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Corporate Accounts: Building Trust and Credibility with Your Clients · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

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  Hello and welcome to the show. Today I'm out and about, so
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  expect to hear some noise in the background.
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  Today we're going to be looking at a listener question.
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  And this question is, should you open a corporate account?
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  And this is a question that I got from a listener of the show.
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  Her name is Felicia. So Felicia, this is the answer.
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  I know I already answered you in the WhatsApp messages, but still
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  I want to come over here and share some of the stuff that we
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  spoke about so that other people can learn from this interaction
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  as well. Oh, sorry, one moment.
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  OK, sorry about that. I had to attend to something
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  real quick. So today's question, should you
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  be opening a corporate account? A question from Felicia, Her
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  concern behind the question was whether it affects your business
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  credibility, you know, whether some people rate you too high or
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  rate you too low, whether you have an account.
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  And unfortunately The thing is, yes, some people in Nigeria are
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  going to rate you somehow if you're doing business as a
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  self-employed person or yeah, if you're doing business as a
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  self-employed person, if all you have is just a registered
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  business name and you do not have a proper corporate entity,
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  that's a company that is limited.
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  What are they called again? Limited liability company, yes.
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  So if you don't have a limited liability company, you're
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  operating as a sole proprietor, operating as self-employed
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  person, operating as business name, yes, there are some people
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  that are going to rate you low as they'll look at you, they'll
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  look down on you. So unfortunately it's one of
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  those things. But as we talk about this thing
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  more, you find out that there are other reasons why you should
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  consider opening a business account.
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  And so this whole thing of whether it affects your
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  credibility, it's just one factor to consider.
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  OK. Another thing that we looked at
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  was whether not having a corporate account makes it
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  difficult to close some deals. And yes, sometimes it is going
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  to make it more difficult to close some deals because there
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  are some companies that it is a legal requirement that they can
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  only pay contractors or vendors or whoever who have LLCS, who
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  have companies, limited liability companies who have
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  registered with Corporate Affairs Commission and who have
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  tax, what's it called? Tax, tax TIN, yes, TIN tax
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  identification number and who have made remittances, you know,
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  to the government and blah, blah, blah.
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  So yes, there are some of those businesses that before they pay
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  you, you know, before they sign the deal, they will say why?
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  I show us your CAC registration is OK CAC registration is here.
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  Show us your bank account is OK. This is bank account.
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  Show us your TIN number. So this is TIN number, show us
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  your tax, tax clearance for 2024.
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  You know, it's OK, this is tax clearance.
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  So there are some people that you have to go through this
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  hassle or else they cannot pay you.
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  And it's a, it's a, it's more of a legal requirement.
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  So if they deal with somebody else who doesn't meet all these
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  things and they will be breaking the law.
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  So if you're doing business with international NGOs, you're doing
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  business with British Council, DFID, USAID, although I don't
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  know if USAID is still in business, you know, 'cause since
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  Trump came in and put the Kabush on everything, just, you know,
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  guy, just scatter everything. So I don't know if USAID is
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  still running things in Niger. So, but if you're trying to deal
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  with Okaden is also a Jika Japan International Cooperative
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  Agency, it'd be something like that JICA.
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  So if you're doing business with any all of those bodies, them,
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  them, yes, you do need all those things.
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  Go and register with CAC. What else?
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  Go and register with CAC. Go and register with the inline
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  Revenue Service. Get your team, make sure you do
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  your tax clearance, your everything.
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  If you're doing business with ministries, you're doing
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  business with government, Paris details, you won't need all of
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  that. So yes, they are in some of
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  those instances. Some people are required by law
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  only to deal with people who have registered a business
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  entity and who have a corporate account.
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  Then there are other businesses who just do that as a matter of
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  general policy, that we're only going to do business with
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  companies that have a corporate account and that are registered.
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  So it's just one of those things.
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  It's not anything that is within your control, but really, are
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  these the main reasons why you should open a business account
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  or a corporate account and register a limited liability
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  company? If you're trying to do it to
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  sell better, then the answer is no.
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  Because the distinguishing factor when it comes to selling
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  your business or selling your services and the distinguishing
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  factor that will show your credibility should all be built
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  around you, should all be built around your selling framework,
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  your ability to understand value, your ability to
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  demonstrate value. That should be the
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  distinguishing factor because if you're relying on this whole
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  thing of you have a limited company that is a limited
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  liability company, you have corporate account and
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  everything. The thing is all of that only
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  comes up at payment stage at the end.
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  So you have to be confident in yourself at the beginning.
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  So take me for instance, I'm here making this podcast.
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  I'm talking to you. A whole bunch of you are going
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  to reach out to me and you have no idea whether I have a company
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  that is registered or not. If I have a company that has
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  registered, you do not know the name.
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  And to be honest, it's not until we get to the time of payment
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  that you now know that oh OK, this guy has a, a limited
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  liability company and you know the, the business name is
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  separate from the guys name. So these things only come up our
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  payment anyway. So do not make these things to
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  be the main thing that is making you show up confidently to the
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  table to come and now talk to somebody and negotiate and stuff
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  like that. So you have to be the
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  distinguishing factor. So that doesn't.
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  So it's not the main reason why I should open a a business
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  account. Now this whole thing of easier
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  payments and broadening the pool of people that you're going to
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  be able to do business with, you know, yeah, that might be a good
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  reason, but it's not the only reason.
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  Because to be honest, for years when I was doing work with some
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  NGOs, I found out all my payments through other people's
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  companies. By the way, this is not
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  recommended. One of the reasons I did that is
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  because this is international NGOs, they have this net 30
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  policy. And I just didn't like this
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  whole thing that, you know, have don't work for you January 1st,
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  you're not going to pay me until, you know, January 29th or
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  something like that. So what I used to do was I had
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  partnerships with certain event planners that look, any business
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  that is coming through these people that are going to pay me,
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  I'm going to put your company on all the paperwork.
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  So they'll pay the money to you. When the thing comes remove, how
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  will I put it? So they're going to pay all the
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  money through to you. You give me 80 or 90% of the
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  payment value. And then when the time, when the
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  time for payment comes clear, you know, you take the whole
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  money. In other words, this is what I
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  was doing. I go and do business for OK, let
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  me use GCA, for instance, even though I never did business with
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  GCA, that's a Japan International Cooperative
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  something something I'll be development organ, I can't
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  remember, but the Japanese version of of USAID.
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  So let's say I go and do business with Jika.
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  This is what I used to do in the old days, though.
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  I'm not saying you must do this, but I'm just trying to show you
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  how I used to get around to this whole payment thing.
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  I want to meet a wedding planner and say, look, I'm providing
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  photography to these people and we have agreed that they're
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  going to pay me 100K. They normally pay 30 days.
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  They require people to have registration, corporate account,
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  this, this and that and that. And look, me, I don't have any
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  of this. So this is the deal.
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  I'll put your name on the paperwork after I do the job.
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  Even though the money is supposed to be 100K.
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  You just give me, you pay me 80 K directly as soon as I finish
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  this job, then at the end of 30 days, the company is going to
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  pay you the full 100K. So you have now profited 20K for
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  just using me to allow your company to funnel through the
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  payments, you know, So is that OK with you?
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  And some people don't mind that kind of setup.
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  In fact, there was one guy I used to do with steady and
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  that's actually how I started doing work with the British
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  Council because after a while I had done enough work with them
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  and was a matter of look, we've been dealing with you for such a
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  long time, so just come and regularize this thing.
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  And you know, that is how I actually set up my first
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  business account was so that I could now get payments with
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  international NGOs and you know, all these sorts of stuff.
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  But I'm just saying that in the beginning, even when I didn't
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  have that, it didn't stop me. I'll still go ahead to secure
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  the job. But then I agree with somebody
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  like, look, it is you I'm using for payment.
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  They will pay you. But The thing is, I don't want
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  to wait 30 days. So just give me 80 K or give me
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  70 K when they pay you, you keep the balance OF20K, you keep the
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  balance of 30K. And you know, we're good.
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  And some people don't mind that kind of arrangement at all.
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  So maybe you might wonder, is all this ethical or unethical?
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  You know, I'll leave that for those of us who business lawyers
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  to decide or to educate us. But what I'm trying to say is
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  that if you're looking at being able to sell better, no, that's
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  not the only reason why I should set up a business account.
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  If you're looking at the whole thing of easier payments, no,
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  that's not the only reason to set up a corporate account.
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  So in my own opinion, the best reason, the absolute best reason
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  to set up a corporate account, a business account is for
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  separation of accounts and to avoid Co mingling.
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  Commingling just means I have money, I throw it in one
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  account, my business has money, we throw it in another account,
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  my wife has money, we throw it in the same account.
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  At the end of the day, we're looking at the account and we
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  don't know which money is my own, which money is my wife's
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  own, which money is the business own.
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  This thing can get very, very messy and is one of the reasons
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  why some businesses die because you're commingling.
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  You don't know what belongs to the business, what should go
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  back to the business, you know, things like that.
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  It makes separating things very, very hard.
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  So for me, that is the best reason to have a corporate
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  account, so that commingling will not become an issue, so
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  that when is my money, it will go into my account.
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  If it's my wife's money, he enters into my account no
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  problem. But one that is business money
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  will go straight to the business account so that we'll avoid one
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  of the big causes of businesses, which is that people commingle.
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  You can't separate things and then the business Staffs at the
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  end of the day. Then another reason why you
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  should have your corporate account is for accountability
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  purposes. As everything is entering and
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  all the pinging is going there on the business statement.
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  Abby is a business statement on the bank statement, yes,
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  everything will be there. That Chukwudi transferred, this,
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  buyer transferred, that Celestina transferred this On
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  this date, you know everything will be there.
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  You'll be able to track your inflows and your outflows and
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  that way with that accountability, you're going to
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  be able to track your business growth.
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  So after I got my corporate account and then when I started
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  working with my accountant, I don't have one anymore.
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  But the first accountant, when I started working with him, yeah,
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  all I had to do was just print out all these bank statements,
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  you know, send to him. Then let's see what else.
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  All the other receipts, you know, you pay for photo book,
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  you pay for frames, you pay for this, pay for that, send him all
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  the receipts. He was able to use all of that
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  to be able to create a picture of OK for this year.
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  This is how much money that came into the business.
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  This is how much that we spent. This is how much that is
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  profits, you know, stuff like that.
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  So yes, I would say these are the best reasons to open a
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  corporate account. Number one, avoid Co mingling.
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  Separate the accounts. Let's not mix everything so your
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  business will not suffer because it's not receiving the money
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  that it should. Then #2 accountability.
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  Let's be able to track business growth.
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  Let things be clear and #3 tax liability, yes.
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  So your tax liability is also going to be to be clear.
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  You'll now be able to know, OK, how much do I owe the
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  government? It is easier to work through all
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  these sorts of things if you do not Co mingle your account.
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  And for my dealing with my accountant is also one of the
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  things that made things easier. So back when I used to run
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  everything through my Keystone account, you know, as in my own
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  personal issues, I used to run it through Keystone account, my
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  family issues actually running through my keystore account,
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  business money actually running through my keystore account.
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  So he used to give my accountants a serious headache,
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  serious nightmares trying to separate everything.
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  But once we set up the corporate account and then I started
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  tracking everything, now everything was a whole lot
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  easier. We now knew clearly how much we
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  owed. And then by the time we showed
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  up to inline Revenue Service, the, you know, trust the idiots
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  now, they'll come for us. They'll come for a pound of
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  pound of flesh. And I said, oh, OK, no problem.
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  You have given us clear accounts.
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  But what about the year this and the year this and the year that?
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  No clear account for that. And now some of us penalty work.
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  And then I had to pay. I think back then I paid like
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  60,000 naira in penalties. But what I'm, what I'm just
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  trying to say is that to make sure everything is nice and
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  clear, you don't want into trouble with inline Revenue
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  Service or whoever it is that is trying to tax you, you know,
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  whether municipal council or whatever.
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  It just makes more sense to have a corporate account so that
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  everything is clear. So that's my own opinion.
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  Should you open a corporate account?
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  I'm going to leave that to you. Is it going to affect your
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  credibility? Yes, with some people, some
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  people will look down on you like a small friend because you
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  don't have a registered company and you don't have a separate
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  bank account. But any leave those people,
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  that's not your problem. Just focus on what the main
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  issues are. Do you need that corporate
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  account to close some deals with NGOs and para State House and
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  government ministries? You know, yes.
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  So go ahead and get that sorted. But the main reason is not so
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  that you can sell better. You should be distinguishing
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  factor and you should be confident when you come to the
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  table in you, in your product and in your selling process.
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  That is what should give you the confidence.
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  So you can say well, because people don't even know all the
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  LLC and corporate accounting until we get to the payment
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  stage then. So the best reason why you
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  should have a corporate account and why I'd recommend the
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  corporate account is don't do Co mingling.
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  It will lead to the business to die because they're choking the
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  business. The business won't get the money
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  it needs because it's Co mingling.
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  Then accountability will be hard.
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  Then when it now comes to dealing with tax issues, your
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  accountant is going to have a nightmare trying to figure this
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  thing out. So that's all for today.
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  Thank you very much for listening to the show.
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  If you'd love to connect with me because you have a question, a
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  similar question, a different question, or because you want a
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  business audit, you want a strategy session, then the
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  number to call me on or to WhatsApp me on or to send an SMS
• 14:53
  on is 08064662140. The country code is +234.
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  For those of you who are not Nigerian, remember that's my
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  WhatsApp number as well. Then I also connect with me on
• 15:07
  LinkedIn. The name to look for is Tavishma
• 15:09
  IED. Then I also have a YouTube
• 15:11
  channel the same name, Tavishma IED.
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  All the videos are up there, including the old tick tocks and
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  the everything. So there's over like 1070 up on
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  YouTube right now. So thank you very much for your
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  time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next
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  episode.