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Is Your Outdated Google Profile Killing Your Sales? · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Today on the podcast, we're going to be talking about why
• 0:04
  you should take your Google My Business profile a lot more
• 0:08
  seriously than you actually do. That's for those of you who even
• 0:11
  know about it. Yeah, today's podcast episode is
• 0:15
  about why you should take this thing seriously.
• 0:18
  Now the reason why is this, for those of you who've been
• 0:21
  listening to the podcast for a while, you are aware that I'm
• 0:25
  currently in Makudi in Benoit State for the Christmas holidays
• 0:30
  here with my kids, wifey, you know, to come and stay with mom,
• 0:33
  see play with my uncles and aunties, you know, cousins, you
• 0:36
  know, every, every. And of course, you know, when
• 0:41
  you travel like that now, whether big travel, you know, UK
• 0:45
  or without small travel, you know, Niger local for those of
• 0:50
  us who have kids, you know, you look for stuff to do or maybe
• 0:54
  you're used to certain things, your normal lifestyle at home,
• 0:59
  but then you go to a place for halls and so you're looking for
• 1:02
  certain things. Now there are lots of us who are
• 1:05
  business owners who lose head of the fact that nowadays when
• 1:09
  people are looking for things, they don't just ask around
• 1:13
  anymore. It's easy to just pull up your
• 1:15
  phone and then type, you know, cool places to hang out in
• 1:18
  Makodi or cool places to take your kids in Makodi or nice
• 1:26
  romantic places, you know, for a date in Macadi.
• 1:30
  You know those kinds of things because of course you know, you
• 1:33
  come, you know it's holiday, you know, things like that, but you
• 1:37
  don't know how know how for those of us who are married, you
• 1:39
  know, you suppose carry wifey and you know, enjoy yourself
• 1:45
  before you go back home, you know, to normal hustle and
• 1:48
  bustle. And it's the same thing whether
• 1:49
  people are traveling, you know, to Ghana or to Republic of Benin
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  or to Toronto or to Paris or to New York or Brazil or whatever.
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  There are lots of us who are traveling up and down, going
• 2:04
  here and there, and we're using Google to find interesting
• 2:08
  places to hang out, places to go, you know, things like that.
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  Now, unfortunately, in Nigeria, there are still lots of business
• 2:16
  owners who have lost sight of this simple fact of everyday
• 2:21
  life for the average Nigerian. And I realized that when I was
• 2:27
  on my radio show, which is the business booster show on Radio
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  Maria 91.3 FM. So apart from this podcast, I
• 2:34
  also have a radio show and I was talking about Google My Business
• 2:38
  and WhatsApp business profile. And then somebody called in to
• 2:41
  say which one is Google My Business?
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  That's our shock. Like so in 2025, there are
• 2:49
  Nigerian business owners who do not know what the Google My
• 2:52
  Business profile is. So I took my time to explain,
• 2:57
  but as I was explaining now from the kind of phone calls that are
• 2:59
  coming in, I said ha, now wow. As I said, people don't really
• 3:05
  get like they don't understand this thing.
• 3:07
  So on the radio show I dedicated I think must have been like 3 or
• 3:11
  4 weeks just on this simple topic, Google My Business.
• 3:16
  And, you know, yeah, people are happy and, you know, I did what
• 3:21
  I did and I just left it. But then now I'm with the fam
• 3:26
  also at 1 moment. OK, Sorry about that.
• 3:30
  You know, I just set an alarm so I can turn off the solar system.
• 3:39
  Yeah. Before going to bed.
• 3:41
  All right. Oh, sorry.
• 3:43
  I'm making today's podcast recording late at night.
• 3:46
  Of course, it's at home, still in the villa.
• 3:49
  Everybody has gone to bed. So I'm trying not to shout.
• 3:51
  So that's why I'm sounding mellow.
• 3:53
  It's nice if I'm trying to sound sexy for you guys.
• 3:55
  I'm just, you know, I don't want people to come outside.
• 3:58
  And then they'll see uncle just talking into a microphone, into
• 4:01
  the phone. And they'll be saying that
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  what's this strange uncle doing? You know, all these city
• 4:06
  dwellers that, you know, they have some very strange habits.
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  Anyway, where was I? Gosh, I've lost my train of
• 4:16
  thought. So on the radio show now, after
• 4:20
  I did that 3-4 week stint about Google My Business, I figured,
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  you know, all is well, I'll put some truth out into the world,
• 4:27
  all is well. But then we came to Markudi now
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  and I was just thinking, especially since this is a
• 4:34
  working holiday for me because we're currently taking
• 4:37
  candidates for the series of trainings that are coming up on
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  the 12th of January to the 23rd of January 2026.
• 4:45
  I've been talking about it on the podcast because my business
• 4:48
  partners and I have put together a training where we're going to
• 4:52
  talk you guys through the rudiments of selling over the
• 4:55
  phone. How do you prospect over the
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  phone? How do you look for people who
• 5:01
  might be interested in your product or your service?
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  How do you do that over the phone?
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  How do you start conversations with people over the phone?
• 5:07
  How do you do need analysis over the phone?
• 5:09
  How do you figure out what they need over the phone?
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  How do you build relationships over the phone?
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  How do you schedule advancements?
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  How do you get meetings? How do you get bookings?
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  How do you do all that over the phone?
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  How do you negotiate over the phone?
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  How do you hack all over the phone?
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  How do you price over the phone? When people complain, when
• 5:33
  people have objections and they don't want to move forward, you
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  know, with your agenda, with the relationship, with the
• 5:39
  engagement, with whatever, you know, how do you handle that?
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  How do you close the deal over the phone?
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  How do you make proposals and presentations over the phone?
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  So these are the sorts of things that the training is going to
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  cover. Now because of that, even though
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  on holiday, I have been speaking to people who have been applying
• 5:55
  for the program. So this has sort of been like a
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  working holiday. So excuse me, you know,
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  initially my wife was angry, but I told her, look big.
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  You understand now like this is what I do, you know, I gas.
• 6:08
  I gas also. So yeah, we're in the villa for
• 6:14
  holidays, but still having conversations with you guys
• 6:17
  every single day. And the reason why is because
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  for those of you who are going to register to be a part of the
• 6:22
  program, I need to be able to know who you are, what you do,
• 6:26
  the business that you run, the problems that you're faced with,
• 6:29
  your businesses, the goals that you have for 2026, the things
• 6:33
  that are hindering you. Just so that when we do this
• 6:36
  training, all the things we talk about, the ideas, the
• 6:42
  principles, the content that we go through is going to be
• 6:45
  instrumental to help you to get where you need to be in 2026
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  with your business. So because of that, this has
• 6:52
  been a working holiday for me. Now, how did I get to this?
• 7:00
  Anyway, Sha, if you're interested in being a part of
• 7:02
  the program, then you can call, send me a text message or a
• 7:05
  WhatsApp message on 08064662140. You can also connect with me on
• 7:13
  LinkedIn. My name is Tavishima Ayede, I'm
• 7:15
  the host of the podcast. Well, by the way, if you like
• 7:18
  all the things we're talking about so far, please subscribe
• 7:20
  on Spotify, YouTube, Apple or any player of your choice.
• 7:26
  Now, how did I get here? I've really lost my train of
• 7:28
  thought. So yeah, so basically I just
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  picked up my phone and I googled, you know, cool places
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  to hang out with kids in marketing.
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  And then a couple of places came out.
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  I wrote down the 1st 5 or 6 and I figured what we'll do is we'll
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  just take one every single day. So that was my plan.
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  You know, on day one, me and wifey couples night, just date
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  then, you know, day 2, the kids, day three, wifey day 4, the
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  kids, day five, you know, understand just the alternate
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  like that so that even though I'm working during the day, at
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  least evening time with the Flex.
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  And then something really interesting happened on that day
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  one. Now the number one on the list,
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  a punch up into Google Maps. I hit direction.
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  Lo and behold, direction is not correct, location is not
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  correct, the pictures not correct, menu not correct, phone
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  number not updated. As in nothing was correct that
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  first night. But luckily now my wife is a
• 8:43
  very I'm lucky you, my wife is a very calm babe, very cool babe.
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  So me I was panicking like hey see as I planned romantic
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  evening. Meanwhile nothing they said as
• 8:54
  in nothing the you understand nothing was clicking.
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  So more I said like babies is OK like I understand.
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  She told me that the thing that tripped her is not that whether
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  they think click or they think no click was that I even thought
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  about doing something in the 1st place.
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  And so we found one nice place and we just chilled there.
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  It turned out to be a very local spot.
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  You know, if you come from these places, you know, Ben Wayne,
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  NASA, our Plateau state, you understand the kind of joints
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  I'm talking about. So was very nice.
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  Local sports. We are playing FIFA, so I got
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  some Origin bitters. Then for how we got some vodka,
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  we got catfish, pepper soup. What do we have again?
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  Pepper, chicken, pepper, goat meat.
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  Then what do we have again? You understand, Just generally
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  just, you know, relaxing FIFA, catfish, chicken, pepper goats,
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  Origin Vitas, you know, very nice, simple romantic evening.
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  Then I went back home and then I was wondering in a place like
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  Makudi, is it possible that people don't know about Google
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  My Business profile and they don't take advantage of a Google
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  My Business profile? So that if anybody should make a
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  simple search about something like Best Taylor in Makudi, your
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  name will show up, your business address will show up, you know,
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  your location will show up, Google map will take you there.
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  The phone number is updated, people can call you, people can
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  leave review, people can send you e-mail.
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  I was wondering in 2025, is it possible and this is the case?
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  I said, you know what, it must be a one off.
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  So I just flash it. Then day two time to take the
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  kids out. We punch in everything.
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  Pope Pope address came up. I was just in one of my cousins.
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  I told her this where I'm going. She said, hey, where is it?
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  I sent her the location. She wrote me back.
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  She said, bro, this location. No, you know Jive, you know jive
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  how what do you mean? She said I know the business 1
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  and the guy been telling me say like he's in a new location.
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  Something, something, something Basha, don't just go there in
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  case my information is wrong. So I told her, OK, yeah, Mimi,
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  thanks No Allah. And then my mom overheard the
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  whole thing. And so that's how mom, she was
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  saying that. Look, Tereshima, before you go,
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  just call that number. Just verify.
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  So that's OK. No problem.
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  So now I called the number and guess what, Popo, the thing
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  ring. No answer.
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  Anyway, later on, somebody else called me back.
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  I said, who is this? The guy said Moses.
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  I said, who is Moses? They said, well, I don't know.
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  Somebody called me from this number.
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  So now I put two and two together.
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  I said, oh, is this so, so, so, so children's Park?
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  The guy said, Oh yes, around the place.
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  So I told the guy that look, guy, I've been trying to look at
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  your establishment. The team that show up on Google
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  is one thing, but my cousin is telling me that this is another
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  thing. The guys say, Oh yeah, the
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  business has moved. So next thing I told the guy
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  that see guy, there's something that we call Google My Business
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  profile. I'm telling you this one for
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  free because I'm a business consultant from out of state.
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  I'm just looking for a cool place where I can handle my kids
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  and it doesn't matter how many businesses I'm checking so far
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  not in their line. The information is not accurate,
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  the phone number is not accurate.
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  The pictures are out of date. The address is, you know, like
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  nothing. So I told him this is what you
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  do, Google the name of your business and then you see a lot
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  of information on it. All you have to do, my brother,
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  is go and click on claim this profile.
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  That's all. Now when you click on claim this
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  profile, Google is going to send you a link over the phone.
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  Well, you can select how you want it done so that you can
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  verify that you are who you say you are so that they can give
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  you access to this profile. And then when they do that, go
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  and upload up to date pictures about this your kiddies pack.
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  Put up to date pictures there. Go and put an accurate phone
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  number that you answer. Then what else did I tell him
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  again? Then go and drop a pin in Google
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  on that location so that anybody that is looking for that kiddies
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  pack, once they click on that thing, Google will take them
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  straight to your location. So that's why I told the guy and
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  he was like, oh, thank you very much.
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  And he asked me, oh by the way, what's your name?
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  I told him my name is Tarishman, said no, allow save it.
• 13:46
  And after the holidays when I get back to Abuja, I'll call him
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  and I'll tell him, look bro, I hope you took that advice.
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  Bottom line, what I'm trying to say is this, maybe it's because
• 13:56
  you know, my people, you know, we know to go school because
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  like people in Lagos, people in Ogun, people in a Kitty, like
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  even in the the Midwest, you know, like Benin, you know all
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  those places, you know, they've been going to school since.
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  So maybe my people were still, you know, like were simple
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  provincial folk, you know, we know to go school.
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  But I'm shocked about how many businesses are not taking
• 14:25
  advantage of Google My Business profile.
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  The idea behind the Google My Business profile is this.
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  If your customers by any chance are looking for your product or
• 14:36
  your service online, you want to make sure that you are easy to
• 14:40
  be found there so that they consider you.
• 14:43
  It's not as if they will pick you by force.
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  By force because look at what I did.
• 14:49
  I just ran a simple search. Of course, lots of options came
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  out. I just selected the first seven,
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  the first eight. That's simple.
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  And I said, we go to alternate day one, wifey, day two kids,
• 15:03
  day three wifey day 4 kids. So it's not as if you might be
• 15:08
  picked, but give yourself a chance of being in the running.
• 15:14
  I'm shocked that in 2025 I have to be saying something as basic
• 15:20
  as this. If you are one of those people
• 15:23
  who have never heard of Google My Business, Google My Business
• 15:26
  profile, Google Business page, you know, whatever it is that is
• 15:29
  called after you're done listening to this podcast,
• 15:32
  please grab your phone, open your AI tool, whether it's
• 15:39
  Google Gemini or perplexity or pepsicosity or you know,
• 15:43
  whatever it is, it's called Autopilot, Type in there.
• 15:47
  What is a Google My Business profile?
• 15:50
  It will explain. Ask it.
• 15:52
  How do I set up my Google business profile?
• 15:55
  It will explain, ask it, give me some tips about how to optimize
• 16:00
  my Google, Google My Business profile handle.
• 16:03
  It'll give you some tips. Follow these tips please and
• 16:07
  make sure that the next time somebody is in your city,
• 16:10
  somebody is in your town whether they are visiting or whether
• 16:14
  they are a regular person who lives there.
• 16:17
  Make sure that if they search best shawarma in Ojibo or best
• 16:24
  tailor in Kano or they search where to buy double namma in
• 16:30
  Abuja or they search best shortly stay short let stay
• 16:38
  apartment in Lekki. Please give yourself a chance
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  that you will show up on Google so that people will find you.
• 16:47
  My brothers and sisters, please, it is 2025.
• 16:54
  We all have smartphones. It's not like back in the day
• 17:00
  during military era where we all had to go to Cyber Cafe to do
• 17:03
  all these things. These tools work.
• 17:06
  They're in our pocket now. There is no excuse again in
• 17:09
  2025. I beg, as we're heading into
• 17:13
  2026, there is no excuse again. Go and set up a Google business
• 17:24
  profile for most of you that have been in business for a
• 17:28
  while. Google has already compiled that
• 17:31
  information. So for like this fun pack that I
• 17:34
  was supposed to go to when I checked Google gave me some
• 17:37
  info. It is not the guy who put the
• 17:39
  info. I don't know how Google gets the
• 17:41
  info which are the info is there.
• 17:43
  If you're in business for a few years, 3-4 years, the
• 17:46
  information is already there. So just Google your business
• 17:50
  name. The profile will show up.
• 17:52
  Claim that profile, let people find you online, get reliable
• 18:01
  information and get reliable directions so that people can
• 18:05
  show up straight at your dormont straight at your studio,
• 18:10
  straight at your park, at your office, at your salon, at your
• 18:14
  whatever. So that's the reason why I'm
• 18:18
  making today's podcast episode because as your people say,
• 18:21
  Otis, only that you're tired. I'm really tired and shocked.
• 18:27
  Tired and shocked that I have to be picking the microphone to be
• 18:30
  telling people about something as simple and as basic as a
• 18:35
  Google Business profile. I'm shocked.
• 18:40
  If you have your own profile, take it from me, there are lots
• 18:45
  of people who don't know. The next time you're chilling
• 18:48
  with your guys, I beg mention it to them.
• 18:51
  Do you have Google Business profile?
• 18:53
  You'll be shocked about people in your crew nowadays in
• 18:58
  20252026 who don't have it. So even if you have it, tell
• 19:04
  your boys, tell your girls, hook up your people.
• 19:07
  Let us all be going together. Let us all make progress
• 19:09
  together. It is not sweet when you're the
• 19:12
  only person in your crew who is enjoying, but if your business
• 19:16
  is popping off, everybody's business is popping off.
• 19:19
  That's the best. We'll all flex together.
• 19:23
  Network dynamics. If I'm the only one in my group
• 19:28
  who's a billionaire, it's not really good.
• 19:31
  Well, let's say we have a crew. Eight of us are friends.
• 19:35
  Let's say three of us are billionaire.
• 19:38
  The remaining 2 millionaire, the other ones are on the come up.
• 19:42
  That is a very strong group. Strong.
• 19:47
  When we have things, we can support ourselves when we need
• 19:51
  to, we can mobilize. We'll be a strong force.
• 19:54
  So don't just enjoy alone. Tell your people, tell your
• 19:59
  boys, tell your girls. Anyway, let me stop here.
• 20:06
  If I have any more adventures and of course some business
• 20:09
  lessons that we can learn from this, I'll let you know.
• 20:13
  By the way, remember I said even though I'm on holiday, I'm still
• 20:17
  talking to people? Because of the trainings that we
• 20:20
  have coming up on the 12th of January to the 23rd of January,
• 20:24
  it's a 10 day intensive Monday to Friday weekends off where we
• 20:28
  learn about how to sell effectively over the phone.
• 20:32
  So that if you are like this business owner who was in Magody
• 20:36
  and some people are trying to look for him, look for his
• 20:39
  business, you will learn how to use the phone effectively, to
• 20:45
  have conversations with people to get them to take the next
• 20:48
  step, to bring them into your space, to bring them into your
• 20:51
  ecosystem so that they can become a potential customer.
• 20:56
  Sorry. So they can become an actual
• 20:58
  customer and you can retain them as customers for life.
• 21:02
  If you're curious, you don't call or send me a text message
• 21:07
  or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 21:14
  So thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 21:15
  I'll catch you on some other time.
• 21:17
  And sorry about the noise in the background.
• 21:19
  You know, the fan is on. Excuse me, Everything is on.
• 21:24
  And again, sorry I'm not my usual chatty Bobby self because
• 21:28
  it's nighttime and all my relatives, to think I've gone
• 21:31
  insane, that I'm sitting in the middle of a room and just
• 21:33
  talking into a microphone. So yeah, that's it.
• 21:38
  And even if you don't want to be a part of the program, just
• 21:41
  reach out, say what's up. Tell me you like the show or
• 21:45
  tell me you don't like the show. You know, tell me questions that
• 21:50
  you wish I I would answer or questions you don't think I
• 21:53
  answered correctly. Yeah.
• 21:56
  So that's it. I'll catch you all some other
• 21:58
  time. For those of you who are
• 22:00
  listening late at night, have a good night.
• 22:04
  Talk to you later.