Your Secret Weapon: Becoming the Trusted Resource in a Price-Sensitive Market

Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishima Ayede. I solve sales and marketing challenges and I'm making today's recording from my living room. And it's a rainy day here in Abuja, so expect to hear some noise in the background. Now, the goal of this podcast is not to educate you guys on Abuja weather. The goal of this podcast is business education. So please spread the word so that 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'd love to connect with me, you can call, you can SMS or you can WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Today on the podcast, we're going to tackle a question that I suspect is on the mind of most of you, especially those of you who have businesses that are already running, not people who are thinking of getting into business, but you know, you've been running a business and things seem to be going OK

until, you know, like around that kind last election, fuel subsidy removal, you know, all of that. So today a question for you guys. And the question is how do I sell effectively in a market with low purchasing power or fluctuating economic conditions? So let me repeat, how do you sell effectively if you've been in business for a while and now that people have low purchasing power because you know that there's hyperinflation in Niger and you know, today the economy is like this.

The economy is like that, dollar is like this dollar is like that. And trust me, it's a real thing because, you know, I've been consulting for different kinds of clients, you know, people who sell services, people who sell products. So it actually is a thing that when dollar goes from like this to like this, you start wondering, hey, oh, we sell now before we're selling at, you know, 950K and people are complaining now with this dollar shift, we have to be selling at this, this, this how we're going to do this thing.

So these are questions that people ask themselves all the time. And if you're not there yet, don't worry. This is one of the exciting things that we have to look forward to in business. And you know, nothing in life is easy. That's just how that's just how it is. So, you know, people in business, they're worried inflation is going on. How do we address this? Currency devaluation is going on. What does currency devaluation means?

I don't even understand what The thing is here. Are we are we going to address this? How is this going to impact our pricing? How is this going to impact our sales strategy? Those are some of the questions that we are going to look at today. Now, First off, let's look at what everybody's doing so we can figure out what to do or what not to do. Please, we should be learning from other people's experiences. I'm not one of these people who believes.

Let me go ahead and make my own mistake. And I've noticed that some young people will say, let me make my own mistake, usually when it has to do with, you know, relationship and sexual stuff. And in my mind, I'm thinking, you know, you are an idiot. If there's any other aspect in any other aspect of your life, you will say, let me make my mistake. You will say, oh, because cousin, you know, what you've said is true, is true, is true.

Let me avoid this thing when I, when it comes to relationship. Oh, no, let me make my own mistakes and my mind, I'm like, you're a bugger. You're an idiot, you know, learn from people's experiences regardless. Anyway, that's just a side note. So what are other people doing now? Now we know that people have been lowering prices left, right and centre or people have been discounting. That's the typical response whenever things become hard.

People lower prices and people discount because after all, they say Nigerians are price conscious, Abby. But I mean, think of it, is there any society where people are not price conscious? I really wish people would stop throwing around this whole Nigerian price sensitive thing all over the place. If you go to India, they're not price conscious. Or if you go to Ghana, they're not price conscious. Or if you go to America, they're not price conscious.

Or Canada or the Uki beg, let's stop throwing up all kinds of things that are neither here nor there. There is no, the only difference is just that in some places like, you know, India, Nigeria, Egypt, you know, in places like that, you know, Malaysia, pricing is just the culture. So people want to haggle you, you know, die. That's that's the only thing I can give. But when it comes to price sensitivity, price sensitivity is a universal thing.

And for those of us who studied economics, you know, in secondary school, you know, secondary school, you know, it's, it's a universal, what do they call it? Price elasticity. I think we studied on that price elasticity. You come up with models for when you change the price to this, how does demand shrink or how does demand expand? So this one is just reality of life. So or basically people lower prices and then people start discounting.

Then there's some people who reduce quality, and then there are other people who reduce quantity. You know, there's a difference and I'll explain between reducing quality and then reducing quantity. But let's start with the easy one. Now reducing quality. Now quality, how will I put it? Quality is when you start to remove some of the good stuff so they can save prices. Generally, that is a bad idea. So you'll be wondering what do you mean by that?

OK, let's take a trip down memory lane. During the military era, as things started to go really, really bad, you know, the economy was really, really tanking. It is well known and well documented even in the press that what was this thing called? Is this Zakarin? I think it's Zakarin. I think they used to make bread. So in Nigeria. Now, I don't know much about baking, but for those of you who know about baking, you'll be able to vouch that what I'm saying is true.

So was well documented in the press and well noted by professionals in the catering space that instead of using all these kinds of, you know, good, good ingredients to bake bread, what was happening was that bread bakers were going up and up and introducing more of saccharine and other stuff into baking is even saccharine. Let me not mislead you guys here. Anyway, there are some kinds of stuff, any basically that people are using as substitutes and additives to baking.

And then, you know, later on it turned out that oh, this thing that people have been using as additives or substitutes in baking actually have carcinogenic properties. Like it turns out that they could have cancer. So basically there was a time when in Nigeria eating a giggy bread, you know, a giggy bread. That's the one that these children go about in Lagos with trays on their head, you know, shouting, I get Gabe ready, I

get Gabe ready. I'll be how do they say it? I can't remember. It's been a while. So there's a time when eating that kind of bread was fine. You see them passing, you buy the bread, you make your camel, you make your cost that you live a good life. Or you see them passing, you take the bread, you walk down the street to buy some a car. You live a good life, you enjoy yourself. But then because of all these things that people started adding into it because of tough economic conditions, you know,

people just stop buying. I gave you bread. Like if you could avoid it, like in my own house, you know, we could avoid it. So it was a matter of look, you know what, no more I gave you bread. Go and buy proper bread. So it's something that has happened before and it's something that will continue to happen that whenever times get bad, the economy is hard, Some people will say, you know, ordinarily I'm supposed to put three cup 3 spoons of this, 4

spoons of that. You know, they sort of put in three spoons of, of this, let me reduce it, let me put 2 1/2. So, you know, like that, like that, like that, that's how the quality is going down. And even a car at some point, you know, I heard that some people was do I know using full beans to make their car that or using something else. But anyway, I can't remember. And then plus this, this was a long time ago, you know, back when I was an embryo.

So but it's just, I'm just using that as an example to let you guys know that this is not theory. This is what happens. It has happened in the past. It is happening now that people are reducing quality and it will happen in the future. Speaking of quality, this particular brand of toilet paper that my mom likes to use, I've never liked it because they're only expensive and I won't say the brand's name. So I was bought their market.

But mum see people who used to like to use the brand, you know, when all these things started, fuel subsidy, everything, you know, they started complaining that I can't believe that my favorite brand, that this is what they're doing, that they started cutting down on quality. I'd be easy fake that we're buying or what is it that is going on. But anyway, these things happen when things get bad, there's some people who reduce quality.

Now, should we reduce quality? I'll leave that up to those of you who I'll leave it up to people in management to decide. But from the level of sales, now, if they call you and they say, OK, salesperson, we're planning on reducing quality, why should you answer them? From the perspective of sales, reducing quality is always a bad idea because it works against something that we call customer retention and it erodes trust.

Now this is what happens when you reduce the quality of something. It gives a bad user experience. Now when people have a bad user experience, they don't hang around for too long. That is what customer retention means. Because in sales, we're trying to make sure that when we acquire a new customer today, we want them to actually be our customer for a while because it actually makes our job a whole lot easier. If you're a salesperson and every single week you have to go out and look for new people,

look for new people to meet your quota. That kind of life is hard, but if you have a few people who are your customers, you know they come in once in a while, the call once in a while, you know, it makes your life easy. It reduces the amount of stress on your head. So reducing quality actually is going to put serious stress on the sales team. So from a sales perspective, reducing quality a bad idea. People who have a bad experience, once they have a bad experience, they will move.

Once you're a root trust they will move. And the whole point of sales actually is customer retention. Get somebody and then we'll keep them as our customer for a while, at least for, you know, 2-3 years, 567 years before they move on, at least while they're still our customers. You know, life will be easy, small. So that's the whole point of sales, customer retention and then maximizing lifetime customer value. So that's why I keep saying on the podcast, and I want you newbies to understand that it's not about closing the sale, it's about opening a relationship.

You can be going to be closing sale everywhere. That's not a problem. It's OK, it's good. What do you think about that? Opening a relationship, that one is more profitable because if you open a relationship, the person is around for a while, Money is exchanging hands, you're getting referrals, people are becoming buddies, you are becoming cool like that. No one is the one that pays more. So for sales, the game is always customer retention and then maximizing customer lifetime value.

That's the amount of money that the customer will spend with you over a certain period of time. Anything that messes with customer retention, anything at all, it's not good for you as a salesperson. So if your guy is thinking of, let's say before they used to put 3 spoons of milk, 4 cups of sugar and two cups of honey and it's OK because things are bad, let us reduce it to one spoon of honey and two spoons of sugar. And you know, if they're calling to the meeting, I know if you give this advice or say a shot of what, what do you know about production?

You know, but at least if that's their advice, you know, tell them that. Look, OK, anything that's going to mess with customer retention or that's going to erode trust is not a good idea. So reducing quality, bad idea. If you listen to this podcast, I do not expect that you will reduce quality when things get tough. Now let's look at reducing quantity. Now this thing of reducing quantity, sometimes it's just a matter of, you know, how far do as far inflation has come,

things are hard, but we will not reduce quality. So what some people do now for those of us who like milk, you know, I don't have a choice because well, apart from the fact that I like milk, you know, milk for my custard and you know, milk for tea as I like milk. As in if if I was good, I would actually just wake up and have milk for breakfast. Just pour milk in the cup, maybe like 8 spoons. Then like pour hot water, pour like like four or five spoons of sugar.

Just mix everything. Then take like 12 slices of bread and then just put butter and jam and then just eat the whole thing. And that's, that's my breakfast, but that's if times are good, but times are not good. So I'm not eating like that now. And some of you will say, glory be to God, that means I'm going to live longer. But anyway, so for those who also have to buy milk now because rather like milk or because they have small children in the house, you will have noticed that for peak milk 3

crowns and all these people, you notice that the price is still the same. The price has not changed. What has now changed is that before the package used to be 420 grams. One day you now notice this thing is looking small. You now check, you now see that, oh, it's now 370 grams. So those are some of the moves that these people have been playing on us. You know, those of us who have children, these are some of the moves we've been seeing biscuit before that used to be, you know, 400.

Now The thing is still 400 now, but instead of the thing being you know, 13 milligrams or whatever, I think it's now 25 milligrams. So they didn't want to increase the price. So you will say that's also also increased price. So what it is they left the price the same. They now just drop the quantity small, which is the same thing as a price increase in my own opinion. But yeah, some people play that game and I understand it doesn't matter of how far do this thing has happened if we increased price while.

So let us find other ways to cope then, OK? Now how does this affect retail performance? Is it good? Is it bad? To be honest, I have no idea because I am not a retail specialist and my area of speciality is not in fast moving consumer goods, you know, like biscuits, sugar, spaghetti and all these sorts of things. And then I'm not an economist, so I don't know if it's good or bad, you know, for a business, how it affects sales, how it affects trust, you know, all these sorts of things.

So should we be doing that? I have no idea. Just make sure you talk to a specialist, get the best advice before you pull that trigger when it comes to reducing quantity. Remember quantity. So reducing quality, No, never do that. Reducing quantity, I don't know. Speak to a specialist. I am not a specialist, but you know, we're looking at what people do. And yes, there are people who definitely do that. Now lowering prices.

This is one that everybody defaults to the lower prices. And well, I'm not in charge of your business, so I won't tell you as a, as a standard rule that don't really don't reduce prices. But I will mention a few things. Don't forget that is this funny kind of consumer, I'll be customer behaviour. And this one also is universal, whether it is UK or whether it is Niger or America or Malaysia or Mogadishu or you know, whatever, this one is universal.

It gets to a certain extent that some people start asking themselves if this thing is good, why is the price so cheap? This is something we should avoid or playing this price cutting game because eventually we'll enter that space that people will now start using price as an indicator of value. You think I'm joking? Think about it. You're listening to this podcast, you're chilling in your house, right? Or you're chilling in your office.

Look at the brand of AC that people are using in the office, the Orca bought for the office. There's some kind of brands, you know, Panasonic, what again, Panasonic, LG, you know, there's some kind of brands and we know that they span different prices. And you know, you know for sure that when Mumsy and Popsy were pricing that AC, but when your guy was pricing the AC and or not, if you listen carefully, you would have heard that even though there are brands that cost cheaper, let's say your boss bought Panasonic in the office.

Definitely there are other brands that costs cheaper. Some brands from Asian countries, for instance, they cost a lot cheaper. But at some point you all get hard to say, you know what we want to spend, We want to save money on the AC. It doesn't mean let's go and buy something now. Don't not give us headache in the future. That's why Orga said, you know what, just give me that Panasonic, you know, do a cheaper things.

So we have these things going on and we don't to play this price cutting game. And then we'll now enter some kind of bands where people will now use look at your, your product or your service and I'll classify you as one of those. You know, like in the event space here in Abuja, there used to be a place in area 8 or area 10 UTC, but the place has been bulldozed now because I want to put shops there and rent out proper shops.

But there used to be photographers there, for instance, who if you go there and you are looking at that time, if you're looking for a photographer for maybe like 30 KAD, 20 or 30 KAD, you want to come and take picture for your children's party. Yeah, you are photographers there. 20K, they will agree, but they will only give you soft copy and maybe they won't edit it. But then if you wanted 20K30K, you will find. So now you on the other hand,

you're trying to build your photography practice. You're finding it difficult to secure clients and then you start dropping the price. By the time you're dropping your price to maybe like 40K for a soft copy, people might not start looking at you with the same eye that they're looking at UTC people. They'll say it's one that this guy is charging 40K30K dose I look at you all time. So be careful because it's universal.

After a while people start looking at price as an indicator of value. This guy is charging 1,000,000, therefore he's approved. This guy is charging 500K, therefore they're all right. This one is charging 100K therefore it must be of poor quality. I don't have one M for that top guy, so let me just be looking for somebody within that 504 hundred So yes, customers play those games. I don't think you should because it's not your favor.

Another reason why it's not your favorite because these customers, I can say this from experience and I'm telling you for free, these people that like going around buying cheap things, those are the worst. They will demand heaven and and earth from you. When you're thinking about it now, I kind of understand somebody who doesn't have much only has cobble cobble, and he's trying to manage that cobble for the person. Even though your eye the money is small for them, it's probably the biggest money they've ever spent in their life.

So they want to make sure that they get the utmost, most maximum return on that expense possible. So cheap customers, honestly, they are a pain in the neck. And if not for the fact that once in a while like you're broke, like you're dead broke. You just need some quick cash even not for situations like that. Honestly, I think sometimes let's, let's just let's just leave those people. They can be somebody else's headache, but they should not be your own headache.

So these low pride customers, man, they can be hell or can be hell, but it's a good hell to experience. Because if I'm telling you, you've never experienced it, you understand. But by the time you leave it 345 times, you know, now you will know and it will help you run your business better. So you're trying to attract certain clients of clientele that are not part of that cheap, you know, low price level. Then another reason why lowering price is not a good thing is because this is a common saying in sales.

You say customers who buy own price, we leave you own price. The person bought your product, your service, because you are the cheapest and people have been managing to maintain some small relationship. Next month, if somebody comes out and the person is cheaper and it looks as if people are the same, they will move straight, no notification. They will just move and then they'll stop answering your phone calls. You think, well, we're friends now, like what happened?

So customers who buy on price, they will leave you on price. And it's confirmed there's no customer loyalty there. There's no customer retention there. You can't keep them. Once somebody drops the price, they're gone. Customer attrition is high. Attrition just means something that happens that causes customers to bounce, causes them to leave you. It is high. So because all these reasons that I think lowering prices not a good idea.

But between you and me, I won't say this from stage, but between you and me, I understand how, you know, like things are off. You just close eye and then, you know, you just collect one of those things because like you need some quick cash. You know, funny enough is when we were in law school, one of my professors, you know, he, he told us during the class, he said, look, I'm not telling any of you to go and do charge on bill.

So charge on bill used to be this thing back in the day. I don't know if they still do it now when people like you're broke. So you just go to the court or you go to the Magistrate Court, for instance, and you see people who show up because they don't have a lawyer or they thought maybe they could handle it themselves. And by the time they enter inside the court and they're overwhelmed, they're now thinking, oh, like, they need a lawyer.

And then some people will just go and say, oh, you know what? I can represent you. I'll go inside the court now. I'll be your lawyer. And what you do is you just pay me. Thank you. Now, in legal circles, that is regarded as very disreputable behavior because we're supposed to be lawyers, are supposed to be professionals. How you going to be standing outside the court and then start hugging yourself? Like as in is it prostitution?

Like no, no, no, no, no. Like conduct yourself was on decorum. So charge on bail was seriously frowned upon. Seriously frowned upon because some people will do that. You know, police come, they're harassing you. They're going to put you before court. You don't have a lawyer. You just say you know what? You go and talk to the person's relatives, you know, or you don't have lawyer. No problem. I'm here. You guys just give me 5K, you know, give me 10K.

I'll standing for you today and I'll do my best. So a professor he admitted to also that in his days sometimes when things were rough, he will go and do charge and bail. That was one day he was able to get as much as I think he said 80K or 90K like that. He just went to the court, you know, OK, I'll represent you. I'll represent you, you know, 1010K55K that's I was able to raise like 90 grand and then that's all this problem.

But he admitted that he did it once and he only did it for one day only. He admits that he felt like crap and that he felt useless and that he felt cheap but he was able to solve his problem. So I understand those times come where we just close that and do this in shop shop I hope for the best. But generally lowering prices no recommended then discounting. As far as I'm concerned, discounting and lowering prices, in my own opinion, they're the same.

It's just that, you know, discounting sometimes is temporary. I drop it now to get you in, but then it causes all kinds of problems because, you know, I dropped the price to get you in. Now that you're in, I want to raise it back to that normal. What The normal price causes some tension. And then of course, customers who buy on price live on price. So we discounted to get them. They are now in. You want to raise it back to normal price.

There's another person who is matching the price that was your discount offer. Then they now leave. You know these things happen. So generally I'll say discounting is not a good idea to entice the sale. However, there are times when discounting is good. OK, let me put it this way. If you want to discount as a default to close the sale, then. So let me check the time August after one. I have to get moving soon. Now if you want to discount to get the sale, as a general rule that is bad.

But if you have sat down and you have consciously thought of a discount strategy, then typically it can make sense. Now, this is one of those examples. And the very first time I heard it, I was like, that has happened to me before and that is why I'll never forget it. So people discount, especially in the UK and in the US because they're using it as an incentive to bring people into the shop because they have full inventory that they want to move.

But the inventory that they're going to move now, they will now move it at full price or at marked up price. Let me say it again and let me slow down so that you guys get it. For those of you who didn't get it in America and in the UK, when they advertise 80% off, 20% or 50% off is because they want people to rush inside the store. Now, when people are inside the store, they now have other items in the store that have been sitting there for a long time and they want to move that product, but they will sell that one at full price.

Then there's some other things that they will now sell and then now mark up the price. So in other words, even though they discounted 80%, twenty percent, 50% on some items, they will make it up on the other ones that they sell at full price or that they sell at marked up price at increased prices. So you can see that in the UK and in the US is a strategy and people have started using it to in certain industries here in Nigeria.

So if it is a part of a deliberate strategy to move inventory like that, then yeah, discounting is a good idea. Like I said, I have fallen for it before because there's one time I had finished from work and I was going to anyway. Let me just leave it like that. Let me not say too much. So I finished from work now and I was just strolling around in Marks and Spencer's and then I saw Brazilian underwear, female underwear discounted price and I

looked at it now I calculated that based on the money that I had in my wallet I could buy like 5 or 6 and my wife would be very happy so and I told her no this thing is going on so no problem let's check it out. So we went there. Remember they say that the Brazilian underwear was discounted at a certain amount. I can't remember. So I now calculated in my brain that with the money I have on hand, I can buy like 5 or 6.

If I buy 6 for my wife should be happy. That's back when we were based in the UK. So went on this high Marks and Spencer and then my wife was really impressed because I've been telling her since that you know what, you have a banging body. You know, based on what I'm seeing, you shouldn't be wearing this style of underwear, should be wearing Brazilian. Now Brazilian will suit you. Well, she wasn't convinced when we enter and she saw it, she could see, she could see the vision.

And so she was excited and we ended up carrying the six and I was like, yeah, yes, yes, yes. I spoke my baby. I was feeling very happy. Then by the time we got to the counter, the rubbish sales girl that was there, as she was packaging it, she now looked to my wife and say, oh, you do know that we have matching, matching braze Brazil for it. In my mind I was thinking what the hell because to be honest I told you that based on the money that was in my hand I already calculated that based on what I'm holding I can buy like 5 or 6 when I bought 6 I'm ready at the limit these useless sales girl.

Now say that this matching breezy. I thought my wife was like really? They said yes. Now on the 1st floor come let me show you. That's how we started going. Then my heart started beating big big big big big. I said oh what have I entered into? Went upstairs. Now my wife was impressed when she saw the Brazilian underwear. When we went upstairs and my wife saw the matching Breezy, my wife just lost her mind. That is how we started doing fitting, checking different ones to match the colour.

I was trying to argue small like what's the point now like you already have Breezy at home like what's the problem? Wife said no it has to match as it has to match. How she say has to match. I say nobody's seen this thing now like it's under your garment. She said no, that me, I'm seeing if it has to match, I say, hey, wahala. So I was sitting down there now and then they were doing Brazil fitting and oh, that's one of the things that my wife loves about the UK by the way, because they're very, very attentive.

If you want to go and buy clothes in the UK, very attentive. You go there to the changing room, they come and meet you. They bring it different sizes. In fact, if you're a High Roller, somebody that likes to spend money, they won't bring you some tea and some biscuits and you know, as a real fancy treatment, correct treatment. So after doing that, now we're able to find the matching Brizzy for all of them. And I was in a bind.

That's OK. What I'll do is I'll pay cash for the undies, then for the Brizzy, I'll put it on the card. So that's how I was able to escape that situation. But you see what they did, They advertised Brazilian on these at Social Sound. So discount so that foolish young men like me will say, ah, I can buy something for my wife. I was saving or doing discount. And then the scope is by the time anybody gets to the counter, if Madame is there, you will now point out to Madame that oh we have matching.

Breezy is on the 1st floor. You now have to take them past ground floor where the discount was. You go into first floor where everything is full price. Some things have been marked up and of course you know, you females listening, you know, there is not only the breezy. We ended up buying because we're on the 1st floor and there's some other nice stuff there. So we ended up buying some nice things as well. So my wallet was not smiling at the end of the day, but my wife was very happy.

So anyway, mission accomplished because she was happy even though my wallet was not smiling. So you can see that Marks and Spencer's next. All these other people, by the way, I hear that Marks and Spencer's are shut down. I don't know if that's the case because, you know, I don't keep in touch with fashion and all that. But if it's true, let me know. So that is the deliberate strategy that these businesses are using. We have inventory, we have Brazil, we haven't sold.

We have winter clothes, we have this clothes, we have that that we haven't sold. So what we'll do is we'll declare sales and put everything on ground floor. People will rush once they are now inside, we can now show them other things that they will buy at correct price or mark top prices and then we will make the balance. In Nigeria, they have started doing it now to back to school retailers. That's for those of us who have children.

The shop might declare 50% off for sandals now. One has happened to me as well. And so we're rushing there because of 50% for sandals. And then we will go and pack a bunch of sandals. But then my wife will notice that, oh, these school bags look nice. And then I'll say the school bags that we have at home, they're OK, there's no problem. Now what is it? They'll say, look, what's the children are starting the new year.

How can they start a new year with the old school bag? But I'm like, there's no problem with the old bag. No, we have to get new school bags. And then of course, new school bag is how much full price from there you will see water bottle. From there you will see toys from there you will see this, you will see that. So Nigerian retailers, they have started catching up to this thing. Back to school retailers specifically, I've noticed.

So I've decided that the next time they say 50% off on school sandals, I've decided I will go there myself. I'll just tell my wife, select the ones you want. I'll go there and buy it because if I go with her, I know to be a disaster, we will go there. The sandals will be half price, but then the bag will be full price, the water bottle will be full price, everything else will be full price and they will end up spending more than we have planned.

So this is when discounting is good, you're using it as a deliberate strategy to move inventory. If this is not part of your strategy, discounting is bad and you're opening yourself up to all those other issues that we mentioned when we're talking about reducing your price. So now as a salesperson, what is the only option? The reason why I say as a salesperson is because for management, management can decide to do whatever they want.

You can tell management this is a bad idea, but they can say I don't care, let's reduce quality. So it's not really in your hand. But let's say you're the owner of the business and you want to make this decision from a sales and business development perspective. What's your only option? The only option is to make yourself the distinguishing factor. People should buy the product or the service because it is you who is selling it.

Hope you guys are paying attention. Make yourself the distinguishing factor because that's the only thing that will be constant whether the economy is good or the economy is bad. So you have to be the distinguishing factor. I mean, think about it. Take for instance, those of you listening to this podcast, there's some of you who listen to this. We've ended up doing business a couple of times. You trust me, I am now the distinguishing factor.

You're not with me because of the price. So even if you come across another consultant who is cheaper, there's some of you who will still stick with me because I have become the distinguishing factor. It's the same for your businesses. You have to become the distinguishing factor. People have to buy from you because it is you, because you are that correct guy or you are that correct babe. So excuse me, You have to become their guy or their babe.

You have to become a trusted resource. And that's the whole point of this podcast. Over 1000 episodes and I keep talking about these things. Have a sales process. Figure out a way to gain people's trust, become an advocate, anticipate people's problems, help solve customer problems, become a valuable asset to people so that when things are up or when things are down, it will still be you. Me personally, I'm going through it right now.

Things are tight. Need to go and fix the engine seating on the car. So yes, there will be another, there will be another podcast episode where, you know, I'm, I'm at the mechanic shop. For those of you who like that episode, I want to be back there soon, you know, but me and this guy, we've had a relationship and I've seen that he's the only one that has solved my problem. Other mechanics, you go there, you want to fix my problem.

Another complication issues. Now this mechanic is expensive because the guy went to school. And mechanics that went to school, they're very expensive, you know. But what can I say? He went to school, he knows his work, so he can tell you, he can diagnose. This is the problem. If we fix this, that's the end. And that's why I like working with him. It's just that the guy is expensive anyway, what do you expect? If you go and meet a mechanic who went to school, who actually went to university, who went to go and read everything, What do you expect?

But anyway, at least with these kind of mechanics, the ones will go school one is 1. You won't go and fix this problem. And then tomorrow there now be another problem. So because he's my guy, because he's a useful resource, I decided that instead of me going somewhere and doing for cheap, let me just maintain. When I arrange the money, I'll call him. So I send him a message today, as in bro, I didn't forget to, I'll be with you soon.

Just remind me again how much it is so that before I come, I'll transfer. That is what you should be aiming for. What this mechanic, the mechanic will go school. What this mechanic is doing. That is what I'm saying you should do for your business as well. What I'm trying to do with the podcast and with the way that I do business with my customers, that is what you should be doing as well. People should buy because it is you and because of how you do business.

Apart from that, price sensitive people ignore them. I beg. They come and they go. I really don't think that was the hassle. Just ignore. So make yourself the distinguishing factor and then hold your course and wait because the market will rebound. This thing happens. It's up and down and up and down and up and down. So I told you guys about I get your bread saccharine and all of that. When I was still an embryo, that was a down.

And then guess what? The economy picked up. When the passenger came in, the economy was up. So just one of those things up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down. It's a cycle. That's how it happens. So right now, hyperinflation, economy down, but guess what? It's going to pick up. I don't know when, I don't know how, but it will. So wait for the rebound. That's just how economies are. Now, The thing is, if we end up like how Zimbabwe was in the 90s, OK, then in that case, let all of us Jack back.

It means that the country is going to crap. But outside of those kinds of scenarios of hyperinflation where like in Zimbabwe do our buying, you know, a loaf of bread for $1000, Excuse me, was it, I think was it dollars or so Zimbabwean dollars or something? But there's one time when do buying bread for like $1000 or something. So outside of those kinds of scenarios, the economy is going to improve. And if you keep on doing good business, you keep on doing good sales practice and people are buying because it's you, you will end up capturing market share.

Like think of this, my mechanic friend, for instance, while we go school, he's maintaining his business, He's not dropping the prices. In fact, he increases prices because let's be honest, you know, you must survive as the economy's hard for everybody's hard for him as well. So he increased his prices and he's staying there. When the economy rebounds, our things are good. People will remember that. This is the guy who knows what's up.

So there are lots of people who left because times are tough. They will come back when the economy rebounds, you'll find that you would have captured market share. So that's the scope. Make yourself the distinguishing factor, stay your course, keep your prices there as they are. In fact, some people will say, and I agree with them, raise your prices even if it is small. I think that's the best thing to do, quite honestly.

So before we leave, let's do one more case study. Since we've known mechanic, let's do one more case study. The last person that I chatted with was someone who has a business for writing CVS and he targets CV. You know as aspire curriculum Vt. You know, the paper that you need when you're going to get a job and he's targeting NYSE people. So now if you're in this kind of business, if you lower your price and you discount, you will attract troublesome customers that can never be satisfied.

And writing CV is hard work. You don't want to put in all that hard work. And then somebody start complaining me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. I mean, that's not that's, that's, that's a hard life. So if you're in that kind of business, please do not lower your price, do not discount, maintain your price or better yet, raise your price. In fact, the young man who reached out to me, after putting in all the work, he decided he was going to raise his price.

And I was very happy, at least I didn't have to have that conversation with him. He decided on his own that he has to raise the price and was very happy. So raise your price because you have to survive the way the times are hard for everybody, that's the way the time is hard for you as well. So raise your price and then prospect hard into other segments that are not as price sensitive. So if NYSE people are too price sensitive, then expand.

Look for all that customers who need CV writing services then to make yourself the distinguishing factor, you try and anticipate people's problems. You try and provide value in his own case. In fact, I was like this guy will go far. You really, really go far. Because I didn't have to tell him this, He was able to figure out that people who write their CVS normally, for some reason their LinkedIn is not optimized. So he has started advising some people that, look, it's not just about CV, you got to optimize your LinkedIn because people who are doing job recruitment these days will not only look at your CV, they'll go and check your social media and it's somehow if you're LinkedIn especially is not up to par.

So he has started offering that as an extra service. He's anticipating problems that people are going to have and he's providing value. I wrote, I write your CV, I optimize your social media handles, optimize your LinkedIn. Therefore, some other people, he's now thinking of doing some interview coaching. When you're going for interview, this is how you prepare. These are the questions that they may ask, you know, blah,

blah, blah. You can figure out some of these things out, especially now, which are GPT. You can come with a list of questions and role play with the person. So interview coaching that you know that is 1. So instead of somebody like in this kind of business dropping your prices and discounting and getting customers that will never be satisfied, stay the course or raise your prices, offer other valuable services like optimizing people's LinkedIn handles and maybe doing interview coaching.

You're doing good business. People are remaining with you. They will refer you when the economy improves. You will be set apart from other people who are competition in your space because you've been doing business differently and you will not be getting referrals from quality customers, the people who stuck with you while things are OK. It's like this. My mechanic now, honestly speaking, I can't refer him to anybody else because you know,

he's on the high side. Whenever things improve and the money is flowing and or whatnot. If any of my guys asked me, look, do you know any mechanic who one is one that we did touch my car one time will solve the problem. Of course, confidently I'll be able to here. You can try, you can try movie, but you know, movies a bit expensive, but you know try him. He's my guy. All right, so it's almost an hour. So that's it. And that is all on the question.

Remember, if you'd love to connect with me then call SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Thank you for your time and attention. I'll catch you next time. Same place in your headphones or in your speakers.