Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Why Some Sales Take Days and Others Take Months!

Transcript

Why Some Sales Take Days and Others Take Months! · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the podcast.
• 0:03
  Apologies because I'm making today's recording at home, so
• 0:06
  there might be some noise in the background.
• 0:09
  Nobody's home, but my neighbors are around here, so you never
• 0:11
  know. Now today, the question I want
• 0:13
  us to tackle is whether six months is too long to be chasing
• 0:18
  somebody because you want to close the deal.
• 0:21
  Is 6 months too long because you want to collect Pepe?
• 0:25
  Is 6 months too long because you want to collect badly?
• 0:28
  It's six months too long because you're chasing kudi, because
• 0:32
  you're chasing AO, because you're chasing dollar, because
• 0:35
  you're chasing pound, you're chasing whatever.
• 0:38
  It's six months too long. Now, the reason why we're
• 0:41
  looking at that question today is because I saw something on
• 0:44
  social media and why guy judge the vex saying they pursue
• 0:48
  somebody for six months. And in the guy's mind, he thinks
• 0:52
  that six months is too long. So today I want to answer that
• 0:55
  question. If you've been chasing somebody
• 0:57
  January, February, March, April, May, June, July, is that too
• 1:02
  long? Well, the answer is it depends.
• 1:07
  So whether you've been chasing somebody for six months or for
• 1:09
  one year or for six weeks or for six hours, whether it's too long
• 1:15
  or too short, it depends. So not a vex.
• 1:18
  Anyhow, you need to sit down 1st and you need to consider one or
• 1:21
  two things before you realize whether you've invested too much
• 1:25
  time on this deal or whether you've not even invested enough
• 1:29
  time. Because there are some business
• 1:30
  deals that if somebody tells, if you tell somebody that, oh,
• 1:33
  you've been chasing this for six months, six months, you never
• 1:35
  start now that now toasting stage, today is just the
• 1:38
  beginning. So the answer is it depends.
• 1:43
  Before I continue, my name is Tavishima Ayede.
• 1:45
  I'm the host of the podcast, former lawyer turned business
• 1:48
  consultant. And over here, that's what we do
• 1:50
  every day, business goodness, we solve business problems,
• 1:54
  especially from the angle of, you know, trying to get
• 1:56
  customers, trying to get money. That's what we try and do over
• 1:59
  here on the podcast. And if you'd love to get in
• 2:02
  touch, you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp
• 2:04
  message on 08064662140 just in case you've been chasing
• 2:11
  somebody for six months and you're thinking it's too long
• 2:15
  and you're thinking why reach out?
• 2:18
  So that let's see whether your expectations are realistic
• 2:22
  anyway. So like I said, it depends.
• 2:26
  And it depends on two things. Number one, are you in a simple
• 2:29
  sales scenario or #2 are you in a complex sales scenario?
• 2:32
  For those of you who are old listeners of the podcast, you
• 2:35
  already know. But for the newcomers, because
• 2:37
  there's somebody who's discovering this podcast for the
• 2:39
  first time, let's just break it down.
• 2:43
  So it depends. If you are in a simple sales
• 2:46
  scenario, your sales, we have short timelines.
• 2:50
  It could be minutes, it could be hours, it could be days.
• 2:54
  It depends. If you have a complex sale
• 2:58
  scenario, you could have longer timelines.
• 3:00
  You might have to chase somebody for a month.
• 3:02
  You might have to chase somebody for two months, you might have
• 3:05
  to chase somebody for two years. It depends on whether your sale
• 3:09
  is simple or complex. But Please remember that it's
• 3:14
  not binary. It's not that something is
• 3:15
  simple or short. Sometimes it's a range.
• 3:19
  It's a, it's a all I put it now. It's a range of options.
• 3:23
  Some things are more complex than other things.
• 3:27
  Just like how depending on how old you are, boiling egg might
• 3:31
  be complex. Sorry, Abby.
• 3:33
  No, just like depending on your age, frying egg might be more
• 3:37
  complex than boiling egg, you know?
• 3:42
  But then if you're an advanced chef, you know boiling egg and
• 3:45
  frying egg is not even you understand?
• 3:47
  So it's a range depending on number of factors.
• 3:51
  Now let's look at simple sales. Why do simple sales have closed
• 3:56
  in a short amount of time? Now, the reason why short simple
• 4:00
  sales close close in a short amount of time is because number
• 4:02
  one, you're dealing with something that is affordable and
• 4:06
  affordable, good affordable services.
• 4:08
  When something is affordable, people don't need to think.
• 4:12
  You walk into a shop, Bros, How much is that barrel?
• 4:15
  This one is 500. How much does this other barrel?
• 4:17
  This one is 350 or give me that one that is 350.
• 4:20
  You buy to leave. No need to think.
• 4:24
  If you are thinking on you know, on a small something like that,
• 4:28
  you know, 500, three, 50-6 yeah, yeah, you're wasting your time.
• 4:32
  The seller will even be insulted.
• 4:34
  But so like, look, OK, you buying or you're not buying.
• 4:36
  It's just 500 bucks, you know, carry it or don't carry it, but
• 4:40
  you know, leave my storefront, let me attend to customer.
• 4:43
  That is a simple sales scenario. You're dealing with something
• 4:46
  that is affordable. Then simple sales scenarios,
• 4:51
  you're also dealing with things that are easy to understand.
• 4:54
  When things are easy to understand, people don't need to
• 4:55
  expend too much brain calories to understand what it is that is
• 4:59
  going on. So back to the buyer example,
• 5:01
  You don't have to think too hard.
• 5:03
  It is either beak or Eleganza. You like Beak or you like
• 5:06
  eleganza. Is that simple or you like
• 5:09
  ballpoint pen, Boscha? You get there.
• 5:12
  How much you look at the brands you pick, you leave.
• 5:15
  Very simple to understand. Then usually simple sales
• 5:18
  scenarios also usually involve only one person to make a
• 5:22
  decision. If you're dealing with only one
• 5:24
  person, you can close this thing quickly.
• 5:27
  You know, you can call one or two times, you know, one or two
• 5:29
  conversations, you know, small, small e-mail, talk to somebody
• 5:33
  on Monday, collect your money or Friday.
• 5:35
  It is only one person that you are chasing.
• 5:40
  And then in simple sales scenarios, relationship building
• 5:42
  is not important because there are some things that people,
• 5:45
  quite frankly, people don't need to know who you are.
• 5:47
  And you know, every, every, so like back to the barrier
• 5:49
  example, oh boy, how much is this barrel?
• 5:52
  There's no need for me to know your life history and blah,
• 5:54
  blah, blah. We don't need to be friends.
• 5:56
  We don't need to build rapport, nothing.
• 5:58
  That's the reason why in your estate, in your neighborhood is
• 6:02
  a shop that you've been going to for the last three years, where
• 6:04
  you go to go and buy stuff. The woman's name, who runs that
• 6:07
  shop, you don't know her name. The guy by the counter, you
• 6:10
  don't know his name. You know nothing about
• 6:12
  relationship building is not important.
• 6:14
  You've been going there for the last three or five years.
• 6:18
  The one is getting there. How much is bread?
• 6:19
  How much is egg? You carry it, you leave, it's
• 6:22
  not important. Simple sales scenarios,
• 6:24
  relationship building are not, is not important.
• 6:27
  Now when you combine all these things together, you'll see that
• 6:31
  you have a short sales cycle. Now a sales cycle is the
• 6:35
  traditional length of time that it takes between good morning
• 6:39
  and ping him. You make the transfer.
• 6:42
  So the traditional amount of time between first encounter and
• 6:45
  ping him transfer or you sign the the contract or whatever it
• 6:50
  is that you used to finalize the deal.
• 6:52
  The length of time in between, that's the sales cycle.
• 6:54
  So in time to a shop, I say, oh boy, you get by row, say yes,
• 6:57
  Sir, how much? This one at 3:50, this one at
• 7:00
  5:50, This one is 1000, two 1002.
• 7:03
  And now this one at ballpoint. I better forget that ballpoint.
• 7:05
  Give me 350. And then you collect the 3:50.
• 7:10
  You give cash, you see, quick, quick, 45 seconds, you're gone.
• 7:15
  That is called a short sales cycle.
• 7:18
  Very short sales cycle. Or you want to buy.
• 7:23
  OK, Valentine's has passed. What's next?
• 7:25
  OK, Easter. So you want to buy some Easter
• 7:28
  goodies for the kids, For those of us who have children, you
• 7:31
  reach out to somebody on Instagram.
• 7:35
  Oh, Madam, I like these toys, blah, blah, blah.
• 7:37
  I like this one, this one, this one.
• 7:38
  OK, how much are all of them OK plus deliveries?
• 7:41
  How much? And then, you know, you drop
• 7:44
  off, you forget to call the woman, you know, messages back
• 7:46
  and forth. You know, maybe she calls you,
• 7:49
  you know, Shah one week if you have the money you've paid, next
• 7:54
  thing is for you to come and pick up.
• 7:56
  That's a that's a sales cycle, a short sales cycle from good
• 8:00
  morning, Ma, Do you have this in blue or green to please account
• 8:04
  details on how to make transfer. That's a short sales cycle.
• 8:07
  So when you're dealing with simple sales scenarios, you have
• 8:11
  short sales cycles. So if you're dealing with a
• 8:14
  simple sales scenario and you are chasing somebody for months,
• 8:19
  OK, maybe there's a problem. In fact, this is serious
• 8:23
  problem. Now let me give other examples
• 8:27
  of simple sales scenarios. The one that I keep talking
• 8:30
  about all the time is market commodities.
• 8:32
  You go to the market, you want to buy a Gucci, You want to buy
• 8:34
  Yam, you want to buy Indomie. Simple sales scenarios.
• 8:37
  Quick, quick, quick, quick. Sharp.
• 8:39
  Sharp. Sharp, sharp, sharp, affordable,
• 8:41
  no need to press too much, easy to understand, dealing with only
• 8:44
  one person, Relationship building, Who cares?
• 8:46
  Just give me my Indomie. Oh, I forgot risk.
• 8:50
  The risk involved is not high. Everybody knows what Indomie
• 8:54
  looks like. Everybody knows what a Gucci
• 8:56
  looks like. The risk involved is not that
• 8:59
  high. Even if you buy a fake Indomie,
• 9:03
  you now know that you will never go to that guy's shop again.
• 9:07
  If you don't really want to raise a stinker, you will go to
• 9:09
  the shop and you complain to the market association so that the
• 9:13
  guy will be in trouble. But so these kinds of things,
• 9:17
  simple sales scenarios, they don't take time at all.
• 9:21
  So for these kind of things, if you're chasing somebody weeks
• 9:23
  and months, OK, maybe there's a problem, There's a problem
• 9:27
  somewhere. We need to diagnose and figure
• 9:29
  out what it is. But Please remember, like I
• 9:31
  said, simple sales scenarios, complex sales scenarios, it is
• 9:35
  not binary. It is not one and two, it's not
• 9:38
  either or. It is a range.
• 9:40
  Some things are more simple than others.
• 9:42
  So Agusi is a simple sales scenario, but OK is Indomi all I
• 9:50
  say now? OK, Igusi is a simple sale
• 9:52
  scenario. OK, but which one will be
• 9:55
  complex? Now in a market setting, I can't
• 10:00
  think of anything. In the normal market setting,
• 10:02
  there'll be a complex sale, but just think of it as a range.
• 10:07
  OK, let me leave the market. Igusi is a simple sale, but then
• 10:11
  buying bicycles for your children.
• 10:14
  Even though it's simple. Buying bicycles is more complex
• 10:18
  than buying a Gucci. But both of them are simple
• 10:22
  sales. You want to buy a bicycle for
• 10:24
  your for your child. You know it's not that hard.
• 10:28
  You go, you look around for a few places, you see the brands
• 10:31
  you like, you price a bit, you haggle, maybe you ask your
• 10:34
  neighbor where do you buy this? You know.
• 10:36
  But sure, you start the process on Monday, by next week Friday,
• 10:39
  worst case scenario, you've already bought a bicycle.
• 10:42
  So it's a simple sales lasted one week, lasted 2 weeks.
• 10:46
  But even though it is simple, buying a bicycle for a child is
• 10:49
  more complex than buying a Gucci.
• 10:51
  So it is a range. So don't call me up and ask me,
• 10:57
  you know, if you're in a simple sales scenario, in a complex
• 10:59
  sales scenario, a lot of you are going to fall within a range.
• 11:02
  And we're trying to figure out kind of where you fall, what the
• 11:05
  significant factors are and the things that we have to tweak,
• 11:09
  the things that we have to pull to get your sales back on track.
• 11:13
  Oh, by the way, in case I haven't give you my number, you
• 11:15
  can call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on
• 11:18
  08064662140 in case you're in trouble and you need to figure
• 11:26
  out how to unwind something or how to move a particular sale
• 11:29
  forward. But summary, you found a simple
• 11:32
  sales scenario and you're chasing someone for a relatively
• 11:36
  long period of time. It might be a sign that there is
• 11:40
  a problem. There might be a problem with
• 11:42
  your sales process. Maybe you're targeting the wrong
• 11:45
  people who are not really interested.
• 11:49
  You know, it's complicated. Maybe you have a bad reputation
• 11:51
  and everybody's running away from you.
• 11:53
  As in there are plenty. But anyway, no worries, just
• 11:56
  reach out, we'll diagnose and we'll see what's up.
• 11:59
  Now, complex sales scenarios, on the other hand, are the opposite
• 12:02
  of everything we've said. When you're in a complex sales
• 12:05
  scenario, you're dealing with things that are expensive,
• 12:07
  things that are pricey, things that need plenty price
• 12:12
  consideration. So people will be thinking and
• 12:15
  thinking say I want to buy inverter.
• 12:18
  OK, we have this KV, we have that KV.
• 12:20
  How much is this one? This one is 50,000.
• 12:22
  How much is this 142,000,000? How much is this one?
• 12:24
  120 something million. You're just a million, million,
• 12:28
  million. When you get to that level,
• 12:29
  1,000,000 millions, millions. You know somebody want to calm
• 12:32
  down first. I understand what exactly is
• 12:34
  going on is 120 million. OK, wait first, wait first.
• 12:38
  You're not asking questions. The solar panel, is it from
• 12:41
  India? Is it from China?
• 12:43
  Is it from this? Is it from that?
• 12:44
  Is their guarantee? Is their warranty?
• 12:46
  Which one is 50 KVA? What does KVA mean?
• 12:49
  What does up cycle time mean? What does this one, this one,
• 12:52
  this one? Because the money involved is
• 12:54
  high, people will calm down. They want to shine their eye.
• 12:58
  They want to understand what's going on, especially in Nigeria
• 13:00
  where high play hyperinflation is rampant.
• 13:04
  People don't want to waste money.
• 13:05
  So once you reach that level of million, million, million,
• 13:08
  everybody go to Shanghai and they will calm down.
• 13:11
  They don't want to make it bad. You don't to make a bad decision
• 13:15
  because lo and behold, if you feel you want to buy this one,
• 13:19
  your wife feels you should buy another one.
• 13:20
  You put your food down, you go and buy your own and then you
• 13:24
  know minors of night. Then after one month, The thing
• 13:27
  is not working. Wife will not be looking at you
• 13:29
  should not be giving you that. You know what I am talking
• 13:31
  about. Now, those of us who are
• 13:32
  married, you know, so where was I?
• 13:38
  So when things are expensive or pricey, you're on a complex
• 13:41
  sale. People need to slow down.
• 13:43
  They need to understand what's going on.
• 13:44
  And then typically the more pricey something is, is complex.
• 13:47
  When we say something is complex, it means that it has
• 13:50
  multiple parts or there are multiple things you need to
• 13:52
  consider before you make a purchase.
• 13:55
  So just like in solar sale, you know, so people are talking
• 13:58
  millions and millions, you know, 10,000,005 million, 2030405060
• 14:03
  million, you know, depending on the, you know, kilowatt and
• 14:06
  everything. That's when people start asking
• 14:08
  questions. Don't want to understand saying
• 14:09
  what's the difference in inverter and solar?
• 14:12
  Oh, OK, what are the different kinds of solar panel?
• 14:14
  Oh, OK, which one is uptime? What is backup time?
• 14:17
  Oh, OK, what is 120 watts? What's the difference between
• 14:20
  120 watts and 80 watts? They would, they would ask you a
• 14:23
  question tire. That's because the person is
• 14:26
  trying to understand. The person is hearing lots of
• 14:28
  things for the first time and it's a lot.
• 14:32
  It's a lot. So that they're trying to tap
• 14:35
  things down. They're trying to calm things
• 14:37
  down so they can understand because situation is complex.
• 14:41
  Then because these things are expensive and because this one
• 14:45
  is complex, usually you need more than one person to make a
• 14:48
  decision. So even when Olga has that 50
• 14:51
  million already in his bank account, still he might want to
• 14:55
  talk to Madam, you know, like, oh, babe, I'm thinking of
• 14:59
  diseases. What do you think?
• 15:01
  He might to talk to his wife or maybe he knows somebody who is
• 15:05
  also in the solar space. He might to talk to somebody
• 15:08
  else, get a second opinion. Well, usually more than one
• 15:13
  person is making the decision. So I think the first time that I
• 15:17
  had to teach the difference between simple and the complex,
• 15:20
  I used a Gucci. I'm buying a car.
• 15:21
  So for a Gucci, very easy, the person you're in front of in the
• 15:27
  market, that's all, that's the person.
• 15:29
  But then buying cars on the other hand, at least right now
• 15:34
  in Niger in 2026, the culture seems to be that, you know, or
• 15:38
  guy will come first and look at the car.
• 15:41
  He will, you know, like one or two things and then he will say
• 15:44
  I'm coming. Then he'll collect your phone
• 15:46
  number. Then he might come back after a
• 15:48
  while with Madam to look at the car, show Madam the car.
• 15:51
  Maybe you do test drive or something.
• 15:52
  The girls say, OK, you know what?
• 15:55
  You know, you know, we'll talk and then you might come back
• 15:58
  again with mechanic or maybe come back again with his
• 16:00
  brother. You see, there's go, come, go,
• 16:02
  come, go, come. There are different parties that
• 16:05
  are involved in making the decision.
• 16:08
  Now one Ave. where some of you mess up in Complex Hills is you
• 16:12
  assume that the person that you're talking to is the only
• 16:15
  person that you need to be talking to.
• 16:16
  You don't realize that other people are involved and you need
• 16:18
  to find out. In fact, for somebody that I
• 16:22
  worked with in January who is in the business of producing
• 16:26
  audiobooks for Nigerian authors, Nigerian non fiction authors is
• 16:30
  something that I had to that I had to tell him that look, there
• 16:33
  is some complexity involved in what it is that you do.
• 16:36
  First of all, you did charge in dollars and you're not even
• 16:39
  charging in single, single dollars and you're not charging
• 16:42
  in 10s, you're charging in thousands.
• 16:45
  And then there's lots of things people need to understand.
• 16:49
  They don't understand your recording process.
• 16:51
  They don't they don't understand distribution, they don't
• 16:53
  understand how they're going to monetize these audio recordings.
• 16:55
  They don't understand a whole bunch of stuff.
• 16:58
  So it is only normal that some people will say, you know, it's
• 17:03
  like how will I put it will be as if they're dodging you.
• 17:07
  But really, it's not as if they're dodging you.
• 17:09
  They want to talk to their agent to understand one or two things.
• 17:12
  They want to talk to their publisher to understand one or
• 17:14
  two things. They want to talk to their
• 17:15
  lawyer to understand one or two things.
• 17:17
  When I said it, the guy said, ah, natrusha, because of this
• 17:20
  person that I was talking to, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 17:23
  Next thing the person said, my agent said, I say yes.
• 17:29
  It's expensive, it's complex. So yes, it is expected.
• 17:35
  I said, how do we get rid of this problem?
• 17:37
  I said very simple, I get rid of the problem is since you know
• 17:40
  that you're in a complex hill scenario, part of your sales
• 17:42
  process in the beginning should be trying to figure out who else
• 17:46
  is involved. So at some point you should ask
• 17:49
  the person that OK, yeah, I like that conversation is moving
• 17:51
  forward, blah, blah, blah. But typically in Niger, when we
• 17:57
  get to this stage, most people want to get their lawyer
• 18:00
  involved or the agent involved. Would that be the case for you
• 18:03
  or are you the only person who is going to take the decision
• 18:06
  moving forward? And he asked, he tried, he tried
• 18:10
  it and he asked and is one woman, woman has good money.
• 18:15
  She said, oh, no, no, no, it's, it's just me.
• 18:17
  In fact, I'm doing the book launch on this.
• 18:19
  Is that, that, that because of that, we can't move forward
• 18:21
  before so, so, so did. So let me finish this book
• 18:24
  launch. We'll continue conversation also
• 18:26
  so and so. But The thing is you ask, you
• 18:28
  don't just assume when it comes to complex ills, usually there's
• 18:32
  more than one person, but go ahead and ask if the person
• 18:35
  says, Oh no, no, no, no, no, I'm the MDCEO, I'm the only person,
• 18:38
  I'm the one that was signed the cheque.
• 18:40
  Why are you asking me about my wife?
• 18:42
  My wife doesn't have anything to do here or or the other way
• 18:45
  around. They say why are you asking me
• 18:46
  about my husband? Are you saying that I cannot buy
• 18:48
  property again in my own name? He said, mommy, no vex now you
• 18:52
  know, say now real estate business that they do.
• 18:55
  I know in Nigeria now you know, we they see all kind of things.
• 19:01
  In fact, some people before they buy land, they have to go and do
• 19:04
  family meeting first before they borrow the cell and they have to
• 19:06
  do family meeting. The head of the family has to
• 19:08
  choke mouth Madame Novak's. I didn't want to insult you.
• 19:12
  I was not saying that you can't buy land unless you involve your
• 19:15
  husband. Then you apologize to Madame
• 19:18
  Bosha. You have asked the question and
• 19:20
  you figured out that her husband is not going to be a problem
• 19:25
  because it's very painful. And one of my sessions, the
• 19:28
  lawyer spoke about it is very, very painful.
• 19:30
  You're calculating your Commission in your head.
• 19:32
  You think you're going forward. Then the woman comes and says,
• 19:35
  oh, my husband said, and then that's how the deal dies.
• 19:39
  You thought you were going to sell a piece of land.
• 19:41
  You thought you were going to make a 10% Commission.
• 19:44
  But then the woman calls you and says, my husband said, if my
• 19:47
  husband said it's going to be a significant part of the
• 19:49
  conversation and you're in a complex sale, you need to find
• 19:52
  that out early. So ask.
• 19:56
  So these are the reasons why complex sales take time.
• 19:58
  It's not just one person. Then relationship building is
• 20:01
  also very important in complex sales because people are using
• 20:04
  it as a form of risk mitigation. So for those of you who are
• 20:07
  going to reach out to me before you send me 500K or before you
• 20:10
  send me 1.2 M or before you send me 3.5 M or however much money
• 20:15
  you're sending me, you guys want to know.
• 20:18
  This guy is here 419, is he a stand up guy?
• 20:21
  Does he know what he's saying? You know, blah, blah, blah.
• 20:23
  So you know, you go to textile, you know, stretch the convo
• 20:26
  because you're trying to fill me out.
• 20:28
  It's just normal. In fact, there was one guy, you
• 20:34
  know, we're very good friends now.
• 20:36
  He said chill, no, I'll be in Abuja.
• 20:37
  So, so, so you know, we suppose see.
• 20:40
  And I understood what was going on.
• 20:42
  I didn't fight it. I waited and we saw and then by
• 20:47
  the time we finished talking and getting along, it's like, so any
• 20:50
  other question you have for me, the guys say no, no, no, no, no,
• 20:53
  not really. So you're trying to source me
• 20:54
  out happy? The guy laughs.
• 20:55
  He said, of course, now I can't just be dropping money like
• 20:58
  that. I say it's a normal something.
• 20:59
  It's a normal something. And then from there I moved on
• 21:03
  to OK, good. So in that case, how soon would
• 21:07
  you like us to start? When are we likely to begin?
• 21:10
  When are we? You know, that's how I just
• 21:12
  follow up the conversation from there so we can get back to the
• 21:14
  money. So relationship building, very,
• 21:17
  very important. The level of risk is involved.
• 21:21
  Nobody wants to transfer 2.5 and then they can't find you again.
• 21:25
  Or nobody wants to send you 40 million for a solar system and
• 21:29
  then the system stops working after three weeks and then by
• 21:34
  the time they go to the office complex, the shop is locked and
• 21:39
  they can't see you again. Every time they come is excuse,
• 21:43
  one excuse to be, oh, your wife has given birth, another
• 21:45
  excuses. Oh, your family's on holiday,
• 21:47
  another excuses, oh, they haven't seen you for the past
• 21:49
  three weeks. So relationship building,
• 21:51
  figuring people out, sourcing people out, very, very important
• 21:54
  is a form of risk mitigation. You need to know who you're
• 21:57
  getting into business with. So these are all the reasons
• 22:02
  that cause longer sales cycles and complex sales.
• 22:05
  I remember a sales cycle is just the length of time in between.
• 22:10
  Good morning, Sir. Good morning, Ma.
• 22:12
  Do you have this available? Is it in black or white?
• 22:14
  Do you deliver to Sokoto? You know, however, it is the
• 22:17
  person reached out to you. The gap between all those
• 22:20
  initial, you know, initial all. I call it now.
• 22:26
  You're sorry, Misha. That's initial convo.
• 22:29
  The gap between the initial convo and pinging.
• 22:31
  They transfer you deposit or they sign the contract.
• 22:35
  The gap in between that is called the sales cycle.
• 22:38
  So depending on the situation here, it might be normal to talk
• 22:43
  to somebody for six months or more.
• 22:46
  It might be normal, but remember I said it is a range.
• 22:52
  So if you're worried and you're frustrated, then call
• 22:55
  08064662140. We actually need to have a chat
• 23:01
  and try and figure out what's going on here because it
• 23:03
  depends. It's a range.
• 23:05
  It depends on how complex. It depends.
• 23:07
  It depends on the range of complexity.
• 23:10
  For instance, those of you who are into ERP, that's enterprise
• 23:14
  resource planning. Yeah, enterprise resource
• 23:18
  planning. Yeah, I think, Yeah, I think
• 23:20
  that's it. Sorry, forgive me.
• 23:22
  You know, these my shows are not very scripted.
• 23:24
  So yeah, ERP, enterprise resource planning software.
• 23:29
  Those are software that people use to keep the business going.
• 23:32
  So accounting software. What else?
• 23:36
  Accounting software, inventory management software, stock
• 23:39
  management software, customer relationship management
• 23:43
  software, you know, all these sorts of things that might be a
• 23:48
  very, very, very complex sale. So if you're selling ERP
• 23:52
  software but you're just selling it to the neighborhood shop, OK,
• 23:55
  it's a complex sale, but not as complex because you know, it's
• 23:58
  the neighborhood shop. The guy has seen your face one
• 24:01
  or two times, You know, you live in the same neighborhood.
• 24:03
  He kind of knows you is A1 man shop.
• 24:06
  So it's just him and his children who are running it.
• 24:08
  You know, it's possible to start conversations January and then
• 24:12
  by, you know, March. He has made payments and people
• 24:15
  are trying to do implementation. However, there's a listener of
• 24:19
  the podcast who is an implementation partner for audio
• 24:23
  that is ODOO. They are an ERP software.
• 24:30
  The reason why I started talking about them on the podcast was
• 24:32
  because of their CRM, the customer relationship management
• 24:34
  tool. And by the way, if you're trying
• 24:37
  to, if you're serious about growing your business, you'd
• 24:38
  need a CRM tool. A CRM tool is just a tool that
• 24:41
  helps you to track conversations that you're having with people
• 24:44
  so that when you wake up every day, you don't have to think too
• 24:46
  much. You go to one place and you can
• 24:48
  figure out who are the potential customers I'm talking to, Who is
• 24:52
  owing me money? Who haven't I closed the deal
• 24:55
  with? Who do I have to do something
• 24:57
  for to move this deal forward? Who has promised to do something
• 25:00
  for me so that we'll move this deal forward?
• 25:04
  Which meeting do I need to have next?
• 25:06
  You know, things like that. That is what ACRM is going to
• 25:08
  help you figure out. So there's a listener of the
• 25:11
  podcast who is an implementation, implementation
• 25:15
  partner for audio. And depending on the kind of
• 25:19
  organization, they're talking to you, they're talking to big, big
• 25:21
  organization, let's say Zenith Bank.
• 25:23
  By the way, I'm not affiliated to Zenith Bank.
• 25:26
  I just call them a lot because, you know, quite frankly, my
• 25:28
  sister worked there for a while. So whenever I think of banks,
• 25:31
  that's just the first one that comes to my mind.
• 25:33
  Then whenever I mention Keystone, it's not because I
• 25:35
  know anybody in Keystone, it's just because Keystone used to be
• 25:37
  one of my banks and my father-in-law used to insult me.
• 25:40
  That used to tell me that, look, you don't want to move your
• 25:42
  money from Keystone, that you want to put your money in the
• 25:46
  bank. That would just go out fold, you
• 25:48
  know, blah, blah, blah. So here's why I asked my life
• 25:50
  about it. So that's the reason why I
• 25:51
  remember Zenith Bank and the Keystone.
• 25:54
  So it's not as if they give me any money.
• 25:56
  But if there's any bank that wants to sponsor the podcast,
• 25:59
  hey, reach out. Let's see what we can make
• 26:01
  happen. 08064662140 Yeah. So the guy is an implementation
• 26:09
  partner for auto. And so if he's talking to a big,
• 26:14
  big organization, maybe like Zenith Bank, huh, That kind of
• 26:18
  one. Now, the reason why it would
• 26:20
  take more than two months, three months, it might even enter six
• 26:22
  months or one year is because he will have to.
• 26:25
  He might have to have connects with the CCFO, that's the chief
• 26:30
  financial officer. He might need to know one or two
• 26:34
  people inside the office of the CTO.
• 26:37
  That's the CTO trying to steal against CTO.
• 26:41
  That's a technology chief technology officer or the head
• 26:44
  of IT. He might need to know the head
• 26:47
  of operations or one or two people who are there.
• 26:49
  You know he's going, he'll need to know somebody in might need
• 26:53
  to know somebody in procurement. You know that kind of deal.
• 26:57
  Like he's he, he should be multi threaded.
• 27:01
  Multi threading means when you're trying to get into an
• 27:03
  account, you're trying to close the deal and it's a big deal.
• 27:06
  You can't just know only one person.
• 27:08
  You can't say I know the MD, me and the MD went to school or the
• 27:11
  MD is my father's is my father's friend is.
• 27:15
  That is not a guarantee that you're going to close that deal.
• 27:18
  You need to know many, many, many more people.
• 27:21
  It is better to know too many people.
• 27:23
  At the end of the day, you only had to rely on three and four.
• 27:26
  Then you're relying on one or two people.
• 27:28
  And at the end of the day, you actually needed four or five to
• 27:30
  close the deal. You can always scale back.
• 27:35
  You can start off talking to 20 people and excuse me, figure
• 27:38
  that OK, out of this 20, these five people now the core
• 27:43
  decision makers believe so let me focus on these 5 is better.
• 27:47
  Then you start off and you focus on three.
• 27:50
  And then by the time you get close to closing the deal, you
• 27:54
  now realize that, oh, that Madame Mugazi from procurement
• 27:59
  that was not paying attention to, I was not even greeting her.
• 28:02
  She's one that will now sign that cheque.
• 28:04
  You know, those of you who are a long time listener of the show,
• 28:06
  I've told you guys before about how I lost some good money and
• 28:08
  it's the secretary that stood in my way.
• 28:11
  The secretary that was not even greeting very well.
• 28:14
  I entered into the organization, my classmate brought me in.
• 28:17
  We both graduated from OAU or how guys are OAU people.
• 28:21
  So I should stroll into that office confidently.
• 28:23
  I got a shout, great if they're up and down because that's how
• 28:26
  we greet ourselves. Those of us who went to EFA, I
• 28:29
  was stroll inside confidently, Great if a great if I would
• 28:31
  greet everybody, go to this person's office, go to that
• 28:34
  person's office, sit down, relax, drink Fanta.
• 28:36
  I thought it was a done deal. So I told all the boys that guys
• 28:40
  this is what we will use to celebrate Christmas because it
• 28:42
  was end of year party. That's when I was in the event
• 28:45
  space. I told everybody confidently
• 28:48
  that this is the one we use to celebrate Christmas, the money
• 28:51
  that we get from this one. I said, don't worry, Christmas
• 28:53
  is set. I told everybody, my mother is
• 28:58
  always telling me that I should stop you.
• 28:59
  That is a bad habit. She says I always count my heart
• 29:02
  should say it again. Don't count your chickens before
• 29:04
  they hatch your hand. She says.
• 29:06
  I start counting money before it enters my pocket.
• 29:08
  Yeah, I know it's about whatever, but to be honest, I
• 29:10
  still do it today. So I told everybody Christmas is
• 29:14
  set this end of year party because end of year party was I
• 29:19
  think then we're going to do like December 11th or December
• 29:22
  8th or something like that. Payment was going to be the next
• 29:25
  week. So I said this one is a done
• 29:28
  deal because I thought I was networked in the organization.
• 29:35
  Lo and behold, when he came to making the decision, that
• 29:41
  secretary that I was not greeting at all because she no
• 29:45
  go school. She's the one that was the head
• 29:47
  of the planning committee. I say don't happen.
• 29:51
  I spoke to my classmates like you know how far they say, ah,
• 29:53
  no, let's just say the secretary's name.
• 29:56
  Let's just make let's say her name was bin boss.
• 29:58
  I know that anti bin boy is in control and the bin boy is in
• 30:01
  charge. Whatever anti bin boss is, it
• 30:03
  goes. That's what my classmate told
• 30:05
  me. Then I knew the head of what's
• 30:10
  it called when you want to make sure that everything is OK in
• 30:13
  the organization? Is it compliance?
• 30:15
  That'd be something. So I knew the guys.
• 30:16
  I want to go and see him too. And he gave me the same
• 30:19
  response, that no Auntie Bimbo is in charge, She's one that
• 30:22
  she's in charge. That's our department.
• 30:24
  By the time two or three people told me, I had to call my guys
• 30:27
  and say, guys, you know what? I am not sure how this thing is
• 30:30
  going to go. And then of course, Auntie
• 30:32
  Bimbo. Turns out she had her own
• 30:34
  person. I thought it was a done deal.
• 30:37
  Meanwhile, I never stood a chance.
• 30:41
  I never stood a chance because right from the very beginning, I
• 30:45
  thought I knew enough people in the organization.
• 30:49
  I thought I did a good job of networking.
• 30:51
  I was going around shouting gritty for up and down.
• 30:53
  I didn't do a good job. I didn't realize that there were
• 30:56
  other decision makers that or other power players.
• 30:59
  I realized that there's some internal politics that is going
• 31:01
  on and the one person that I should have been greeting very
• 31:05
  well, I should have been going to office first, greeting her
• 31:08
  first, you know, before perambulating and reaching
• 31:12
  everybody. I wasted my time reaching other
• 31:15
  people who had no say. How did I get here?
• 31:21
  Anyway? I'm not trying to say that these
• 31:23
  are some of the reasons why these things might take long.
• 31:25
  So if you're into the business of doing ERP software, depending
• 31:28
  on how many people you need to talk to, yes, you might have to
• 31:31
  talk to people for five months, six months, one year, maybe even
• 31:35
  2 years. It depends.
• 31:36
  Then construction and real estate, those ones, they don't
• 31:39
  close quick at all. Even normal something like
• 31:43
  somebody wants to buy a house. Not to talk of property
• 31:46
  development, like you're developing the whole area maybe
• 31:49
  you know, like you know, 200 houses or something.
• 31:52
  Even single house, There's nobody that buys a single house
• 31:55
  in two weeks or three weeks or maybe one month because people
• 32:00
  want to go and look at different options.
• 32:02
  They want to go and see a house, then they want to see is it C
• 32:04
  Orvo or whatever and they want to come to your office because
• 32:08
  of course they're trying to, you know, source you out.
• 32:11
  They don't even want to pay in full.
• 32:13
  They want to pay deposit first, like, you know, all kinds of
• 32:18
  things. So real estate sale of house,
• 32:21
  there's no sale of house that you finish in two weeks.
• 32:24
  OK, Let me not say there's no sale of house.
• 32:25
  You know, it depends. Because I'm sure for someone
• 32:27
  like Tony Lumelu, because the guy get back serious money.
• 32:30
  So for them like Tony Malou, yeah, it might be a small
• 32:32
  problem like oh, OK, that's house.
• 32:34
  Oh, that's the house. Oh, Banana Island.
• 32:36
  OK, how much is it? Oh, OK, 30 billion.
• 32:40
  Then he asked his lawyer say OK, lawyer, what do you think
• 32:44
  accountant, what do you think? Can we afford it?
• 32:46
  OK, alright, sound about the 30 billion.
• 32:48
  So, so if that's the case, you know you're dealing with totally
• 32:51
  illuminated hand, maybe you can sell your house in two weeks or
• 32:56
  one month. Then people who sell corporate
• 33:01
  benefits and insurance packages, especially if you're trying to
• 33:04
  close the thing for the whole department, you'll be talking to
• 33:07
  lots of people. So back in my insurance days, I
• 33:10
  was trying to get into the national orientation agency
• 33:14
  because that's where my father retired from.
• 33:17
  So I was trying to get in there, you know, as per, you know, I'm
• 33:21
  so, so, so, so son, I forgot, let me comment.
• 33:23
  I do realize that some of my colleagues have been working
• 33:25
  already working for months. Their leg was ready inside the
• 33:28
  organization. Nobody told me.
• 33:30
  So by the time I went there, my colleagues, you know, same
• 33:33
  insurance company, but they they've been doing leg work
• 33:35
  since they're already family entrenched in the organization,
• 33:38
  already trying to push, you know, one or two, two things.
• 33:42
  So if you're selling insurance package, insurance benefits and
• 33:47
  things like that, you know, retirement packages, you know,
• 33:49
  all kinds of things you want to corner the whole organization.
• 33:52
  Yeah, that one, you might have to be pursuing it for the couple
• 33:57
  of months before everything clicks.
• 34:01
  You know, definitely we have somebody inside and then you
• 34:04
  know, if you can go and be greeting DG, you know, will be
• 34:06
  good. Then if you know somebody in the
• 34:08
  cooperative society, because these people in cooperative
• 34:11
  society, they are powerful cooperative society, welfare
• 34:14
  community. And all those people you know
• 34:16
  might be talking all of them, them, them, them, them.
• 34:18
  So all of that relationship building and you know, back and
• 34:21
  forth and everything. I think it takes time.
• 34:25
  So you might spend just three weeks on something clicks, you
• 34:30
  might spend 5 months before something clicks.
• 34:32
  You know, it depends then photography and video for NGOs,
• 34:38
  non governmental organizations or, you know, international
• 34:41
  organizations and stuff. You know, those, those ones are
• 34:43
  fairly complex. And to be honest, I really hate
• 34:46
  those ones. So back in my photography days,
• 34:49
  yeah, I'm a former lawyer, now a business consultant.
• 34:51
  But for a while I I did photo and video, but I really hate
• 34:56
  that process. Anything will involve RFP
• 35:00
  because RFP is now a matter of fashion parade.
• 35:03
  All of us come and present ourselves.
• 35:05
  You know, I'm the best, I'm the this, I'm the that, and then
• 35:08
  always boiling down to price. So I really hated RF PS but
• 35:10
  those ones can be fairly complex.
• 35:12
  So like if UNICEF's UNICEF calls you and I say we're doing a
• 35:15
  project in Adamawa, we're doing a rural electrification
• 35:21
  something, something, you know, whatever.
• 35:22
  So UNICEF calls you, UN calls you.
• 35:24
  Now, it's not a straightforward something.
• 35:26
  You won't go for the meeting today and then select you won't
• 35:30
  go for the meeting today and then they finish vendor
• 35:32
  selection next week and then, you know, in two weeks time to
• 35:35
  transfer your money. It's not like that.
• 35:37
  You guys have plenty of phone calls.
• 35:39
  You go for the meeting, you scope out the project because
• 35:42
  you don't want to put your hand where you will lose money.
• 35:44
  So you need to know, OK, how big is the project?
• 35:46
  How many days are we going to be on site?
• 35:47
  How many people are we going to interview?
• 35:49
  How many locations are we going to film?
• 35:51
  What sound and lighting requirements do we need?
• 35:54
  They know that back and forth, you may be talking to people,
• 35:58
  then you know, you put in your bid, the committee is going to
• 36:02
  meet and then you know that back and forth, back and forth.
• 36:06
  So yes, photography and video, if it's for weddings, quick,
• 36:11
  quick, quick, quick, quick. You meet somebody in January,
• 36:15
  she's getting married in April. By February it looks like you
• 36:19
  people are getting close. And then you know, March 1st,
• 36:23
  yes, she has transferred your money.
• 36:25
  You didn't take time, three months, but if UNICEF calls you,
• 36:31
  the money is good, but it will be, it will be a long time.
• 36:33
  If NNPC calls you, they have a project, money might be good.
• 36:39
  It could be a long time. If I if NNPC calls you on paper
• 36:42
  the money might be good, but you know how it is none, Somebody on
• 36:45
  the inside will say give me 10%, another person 10%.
• 36:47
  By the time you 10 percent, 10%, ten percent, 10%, you know,
• 36:50
  profit don't finish. Anyway.
• 36:53
  The choice of doing business in Nigeria.
• 36:55
  So see this is what I mean by it's a scale.
• 36:58
  So you can't even say I do photography or I do video.
• 37:02
  Therefore I'm in the simple sales scenario.
• 37:04
  There are some sales scenarios where as a video person it is
• 37:07
  very simple, talk to somebody on Monday, collection money by
• 37:10
  Friday. And then there's some situations
• 37:12
  that are very complex. If UNICEF calls you or if World
• 37:16
  Bank calls you, you have your first conversation with them on,
• 37:20
  you know, in January, maybe the first physical meeting in March.
• 37:24
  Maybe you spec out the con, the, the, the project in July.
• 37:30
  And then maybe you make your tenders in August.
• 37:33
  And then maybe the committee meets for the first time in
• 37:36
  December. And then by January of next
• 37:38
  year, which is 2027, they still haven't answered you.
• 37:42
  All you'll be hearing is all the committee has met.
• 37:45
  And we're looking at this thing vigorously.
• 37:47
  You know that we selected 10 possible candidates and so far
• 37:52
  we have whittled them down to 4. But because of data privacy and
• 37:57
  blah, blah, blah, I can't tell you if you're part of that
• 37:59
  selection. You know, you need to give us
• 38:01
  time so that the committee will finish this process.
• 38:03
  So that's something that we started a year ago.
• 38:05
  You're still on it. So it depends.
• 38:09
  You will have to take this thing on a case by case basis, which
• 38:13
  is why I'm saying if you're frustrated that you've been
• 38:15
  chasing somebody for six months, calm down.
• 38:18
  It might be OK or it might be a problem, but you have to discuss
• 38:22
  with someone first to try and figure out what it is that is
• 38:25
  going on. So call me, send me a text
• 38:27
  message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140 if you need any help
• 38:35
  with these sorts of things. So that's it.
• 38:38
  Thank you very much for your time and your attention.
• 38:42
  I will catch you all some other time.