Sell Time, Not Laundry: Your AI-Powered Sales Script

Today on the podcast, we're going to be looking at a listener question. It's been a while since we've done one of these and the question for today is what kind of questions can I use to sell laundry services to a total stranger? Again, the question is Abby. The question was As for the person who sent me this question, by the way, his name is Anthony from Dayday, Abuja. So what kind of questions can I use to sell laundry services to a total stranger?

Now, this is the background behind the question. There was a time when on the podcast and on my radio show, I have been talking a lot about problem based openers or question based openers. The reason why I did that is because I think a fellow called and the person was in real estate and I think the caller before him was also in real estate, a lady. And of course, we're having problems selling, selling their real estate because in Abuja,

there's this tradition going on right now as at the date of this recording in December of 2025, lots of people are going out with Flyers, walking up to total strangers and then trying to sell real estate. And by the way, that's not an effective approach. I've already made lots of podcast episodes about how you should approach someone with a question based opener with a problem based opener. Figure out if they're interested, if they're interested, then fix a time, fix a meeting so that you guys can discuss some more.

When you discuss, you ask them lots of questions about themselves, lots of questions about why they want to get real estate as an investment opportunity or whether they want to buy real estate for home ownership. And it's only after you've gone through all those that you not have enough information to say, oh, you know what, based on what we've discussed, we have a few pieces of land in Meitama, in Guerinpa, in Guzapi, in, you know, wherever they can have a look at.

So how about we? So Chief, you know, what's your Thursday like? You know, can we go and look at some properties on Thursday? So that is the process that I think was taking me maybe two or three weeks, you know, to flesh this out over the over the air. And that's for the radio show Washa. That's what I introduced the whole crew to. That's my listeners. Then Anthony, from day day in answer the question, I said, OK, you're talking about question based openers.

You're talking about problem based openers. You showed us how this thing applies to people in real estate. What about people like us who do laundry, We watch clothes, That's what we do. What kind of problem based conversation starters, problem based, question based conversation starters openers can apply to people like him, like Anthony in Day Day. And so that's what we're going to talk about today. Now, if you love talking about these sorts of things, how do you start conversations with total strangers so that you can grow your business?

Then subscribe to the podcast because these are the kinds of things that we talk about every other day on the podcast. So subscribe on Spotify, on YouTube or Apple, any player of your choice. And if you'd love to connect with me, you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. My name is Tavishima Aede. I'm the host of the podcast and you can find me on LinkedIn. That's for those of you who prefer LinkedIn.

All right, so where was I? So the kind of questions that you can use if you're like Anthony from Day Day and you have you sell laundry services and you want to start talking to total strangers. Now when Anthony sent me this question, by the way, there's a back, there's a back story behind this thing because Anthony already knows me from the podcast. I had tried to get me to answer before and I told him that, look, stop asking me these kind of questions.

Go and check AI like you listen to the podcast enough. You already understand, you know spiritually, you already understand when I say question based openers, problem based openers, you already know where we're coming from. So invest in your own development. Stop looking at me and see if I'm a guru that will provide you all the answers. You have a phone. The phone has Google Gemini on it or you can download ChatGPT. You can download cloud.

You can download what's it called? Is it purpose, Cassidy Abby, perplexity or whatever. You can download copilot. All of these things are free package. So do some small research by yourself. So that's why I told Anthony no. But of course I was in this hash. You know, I told him in a more, you know, nicer way because, you know, my first background was in law. So, you know, now when you come up studying law, you learn some some kind diplomacy, some kind tact.

So I told him so, only for me to be on the on the radio show now and then. Stylishly, he now sent a message to the producer and the producer handed over the question to me to read over on the air. At first I didn't realize it was him, but later on I figured it out and I said, see this guy? He's trying to be sharp. But anyway, no problem. So I decided I was going to use this as a case study to demonstrate live to everybody else how you can use AI for ideation.

So basically this question that Anthony from day day asked, I took it copy and paste into Google Gemini. And then he gave a couple of responses and I just wanted to show people that look, see, when I say that AI tools are good for ideation, I'm not just blowing smoke up your you understand, like I'm being real here. This thing works. It's not perfect, but we can get lots of usable answers. And in the podcast episode that we had just before this one, I

spoke about how execution is key idea and strategies is not. Look, see how I put this in look when 2025 now information is cheap, information is free. It's not hard. Again, it's not like 20 years ago that if you needed information, you have to go and join Lagos Chamber of Commerce so they can get introduced to the right people. Or you have to go to Cyber Cafe, go and pay time because you may have data and Internet was slow.

You buy one hour and you use 45 minutes just to log into your Yahoo account. We've gone beyond that time. Now we have the Super powered computers in our pockets and what are we doing? We're using this thing to watch Netflix. That's all we're doing, Netflix and then spot betting. That's all we're doing with our phones. Use these things to grow your business. Ideas are cheap. Execution is the main thing now execution. Some people say these things are not perfect and that they only get it right, like 6-6 out of 10.

And so you ran a search. You wanted some ideas, he gave you 10. Only six of them made sense. What are you complaining to me for? Do you go and apply the six? Apply the six Now see the ones that work. Then you take feedback, you take dressing, you reiterate, you improve. Anyway, sorry, this thing gets me angry anyway, so I just took the thing. Copy and I now paste inside Gemini and then I run it yeah, of course I use the free version and the free version is very,

very fast. The paid versions is it Google Gemini 3 Pro or something like that paid version that one likes to take his time. The thing we think before he gives you an answer because they, they asked me to Google asked me to test it out for a while. And after they tested it, I was like, you know what, I don't need all these advanced features. I beg restore my free thing. So they gave me back the free thing. So you think responded and then it gave a lengthy response, a very long response.

So like I said, whenever you ask any of these questions, you will try and give you as many of ideas as possible. You know, 10/15/20. You know, this is what you do. The ones that don't make sense, delete. The ones that make sense, keep. Then start from the bottom. Start working your way down. Start trying to apply. Know how, know how. Except if you are an idiot, know how, know how. You'll start making progress on one or two things.

You will. So that's what I did. Give me a long response. I'm not going to read out the long response. In fact, I can't read it. Also because you know how to copy and paste the notes. So I've already deleted all the ones I didn't think made sense then for the ones that now made sense, I know how to paraphrase it so that the thing will sound natural to me. Some of you use AI tools for ideation, and you say I would never say that.

And so if you would never say that, then paraphrase it now in the way that the thing will sound sweet in your mouth. You don't just say I'll never say that and then you leave it. Try now reword it, try and see how they think and roll off your mouth, and then start trying it out in the field and see. So these are some basic things to have in mind when you're using AI tools for ideation #1 delete the responses that don't make sense #2 for the ones that make sense, tailor them to you,

rephrase them and make it suit your personality. Make it suit your cadence, how fast or slow you talk, or how you know your your your pacing. Rephrase it. Let the things suit your tone. Let it suit your, your, your speech. Edit it to sound like how you would naturally say something. Then, like I've been saying since this episode started, go and apply. Go and execute. Then note the feedback. The ones that worked good. The ones that didn't work, OK,

take dressing. You now use it to now edit the the future prompts that you're going to do when next you're coming up with ideas. It's that simple. Use these expensive supercomputers that you have in your pocket. Use this thing to grow your business and stop waiting for gurus to give you an answer. I'm not saying you don't reach out to me. That's why I give you my phone numbers. So please do reach out. Honestly speaking, your time would be better served when you've done some basic research,

you've tried one or two things, you hook somewhere, then you now go and call a consultant to try and help you unravel something. Like I was talking to one of my colleagues who is in securities regulation. That is, you know, people who help you go and launch your product. Sorry, like let's say you want to take your company public on the Stock Exchange or you want to come up with investment products. You know, so one of my classmates who's a lawyer who does all those sorts of things,

a shooter, she was complaining basically about these sorts of issues that some people come and they say they want to do this, they want to do this on to do that. And they haven't done any research at all. They haven't done anything. They show up and then they just want you lawyer to now ask everything for them from beginning to end. They haven't done any work on their own part. And I'm sorry, don't mind me. Let me just get back to the question at hand.

So, OK, so Google Gemini, when I took the question what kind of questions can I use to sell laundry services to a total stranger? This is what Gemini responded. Gemini said that's an excellent sales challenge. To sell a service like Laundry to a total stranger, you need to shift the focus from selling laundry itself to selling back their time, the Peace of Mind and convenience. Excuse me, I was very happy when I saw that Google gem.

And I said that because I've been saying it time and time on the podcast there because apart from Anthony from Day Day, another person has also reached out to me. They sell laundry. So I've been trying to get them to understand that look, you think you are selling laundry but you are not selling laundry. Even before Gold Gemini said it, I already told them that look, I honestly think what you are selling when you have a laundry service is I think you are selling Peace of Mind.

I think you are selling convenience at least in Abuja and Lagos. I think that is the main thing because think about it, how many people have house Gale nowadays? How many? Then you have kids, you know, 3-4 kids and you're jogging a lot, you know. So it's just not, it's just not very convenient, you know, running the laundry then ironing and OK, I don't know how else to explain it. If you have a laundry service, it is not clean clothes that you are selling.

Please. It is convenient and it is Peace of Mind, which is why another person who reached out to me advised the person that you know what, I really think you can try to break into the banking circles. If you approach and you know, Zenith Bank or any of these places in central business district, find out when they're having their monthly meeting, sorry, their weekly meeting, they allow you to make your presentation. I, I really think it can work.

I really think it can work and you're selling convenience. Now look, if you guys are down, I'm starting off, I'm offering 10% discount, you know, for the 1st 10 people and this is how it'll work. I will show up here every Monday, every Wednesday, every Friday. All you have to do is if you're interested, drop your clothes with the security guard. I'll come and pick it up with the security guard on Monday. On Wednesday, your clothes will be here clean.

You don't have to drive out of your way. You don't have to worry about how to swing laundry services in with school runs with this, with this, with that, with that. You're selling convenience. You're selling Peace of Mind. So I was happy that Gemini mentioned that. But for those of you who don't, just who don't do laundry, let me speak to you guys. You are never selling XYZ. Whatever it is that you do, you are always selling a result.

Please, I repeat, if you have a chicken ring, it is not chickens that you're selling. You're always selling a result. If you sell Binaton fans, it is not really fans that you're selling. You're selling a result. No matter what you do, you're selling a result. So for a sales coach like me, what I sell is not training. What I sell is greater revenues. I'm selling the fact that I can get your sales team to start doing different behaviour and it would lead to more money coming in.

So it is not the training itself that I'm selling. There's some consultants, there's some trainers who think it is training that they're selling. No, you're not selling training, you're selling a result. And if you're an architect, I'm just thinking of architects because the guy who was in front of our family today in church was an architect. I was doing family Thanksgiving. One thing I noticed that the guy have 5 kids.

I look at them and say ah 5 and I did try you in this Abuja, how do you guys cope? And then they look young but then the first one is really a teenager. I say hi, This is the benefit of starting early. See my age mates, we 5, two of them already teenage, see me here kind of small picking up and down. Oh, I should have started in my youth, what was I? So he was an architect. So for those of you who are architects, it is not House plan that you are selling.

You're selling people's dream homes, you're selling self-expression, you're selling, I don't know if you're an architect, what are the benefits, But it is not the the the designs on paper that you're actually selling. So no matter what it is that you do, you are never really selling XYZ. You are selling a result. OK, so let's continue then. Gemini also said the best questions will quickly uncover their current laundry pane points and then allow them to sell themselves on your solution.

Sorry. OK, ignore what I just read. I think 'cause, you know, I was deleting stuff. So I think I deleted too much of the sentence. Yeah, I think I deleted too much. Anyway, So after all that preamble, now eventually Google German, I got to the point where I started making suggestions. So one of the suggestions was how often do you feel like running? Like you are running behind on having clean clothes? Now, of course, I wouldn't say it that way.

So I just rephrase it the way that somebody like me would ask, which is I would just ask the person, are you often behind on clean clothes? So if I was there in Zenith Bank and I'm the one who's making the presentation, that is how I started. So thank you very much for having me here today. Let me not take up too much of your time. My name, establish my AD. I run so, so, so laundry services. But before we begin, I want to ask all of you here, how many of you are often behind when it comes to clean clothes?

Because I know that some of you, when you even woke up today, you're wondering what is it that I wear? Where's that my favorite black shirt? Where's that my favorite purple shirt? So it is with the laundry guy. Be honest with me. I know some of you here have that problem. And then people will smile. One or two people chuckle once they laugh. I know that I'm I'm in the zone that people are understanding me, they're feeling me.

But you can see that this is a problem based question. Are you often behind on clean clothes? How many of you are behind on clean clothes? How many of you are struggling with your laundry? Simple question based opener. Problem based opener. It's getting the conversation flowing, it's getting people interested. It's getting some ears to open. I'm making progress. I'm making small small enrolled. That's just one and this came from Google Gemini.

I didn't edit anything or I just took exactly what this guy said or Anthony from day day said. I just recopied it and pasted it and then hit send. See one good suggestion meanwhile. Anthony and other people trying to stylishly get me to answer that question by force, even though I'm telling you that look, you don't really have to wait to hear from me. There's something in your pocket that will give you usable advice, usable that you can take a run now.

So we will say, yeah, it's not perfect. Like, see what we're talking about sales, it's just sales and marketing we're talking about. It's not brain surgery if we're talking about medicine. If we're talking about brain surgery, then yes, I won't tell you to go and consult your GBT because it might say rubbish and then you go and kill somebody's child. But this is just sales. The ideas that it will come up with, like what's the worst that can happen?

The worst that can happen is that you waste your time trying something that could have never worked. It's just sales. Stop being afraid. Another suggestion, have you ever had a favorite piece of clothing ruined or shrunk in the washing machine? That's what Gemini said. Of course, me, I wouldn't put it that way. So the way I would rephrase it is, has your laundry person damaged any of your clothes before? So let's say back to Zenith Bank.

Now I'm inside Zenith Bank. I've done my preamble. I've asked the first question. A few people chuckled. I'll be my next question that I know that there's somebody here. You have your favorite white shirt. You gave it to your watchman. By the time your washer man brought it back, your white shirt was now pink or it was turquoise. I know it has happened to somebody Here, Abby, you can see question based opener, problem based opener.

I'm striking a chord. I'm connecting with some people on some problems that they have been having with their laundry. It's giving me hope that I might be able to sell some of my services before I leave this Zenith Bank banking hall. This suggestion, where the suggestion come from, it came from Google Gemini. All I just did was I changed it to sound the way that it should flow from my own mouth. Of course, Google Gemini gave some other suggestions.

Are there any items like the bed linens, blankets, or formal wear that you always wish someone else would handle? Of course, I wouldn't say it in that fancy long way. I would say it much more shorter. Like, do you handle the bed linens by yourself? Do you handle the duvets by yourself? Do you handle the formal wear by yourself? I'll just ask you straight like that and then continue with the question from there. Because obviously for those of us who have washing machines,

you know, we understand, like if you have duvets, not all duvets fits inside the washing machine. And for those that do, you know, they're kind of fake. So it doesn't quite give a good wash. So no how, no how when you have laundry, when you run laundry services, they're asking somebody about duvets and you know, all the other things that are going to bed, you know, whatever those things are called, you're quickly going to get into problems that this person is having real life problems that this person is having with our laundry services.

Now you can see now this is a question that was suggested by Google Gemini. All I've done is just try and make it sound the way that it will be sweet in my own mouth, that will be natural in my own mouth that if I was selling laundry services I can use when I'm inside Zenith Bank in the banking hall with their with their members of staff during their morning meeting. So like I said, this one was long. There were plenty and plenty and plenty.

All the ones that don't apply to the Nigerian context are deleted. All the ones that I thought sounded too fancy, I deleted. But at the end of the day, out of what 1015 suggestions can you see, I found three or four that I can actually use so that if I was in the business of selling laundry and I'm able to squeeze my way into a corporate place, I can make a small presentation during a staff meeting and the three questions will allow me to be able to make a good presentation.

Or if I'm talking to somebody one-on-one, I can use any of these questions to get the conversation going and figure out what is important to them. As your washer man ever ruined, ever damaged your favorite clothes before I can get somebody on the tangent can get somebody on the story. In fact, if you use that one on my wife, my wife will tell you about the time that's this. My wife will be talking now. She said I in fact was this wonderful shirt that I got from UK, it was TM Lewin, it was a Mark Spencer or something.

Anyway, some nice shirt really really lovely was white. My husband was supposed to do the laundry. By the time I came back from work my white shirt was now pink and the thing has never been the same again and I'm still angry with my husband to date. I need to make matters worse. When I stopped doing it at home and I gave it to the laundry guy in Zone E, they ended up when they were ironing it, they didn't iron it inside out.

And so my Gray trousers now has a very shiny silver Sheen and I don't like that shiny look. No, I'm being real here. This is stuff that has happened, you know, between me and my wife. So anybody who is asking her about laundry issues, that is how they will collect business from her hand. Because as far as she's concerned, my husband destroyed my favorite shirt, my current laundry person destroyed my favorite green. So I say green, grey trousers,

question based openers, problem based openers gets the other person talking about the problem that they are facing that your product or your service might be able to solve. And with that you're able to transition into a business conversation, into a sales conversation and then Google Germany. I also mentioned that based on the answers that the people give you will now be able to come up with a trial close that you can use to lure them in.

So if you're talking to that woman who says my husband destroyed my favorite white shirt, this expensive shirt that I got from the UK, it is from they be able to do a trial clothes, trial clothes. Oh Madam, there might be something we can do. Do you still have that shirt handy? Let me have a look at it. Madam brings his shirt. He say, well, that is true, Oga has destroyed dishes, but you know what, let me have a look at it with some hydrogen peroxide and something, something,

something. Let me see what we can do. But Madam, because of these sorts of problems, this is the reason why in our own laundry service, what we do is we color separate and we wash with bleach and we wash with sodium, whatever, whatever, so that the colors never mix, the colors never run. I would love to see how we can make sure you never face this problem again. Is there any, are there any item of clothes that we can use?

Now, Mummy, let us just test so that I can show you that you will never suffer this kind of problem again. You can see that as a soft, soft, soft. Trial close, getting hard to commit, you know, small, small. You didn't say bring all the load. You just said, do you have a couple of things like this? Just bring and let me show you how you never have to worry about this issue again. Small clothes, soft clothes, trial clothes.

You do this one good. You can now come back and say, in fact, mommy, like, why are we talking now? If you're happy about this, just bring the whole load. Let's just take it and I'm your guy from now on. I'm your laundry guy. So Google Gemini was even suggesting that based on the answer that the Madame gives in response to any of these questions, here are some trial closes that you can do to close the sale. It's ready 30 minutes.

Let me bring this thing to a close. So like I said, those of you that are afraid, stop being afraid. This is just sales and marketing. It is not brain surgery. If it was brain surgery, I wouldn't advise you to go straight to Gemini because it might give you rubbish advice and once you open somebody's call using the information, you will kill somebody's child. But it's not brain surgery, it is sales. You will make a mistake.

The worst that will happen is we have wasted maybe 20-30 minutes of our time. That is the worst that can happen. So realistically speaking, there's absolutely no problem. We're taking these expensive devices that we have. In fact, the young man that was sitting in front of me today do all five children and notice that he's using Samsung food. And I say, ha, ha, it will be 5 children. You're using a phone of 2.5 millionaire.

And I'm sure on the phone all he does is just watch CNN and do spot betting. So if you're like this guy, your phone is 2.5 million. Yeah, even if it's not that expensive, your phone is 750K. These are things that you can do to move your business forward. Your phone is not just for Netflix. Your phone is also for ideation for your business. AI tools are good for ideation. Yes, it's not perfect. Some people who say I'll give you pass mark only 40%, no problem. 40% means if it gives you 10 responses, only four made sense.

Good. Take those four go and apply. Remember, nowadays information is cheap, information is free. So information is not a problem anymore. Execution is the main thing. So use your AI tools, come up with good suggestions so that you have more and I'll put it now, more Ave. more room when you're starting conversations with people. Because if you don't, for those of you who sell laundry, what will happen is you will always start the conversation with how much do you charge?

And of course, that's not a good way to start this conversation. So Madam, I sell laundry services. How much do you charge? That's the problem. You're already being locked into a commodity, Madam. Oh, good morning, blah, blah, blah. I'm your neighbor from Block 2. I have laundry services. Oh, by the way, Madam, I was, I was wondering has any has any Sorry, which question did we use again? Has any laundry person damage of your damage any of your favorite, your favorite clothes before give yourself more options in the conversation.

Anyway, it's 30 minutes, so let me just bring it to a close and I hope I've been able to convince you guys using Anthony's questions. Anthony's question, what kind of question can I use to sell laundry services to a total stranger? I hope I've been able to convince you guys that AI tools are OK. They are decent when it comes to coming up with ideas for handling conversations, growing your business, handling your sales.

So please, no matter what business you do, architecture, law, medicine, accounting, carpentry, chicken, fast food, laundry, selling mobile phones, selling bibles, selling cars, whatever, please take me up on the test. Go and try with your AI tool. If you think it failed you, uh huh, reach out to me. Let's have let's, let's have this conversation. Anyway, that's all for today. Thank you very much for listening. Remember, if you want to be in touch, you can call, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140.

So thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you all some other time.