Don't Guess What They Want: How Making Assumptions Kills Your Sales

There are lots of Nigerian business people or lots of Nigerian salespeople who sell on behalf of an employer who are making mistakes in their sales process because they are making assumptions about buyer intent. To put it another way, the reason why some of you aren't growing in your business or the reason why some of you are not growing in your career is because you're making too many assumptions around who the customer is about what the customer wants and about whether the customer is going to buy.

Now, because you're making some of these assumptions, you are not having a full and proper sales conversation. You're not having a proper sales process and you are contracting the conversation. And there is no way that you're going to make money or there's no way that you're going to start making proper sales if you are contracting the sales process. That's the reason why those of you whose philosophies look Auger, you did buy, I mean, you won't buy Abby, you know, I'm back.

That's the reason why you guys are struggling. It's because your process is contracted. You don't have a process of figuring out who the OR guy is. You don't have a process of figuring out what or guy wants. You don't have a process of figuring out what or guy wants to use it for on what terms he wants to buy when he needs the thing. By lots of things, you're cutting the process short. Your own attitude is if they're serious, they'll buy.

And so because of that, Madame comes into the shop and then you look at my down script in the face and they say, Madame, you they buy Abu No, I buy. That's the reason why you're struggling. Now before we get into the meat of the episode, if you'd love to connect with me, you can call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. If you're interested in having a 15 minute sales audit or a business audit, you can WhatsApp me on the same number 08064662140.

Or if you'd like to join my WhatsApp channel, send me a message on the same number and I'll hook you up. Now, speaking about the 15 minute sale audit, I just finished having one of those conversations now, although to be honest, it ran into 30 minutes in this guy's case. And the fellow's name is Hezekiah. He has the most, one of the most interesting names I've come across so far since I started the podcast is Hezekiah, and the surname is 100.

Yeah, you heard me correctly, Hezekiah 100. Anyway, he used to be on reality TV and he used to be on radio. He also used to have a podcast, but he's moved on and he now has a career with Nike. So it's one of those boys that is making good money because, you know, he's selling in, selling in dollars, collecting Commission in dollars. So again, we have the conversation now. Typically I limit these sale audits or business audits to 15

minutes. But to be honest, I was enjoying the conversation. And then apart from that, he is the first person I've spoken to who's doing international retail. So I wanted to, you know, feel the conversation out because that's not the part of the, the, the business sector in Niger that I have been exposed to directly. I mean, of course, if you forget all those other guys, you know, the ones that I spoke to, you know, the fellow, the two guys based in China who sell trucks back here in Nigeria, you know,

sell Sino trucks, whole walls, you know, trucks and you know all of that. You know, I don't want to classify that one as international because all I put is any get what I'm trying to say, it's not international retail. So I was enjoying the conversation. So we actually spoke for more like 30 minutes. Anyway, how did I get here? OK, so Hezekiah, Mr. 100 is tied directly into this whole thing. Because of the conversations I

was having with Mr. Hezekiah, it became clear that the thing that is limiting his career growth because remember, he's a professional salesperson selling on behalf of someone else. So the guide is sell for a company that is a distributor for Nike International. That's why Hezekiah is making good money. Good money, by the way, for those of you who are listening on the podcast and who thinks that jobs are scarce in Nigeria or that economic, you know,

opportunities for economic advancements are scarce in Nigeria. You see, this is also one of the reasons why I make the podcast when I'm talking concrete like this and I'm giving examples, Can you hear how other Nigerians are making money? You can see what's going on. You can see how things are moving. Imagine boys are collecting money and wearing Nike on top, stepping fresh looking fly. So just shine your eye. You know, it's possible there are people that are moving small, small, you can be moving as well.

That's also one of the reasons why I make the podcast. So back to Hezekiah. OK, so back to Hezekiah now and then the assumptions that are limiting his health growth. So he's employed by a distributor who's responsible for Niger and Africa, if I remember correctly. And of course, Nike International is their boss. So they have two physical locations, 1 location is in Ikecha City, Ikecha City Mall and that's the one in a Lausa.

I'm surprised know that it's still there because I remember when the thing opened like 20 something years ago, I mean then that was that was like the height, you know. So even if you don't have money, you just go to the car park, you just go and park there, you know, feeling like a big boy. You know, your mom sees car, you just, you know, just the flex. You just go and buy ice cream. You sit on your boots and, you know, be feeling like you're a big boy.

They go to scope Cheeks because you don't have liver to go and approach any of them. So I'm surprised to see that location is still open. And that is where they have their premium, I think. What did you guys say? Their premium store is Nikkeja City. So if you're in Nikkeja City Mall and you're passing through and then you see the Nike store, then yeah, that is where those are the people that Hezekiah sells on behalf of.

But Hezekiah, you're not going to find him in the store, all right, because he's responsible. He's responsible for online sales. So if you ever try buying through Nike and you can't find what it is you're looking for and they hook you up to someone, the person you're going to be talking to most likely is as a guy. So as a guy now, like most sales people, he wants his Commission to grow. He wants his career to grow. That's the whole point of listening to this podcast,

because you want to make more money. You know you have salary and you want or got to start giving you Commission or you have Commission and you want your Commission to grow. That's the whole beauty of being in sales, that the harder you work, the more money you earn. So let's say you work for one of these organizations. By the way, he didn't tell me how much he earns, but let's say you work for one of these organizations and maybe your salary basis maybe 20 M every year.

And then this year you make Commission only two or three million. You know, you can sit down reasoning that if only I had sold extra units of this extra needs of that, I could have been making Commission of, you know, 5M or Commission of 10 M or something. So if your base is 15-M20M, you can now support it again with Commission. If you're working hard, you can't be increasing and increasing your Commission. You can say that it's not bad.

It's not bad at all. And that precisely is a struggle for people who are, who sell on other people's behalf. So that's a struggle. We're trying to maximize that Commission. Now, I asked, I tried to get a sense of the, the funnel because whenever you're trying to up your, whenever you're trying to up your commissions, there are several levels that you can take. Now, typically what most people try to do is they try to increase lead generation.

They try to increase the number of people that they're talking to at the top of the funnel. So in other words, the rationale is something like this. Now let's say last year you spoke to like 200 people. Out of that 200 people, maybe you closed 500 deals and that 500 deals gave you X amounts billions. So for most people now, just trying to use a common sense perspective, what they will try and do is OK, if last year I spoke to 200 people, I closed 50

deals. From those 50 deals I made 200 M, they would, they would say, OK, this year, let me try and see how instead of talking to 200 people, let me say I can speak to 600 people. You know, the assumption is that if I speak to three times as many as many people, I'll make three times as much money. Now it's not always the case mathematically, but yes, there is some sort of progression that if I spoke to 200 people and I

made X amount of money, if I speak to 400 people, I'll make X amount of money higher. If I speak to 600 higher, 700 higher like that, like that. So that's the thing I looked at Legion, but unfortunately Legion is capped, is fixed because he's not in his hand, he's not in, he's not in his control because he's Nike that is in control of that. And it is Olga who is in control of that. So if Olga and Nike decide that they want to advertise plenty,

then you know, the leads, people calling in, there'll be plenty. So for someone who is in Hezekiah situation now, the only way to move forward now is conversions. Conversions just means this that when you're having a conversation with a potential customer, with a potential client, the ability for you to get them to take the next step, that's a conversion. Now let me go back to the example that I always give, which is back when I was in the event space.

So I preferred to promote my own business by attending business exhibitions, bridal shows. So I'll go to your bridal show. You step on the floor, brides everywhere, all those brides and a potential customer. You try and talk to as many as possible. You try and bring a few down to the table. So if you're on the floor, you talk to 50 brides, no problem. From the 50, if you're able to bring 30 back to the table for in depth one-on-one convo is good.

If that is a conversion, you talk to 5030, people follow you to the stand, that's conversion. Then from the 30, let's say you're able to get phone numbers and e-mail addresses from let's say 20. That's also a conversion. So you spoke to 5030, followed you to the table, That's conversion. From the 30 that followed you to the table, 20 gave you contact details. The other 10 say no, no, no, don't worry. Just give me your, just give me your brochure.

Now fly be this, now business card, be this and no problem. Now if I need you, I will call you. That's how those ones escape. But at least you've got 20 contact details. So for those 20 that you've gotten down on a conversion, then of course when the bride affair is over, you will now call up those 20 to try a hook meeting. Let's say five goes to only 15. Answer 15. I agree that you know they will have meeting. That's conversion.

OK, so 30 people came to the table. You collected 24 numbers. You spoke to 15 people and I agreed that you have meeting. Now people saying we'll have meeting doesn't mean meeting will actually hold. So out of those 15, at the end of the day, let's say now only 10, only ten of those meetings held. That's conversion. You set 15 appointments. You're only able to get 10 minute meetings. That's conversion. Then out of that ten meeting,

you talk. Let's say you issue proposal to maybe only 8 because two people saying you know what? Let me think about it and you know how they come. You know something, something, something as our tool will escape. So you only issue proposal to it. Now out of those eight that you give proposal to you manage and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. You now come and close like 5 deals. So that is conversions. You spoke to 50 people.

At the end of the day you close 5 deals. So you spoke to 50 people on the floor. 30 follow you to take to your to your your booth, your show booth, the 30 that follow you to the show booth 20 drop contact details to 20 that drop contact details. You said 15 meetings from the 15 meetings only 10 people show from the 10 people will show you issue a proposals or the eight proposals where you issue you close the deal you collect deposit from 5:00.

So that is what we call conversions step by step by step by step. So now what someone like Hezekiah has to work on is conversions. You're there in your office, the AC tight, just minding your business next to your inbox. Do ping him because excuse me, because somebody from Nike international or from the local distributor, they couldn't find something. They can't find shoe, they can't find your guy, they can't find whatever.

And so they talk to customer service Rep, customer service reps here, no problem. You get one guy, Hezekiah in go hook you up. Let me transfer you. So in your inbox, ping him, message your show. Good. Now you have to work on your conversions. Are you going to be able to have good conversations, engaging conversations, promising conversations with these people and then move them one step along through the process until ultimately some people who buy.

But of course, he also said that he has a problem because some people did go stamp, which is normal, which is normal. I've said it before, I even told him and I'm going to say it again because not everybody listens to every single episode. But look, ghosting is a normal fact of life. So it should not confuse you. It should not disturb you at all. No, hold on. No, it should not confuse you. You should not disturb you in an emotional sense.

They should feel heartbroken. That and then the ghost me. Well, you should be keeping track. Like OK, for every 10 people that I talk to, 8 of them are ghosting me. In that case, it's a problem, you know that you're making some mistakes, need to figure out what's going on. So you just keep on tracking it so you can get a sense of what it is that is going on so that we can fix the problem so that we can cure the problem.

But no, BC people are ghosting you. And then because of that you're lying awake at night and you're thinking this customer. I thought we were getting along. I thought was going good. I thought we were going to buy what happened. So no emotional angst about these issues at all, but be tracking because it could be a sign that something is going wrong. So I told him, look, ghosting is normal, but then a high percentage of ghosting means that there's a problem.

Usually it means that you have a problem with your qualification and discovery. Now, qualification and discovery is the part of the sales process, is the part of the business relationship where you are trying to figure out this guy, this babe that has reached out to me, who is this person? What do they want? Why do they want it? When do they want it? Are there other opportunities that they need to do they have a time frame, do they have a time frame when they want these needs satisfied?

You know, questions like that we need to ask people questions because it determines what it is that we present at the end of the day. It determines the kind of proposal or the sales presentation that we're going to make. Well, should be asking people questions. So I asked as a kind of question, which if any of you call, I'll ask you, especially if you're paying me money and we're working on the consulting session. Cause for as a car, we just talk on the surface level.

But if you're a client, we'll go deep, deep, deep, deep, deep deep down. Go dive deep down. Because if you're paying me money, we need to get rid of this thing. What's going on? We need to unlock your destiny so that we can move forward and start ending these higher commissions. So I asked him, look, what's what's, what's your process for qualification and discovery? The guy who cooks small, I said, OK, when people hit you up in the DM, like what do you say?

Then he started telling me about his philosophy, which is he wants good customer service. And definitely we suppose that customer services are like all, I put it now that's our true north. So everybody is supposed to deliver customer, good customer service. And then he also says he wants to give the best. And we spoke about a couple of things like that and all that is commendable. So if you're one of those people who believes that you should be professional, you should give good customer service, you should ready to give people the best, you should be timely, you should be on point, you should be courteous, all those things are wonderful.

But The thing is, saying that this is what I expect of myself or saying that this is how I'm going to handle a business conversation, saying that this is how this is the tenor of the business conversation that I want to have. It's not the same thing as saying you have a sales process. You actually have to sit down. It requires some thought. Now, luckily with these AI tools, we can use 30 minutes and just come up with something roughly that we can use to start.

But in the old days, what we can, I shouldn't say the old days, forgive me because I'm a very young man. So before all these tools existed, we actually had to sit down the sheet of paper and you start thinking, you start writing out the questions you need to ask or you start looking for information that you're supposed to source. Now let me go back to events for wedding photography and for for wedding events, basically, if you're in the event space, of course you need to know the person's name.

Of course you need to have their contact details. Then you'll need to have the wedding date. Very, very important because somebody that doesn't have wedding dates is not a serious customer. They're just, you know, well, first of all, have they been proposed to? Some of you be saying that these things are obvious. Look, it's not obvious. You'd be surprised the number of people who call you up your wedding photographer.

You would discuss price and then at the end of the day say, oh, no, no, no. I was just curious. You know, they haven't even proposed to me yet. And in my mind I'm wondering like, so why the hell are you calling me? See, trust me, that's happened to me. There's one of my friends she buzz me and she was like oh how much should do tried and everything I study shout and say hey correct neck. I don't happen you don't have one that's not her real name anyway.

I just said I beg Joe and then we had the conversation and I drew up invoices. Honestly I drop 2 invoices and I sent it to her and I said OK so often now so like what's the next step now? When are we going to collect deposit and she said Oh no actually nobody else proposed are just doing research. If you are laughing at me, please, I want you to laugh very well, very, very well, because I'm not making this stuff up. It happens.

So if you meet somebody in the event space who has a list of questions and wants to ask all their questions, it is not because they're being lazy or not creative, they're being slavish. No, it is because these things are important. So have they proposed to you? It is a question that the wedding planner will ask. It's a question that a a wedding photographer will ask. It's a question that the wedding videographer will ask.

Have they proposed to you as a family? Met people are fixed. Wedding dates are good. Where's the hall? Very good. May God bless your marriage. This is that that you know, it sounds like it's casual conversation, but we are doing qualification and discovery. Who is this person? What do they want? What are the timelines? What do they need? Do I have the skill set to be able to fulfill their, their request, their wants, their wishes?

It is a process and you need to actually come up with a process. So in the beginning for me, mine used to be on a sheet of paper. And if you asked my wife, I would never take a call back in my early days without having my sheet of paper. We could be driving and then somebody calls and then you know, oh, it's a wedding. I say, oh, sorry, give me one moment. I'll call you back in 5 minutes. Are we pack on the road Immediately I bring down my sheet of paper.

I have that conversation because I had the list of questions and I wanted to ask those questions. I didn't want to forget anything. So if you're in Hezekiah situation, in fact, so long as you're in business, whether you sell for somebody or not, you need to have that sheet of paper. You need to write down a list of questions. It doesn't have to be plenty. Even if all you have is 3/4 questions, it will help you to be able to figure out who is this person, what do they want,

what do they need, when do they need it buying, you know different things, but we need to ask questions. So I told him that good. So you know what, next time now when somebody reaches out to you, what kind of question will he ask? And then remember, I'm talking about assumptions that people make. That is why Hezekiah said something that was fatal, fatal to the business, not fatal to him because you know, he's does business now, not in kilos.

He said look that people who reach out, who come through Nike's website, that definitely those people are ready to buy. Now I understand why he would say that because Nike, it is Nike. I remember when I was in school those things were expensive. If I remember one time my brother that time went Timberland, the rain. My brother spent 14K on Timberlands. I wanted to die. I went home and I told my mother that. Do you know what your son just did?

She said, I already heard I really great, great, great. My mom was like, look, just forget it that you know, he wants the Timberlands, wants the Timberlands. I wanted to die 14K on that's for one pair of shoe, one pair of shoe. Back then our school fees was like 6K. So my brother's school fees 6K, my old school fees 6K. Then he went to go and spend 14K on shoes. So I already know that for the shoe culture, it's expensive and Nike is Apex.

So definitely anybody wear enter Nike store. The guy who bar serious bar and of course, I mean Hezekiah, we're talking you know, he mentioned now that I guess on shoes with you know, 200 K, 250 K400 and something Ki think he was a 600 or something K So yeah, some of you will be shocked, but see, don't be shocked. It's not about what you want. It's about what other people want. There are some people who if they step out, they want their kicks fresh 500K brand new pair of shoes.

Now only me gets up one in town. So for some people that's their value. Now you will never catch me doing that. But for some people that's their value. So with that thing in mind now, because now Nike, Hezekiah, as you say, anybody wear bosom is ready to buy. And I told him, look, it's not the case. So I reminded him, OK, well, he didn't know. I told him about the episode where I decided to enter Guangzhou automobiles in Abuja.

The headquarters is here in Abuja. I decided to enter the office not because I have money at the time the car was like ATM the Jeep the GS 8 correct car real sick mad car real nice. Just go and Google it. When you finish this thing just type in GACG the GS 8 correct car. I was just curious. I was frustrated like look this my Toyota is giving me hell. I say OK GS Chinese car OK man, let me just go and see. So I entered and I think that day I had a business meeting.

So that day I was you understand now I bath, I dress right, you know, spray perfume, looking sweet, smelling sweet. So the babe just assume that this is a serious person. Meanwhile, I'm not a serious person. The fact that I entered GAC headquarters does not mean I have 80 million to buy a car does not mean. But there's some of you who just make some assumptions that this NAJIC, everybody knows that the cheapest thing we sell here is 40 million.

So anybody went out here, the person is ready to drop by. We can't be assuming we can't that people are ready to buy. So you have to go through a process. If you assume that people are ready to buy, you will now be in order taker mode. And the problem with order taker mode is you're in a subservient relationship. You're not a boy boy. It's just a matter of do you have it, give it to me, buy and leave. And that's not how we build sales.

No, we're supposed to be a consultant. We're supposed to be a specialist. So you consider yourself to be a Nike specialist, a Nike consultant, A footwear consultant, a lifestyle consultant, a lifestyle specialist, a culture specialist, a you know, whatever it is you want to call yourself, but you have to be cha, you're a specialist. You get my point. So you might not sell Nikes like Hezekiah does, but 100% you're a consultant or you're a specialist in something.

If my own business is Sharma and assume I will not consider myself to be a Sharma like is your Sharma I'm selling, I don't know how I'll couch it, but I will think of something I'll be a specialist of. So some I don't know all I said I'll think about butcher, even if it's only as soon as our moms I'm selling. There's a way I'll consider myself a specialist. So we started walking through a couple of suggestions. So thank you very much for reaching out.

How can I help you today? Where he said no, that he starts the conversation differently and he says, oh, hello there. This is Nike contact support. Hello there, This is Nike contact support. And so I told him, I look this your Cardinal scene, apart from the fact that you do, you assume that people are ready to buy, you're keeping sales in personal and we can't keep sales. Selling is a very personal thing. Selling is a conversation.

You should make it clear that you're talking to a human being, not to a business. It is easy to ghost the business. And I told him I've ghosted Amazon lots of times because now Amazon, there are a couple of books on it to buy. I was loading it, I was loading it, I was loading it. That was back when we had our first born, you know, just they buy diaper and you know, things like that. Then I also had the studio, so paying rent and everything.

By the time I loaded up all the books, now you know how to cut, how to cut ready to pay. I saw that the amount was now 100 and something key. I say 100 and something key on top books. At this stage, I say if I buy this thing, no, no, no, no, no. The kind of quarter we're going to sue in my household, you know as well, we have a baby on ground. So that's how I just I just I just leave them, you know, you click on how to cut everything will be in the cart.

Then Amazon would send you emails, you know, oh, you abandoned cards. Do you want to buy? Oh, we have discount. We have this we have. I was just ignoring them because now Amazon is easy to go to the business. But if throughout that process less I was talking to somebody, you know, Natasha at Amazon. So she did send me e-mail direct as a human being, you know, it's different. I'll feel bad that hey, this guy don't disappoint her.

So keeping for the process of collecting money, keeping things on the official official is not a very good idea. Make this thing personal. So I told him. Now look, you say it's not a matter of hello there, Nike contact support. No, it's hello there. This is Hezekiah. I'm with Nike Contact Support. Personalizing yourself like that, you're a human being. It makes a difference. Now, people still goes to human beings, but I'm not saying that people goes to businesses Easy.

Even me our ghost Nike contact support center easy, I'll just ghost so inject some humanity there inject some personality there. So if you've been doing that, please excuse me. If you've been doing that, please in your business, don't do that. Don't say hello. This is a 249 architectural design services. No, if you're an architect, it's hello there. This is chair Maka. I'm the head designer at 249 architectural design services.

You're still professional. He's a human being. The person knows that. Oh OK, no be bought as we do relate one-on-one a human being so personalize it. So hello there, Hezekiah Nike. I'm Nike contact support. So at this point he keeps correct. He doesn't say anything. I'm not like right now mistake. You don't say anything. The customer will feel in the silence and then they will say, do you have edge order? You're already in in order taker mode.

That mode of give me one rice, give me two meats, give me 4A goosey, give me plus one Coca-Cola 1 beaky. Oh yeah, how much take your money and that is order taker relationship. Excuse me. So one engage people in conversation. So I told him that no, no, no, no, no, no, no that. So I tried to figure out whether he has any background information on the people that are coming in because whenever you have any background information, start with that background info wrong with it.

So he said normal, normal, the guy doesn't get background information, but sometimes somebody might call him and say, oh, you know what, I'm about to send this person to you. This person is looking for a lounge where we don't have it in the shop. But I told the person that, you know, if they contact you, you know, you will come, you will come up. Now in that kind of scenario where somebody now reaches out, you don't say hello there.

Nike customer care support you now keep quiet. No, it's Hello there. This is Hezekiah from Nike Contact support. I had a chat with Ismael earlier and Ismael told me that you're looking for a pair of comfortable loungewear. Is that correct? Question mark conversation don't start. That is it. It is a conversation. You're not an order taker. You don't engage. That's how we sell. Engage with somebody. Then from there it's so excuse me.

OK, Next thing I told him to do is to drive the conversation forward. Typically for every product or service, there are different use case scenarios. A use case scenario just means people who want to buy your product or service, they typically want to use it for something. It is an OK way to start the conversation by exploring your use case scenarios. Now, in his own case, somebody's looking for a lounge rear. So I asked him, OK, which one is lounge rear?

Because you know, I'm not fashionable. You know, my wife says I have the fashion sense of a Ghanaian school teacher. So those of you who are Ghanaian, I beg Novix. Those of you who are school teachers, I beg novix. And I just hope my wife said and my mother agreed 100% that I have a fashion sense of a Ghanaian school teacher. So anyway, so honestly, I don't know what lounge way is. So he had to now explain what lounge way is and what people use it for.

So as the guy told me that lounge way, it's a very casual or something like people just want you. I'll be the one hang out. Then you just wait. In fact, when we're done with this convo, I need to go online and I need to Google Nike lounge wear. Let me see what it looks like. Maybe I should start dressing like that. So so those are the use case scenarios. Now people want lounge wear. They're either looking for casual wear or they're looking for somebody to hang out.

So it is OK to say when the person says, oh, is that correct? And person say, yeah, I'm looking for some lounge where it is OK to say, OK, cool. So what you're looking for, is this something that you want to wear in a hangout with your guys or just some you just want something casual you can use around the house or use around the office. I hear what the person has to say when the person says, oh, no, something casual for, you know, casual Fridays around the office.

Good. You can be building rapport. I say, oh, that's cool, baby. I hope you don't mind me asking, where do you work? I mean, because typically in Niger, casual Friday is traditional. So where do you work? So, oh, I work with so so, so and so blah, blah, blah. You know, or he might not give you some details, might just say, oh, I work in, in corporate in Niger and in our own place. It doesn't have to be tried, but from there you can ask more questions, say OK, right, no problem.

So does it have to be in the company colors, yes or no? OK, so these are the colors we have available. What are the kind of things you're looking? See, as you are having conversation like this, you know, you're getting more information into who this person is and what they want. You're also getting ideas about the things that you can recommend at the end of the day, and this recommendation part is important. I made a podcast episode, I

think like 3 or 4 days ago, where I spoke about how lots of you are losing out on sales because you don't know your superpower. Your superpower is that you're a consultant, you're a specialist, and when you're a consultant, people expect you to make recommendations, and recommendations are the things that will help you close the sale. If you're only talking about one item, the answer is either yes or no. That's a terrible place to be because the answer somebody can give you is yes or no or ghost.

But then if you have three or four options that you are contemplating, there's room to play around with. So if by the time you have this conversation with someone. Hello, this is Hezekiah, Nike care support. I had a chat with Ismail as my answer. You're looking for loungewear, is that correct? So yes. All right, cool. Oh, Allah, people who usually need loungewear, is that because wonderful hangout. I'll be just something casual like home or the office.

So like, what do you have in mind? Oh, now, casual office wear. Office wear. Are you a Nigerian? I beg Novix, say yes, I'm in Nigerian. OK, Because you're not in Niger now casual way is usually a Friday something and usually a traditional something. Oh yeah, but I'm in corporate in so and so and these all were OK, cool, no problem. So do you have to match the company colors or do you have something in mind? The conversation is continuing now based on all these call, for now you will not be able to give options.

And these were the examples that I gave as a kind on the call. I told him that you can now say, oh, OK, we have this Gray one, we have this red one, or we have this one that Nike used to commemorate Steph Curry. And then we have this one that Nike used to commemorate was this guy. This guy. Now people call him the GOAT, although people say that MJ is the GOAT and what's his name now LeBron, you know, put four options on the table.

So this Gray one did, this black one did, this red one did, then this Steph Curry one is also good CM. This LeBron James one is also on the line. So what's which one is catching your fancy? What are you leaning towards right now? Which one stands out to you? Which one is calling your name? Remember, I keep this thing conversational. Divine has to be conversational for the purposes of sale though. Divine has to be cool and conversational after sales when it comes to implementation.

You know when people are signing contracts and everything ahead, we can get all legally gained, but with four options. Now you see now that we can be keeping this guy in conversation. If the guy says, let me think about it. You saw OK, sorry, I understand. Four of them together, that's collectively like about 4000 lbs. I wouldn't spend 4000 times without talking to my wife anyway. So yeah, that that makes perfect sense.

But I'm just curious, like, which one seems to be reaching out to you, the guy who identify one, maybe identify 2. All right, no problem. You know, maybe let the guy off easy. I'm sure most of our happy ex customers take about 3-4 days to consider this. Would that be OK for you? You know, yes. OK, so in that case, can I hit you up next week? So I say, yeah, sure, no problem. So that next week, now you have room to pick up the conversation to say, hey, bro, what's up?

How you been? Are you still in love with this Steph Curry something? See, that's a different conversation to have. Now you call somebody, I say how far or happy Monday or I say I just want greet you. That's lousy. But with three, four options on the table, we can stay in the pocket. We can stay in the conversation. Eventually we'll have to get to the point where we get the person to make a choice and then we try and make it close.

Or luckily for Hezekiah, cause in retail, especially when you sell on behalf of somebody else, they're usually some discounts. You know, there's some things you can use to prompt the sale. So like now for instance, let's say you're talking to the person now, now, now I told the person, look, you know what, it looks like you really like this Steph Curry one, even though LeBron is your guy. But you know what, Easter is coming up and normally, normally Nike International, you know,

then they do promo around that time. So how about we do this? Let me book Steph Curry and let me book LeBron James for you. Now put them on hold. Then we'll see what this Easter special is going to be like. Last year, I think they gave 20% off on something, something, something. So if that's the case, you'll be able to collect Steph Curry and collect LeBron James. You collect 20% on them and then you can now add that third one so you'll be able to collect the three of them.

You should come up to about so and so amount. Now the reason why I'm saying this is because somebody has pulled that move on me before. That's back when I was in Aberdeen and I wanted to buy something nice for and then let me see what it is I need to buy or something natural woman related. And but no is my my wife then she was my girlfriend. So I selected 3 and then the mistake I made that shows that I brought my wife there.

So I selected 3. So I selected 5. By the time we got to the to this to the teal, the baby said, oh, that is a machine cause was an up and down something. The baby now said, oh, we only carry 4 up. That is a machine. So I only carry 4 down. That is the matching up for women. I'm sure you can figure out what I'm talking about. And their mouth was like, oh really? I say, hey, you don't have one. That's how they carry us upstairs.

And then of course, the team passed my budget because I already told my wife, my girlfriend at the time, that this is how much they want to buy. So these are mathematics that they did for me. They say, oh, OK, you know what sales currently going on something, something, something. So you take this 5 down that you buy. Then if you're interested, you give you 3 of the matching up because of the sale. It will amount to so, so, so,

and so, and then this discount that will kick in on so, so and so they will be able to reserve this order to hold it for you. So what do you think about that? Now, ordinarily I was sweating. I was sweating bullets. I was dying because I had exceeded my budget. Honestly speaking, I had exceeded my budget. But I saw the smile on my girlfriend's face. My wife, no, you should not go and tell my wife that I was buying something for girls was his hair that I was buying for.

So I was sweating, but I saw the smile on my face. I said, what salary is coming in? So, so, so, so, so, so I just. OK, no problem. So that's how we worked out with five of the down. But then the up, we had paid for all five of them. Abby. Yeah, we are paid for all. No. How do you do it again? OK. We walked out with five down, Walked out, three up, then two on hold. I'll come and pick them another day when they were ready or they said they could deliver to the address.

So it's a move that they put on me or retail before. So these are some tricks that people in retail do. So if you're in retail and you're selling on behalf of somebody else. So all these holiday promo discount buy 2 get one free one thing, one thing. These are also some of the things that you can use to close the deal a whole lot easier. Oh dear, 40 minutes. OK, Now applying these principles can be tricky, all right? So if you need me to look at your own particular circumstances or to look at your own particular business, just call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140 and I'll do my best to help.

So that's a pretty much for today. But the main thing I wanted you just know is let's stop making assumptions. Some people talk good, some people look fresh, some people smile nice. Some people look as if they have all the money in the world does not mean they're ready to buy. Don't contract your sales process. Make sure you have a sales process. Make sure you have a list of questions or a checklist or a framework or whatever for asking people questions to figure out who they are, what it is that they want, when do they want it,

why do they need it. It'll give you options so you can make a convincing proposal. So as a proposal, make a convincing presentation, Abby, any proposal presentation, whatever it is you call it in your business, you're happy to make a compelling one at the end of the day, but don't assume that because somebody hit you up that they are ready to buy. And don't be in the position of an order taker. Order takers are in free of status.

That is the reason why when you go to Auntie Andrew B or you go to Mr. Biggs or you go to Tasty Fried Chicken or whatever, that's the reason why you rate those people like you do because they are just order taker. It's just them. I'm not saying you should be rude to them, but they're just order takers. That's the reason why you go there. You don't greet them, you're rude to them. Sometimes you shout at them because now order taker MB is boy boy.

We should never be order takers. We are consultants. We're specialists no matter what we sell. No matter what we sell, you sell Nikes. Don't think of yourself as a shoe salesperson. No, you're a consultant. You're a specialist. You're a specialist on, I don't know, on culture. We're a specialist on sports. You're a specialist on lifestyle. You're a specialist on, I don't know, go and research. You'll be able to find a way to think of yourself or talk of yourself as a specialist of something.

We're all specialists in our in our business. That is our superpower. Let's not forget that, please. We're not boy boy. We're not order taker. No, we're not. Don't fall into that kind of thinking. So that's all for today. If you've gotten value from today's episode, just like Hezekiah got value from having a conversation with me earlier. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, wherever it is you listen to podcast and then share with your boys.

Let your boys know that we have a wonderful business content like this in Nigeria, homegrown. You don't need to rely on foreign business podcasts anymore. Share with them, let them know and remember if you'd like to connect with me just like Hezekiah did. If you want to keep it 100 just like he did, call me, send me a text message, send me a WhatsApp message on 08064662140 if you're interested in a 15 minute sale audit or business audit.

WhatsApp me 08064662140 if you want to join my WhatsApp channel, send me a message the same number and I'll hook you up. By the way, Hezekiah because eventually we discussed the money because I'm reasonable price Hezekiah say I'm cheap 5X Hezekiah say I'm cheap as no problem that money would be fine. It's just one of those things. Of course he quickly apologized. But I'm telling you guys that see Hezekiah thought that when I

was talking that he was only here big money. He was already shaking his leg. They shake in mouth, they quiver. When he heard the money, he said that's cheap before he quickly caught himself. I say no, no, no, I didn't mean cheap, you know, like that. So give me a call. Let's have a chat. I'll catch you all at the next episode.