The Missing Piece of Your Sales Pitch (And How to Find It)

Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishma Aidi. I'm the host of the podcast Making today's recording at Home. So expect to hear some noise in the background. Now, the goal of the podcast is solving business problems. Problems like how to get new customers, what to do when your marketing isn't working, how to beef up your side hustle or to figure out what is holding your business back. So if you have any of these kinds of problems, this is the show for you.

So subscribe on Spotify to YouTube, Apple, or any player of your choice. And if you'd love to connect, then call SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Today on the podcast, this is going to be another diary session where we discussed a few things with implications on how we use band that is BANT and Spin SPIN. Both of them are qualification frameworks, qualification and discovery frameworks. Now, if this is your first time listening to the podcast, that sounds like some very big English.

But what this just means basically is this. When you're having conversations with someone who is a potential customer or a potential client, the flow of the conversation is you're trying to be asking questions so that you can discover who this person is and discover what problems that they solve, what problems that they need. It is only then that you can make a convincing argument or a convincing sales pitch to say, buy my product or my service because it will help you to solve this problem.

So it is a tool. It's a simple framework that professional sellers use just to manage the conversation. So whether in your head you cram the framework, most of them are acronyms like spin, SPIN and BANT. BANT. So you have that crammed the framework or you write it out on a sheet of paper. Now I'm in favour of writing everything else on the sheet of paper in the beginning because you have to use frameworks once you know, time after time after time before the thing becomes ingrained in you.

So I'm not, I wouldn't recommend you try and cram it first. Just try and write it down first, try and apply it overtime. Then the things become internalized. Now, this your first time listening to the podcast, Don't worry, it looks like lots of you. When you find the podcast, you start binging and going backwards. So as you binge and go backwards, you'll find all those other episodes where I spoke about the qualification frameworks.

But let me just give a little explanation of what of what those acronyms mean. So spin is SPIN. You ask questions about the general situation, you ask questions about the problem that the potential customer is facing, ask questions about the implications of, you know, whether they solve that problem or not. And then you ask them questions about the need payoff. That's like the benefit what they will achieve if we go ahead.

And in fact, the first case study that we're going to look at ties into that. So like I said, this is a diary session. So as my usual people, my 3 Musketeers, Rudolf Shell and Elsie, one of these meetings that we had a while ago, this was I'll be like 2 weeks back. So so as usual I'm just looking at my notes so I may have forgotten some of the details then let's see. OK so First off was Rudolph and then where are we? So Rudolph was talking to someone who is based in Hemo state and this guy wanted to hook up his house in the village and they discussed numbers and was looking like everything was going towards like 13 M.

But then this person was peculiar about, but really particular about the lifestyle lifespan of the batteries, because the guy was ready to hook up the house in the village before and he used tubular batteries. Now tubular batteries is kind of old technology is a better batteries that looks like looks like a standing tower. I mean, for those of us who are familiar with old school computers, the CPU, that's what a, a, a tubular battery looks like.

But then these newer batteries, what are they called now? Lithium maybe is it lithium batteries? So these no one lithium batteries, you know, they're sleek, they look sexy, they look sci-fi. So that's what people who have serious bar, that's what they use nowadays. So the guy said that you already had tubular batteries before and the things went bad and Rudolph mentioned to him that and the reason why they were bad is like any piece of equipment, you can't just buy something, no matter how correct and just leave it like that, follow and the thing will spoil.

So the problem is this is Village House. They want to spend all this money on these things. But then the thing will I follow for 11 months, you will now come and live in the place one month and then cut out again. So he mentioned that this is the kind of thing that makes some things rundown. But The thing is Rudolph being he didn't press on that matter. The conversation continued. So after the conversation was done, I told Rudolph that, you know, I'm glad you were able to educate this guy.

That is not as if the one he bought before was bad. It's just that you buy this thing and just pack it in the house, 11 months you come back, use it, one month you cut out. Of course, this seems to just die because nothing that happened at all. You're not using it. The example that Rudolph gave was if you buy I think Bruce, like Range Rover and if you buy Range Rover and just keep in the village, even if somebody's coming to warm it once in a week, but the person is not driving it.

You know, know how know how tire go less and you know, small, small problems here and there, you know, because it's a correct car, but you just pack it in the village, it's not going anywhere. So problem. And so I told Rudolph that, you know, it's nice to close every kind of sale, but The thing is there's some customers that will really have to dig into. So this is where implication and need payoff comes in with some customers, some potential customers they are chatting with.

Excuse me, you really have you really need to have those hard conversations about the implications and the and the need pay off like you know, Sir, you know, respect for you. 13 M is quite a bit of change if we go ahead and there's no plan for these things to be charged and discharged because you know, you suppose charge the battery and then discharge it again, just like with our phones. So if there's no plan for these things to be charged and discharged regularly, these are the kinds of problems that are going to happen.

So given the setup in the village or maybe in the family, like is there any plan for this? You know, because you need to have these, you need to have these conversations. And if we go ahead and we do this, you know, the result is that you're going to be able to have uninterrupted power for one month in the year. But The thing is, since you are rarely there and there's the possibility that, you know, things might break down if they're not being used, you know, is it, is it worth the cost?

Is it worth the hassle? It's a conversation that you need to have so that when a customer with their own money goes ahead and pays this thing, they can't say tomorrow that you did not tell them. When you explain it the first time, most people just, you know, do we hear and don't understand? But it's not as if the thing has sunk in. So you need to be having implication and E payoff conversations. Is this worth this, Sir?

We will discuss truly, truly, is it worth this for this small benefit? What is the benefits you're actually going to gain out of these things? If we go ahead and we do this thing? What are the possible arrangements that you know could be done to make sure that this thing is maintained properly? Implication and need payoff. You need to dig in, dig in, dig in so that people will understand. So if they understand and they say, let me go ahead, they're going ahead with their own food chest.

You, you've been absolved of responsibility. So all these things, all these fancy frameworks, I know it sounds like plenty, plenty, plenty, but they serve a purpose. So if you're somebody who likes spin, if you listen to the episode about spin, I think the last two episodes I did about spin, I had that in the title. So just go back, look at the title and if you see spin there, then listen to it. If you like the spin framework,

then these are some of the things that I want you guys to bear in mind. Don't forget the implication and E payoff questions because lots of people focus on situation and problem. Situation and problem is, you know what you ask basically like what's going on? Like what's going like, what's the plan? You know, all those sorts of things. OK, like back to my wedding photography days. Now situation questions are the questions that any photographer would act like ask like, oh,

congratulations, you're getting married. When is the wedding date? OK, where's the hall? What are the colors for the day? OK, what about mumsy and popsy? They're going to be their grandparents. OK, who was the bridal train? Like, you know, a photographer is asking all these questions because in their mind you're trying to plan one or two things. OK, since the parents are alive and coming, we'll do family portrait. OK, Brad, I'll train is 20 girls and then the on the boys side is like 12 boys.

So your head you now start mapping out some current things. OK, how are we going to arrange this photo? Where's the venue? If you're familiar with the venue, you now start planning some things in your mind. Which hotel you now that's how you now start seeing things in your mind. Like OK, on the wedding day, we'll shoot this one here. We'll shoot that one there. See those are situation and problem questions. Just basic like what's up?

What's going on? What are we planning? Where are we heading to? You know, was your idea? So implication I need payoff. They go deeper and deeper and deeper into this whole problem thing just to make sure that we know what we're heading into. This is the problem that we're solving. This is what we hope to get out of it, you know, and these are the implications for whether we succeed or whether we don't succeed. So implication, I need payoff.

Very, very important. So that's on spin. Then another one that we have discussed recently on the podcast is banned. Now. Banned is a qualification framework where you're talking about budget, authority, need and timelines. Now budget just means you ask questions about money. This is where lots of Nigerian business people air for you don't really have the conversation about money. You say the price, you leave it there, but you don't really dig in.

And then people start ghosting you and you know, you're wondering and you know, you start doubting, you know, but we need to have frank conversations about budget, about the price authorities, about decision making. You want to be sure that you're talking to the right person, the person who can authorize the sale. Because if you're talking to somebody who can't authorize the sale, you are wasting your time, surely wasting your time.

Like before moving to my new house, I went to Austin Austin's by cutting guy and I discussed one thing with him and Austin said, Are you sure? And I said, well, I think so that yes, we're going like this. Boston is a sharp guy. Austin realized that at least in in some marriages that the husband cannot come and tell you the color of the curtain. So Austin didn't take what I said to heart. He waited, he gave me all the different costume, but he waited until I came with my wife and then he now asked my wife and lo and behold, we have curtains that my wife selected contrary to what me I would have wanted,

you know. But you know what they say now they say is the woman that owns the house, That's what they say. So anyway, we have the curtains that my wife selected, not me. So because Austin was smart, Austin knows authority. That is not about who is paying. Austin knows that when it comes to cutting, it's not the husband that will come and give the instruction. The transfer might come from the husband's account, but the final instruction is what the wife says.

So Austin knows his thing. He knows authority. So all those things I was telling him, he was writing it down, but I could see he was not taking me seriously. And that's the reason why, because he knew that at the end of the day, last last is what the wife is, what the wife wants. That will happen when it comes to cutting bedsheets, you know, all these sorts of things. So authority, you need to be this. Make sure discussing to the person who is going to be able to authorize the transaction and then like back to my wedding photography days, only to partner with one guy who used to do drinks.

And the guy said we can't partner together. I said, why, you're a vendor. I'm a vendor, we can't partner. He said, no, that you you're a photographer. The people that pay your money is usually the bride. I said, so who pays for who pays for the drinks? He said no, that the bride does not pay for drinks is the groom When he said the thing clicked and like, Oh yeah, it's true. It's true photography and video, yes, The girl wants to make sure that everything is captured on fleek, on points on everything.

When it comes to the drinks, Shallow, of course, is the boy and his guys now. They're the ones that will run that whole affair. So it might be the same thing wedding, but me as a wedding photographer, a authority my eye is trooped squarely on the bride because that's who is going to pay me then for drinks, not my other guy authority. His eyes took squarely on the groom because those are the people that are going to pay him.

So authority very important. Who's going to authorize this transaction? Then of course need what do they want? And then timelines. How soon is this going down? So Cheryl had a conversation with someone. The person said the budget was 3 to 5:00 AM. And then Shell, just to add around a rough figure like, OK, based on what we discussed, it could be like 4.7. But you know, Sharon didn't talk much about that. And then later on now submit a proposal and then the guys say,

oh, well, you know, I have two or three other offers. Let me think about it and get back to you. So these are the kind of things that happen when we don't qualify hard on budget. You know, we need to ask if you tell somebody that look, this might be like 4.7, he asked the person 4.7. Is this a figure that you're comfortable moving on with? Because the guy said he wants to round up. The guy said he wants to round up by end of the month.

So he needs to ask. OK, Sir, based on what you said before, I put pencil to paper and give you final proposal. What we're looking at is 4.7. So is this with this amount, especially since he's within this bracket, 3 to 5, is this the kind of thing you're ready to move on before the end of the month? And then you ask and then hear what the guy has to say So that if there are other quotes, the guy will tell you then and there that well, however quotes are,

people said they will do it for much less. Now the information is out and you now know the conversation that you're having now that you have the guy on the phone, but you end this call. Now you send the proposal. Now you must start hearing story later. So budget you need to qualify. I'm not going to go over different ways how you can dig deep on the whole money thing because I've done that in previous episodes. But we need to learn how to have these money conversations on.

By the way, I told Sharon later on, and I'm telling you guys over here, when it comes to money thing, don't hang yourself by giving one figure. Always give a range. If you tell somebody 4.7, by the time you sit down to put pen and paper and you see that the exact figure actually is more like 4.9, the person will say, you told me it's 4.7 before. In your mind you'll be saying as a professional, you'll be saying, ah, the difference between 4.7 and 4.9, it's not much now, just 200 key.

That's what you'll be thinking. But The thing is, once the customer hears 4.7, that's where their mind is. If you come back and say it's 4.5, they'll be happy. But if you come back and say it's 4.85, they'll be angry. So please, when you're having money, quote conversations always give a range. OK Bros, based on what you said, OK, To be honest, Sir, it's looking like this thing, we could be able to do it anything between 4.5 and maybe like 6.56

point 5 M. So what do you think about that, Sir? Or how does that sound, Sir? Is that still within your budget, Sir? And then you hear what they have to say. So depending on what they say, you will now know where it is that you stand. Always say the bigger number first. So you say between 6.5 and No 4.5. If the person shouts like 4 point, what? You don't know that. OK, really there's no idea here if the person says, well, that 6.5 is on the high side.

But are you guys open to discounts? Are you guys open to negotiation? You know that kind of person, you know that, OK, there's room. You might be able to argue something, you might be able to meet somewhere. What is the reason why you have the conversation? The person that wants to shout, let them shout now and leave. The person that is looking like, OK, it can't work. It might work, You know, let the person say it now so you know where you stand.

So these are the reasons why these frameworks are important. I know sometimes it sounds like extra jargons to be put in your head, but trust me, these things that will save you, it's a lot to take in. So what you just do is you write it down on a sheet of paper. So when I was a baby photographer, this is what I used to do. I always had my sheet of paper and I used to then I didn't know about qualification frameworks, but I knew the information that I needed.

So I always used to write it down. Wedding date, I'll just put date dash hall dash bride dash. Now it's very important to because remember authority. Sometimes the babe that calls you finish, discuss. You know that you now here after 20 minutes, I know I'm actually the sister of the bride. I'm not the one who's getting married. Those are the conversations I used to hate the most. I'm like, I've wasted 45 minutes of my life talking to the sister of the bride because all those sisters of the bride, nothing good can come from that one.

Nothing good at all. So it was part of my list, Bright Dash. It was part that I have to ask that are you the one who is getting married or you're calling on behalf of somebody else? Because I need to know now. It will affect how I'm going to pursue this thing. I'm going to follow up. So I had my paper hall dash, date dash, bride dash. When I say dash, I mean space for me to write down. Then what again? OK, then album dash because I

need to know big or small frames dash, I need to know how many and the size. So like that. Like so I had my checklist. Anytime I'm talking to your bride, I have my checklist. So might be overwhelming, but please in the early days it has to be like this or else you will skip some steps. And these are the things that will make your deals to be small to be falling. So if you're in a tradition or if you're in a business where people have their own tradition,

like in wedding photography, collect the checklists from them, from your seniors and just follow the checklist. After a while, we'll be internal, but it will guide your process. Then later on, as you become good and as you become strong, you can now Start learning some of these professional sales frameworks or checklists or scripts or whatever it is you want to call them, and they will make it even better. But freestanding in the beginning, very, very bad idea.

Do not be freestyling. There are always frameworks. There are always processes. Go and learn these processes. If what I'm saying sounds like too much grammar, but there are seniors in your industry who are willing to teach you, go and learn from them. And then keep a pen and a sheet of paper handy in the beginning, write down all these frameworks. Always in bullet point, this, this point dash, this point dash. Get all the information you need.

It will help you to be able to close the sale. So. That's it and that's all. Remember if you'd love to connect, you can call SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140. So thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you next time. Same place in your headphones or in your speakers.