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Unlock Business Growth: Conquering Call Anxiety and Connecting with Confidence · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. I'm recording today's episode at
• 0:04
  home. So of course, wifey is at home,
• 0:06
  kids are at home. So I expect to hear the usual
• 0:09
  interruptions. Now, this is your first time
• 0:11
  listening to the podcast. The goal of the show is free
• 0:13
  business education. So don't, don't skip.
• 0:16
  You're in the right place. And I'm sure that by the time
• 0:19
  we're done, you're going to have good reason to share, to promote
• 0:22
  or to talk about the show so that your friends and family
• 0:24
  members in Nigeria and abroad can benefit from the questions
• 0:28
  that we tackle. And by the time we're done, if
• 0:30
  you have any sales and marketing questions, then call SMS or
• 0:33
  WhatsApp me on 08064662140. The country code is +234 for
• 0:41
  those of you who are not Nigerian.
• 0:44
  Now today on the podcast, I want us to look at what are cold
• 0:48
  calls and why are they difficult.
• 0:51
  Now, the reason why I want us to tackle this today is fairly
• 0:54
  simple. I'll start to an associate a few
• 0:57
  days ago and she runs this incredible outfit where she's
• 1:02
  interested in a bunch of things, Shah.
• 1:04
  But she has this business where they teach tech, tech skills,
• 1:09
  tech education to children, tech and business education to
• 1:12
  children, especially for girls in tech.
• 1:18
  And she's rolling off a new program that is going to go
• 1:21
  beyond having girls in tech and, and including, you know, both
• 1:25
  boys and girls. And the focus of the program is
• 1:27
  children aged between, I think, 6 and 19 or 9 and 19 or
• 1:31
  something like that. I can't remember correctly.
• 1:33
  Then, of course, she also has an NGO that's involved in women
• 1:38
  empowerment. Now, in actual fact, both of us
• 1:42
  are colleagues, you know, from the good old days when we both
• 1:44
  used to be in the event space. And the last time I was out of
• 1:47
  office, you know, was part of the just like, OK, look at us
• 1:50
  now. You know, we started off in
• 1:51
  events and now, well, pretty much consultants in different
• 1:56
  fields. And so she started off with this
• 1:59
  whole NGO thing, you know, teaching women entrepreneurial
• 2:04
  skills, that is women who are not, or shall I put it, I don't
• 2:10
  want to use the wrong term, but let me just, OK, OK, I don't
• 2:14
  want to use the wrong term, but let me just say training women
• 2:16
  who are not of means, teaching them business skills and things
• 2:20
  like that. And through that training, she
• 2:23
  now discovered that there are also children who need that sort
• 2:28
  of information as well. You know, like the children of
• 2:30
  these women also needed that kind of information.
• 2:34
  And then gradually, you know, she has gone beyond that.
• 2:37
  So there's still the NGO to take care of the women and the
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  children who are not of means, but there is also the profit
• 2:48
  making side of the business, which finances all of that,
• 2:51
  which is where she trains the children of people like you and
• 2:55
  I, people who are, well, not rich, but people who are much
• 2:59
  more affluent, if I can put it that way.
• 3:03
  So she also trains our children in tech skills, business skills.
• 3:07
  And that gives the the profits that can be used to now finance,
• 3:12
  you know, the other NGO activities, you know, to take
• 3:14
  care of the less privileged. So while we were talking about
• 3:19
  some of her business ideas, you know, to enroll some new some
• 3:24
  new kids in the new session of the sales, the business training
• 3:30
  and the tech training that she's going to run.
• 3:32
  She started talking about cold calls, cold calls, cold calls
• 3:36
  that she has done cold calls. She has done cold calls.
• 3:38
  And by the time she was, the more we were talking, I just
• 3:42
  realized that when she said cold calls and when the average
• 3:46
  Nigerian says cold calls, basically they just mean I'm
• 3:50
  calling someone who is not my friend.
• 3:52
  And because the average Nigerian is acutely aware that they
• 3:57
  aren't calling someone who is not their friend for business
• 3:59
  purposes, it kind of makes them scared.
• 4:04
  So I tried to explain to her that, look, you know, babe, what
• 4:09
  you've been doing is not really a cold call.
• 4:13
  It's a warm call and I was able to get her to see how, yes, even
• 4:18
  though these people, technically speaking are kind of strangers,
• 4:22
  it's not really a cold call. So you don't need to have all
• 4:25
  the kind of hang ups that you do around cold calling because
• 4:28
  people say cold calling is hard. You're calling strangers to ask
• 4:32
  for money. It's very difficult.
• 4:34
  It's not going to work. Don't do it.
• 4:36
  Look for more efficient ways to drum up business.
• 4:43
  And because of that, there are some of you who already have
• 4:46
  assets in your business that you are not utilizing for good
• 4:52
  effect or good results, like take out, for instance.
• 4:55
  Because of all the programs that she's been running, whether free
• 4:58
  or paid, she has an incredible database not only of students
• 5:02
  but of parents who have brought their kids for these sorts of
• 5:05
  things. But because lots of people talk
• 5:07
  about how cold calling is bad or how cold calling is ineffective,
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  there are some of you in your businesses that have databases
• 5:17
  of hundreds, sometimes thousands of potential people that you
• 5:22
  could be doing business with. And all you do is send them
• 5:25
  emails over and over and over and over again.
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  You don't pick up the phone and call, which is the easiest thing
• 5:34
  to convert because you heard from somebody on the Internet,
• 5:37
  my cold calling is bad. You should not be doing cold
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  calling and because you don't want to be pushy, you don't want
• 5:42
  to be a beggar, you don't want to be a whatever.
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  So keep on sending e-mail upon e-mail upon e-mail.
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  But to be honest, if you've been doing things like this to
• 5:51
  promote your business, once in a while you do a free program.
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  Once in a while you do a paid program.
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  Then you collect people's contact details and the details
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  are amassing and they're amassing.
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  It is absolute gold when it comes to looking for future
• 6:04
  clients and it's the easiest thing to do before you start
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  wasting money to arrange another event or to run Instagram ads.
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  It actually is the cheapest thing to do to just open your
• 6:14
  Excel sheet, open your CRM, open your notebook, open your
• 6:19
  wherever you store that thing and start calling people.
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  That is the easiest way to drum up attention for your new
• 6:28
  products, for your new service, for your new program without
• 6:32
  wasting a single cobble on another advertisement.
• 6:36
  Now, I'm not saying you would never have to advertise again.
• 6:39
  I'm just saying that when you're already sitting on some of these
• 6:41
  resources, you need to get over our hang ups about what cold
• 6:45
  calling is, whether I can work, whether I can be effective and
• 6:50
  all those sorts of things. So we need to deal with some of
• 6:53
  these easy resources that we already have now before we start
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  worrying about spending money to go and do more.
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  OK, so that's just the backdrop. Now let's go straight into the
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  meat of the matter. Now, what is a cold call?
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  Instead of giving the simple definition that I've done in the
• 7:11
  past, I figured, let me just slow down and break it down a
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  little bit. Cold calls involve tailored
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  outreach. What that means is when you're
• 7:20
  doing cold calling, you're usually devoting time and
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  attention to one person only. So if you're going to spray
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  WhatsApp messages, broadcast emails, broadcast Instagram DMS
• 7:34
  or whatever, that is not cold calling.
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  But if you're going to send an e-mail to one person, if you're
• 7:42
  going to send a WhatsApp to one person, if you're going to go to
• 7:45
  one person's house, if you're going to try and pick up the
• 7:48
  phone and call one person, that is cold outreach.
• 7:51
  That could qualify as cold outreach.
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  So cold calling has to be tailored next.
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  Cold calling is unsolicited. Unsolicited just means that the
• 8:05
  person didn't beg you for this outreach.
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  You guys have no prior history, no prior relationships, you
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  know, no prior connections. That is what it means to be
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  cold. So you understand now I'm trying
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  to target one person that nothing gone must before.
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  As in nothing gone me with you, nothing gone you with me.
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  And I'm trying to get business out of that.
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  So yes, in that sense, cold calling is very hard because of
• 8:37
  this fact that there is no prior connection, no prior history, no
• 8:39
  prior relationship. Now, if you remember, I keep
• 8:43
  talking about Tom Hopkins when when we talk about the
• 8:47
  ingredients for a sale, not because he's the best.
• 8:49
  There are different kinds of frameworks.
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  Well, because I think it's a four step framework and it's
• 8:53
  easy to remember and after a while, you know, even if
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  somebody wakes you up from your sleep or you know, if you're on
• 9:00
  the toilet and they go on tap you, they say, oh, what is Tom
• 9:02
  Hopkins attitude? You'll be able to just recite
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  it. And it's very simple.
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  It's trust, need help and hurry. I repeat again for Tom Hopkins,
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  before we talk about closing the sale, we have to establish
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  trust. We have to figure out the
• 9:16
  clients need. We have to be able to show that
• 9:18
  we can help them and we also need to be able to get them to
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  hurry and take action on the course of action that we have
• 9:27
  provided. Now the big problem with cold
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  calling is this. This trust elements the very
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  first one trust. So because trust is missing,
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  that is why a cold calling is hard.
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  Now, cold calling takes different forms.
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  I want to clarify this because some people like my associate I
• 9:44
  was talking about believe that cold calling is only when you
• 9:46
  pick up the phone. Now cold calling also includes
• 9:53
  like in person going to go and talk to one person.
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  Nowadays we call this thing canvassing, but that is how cold
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  callings start. You walk up to a total stranger
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  and then you try to move your market.
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  That is how all this started. So now we have all kinds of
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  technologies. We have the phone, we have
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  WhatsApp, we have e-mail, and maybe one day we're going to
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  have what's this thing called? Not virtual reality, the other
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  one, something reality. I can't remember what it's
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  called, you know, the metaverse and everything.
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  So we have all this technology available to us, but in the
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  beginning, back in the days of Adam and Eve, you know, Adam had
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  to walk to up to one person. You say, bro, how far I have yam
• 10:30
  for sale? Do you want to buy yam?
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  That is canvassing and that is cold calling #2 door knocking.
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  Door knocking just means you're going from house to house.
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  For those of us who are born, who grew up in Abuja, back in
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  those days, remember Jehovah's Witness door.
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  Come and knock on your door. Boom.
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  Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
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  That is door knocking. People also use it for business
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  purposes. Not so much in Nigeria because,
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  you know, state of insecurity and all of that.
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  Nobody wants to get shot. You don't want dogs to come and
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  attack you. You don't end up in police,
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  biggie. So people don't usually do door
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  knocking. Maybe what some people do now is
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  though, write the letter, write the flyer, and then they'll
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  address it to the occupant of #6 Obama Shore Crescent, something,
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  something. And then they will go and put
• 11:19
  the envelope and just slide it on your door so that you can
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  check it later. So I will say that's the most
• 11:25
  that I've seen Nigerian businesses doing now.
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  But in other places like in America, door knocking is still
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  alive and well. So for solar sales, people do
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  door knocking. The one knock on your door and
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  you open the door and say yes. And you know, they'll start
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  trying to sell their markets though.
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  Boss, all your neighbors have solar.
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  I noticed they don't have solar. You know, would you like to have
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  a conversation? You know, that kind of thing
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  that is door knocking. It is also cold calling, then
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  phone calls, maybe because call is there.
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  That's why everybody assumes that cold calling is only when
• 12:01
  you're using the phone. So since everybody knows what
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  cold calling is, using the phone, let me ignore that one.
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  But then there's also cold calling or cold outreach when
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  trying to do WhatsApp. That's when you're sending
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  WhatsApp to total strangers. It is still cold calling, right?
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  So we can see the length and the breadth of different forms of
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  cold calling. It doesn't always have to be
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  phone. And just know that with some
• 12:30
  proper planning, we can try other things to make things
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  work. But let me give a note of
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  warning or WhatsApp and video. Please do not even try to use
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  video for cold calling. We have not gotten to that stage
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  yet, at least in Niger. The average Nigerian is sitting
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  minding his business. A WhatsApp call is coming in
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  from a total stranger. The average Nigerian was a blood
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  of Jesus. And then they block because they
• 12:55
  think it might be a foreigner, it might be a scammer, it might
• 12:58
  be a ritualist, it might be whatever.
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  So please do yourself a favor, no matter the kind of cold
• 13:05
  calling technique you try, do not even use WhatsApp video at
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  all to say that you're prospecting somebody that you're
• 13:12
  trying to draw more business cold.
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  The only person I should try and do what's our video with is
• 13:18
  someone that you guys know. You guys are cool.
• 13:20
  You guys are already chill and you know the person is open to
• 13:24
  that kind of thing. Then you call the person, but
• 13:26
  total strangers don't try that. That's my recommendation anyway.
• 13:33
  But if you must try, don't do it at night.
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  I've received those those kind of moves before.
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  So I believe me, trust me and I know how weird they can feel.
• 13:40
  You're just chilling. You're trying to next feeling
• 13:42
  and Netflix and you, which are babe and then next thing at 11
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  something. What's up?
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  Video call. Just call me a strange number
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  like they won't try it. So even if you want to try,
• 13:51
  well, maybe try during the day. If you can make it work.
• 13:53
  Let me know what my recommendation shies shy.
• 13:56
  Don't try it. So now I think the confusion is
• 14:00
  this. People just assume that every
• 14:03
  single time you pick up the phone and then you call someone
• 14:06
  for business purposes, you can now call that cold calling based
• 14:11
  on the definition that I've given here before.
• 14:13
  Remember I said that cold calling is tailored?
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  So you're trying to aim one person.
• 14:20
  It's unsolicited, the person inquire, beg you.
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  No prayer history, no relationship, nothing gummy
• 14:25
  before, you know. So yeah, that's cold calling.
• 14:29
  But now think about this. I remember my friend, whether
• 14:34
  it's cold calling or not depends on whether you guys have had
• 14:36
  prior contact or prior context. In other words, if you are me,
• 14:40
  something has gone most before. We have jammed before.
• 14:43
  There has been one small connection before.
• 14:45
  We can't really say that's a cold call because I am not a
• 14:48
  total stranger. Even if you didn't store my
• 14:51
  phone number, there's something I can say that will warm up the
• 14:55
  conversation and the person like oh boy and IBD, and then the
• 15:00
  conversation will flow. So if there has been a prior
• 15:04
  contact or context, it is not a cold call anymore and you should
• 15:09
  stop being so afraid. You can pick up the phone.
• 15:15
  It is not a cold call if you and this person have spoken in the
• 15:18
  past, so you can pick up the phone and call.
• 15:22
  It's a lot easy. Don't worry.
• 15:23
  Even even if the person hasn't you, the person, install your
• 15:25
  phone number. Don't worry, I'll teach you how
• 15:27
  to bring the conversation on track.
• 15:29
  So if you, if you guys have spoken in the past, this is not
• 15:32
  a cold call. Be bold, pick up the phone.
• 15:35
  Nothing they happen. Nothing bad will happen at all.
• 15:39
  If the person has attended one of your events before, like my
• 15:42
  friend who organizes free events and paid events, The moment
• 15:45
  somebody has come to that event, they sat down, they listen to
• 15:48
  you speak for 45 minutes and they watch our trainer.
• 15:50
  This thing is not cold anymore, which is the reason why when
• 15:55
  some of you reach out to me, there are some of you that I
• 16:00
  just like, OK? I don't want to ping back and
• 16:02
  forth. I just call you up straight.
• 16:04
  It is not a cold call, even though you and I are kind of
• 16:08
  total strangers. But The thing is, I know that
• 16:10
  you're a little bit familiar with me because you've been
• 16:12
  listening to the podcast, so I can pick up the phone and call
• 16:15
  you guys confidently. I am not scared because it is
• 16:18
  not a phone. It's not a cold call.
• 16:21
  I'm calling someone who has some prior context, some prior
• 16:24
  knowledge, some prior relationships, some prior
• 16:27
  experience of me. It is not a cold call.
• 16:31
  If somebody has responded to your lead generation, you're
• 16:35
  doing something to try and draw more business.
• 16:37
  Lead generation just means anything you do to get somebody
• 16:41
  to show that they might be interested in your product or
• 16:43
  service. If somebody drops their phone
• 16:46
  number there and you call them back, it is not a cold call.
• 16:49
  The person reached out to you. The person did something.
• 16:52
  Yes, the person might forget. Don't worry, I'll tell you how
• 16:55
  to handle that because the person forgot or the person
• 16:57
  didn't handle your phone number. So remember, in all of these
• 17:01
  situations where there has been some prior context, especially
• 17:05
  for those also are business people, You spoke with somebody
• 17:08
  in the past, even if he's brief during network events or even if
• 17:11
  he's brief. You guys met Ajumal Priya in the
• 17:13
  mosque or you organize the free event.
• 17:16
  The person showed up whether in person or online, or the person
• 17:20
  responded to some of your lead generation.
• 17:21
  The person picked up your flyer and the person SMS you before.
• 17:25
  In any of these situations, you can confidently call the person
• 17:28
  back. There is no need to shake.
• 17:30
  It is not a cold call and it will be OK.
• 17:34
  Well, I can't guarantee you that it will be an effective call,
• 17:36
  but the chances of these kind of calls converting are much higher
• 17:41
  then when you're calling somebody that nothing gum you
• 17:44
  people before. Clearly in this case something
• 17:47
  has gone towards you. So don't be scared.
• 17:50
  Now even a situation where yeah well you guys are not quite
• 17:56
  friends and we know for sure the person hasn't stored our phone
• 18:00
  number. So you'll be as if it's a
• 18:04
  stranger that is calling. How do you warm up the call?
• 18:08
  Warming up the call just means getting the person to be cool.
• 18:11
  You get the person to relax. You get the person to be calm.
• 18:14
  You get the person to be easy. You get the person to, you know,
• 18:17
  loosen up their ear so that you and them can begin to relate.
• 18:20
  You can begin to vibe. It's a very simple something.
• 18:25
  Remember what I said that if someone, if you guys have had
• 18:30
  some prior contact press or prior contact or prior contexts,
• 18:37
  that means you guys have jammed before or you've been in the
• 18:39
  same environment before to warm the conversation up.
• 18:43
  All you have to do is refer to that prior contact or context.
• 18:48
  It is that simple. When I was a wedding
• 18:52
  photographer, that was my simple formula for every single bride
• 18:56
  who came by my stand whenever I went to a bridal fair.
• 19:01
  Because think about it, you go to a bridal fair, like 50 brides
• 19:04
  who come by your stand and they all drop their phone numbers.
• 19:08
  Yes, some of them will collect your card, but to be honest,
• 19:10
  none of them will store your phone number.
• 19:12
  So the first time you're calling the bride back is almost as if
• 19:16
  it's a total stranger who's calling.
• 19:18
  So this was my formula during the consultation at the bridal
• 19:23
  fair. I would always try and engage
• 19:25
  with them, you know, rapport, that kind of thing, You know,
• 19:28
  fill them out. It was a blah, blah, blah or
• 19:31
  interesting name. Where are you from?
• 19:33
  Eventually that kind of conversation leads back to, oh,
• 19:36
  what's your name? And I say my name is Tavishima.
• 19:38
  And then the average bride will say also Tavishima.
• 19:42
  And what is that? Is that is that is really no, is
• 19:45
  that Japanese? No, actually it's Nigerian from
• 19:47
  being a state. What?
• 19:48
  Really. Yes, I'm teeth.
• 19:50
  And then we'll have that small conversation.
• 19:52
  Oh, teeth people, those people that wear black and white.
• 19:54
  Oh yes, those people that eat Bush meat.
• 19:56
  Oh yes. Is it true?
• 19:57
  People eat rat? And yes, we eat rat, but it's
• 19:59
  not a house rat. It is.
• 20:01
  The one in the Bush is more or less Bush meat and they have
• 20:03
  that conversation. So it used to happen all the
• 20:07
  time. Or I would go on the OAU route,
• 20:13
  you know. Which school did you finish
• 20:14
  from? Well, I finished from you like,
• 20:17
  you know, like what a pity. And what do you mean what a
• 20:18
  pity? Which school did you go to?
• 20:20
  I went to OAU, the greatest in the greatest school in Africa.
• 20:23
  Come on, come on. What do you mean?
• 20:24
  And then we'll now start doing that.
• 20:25
  Or where you are. You need like thing, but
• 20:29
  whatever it was, I would always try and build some rapport and
• 20:33
  try and tease out some of these commonalities between us or get
• 20:38
  get a little bit kind of personal.
• 20:39
  I will now make an asterisk on the phone and note down some of
• 20:43
  these things so that when I now call this babe back, remember
• 20:48
  she has not stopped my number. So it's as if it's a stranger
• 20:50
  that is calling. I'll start off the conversation
• 20:52
  by saying, hey, who is this Cami?
• 20:54
  Oh yes, this is Cami. Who am I speaking with?
• 20:56
  Oh, this is the Ben Ray boy from Brides and babies.
• 20:59
  Immediately prior context, the girl warm up like, oh, hi,
• 21:05
  sorry, I didn't store your number, so it's OK, it happens.
• 21:08
  I'm sure you spoke to like 30-40 vendors that day.
• 21:10
  I didn't expect that you that you stole my phone number.
• 21:13
  You know how you been, blah, blah, blah.
• 21:14
  And then from there we talk and then we start getting down the
• 21:17
  business. You see how I warm up the phone
• 21:19
  call instantly just by referring to whatever the prior contact
• 21:23
  was or whatever the prior context was, or I call up,
• 21:30
  hello, is this, yes, this cool? Who am I speaking with?
• 21:34
  Or this is the photographer from Brides and Babies, the OAU guy
• 21:39
  and say, oh, great effect, great.
• 21:41
  And then the conversation goes, conversation continues.
• 21:45
  Now, yes, it's easy for me because at brides, at bridal
• 21:49
  events, you know, to be honest, maybe photographers will be like
• 21:53
  5567, maybe 10 Max. But the chances are if I'm
• 22:00
  playing the Ben way game, usually I'm the only team
• 22:02
  photographer who is there. So there's no way to confuse me
• 22:05
  with another person. So what was I saying anyway?
• 22:14
  Basically what I'm just saying is you don't have to be scared.
• 22:16
  Yes, the person didn't store your phone number.
• 22:18
  Yes, if you call, it will be a civic stranger that is calling
• 22:21
  whatever was the prior contact. Whatever was the prior contact,
• 22:23
  refer to it. And it's that simple.
• 22:26
  So hello, is this is this Hamza? Oh, yes, this is Hamza.
• 22:31
  Who am I speaking with? Oh, this is Cami.
• 22:34
  I got your number from the NNPC networking events last year at
• 22:38
  Sheraton. Oh yes, yes, yes, I was other
• 22:41
  events. But I'm sorry, Madam, I can't, I
• 22:43
  can't quite remember you. Oh, I'm the one who is married
• 22:46
  to a Canary man. Oh, my sister, I remember you.
• 22:48
  I remember you. You see.
• 22:49
  And then the conversation will now flow.
• 22:52
  So don't be scared. Pick up the phone.
• 22:55
  And in my own friend's case, it's a very simple something.
• 22:58
  Hello. Is this Mr. so, so, so and so or
• 23:00
  is this Madam So, so so and so? Yes, it is.
• 23:02
  Who am I speaking with? This is blah, blah, blah, blah,
• 23:04
  blah. You brought your daughter over
• 23:06
  for my event last year November or something where we can train
• 23:13
  girls in tech skills. Oh, I remember, in fact, my
• 23:17
  daughter has been asking me when are we going to do the next one.
• 23:19
  So yes, that's the reason why I'm calling you because I got
• 23:22
  your number. At the time, we had not decided
• 23:24
  on when we're going to schedule the next event.
• 23:26
  We're ready for the next event now, but it's going to be a paid
• 23:30
  event scheduled for so, so, so and so.
• 23:32
  Would you be interested in discussing some more about that?
• 23:36
  It is a simple conversation, especially for people who have a
• 23:42
  database of 501,000. As in, please do not go and drop
• 23:47
  money anywhere and try and see how you can be running another
• 23:50
  advertisement or planning another program or whatever.
• 23:54
  You already have a database that you have not explored.
• 23:57
  Yes, you've been sending emails to it.
• 23:59
  But look, let's let's be frank here.
• 24:00
  People are not reading those emails.
• 24:05
  Me, when I wake up every day, I have maybe like 100 emails to be
• 24:09
  honest. When I enter my inbox, I'm
• 24:10
  looking at what to delete. I'm not looking at what to read
• 24:15
  and it's like that for the average person as well.
• 24:17
  So people are not really reading their emails.
• 24:20
  Trying to breakthrough on e-mail is hard.
• 24:24
  On the phone call thing, it's a whole lot easier.
• 24:28
  Now some of you say if I call and they don't pick, what do I
• 24:31
  do? The answer is very simple and
• 24:34
  sometimes some people ask me this question.
• 24:36
  I get confused if somebody if you call and somebody does not
• 24:42
  answer and you don't do anything.
• 24:44
  Again, if the number is not stored on the phone, it's as
• 24:47
  best as if you never called at all in the 1st place because if
• 24:52
  your number is stolen on that person's phone, at least the
• 24:56
  person will see that. Oh OK, Binkley tried calling me.
• 25:00
  I don't know what it's about. Maybe I'll call her back later.
• 25:04
  But chances are this person has not stored your number.
• 25:06
  So what you do is the person didn't answer you now send a
• 25:09
  text message referring to the prior contact or the prior
• 25:15
  context and give the reason for your calling.
• 25:18
  It is that simple. At least the thing will
• 25:21
  register. So back in my own case, I'll
• 25:26
  call person didn't answer. I wouldn't person didn't answer
• 25:31
  my kind of text messages I will send back then you don't have to
• 25:34
  follow my formula anyway will be something like hello Cami
• 25:37
  question mark because because I'm trying to confirm is this
• 25:39
  Cami now say this is the Ben Ray photographer from brides and
• 25:42
  babies. I was calling to discuss your
• 25:46
  upcoming wedding for October 15th.
• 25:50
  Let me know when you'll be available to talk and I'll call
• 25:53
  you back and then send a text message.
• 25:56
  It is that simple. She might not call me back, but
• 26:00
  people see text messages and read text messages more than
• 26:05
  they see or read their emails. So I know for sure that she has
• 26:10
  seen that text message very rarely.
• 26:13
  Some people will now save your number from there.
• 26:15
  That's what they really want to talk to you.
• 26:17
  The average person will just see and maybe don't call you back.
• 26:19
  But The thing is, at least now they're aware so that by the
• 26:22
  time you try the second time, third time, and you eventually
• 26:25
  get through will be a matter of, oh, I'm sorry, I've been very
• 26:29
  busy. Something, something, something,
• 26:30
  something. And then the conversation
• 26:32
  continues. So pick up the phone and call.
• 26:36
  It's a lot easier to convert, especially if you're listening
• 26:39
  to this podcast and you're already interested in these
• 26:41
  sorts of things. Take it from me, you are already
• 26:44
  a great guy or a great girl. I'm very good with conversation.
• 26:49
  That's the reason why you're listening to this podcast,
• 26:51
  because you're trying to improve on XYZ.
• 26:54
  You can't improve upon something that you don't have already.
• 26:58
  So the very fact that you're listening to the show shows that
• 27:01
  you're already confident, that you're already articulate and
• 27:04
  that you know what's up. You just need one or two
• 27:06
  pointers to know what it is to do next.
• 27:08
  So don't worry with your kind of personality.
• 27:11
  You're the person who's listening to this podcast.
• 27:13
  Phone calling is going to work well for you.
• 27:17
  So cold calling, total strangers, yes.
• 27:20
  So that one is hard. But if you have had a prior
• 27:23
  contact with the person or prior contacts with the person, relax.
• 27:28
  These kinds of phone calls are a lot easier.
• 27:31
  Not everybody will answer the phone.
• 27:33
  No problem. You will send a text message
• 27:36
  referring to the prior contact or the prior context.
• 27:41
  So in the text message you refer to how you met them at NNPC
• 27:45
  networking event or how you met them at Shiloh prayer whatever
• 27:52
  or how you got their phone number at Ramadan Jamaat service
• 27:57
  in Central mosque or whatever. So you will send the message,
• 28:01
  refer to the prior contact, the prior context, and then if
• 28:07
  you're going to do things my way, you would ask for a time
• 28:13
  when you can call back, or you will propose a time when you're
• 28:17
  going to call back, or you're going to ask that when they're
• 28:22
  available to talk, they should let you know, and then you will
• 28:24
  call back. You just pick whatever formula
• 28:28
  works for you. So that's it.
• 28:30
  Bottom line, let us stop being afraid of the phone, especially
• 28:35
  those of you who have a database already.
• 28:37
  You have attended two or three networking events.
• 28:40
  In each networking event, you collected four or five cards.
• 28:43
  So you already have 15 contacts. You've just been sending them
• 28:46
  e-mail. The time is now.
• 28:49
  Pick up the phone, call them. You want to make more progress.
• 28:53
  If you're like this friend of mine from the free event you
• 28:57
  did, you got over 500 phone numbers.
• 29:02
  Please, what you do is you sit down January 1st or April 1st or
• 29:07
  May 1st or whatever and you give yourself brain.
• 29:10
  You now load up credit and you say your prayers and you ask for
• 29:14
  strength because in the beginning it's going to be
• 29:16
  scary. But with 500 contacts, if you're
• 29:20
  calling, I honestly think you can call like 1520 people every
• 29:26
  day. Give us of like 2-3 hours.
• 29:30
  It will seem like stress, but when you will get through it,
• 29:33
  and The thing is you will close on business from it, that's a
• 29:37
  whole lot of contacts. So definitely you will close on
• 29:39
  business. And The thing is, even if you
• 29:41
  don't close on business, you'd have started building some real
• 29:44
  profitable relationships that are going to yield food in the
• 29:46
  future. And even if you don't, this is
• 29:50
  the reason why I love phone calls.
• 29:52
  The qualitative data that you're going to get.
• 29:55
  Qualitative means you're now beginning to get a keen
• 29:58
  understanding of what your customer wants, what they
• 30:00
  desire, because this is phone call and especially if you're
• 30:05
  nice and charming and you follow the advice that I'm giving out
• 30:07
  here on the podcast, you'll be talking freely.
• 30:10
  They do be talking freely. You'll get some insight into
• 30:13
  some things you did not know before and it's going to come in
• 30:15
  real handy when it comes to modifying your product or
• 30:18
  modifying your service. So it's hard work, but don't be
• 30:25
  scared. Anyway, 30 minutes.
• 30:26
  I think I believe the point. So that's all for today folks.
• 30:30
  Remember if you got any sales or marketing questions, then call
• 30:33
  SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140.
• 30:39
  The country code again is +234 for those of you who are not
• 30:42
  Nigerian. So thanks for your time and
• 30:44
  attention. I'll catch you guys at the next
• 30:46
  episode.