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Hello and welcome to the show. Today's version is being recorded at my desk. Did I say today's version? Well, today's podcast is being recorded at my desk and the kids are home, so watching TV running around the house. So I expect to hear some interruptions in the background then this is a listener participation show. So I'd like to answer questions that you guys may have and engage in strategy sessions and business audits with some of you.
So if you would like to reach out to me, the number to hit me up on is 08064662140, the country code +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian, that is the number to call to SMS or to WhatsApp. Again, it's 08064662140. Today on the podcast, I would like us to look at product knowledge and active listening. Now, the reason why I want us to look at that today is because I have a client in Benin and that is some stuff that we're currently working with his team on.
So he has a store that sells gadgets, no digital gadgets, no computer accessories, phone accessories, you know, lifestyle tech things, you know, like PS4, PS Five, you know, all those, all those kind of cool stuff. And the ultimate goal of the business actually is to open more locations because he has one location in Benin City and the location is doing fantastic. And when he reached out to me, he's also a listener of the podcast.
You know, that was where we're going to start the engagement. Like, OK, look, Store 1 is doing good. I want to grow the business, so let's roll out Store 2. And remember, for those of you who've been listening to the podcast for a bit, I think was yesterday's episode or day before yesterday. Remember that I said that the different kinds of challenges that you're going to face in business and in the early days, it's all about effort, making sure you're doing the right thing and that you are doing enough of the right thing to make the business grow.
Then the second stage is going to be how you can scale. That is how you can multiply your efforts. And you know, that's where he is trying to open up a second location. And then after that the problems are going to be problems or strategy. So eventually he's going to be in multiple locations, you know, like slot and some all these, some of these other places. And then you're now going to have to start making strategic decisions.
You know how we're going to continue in this space. Are we going to drop some lines? Are we going to add some lines? You know, things like that. So I think like now slot has become exclusively mobile phones. I remember the early days. Well, I don't know if those were the early days, but back when I still lived in Lagos and you go to slot, you know, a catch on that bridge, you know, they they seem to have pretty much they had a lot, you know, memory cards, phones, they also had a point and shoot cameras, you know, stuff like that, you know,
but now it's like slot is exclusively mobile phones. So I guess maybe that's a strategic decision that they made now that they kind of everywhere, but I'm agreeing with this. Yeah. So I remember what it is that I was trying to say. So yeah, that is the stage where he's at now. So they're trying to replicate the efforts. They're trying to scale. So things are working in one location and now they're trying to make it move to another location.
So that is where we started our engagement. But then I pointed out something that, you know, is good that you're trying to scale. But The thing is, when we are trying to scale a business, we need to make sure that we have SO PS in place. You know, you manage my people, you know, you like coming up with different kinds of acronyms. So SOP is just standard operating procedures. Standard operating procedures just means if we're opening a location, if we're opening store two, people in store 2 have to do things exactly the same way as people in store 1 and people in store 10 have to do things exactly the same way as people in store 7, store 3, and store one for a number of reasons.
First of all, it keeps the user experience consistent because it's somehow, and you know, those of us who spent some time in like, you know, somehow that you go to Mr. Biggs, that's back when Mr. Biggs was still in existence. And you go to one place and the egg bones is on point. I mean, well, egg roll, I say egg bones. My wife keeps correcting me. That is no such thing as egg bones. That is egg roll. So you go to one place and the meat pie is tight, and then you go to another location and then the meat pie, you know, it feels as if they put a rotten potato inside.
You know, it's just somehow. So there has to be that standard operating procedures in place so that when you go to Mr. Biggs in the Luke Beju, the egg bones is on point. If you go to Mr. Biggs in Kano, the egg bones is on point. You go to Mr. Biggs in Quatono, the egg bones will be on point. As in the same user experience everywhere. So that's part of the reasons why we need to have SOP for brand consistency and also so that the customer can have a uniform experience wherever they go is good for business.
Now another reason why we need SOP's, especially from a sales and business development perspective is if we have figured out the perfect way to sell here, it doesn't make sense to go to another location and start trying to reinvent the wheel. No, if we figured out the perfect way to sell, we need to make sure that we take that process that we know works and then we scale it across multiple locations. Now, of course, you will have to change some things, you know,
for, you know, language and culture and things like that. But the selling process will essentially remain the same. Let's go back to the whole thing of Mr. Biggs. So Mr. Biggs in Lupezu, the menu is on point. The egg bounce is insane. Everything Jolof writes as everything on point. But the way that the person will greet you when you enter the store and you look with you is not the same way that the person will greet you when you enter the Mr. Biggs shop on Hadeja Road in Kano.
So there will be some accommodations for culture and for for culture and for language and things like that. But essentially the selling process is going to be the same that we want to greet customers, we want them to be polite. This is how we take an order. This is how tables are supposed to be cleaned. This is how we ask, you know, whether they enjoyed the meal, you know, blah, blah, blah. So, but this process will be the same.
And then you make accommodations for culture, for language and for, you know, other things. So even though this fellow now wants to, my client wants to roll out a second location. The first thing now is to try and figure out, look, we need to put everything down on paper. We need to come up with an SOP so that once we open the second location, things will be going exactly the same way. It will also reduce your headache if you're on this stage of business because if store 1
is doing very good and then you open store 2 when we are trying to reinvent everything, it will be like multiple headache for you. Like you're trying to make sure that store 1 is still on points, but then every day you're having to dash back to store 2. You know, how are they doing? Is inventory keeping on points? You know, how are they dealing with customers? You know, stuff like that. So before you scale to multiple locations, we need to make sure that the SOP is our point,
standard operating procedures. Basically we just need something that shows everybody. How is it that we do ABC and XYZ when it comes to inventory management? How do we do it when it comes to talking to customers, how do we do it? Now, of course, since I am not a a business management, I'm expert, there's some things that I stay away from. So my engagement with him basically just trying to figure out the sales processes that they currently run in store 1
and the same frameworks, the sales frameworks, trying to figure out what it is that is working with them and then to try and optimize those processes, put everything down on paper so we can transfer that to location 2 when location 2 opens. And this is also a reason why I have certain people on speed down, you know, certain friends and certain associates, because eventually in working with the business, I run up to the limit of my expertise, you know, So for him and for other clients who get in touch with me at some point, once we're done with every single thing that I can do from a sales and business development perspective, you know, I responsibly and ethically have to say, boss or Madam, you know, we have now reached the limit of what it is that I can provide for you.
So right now we need to be considering XYZ kind of professionals to move this whole thing along because, you know, I know nothing about inventory management and I know nothing about general business management principles. So it is from dealing with this client almighty beneath now that we're now coming to, we're now having to do product knowledge and active listening. Because if we're going to open up a location in store too, we need to come up with a system to make sure that everybody who is in store too knows about all the products that are there.
Because for some businesses where you have to sell something, sometimes the problem starts because the person who is selling does not know Jack about what it is that you're selling. Now it's a mistake that most business owners make because if you, let me give an example, if you run a OK, let me stick to what I know because I started off in wedding photography and doing video. So I know cameras. But The thing is this is the knowledge that I have built up over time.
So my first camera was a Sony A700. From there I moved to a Sony A7, then I got a Sony A77 and then it got a Sony Alpha 77 Mark 2. So those are the cameras that I've used. I mean, before then I used some other camera systems. So The thing is, because me, I'm in a business and it's been a while, you can wake me up in my sleep or if you meet me on the toilet, I can tell you this is the difference between Sony A7 and Sony A700 or the trans between the 700 and the 77 Mark 2.
I can tell you because you know, I've been doing this a long time. So for those of us who have built up this knowledge over time and we've set up this business because it's easy to us, we forget that for our staff, it's not easy to them. For some of them, like this is the first time they're seeing camera, that they're holding camera. So for them, it is a whole new world. They just enter the shop and then for them, it's like, wow,
they're looking at 120, they're looking at maybe 20 different products and each product has different subdivisions. So at the end of the day, it's like they have to learn like 120 product lines. It can be overwhelming and so we need to come up with a system for making sure that they are trained and that they know the product. That is why that is called product knowledge. Now, product knowledge is important because it is the foundation of sales.
If you don't have product knowledge, you will not know what to recommend a camera. A customer will come into the shop and say I want to buy a camera and you'll be looking at them like it does because quite frankly, you do not know what to recommend because you know nothing about cameras. So This is why product knowledge is the foundation of sales. In fact, if you listen to Brian Tracy, I can't remember the particular book, but you know,
he said it there. I always thought they're kind of separate and maybe in a sense they are, but they also go hand in hand even if there's somebody. So I hold on one moment. Oh, sorry, I just got a notification on my phone. I just wanted to be sure it wasn't something important. And so even if there's somebody in the business who is the specialist that eventually you hand the person off you, the person that the customer is going to meet when they enter the shop or when they pick up the phone, you have to know one or two things to be able to recommend something.
So product knowledge, the foundation of sales. We also need product knowledge because for those of you who sell physical stuff, troubleshooting is a part of your job. Because somebody who come and buy camera, the person will come back and say, look, this camera that you both gave me is rubbish. Is dreaming like this, is dreaming like that. You have to be able to say, oh, I'm sorry, Sir, can I have a look at the camera?
Let me have a look at this and let's see if we can help you get sorted out real quick. You need to know what's up, whether it is that the problem has a, the camera has a problem or that maybe the customer is using it incorrectly. Because sometimes it's that there's nothing wrong with the product. It's just that the guy didn't read the training manual or, you know, maybe it wasn't a fix. He doesn't know how to activate this activate that, you know,
but if you know something about the product that you're selling, you'll be able to take responsibility for the situation. Calm the customer down, show him one or two things. In fact, even in the shop, you won't be able to take one or two test photos. You know, the person will now start feeling embarrassed like my brother, I'm sorry. You know how this thing can be now, you know, I just spent 500 K on this sort of thing, blah,
blah. So I beg brush Novak, you know, and then you laugh over it and you know, you solve the problem as a happy customer. And you know, now you guys have a new level of rapport. So troubleshooting is an important part of the job for those of you who sell products. So for like this, my client, if somebody comes in and says this PS five that you showed me is rubbish because I'm trying to do this, I'm trying to do this special move.
This special move is not working. XX tap down down 00 is not working. Your keypad is fake. You need to be a product knowledge. You need to have some product. And I should be able to say, oh, sorry Sir, can I have a look at the system? OK, the video that you spoke about the special move, can I see it? So oh, OK, OK, OK, this special move something only applies on the Model X Something, something something that is sold exclusively in Canada and in Dubai.
Well, however, if you want to try and achieve this kind of special move, I recommend you try this YouTube handle instead. This influencer that does it is a Niger guy. So he shows you how you can achieve this and this and this using this keypad that you bought in store and the person like, oh, OK. And therefore some people, some people are just too proud. So they're just, you know, squeeze their face and they won't admit anything.
They'll just carry doing and say thank you. They'll just go away. But the average person who you know, will be humble and say, oh, sorry, my brother, blah, blah, blah. And I will apologize and you made a friend. But we need product knowledge because we engage in troubleshooting those of us who sell physical products. And then we also need product knowledge so that we can do objection handling. Objection handling is when people come up with reasons why they don't want to go ahead with the sale, when people have concerns about not moving forward with the purchase.
If you don't know Shishi, if you don't know gang about what you're selling, you cannot handle objections. Somebody can come and tell you this thing is too expensive, but because you don't know anything about the product or what's going on in the market, you say, OK, yes, it's too expensive. You carry the thing back and you say bye bye. And then the person will go. But it is only when you have some product knowledge that you'll be able to say, sorry,
too expensive. I'm sorry. I hope you don't mind me asking. Compared to what? OK. You saw this thing in Okeechuku store. I said he'll give it to you for 850. OK, sure, no problem. But what model was he giving you exactly? OK. Did you ask him about this? This is that that that is the reason why the one he's trying to sell to you is a so, so, so model. It can only do this, this, this. It cannot achieve that. But when we were talking earlier, you were telling me that it's important for you that when you buy this equipment, you want to be able to achieve 1234.
This thing, OK Chuku is telling you, I'm telling you, you will not achieve the same result. If you don't believe me, no problem, I'll take the system back. But when you go back to OK Chuku, ask him, I want to achieve XYZ. This model you're selling me. Can he do that? Now? You won't be able to handle that pricing objection if you do not have product knowledge. So product knowledge is absolutely foundational. It is the beginning of being good in sales.
Now, you don't have to be the expert, but you need to know enough to start having some of these basic, basic conversation with people who walk into your shop or who send you Adm. And it doesn't matter whether it's camera or whether it's PS4 or whether it's cement making equipment. It also is the same even if it's makeup that you do, you need to be able to have a capable conversation with a lady who walks into your store and she says that oh, I want to buy foundation and I'm looking for something, something something blah, blah, blah.
And I wanted to have a SP V45. You know, if he says SPV 45, that is not the time for you to be picking up your phone to now Google what is SPV 45. At the very least, you need to know that if you hear SPV now, that is some kind of sun protection something. And then maybe the lady is preoccupied with her skin burning or something like that. You need to be able to have that kind of capable conversation like, oh, OK, you know what?
I'm not sure about this particular one, whether it has SPV something, something. But this line over here, this line of products, these are the ones that we recommend when people are worried about sunburn Sundays, sun that you know, you people have a capable conversation, even if it's pharmacy that you're on, it's the same thing, product knowledge. So there's nobody that can escape this. You need to know product knowledge.
And that is the reason why we go on with this client of mine. We're sitting down and we're learning product knowledge and then we're also learning active listening. That's the second thing that I mentioned, active listening, need assessment and then probing conversations. Now, the reason why we have to also pay attention to active listening and need assessment and probing conversations is because active listening, trying to figure out who is this person, what do they need while asking questions to try and figure out, you know, what's going on, What kind of goal are they trying to achieve?
What problem are they trying to run away from is because remember, we're talking about recommendation from product knowledge. If I do not know what they need, how will I know what they recommend? Somebody come and say I want to buy a camera. I would only be looking like, you know, like an idiot if I know nothing about cameras. But even if I know nothing about cameras, but I don't ask the person about what it is he wants to use the camera for, how will I know what to recommend?
Now the mistake that people are making at these guys store was that they were asking the question that everybody asks, which is what is your budget? Terrible question because what is your budget immediately leads you into money objections that are this thing is too expensive. Hey, I saw it online for this BC is offering this thing at 25% off. You now go straight into all those issues. Once you start the conversation like that, you know is a serious Valhalla.
But in the bigger problem is this. The person will now go and buy something that is more than their power or that is inadequate to achieve what they want. So back to the makeup thing, if you don't ask her the questions but you don't say what is your budget and she tells you you give her the cream but then you now give her the cream that does not have SPV protection. She goes out and then the song burns her skin. She will tell everybody that I
went to BC shop and BC gave me cream and the cream burns my skin. Can see how the thing has effect on the business. It's not that you gave them cream and the thing burn the skin things. You didn't even ask her what she was trying to achieve with the cream or with the makeup. You didn't even know that, OK, some protection is important for her or that she has delicate skin or oily skin or something. And so you made the wrong recommendation.
So when somebody walks into your shop, I want to buy powder, I want to buy cream, I want to buy this. The question is not what is your budget? That of course you ask, but that is not the first thing we start with. So need analysis, active listening, need assessment, probing conversations. Yeah, I know it sounds somehow, but we have to probe. If we don't probe, if we don't know what it is that they need, we will make the wrong recommendation.
Whether it's camera you're selling or whether it's laptop you're selling or whether it's makeup you're selling. Even if you're offering business advisory services, you're designing websites, You don't ask them what do you want to use this website for? You don't ask. This is how you begin to fail in the business. This is how you begin to fail in losing the sale. So we also need active listening, need assessment. What do they need?
Probing conversations. Probing because we have to ask them questions. We're trying to dig here so we can make the adequate recommendation. Also so that we can handle objections. Because somebody can also come and say your cream is too expensive, that Chemi is offering the same thing at 25% discount. If you know the product and if you ask the questions, you can now have that conversation now. Oh, I thought you said hardly stretch marks is important to you.
Yes, I said so. But with this picture that you showed me, based on what Chemi wants to give you 45% off, it is good, it achieves blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But this thing does not do anything for stretch marks because it does not have this component, this component, this component. So you see how it's easy to handle some objections to handle some pricing things once we know something about the product and once we have done active listening, need assessments and we've had some probing conversations.
So that is why for my client in been in this is the beginning of where we're starting their training session for the whole team. So the example that I use now, because it was that morning now as I was chatting with the guy, because I like to be friends with everybody that I do business with. So once in a while, you know, messages it also hide, you know how things are the shopping or that kind, you know, just geologist.
So as I was chatting with the guy now, he accidentally sent me one message was meant to be for a customer, but he sent me a message and was concerning him. Oraimo, I don't know his, I don't know how to pronounce his name, whether it's Oraimo Oraimo or whatever. So Oraimo space buds pro hybrid ANC IP54 something you just is the Oraimo space buds. But all the technical specs were there. So that's what I now used to, to start the conversation with the sales associates, with the ladies because his team is female.
So with the ladies, that's why I used to start the conversation. And my rationale was this, if you do not know anything about the products, all of this information is a bit too much. Oramo Spaceboards Pro Hybrid ANC, IP54 rater protection, weather and dose protection features, noise cancellation, wide area tap, dual device connectivity, water resistant, it's a bit much. You won't be able to learn everything. So we need to come up with a method for learning products according to their categories instead of learning about specific items.
OK, maybe I'm not saying it well, but let me put it this way. OK, let me go back to the camera example. Remember how I told you guys that I know the difference between Sony A700, Sony A7, Sony A77 and the Sony Alpha 77 Mark 2? Because I started off in photography. So I know all these things in my sleep. If I want somebody to now sell those kinds of cameras, this is their first time. It will be hard for them. So instead of sitting down and trying to cram the information about Sony A700, Sony A7, Sony A77, and Sony A77 Mach 2,
remember that is only just for Sony. We haven't spoken about Canon who makes cameras? Nikon. Who makes cameras? Nippon. OK, no, Nippon doesn't make cameras, they make printers. Then who? Again? So you can't be cramming things about models. So what you do now, especially when you're new to this, just learn about the different categories because all those cameras are not the same. One is point and shoot. It's just for amateur, as in,
you know, anybody can just pick up on points and press and get a picture. Another one is a learner model, as in your beginning, you want to go professional but you don't have money, but you want something that can give you some manual control. So there's a learner model. Another one is an amateur model as per you're not a giant bite anymore, you're very good, but you know to hold. So you don't have like 2-3 M to spend on a professional model.
You only have like that kind, you know maybe 900 K 1.5. This model is good for you. Then there's the professional model like look, I'm a professional photographer. I need something that has full manual control, that has dust protection, weather protection, so that even if I'm shooting and then rain starts to fall, at least I know that I'm covered. I can still walk small, maybe like 2 minutes before I dodge, you know that kind of thing.
So you learn the categories first so that when you're having conversations with people, you can now know where to make some recommendations. You learn the categories do need analysis and you can now start recommending down. So when somebody comes and says I want to buy a camera, instead of asking what is your budget? And then the person says, my budget is for M you now go and sell them professional camera. But then they get home and then the options are just too much.
They get confused. They never use it because of that. They're not happy. The thing is a waste of money. They'll never recommend anybody to your store. So it's not what is your budget? Because there are times when somebody's budget is for him. But really after you have a conversation with the person, because the person is a jam bite and a novice and a complete beginner. The ethical thing to do actually is to say, look, boss, I know you have for him, but to be honest there, if you buy this camera for M, this thing will overwhelm you.
Just take this one that is 1.5 simpler, manual, easy to handle. These are that basic. If you take this one, you can use this one online work and you know when you become a guru, you can now come back and then we'll do the 4M camera later. If the person says no, I want to buy the four M one. Well, at least you've said your piece. At least the person will know that look, you're an ethical salesman or it's ethical salesperson.
It's not as if because they have 4M, you decide that you collect the whole for him. You are trying to sell them what you think they need. And people remember that. That look, I dealt with OK Chuku, I dealt with Kemi, I dealt with Kelechi. They didn't just try to collect all my money. They were actually trying to help me buy the one that will move my business forward or that will move my hobby forward or move my whatever forward.
So learn the categories. So I told them that look, if you babes want to learn all of these things or ammo space board, you now start cramming or ammo space board prohibit ANC IP54 rated weather and dust protection, noise cancellation, wide area tap, dual device connectivity. What if you're going to be cramming this thing, man has extra work. So what you do is you now look for a system of learning the categories. And since I'm not a specialist in this thing, I just took a very common sense approach that when it comes to earbuds, the categories are this number one in ear.
That's one that you took inside your ear. My wife doesn't like that because she says when you do that, it's like he's touching her eardrum and I want you to move it. You now see earwax on it and then maybe another person will take it, maybe like your best friend in office and then chook inside her own ear too. And then before you know it, you are just sharing ear wax up and down. So my wife doesn't like in ear. For me, I love in earphones.
So in ear is one that chook inside your ear. Then there's earbuds. Earbuds are the ones that rest on your ear, but they don't chook inside. So my wife loves earbuds. I prefer India. Let me choke inside, increase the volume, let me block out the whole world and enjoy my music. That's me. Then there's also open air. Those ones are brand new. I saw those ones in the Oromo store and made those things are fire. One, they call their bone conduction you.
You know how you wear eyeglasses, so you see where your glasses rest on your the tempo. So that's where the thing will now rest on the temple like that. And then The thing is sending. I don't know whether it's sending electrical impulse or whatever, but sending it direct to your bone and then you're not behind. I'm using in your brain. I said correct. I said how much it say 500 Ki said 500 Ki said sorry. I said it's not me.
The guy being to laugh. I said no, no, no, no, no, I'm not spending 500 Ki Want to hear from that. So don't worry, don't worry. And I'll pick the one that was my passport and then I left. But one day I'll go and buy that ball conduction. Let me see how that thing works, because when nothing looks sci-fi, then there's also another one they call air conduction, you know. But anyway, I'm just trying to say that that's how you look at earphones.
So I now ask the question, do you guys have open ear? And then the owner of the store said, no, we don't have what we're going to get. And I know that for boys who who have money, boys who like to waste money, you know, of course, now they will definitely buy now so you can be one in town. So oh boy, was this in us as my earphone. So here for how it's always bone conduction tech. Now, you know, it's it's the latest, it's the newest in town.
You know, it's just for big boys. It's not for small boys like you don't worry. When you have money, you join us, but don't worry, you know that kind of thing. Some people like to buy because of FEC, they like to buy because of these teas. So since they don't have open air technology, the only thing that the girls have to learn now is in air and then earbuds. Then there's also another way to classify the earphones. There's wired versus wireless and there's noise cancelling,
there's sports and there's gaming. So that is all that the ladies, the sales associates need to know in the beginning. They need to know that look, when it comes to earphones, there is in ear and there's earbuds, There's also wired versus wireless, there is noise cancelling, there is sports and then there's gaming. So that when somebody comes into the store, the first question is not what is your budget? The first question will now be,
what do you want to use it for? That is now this is that is how you now know how to start making the right recommendations. Some people will tell you that, oh, I listen to podcasts every day when I'm stuck in traffic. When I'm stuck in traffic, you also need to probe a little bit, oh, do you drive or you take public transportation? It's very important because if somebody is stuck in traffic, he's driving his own car, ethically speaking, you should not be selling him in ear earphones that have noise cancellation because what that means is the guy won't be able to hear Jack when he's driving.
Trailer can be coming from the back and he won't know that. OK, it's time to get out of the way. I need to have those conversations because somebody might say, I want to hear my podcast, give me in ear and give me, you know, let me block the noise. I have to know, Sir, that you know, you drive. So to be honest, in spite of health and safety, you need to know whether trailer is coming behind you. So Sir, instead of doing in ear,
why not just do earbuds? Or why not just buy this open ear? Or better yet, even if you're taking this in ear, at least why not buy Bluetooth, something to sync to your car speakers so that you can listen that way then maybe when you get home you can now choke your in ear. You see how you can now start having fruitful conversations with people when they enter into your store and they want to buy something. But you can only have that if you have product knowledge and if you know why they need this thing.
So this is the beginning. Product knowledge and then active listening need assessments. Probing conversations for average people to think is rude. But look, we are in sales. Doesn't matter what you do, you are in sales. You might think of yourself as a Baker, but the day you decided to open that Instagram page and call yourself Abuja's finance Baker OR Lagos sexiest Baker or whatever, that day you became a salesperson and you need to be able to have probing conversations.
It's not just a matter of what is your budget, it's a matter of what do you want to use the cake for? Who is your son's birthday or congratulations? I have two sons as well. Mine are 6:00 and 14. How old is your own son? Oh, he's only two. A Congratulations, Mommy. I remember that stage. So what is the theme of your birthday party? OK. Oh, Power Rangers. OK, Boy, it's his favorite color. What are the things that he likes?
You know, from all of those small, small conversation, You're building rapport. You're finding out about Mumsy. Finding out about the boy it is. Then you're not going to be able to make an adequate recommendation for a cake. If you just say what is your budget and she says it's 30 K and then you now want to deliver her 30K cake. I mean, she won't be happy or what's your budget or no, I don't do 30K cakes. The minimum that I do is 450.
You know the walk away thing or you're too expensive. But by the time you have that conversation with them and you know, the ladies getting a sense of OK, the cake is going to tie in well to what my son likes, tie in well to the overall theme of the party, blah, blah, blah. And then you say, you know, your bill is 400,000. She might say, well, OK, little on the high side. Maybe they might try on price but eventually end up at maybe 350.
You see this how it's done. You are a salesperson. The moment you decide to go into business, you are a salesperson and that's how you handle these conversations. So that's why I told the team, think in terms of categories. This person is coming inside. Now. I don't need to know a specific model like Oramo, space boards, ANC, IP54. I don't need to know that all that jazz. I just need to know in air, earbuds, open air and start the conversation.
I need to be asking questions about them. What do they need it for? Is it for travel? Is it for commute? Is the person a musician because for musicians, because I also learned, started learning guitar back when I was in Scotland. And sometimes you ought to practice, you know, into midnight. But, you know, if you're playing guitar, especially electric guitar at 1:00 AM, your neighbors would be angry and all of that. In fact, your wife would be frustrated or your husband.
So there are some people who need some of these air phones because they want to block out the whole world and, you know, practice in peace at the highest volume without disturbing anybody. You need to ask. It is not the first question is not what is your budget? You ask about their lifestyle, what do I want to use this thing for? Or when I go to the gym, I don't want people to disturb me, so I want a headset. But if you know something about products, you can also say, oh,
headsets. So that might not be a good idea because with headsets you sweat, the sweat will leak into the headphones, will damage the whole thing. So you should be looking at in air, you should be looking at in ear earphones that are water resistant so that the sweat will not damage it. You don't start having a fruitful conversation. Are they going to be using it for outdoor activity? Some people buy these things because won't listen to their favorite radio show.
I assumed that any headphone will help you listen to your radio show from the phone, but no, it's only the wired ones that work. So if the person is a radio user, but the person has enough money for Oramo space boards, the person has plenty of money for conduction headphone. You actually need to tell the person that, oh Sir, you say you like this because you listen to Heberlembe every day. So these headphones that you're buying don't allow you to listen to Heberlembe.
You actually need something that has a wire that will act as the antenna to your phone. You need to tell them because the person says no and they insist and they buy. At least the best can call back. I'll shout at you tomorrow because you can say Sir, but I told you now. Now if it is for radio, these ear headphones will not work. You need to buy the one that has cable. What else Anyway, gamers, that's true gaming. So you need to find out what they need it for so think in terms of categories and then we'll make it easier for you to handle product knowledge.
Now, for those of you who own these stores, when it comes to training your people, don't train them model to model. If you tell them today we're going to look at Oramo Space boards. Tomorrow we're going to look at Oramo Solar Plexus. Next tomorrow we're going to look at Oramo XZ1150. That's information overwhelm and they won't learn it. You have had a couple of years to learn all these sorts of things. No matter your business, whether it's gadgets or solar panels or baking cake, you've had quite a while to learn.
They are coming into this thing for the first time. So just think in terms of categories and then the conversation will be easier. And so if I had a shop that sold cameras, that is how I would train my people. When somebody comes here, all you need to know about cameras is there are point and shoot models that anybody, even a baby, will take it and use it and the photo will be OK. Then there are learner models where people are trying to learn some controls.
Then there are amateur models. The person is now capable but the person wants something that gives him a little bit more creative option about the styling of photos, you know, things like that. And then we have professional models. That is all you need to know. So first of all, find out where is this person that in his photography career, what kind of photos are they trying to shoot? You will now know which kind of cameras to move them to.
And then I will tell the person that look, look at the store. All the beginner models, this is where we put them. All the amateur models, this is where we put them. All the professional models, this is where we put them. So now you don't need to worry about learning the difference between Sony A700, Sony A7, Sony A77 and Sony Alpha 77 Mark 2. You just need to figure out where are they at and where are we going to start steering them.
We'll start narrowing down the conversation. Small, small, small and then it will make it easier to close the sale. So that's what I wanted to share with you guys today because some stuff that some of you guys need to know, some of you have sales teams and people are struggling. You don't know that the reason why your sales team is suffering is because they don't have product knowledge. Also because they are not doing need analysis and they're not doing active listening.
So because of that, somebody comes to the store and their first question is what is your budget? And you're angry that they're not closing sales and you're spending 500K every month on Google Ads or whatever. And you can see because you have the camera and you have the counter that every single day like 100 people are entering the shop. Only one person is buying out of 100. And you're frustrated. These are some of the reasons why and these are the things that you should be paying attention to.
So my assignment to the ladies was OK based on their selling experience, because some of them had sold some stuff in the store. I told one of them, OK, you since you've been selling lots of power banks, you come up with a system. Let us see what are the different kinds of how would you categorize power banks? Come back and tell me another one had lots of experience selling chargers. So OK for you, how can we break down the different categories of chargers and therefore someone else was laptops?
So let's break it down. What are the different categories of laptops? Because for laptop especially, you should not be. When somebody comes to buy a laptop, the number one question you ask is not what is your budget? Because you go and sell something that is more than the person's power. I know lots of people who have bought these, these laptops that fold into into tablets or they can detach the screen. But at the end of the day, they regret it.
They bought it because it is cool, but they don't really use it. All they do is they type stuff in the office and then they send e-mail and some people regret that purchase that why did I buy this thing that cost? Why did I buy a laptop that cost 2 million? So it's not what is your budget. You need to be able to have conversations, listen, listen actively figure out what their needs are and they be able to make the adequate recommendation.
Anyway, I've overflowed the issue, so let me just bring today's episode to a close. If I have any more conversations with this particular client of mine as I'm training his sales team or as I'm training any of our sales team, of course, I'll come and share with you guys so that we can all share in the goodness. Now remember that this is a listener participation show, so you can reach out to me after you don't listen to this episode.
The number to call to SMS or to WhatsApp is 08064662140. Again, the number is 08064662140. The country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian, thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys in the next episode and until then, if you have a team behind you, please give it some thought. Start trying to see how we can train our sales associates on product knowledge. They need to know the general categories and we also need to be able to teach them that.
Look, when people come into the shop, this is how we engage the customer. This is how we figure out what they need. This is how we now make the appropriate recommendation. You start putting some of these things in place. You start noticing a change in your business without spending a single couple, without increasing your money in ads or you know something for some of you, the leads that you have, the number of leads you have is OK.
The number of people that you have coming into your shop is OK. This is just one small thing that you need to change to make sure that of the 100 people that are coming to your shop every week, but only one person is buying, we can increase from out of 100, maybe five are buying and overtime maybe 10, overtime maybe 20, overtime maybe 30. And then you start seeing huge growth in your business. So I'll catch you guys in the next episode.