Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Sales Sanity: Tips for Mental Health & Success

Transcript

Sales Sanity: Tips for Mental Health & Success · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello and welcome to the show. Today is going to be a noisy
0:04
episode because it's a full house, the kids are home and I'm
0:06
not in the audio booth, so let's head straight to business.
0:10
Today is going to be a round wing episode because there are a
0:13
number of things that I want to touch on.
0:15
So this is not going to be one of those organised episodes, but
0:17
the first thing I want to tackle is a couple of ideas about how
0:21
to transition out of the sales role because I have made
0:25
podcasts in the past, podcast episodes in the past where
0:28
people are considering I'm about to take a sales job.
0:31
I would love to try out something sales marketing
0:37
related. How do I get into the
0:39
profession? So today I'm going to do a
0:42
podcast episode where we'll look at what to do if you happen to
0:46
be on the way out. Because I've always assumed
0:50
making this podcast, that a whole bunch of us have embraced
0:55
our identity as salespeople and are fully trying to take on
0:59
board all the skills, all the principles, all the concepts
1:01
that we discuss here and use that to move our businesses and
1:04
our careers forward. But it never actually crossed my
1:08
mind that there are some people who will come in and taste and
1:12
decide that, look, this is not for me and decide to come out
1:16
for whatever reason. So with today's episode, I'm
1:18
going to start exploring the subject.
1:20
What do you do if you've come in, you've tasted this world of
1:23
sales and you figure, like, man, this thing is not for me.
1:26
I want to transition out. So we're going to start
1:28
exploring some of these things. But like I said, today's 1 is
1:33
going to be a rambling episode. I'm going to take my time, give
1:35
it more thought, and then come up with that episode where I
1:39
give a much more structured approach about what to do if
1:42
you're on your way out. But for now, let me just start
1:45
the conversation. And before we get into the
1:48
details, like to do the usual shout out.
1:50
And today I'm going to be shouting out.
1:52
Sul Sulami. I'm sorry.
1:57
Hold on. How is this going again?
1:59
OK. Sulami Adekunle Abubakar.
2:04
Yeah. Sulami Adekunle Abubakar.
2:07
Sorry for pronouncing your name incorrectly because, well, First
2:10
off, it's this is the most it's a stranger by name.
2:14
I haven't come across that name before.
2:15
And well, anyway, so Salami Abubakar, he's in in sales and
2:21
engineering and he says that he's gotten so much value from
2:24
the podcast, especially since because I'm putting out so much
2:26
good stuff. And because of that, I'd like to
2:28
say thank you very much Salami, for the kind words.
2:31
I'm going to continue doing my best to provide the value and if
2:36
you are truly deriving value from the podcast, then make sure
2:38
you share it as far wide as possible so that other people
2:41
can come here and get the goodness as well.
2:45
Then updates about the radio show.
2:47
So it looks like the radio show is going to be green lit for
2:50
January the 14th, 2025, Tuesday, January the 14th.
2:56
So if that's the case, I'll let you guys know.
2:58
So now those of you who are Buja folk and who would like to use
3:02
that opportunity to get some free coaching, you know, call me
3:04
live on the air and let's see how we can brainstorm some of
3:07
the problems that you're facing in your businesses.
3:10
So let's go back to the focal point for today or one of the
3:14
focal points for today rather, since today is going to be a
3:17
rambling episode. Now I had a conversation with an
3:20
individual. I do not have his permission to
3:23
talk about this publicly, so I'm going to use a fake name.
3:27
So let's call the guy Tony Starks.
3:29
Now Tony Stark has been involved in a sales role working for a
3:33
company in Nigeria for the last four years.
3:35
And he figured that is now time to leave.
3:37
And the reason why Tony Stark would like to leave is because
3:41
he figures that with the amount of input that he's putting into
3:45
into the profession, the level of output that he's getting is
3:49
not commensurate. So he feels like he's throwing
3:51
in a lot and he's not getting a lot in return.
3:55
Then he also pointed out that there's a lot of no in the
3:59
business. You get lots of no's.
4:01
And for him, handling the no was becoming a problem.
4:04
And sometimes the no's would even make him withdrawn.
4:09
Now, for those of you who are listening to this and who are
4:11
not involved in sales, you guys might be wondering that guy like
4:14
that's a bit much, but actually he is telling the truth When
4:20
some of us because I grew up in a civil service home.
4:23
Yes, later on, once you become a, a marketing executive and all
4:28
and start getting exposed to some of these things, small,
4:30
small, and I probably would start selling cement and you
4:32
know, you start getting involved with some stuff.
4:34
But growing up in a civil service home, you know, it's not
4:37
as if you are exposed to this whole thing of talking to
4:40
strangers, trying to hustle business and you know, this and
4:43
this and that and that. So for people who are coming to
4:45
this thing cold, you haven't had any prior experience, the nose
4:49
can be, can be, can be quite unnerving.
4:54
In fact, the first time somebody shouts at you, it's it's a shock
4:57
because luckily for me, I've only been shouted at I think
5:00
maybe like two or three times. So I've been in business for a
5:03
while. I mean, wedding photography,
5:05
that was definitely like a decade and 1/2, I would say.
5:10
Yeah, I've only been shouted like three times.
5:12
But to be honest, the first time somebody will unleash and shout
5:15
on you is like, what? In fact, the first time my wife
5:18
witnessed somebody shouting on me, my wife cried as if she
5:20
cried and cried and cried. I said, yeah, poor babe.
5:24
Anyway, that's it. That's a topic for another day,
5:28
but I'm just trying to say that there's a lot of rejection and
5:30
stuff that goes into this thing, and it's not for everyone.
5:33
It's not for the faint of heart. Now, at this point, when I was
5:37
having the conversation with Tony Stark, I was about to tell
5:39
him that, look, there's ways that we can handle this and I
5:41
wanted to set some expectations. And these are stuff that I would
5:45
have said if Tony Stark didn't go ahead and give me one other
5:48
medical context that is that is a pivotal, that is critical to
5:53
how I decided to handle the conversation.
5:55
So you guys, please pay attention.
5:57
So before Tony Stark moved into the key critical medical part,
6:04
what I wanted to say was this. Well, by the way, Tony Stark, if
6:09
you're listening, this is not me telling you this.
6:11
I'm just admitting that while you were talking, this is stuff
6:13
I was getting ready to tell to you until you revealed to me
6:16
more information. That was that.
6:20
OK, you know what? I need to pipe low.
6:22
This is a different thing. So what I wanted to tell Tony
6:27
Stark was like, hey, dude, this thing can get harsh.
6:30
And sometimes we don't have the right expectations because
6:34
especially those of us born here, you know, Niger Primary
6:36
school, you know, that kind of thing.
6:38
We are used to a certain level of, you know, input output.
6:41
You know, you study hard, you get a lot, you don't study well,
6:44
you know, you fail your exams, that sort of thing.
6:47
But unfortunately the correlation in sales is just not
6:50
that. It's not the same.
6:53
Because you put 10% into sales doesn't mean you're going to get
6:56
10% back, and because you put 100% into sales doesn't mean
7:00
you're going to get 100% back. In fact, the level of rejection,
7:06
the level of failure, the level of whatever is high.
7:09
It's just that we do our best to make sure that we improve our
7:12
ability to find the right people.
7:16
And that's why this whole thing of ideal customer profile isn't
7:18
is important. We need to be able to find the
7:21
right people to talk to, initiate conversations with them
7:23
the right way, figure out the problems that they have, come up
7:27
with an effective and relevant proposal to show that we can
7:32
meet their needs, and then we try and close the deal.
7:34
So we try and get better over time, but there is no 100% in
7:38
sales. There's nobody who talks to 100
7:41
people and closes 100 deals. Take it from me.
7:44
It. Does not happen.
7:46
And if you find somebody who closes 100% of the deals of the
7:52
people that he talks to, one of one, the person is a magician.
7:54
Go and learn from him. And then #2 it just means that
7:58
this person has harnessed one really important skill that is
8:01
foundational to sales, and that is qualification and the
8:06
discovery Qualification is when you're trying to narrow down
8:08
people and discovery is when you're trying to figure out
8:11
their problems. So if somebody is closing the
8:14
deal 100% of the time means this person has become a dawn and
8:18
assassin. The person is a total killer.
8:21
He knows how to only or she knows how to only approach the
8:26
right person at the right time who has the need and is ready to
8:33
go ahead. And that is really, really hard.
8:36
It's statistically near impossible.
8:39
So when it comes to sales, there's no 100%.
8:42
So those of us who went through Nigerian primary school,
8:45
Nigerian secondary school, Nigerian university, we need to
8:48
adjust our expectations. In fact, if you talk to 100
8:51
people and you close 50 deals, you're a superstar.
8:54
You're a stud like you're a sales God.
8:58
So 50% gone is not even realistic in most situations.
9:03
So we already have to adjust and know that especially if you
9:07
haven't received any kind of training or support from your
9:10
line manager, from your Aga, from your CEO, from your
9:13
founder, from your whatever, don't expect that you're going
9:17
to talk to 10 people and close 5 deals.
9:21
So that's the first thing we need to make sure that we have
9:23
realistic expectations. So the whole point of sales
9:30
trading or sales coaching, the kind of things I do is that
9:34
first of all, we're going to try and figure out what your
9:35
baseline is. OK, normal, normal, no training.
9:40
You talk to 10 people, you close to deals with sales training.
9:44
We're trying to see how OK, you can go from 2 deals closed every
9:49
10 people or you can move from 2:00 to 3:00, maybe from three
9:52
to five, maybe from 5:00 to maybe 7.
9:55
You will never get a 10 / 10, not possible.
9:59
But these are the things that we try to, this is how we try and
10:02
increase it. Small, small, small.
10:04
So First off, you need to get in, be in the game for a while.
10:07
Yeah, I've been in it for four years, but without the right
10:09
training and support, all that helps you to do is to establish
10:12
a baseline. At least now you know what your
10:13
baseline is. You go look for some training,
10:15
go look for some coaching, go look for some materials, go look
10:18
for some podcasts, go look for some books, go look for some, I
10:22
don't know, whatever it is that helps you learn.
10:24
And then you should be able to increase the baseline over time.
10:29
But we need to have realistic expectations when we come in.
10:32
And if you're coming in without Niger primary school thing of
10:35
there's such a thing as 100%, you're, you're going to be
10:37
sorely disappointed. So this is part of what I wanted
10:40
to tell Tony Stark in the beginning, that look, we need to
10:44
have realistic expectations. There's no 100%.
10:48
And then of course, there's this thing in sales when we want to
10:51
make sure that we're even working on the right thing in
10:53
the 1st place because you can be throwing 100% effort, but if
10:57
you're working on the wrong thing, you are not going to be
11:00
getting the results. Let me give you an example.
11:03
There are lots of people, Niger people and I'm sure it's a
11:06
universal thing who they like to rush to presentation, any small
11:10
thing, presentation or presentation, presentation,
11:12
presentation. So you can be throwing 100% of
11:16
your effort into presentations. And this is one reason why I
11:18
tell people, calm down. Don't be starting with
11:21
presentation. Let presentation be in the end,
11:23
because you can make a beautiful presentation, but if you give a
11:27
beautiful presentation to the wrong person, you will not close
11:29
that deal. It's not going to happen.
11:31
It's the wrong person, The person can't make the decision
11:35
or the person does not have a need.
11:37
So the 4-5 hours that you wasted in coming up with our PowerPoint
11:40
presentation is equal to 0. And this is some of the problems
11:43
that we face. Sometimes you are talking to the
11:45
wrong person. I keep saying it.
11:48
If you spend 3 months building relationship with the houseboy,
11:50
it's it's to no avail. The houseboy can't decide on
11:53
anything. You need to be talking to the
11:54
ogar or to the Madam. That's the person that will be
11:56
able to say OK go ahead, let's do this thing.
12:00
So some of you are working very hard, but you're working hard on
12:02
the wrong things. Some of you are trying to
12:05
presentation, presentation present like becoming down.
12:08
Presentation is the end. It's not the beginning.
12:11
Some of you just rush quickly to presentation.
12:14
Oh, OK, I understand. No problem.
12:16
I'll send you, I'll e-mail you a proposal.
12:18
Did the person say e-mail me a proposal?
12:20
The person hasn't asked for a proposal yet.
12:21
You're starting off this whole thing already talking about
12:23
proposals and you forgive my rant.
12:26
I'm not trying to say that sometimes, yes, we're working
12:28
very hard, but working very hard on the wrong things.
12:30
So these are some of the things that we need to pay attention
12:32
to, have realistic expectations. There's also a thing as 100%.
12:37
Then also we need to make sure that as we're working hard,
12:39
we're working hard on the right things, that our input is the
12:42
right thing. So these are the kind of things
12:43
I wanted to tell Tony Stark, but I didn't tell him because he
12:48
came up with some more information, medical information
12:51
that was really, really important that we have to take
12:52
on board and that I'm hoping that you guys listen to this
12:55
podcast today are going to take on board as well.
12:58
Then I also wanted to tell Tony Stark that, look, this thing
13:02
about handling knows. Yeah, I understand it can be
13:04
personal. I've even told you guys that
13:07
I've been shouted at three times.
13:08
If I had that first shouting, I could not believe what had just
13:11
happened. So is it me that they're
13:13
shouting to like that as in a whole me?
13:17
Because of what? Because I'm chasing 250K Me
13:22
anyway, where was I? So yeah, I understand.
13:26
But I want to tell you now, look, sometimes we take these
13:29
things personal when we should not.
13:31
Because when people reject you, it's not really you they're
13:35
rejecting, it's the value proposition that they're
13:37
rejecting. So like me right now, if I come
13:40
and I'm talking to you, Orga, let's say you bring me into your
13:43
organization because you think you guys need sales training.
13:45
And I go there and I'm talking to you, Orga.
13:46
If you orga says no, it's not me he's saying no to.
13:49
He's saying no to the fact that he doesn't think you guys need
13:52
sales training in your organization.
13:53
And so because of that, it's not a problem.
13:55
I'll dust myself off when I leave because it it's one of
13:58
those things who who how to say he who lives and fights today
14:01
lives to fight another day. So I didn't close this one.
14:04
No problem, we move tomorrow, I'll close one is one of those
14:09
things and it's the attitude you need to take.
14:12
So if you are waiting photographer and somebody
14:14
shouted at you, the person might have had a bad day.
14:17
If the person says no, it could be no for any number of reasons.
14:21
But it's not you that the person is rejecting, it's the value
14:23
proposition. Maybe they don't think the
14:27
photography is good enough for their wedding albums and not
14:29
whatever. But you don't have to take it
14:31
personal. Is the value proposition as a
14:33
whole that the person is saying no to?
14:35
What you need to do is to learn how to look for people who are
14:37
aligned with the kind of value propositions you provide.
14:41
And then it'll be easier for you to close sales and for, you
14:46
know, bank accounts to be going up and up and up.
14:49
But we should not be taking this rejection personally.
14:53
There will be times when the rejection is personal.
14:55
If you have bad breath, halitosis, you know, you smell,
15:01
I don't know, you dress like a witch, then yeah, the rejection
15:04
is personal. But the good thing is in those
15:08
cases, people are already trying to tell you because, like, if
15:12
you smile, you know, your mum sees probably already telling
15:15
you that look my son bath before you go out.
15:19
So if you're one of those people that your wife is giving you
15:21
signs that look, my husband dressed like this or do this or
15:26
your husband is telling you wifey, I bet, why don't you do
15:30
it like this or, or babe, did you brush your teeth this
15:32
morning? Yeah, if you're getting those
15:34
comments, then OK, yes, when people say no, when they reject,
15:37
yeah, the problem is you for sure.
15:39
But for most of you listening to this podcast, you have not
15:42
gotten to that stage yet. And God willing, you will not.
15:45
So no, that is not you. It's just the value proposition
15:47
that they're saying no to. And when that happens, dust
15:50
yourself off and try again. Like Aliyah said, look for
15:53
people who are aligned and you'll be fine.
15:56
So to the wedding photographer like me now who's listening to
15:59
the show, you're trying to sell a certain style of photography
16:01
and people are not digging it when they say no, Don't feel
16:04
personally rejected. Like what is wrong with me?
16:06
There must be a problem with me. It's like I will stand up and
16:09
say, look, I know the value that I provide for this kind of
16:12
photography. Let me go and look for the
16:14
people who dig this style of photography and let me talk to
16:17
them. And that is how your rates will
16:19
go up. So if OK, like my friend Doctor
16:25
Mike, Doctor Mike's wife does interior decor.
16:28
She doesn't like the northern style of the interior decor
16:31
because she says it's too gaudy, too flashy, that any small thing
16:34
is gold and drapes and blah, blah, blah.
16:37
She likes things to be, you know, understated.
16:39
You know, some of that Europeans, well, that's Swedish,
16:42
you know, kind of aesthetic, you know, elegant, but small, small,
16:45
small. If you're an interior designer.
16:49
And that is what you do. And you go and you talk to
16:52
Alhaji, and of course the Alhaji will tell you, no, it's not you
16:55
that he's rejecting. It's the value proposition.
16:58
You might feel like they're rejecting it personally, but no,
17:00
it's not you. The Alhaji wants it big and
17:02
gaudy. He wants it gold, he wants it
17:04
flashy, he wants the drips. So when people enter his house,
17:06
they will see that Alhaji has arrived.
17:11
So it's not for you to take it personal and be angry and start
17:15
trying to change yourself or you get depressed, but stand up and
17:17
start looking for people like who are the people that like
17:20
this style of thing that I do? This is where prospect income
17:23
comes in. You see, we're now back to this
17:25
whole thing of ideal customer profile.
17:27
Who is my ideal customer? Who should I be chasing?
17:29
I start going after those people.
17:31
It is then you now start having conversations where in fact,
17:34
like I remember 1 bride I met and the bride said, oh thank
17:37
God, I was tired of being photoshopped.
17:40
When she said that, my heart was really glad.
17:42
I was like finally somebody who gets what I am trying to do.
17:46
It's the same thing if you're an interior designer, keep looking
17:49
for people who have that same sort of aesthetic that you're
17:51
trying to promote and somebody will tell you, ah my dear, I am
17:55
so glad you came because the last five people I spoke to,
17:58
everybody was showing me gold and everybody was showing me
18:01
heavy drapes and I don't like it.
18:02
Thank God you came and then you'll be happy.
18:06
So let's take, let's not take rejection personally.
18:09
It's not you, it's the value proposition.
18:11
You solve it by going back to the drawing board and by trying
18:14
to figure out who might be interested in my product or my
18:17
service. Where can I find these people
18:19
and start going there. Only if you sell pure water or I
18:26
give you bread. But then you spend all your days
18:29
working around Maitama, between maybe Hilton Hotel and Zenith
18:36
Bank and all those places, don't be surprised if you don't move
18:39
market. You know that's not where your
18:40
market hangs out. Same thing if you sell a luxury
18:45
kind of product and you go and set up your shop in Maraba or
18:50
Maraba one way or the outskirts of town the other way, you know,
18:53
after Wahladah and stuff like that and nobody's buying your
18:56
stuff. I mean, you are in the wrong
18:58
place. You're in the wrong crowd.
19:01
And in summary, what I'm just trying to say is let's not take
19:03
rejection personally. When people say no, it's the
19:05
value proposition that they are rejecting.
19:07
So this is the kind of stuff that I wanted to tell Tony Stark
19:11
before Tony Stark dropped the bomb on me and told me some
19:16
really important information. Now, Tony Stark pointed out that
19:20
he has had a clinical diagnosis for depression and this is
19:24
something that's been going on since uni.
19:27
Now you see that this is something that is totally
19:30
different because even before I met Tony Stark, I have been
19:34
saying time and time again on the podcast that mental health
19:37
issues are serious. And I told you guys about how I
19:42
ran into trouble with the road safety and how they say I should
19:46
go for they say I should go and see psyche that I must be mad.
19:49
I mean those idiots, they're the ones that are mad the young
19:52
people to obey traffic laws but you don't enforce them.
19:59
How do I put it? You know, no Rd. signs, you
20:01
know, things like that. I mean how are people supposed
20:03
to comply with laws that they don't know?
20:06
I mean, are we supposed to just magically know that this is not
20:09
a place to make AU turn even though it looks like a place
20:12
where you can make AU turn but you did not put a sign where
20:15
you're supposed to. You're not supposed to make U
20:16
turns anyway. Anyway, this army offers
20:20
psychiatrician. And that is, that is when I
20:22
discovered that in Nigerian hospitals, we actually have
20:25
mental health professionals who are there and nobody's going to
20:28
see them. Nobody.
20:31
There were nine of us then that road safety said we should go
20:34
and check whether we are mad or not.
20:36
And by the time we were leaving, I was the 9th person.
20:38
There was absolutely nobody else for the doctor to see.
20:42
Every other part of General Hospital in Area 3 was full.
20:45
Emergency was full, Maternity was full, everywhere was full.
20:50
Mental health place 03 doors. I don't know if the three
20:55
doctors were there, but only nine people.
20:59
So we should take advantage of these sorts of things.
21:04
If you work 9:00 to 5:00 and you're doing your, what's it
21:08
called your, is it insurance contribution or something, you
21:12
should be able to see these people for free.
21:15
You have to pay for your medicine, but you can walk into
21:17
General Hospital or whatever goes in the hospital and you
21:19
should be able to see these people for free.
21:21
If you want to be a private patient like I was back then,
21:25
consultation when this rubbish Rd. safety happened,
21:28
consultation I paid I think was like 6K or so.
21:30
But let's just assume that things have doubled or tripled
21:33
and let's say now consultation IS15K.
21:36
Back then, the consultation that 5K6K was for three weeks.
21:40
So you pay for your thing care, you'll be able to talk to the
21:42
doctor for three weeks straight. But we need to be taken
21:45
advantage of some of these things because there are some of
21:48
us that are stressed out, depressed, having psychological
21:52
issues, and we just don't know. Or maybe people interest have
21:56
been telling us that it's spiritual.
21:59
So these professionals are available in our government
22:02
hospitals, General Hospital. OK, Well, Mum, she told me they
22:06
don't call them general hospitals anymore.
22:08
So I'm not sure what their calls are, but you understand what I
22:10
mean. All those places that are
22:11
government hospitals, these people are there.
22:13
Let's go and see them. Because we find out about these
22:17
things early sometimes it's the beginning of saving a life.
22:22
You find out there's a problem, you talk to the professional,
22:24
you're going through counselling, they're giving you
22:26
medicine, you're making one or two changes.
22:28
It's the beginning of saving a life.
22:30
Because as one of my classmates, you know, we all thought he was
22:32
weird in secondary school. Where was the correct guy?
22:35
And the first time my sister met him, my sister said, Terry,
22:37
there's a problem with these guys and I problem how this has
22:39
always been. Now, you know, after university,
22:43
the guy just woke up one day and then he drank, you know, this
22:45
thing that he used to for fumigation.
22:49
Our voice was a shock like like him, 'cause he was a cool guy in
22:54
our life of the party, very bubbly fellow, you know, stuff
22:56
like that. But apparently he was going
22:58
through some issues. So mental health professionals,
23:04
they're here, we need to be talking to them.
23:07
So you think you're stressed or you think you're depressed, just
23:11
go in there and have a chat. Worst case scenario to Doctor
23:14
Otayla, Oh, young man, you don't have problem because like me,
23:16
that's what the doctor told me. That was only different thing.
23:19
Anyway, the doctor told me, long man, you don't have problem.
23:21
What happened is just stress, like you're broke right now,
23:23
money is not coming and that's the problem.
23:25
He said take this medicine, the thing will make you sleep.
23:27
By the time you wake up tomorrow, you'll be fine.
23:29
I said, doctor, Are you sure? He said sure, I took it and then
23:33
I slept like an elephant. I woke up the next day and I was
23:36
fresh and that's it. My problems are over.
23:40
I just need to sleep. And I had enough vim and we got
23:43
to face the next day. But for stuff for for people
23:47
like Tony Stark, you actually do go to the doctor and you figure
23:49
out, OK, you have a problem now you start solving it.
23:52
You're talking to a professional, you're going
23:54
through counselling, you're taking your medicine.
23:56
So for Tony Stark, I told him that look, now that you have a
23:59
clinical diagnosis, we should not play with this thing because
24:06
I have seen in my family and I've seen amongst my friends,
24:09
because that my friend who drank this, this liquid for
24:16
fumigation, you know, he's not the only one that my classmates,
24:20
unfortunately, he's not the only one we know that has taken his
24:22
life. You know that we've had a few
24:25
tragedies, you know, may that souls rest in peace.
24:29
So I don't joke with these things.
24:31
OK, if this one is clinical, then good.
24:33
Please, by all means, it's not a matter of trying to feel like
24:36
you're a tough guy. Please, by all means, remove
24:39
yourself from the situation. It is not going to be helpful.
24:43
If you think it's not helping you.
24:45
If the doctor says it's not helping you, then please remove
24:47
yourself from the situation. So now the conversation on how
24:50
to turn around this, that with the skills that you've gotten so
24:53
far in sales and selling and all these sorts of things, and with
24:59
the interest that he has and with the skill set, what kind of
25:01
alternative careers can we come up with a plan now to transition
25:05
into? So that's what the conversation
25:07
was now about. So he told me a little bit about
25:11
himself, things that he has done in the past, things that he
25:13
likes about sales and things like that.
25:15
And so I told him, OK, look, based on what you said, this
25:19
should be so excuse me. So excuse me, I was like, so I
25:26
told them, OK, I think that this should be the exit plan.
25:30
Based on the skills that you have, you might consider a
25:33
career in account management. This is what account management
25:37
means. Account management is also part
25:39
of the selling function. But account management begins
25:42
when you close the deal because when you're toasting people, you
25:45
bring them into the business. When they are now your customer,
25:48
you now have to do fulfilment, that is you have to do what you
25:52
promised. Now after I do fulfilment, you
25:54
have to do relationship building, you have to do follow
25:56
up and toasting. That's because you want people
25:58
to come back and do business again.
26:00
So that's what account management is now.
26:03
Tony Stark works with a Nigerian company that provides software
26:08
to enterprise businesses. Enterprise business just means
26:10
big business. So they provide software to big,
26:13
big clients like let's say Zenith Bank.
26:17
So sales is me, I'm going out and I'm talking to MD of Zenith
26:21
Bank. I'm trying to get them to become
26:22
our customer. Account management begins when
26:26
MD signs the cheque and then Zenith Bank now becomes a
26:30
customer. Account management is when is
26:34
the person in the business who now calls the IT people in
26:37
Zenith Bank. They say, OK, now that people
26:40
have become our customers, this is how you're going to set up
26:42
this software. You need this kind of computer,
26:45
you need this kind of software. You need to do it like this, you
26:47
need to do it like this. We teach them all.
26:49
This whole thing is called onboarding.
26:51
Onboarding is when you're trying to teach, set people up so that
26:54
they can successfully use your product or service.
26:56
All that is onboarding. So account management does that.
26:58
We onboard you. Then customer success is also
27:02
part of account management. What that just means is this
27:05
software, this solution that people are buying from us that
27:07
they should be successful using it because if they are not
27:10
successful, they will not come back.
27:12
If MD signs the cheque, MD's and its bank signs the cheque, then
27:15
OK, let's use these people. We'll pay them 250 M every year,
27:19
but then at the end of the year, MD says, hey, give me a report,
27:22
do you will use the software? Did the software help us make
27:24
money and say MD, we didn't use it or we used it, the software
27:27
didn't work, MD will swiftly just cancel the contract and
27:31
then that's how we're going to lose 250 M next year.
27:35
So customer success is part of the account management function.
27:38
The goal is to make sure that as these people are using this
27:40
thing, let them be getting value from it so that at the end of
27:43
the year we can come back to them and say, hey, Zenith Bank,
27:46
you guys, this software is working well.
27:48
Abby, you guys have gotten progress.
27:50
Abby is helping you grow. Abby OK, if that's the case, it
27:54
is now time you guys should renew for another year.
27:58
And your bill is 250 M. So that's the whole thing.
28:02
So this is also a selling function, but it has less
28:06
amounts of new because if you're doing account management and you
28:11
do relationship building, well, you call these people, you know,
28:14
every two, two months or whatever, you know, somebody in
28:17
the company you like to do follow up once in a while, you
28:21
go and drop hamper. You know, like people in the
28:22
insurance industry, they do that one a lot.
28:24
You know, like during December, my wife received 2 hampers.
28:29
You go and drop hamper, you know, things like that.
28:30
You make phone calls, you attend baby dedication, you know,
28:34
relationship building shop and then customer success.
28:38
You make sure that the product of the service that they bought
28:41
from you guys that they're driving value from it.
28:43
So if you do a good job in account management, most of your
28:47
people will actually say yes when it is time to resume to
28:52
renew. Now this is where in one area
28:54
where you can expect that if you have 10 clients that maybe eight
28:59
or nine of them can renew. When it comes to account
29:02
management, Oh yeah, you can expect good numbers like that.
29:04
In fact, with account management, you can expect 10 /
29:06
10 that you closed 10 customers in 2025.
29:11
You do account management very well.
29:13
You can expect ten of them to renew in 2026.
29:16
It's possible. It's highly doable.
29:19
So I told him you can transition to account management because
29:22
the level of know there is less. But unfortunately, he had
29:25
already resigned, you know, So I say, hey, yeah, if you hadn't
29:28
resigned, actually you and I would have come up with a plan.
29:31
Let's approach a line manager. Let's see how we can start that
29:33
conversation. Let's migrate you into account
29:36
management roles. Then if you have sales and
29:40
selling skill set, you can also do customer service roles,
29:47
excuse me. And then also told Tony Stark,
29:50
they can also do marketing and strategy roles because this
29:53
skills that you learn when you're doing sales, they work
29:56
well in account management, they work well in customer service,
29:59
they work well in marketing, they work well in the strategy.
30:02
So those are some of the avenues.
30:05
Now, since I've already done 30 minutes, I'm going to just wrap
30:08
this particular end of the discussion up now.
30:11
And then later on I will come back and come up with a proper
30:13
episode. Like OK, for those of you who
30:15
are already in sales, you want to transition out, you want to
30:19
leave. You're saying that Tavish and I
30:21
listen to your podcast. You lied to me, you seduce me.
30:24
Sales is not as good as I thought it was.
30:26
I want to leave. What's the game plan?
30:29
I'll come up with a podcast episode about that.
30:32
But summary is. We need to have the right
30:34
expectations. We need to make sure we're
30:37
working on the right things. That is only when we know
30:39
whether the level of input doesn't match the output.
30:41
We also should not take it personal when people tell us no.
30:44
They're saying no to the value proposition.
30:45
They're not rejecting you. And by the way, if they're
30:48
rejecting you, then it's easy to work on.
30:50
Go and see the doctor, cure your Bo, go and see the dentist, you
30:53
know, fix your teeth, whatever it is, or learn how to dress
30:56
well. And that should take care of
31:00
that problem. But.
31:03
If you suspect that is a problem, if your baby is telling
31:08
you, your wife is telling you that, hey babe, what's up now?
31:11
You're down, you're Moody, it's like you're depressed.
31:13
What's happening, blah blah blah.
31:15
If mumsy is telling you this, popsy is telling you this, wifey
31:18
is telling you this, you know blah blah blah.
31:20
Also, if you're a girl for instance, and your boyfriend is
31:24
telling you like hey it's your job self, they're stressing you
31:26
too much blah blah blah. If there has been a constant
31:28
conversation, please pick yourself up.
31:31
Go to any of these government hospitals.
31:33
Just go and pay the consultation thing.
31:35
These people are there. Nobody's talking to them.
31:37
Go and talk to them. Worst case scenario, they will
31:40
tell you, a young lady, you don't have a problem.
31:43
Maybe it's monthly, monthly and they're OK, no problem.
31:45
At least now you know there's no problem.
31:47
Or you might be a young man like me and the doctor tells you
31:49
that, oh look, what you're going through is normal.
31:52
You're a young father, you've not been sleeping.
31:54
Business is not going very well. It is not depression.
31:57
You're sleep deprived. Take this medicine, drink it.
32:00
It will knock you out tomorrow. You'll be fine.
32:03
So best case scenario, yeah, that's what happened.
32:06
But worst case scenario, if there's a problem, at least we
32:08
would have started. We will know and we'll start
32:10
working on it now. So you don't wake up like some
32:14
of my ideally departed classmates, and then you commit
32:16
suicide. So mental health is real.
32:19
We should be paying attention to these sorts of things.
32:21
And it's one of the reasons why I made today's episode.
32:26
So those of you who want to transition out, these are ways
32:29
of thinking about it. And if you suspect that, look,
32:33
this thing is weighing me down, go and talk to somebody, please,
32:39
please. And there are people available
32:41
in the government hospitals. I don't know about private
32:44
hospitals. And I know that if you go to the
32:46
private hospital, you pay serious, serious, serious money.
32:49
So go to the government hospital first.
32:51
Go and talk to those people. Even if you go to the government
32:55
hospital, you're not sure who you're supposed to talk to.
32:57
You go and talk to the regular family doctor and you tell them
33:00
the problem. They're the ones who now tell
33:01
you that, oh, OK, perhaps you should go and talk to somebody
33:04
in the psychiatric department or the psychology department or the
33:06
psycho, whatever department. They will refer you, but please
33:09
go talk to someone. All right, before I sign off,
33:15
let me just do a new segment. I'm going to call this LinkedIn
33:17
Diaries. On LinkedIn, there's a friend of
33:19
mine who's talking about moving to Kenya.
33:21
Makes sense. I understand, you know, Nigeria
33:23
can be. Very, very, very.
33:25
Frustrating. But The thing is, for those of
33:27
you who want to pick up and run to Kenya or to South Africa
33:30
because you're dealing with big questions like what is best for
33:32
my family? Can I get more out of life, you
33:34
know, should I leave Nigeria? Yeah, I understand.
33:38
But The thing is you're only just moving to a different
33:40
environment, but you're still going to face the same
33:42
challenges. And the same challenges are
33:44
going to be career advancement and how to build a business.
33:47
Because if you move to the UK and you start doing care work,
33:49
you have to think about career advancement.
33:51
How can I stop this care work and move into something that is
33:54
more, you know, administrative and you know, blah, blah, blah.
33:57
For those of you who end up in the UK, you know, and are doing
34:01
work in alternative energy is still the same thing.
34:03
How am I going to build my career?
34:05
I came in at entry level. How do I move to management or
34:08
how do I build a business in this environment?
34:11
For those of you who are in Dubai, for instance, because
34:14
there's people that do oil drilling in United by Arab
34:19
Emirates, One of my classmates is currently in drilling.
34:23
He left really early and the pace fantastic.
34:27
I'm Robapie, Brazil, interesting job that we don't know about
34:32
here in Nigeria. So he's doing oil drilling, some
34:35
other, I know one or two people. One guy used to be a wedding
34:38
photographer, you know, he left really early and he ended up in
34:41
construction in Dubai. Apparently the money there is
34:43
sweet as well. He says that Dubai is hot as
34:46
hell, but the money is sweet. And anyway, so the same thing
34:51
you go to Dubai, you still have to face all these problems, OK,
34:54
Currently I came in at entry level.
34:56
How am I going to advance my career or how am I going to
34:58
build a business in this Dubai that I'm living in?
35:01
You know, so it's not just salary, salary, salary means of
35:03
let me build business. Let me see what I can hand on to
35:05
my children. And for those of you who are
35:07
going to other parts of the world like Malaysia and India,
35:09
because those are the hubs that people are doing remote work
35:13
right now. You know, you're going to live
35:14
in India, live in Malaysia, People are looking for remote
35:17
workers there. So you're going to take
35:18
advantage of that or you're one of the Nigerians who are doing
35:20
teaching jobs over there. You know, it's, it's a good
35:23
thing. I know someone who actually is
35:25
doing that. She was actually a sales person
35:27
for a sales associate for a popular nightclub here in Abuja
35:32
and she ran for politics. So I thought by now I should
35:35
have rented the house. And then I was like, hey, how
35:37
far now? A long time, blah, blah, blah.
35:39
Turns out she's in Malaysia and that's what she's doing.
35:41
She's doing teaching and she's doing remote work.
35:43
And apparently the pay is good because even though you're
35:46
living and working in Malaysia, but you're being paid in dollars
35:49
and then quality of life, you know, so she has an extra,
35:52
there's some extra amount, you know, just do the math.
35:56
You know how you collect money, maybe like you know, $700.00 a
35:59
month by the time you do the exchange rate, you know, the
36:02
money is now looking big, big, big, big, big, you know, that
36:04
sort of thing. But it's still the same for
36:06
those of you who are in Malaysia or India.
36:09
I've come in at entry level. How do I build my career?
36:12
How do I get senior management or how do I build a business?
36:14
Let me not just be doing answering.
36:17
Yes Sir, yes, Sir, yes, ma, yes, ma.
36:19
So whatever it is that we're going to go to, we're not going
36:22
to be able to run away from some of these challenges.
36:24
Either way, you won't have to worry about your career or your
36:26
business. But bottom line, what I'm trying
36:28
to say is those of you who are trying to run to Kenya, don't
36:31
think that by running to Kenya, you guys are escaping.
36:35
You might be escaping some things, but the challenge is
36:37
still going to be the same. But granted, yes, Niger, yeah,
36:40
we have our issues, hyperinflation, security
36:42
challenges. I understand UK and Dubai sound
36:45
a whole lot sexy in Nigeria. But then again, it depends on
36:49
your context because there's some people that life is crappy
36:53
in Niger, but then you go to the UK and it's like you take a huge
36:57
step down in socioeconomic status and quality of life.
37:00
So it depends. Also, another one of my
37:03
classmates in OAU can use his real names.
37:05
Let me just call him Frodo. By the time all of us were
37:08
leaving the UK and people were like, hey Frodo, how far?
37:11
When are you leaving? Frodo asked the question.
37:13
He said, what am I going back to?
37:17
And in his own case, it made sense because Frodo had and has
37:21
nobody back in Niger. At least some of us when we're
37:25
heading back to Nigeria. My wife had already gone the
37:29
year before, Mumsy was still in Lagos.
37:31
At least some of us have some house that we can go to so that
37:35
we can start again, whether entering Mumsy's house to start
37:38
again or whether you're going to go and meet your wife and then
37:41
you are going to start again. Some of us are things we're
37:43
going back to. But Frodo had nobody.
37:45
Mumsy and Popsy were dead siblings scattered all over the
37:48
place, not much job prospects. So for Frodo, yeah, we
37:52
understood. It made a lot of sense for him
37:53
to stay back in the UK. And right now, he's happy with
37:56
his small wife and with his sorry as his small wife, with
37:58
his small house and with his wife.
38:00
And he has gotten all his legal certifications, and he's
38:02
practicing in the UK and it's good for him.
38:05
So it depends. You know, there are lots of
38:06
things that we ought to consider, but the summary that I
38:11
want to say is keep on your grind.
38:13
This whole thing of I go to Canada and my life will be fine.
38:15
I go to Kenya and my life will be fine.
38:17
It's not that simple. Lots of more factors to
38:20
consider. In fact, somebody asked me today
38:22
when am I moving to the UK and I told the person, yeah, I'll move
38:25
back to the UK, but not now. I'll move back when I'm a
38:27
billionaire because now I have more options.
38:29
I'm not going to move back now and then, you know, you know,
38:32
that whole rat race thing. But when I'm a billionaire, I'm
38:34
going to have more options. Any but that's broadcast episode
38:37
for another day. So yeah, maybe I'll move and
38:39
join you guys in the UK or Canada, but not now when I'm a
38:42
millionaire. When I'm a billionaire, then
38:43
yeah, I'll move. I'll come and join you guys and
38:45
then we can all flex together. So.
38:49
Yeah, that's it pretty much. So thank you very much for
38:51
listening to the episode. If you suspect that things are
38:54
kind of rough, like you're kind of in Tony Stark situation,
38:57
going to talk to somebody in the hospital, these people are
38:59
there, they love to help. It's their job.
39:02
People who study psychiatry, mental health, psychology, all
39:05
those things they study, it's not because.
39:07
They didn't know what to go and do.
39:08
It's because they're interested in these sorts of things.
39:10
How are people healthy? How do we keep people healthy?
39:12
How do we keep people in the right frame of mind?
39:14
If you'd love to connect and explore opportunities with me,
39:17
the phone number is 08064662140. Country code is +234.
39:22
For those of you who are not Nigerian, connect with me on
39:25
socials LinkedIn. So I spend most of my time.
39:27
The name is Tavishma Aide. That's the person's name to look
39:29
for. I'll let you guys know when the
39:31
radio show is up. And please, if you have been
39:34
following me on Facebook and all those other places, unfollow me
39:36
now. I've already started the process
39:38
of. Of what's the word deactivating
39:42
those accounts? I'm not going to be there any
39:44
longer. So thanks for your time and
39:45
attention. I'll catch you guys at the next
39:46
episode.