If you are conversant with Lagos in Nigeria you will know about those yellow commercial buses and their operations; even tho Lagos is going mega city with a disruptive plan of eliminating their services, there are couple of business marketing lessons that can be learnt from these guys, trust me.
Let’s take a cue on these lessons:
1. Preparation: They are always on the move for sales. Always prepared and as a matter of fact most of them are on the road as early as 4am. How prepared are you in your business?
2. Overcome Fears: Conductors are fearless in their passengers sourcing approach and can get anyone into their bus. You shouldn’t be afraid to talk to a potential client or customer, getting them to patronise you or fixing a meeting for a partnership deal.
3. Up-Sell: The bus conductor will sell the next destination to you before you drop off. Before getting to their last bus-stop, you hear them calling the next destination. This is an up-sell strategy, and as a business owner, you need to imbibe this strategy as well. As your customer is buying your hair, why no up-sell a hair maintenance cream and the likes!
4. Overcoming Rejection: They don’t care about the number of obstacles, LASTMA, Police, Area-Boys, FRCS, etc. They will always focus on the goal, getting commuters onboard. As a matter of fact, they already know where the next LASMA or force will be, so they are always prepared. It is important and possible to see the possible challenges you might encounter in your business and be prepared to sideline them.
5. Deliver Under Pressure: Sales is a hard job, the Danfo guy will always deliver. They must ensure to meet their delivery target as most of them are known to deliver a certain amount of money to the bus owner daily. What are your daily goals in your business?
6. Hitting Goals: A quota(Target) is just a goal. Like all goals, it’s best to start with the end and work backwards. Based on how much money I needed to bring in I could figure out how many more deals as well as how many active sales cycles required to meet my goals. The Danfo guy knows how many more passengers are needed to meet the money target for the day.
“Most people think ‘selling’ is the same as ‘talking’. The most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job.”
written by Dayo Ayeni & modified by Abbey Tunji