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Are You Alienating Your Audience? The Perils of Impersonal AI · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishima Ayede.
• 0:05
  I solve sales and marketing challenges and I'm making
• 0:07
  today's recording in my living room, so expect to hear some
• 0:10
  interruptions in the background. Now, the goal of this podcast is
• 0:14
  business education. So spread the word so that your
• 0:17
  friends and family members can benefit from the questions that
• 0:20
  we tackle over here on the podcast.
• 0:23
  They can do that by subscribing on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or
• 0:27
  any player of their choice. And if you have any sales and
• 0:30
  marketing questions, bring them to me.
• 0:32
  You can call, you can SMS, you can WhatsApp me on 08064662140.
• 0:40
  So today on the podcast, I want us to look at why the future of
• 0:45
  marketing is human centric. Again, why the future of
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  marketing is human centric. Now, why am I tackling this
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  today? It's because if you've been
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  listening for the last week, you realise that I am concerned by
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  the fact that people are getting carried away with all these AI,
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  artificial intelligence, automation, you know, blah,
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  blah, blah, blah, blah. So because of that, most people
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  are putting their marketing, content production, you name it.
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  Lots of people are trying to put their things on autopilot and
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  trying to have as little human intervention as possible.
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  In other words, people want to run e-mail campaigns without
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  actually sending the emails themselves.
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  People want to create content without creating anything
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  themselves. And the part that I feel, I mean
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  the one that I don't even understand.
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  So like, people want to close sales without actually doing
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  anything themselves. People now want bots to chat
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  with somebody from WhatsApp from beginning all the way to the end
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  and close the deal. And then you, the business
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  owner, you are not going to get involved in any way.
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  Now this has created a problem that lots of people don't
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  realise. It's created a problem in the
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  West. It's also going to create a
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  problem in Nigeria and somehow people don't see you coming.
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  Now the problem is this, and if you doubt what I'm saying, go
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  and check your WhatsApp inbox or your Instagram inbox or your
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  Twitter inbox or whatever inbox and you see what I'm saying.
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  So because people are trying to AI and automate everything,
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  marketing, communications, any kind of marketing now, any kind
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  of business communication now has become very impersonal.
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  It has become not targeted and not relevant.
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  And because of that people are not responding.
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  I know those of you who are on this whole AI train.
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  Now you saying come on like I'm just talking trash but check it.
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  Check your own WhatsApp. See how many marketing messages
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  you have received from other business.
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  How many of them did you think were personal?
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  How many of them did you think were targeted or relevant to
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  you? And how many of them did you
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  respond to? Then by the time you're done
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  listening to this episode, go and pick up your wife's phone or
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  your girlfriend's phone if you're female, the other way
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  around. Go and pick up your husband's
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  phone. Go and pick up your your
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  boyfriend's phone. Check how many marketing
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  messages has he received on his WhatsApp, on his Telegram, on
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  his Instagram, on his you know, how many of them seemed
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  personal? How many of them seemed
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  targeted? How many of them seemed
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  relevant? How many did he respond to?
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  Even if it's just to say no thank you, I'm not interested.
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  If we step down from our business Hut and we go and check
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  our phones and the people that we love, you see what I'm
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  saying? I think the problem is only
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  going to get worse. And of course, if the initial
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  outreach, the initial messaging, the initial e-mail, the initial
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  DM, the initial whatever, let's say 98% of people are ignoring
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  those messages. Where do you think, how do you
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  think we're going to be effective at closing business?
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  Think about it. Anyway, let's define AI.
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  Lots of people say AI is computers behaving like human
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  beings. And you know, that definition is
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  scrap. That's not AIAI is just using
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  computers to solve problems. It just so happens that lots of
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  people think that the way human beings solve problems, I'll put
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  it AI is using computers to solve problems, and some people
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  think it's a good idea to try and use robots to try and mimic
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  human intelligence to solve problems.
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  But either way, these things are not smart.
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  They're just very good. Sorry, excuse me, they're just
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  very good at computation. Yes, what's going on is
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  computation, and what's going on is mimicry, but not actual
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  intelligence. But either way, these tools are
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  pretty awesome and in fact, I use them every day.
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  In fact, by the time I'm done, so excuse me, I had a coaching
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  session today. So I've just, I've just, I've
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  just spent all day talking. Then yesterday we did the radio
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  show. So my voice is a little short.
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  I was like, uh huh. So I guess what I'm trying to
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  say is I look AII get it. I like it, I use it and by the
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  time I'm done with this episode, I am going to use AI to find a
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  title for this episode because you guys know how you know, I I
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  start the podcast episode. I'm I said I want to talk about
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  one thing and then I ramble and then I introduce some other
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  things and then finally I land the plane.
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  So I talk about lots of stuff. It's hard for me to come up with
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  a title, but AI has solved this problem for me because all I
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  have to do is just take a transcript of everything I've
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  said, throw it into ChatGPT so I'm not ChatGPT Gemini.
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  That's what I use. Throw it into Gemini.
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  When I say give me suggestions for a couple of give me
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  suggestions for a podcast title, it'll give me 5 or 6 and then
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  I'll select the one I like best. Or I'll just take elements from
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  one or two and then slam it together to get one definition.
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  So I use AI every day for my business.
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  So I'm not saying AI is crap. I'm just trying to say that as
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  far as marketing is concerned, and marketing is the business
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  function where we're trying to let people know this is me, I
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  exist, this is my business, this is my address, this is the
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  problems that I solve. This is how I can help you.
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  If you're trying to achieve this vision, come and meet me.
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  If everybody is going to jump on this whole AI thing, and if
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  everybody tries to automate everything so that there's no
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  human intervention is going to be a problem.
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  And the problem is all marketing communications is going to sound
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  impersonal. It'll be flat, clearly not
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  human. It's not going to resonate with
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  anybody. It's not going to be targeted to
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  anyone. It's not going to be relevant,
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  and people will not respond. So yes, we can use AI to solve
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  problems around visibility and promotion.
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  We can use AI to solve problems around how we have conversations
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  with people. We can use AI, yeah, to help us
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  close the sale. And we can use AI to try and
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  figure out how to acquire new customers.
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  But if your goal is to try and do these things, visibility,
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  handling conversations, closing the sales, acquiring new
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  customers, and you just want the robot to handle it from
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  beginning to end, there's a problem.
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  Now, this is the solution. We need to use artificial
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  intelligence, AI tools. We need to use it, right?
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  Instead of talking about automation as in let the AI do
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  everything and then I don't step in, think instead about
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  augmentation. To augment just means to improve
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  something. So I'm still in the game, I'm
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  still in the loop, but AI tool will make me better.
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  For instance, with this podcast, this is me.
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  This is not an AI tool. I record the thing myself.
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  I come up with the ideas myself. But then that last aspect,
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  creating a dope title, a dope headline that will get you guys
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  to click. I will outsource that one to
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  Gemini where you can see that I am augmenting the process.
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  I'm not automating the process. I didn't push a button and then
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  the robot just did everything I did quite a bit.
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  And then I told AII beg, help me finish this final step.
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  So we should always have the human initiative when it comes
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  to creating copy. Don't just wake up and I say,
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  AI, write me a blog post on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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  No, that that's too much. Now.
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  At the very least, come up with the outline yourself.
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  You can say AI. I'm a business owner.
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  I sell baked bread. I bake bread and cakes.
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  I want to create content on this dot dot dot write me a blog post
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  around why it is unhealthy to use sugar in your cakes.
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  But we should be using sunflower seeds and the benefits of eating
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  recipes that have sunflower in them.
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  Then, you know, send in case you're one of these bakers who
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  tries to remove causing some bakers trying to remove
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  artificial dish, remove artificial that you know because
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  because it's not healthy and stuff like that.
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  So you can see that in that case, at least you did small
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  work. There's a little bit of human
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  initiative in the prompt. You try to give the outline of
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  the content and they now told Char GPT or whatever to go and
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  execute on the rest. That is better than just sitting
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  down and saying char GPT, write me a blog post.
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  We humans, we should be taking the initiative when it comes to
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  marketing copy. The first move should be us.
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  We'll now use AI to now refine everything.
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  Just make it tight, make it smooth, make it nice, but the
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  initiative should come from you. These are the small, small
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  things. Like when it comes to writing,
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  for instance. These are the small, small
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  things that make your writing stand out.
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  If everybody's pumping our content on LinkedIn and
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  everybody's using charge, GBT or AI, there's a way.
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  Everything you know, everyone will just be flat, but you that
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  you initiate the copy by yourself and then maybe you say
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  oircher GPT make this thing more readable.
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  You see that different personal elements.
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  Are there some elements of your voice?
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  Is there some elements of your own personal opinion, your own
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  personal expertise, you know, things like that.
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  But either way, I think when it comes to marketing, when it
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  comes to marketing, we humans should be taking the initiative
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  when it comes to what the copy is going to look like.
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  Always when I say copy, I just mean text, the text or whatever
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  it is that you're you're creating.
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  Then try and do some research before you send messages, Try
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  and personalise your messages because too many of these
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  messages are so bland. They can apply to anyone and
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  everyone. And so when people see, they
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  just know that is a broadcast. They just know and they ignore.
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  I was talking to someone about that.
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  She's also business again. Well, I can't remember anyway,
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  this was a while ago, and I ran her through the whole process of
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  how you do some small research on the prospect and how you
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  allow that to reflect in the e-mail or the WhatsApp message
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  or whatever that you're sending. At the end of the process, she
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  agreed that actually, yes, the final image, the final e-mail
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  that we came up with was pretty good.
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  And then I told her, OK, now these prospects, you want to
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  reach out to number 12345, create the emails for them, send
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  it to me, let me have a look. I guess what?
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  She never came back because it's hard work.
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  Trust me, I know it's hard work. I know it's hard work.
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  Maybe a time will come when there'll be a perfect tool that
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  all you have to do just wake up, push one button.
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  Now you go and sit down, watch Netflix, and then the machine
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  will do everything for you. Maybe that time will come, but
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  that time is not today. And until that time comes, I beg
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  just do the hard work, do small research to personalise the
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  message that you are sending to somebody and please cut down on
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  broadcasts and all these spammy messages.
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  Yes, you have 3000 contacts on your phone and with the push of
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  a button, you will send a message to 3000 people.
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  And you have been doing that twice a month for the last three
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  years. And this is the problem.
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  After a while, people just drown you out.
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  The happy new month message that you're sending.
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  There are so many people that have put you on mute.
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  Lots of people have put you on block.
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  You feel like you're doing something because you're sending
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  happy new month to 4000 contacts 12 * a year, but it's not
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  registering. Nobody's seen it even.
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  Look, let me tell you, even your own mumsy is tired and your own
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  mumsy wants to block you. It's just that if she blocks
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  you, you'll be somehow let not be, as if she's not supporting
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  her son or not supporting her daughter.
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  Even your own mumsy and popsy, they want to block you.
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  Even your wife, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, even them.
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  They're ignoring, ignoring all those messages.
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  You not be quarreling with them saying you're not supporting my
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  business, that you don't repost, you don't like, you don't
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  whatever. Like why would they do that?
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  It has nothing to do with them. The thing is, soulless is
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  vacant. It's empty.
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  So your babe supports you. I mean, she loves you.
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  She wants your business to blow. But quite frankly, this spamming
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  thing you're doing, it ain't working.
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  It's not happening. You want your babe to promote
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  you by taking the spam that you're putting out and then
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  share it on her home profile so that her own profile too will
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  now look like it's a spam machine.
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  Anyway, they're just some of my thoughts.
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  And this is the reason why I believe that the future of
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  marketing is human centric. The people who are going to win
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  the game at the end of the day, at least for now, are the people
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  who are going to be able to throw back some of that human
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  elements into the whole thing. That's the reason why you're
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  here. We're here because I'm human and
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  I'm imperfect. I mean, the door might open just
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  now. My son will come and say, I
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  don't know, Dad, can we go and play or something?
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  It's just one of those things in a world where everything is
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  becoming robotic, teen perfect, sterile, you know, those of us
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  who still have that human touch, That's the thing that is making
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  us to ring honey. I guess this is not purely a
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  sales episode, but I have a strong hunch, at least for now.
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  Maybe when the computers get better, OK, no problem.
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  But for now, honestly, I really think the future of marketing is
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  human centric, that human touch. So, well, somewhere what I'm
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  saying, OK, I guess I've already summarized it.
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  Let me just end the episode here.
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  No point in keeping you guys for longer than necessary.
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  So that's all for today folks. Remember, if you have any sales
• 16:04
  or marketing questions, you can bring them to me.
• 16:06
  You can call me, send me an SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140.
• 16:14
  So thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 16:16
  I will catch you next time. Same place in your headphones or
• 16:19
  in your speakers.