Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Why Hiding From Phone Calls is Killing Your Sales

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Why Hiding From Phone Calls is Killing Your Sales · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Today on the podcast, we're going to look at why it's not a
• 0:03
  good idea to block calls, why it's not a good idea for
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  self-employed people and for business owners in Nigeria to
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  remain inaccessible to their customers.
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  Now to be honest, I didn't know that this kind of thing was
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  possible until today because my dear wife, she bought something.
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  I can't remember what the thing was.
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  I didn't even ask what the thing was.
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  But anyway, we happened to be in the neighborhood.
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  And so she was thinking, oh, since we're close by, let's just
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  hop into this person's place and then pick this thing up.
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  You know, Instagram vendors know then because they had tried
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  calling the day before. That was a Sunday.
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  And of course, none of us was at home to take the order.
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  So she figured, OK, what else, let's just pick this thing up.
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  So she copied the number from WhatsApp and then put it into,
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  you know, normal dial and then she boss.
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  But anything not a ring, immediately you dial the thing
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  just cuts. She said, what's happening?
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  It's OK, no problem because, you know, sometimes reception the
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  day what kind. So she tried to call on WhatsApp
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  instead. And then she was looking forward
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  to call. She said, I can't find where to
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  call this person. This thing has been disabled.
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  I say, how is it possible? She says, see now.
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  And I looked at the phone and lo and behold, I don't know how
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  this person did it, but you actually can't call them on
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  WhatsApp as in the call action is not highlighted on WhatsApp.
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  The only option available on WhatsApp is for you to send this
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  person the message. Then of course, wifey sent the
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  message. And then of course, you know how
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  we Nigeria business people can be now normal, normal message.
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  You know your whatever is important to us.
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  Welcome to so, so and so we'll get back to you when available.
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  You know that kind of message then Instagram because you know
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  on Instagram you can click through, you know, for WhatsApp
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  calls or click through for audio calls on Instagram.
• 1:58
  Azin Shah, There's some people that have figured out how to
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  block themselves on every single platform so that if you're
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  trying to reach into that business, the only thing you can
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  do is to send messages. So you can't reach out to them
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  on Instagram. You can't do that calling thing
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  on Instagram, that Facebook call thing.
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  You can't do it. Only messages on WhatsApp, only
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  messages on normal call, if they will, if they will not ring,
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  only messages. So somehow the person has been
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  able to disable live calls, the person has been able to disable
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  WhatsApp calls. So only messages.
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  And by the way, funny enough, I know a couple of people who only
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  who like to do business that way, because back when I was in
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  the events space, I remember a cake vendor, or should I say
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  cake artist or whatever. She says she hates talking to
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  people, that she prefers messages every single time she
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  sees phone call that didn't give her a palpitation that she gets
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  nervous. So I'm showing you wants to do
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  the phone calls. Anyway, forgive me for laughing.
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  But anyway, the, OK, what I've said, now you've seen an obvious
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  problem which is you want to deliver something, people are
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  not available. So now we want to reroute
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  orders. Rerouting orders now is not
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  possible live because it can only be by message.
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  And then if nobody's there to pick up the phone, then
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  automated message will be. And then whenever people are
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  available, they will get back. So you can see that this kind of
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  problem that it creates being accessible to your customers.
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  You know, this is just one simple example, but The thing is
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  I get it. Especially since like I said,
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  one of my friends, she said any single time where customer they
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  call palpitation like I had got a beat, Bing Bing, Bing, Bing
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  Bing. So for her what she will do is
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  she will ignore, she will now send WhatsApp message so that
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  the conversation will continue from there.
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  So I get it, some of you are in business, some of you are
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  business owners, but you want Peace of Mind, some of you want
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  calm, some of you want control in your business.
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  I get it, but this is a disadvantage.
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  If you do that, your business is going to be perceived as non
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  responsive. By the way, I'm talking about SM
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  BS now, small and medium scale enterprises, self-employed
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  people, you know, brand new business owners.
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  I'm not talking about big corporations.
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  If you're a big corporation, you're APLC.
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  You know, I understand you don't want people to call you because
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  the people call you now be like 1000 phone calls a day and your
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  staff won't do anything. But I'm talking about SM ES.
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  We're fresh. We just did start getting a
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  reputation as being non responsive is maybe not a good
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  idea. And I think that's one of the
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  reasons why people might not even want to refer you because
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  you are non responsive. Part of the reason why people
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  say oh, call this guy, call this girl, you know, blah, blah,
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  blah, you know, not my guy, he will sort you out is precisely
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  because people feel like, oh, I can trust Kuli, I can trust Kemi
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  because anything you know, Kemi is on it, she's on it.
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  You cut yourself off. People can reach out to you by
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  phone calls. The only way they can reach out
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  to you is by messages. You're being non responsive.
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  Then it's a serious problem because you're going to be
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  losing qualitative data. Now when you're doing research,
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  you know, for those of you who study social sciences in Niger,
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  we know that there's a qualitative data and then
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  there's quantitative data. Quantitative data means the kind
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  of data that you can put on a spreadsheet that you can write
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  down in numbers. You know how many customers, how
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  many orders, where the customers place, you know all that.
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  That is quantitative data. Then there's qualitative data.
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  Qualitative data are the insights that you get when
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  you're having conversations with people.
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  Let me repeat. Qualitative data are the
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  insights that you get when you are having conversations with
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  people. When you are having
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  conversations with people, know how insights go D because you'll
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  be able to pick up on tone, you'll be able to pick up on
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  inflection, you'll be able to pick up on new ones.
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  You'll be able to know that there's a problem.
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  The example that I give is when somebody says, you ask how
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  service and somebody says, yeah, it's all right because it's a
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  phone call. You hear the you know that OK,
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  this problem. And then those one time I was
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  talking to somebody who is a vice Marshall, now that he's an
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  A vice Marshall, but the guy's perpetually high.
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  So, you know, for him was like, guys, all right, it's all right.
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  The words are the same. It's all right.
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  But based on tone, inflection and nuance, you know that it's
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  not the same. So when you're with the customer
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  and the person say you try, it's all right, it's all right.
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  You know that that is a good experience.
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  You now know that. OK, it's time to dig in deeper
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  to find out what it is that they like.
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  Then if you're talking with someone, they say it's all
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  right. You now know that.
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  OK, the person say it's all right, but you know that this
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  problem is Madam, this year is all right.
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  He'd be like, say my boys all mess up.
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  It's OK, my you can tell me what happened exactly.
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  Are you able to figure out what is happening?
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  These kinds of things are hard to convey when it's just through
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  text message alone, which is the reason why in the beginning, in
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  the early stage of business when we just did self-employed, when
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  we judge the, you know, brand new CEO, you know, that kind of
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  thing. This qualitative data that I'm
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  talking about qualitative as in quality.
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  Quality not be quantity. When it comes to phone call,
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  man, you get, you will get quality.
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  You know what somebody is feeling, are they happy?
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  You will hear it. Are they sad, you will hear it.
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  Are they angry, you will hear it.
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  Are they nonchalant as in another here nor there you will
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  hear it. So one piece of mind, Bob, some
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  of you are you're doing this thing too soon, cutting yourself
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  off from everybody. You're doing this thing too
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  soon. Also another thing is when you
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  don't have access to phone calls, as in customer know they
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  call you. You can't really build rapport
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  because it's when you're talking to people is when it's a phone
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  conversation that you know people can be dropping personal
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  Nuggets and stuff like that. Because honestly, to be typing
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  back and forth, you know, that thing had, I know that some of
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  you who live and die by WhatsApp, but most people don't
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  want to, you know, type, type, type, type, type, type, type.
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  Most people get tired now back and forth, the blah, blah, blah.
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  You know, you're using opportunities to build rapport.
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  Let people hear you hear that, oh, you're a correct guy or
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  you're a correct babe. Let people hear you now, OK?
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  You're an enthusiastic person. Let people hear you like, oh,
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  you sound like you're a credible person, like you know what
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  you're saying. Let people hear you.
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  Let them feel you. They also hear your customer
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  self, hear them, feel them, know them.
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  You're losing opportunities to build rapport.
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  I suspect you're losing opportunities to build
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  referrals, to get referrals because honestly speaking, who
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  likes to refer impersonal things?
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  Maybe in other parts of the world, I don't know.
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  But in Nigeria, I don't know who refers in personal.
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  I don't know. I think referrals are going to
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  be easier to cultivate if it's a if it's a verbal or something,
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  you know, on the phone or if it's face to face this when I go
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  and I see you that you cannot ask me that.
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  Oh, would you like to refer? I bet.
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  Can you refer me to somebody else or someone on the phone?
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  They cannot ask me as a customer.
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  Can you refer me to somebody else?
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  You know, but to be asking for referrals by text anyway, if
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  you're a business owner who has cut off phone calls completely
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  and you've been able to get referrals from WhatsApp messages
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  alone or from text messages alone, please let me know so
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  that you and I can have a conversation.
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  I'd like to come back over here on the podcast Eat Humble, Grow
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  and tell people that, look, that podcast episode that I made, you
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  know, I didn't thoroughly consider everything.
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  Anyway, since there's some of you who do not want to take
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  phone calls. You want Peace of Mind, you want
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  karma, you want control. No problem.
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  Let's tackle the question. When do you stop taking calls?
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  The answer is very simple. You stop taking calls when
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  you're APLC, when you're a big boy, when you're mammals as in
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  big girl, as in the money is flowing like the money is too
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  much. The phone has been ringing off
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  the hook like orders. Well, the order is too much, you
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  can't keep up and no problem. Then start blocking off numbers.
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  Until you get to that point, you're not really helping
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  yourself. Then you can also stop taking
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  calls when you are a monopoly like NEPA.
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  Now for instance, NEPA, they misbehave anyhow and you know
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  they don't even take messages through WhatsApp anymore and
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  that their customer care number is only one number.
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  They will put you on hold, die. They'll put you on hold for like
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  3045 minutes, you know, but because no competition.
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  So even if your customer is angry with you, where would they
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  go? So if you don't have
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  competition, yeah, sure, no problem.
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  Stop taking calls like they they can go and die.
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  When they're ready, those two come back to you.
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  It's not as if there's any other person.
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  So when you're a big company, when you don't enter PLC, when
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  the business is too much, when the traffic too much phone call
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  too much, no problem. Shut off your phone calls once
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  you get there. I think you're doing so
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  prematurely. If you're a monopoly, then shut
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  off the phone calls. It's not as if anybody can like
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  like water board, for instance. Like do they care whether you
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  call in? You don't call in.
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  Like where will you go? Worst case scenario, you go and
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  sink your own borehole. You know they're a monopoly.
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  So whether they're available by phone or not, I don't care.
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  Then another time you can stop taking calls is when you've
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  spoken to so many customers and you've had so many customer
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  interactions that you know your ideal customer profile.
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  You know who your target audience is, you know what they
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  want, you know what they're dealing with, you know what you
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  know what problems that they have.
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  You have all the data that you need to come up with them, new
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  products and services for them. You know things like that.
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  That is the reason why, ladies and gentlemen, I am still
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  talking to you guys today, even after 1500 and something
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  episodes. It's because I haven't had so
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  many interactions that I'm confident that I know exactly
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  what all of you are thinking. So right now I need this data
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  and that's the reason why I give my number at the beginning and
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  at the end of every podcast episode.
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  So call me, text me, send me a WhatsApp message on 08064662140
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  if you'd like to connect with me.
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  You want a sales audit? You want me to look at some of
• 12:36
  your business processes, then call me.
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  Same number 08064662140, if you'd like to be added to my
• 12:44
  WhatsApp channel because you're shy, you don't want to talk to
• 12:46
  me yet, that's not a problem. Send me a WhatsApp message on
• 12:49
  the same number and we will hook you up.
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  So right now, this early stage, I still need to talk to as many
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  of you as possible. So I need to know also, it is
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  only when I feel like, OK, it doesn't matter who reaches out
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  today. I kind of know the kind of thing
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  they will say. I kind of know what their
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  problems are. Kind of know this.
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  I kind of know that when you get to that stage, yeah, sure, no
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  problem. Turn off the phone calls.
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  What if you haven't reached that stage and you're shooting off
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  phone calls? Now it's premature, but this is
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  the main reason to talk to customers, especially when
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  you're in the beginning of the journey.
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  Because you guys remember my man Peter Drocker?
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  Peter Drocker says, how does he say it?
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  Again, he's a business management consultant.
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  And in one of his books, he says that the purpose of a business
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  is to create a customer, obviously, because if you don't
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  create a customer, you're not going to have any revenue.
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  You're not going to have any. Like, somebody has to be there
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  as a customer to buy what it is that you produce.
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  And that is why the business exists.
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  If there's no customer, there's no business.
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  And so Peter Drucker says that to create a customer, you need 2
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  main business functions. That's marketing and innovation.
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  Now marketing is the business function that tells the whole
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  world, I am here, I exist, this is what I do.
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  Then innovation is when you improve the product or you
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  improve your service delivery. Now this is the main reason why
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  you talk to customers in the beginning.
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  You cannot do effective marketing if you don't talk to
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  your customers because if you don't have knowledge on who the
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  customer is, how will you know where to target them?
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  How will you know what kind of messaging to use, how you know
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  how to start conversations, how you know how to convert
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  effectively? If you're not talking to
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  customers, your marketing function in the beginning is
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  going to fail. Then #2 innovation.
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  Innovation changes in the product.
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  How will you know which product to change if you are not talking
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  to customers? Remember what I said, because of
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  inflection, because of tone, and because of nuance.
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  There's a lot that you can learn from a phone conversation where
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  you know that people absolutely love this, people are lukewarm
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  about this, and people detest this.
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  You now know what to do. The OK, the lukewarm one, how
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  can we make it better? The one that they detest,
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  whether we should get rid of it. Changing your product, changing
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  your service, you will not know unless you're talking to your
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  customers. If you're trying to make any
• 15:27
  changes in marketing to make marketing more effective or
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  you're trying to make any changes in your product itself
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  or innovate on the way that you deliver the program as you know
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  work now, just guess work when they do so if the business is
• 15:41
  just you and your wife in the house, I won't add a brainstorm.
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  Not a brainstorm. Now guess work.
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  When they do, it's just guess work.
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  Don't make this thing guess work.
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  Open up the phones. You know, talk to people, talk
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  to people. In the beginning, when you're a
• 15:55
  big company, when money don't become water, no problem, then
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  switch off the phones. When you're a monopoly, the only
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  name in town, no problem, switch off the phones.
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  People don't have a choice. They will come to you or when
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  you've spoken to so many customers that when the customer
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  calls you're finishing their sentences.
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  You know exactly before they say if you originally what it is, I
• 16:16
  don't want to say OK, at that point then just turn off the
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  phones. You're not going to learn
• 16:19
  anything you but not to then I beg talk to your customers.
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  Oh, by the way, for those of you who know how to do these sorts
• 16:26
  of things, how you block people on WhatsApp, how you block, you
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  know, so like nobody can call you.
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  They can only send you messages if you know how to do those
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  things on WhatsApp, on Instagram and all or not because I'm
• 16:36
  curious, just for the sake of curiosity, I just want to know
• 16:39
  like how do you do it? So if you're one of those
• 16:41
  business owners who has done that, then please reach out to
• 16:43
  me 08064662140 Don't worry. I'm not going to try and
• 16:48
  convince you to do otherwise. I just want to know like how,
• 16:53
  how is that done? I'm just curious.
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  Never seen it before. Today was my first time, so I'm
• 16:56
  just curious. Just want to know.
• 16:58
  So that's it. Thank you very much for your
• 16:59
  time and attention. I'll catch you or some other
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  time.