Tino Mossu: the young man from the suburbs who is today a leader in digital marketing

Tino Mossu He was in his last year of high school when the pandemic appeared. Like everyone else, he had to isolate himself with his family—a lower-middle-class home in Merlo—and the usual uncertainty that one experiences at that age with respect to the future was added to the unprecedented occurrence of a plague that no one knew when. would end. Less than five years later, that aimless teenager has become a one of the leaders in digital marketing. CEO of Factor Studioshas also founded a university in Medellín and a second headquarters in Buenos Aires: the Universidad del Closer, or the U del Closer, as it is known, and which has more and more students.

What exactly is a “closer”? We’ll get to it. For now let’s continue with the story of Mossu: “I liked sports but then I couldn’t practice it, I felt overwhelmed by the confinement, not knowing what would become of my life from then on. “My disorientation”he says in dialogue with this newspaper. “At some point I imagined myself a soccer player, but not only could I not practice it due to the pandemic, but I also didn’t have enough skill. With that enormous amount of free time, then, I began to delve into the possibilities of digital, of networks, something that always attracted me, and a book fell into my hands, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, by Kiyosaki and Lechter. , which opened my eyes”.

Mossubased on the teachings of that book (which was a best-seller for years starting in the 80s, and which points to the capacity for personal self-improvement), he then became involved in digital marketing through a venture for which he needed gather some money. “I even sold the Play, against my father’s warnings, who told me that it was not going to do well for me”he relates, “and indeed it was like that. I tried trading products from China, speculating on the financial markets, but it didn’t work and I lost everything invested. It doesn’t matter. “I had decided to keep going and I wasn’t going to give up on the first try.”.

The following year, with the required mask, he attended the event he offered in Buenos Aires Alvaro Reyesowner of Renacer (personal development organization), and there he had the fortune of meeting who is currently his partner in all his ventures, Teo Tinivelli. He first heard the word from him “closer”. Tinivelli He already had his own work team “and he saw in me a potential for digital businesses that led him to propose that I join his company as soon as possible. In this case I had the strong support of my mother. I believe that, for any young person who wants to embark on life with a winning spirit, family support is essential”.

“That’s how I became closer”continue Mossu, “an activity that in the United States is widely known, but here it is not only new, but, in many cases, as I have verified, we do not even know what it is about”. A closer, he explains, is that agent in the digital market that is in charge of “closing”, of carrying out successful transactions between parties previously willing to do so, or with the potential to be so. That is: finding the right client for the right company, whether it is a large one – and there are several in its portfolio – or an SME: it is the ability to find the two parties that want to “close” a business satisfactorily, and who may not even know each other.

In short, it is about presenting them so that the operation can be carried out. For our part, we could graph saying that it is like the Tinder feature, but not in love but in business. That is, there are no forces, no aggressive impositions or harassment: it is consummating a voluntary bond between potentially reciprocally interested commercial actors.

Of course, the initiation of Mossu It was supported by learning the techniques of his profession. “I studied with great teachers in this field while continuing to work for Teo. One of those who most influenced my training was the American Grant Cardone, an instructor, motivational speaker, and whose articles are among the most read in his specialty in The New York Times.”

A change of life

The life of Mossu took a definitive turn when Tinivellibased in Mexico with his company, called him to go work there with him. “I met with my parents and told them what I was going to do. It was a profound change. Let us also remember that the pandemic was still continuing, and flights were just beginning to be authorized. The first time I went to Ezeiza I had to return because the flight had been cancelled. The next day I was able to travel”.

That wasn’t all. “From my arrival at the airport, a life opened up to me that I, a suburban boy, had not even dreamed of. Teo had sent me a first class location; I, who had never flown, had been in the tourist boarding area until they saw my ticket and told me that I had to go to the VIP lounge to wait for departure, without waiting in line. I couldn’t believe it. When I arrived in Mexico, a Mercedes Benz was waiting to take me to my hotel.”.

But the great leap, by chance, occurred two days after being in the Mexican capital. “Teo fell ill with Covid and I had to go out on the field, abroad, in a place that I didn’t know and was foreign to me, and take charge of the company while his illness lasted. It was like playing in a World Cup. It was then that I resorted to all my inner strength, and my practice in Buenos Aires, to face him. Luckily, everything went perfectly.”.

“In these digital and remote professions,” Mossu continues, “the possibility of growth depends a lot on the communication skills that the person acquires, although it is also essential to have someone to support you and help you further develop to have all the available resources.

What is a closer

Regarding the specific closer technique, he adds: “A closer addresses the emotional part of the person. “People buy with emotion, then justify with logic.”he explains. “This technique is focused on listening. The first stage is qualification, which means that we are going to ask questions to discover three things: the situation, the conflict (this refers to the decision whether or not to make a purchase) and the person’s desire..

And adds: “Then we present the product based on their interest and develop emotion in the person, and then have them justify the decision they are making with logic. And I go back to what I said before: the desire has to exist previously, we never impose anything. To put it clearly: we are not salespeople, we are sales ‘closers’, that’s what closers means.”.

Network monitoring is an essential part of detecting that desire, and that is where the closer’s expertise lies. For example, “If we see that a person has looked at an advertisement from one of the companies we work with five times, never less, we contact that person to facilitate the transaction to a successful conclusion. That’s what I meant by conflict: resolve indecision, clarify doubts, facilitate the operation.”.

It also emphasizes—in this unfortunate time of digital scams of all kinds—on trust, the veracity of what the client has before him: “This is obtained in many ways, not only through contact via Zoom but also through the multiple references of our company. Furthermore, the payment platforms are the best known, and operations are carried out through them. We do not create our own payment method, that contributes to trust”.

Currently, his venture has 40 people working under him, mostly Argentines from all over the country, and some Colombians and Mexicans. His popularity in the business grew to the point of creating the aforementioned universities. “I first set up a school that would help me learn what I had to know, and I found a way for it to expand in Argentina and the world. Our university is a digital phenomenon that helps people of all ages access this knowledge and then, local and international companies that need prepared people. We already have 2,200 graduates who entered the digital world of work.”