Loading…
Auto-generated; may contain errors.
Loading transcript…
Hello and welcome to the show. Making today's recording outside of the National Hospital in Abuja. So I expect to hear some interruptions in the background and of course, I'm in the car park. So, you know, people talking here and there and then stuff like that. Now, if this is your first time of tuning into the podcast, the goal of this show is free business education. I'm not here to talk about the state of hospitals in Abuja or in Nigeria.
So don't worry, you're in the right place. If you're concerned about learning how to sell, learning how to market and learning a bunch of business stuff, you're in the right place. So when you're done with the episode, please share, promote and talk about the podcast so that your friends and family members in Nigeria and abroad can benefit from the questions that we tackle. They can do that by subscribing on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of their choice.
And if you in particular, dear listener, have any sales and marketing questions, bring them to me. You can call SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Now before we go into the top pick for today, we're going to continue on closing techniques. Some of you might be worrying like National Hospital bowel, like what's happening. Well, it's not me just came out to come and greet somebody who is about to have surgery. And well, anyway, she's doing OK.
But from time to time, let's just remember to pray for people who are going through serious health challenges because it's hard enough to try and, you know, raise a family, do a business, you know, stuff like that when you're having significant health challenges. But then, you know, with the state of the economy now and then how much people have to pay for health, I can be an absolute downer. So please, prayers for the person that I came to visit today.
So I just let me just make this recording real quick before I hit the road because I don't want to forget and then leave this thing not closed. So today on the show, we're going to be doing closing techniques. Yesterday we defined closing techniques, if I remember correctly, and how why we should think of closing as just moving things forward one step at a time, getting people to take the next step and just trying to get things to move along.
Then let's see, we also looked at trial closes. Trial closes are just what you do to confirm that you guys are on the same page that you guys are moving, you guys are on the right, you know, on the right level. And one example that I gave for instance, was OK, well, this was a more personal note. For instance, I was talking to who was I talking to? Hey, one of ladies in Benin and she also understanding this trial closing and I thought I
look, you know what, remember how you're with your boyfriend and you now ask him that look, what are we doing here, blah, blah, blah. You know, what are we? You know all those questions that you know, babes like to ask when as a young man you've been hanging around and you haven't said anything. Now that is an example of a trial close or you know, feedback questions because it gets you to understand. OK, are you guys on the same page or not?
Because that will now determine the next step. So if the person says, if the boy says no, he's just from the benefits, then there's no point in going for the clothes because you know nothing. They're there. But if you guys like, what do you mean you'd be my girlfriend from tea, you now know that OK, you guys are on the right course and you can proceed. So it's the same thing in the business context. Is this what you're looking for?
Does this suit your needs? Is this something you see yourself using between option this and option this, Which one works for you? How do you feel about this? You know those small, small questions, it will let you know whether the conversation between you and the potential customer, the potential clients, whether you guys are on point. Now, the goal is this. If you guys are on point, if your understanding is not the same, if they're not feeling what you're saying, if they're not picking up what it is that you're putting down, you now know that you have to go back to need analysis and make sure that you understand the nature of the problem, understand what it is that they're looking for before you make a proposal and you try to close again.
Because if you guys are not on the same page and you're trying to close, there is no way that this thing will close. So let's say you sell cars and you're talking to somebody who is a Benz kind of guy and you show him every single Toyota in the parking lot and you try to close. The thing is, if you've not had that need analysis conversation and you've not figured out that this guy is a Benz kind of guy, that deal is not closing.
A Benz guy is not going to buy Toyota. Like for what? And then there's some of us who are Toyota boys who are probably not going to buy a Benz, you know, for what? And who knows, maybe when my financial situation improves, you might, you guys might see me driving around in a nice class or something. So these are the things, these are the we all, I put it the laying, the foundation, the preamble that makes closing possible.
So that's one thing I wanted to stress yesterday and I'm going to stress again. Don't focus too much on closing techniques. Focus on all the things that come before, how you open the sale, how you do need analysis, excuse me, how you check to be sure that both of you are on the same page, you understand what it is that they need. They like all the options that you you have put before them. It is only when you are at that stage that you can start trying to do any of these closing techniques.
Then I also remember from yesterday's episode that I said the closing techniques that we are going to consider are going to be closing techniques that will work in a particular kind of situation. Because this is what I was recommending to the sales associates of my former client who has a, a store, a physical location where they sell tech gadgets, you know, lifestyle computer stuff, you know, things like that. You want your PlayStation, you go there.
You want a gaming table, gaming chair, you go there. You want brand new phones, you go there. You want laptops, you go there. You want Bluetooth speakers, you go there, you know, that kind of store. So these are supposed to be the kind of closing techniques that would work in that situation where you have a physical store, you have been doing lots of, excuse me, advertising and inbound to get people to to come to the shop.
So yeah, these are clothes that should work in that kind of situation. So please, I said it yesterday and I'm going to say again today, do not assume that every single thing that we will discuss in this episode regarding closing is going to work for every single circumstance or every single context, okay? Then also remember that there are many, many, many, many kinds of closing techniques, closing tactics. So this is not an exhaustive list.
This is just a list of some stuff that I think that they should know. And of course, when you're in sales, you take the responsibility for educating yourself. So like I told them, I've told you people a couple of stuff, but keep paying attention to YouTube, to podcasts and things like that. Also pay attention to Orga. When Orga is selling or when you're going to different selling environments, you're going to different shops, you're going to different business establishments.
Pay attention to what other sales people are doing and then you will learn other closing techniques as well. All right, so let's get straight into it. I believe. Let me look at my notes. The things that I said we'll discuss today are OK, assumptive closes, direct close, benefits close, alternative choice close, urgency or scarcity close and then the take away close. All right, so let's go to some details now. Now assumptive closes, this is my default.
Assumptive close just means you're going on as if this thing is going to close and just continue the conversation like that. Just continue on the casual note as if you know, you don't be like we're going to, we're going to do this business. So one example and this one I learned from hanging around evil boys in Lagos because evil boys do this one a lot. This has something close. If you notice evil boys, they like, they just assume that this thing is going to close.
So as the conversation is going now, they just ask, OK, so how many are you taking? See, that's an assumptive close. You have assumed that I'm going to buy. So the only thing now is are you buying 3 or 5 or 10 or 12? So that's something that able boys do. How many are you taking? That's an assumptive clothes. Then another assumptive clothes. Came across this one a lot in the UK. Oh, do you like this in black or in blue?
So the sales associate, the baby that's talking to you, she has assumed that the jacket that you've seen that you like it. And so she just asks, would you like this in black or in blue? If you say blue should go and bring the blue one and you'll say, OK, can I take this to detail for you? Let's get this wrapped up. See the baby just assuming that this deal is a done deal. So that is my own default. So these are someptive closes.
You just assume the person is going to buy anyway. I think you ask some small questions just to prod them in the right direction. So how many are you taking? Do you want this in black or in blue? Should we wrap this thing for you or is it for you or is it a gift for Madam? Do you like this thing to be gift wrapped? You know, all these kind of questions for those of you who schooled in the UK, you should be familiar with those optic closes because in the retail space the users optic closes all the time.
So that is my default. I'd always just assume that the deal is going to close and so I continue with questions in that regard. Now the direct close and the reason why I brought this up was because it's one of the sales associates for this my former client had been in the baby is very direct and I need to caution them like you know, direct closing is good, but only if you have built good rapport with the customer, good flow with the customer and if you have read the customer cues correctly or else you might run the risk of insulting somebody when you try direct close.
So direct close, you just want to ask out, right? Look, are you buying today or not? Are you ready to buy today or not? Are you going to be paying for this now? Should I start processing your order? Should I start wrapping this up as it is very direct so well, it's not bad. But for those of you who are newbies, you haven't quite gotten a sense of what your selling style is. Reserve the direct, all these direct closes for when you have more experience because like for instance, Are you ready to buy today?
That kind of thing can take people off. And I've been in that situation. Remember my wife were where we what I think we're study Plaza when it's one of these stores just looking at some stuff and you know, for those of you who are married, you know how it is now, but I'm going to select like 5 or 6 things. This won't be good for this. This won't be good for this daughter. This won't be good for my son. This won't be good for this good for that should be asking you questions.
You put some back, maybe they'll bring another 5 or 7. You know, you know, the normal something and then the baby's like, you know, Are you ready to buy today or not? And that thing just ticked me off and I just told my wife like, let's, let's get out of here. That is absolute rubbish. And we left. I want to go and buy somewhere else. So you see, there are closes. Like it's alright. It's a nice way to get the conversation moving.
And I understand that for you, some of you might be frustrating. That woman is there and she's trying. She's taking some clothes. She has put some back. She has asked for this, She has put some back in that kind of situation. Now this is what you do. You don't say, Madam, are you buying today or not? No, that's not the right attitude. The right attitude is like, oh, Madam, looks like you need some help with selecting items and of course, the mummy.
OK, Well, in my own case, I wasn't being very helpful because how I put it, my sense of fashion is not very good. So I wasn't being very helpful. So in that case, the more useful thing for the girl to have done was, oh, Madam, looks like you need some help. My would have said yes, and he's asking some questions. How old are your children? Oh, OK, boy and a girl. OK, how old? What does the girl like? What does the boy like?
Blah, blah, blah. This is this is it for house or is it for growing out or is it a gift for one of your nephews? You know, you ask all those kinds of questions. And if I'm asking questions, I'm bringing more things, you start narrowing down on some suitable, some suitable options. And that is how you get the person to the stage where they're you narrow things down. And then you can also get to the point of trying out the direct close instead of, you know,
because you're frustrated because people are taking some things and then putting it down, Take another thing, put it down, and then you go straight to look. Are you buying today or not? You know, that's, you know, that's a little bit. What's the word? And you understand what I'm trying to say. So those are direct closes. Are you buying today or not? Are you ready to buy today? Should I start processing your order? You know, things like that.
Then there's the benefits closed. Benefits closed is where you start toasting the person by saying the benefits of something and using that as a reason why they should buy. So oh Sir, that's a wonderful choice. The benefit of XYZ is this is and da, da, da, da, da. So if you're fine, if you're absolutely fine with that and it makes a lot of sense, you know, don't you think we should just go over to detail and get this sorted for you?
You know, that kind of thing when you give the benefits. So an example that one of the sales associates came up with was as a particular, what's it called, power bank that the sales associate likes. And I would like if it makes sense, it's a power bank, but if it has torchlight, I didn't know the thing has torchlight. The thing also has the cables inside, you know, prebuilt, so you just pull it out and charge what you want to charge and then the thing goes back in and then the IT has multiple heads.
So USBC the head is there Usba the head is there ancient of this USB the head is there and I think she looks pretty. It's like a pretty nice device. So for her, whenever she's trying to sell that particular one, she always goes to the benefits clothes that look broke. This is the one for you. Check out the light, whatever, check out the retractable cable. The benefit of going with this one is if you buy this one, you never have to buy cable again.
Check it, look at the cable, it's very strong, blah, blah blah. Any other flash drive, Sorry, I say flash drive. Any other power bank. If you buy the power bank, you still have to buy extension cable of 3/5 or whatever. But see, this one has four, five extension cables inbuilt, you know, blah blah, blah, blah. So bro, you know how you see them, You know, for her, that's the way that she was closing. So that's the benefit close.
And then at the end of it she threw in some feedback, you know, so blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. How you see her. Oh, by the way, we are trying to close. In case I haven't figured it out. It doesn't always have to be in English. In Queens English, there was a lady that I spoke to a while back. This was sometime last year. And when I told her, she hadn't heard it before because she's able. And I told her, look, you know,
it doesn't always have to be English because sometimes you start talking and you feel as if you know because you're an able person. You feel as if this person is my sister. You might switch into, you know, language and it might make it easier to close the sale. And she wasn't too convinced until she tried it and she saw that the thing yields results. Now the reason why I know that first time is because I don't speak any Nigerian language.
You're by I understand small IBO. You can tell me in IBO my language teeth. Of course I understand whatever is being said in teeth even though I don't speak because when I speak my language, you know, my relatives laugh at me. In fact, my mom says I speak teeth as if I'm a needle my person. So I I'd rather not, but the my guy that we used to do video together, I should go. He was always very good at, you know, switching into that whole Yoruba thing, you know, so like we'll be talking to somebody.
He's a oh, my lorry and I just noticed that. So he makes some conversations smooth. So I might start off with a client, like particularly older clients. Let's say we're discussing wedding photography and video and I'm talking to Mumsy and I'm all English proper and everything. But then by the time Shagu moves into the conversation, conversation. Oh, Omar Yorubani, yes, Ma Benny this batting, batting Batty, prostate on the floor, stand up.
And then before you know, they're laughing and talking, batting, batting Batty. And you know, it makes it easy to close the sail. Oh, sorry, those of you who are Yoruba, Yoruba people have been saying Batty a lot. Anyway, you understand, I can be irreverent sometimes. So all these closing that we're talking about now you don't have to do all these techniques in English, you can do it in pigeon, you can do it in Igbo, you can do it in Yoruba, you can do it in.
However, the determining factors are this, who are you talking to? What's the context? What is the nature of the relationship? So you know, it depends. So if let's say I'm selling insurance and I'm talking to a bank MD, you know, perhaps I'm not going to slip into pigeon. So you know, it depends, you look at the context. So yeah, that's it with the benefit close. So like the sales associate, like the way she said it, this is a 6000 MH whatever.
So if you're charging this kind of phone, that's 12 hours worth of battery. The flashlight is here and you have these cables. You don't have to buy extra cables or how you see them. And you know, that's our way of doing things how you see them, you know, but it makes sense. Then alternative choice, close or the either or close. So what were we discussing again? OK, for that particular one we're discussing what's it called?
PlayStation the the pad, the pad for PlayStation. I don't know if they call it pad now or whatever, but you know the thing you hold on your hand to play. So alternative choices. Oh, OK, we have this particular part. We have the standard UK pad or we have the enhanced grip pad that is made in Canada. So which of these do you prefer? You can say that this is alternative choice. You're giving the person A, you're giving the person B.
If the person says A, you're on the right track, you're heading somewhere. If the person says B, you're on the right track, you're heading somewhere. If the person says neither, you now have to go back to need analysis and now figure out. So excuse me now figure out what kind of gamer is this guy? What kind of games does he play? What kind of techniques does he like to use? You know, because it's possible that you guys are looking for controllers for PS or whatever game that the guy has come to buy.
But you know, not everybody's a pad. Somebody. Some people are joystick people and then some people are mouse people. So I'm playing the game, but I don't want to use pad. I want to use mouse. I don't want to use pad. I want to use a joystick. Yeah. So you need to have all these conversations. Now, you see how when I say if you open this thing wrong, there's no way you will close this deal. If somebody is more of a joystick kind of person and you're showing the person pad,
pad, pad. And you're talking about this part is UK, this part is Japan, this part is this this part. There is no way this thing will close because my guy is a joystick person and you're showing him pad. So if you open up the conversation the right way, figure out the kind of games that the person plays, you figure out the kind of techniques you know that he likes to use when he's playing. And if he's beginning to sound as if joystick is 1 or makes sense, pass then be showing the guy joysticks then the opportunity, your chances of closing the deal will not be high because you have started the deal, you have opened the conversation in the right way.
So that's the alternative choice. close or the either or close. Yeah. Do you want this thing in black or do you want this thing in white? We have standard grip. We have enhanced grip. We have this option. We have the option. Which of them do you prefer? If the person picks either one is all right. It means that you guys are making progress and there's urgency and scarcely clothes. This one that everybody in Nigeria knows is our Bros.
Look, we have a few units left in this in in the shop. In fact, this is the last iPhone 16 that we have now. So if you want to buy this thing for your girlfriend's birthday. Bro, you have to pay for this thing now 'cause if you say you want to think about it and you go and come back, I cannot guarantee that by the time you come back, this iPhone 25 Pro Max will still be left. By the way, I don't know whether we're at iPhone 25 now.
So whatever iPhone it is. So that is the urgency close or the scarcity close. You're trying to get somebody to take action now. And this whole thing of few units, we do this in Nigeria a lot. So Bros, you like this car, this Toyota Corolla 2023 version, in fact you know that is the latest in town. You don't see it in Abuja roads at all. And if I go around check anybody in Abuja, you will see that I'm the only one that has this model.
This is 2025. I'm the only person that has 2023 model in Abuja. Go and ask you will see and you can see this my car, my car lot, I only have 3 left of these three that are remaining, two people are asking me for my bank account to drop deposit. So Bros, if you're serious about this Toyota Corolla 2023, you suppose at least drop deposit off like that kind 12 M Let me hold it for you if you're serious. See, that's the urgency of scarcity close.
You're getting somebody to take action now because you have few units left or you are low in stock on something or there's a promo and the promo is ending on XYZ date. So like for people in inverter and battery sales, you know, that's something that I've seen them do. So manufacturer is now giving us, manufacturer is giving us 25% discount for the month of Christmas. So instead of buying your battery now at 425 K, you know,
if you pay now, you'll be able to get it for 375 K, you know, something like that. So that is urgency and scarcity close. So in Niger, we do that a lot. So you can try that in your business. Helps to move the conversation along. Then there's the take away clothes. So, so 1 moment, OK, 22 minutes. OK, let me wrap up then. This is take away clothes. Now like I told the ladies, especially the one that likes to be very very direct.
I told that look be careful with this very direct ones because take away clothes can backfire. So take away clothes is basically it's where you try and take the option away. If the person is interesting, the person will say calm down. Now why you taking this thing to not finish talking? That's the take away clothes. But you think I'm backfire. So those are situations where somebody says something like it seems you're not really interested in XYZ and then you take the thing away from the counter, you start taking it back to the shop to go and put it up there.
If the person is interested, the person that I calm down, they know they price again, bring it now put this thing here. We haven't finished talking. That's take away clothes. By doing by trying to take it away, the person has now signified that no, they're still interested that they're still talking like we're still pricing. So you now know that OK, we're still, we're still on course, but the take away clothes can backfire.
If you say, oh, you're not really interested in blah, blah, blah, you start taking it away. Or you don't see anything, you start taking it away. Some people, they can't backfire as you take it away. The person can say, oh, OK, have a nice day. And then the person leaves and then that's it. You've lost your opportunity for a sale. Or the person cannot be insulted or slighted, like, what the hell? And yeah, they they also admitted that something has happened.
Like, what the hell? Who is this small girl? She thinks. I mean, I don't have money because of what? So these things can backfire. But take away clothes. Yeah, that's where you take away the option if the person is interested. They're the ones I would say. I know. Take why you taking it away now? And relax. Should be with the price, Like, calm down. Just leave the thing here. We're still, we're still talking. I'm still looking at it.
I'm still examining it. Like, wait, where you taking it to now? I want my wife to see it now. Just wait. My wife is in the car. When she comes, she'll look at it. So that's how the take away clothes works. And so be careful. So come back fire. So that's why I say it seems you're not really interested in blah, blah, blah, or you know, anyway, so that's it. Now the take away clothes then let me just stop here. So like I said, these things can go on and on and on and on and on and on and on.
It depends on whether you're in a simple sales scenario or a complex sales scenario. That depends. That will determine the kind of closing techniques that you will do. So which one should you do for the business? You know, it depends. I'd have to have a chat with you to know what's up. But for this particular context, for a physical store, for a location, physical location in Benin City where people are coming in to come and pick up stuff, any of these kinds of closing tactics or techniques would work well.
The more direct closes, in my own opinion, wait until you've built up small experience before you start doing this. Assumptive techniques, that's not a bad way to start because assumptive techniques are just very easy. Like for instance, that EBO close off. How many are you taking? You know, it's not how I put it. You can't risk insulting anybody. The most that can happen is that somebody will laugh and say how many in this economy we haven't finished oneself in asking me how many.
And you guys laugh it off and then you build some rapport. It's always good, you know, when somebody laughs and smiles and then you guys continue the conversation. That's always good. So assumptive techniques, not bad, easy to start. In fact, for me, that's like my my own default anyway. So let me see what else? What else, What else? OK, I've already made podcast episodes about what a simple sales scenario is, what a complex sales scenario is.
So if you want to learn some more about that and how it determines what kind of closing that you do, all you have to do is go to YouTube and just search Tavishima podcast simple sale, Tavishima podcast complex sale or all I see or maybe Tavishima podcast closing techniques, you know, so any podcast episode that I've made around those particular issues and on YouTube, we have over 1100 and something episodes available now.
So yeah, that's it. So Oh yes, one last thing I forgot to mention, please don't be like our people that just keep researching, researching, researching forever when it comes to closing techniques. These are things that the theory will never stop. There will always be new techniques or new adaptations on old techniques. So what you do is you go and you research small. From the ones that you research, you will hear some things that make sense to you.
The ones that make sense to you, select like two or three. Start practicing those two or three. That's the way forward. Don't keep learning endlessly. Go and do small. Research the ones that make sense. Write them down. The two or three that you think fit your personality, fit your style, fit your flow, you know, fit your cultural context, fit your business context. Just start implementing those two or three. Over time, you get a sense of your closing style, what works best for you, what works best for your customer base.
So don't keep learning these things in perpetuity. Don't just don't be a learner for learning sake. So that's all folks. Remember, if you have any sales and marketing questions, bring them to me. You can call, you can SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you, dear listener, at the at the next episode. And Please remember, let us pray for my fellow countrymen and women who are just trying to make an honest living like we are, but who unfortunately have significant health challenges.
You know, we pray for good health for us all and for God's blessings upon the work of our hands so that we shall get good fruit in whatever it is that we've put our hands to. So I'll catch you guys in the next episode.