Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Unlocking Profitability: Finding Clients Who Make You Money

Transcript

Unlocking Profitability: Finding Clients Who Make You Money · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Today's episode is going to be a
• 0:04
  very noisy out and about one because I'm actually in the car
• 0:08
  park as we're doing this, but I'm about to hit the road today.
• 0:11
  I have to go to Villa. So let me just make this podcast
• 0:13
  recording real quick. So today we're going to look at
• 0:17
  how we arrived at the ICP and that's the ideal customer
• 0:21
  profile or the ideal client profile for ABC Decor.
• 0:26
  Now for those of you who listen to the previous episode, ABC
• 0:29
  Decor is a company, not the real name because I didn't, I don't
• 0:34
  have the guy's permission to talk about this.
• 0:36
  So I'm preserving the guy's identity.
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  So ABC Decor, that's the fictionalized name of his
• 0:41
  company. We had some interactions a while
• 0:44
  back, we didn't, he didn't end up becoming a client.
• 0:46
  So that's the reason why I'm talking about his company here.
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  Anonymized, of course. Now, the reason why I'm doing
• 0:54
  this because I think the conversations that I had with
• 0:57
  ABC Decor, a perfect example about how to explore growth
• 1:02
  strategy, growth opportunities for your company.
• 1:05
  So this is the beginning of a series that I want to use to
• 1:08
  wrap up 2024 so that you know, you know, you guys can step into
• 1:13
  2025 with some ideas about how you know, these ideas apply to
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  you, these strategies, these tactics apply to you and your
• 1:22
  businesses. So I'm going to wrap up 2024
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  exploring ideas for growth strategy and tactics,
• 1:27
  specifically the conversations that I had with ABC Decor.
• 1:30
  And let's see how that applies to your own, to your own field.
• 1:35
  So before we continue, let's do the usual shout outs.
• 1:38
  So first shout out is to my homeboy, Krauter Rafael.
• 1:42
  He's a web developer. And I know I pronounced the name
• 1:45
  correctly because once I saw the spelling, I knew, OK, this is a
• 1:48
  chief guy. So he's a chief guy for sure.
• 1:50
  So Krauter, Krauter, Rafael, thanks for listening to the
• 1:54
  show, reached out to me on LinkedIn.
• 1:58
  Krauter, I have some recommendations for you because
• 2:00
  on your profile you say that you develop S class websites and
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  that you also do G SAP react dot JS.
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  Now, I've made a podcast episode in the past about how those of
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  you who are techies, you know, people that have tech
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  specialties and stuff like that. How sometimes you know, you get
• 2:16
  it twisted because let's face it, your customers might be
• 2:20
  ordinary guys, you know, like me.
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  And to be honest, for ordinary guys like me, I have no idea
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  what an S class website is. I didn't even know that the
• 2:28
  different classifications of websites.
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  I just assume that websites are different according to the to
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  the purpose. So if you're trying to get
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  someone like me to be a client, you know you can't be putting on
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  your profile S class websites or GSAP reacts just JS.
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  You know when you're coming up with your profiles.
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  Just be sure who it is that you're trying to attract.
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  If there's a regular customers like me, you need to be able to
• 2:51
  talk in terms of the benefits that one gets if they have an S
• 2:55
  class website or the benefits that somebody gets if they use
• 3:01
  someone who is G SAP react dot JS certified or whatever.
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  I'm assuming that that's a certification.
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  You know, I could be wrong. So when we're beefing up our
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  profiles and talking about our businesses, talking about what
• 3:13
  we do for those of you who are techies, you know, I beg you
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  guys, be really, really careful. But then again, if S class
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  websites, maybe if like if your ideal audience is is tech savvy
• 3:24
  and they understand those terms, then then sure, by no means, you
• 3:27
  know, just ignore exact all the things that I've said.
• 3:30
  So Qwaute, thanks for listening to the show.
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  If you're like Qwaute and you do tech related stuff, always
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  remember, instead of putting all that tech thing on your profile,
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  just speak in terms of benefits to the customer so that ordinary
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  guys like me when we see will now understand like, oh, OK,
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  this is the kind of website I need for my business.
• 3:46
  And then they hit you up. Then also shout out to Samuel
• 3:50
  Iffy. OK, Nigerian.
• 3:54
  We didn't just so I didn't get where he's from.
• 3:57
  Discovered the podcast on Spotify, reached out to me on
• 3:59
  LinkedIn. So Samuel FA Obri Koho, I'm
• 4:05
  assuming I'm pronouncing that name right because the Koho is
• 4:08
  KOGHO. So Samuel FA Obri Koho.
• 4:11
  Thank you very much for listening to the show.
• 4:12
  He's a copywriter and a ghostwriter.
• 4:16
  Then also shout out to Ahmed Obieto.
• 4:21
  I know I'm not pronouncing that one well.
• 4:23
  So Samuel Obieto is the sales manager for MSN in and they
• 4:28
  cover. OK.
• 4:29
  I think he's responsible for sales Nigeria, Ghana and
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  Equatorial Guinea. That's a really handsome
• 4:34
  portfolio and I'm sure that you're being paid as such.
• 4:37
  So let's see. Yeah, he said he stumbled upon
• 4:40
  the podcast and he thinks I'm doing great work on the podcast.
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  So thank you very much, Mr. Ahmed Obieto.
• 4:47
  Yeah, I appreciate the, I appreciate the kind words.
• 4:50
  So quota, Samuel Iffi and Ahmed Obito, thank you very much for
• 4:54
  listening to the show. Those are the shout outs for
• 4:56
  today. So like I said, what we're
• 4:59
  trying to do is looking at how we arrived at the ICP, the ideal
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  customer profile for ABC Decor, not the real name.
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  And the whole point is we're trying to explore tactics and
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  ideas for growth strategy and see how it applies to your
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  business. So as we're listening to this
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  series, whether you're a wedding photographer, whether you're a
• 5:18
  fashion designer, whether you export charcoal, whether you
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  sell catfish or or whether you sell cars, just be listening to
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  you without mind frame all these ideas that we're talking about
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  today. How's it going to apply to my
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  own business? How am I going to use it to move
• 5:29
  my ministry forward? So the first question that we
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  tackled for ABC Decor was this whole thing on ICP Ideal
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  customer profile. Now I want to answer the
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  question why? Why are we even bothering about
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  this whole thing of ICP? Because we need to determine
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  where we're going to spend most of our time or most of our
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  attention or most of our resources when it comes to sales
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  and marketing. Because money is tight.
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  You know, the economy is hard these days.
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  You can't take the small money you have.
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  You say you want to run Instagram ads and they're just
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  running it everywhere running anyhow, they're just wasting
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  money. And it's the same thing with
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  time. You can't just be wasting time
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  or money. So that's why this whole thing
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  of ICP becomes really important. Who am I supposed to chase
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  after? Who am I supposed to be
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  pursuing? You need to figure out this
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  thing first and foremost. And then once you decide spend
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  your time chasing these people, spend your money chasing these
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  people. So that's the reason why this
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  whole talk about ICP is really important.
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  So you should be thinking about that.
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  Whether you do catfish, whether you export charcoal, whether you
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  sell cars or whether you do solar energy, you need to figure
• 6:26
  out who is my ideal customer. Then for ABC, the call how we
• 6:31
  decided on ICP because you remember from listening to the
• 6:34
  previous episode, the ICP for him was corporate offices,
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  hotels, homeowners, real estate developers and property
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  managers. Now I know that that's a bit
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  broad, you know, customer segments versus ICP, but you
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  know, we'll get to that in the future.
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  But I just want to tell you guys how we arrived at that corporate
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  offices, hotels and then homeowners, real estate
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  developers and property managers.
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  Now how we arrived at the ICP was quite simple.
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  So first of what we did was we looked at his trading history.
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  Trading history just means why are the people that have paid me
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  money before? This is a very good way to
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  start. Because The thing is, if XYZ
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  classes of people have paid me money before in the past to do
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  business for them, then chances are that XYZ class of people
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  might be good people to do business with in the future.
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  So that's why it's a good idea to look at your trading history.
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  Open up your computer, open up your WhatsApp, open up your
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  invoices, open up your banking app.
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  And then you start saying, OK, the time when big, big money was
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  sitting in my account, who did it come from?
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  OK, it came from Okechuku this, it came from Odugu that.
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  And then I'll now give you a sense that, oh, OK, my best
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  customers are actually EBO guys between the ages of social and
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  so who dealing this and this and that and that.
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  So that's not a bad way for figuring out your ICP.
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  So look at trading history. Who has paid you money in the
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  past? Open up your WhatsApp message,
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  look at the conversations, check your invoices, your bank
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  statements. If you have an invoicing app
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  like I do, open up the invoicing app and then look at it, you
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  know, where did the sweet money come from?
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  And yeah, so trading history. And that is how we arrived at
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  the 1st 2:00 because ABC Decor, the people that have paid them
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  money in the past was corporate offices and hotels.
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  That's where most of the business had come from.
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  So that's the first part trading history.
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  Then the second part of your ICP is a little bit of common sense
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  and then a little bit of who you desire to work with.
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  So that's where the whole thing of homeowners comes in now
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  because he has done small work with homeowners and it's
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  something he wants to explore. And so getting to homeowners,
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  that's why we're not talking about real estate developers and
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  then property managers using a channel strategy.
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  And remember, channel strategy is you're trying to run after
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  some customers. There are some people who
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  already do business with those customers.
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  So just hook up with them, partner with them, and then see
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  what you guys can run. See how you guys can address the
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  market the same way, you know, you take your Commission or you
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  know people take percentage or however it is that you want to
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  do. That's what the channel strategy
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  is. So here you can see a very
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  straightforward approach for deciding your ICP that we did
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  with ABC the core. So First off, trading history,
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  the sweet money, where did it come from?
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  In his own case, the sweet money came from corporate people and
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  from hotels. So do the same, get your
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  WhatsApp messages, get your invoice, get your whatever, and
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  start trying to figure out who paid me money the most.
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  Where did sweet money come from? You know, where did the big
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  money come from? You know who has been paying me?
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  Just look at it. You start getting a sense of who
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  your ideal customers are or who you should be running after and
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  #2 use some common sense or who you desire to work with.
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  They want to do some work with ABC Decor.
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  He and his crew want to work more with homeowners, so we put
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  them on the list. And it sounds big, it sounds
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  fancy, it sounds tech ICP. But you can see that the way of
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  arising at ICP can be a very straightforward, common sense
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  approach. So it's not something that takes
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  a long time to figure out. So, oh, sorry, I forgot.
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  For those of you who would love to connect with me, the phone
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  number is 08064662140. You can also connect with me on
• 10:02
  social media, especially LinkedIn, the name to look for
• 10:05
  establishing my IED. So if you're trying to unlock
• 10:08
  growth in your business, step one is let's get clear on the
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  ICPICP just means who are we chasing?
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  Who are we pursuing? You know, who are we running
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  after? That's the central question.
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  Or else we are going to waste time, we're going to waste
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  resources, we're going to waste money, we're going to waste
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  whatever it is that you have running after the the wrong set
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  of people. And so to get clear on the ICP,
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  the question is you need to ask yourself, you just sit down.
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  Sit down with your wife, sit down with your husband, sit down
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  with your business partner, sit down with the pencil and the
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  paper, sit down with Mumsy Popsy or sit down with your mentor,
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  whoever. Sit down with your pastor you
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  offer and get a sheet of paper. And then start asking yourself
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  these questions. Trading history, who, who has
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  paid me for business in the past?
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  Start writing it down. There's some common sense.
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  Who do you want to work with in the future or who might be
• 10:57
  interested in this part of our service?
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  I just start writing it down. A clear picture will start to
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  emerge about who it is. That could be your ideal
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  customer. Now, one thing that you guys
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  need to know when it comes to sales is it's not all I put it.
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  It's not the science. You know, there's some trial and
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  error. There's some art here.
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  So the fact that we are starting with trading history and common
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  sense, who do you want to work with does not mean that is where
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  we will end, but it is a very good sure place to start.
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  So you can start and realize that this way we're starting is
• 11:31
  not working out. Based on the market feedback I'm
• 11:33
  getting, I should be paying attention to these sorts of
• 11:35
  people instead. It's not a problem.
• 11:37
  It is part of the sales process that we take feedback from the
• 11:42
  market when we're going out there and we're trying to get in
• 11:44
  customers. So it's not a problem that you
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  start one way or that you end another.
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  But the surest way to begin this thing is look for people who I
• 11:51
  paid you. Where did sweep money come from?
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  Who are the nice guys to work with, the nice girls to work
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  with and use some common sense who desire to work with.
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  Then, you know, start getting a sense of the psychographics or
• 12:02
  demographics. Psychographics.
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  So elements are demographics. Demographics is just the easiest
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  stuff that they taught us in primary school in Nigeria.
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  What is the person's age, occupation, ethnicity, where do
• 12:12
  they live? You know, all those sorts of
• 12:13
  things. Those are demographics and
• 12:15
  psychographics. That's the newer stuff.
• 12:16
  What are their hobbies? What are they interested in?
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  You know, stuff like that. So it is from sitting down with
• 12:21
  a pen and paper and a trusted resource, doing some
• 12:23
  brainstorming sessions, we'll be able to come up with the
• 12:25
  demographics and the psychographics of who should be
• 12:27
  running after. That is how you will know that,
• 12:30
  OK, for my business, I should be looking at evil men aged between
• 12:33
  60 and 75 who live in Anambra and Inugu and you know, blah,
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  blah, blah. You'll be able to get a very,
• 12:39
  very tailored, direct sense of who you should be running after
• 12:43
  because you've done this exercise.
• 12:45
  That is how we make sure that we don't waste money when we're
• 12:48
  running our Instagram ads or our Google ads because you know
• 12:51
  exactly who to target. Because if you say you just want
• 12:54
  to target Nigerian men age between, you know, 60 and 75 and
• 12:58
  you just blast it out like that, I mean, that could be anybody.
• 13:01
  It could be Thief men, Beno State, Nassara, Taraba State,
• 13:06
  that same age. It could be people in the east
• 13:09
  that same age. It could be people in the border
• 13:12
  towns, almost like all the way up to the Niger Republic.
• 13:16
  It could be anybody. So when you find something that
• 13:18
  narrows it down, small, small, small, it helps.
• 13:21
  So if it is men 60 to 75 in Anambra and Enugu, it helps if
• 13:29
  you can narrow it even more based on psychographics.
• 13:31
  Maybe people who are African. OK, no, I was going to say
• 13:35
  African traditional worshippers, but I don't know how you would
• 13:38
  target African traditional worshippers in using Facebook or
• 13:41
  using Google. Let me see.
• 13:44
  Let me see when you catch my drift.
• 13:47
  The more targeted, the more narrow you can make it, the
• 13:50
  better. So let's run after a specific
• 13:52
  target and then the odds, the chances that we're going to be
• 13:56
  successful with our sales and marketing efforts, the more the
• 14:02
  the odds are increased. So yeah, that's it for today.
• 14:06
  Let me just rush home, get the kids ready so we can hit the
• 14:10
  road. Join Message for the rest of you
• 14:12
  who are travelling to Villa or who have wonderful holiday
• 14:15
  ideas. It's my prayer that we're all
• 14:17
  going to have a wonderful Christmas, especially those of
• 14:20
  us who are travelling and the people that we're going to go
• 14:22
  and meet. I hope that we meet them in good
• 14:24
  health, everybody in good health, everybody in good cheer
• 14:28
  and that, you know, bad. I see bad.
• 14:30
  Rough as the economy is, you know, hopefully we'll be able to
• 14:32
  flex and have a good time and looking forward to wrapping up
• 14:36
  2024 strong so that we can start off 2025 even stronger.
• 14:41
  So have a safe trip for those of you who are hitting the road or
• 14:44
  hitting the skies or if any of you are travelling by boat, if
• 14:48
  people travel by boat too. So everyone have fun.
• 14:52
  If you'd love to connect with me, then call me or WhatsApp me
• 14:55
  on 08064662140 again on social media, on LinkedIn, the name to
• 15:01
  look for establishment idea. So thank you very much for your
• 15:04
  time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next
• 15:05
  episode.