Unlocking True Sales Online: Need Analysis to Lasting Relationships

Hello and welcome to the show. Taking today's recording at my desk and the in laws at home. So I expect to hear some interruptions in the background. Now the goal of this show is free business education. So this is your first time of listening to the show. Don't be scared, you're in the right place and remember to share, promote and talk about the show so that your friends and family members in Nigeria and abroad can benefit from the questions that we tackle.

How can they do that just by subscribing Spotify, YouTube, Apple or any player of their choice. And if you in particular, dear listener, have any sales and marketing related questions, then bring them to me. Call, SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Now today on the show, we're going to look at whether your website can sell for you because I have been seeing some of those posts recently about how you know all these posts now they just give you the impression that shy if you set up a website and you follow one or two best practices, then you know that's it easy sales is going to come.

So I'm going to look at this question now kind of website sell for you. Can you delegate your selling responsibility to a website? Because that's practically what lots of you are trying to do. Set up the website, somebody pings you, send them to the website, the website will sell them on your product or service, Then they come back to you and the only question is what's your account number, how to transfer? So can a website do that?

I'm going to try and give it the most honest and fairest assessment that I can and I'm going to try and acknowledge both sides of the equation. Now because of that, this is going to be a 2 parter. So today I'm going to look at whether website can sell for you. And then tomorrow we're going to look at websites architecture that you can use to get more people to buy from you or you know, website architecture they can use to facilitate sales.

So I'm going to try and be fair, but let me start off by answering the question kind of websites sell for you and the answer is capital N&O. The answer is no, because selling is something that is active and not passive. So please perish the thought that there's some passive thing that you're going to do and put out into the world that is going to obviates or reduce the need for you to sell. That is not going to happen.

There are a couple of things that you can put out there that will increase know like and trust or that will help enhance business conversations. But the opportunity, Abbey, should I say the opportunity, the responsibility for selling is going to rest with you ultimately and it's going to rest with the conversation ultimately, whether the conversation is had over the phone or whether the conversation is going to be had over an e-mail or Adm or whatever.

But selling ultimately involves having some sort of a conversation. Now, yes, there are situations when people don't need to talk to anybody because they know exactly what they want and then they just go and they pay. When that happens, at least in the sales community, we do not consider that a sale. We just consider that you have taken an order, which is the reason why people who work at Auntie Anne, Joby's Kitchen or Tasty Fried Chicken, all these places, traditionally we don't consider those people to be sales people because they are there.

You just roll up and tell them give me fried rice, give me 3 chicken and give me two more money and they say OK, thank you. Would there be anything else? And they say thank you, Sir, the collection money, they give you your food. So traditionally we do not call back sales. We just call that order taking because somebody just showed up. He doesn't need to talk to anybody. He already knows that he wants 5 marmorie, 6 chicken, 1 Jalof rice, one fried rice, one big Coke, 1 medium Fanta, and 6

Scotch eggs. Just in case you're wondering if somebody can eat that. Yes, I can. I can eat all that. So if you took a note of that and I happen to be in your city and you and I are chilling and you want to test me, just try me order everything exactly as I've said and I'll finish it in your very presence. Yes, I like food. So we do not call that sales, we just call it order taking. So yes, there's something you can do to your website to facilitate order taking, which is exactly what happens on Amazon because some of you will say websites can sell, Amazon is selling.

No, Amazon is not selling. The website is hooked up. The architecture is tight. The web architecture and everything is hooked up to facilitate the taking of an order. There is no selling that is going on. So can you do some things to your website to facilitate the taking of an order? Yeah, sure you can do that, but the website is not going to sell for you. Some of you might say I'm splitting hairs, but anyway, no Allah, let's just move on with the question now.

The reason why I say selling is active and not passive is because selling involves need analysis, trying to figure out what it is that your customer wants or need. Sorry, one moment I have to attend to something. OK, sorry about that. I'm back. Like I said, the in laws are around so I just wanted to be sure that they didn't need me for anything. Where was I? So the things that are involved in selling. So First off need analysis because you need to figure out what's going on.

Who is this person? What is it that they need? Because it is only when you know what they need that you can get into problem solving mode and start making recommendations that have you thought of this, Have you thought of this? Have you tried this? What about trying this? If you do this on these terms and at this price, we can deliver you this value to solve this problem or to achieve this result. So selling involves need analysis involves problem solving because you're trying to figure out what it is that is going on.

Then you can make an adequate proposal or an appropriate proposal or a relevant proposal or a recommendation or a sales page or whatever it is that people call it. That is what goes into selling. Your website cannot do need analysis. Your website cannot do problem solving. Your website cannot make a relevant proposal. You can set up a website so that somebody who has already figured out all of these things on their own can go ahead and just place the order.

It does not mean that when the person places the order and they receive the product that they'll be happy with what they've gotten. Because those of us who have bought from Amazon a couple of times in the past, we all realise when we place an order, Amazon is far self Jumia. You place an order on Jumia, the thing arrives, and then you realize that this thing is not quite what I thought it was, and you're not feeling like an idiot because you already paid for the thing and it's now here in the house.

That has happened to me in the past. I needed to buy some sort of adapter or converter that would allow me to hook up my children's computer to the TV. Because for the kids, we bought a, what's it called, a Chromebook, an HP Chromebook. And then it doesn't connect through HDMI to the TV. So I needed to buy some sort of an adapter. I looked at something I thought was going to work. I placed the order, thing came here and what do you know?

I got the wrong thing called up. Was it Jumia, a big Conger? I can't remember. They put me in touch with the with the merchant. And as the merchant is concerned is like Bros, you don't buy them. So it's up to you. It's not as if The thing is broken. Is the thing broken? No. Is it the right thing with Bros as your problem? It's not my problem. So that's how that thing ended. Now you see why sales is valuable and you see why some of us say that sales is, Yeah,

already said, valuable value additive, because the salesperson would have started off that conversation by saying, oh, OK, I know how our Bros here, we have so, so and so. Oh, by the way, what do you want to do with it? OK, You want to connect your laptop to the TV and what kind of laptop and Chromebook? Ah Bros, I'm not sure. Chromebook, Chromebook, Chromebook. Anyway, I suppose consider this, think about this, think about that.

Maybe this one, maybe this one, maybe that one. I wish we tested. You see, these are the kinds of conversations that you would have if, let's say, you decided to go to Computer Village to go and talk to somebody before you buy that kind of cable. And in Abuja, we don't have Computer Village. Well, at the time I didn't know that we have computer village. So I'm in these Banux and then there's this place in Area 3, I think we call it like GSMGSM

village or something. So, but at the time I didn't know that that place existed. So you can see that there we have a true selling function. There's another human being who is there and who has an an incentive to try and figure out what is it that this person who is in front of me actually need? What are they trying to achieve? Can my product or my service help them fulfill that? Do I have the inventory to match this person's need?

Because especially for those of you who live in Lagos have gone to Computer Village, you know that those Computer Village boys, they're not just trying to collect your money now. They actually want you to be happy. So that next time you want to buy a new cable, next time you want to buy a new phone, next time you want to buy a new console, next time you want to buy a new computer, you come back and you go straight to their shop.

That is what sales is about. So please do not abrogate the responsibility of selling to your website, I beg of you. But anyway, tomorrow we're also going to look at the architecture that you can hook up on your website to make sure that your website can facilitate the taking of orders. But still, it would help and you'll be nice if you try and in search yourself somewhere and get involved in sales, because there's no point in people going on the website buying something,

discover that they don't need it and you're not a helpful resource after all, and then they forget about you. Let's not be. What's the expression, cobo Wise, narrow, foolish. You collect some small coins on the front end, but then you limit opportunities for raking in profits on the back end in future transactions anyway. So if you, or rather if I am insisting that websites don't sell, then essentially what does a website do?

So I've said that websites can facilitate the taking of orders or you can use websites to provide leads. That I think is the best way for you to use websites. Remember, I'm talking about small and medium scale enterprises now. I'm talking about people like you or me. I'm talking about people who are moving, moving a few hundreds of thousands if you millions, maybe maybe even up to 10s of millions. I'm not talking about large enterprises on the level of Amazon.

When you get to the level of Amazon Jumia Conga, yes, it's a different ball game altogether. But until we get to that level, what we should be using our website to do is to collect leads. Now, a lead is simply a person that has done something, taken some action, done something, gone somewhere, done something to show that they might be interested in your product or your service. They have given some kind of signal, they have shown some kind of interest.

They have given a sign that there might be some problem or that they have some kind of a vision that your product or service can solve. That is the best way to use the website so that when these people give the signal, give the sign and you're able to have a conversation with them. How will I put it anyway, when they indicate and then you're able to now have a conversation with them. There should be, there could be profitable opportunities for closing a deal.

But remember that in sales, traditionally we're not concerned about the 1st order. We're trying to see how we can get a repeat customer and how to get some repeat business and referrals. Which is the reason why I think the best way to use your website is to generate leads, have profitable conversations with, do relationship building and nurturing good customer service processes so that the person comes back tomorrow, next month,

next year, and eventually they bring their friends, their family members and their associates. So please, if you have a website and everything is set up nicely, somebody buys on it. Can you say that a sale has been done? No, the sale has not been done. What happens is just that the person has made a purchase and purchases are not very convenient avenues for building customer loyalty, which is why I'm saying we need to insert the selling function somewhere.

So they have made a purchase. The reason why they have made the purchase is because the website architecture has been set up correct and so the website has been instrumental to getting people to place an order. Another reason why I say this shouldn't be the distinguishing part of your business is because when it comes to website architecture, The thing is somebody can out architecture you tomorrow, somebody can out, you know, raise more finances and build a mortgage bound website over you.

So if the website is the key distinguishing factor, then your competition can come and they can't overtake you. Of course, some of you who say people like Amazon are really, really entrenched and Jumia and Conga, yeah, they really are. So in order to out compete them, you'd have to raise lots of money anyway. The journey will be hard, but we're not at that level yet. So at this level, at the SME level, if your website, if the gish boundary of your website is the compelling thing, somebody can automotive you in the future.

So selling involves actual relationships. These relationships are what create a competitive Moat. Competitive mode just means what do you have in your business that stops your competition from coming in and stealing your customers. At the SME level, it is these relationships that we have that form a competitive mode amongst other things of course. So the challenge for the SME, for the self-employed person, for the sole proprietor.

You have a small team, you know, 5 people selling for you, maybe 10 people selling for you. We should be using your sales process the way that you sell to be a distinguishing factor for the business because selling involves actual relationships and that is what is going to distinguish your business from the competition because at some point, everything is kind of like a commodity. Anyway, let me stop here since I said we're going to look at website architecture tomorrow,

let me just treat that tomorrow instead of going on. And then next thing this becomes a 45 minute episode. So tomorrow we're going to look at the things that you can put on your website that will make it easy for people to make a purchase. So I hope I've been fair with my treatment. Treatment of the question, can the website solve for you? No, you're responsible for the selling. You should in fact insert a human element at some point to facilitate the actual selling because we're trying to make sure that people buy and they're happy and that they come back.

However, if you do do, if you do not give a hoot about selling and you just want to set up the website so that the websites makes it easy for people to just make a purchase and be gone, no problem. We'll deal with all that tomorrow and we'll try and figure out the factors that you need to have on your website to get people to do precisely that. So that's all for today folks. Remember, if you have any sales and marketing questions, then bring them to me.

You can call, you can SMS or WhatsApp on 08064662140. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you, dear listener, at the next episode.