain amount of peace because you don't have warring factions, warring factions here and there, you know, like people talk about the Pax Romana, you know, the peace that the Roman Empire brought and how that helped with civilization. So it's a very touchy subject and there's no way you can do it justice in any single movie.

But House of God, I definitely, I definitely would recommend it. Lisabi has much more blood, you know, stabbing, decapitation, you know, jazz and all that kind of stuff. So if you really want the, the action, the FEC, the CG effects, then you should watch Lisabi. But House of God, not bad. Hopefully I'll finish in another day or two and then I'll get back to you guys on that. Let you guys know my my thoughts on the matter.

OK, so that's it for the geek list. The nerd list for today on Spotify, Scott Storch, check it out. Do not listen to it if you're born again or if your spouse is born again. Do not play it in their presence or else it's going to lead to a very interesting discussion. If you have children, definitely do not play this list because or else you know, you find that your son or your daughter will ask you, you know, daddy, what is you know XYZ or mom, what is XYZ, and then you're in a very uncomfortable conversation and then on Netflix House of God.

So now back to the topic at hand on how to win high value deals. So like I said, I'm going to assume that this high value deal is already before you face to face. The problem is you're just wondering how am I going to seal this thing now? Am I going to collect this Muller? How am I going to get get this money? So First off, we have to define what the high value deal is so that you know what it is. When you look at it in simple layman's terms, high value deal just means something that is juicy, as in very, very juicy financial returns juicy.

But we can't define this in objective terms because what is juicy is relative. So for a wedding photographer, I'm not sure what boys and girls in wedding space charge these days, but during my time, if you're first with a client and you are packaging, packaging, packaging everything. And the bill was rising to, oh, sorry about that. My neighbour runs a commercial kitchen. So, you know, they do all this grinding and, you know, stuff like that.

It shouldn't be the case. But this is just a factor of living in Nigeria. You know, people do not respect zoning laws. So these sorts of things happen. So what was I? OK, I think I was talking about how what a high value deal is, you know how it is relative because during my day if you are handling a wedding and you started entering into that 800K space, I mean that was a real juicy deal because the returns that you could get on that would be real nice.

So 500 to 800 K might be a high value deal for wedding photographers. Please. I've been out of the game for a while, so I do not know if that is still considered a good deal now, especially with hyperinflation and stuff like that. So for a wedding photographer several years ago, 500 to 800 K, that would have been considered a high value deal. But for somebody who is in engineering or in solar sails, you know, those kinds of things,

800K is rubbish. That's more money. There's some people who say, look, don't bother me with that kind of whatever. So high value deal, it's relative to you, your industry, the kind of business that you're trying to build. So for a wedding photographer, wedding photographer, I hear 800K and the person will jump at it because Omar, that is some good money. But therefore an engineer, if he has 800K, like I beg, don't disturb me.

Go and meet a foreman or go and meet all these local supervisors on the building site. Go and meet them. Let them take care of this deal. Don't disturb me, don't call my phone. So how you measure high value deal? You know, it depends on revenue. Revenue is the total amount, how much is coming in like the where photography example. If you're looking at revenue 800K, you know that looks big sounds juicy. Then there's profitability.

How much money did you keep at the end of the day? Because verily, verily, I say on to thee, it does not profited you much. If you go out and you're getting deals 800 K, 800K800K, but every single time you execute on that deal, you spend 750K And so you only put in 50K in your pocket. So you can see that profitability, everything is 800 K. The only thing that entered your pocket is 50K. Can we say that that's a high value deal?

So these are things that we have to pay attention to. There's also one of the reasons why sometimes you shouldn't jump too quick, especially those of us who are self-employed hustlers and you know, stuff like that. Sometimes don't jump too quick when you hear the money, you know, you look at it and do some rough math in your head. OK, yes, this person is saying 3 M. But by the time I pay 1M for this and I pay 200K for that and I pay several 100K for this and then I pay 50K here, I do this,

I do this and then you know, of course I have to greet the person that brought the deal to me and then I give him 10%. How much will be left? So those are the math that we have to be doing in our head for we know whether this is a high value deal or not. So revenue, how big is the money profitability? How much will enter your pocket at the end of the day? And then there's also another thing to consider and that is strategic importance, OK,

strategic importance in Nigeria. Strategic importance just means open doors. As per you do this thing and everything clicks, you're going to get new kinds of customers, you're going to be introduced to new kinds of clientele or you're going to be able to explore new product lines or you might now get access to new technologies for your business. So when we talk about strategic importance on this podcast, for those of us who are Nigerians,

every time you hear strategic importance, just think open doors. So sometimes you do things because the money is big, the one that went inside our pocket is big, or because if you tap into this thing, you will receive open doors. So those are the things that we have to consider when we're looking at high value deals. So how to win the high value deal? Remember, I'm assuming that you are already face to face with somebody.

The money is big or maybe the money is not big, but the profit that will enter your profit, sorry, the profit that will enter your pocket is big or strategic importance. Maybe the money is average. But if this thing clicks, it will lead to customers that will be big or new product lines that will be big or speaking opportunities or whatever opportunity that will be big. So I'm assuming that you're face to face with that.

Now, one thing that we need to do to get our mindset right is that we need to understand that lots of times, not always, but lots of times when we're dealing with high value deals, we're in a complex sales scenario. For those of you who've been listening to the podcast for any length of time, you know, I say this over and over again and I'm not going to stop repeating it because this thing is absolutely foundational and lots of people don't get it into their head.

There's a difference between selling a Gucci and there's a difference between selling accounting software. It's not the same thing. So I'm going to keep on repeating it, repeating it, repeating it because people forget. We start off selling small. We move off into situations where we're selling big, but we never outgrow the habits and the way of thinking of when we started selling small. So this is a complex sales scenario.

Complex sales scenario typically is when we're dealing with big, big money, large amounts, plenty of zeros, that is. Yeah, that's one of the factors. Another thing to look at is the subject complexity. OK, so like I said, a goosey and then accounting software. A goosey is straightforward. Everybody knows what good a goosey is and what bad a goosey is. If you get there and The thing is not yellow, the thing has some black in it, you know that look, this thing is spoiled and you ignore and you move on to another trader.

Accounting software, now that has some complexity. I mean, like who are you selling it to? Is it the local neighbourhood shop or is it the big time shop at the local mall in your city? Or are you selling the accounting software to, I don't know, a government parastatal that might need to keep track of accounts? Maybe you, you know, your uncle is now in the Auditor general's office, so you want to see where they can sell them accountants accounting software or something?

Well, First off, I don't even know if people in the accountant general's office would need accounting software. You know, this is just me freestyling like I do on the podcast. So you can see that this one now has a certain measure of complexity to it. How large is the business? How many users, what kind of things are they selling? What kind of things, what kind of accounting are they going to be doing? Is it a cruel accounting?

A big cash accounting? Oh, by the way, those of you who are accountants, if I'm making a mess of things here, please just bear with me. I'm freestyling here. I'm just trying to explain to the other people. So if I say anything that is inaccurate, please reach out to me and give my contact details at the end of the show and let me know that oh boy, you know, you goofed here, you goofed here. So I can come back and tell people later on that, oh,

please, in the last episode when I said this, I was goofing then. Yeah. So that's on subject complexity. And then you also know if you if you have a complex hill scenario, excuse me, depending on the number of stakeholders or number of decision makers that are involved. So for the sale of a Gucci, the number of stakeholders that are involved are just two. Your wife says go and get me a Gucci. You go to the market, you buy a Gucci, the stakeholders are just two.

But for the person who is in the market, the only stakeholder she's dealing with is the person who is standing right in front of her or him. So stakeholder just one. But now when it comes to selling accounting software is a different thing. You can go to your local shop in the local mall in your place and talk to the store manager. And the person says this is a very, very sweet idea, very, very good. It will make my life a lot easier.

But I need to speak to Madam MDCEO. She's the one that will approve. So you can see now that another stakeholder, another decision maker has entered the whole thing. You might find a way to get hooked up to Madam CEO and Madam MD. And now you're talking to two people. You're talking to the store manager and Madam CEO. But then Madam CEO thinks that maybe she needs to run in by her husband because after all, they're both in business together.

You can see now that the number of stakeholders has increased to three for Agusi one person Accounting software. We're ready now at 3:00. Her husband might now say, OK, this looks like a very good idea. But in my office, there's somebody who's good with accounts. So let me bring this guy and let him evaluate the whole thing. And you now see that we're dealing with another stakeholder. So that is how things get more and more complex.

You can see why it's called the complex Hill scenario because for simple sales scenarios, you're just dealing with one person. The money is not big. We can't decide Now. We're not going to waste a lot of time. But for complex sales scenario, money is big. The subject matter is complex. We're going to be talking to many people. It's going to take a long period of time to buy a Gucci is sharp, sharp, 5 minutes Max. But therefore, the accounting software, I don't know, it could be a month.

I'm not in that space, so I don't know, it could be a month, it could be 3 months, maybe six months. I have no idea. But you can see that is not something that you're just going to walk in and Madam MDC was going to drop money immediately. And then there's the importance of building relationships and these sorts of things. When you're at a complex hill scenario, you need to finesse things. You need to have relationships with people, so you go in, you build a relationship with store manager.

That is what will make store manager bring this idea to Adam CEO. You also gas to finesse Madam CEO and be cool with her because we're trying to get the deal done. And if it turns out that husband is also important, you need to broaden the Nets. You need to be cool with all three of them and by the time they bring in this external stakeholder, I know for you might it might sound frustrating like what the hell is going on?

Like I started with one person and now I'm talking to four people like was all this rubbish? You know, my brother and my sister don't get annoyed. It's just the nature of the game. That's just how complex those scenarios are. So just, you know, become try and build relationship with them, everybody. So that's the first mindset that you guys need to adopt when you're dealing with the complex. So when you're dealing with a high value deal, realise that it's going to be a complex scenario.

This thing will take time. After all, the money is big. The thing is complex. There are plenty of people that need to be toasting in the process. I have to be building relationships. So just know that this one is going to be a small marathon. It's not something that you're just getting sharp, sharp and then get out. So this whole thing that you see in movies where you know, some quick deal, big, big, big thing, you know, one or you know, boys just get together, do one or two things.

You know, next thing that millionaires, you know, these things happen. Yes, they do, but it's not the typical. It's not the typical thing. Then please also realize that when Hollywood makes all these movies like that one where these two guys, American American boys went to, was it Central Africa or some central, I can't remember where they went anyway, but they just became arm dealers. So the way the movie made it very, very sexy.

Like these two boys came together and like Omo, there's what happening in some parts of the world. There's money to be made. If we can supply guns, we can buy guns here in America. We can supply to this part of the world. Come together, business plan, fly down, hook up the deal. Next thing that billionaires rolling in dough, you know, for the purposes of film, you know they'll make it sexy and they'll make it seem short, short, short and easy, easy, easy.

But in real life is going to be a whole lot more complex. Trying to buy guns. Anyway, it's not my area of specialty, so let me stop here. I'm not an arms dealer, but I'm not trying to say that trying to buy significant guns so you can take them and sell to Central African Republic or to the Middle East. You know, you're going to have to be building relationships with arm dealers and there's a whole thing of travel and then passports and then security.

And then when you get to Middle East or Central Africa, the central part of Africa, wherever it is you try to sell the weapons to, you're going to have to build with different relationship with different warlords and you know, blah, blah, blah, and things like that. So you can see actually, it's complex, but for the sake of film, Hollywood will make it look like it's smooth. You just wrap everything up in one hour. They came together, they met,

they became billionaires. But in real life, it's a lot different. So that's all we need to, we need to get our mindset right. Then next we also have to be consultative in this sort of thing. What I mean when I say consultative is this, we have to pretend to be a doctor, Don't pretend to be a groundnut seller. When the groundnut seller is walking on the road, what he says or what she says basically is groundnut, groundnut.

And then you say groundnut, come here, give me two cops and then she gives you 2 cops and then that's it. Or he gives you 2 cops and that's it. And then you go, you pay your 500 bucks. Yeah, I think it's 500 bucks now for two cups of groundnut. I say our groundnut has become really expensive. Shocking. There's the time when if you buy groundnut 100 bucks, you'll be able to finish it. You have to keep it and easy tomorrow.

But the doctor, on the other hand, the doctor is not going to go around shouting Dr. doctor. And then you say, you call the doctor and then the doctor says, what do you want? And then the doctor gives you exactly what it is that you said. The doctor is going to go through a consulting process. Young man, welcome. What brings you here today? OK, Your head is painting you. Where again? Your leg. OK. How old are you? What is your family history?

What have you been doing? Oh, you drive 8 hours a day. OK, come here. Let me check your blood temperature. These are that. Go for this. Go for that scan. You see, the doctor is going to ask a whole host of questions. And then when he's done, he's going to say, OK, this is what we need to do. You have a hematoma, blood clot, something, something. And because of that, we need to cut off your left leg. If we don't cut off your left leg, you're going to die in 48

hours. See. And then because the doctor has gone through this whole process, you trust the gang? You say, OK, doctor, let's go cut off my left leg. By the way, I would hope that you'd seek a second opinion just in case doctor is wrong. But you can see there's a different approach. Groundnut seller just says groundnuts. And then you say groundnut. Yes. And then the person comes, you say, give me two cops, should give you 2 cops.

And then they go, the doctor on the other hand, you might come in and say, doctor, my leg is painting me. I think it's time to amputate my leg. The doctor will not say, OK, yes, let's go and amputate. The doctor will ask you a bunch of questions. Let me see your foot. OK. Is it painting when I do this? Is it painting when I do that? What happened? What did you do? What is your lifestyle? Do you have diabetes? Do you have high blood pressure?

Go for this scan. Go for that scan. Go for tests. And then the doctor will now make his own recommendation. So that is the mind frame that we need to come when come with when we're dealing with high value deals. We have to be consultative. We're the doctors. We need to go straight into need analysis and we need to start asking questions, open any questions to try and figure out what is going on. So this accounting deal is it might be a huge deal.

OK, let's say let's just assume that people in accounting General's office need accounting software. By the way, if I'm wrong, accountants, don't be annoyed. I just need to come up with some sort of example. So let's assume that they need it and because of your uncle being inside man, and your connects in the market is going to be like a 15 billion Nair deal for you or something. Don't just run in there and then start saying this is the latest,

this is the greatest, this is the best. Everybody's using this accounting software. Something, something, something, everywhere you go, sales, speech, sales, speech, sales, speech, sales, speech presentation, you need to be coming down. You add time to the organization or first of all, you know, one or two people. Remember I said that this is going to be since the complex Hill scenario, we're going to be talking to different stakeholders.

So maybe you'll talk to Accountant General's office. Do they have MD? And I don't know if they have MD. Do they have OK? No, they don't have MD. I don't know what they're called. So for now, let me just pretend that they have MD. So you speak to MD, you speak to group head of this, you speak to group head of that. You talk to head of procurement, You talk to this person. You, you know, you know, that's how you're going to run this whole thing.

You're talking to different people, but each person, you're going to be asking them questions. No. OK, How come you guys have been considering this software now? I mean, this organization has been in existence since 1960, Whatever. You guys have never considered the software. So what are the problems that you're facing now that is even allowing you guys to even entertain me to have this conversation? I mean, that's the kind of scope.

And then you listen whether they've been having problems with reconciling things manually. So digital is going to help and this and this and that and that. You ask about their goals, what are they trying to do? Maybe the federal government has some things of eliminating paper by 2027, so everything must be digital and in the cloud. And you know, Nigeria now how with every government, everybody announces some new policy and things like that.

But The thing is you go in there like a doctor and start asking them questions. As you're asking them questions, you're trying to figure out is there a problem here and can this accounting software solve this problem so that by the time you get to presentation stage, by the time MD says, OK, you know what, young man, this thing sounds interesting. Young woman, this thing sounds interesting. Like I call the board on October 15th, come and make presentation to us.

At that stage. You will now be able to make a very, very effective presentation because you have uncovered what the department's key motivations are and you see how it mutually aligns with yours. So basically you'll be able to go in there and say that OK, members of the board, thank you very much for allow me to make this presentation. I'll not take up too much of your time. If I understand it correctly, under the distinguished, you know this is Nigeria, so you have to kiss us basically.

So under the distinguished leadership of Professor so and so in line with the directive of of honourable probably this is the honourable President, honourable President and Grand Commander of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinibu and how we are going to achieve paperless whatever by 2025. And so, so and so if my understanding of these departments priorities are correct, you need to be able to achieve 123 and 456.

This solution that I'm presenting here today will help you achieve that by doing this and this and that and that. And you see how that is, that's how your proposal is now going to flow because you went in not as a groundnut seller, you went in as a doctor. You asked a bunch of questions. You figured out what's going on. This is complex. So you are talking to many people. Don't just talk to the person in procurement. Procurement people don't be worried about price.

Also talk to the boys and girls in accounting. Those are the people who will be using the software. You know, there'll be some kind of things that they will prefer to see or they'll prefer to use in the solution. So that's the scope basically. So mindset #1 it's a complex scenario. So it'll be coming down. You're not going to finish this thing soon at all. Money is big. The thing is complex. The lots of decision makers you need to build relationship with.

Lots of people go in there, pretend you're a doctor, ask a bunch of questions so that your proposal, your presentation, that's where you're making your recommendation basically. Then excuse me, another thing to consider, if you end up closing this thing and this is where lots of Nigerians mess up because you close the deal and you just collect your money and then you go, you do anyhow and then you go. The thing is like, you know, I

keep saying this whole thing of repeat business referrals, maximizing lifetime customer value. The the sweetness of The thing is not that you collected, you know, 1.5 OK, 1.5 is big, not for why SM is here. So let me say, let me say, let me say 5 M So the sweetest sort of thing is not that you collected 5 M Now the sweetest sort of thing is that you collect 5 M now, but then you're able to collect another two or three M next year.

And maybe the person refers you to another person and maybe those other people also buy from you at 1.8 M, You know, each time, I mean, that is when the thing becomes real nice, real sweet. So because of that, we should be taking a conscious approach when we're dealing with high value deals. Consciousness just means you're holding people's hands basically and holding you're worried about customer success, worried about customer satisfaction.

So it's not just that you, you get the deal, you install the accounting software and then you leave, you install it, you check up on them once in a while, you pass through, greet or get procurement, go and greet the boys and girls in the accounting department. You know what's the problem? Is everything working OK? Sure, there's no problem. If they complain about something, you know, try and say you can patch it up sometimes out of pocket if necessary.

I said if necessary. There are times when legitimately, if there's a problem, excuse me, you might have to sort it out, but then bill them for it, then let's see what else. So excuse me, my throat issues, what was I so concierge approach because this whole idea is that what we're trying to do is repeat businesses. So repeat purchases and referrals. So don't do this Nigeria thing off you collected the money, you go and do Thanksgiving, you give your pastor 10%, then you lie to your wife so that you can have some extra cash to give your side chicks on the side and you know, things like that.

So I'm not saying you don't have side chicks, and I'm not saying you don't pay your tights. I'm not saying don't lie to your wife. I'm just saying that when that first big money hits the account, yeah, rejoice. But just realize that it doesn't profit you to just collect 5:00 AM now and then you're broke for the next three years. So take a conscious approach. Be concerned, worry about customer success. Are they satisfied?

Do a little bit of hand holding. The goal is to get them to buy again or to hook you up with other people that are going to buy. So if you entered Accountant General's office today, try and see how you can leverage that to enter Ministry of Finance tomorrow or I don't know, Zenith Bank next year or whatever. Just try and leverage it up like that. So yeah, when you collect the money, that's not the end of the thing. So celebrate, do whatever it is that you want to do.

Go on holidays, you know, but concierge your approach. We're trying to get the money to come again and again and again. So we're going to do some more. OK, it's 30 minutes already. So there'll be more talk about high value deals in the coming days because I the main question was how to win high value deals. Well, then there were small sub, sub sub questions that we'll deal with later. So thank you very much for your time and attention.

And yeah, connect with me for insights, questions, tips, or even to discuss things that you disagree with. I'm available on WhatsApp. The phone number is 08064662140. The country code is +234. Then I'm also available on LinkedIn. My name is Tavishima Ayede. I'm the host of the show. So if you want to get the correct spelling of my name, just look at the link. We're currently listening to this episode. Do the highlight thing, copy my name and then paste it in LinkedIn and you'll see my handsome smiling mug right there and connect with me.

And I should respond to your messages in a day or two. So thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.