Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Refining Your Marketing: From Niche Focus to WhatsApp Engagement & Authentic Sales

Transcript

Refining Your Marketing: From Niche Focus to WhatsApp Engagement & Authentic Sales · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show today.
• 0:03
  I'm not an audio booth, so apologies for the noise that's
• 0:06
  going to bleed in through the background.
• 0:08
  Now, today we're going to have a strategy session for Hercules.
• 0:12
  Now, when I say Hercules, I don't mean the real Hercules or,
• 0:16
  you know, the Hercules movies that we watched as kids or the
• 0:20
  Disney animation. There's just another code name
• 0:23
  for someone. Actually, I do have his
• 0:25
  permission to make this podcast recording, but I don't want to
• 0:28
  use his real name. So I'm going to use the name
• 0:30
  Hercules. And the guy in question has
• 0:33
  agreed that I use the name Hercules.
• 0:35
  So today's a strategy searching for Hercules because he's a
• 0:37
  strong guy. Now, Hercules reached out to me
• 0:42
  on WhatsApp. That's on the 30th of January
• 0:44
  2025. He's also a podcast listener,
• 0:48
  and he is a digital and affiliate marker who is having,
• 0:51
  sorry I say marker affiliate marketer.
• 0:54
  Yeah, who's having a couple of problems with, you know,
• 0:58
  drumming or business and, you know, the same sort of things
• 1:00
  that we talk about over here on the podcast.
• 1:03
  So the reason why I'm making today's recording is just to
• 1:05
  share some of the good stuff from this interaction because I
• 1:10
  think some of you might be able to learn from it because there's
• 1:13
  a couple of mistakes that Hercules is making and a whole
• 1:16
  bunch of us make as well. Now, if you'd love to connect
• 1:18
  for a strategy session, the business audit or you want me to
• 1:21
  answer a couple of questions, then hit me up.
• 1:23
  Call me or WhatsApp me on 08064662140.
• 1:30
  The country code is +234. Excuse me.
• 1:34
  That's for those of you who are not Nigerian.
• 1:36
  Then also connect with me on WhatsApp, the name to look for
• 1:40
  establishing my IED. So excuse me, sorry about that.
• 1:47
  Yesterday was the radio show and then I did a couple of coaching
• 1:51
  sessions and then the podcast recording.
• 1:53
  So yesterday was very taxing on my voice.
• 1:54
  So I am then plus the normal Abuja Hammatan and everything.
• 1:59
  So I'm recovering from a few things.
• 2:03
  Where was I? OK, yeah.
• 2:06
  So I said Hercules now. So the guy's a digital an
• 2:08
  affiliate marketer, and he's been sending some WhatsApp
• 2:12
  messages, you know, for outreach, you know, like a whole
• 2:14
  bunch of us do to try and draw more business.
• 2:17
  Although me, I don't send those broadcast messages.
• 2:19
  But I'll explain why in the future, and I'll tell you guys
• 2:22
  why I don't think that's a good idea for those of you who keep
• 2:25
  blasting all these messages out, trying to draw more business
• 2:28
  from total strangers, people you've never met before.
• 2:31
  I mean, as I'm saying it now, I hope it's beginning to click in
• 2:34
  your heads why I think that this is a bad idea.
• 2:37
  Because the technology for something is there doesn't mean
• 2:42
  necessarily that we have to do it because the whole point is
• 2:45
  not to being, what's the word, efficient with how many people
• 2:50
  will reach. The goal is not to wake up and
• 2:52
  try and reach 5 million people today.
• 2:55
  The goal is to be effective for the small number of people that
• 2:58
  you reach. How many productive
• 2:59
  conversations are you going to have?
• 3:01
  So if you send out 5 million messages and then you piss off,
• 3:04
  you know, 4.9999 million of them, I mean, like, what's the
• 3:09
  point? But then if you only send out 20
• 3:12
  messages, you end up having conversations with eight people
• 3:15
  and you end up doing businesses, doing business with three.
• 3:18
  I mean, which is better? But anyway, we'll talk about
• 3:20
  that more in the future. But by the way, this is not what
• 3:24
  Hercules is doing. But Hercules has been sending
• 3:27
  out WhatsApp messages, trying to promote his teaching services,
• 3:32
  his affiliate marketing services, his money making on
• 3:35
  WhatsApp seminar, and then also trying to sell people on social
• 3:41
  media growth. So let me repeat, Hercules has
• 3:45
  been sending messages on WhatsApp and this is what he's
• 3:49
  promoting. He's promoting his teaching
• 3:50
  services, he's promoting affiliate marketing, he's
• 3:54
  promoting how to teach you how to make money on WhatsApp, and
• 3:57
  he's also promoting social media growth.
• 4:02
  Now, the first question that I have for Hercules is that we
• 4:04
  have to figure out is, you know, who are you?
• 4:08
  Are you an affiliate marketer or are you a coach?
• 4:11
  The answer to this question is really, really important because
• 4:14
  if you're an affiliate marketer, then the thing you should be
• 4:16
  doing is you should be doing outreach to other businesses,
• 4:19
  other companies. You should be doing B to B,
• 4:22
  trying to sell other people's product.
• 4:26
  Now an affiliate marketer is just somebody who sells on
• 4:28
  behalf of somebody else. As in you're not an agent of the
• 4:31
  person, but sure you will help them sell their thing.
• 4:34
  That's what an affiliate marketer is.
• 4:36
  So if I have, well, of course, it has now become mostly an
• 4:42
  online thing. OK, let me just explain how it
• 4:44
  works in online thing since it's now mostly an online thing.
• 4:48
  Let's say I have a course and the name of that course is I
• 4:51
  will teach you to Hammer in 2025.
• 4:54
  For those of you who are not Nigerian listening to the
• 4:56
  podcast, you know in this part of the world when we say you a
• 4:58
  hammer, that means you're going to blow up as you make big
• 5:01
  money, good money. So over the name of my courses,
• 5:04
  I will teach you to Hammer in 2025.
• 5:07
  A bunch of you listening to this podcast right now who think what
• 5:10
  I'm doing is OK, you guys might reach out to me and say, oh boy,
• 5:13
  how far I like what you're doing.
• 5:15
  Can I sell on your behalf? For every customer that I bring
• 5:18
  to you, you give me one K. Your cost is 250K.
• 5:22
  For every customer I bring to you, give me one K.
• 5:25
  And then I agree. I say sure, no problem.
• 5:26
  You send me a customer, I give you 1K.
• 5:29
  And then in your mind you're thinking, OK, you should be able
• 5:30
  to send 500 customers my way. And if you do that, then what
• 5:34
  you're going to get is 500 * 1 K.
• 5:36
  So you get 500 K, Abby, if my math is correct, that's how
• 5:41
  you're going to make 500,000 naira.
• 5:44
  So that's essentially what affiliate marketers do.
• 5:47
  For every single customer that I send your way, you give me X
• 5:50
  percent, or for every single customer I send your way, you
• 5:53
  give me X naira or X cobo. So that's what affiliate
• 5:56
  marketers do. So that's my main question to
• 6:00
  Hercules and my question to any of you listening to this
• 6:03
  particular session right now and you're having difficulties with
• 6:08
  all the outreach, the marketing messaging that you're putting
• 6:10
  out there. Who are you?
• 6:14
  If you're an affiliate marketer, sell to other companies and tell
• 6:18
  them bro, Madam, I like what you do.
• 6:22
  I can help you sell your course. If I sell your course, give me a
• 6:25
  cut. Your messaging will be tight
• 6:28
  because you know who you are and you're trying to market to one
• 6:31
  person. Are you a coach or an
• 6:34
  instructor? If that's the case, then you're
• 6:37
  now business to consumer and you're talking to everyday
• 6:41
  ordinary people. But still, I would advise you to
• 6:43
  narrow the problems that you solve 'cause I suspect that one
• 6:47
  of the reasons why you're having problems, Hercules, with your
• 6:49
  messaging is because it's too broad.
• 6:51
  It can appeal to everybody and nobody at the same time.
• 6:54
  Teaching services, affiliate marketing, making money on
• 6:57
  WhatsApp, social media growth. It can appeal to everybody and
• 7:01
  to no one. And messaging to everybody, at
• 7:03
  the end of the day is messaging to nobody.
• 7:07
  The first time I saw it and I looked through it, it took me
• 7:11
  like I had to actually sit and think before it clicked in my
• 7:14
  mind. Like what does Hercules do
• 7:16
  again? Because you know, you're
• 7:17
  receiving lots of messages and I'm responding and things like
• 7:20
  that. After a while, actually forgot
• 7:22
  Hercules are being real here. Actually forgot what it is that
• 7:25
  you do. Unlike somebody who says, hey,
• 7:29
  Tavishma, love the podcast, I'm a fashion designer, blah, blah,
• 7:32
  blah. The conversation continues.
• 7:34
  I won't forget that the person is a fashion designer.
• 7:37
  The person didn't say I'm a fashion designer.
• 7:39
  Sometimes I do bricklaying, the other times I sell catfish.
• 7:42
  Apart from that, I also do digital design services and then
• 7:45
  I'm also a full growth stock marketer.
• 7:48
  As the conversation continues after a while, I will even
• 7:50
  forget like I had this babe, what does she do again?
• 7:53
  And I have to scroll to the top to remember it's Hercules to be
• 7:59
  Homefront. Man, this there's a bit much
• 8:01
  teaching services, affiliate marketing, making money on
• 8:03
  WhatsApp, social media growth. Who are you?
• 8:07
  What do you do? Are you an affiliate marketer?
• 8:10
  Sell your affiliate marketing services only.
• 8:13
  Are you a coach or an instructor?
• 8:15
  Then pick what it is that you're instructing on and then start
• 8:19
  marketing to those people. It's easier to sell if you
• 8:23
  narrow down the problem set that you solve the problem sets or is
• 8:27
  easier to sell if you narrow down your ICPICP is your ideal
• 8:31
  customer profile, the ideal client, the person you like
• 8:33
  working working with best. So pick either way your ICP,
• 8:39
  narrow it down. The problems that you solve,
• 8:41
  narrow it down. But primarily the big question
• 8:44
  I'm going to ask you, Hercules, is who are you?
• 8:47
  Once you decide who you are, the rest of the journey is going to
• 8:50
  be a lot easier. Excuse me?
• 8:52
  Because if you're an affiliate marketer, the journey will not
• 8:54
  become clear on what you have to do.
• 8:58
  If you're a coach or an instructor, everything will not
• 9:01
  become clear on what it is that you need to do next.
• 9:04
  Now the next thing, Hercules, I need to pay attention.
• 9:08
  I need to pay attention to is this Hercules actually use
• 9:15
  WhatsApp status, putting posts on WhatsApp status and well,
• 9:20
  it's good. That's how I promote my own
• 9:22
  podcast on WhatsApp status. But the posts that he posts are
• 9:25
  essentially, you know, by my services kind of posts, you
• 9:28
  know, like the first thing that we spoke about in in the
• 9:30
  beginning, you know, you know, hello, this is me.
• 9:34
  This is what I do teaching services, affiliate marketing,
• 9:36
  making money on WhatsApp, social media growth, that kind of
• 9:39
  messaging. Now the, the problem with that
• 9:42
  kind of messaging, let me just call it buy my services
• 9:45
  messaging is when you put those kinds of things on WhatsApp
• 9:48
  status, people eventually ignore you, they hide you or they block
• 9:52
  you. And that's because when people
• 9:55
  are on WhatsApp status, they're bored or they're looking for
• 9:58
  excitement or they're whatever. People on WhatsApp status are
• 10:02
  not necessarily in the mood to buy something.
• 10:05
  So picture this, somebody opens their WhatsApp status.
• 10:08
  The first status they see from you is buy my stuff, teaching
• 10:12
  services, affiliate marketing, making money, social media
• 10:14
  growth. The next post is a different
• 10:17
  variation of buy my stuff, teaching services, affiliate
• 10:20
  marketing, making money on WhatsApp, social media growth.
• 10:23
  You're getting the point. They see temples from you every
• 10:25
  day and then that's it. After a while, they mentally
• 10:29
  check out or they select that thing.
• 10:34
  See less post from this from this person.
• 10:39
  So you need to mix it up. The WhatsApp status strategy
• 10:46
  should either be built around entertainment or education
• 10:50
  because that is what will get you the engagement that you're
• 10:52
  looking for. Remember WhatsApp status, we're
• 10:55
  trying to do entertainment or education.
• 10:57
  If you're entertaining, people will look forward to seeing your
• 11:00
  stuff. I know because I've tried.
• 11:04
  I have a dry sense of humor. I have a wacky sense of humor,
• 11:06
  and I'm very good at that jokes. And so I tested it for a while,
• 11:11
  I did nothing but post only that jokes.
• 11:14
  It was a hit. People knew that every single
• 11:18
  day you would get about 10 bad dad jokes from me.
• 11:23
  And it was a nice way that people used to, you know, catch
• 11:27
  trips. Some people.
• 11:28
  You won't tell me that, man. It's your jokes.
• 11:29
  I like it. Every time I get it, I send to
• 11:31
  my wife. Every time I get it, I send to
• 11:33
  my husband. And I was having real
• 11:35
  conversations around that. But the reason why I stopped is
• 11:38
  because I don't want to make a living by being a comedian.
• 11:42
  So, yeah, I think I'm funny or, you know, I have a sense of
• 11:46
  humor. I think I can sell.
• 11:48
  But I really don't want to make a living being a comedian.
• 11:50
  And I that's not what I want to be associated with.
• 11:52
  So I stopped. But to be honest with you, the
• 11:58
  jokes, the kind of engagement that was getting me is not quite
• 12:01
  the same that now all the only thing I post is business
• 12:04
  content. I also tried with music because
• 12:07
  I have a really interesting taste in music.
• 12:10
  Like yesterday I was listening to SA Osita OSA DB, that's some
• 12:14
  Korean high life music. The day before that I was
• 12:18
  listening to Oliver the Coke, and the day before that I was
• 12:21
  listening to what's his name? Morocco.
• 12:27
  Count something on Morocco. I can't remember.
• 12:28
  Like some correct high life ego musicians.
• 12:31
  So I share stuff like that on my status and nothing gets lots of
• 12:34
  engagement. IBO people will be like, oh boy,
• 12:36
  you listen to this kind of music.
• 12:37
  I'm like, yeah, of course now. So do you even know what this
• 12:40
  thing means? Like, I mean, I don't know, I'm
• 12:41
  just feeling the vibe. Excuse me.
• 12:43
  And then we start having conversations around IBO music
• 12:49
  and then sometimes it's gospel music and then somebody who
• 12:51
  said, oh boy, are you a Christian?
• 12:52
  I say yes, now I'm Catholic. Now say, OK, I didn't know that
• 12:55
  Catholics are Christians. I say, you idiot, how you know
• 12:57
  that Catholics are not Christians and we know the
• 12:59
  original Christians. From there you now start using.
• 13:02
  So entertainment builds engagement.
• 13:06
  I know this one first hand because I can tell you that when
• 13:10
  I put up the dad jokes, when I try to put up funny stuff, when
• 13:13
  I put up music, I get mad engagement.
• 13:16
  But when I put up business stuff V everywhere is just quiet and
• 13:21
  we hear anything. Maybe once in a while somebody
• 13:23
  will say, boss, I don't understand, explain this to me,
• 13:27
  share this one to me. But generally quiet.
• 13:31
  But either way, Hercules, you need to decide for WhatsApp
• 13:37
  status. What is going to work is either
• 13:39
  entertainment or education. If you can find ways to put up
• 13:43
  entertaining content that is going to get you engagement
• 13:46
  around your business, then good for you.
• 13:51
  If you want to try the dry education route like I am doing,
• 13:53
  good for you. If you're wondering how can I
• 13:56
  come up with entertaining ideas to promote my business, that is
• 14:01
  the reason why Google Gemini has been invented.
• 14:04
  Take your phone, open up the Google folder.
• 14:07
  You will see an icon there that is a white background with a
• 14:10
  four point star. Click on that.
• 14:12
  Once you click on it, Gemini will open and then you ask you
• 14:16
  say dear Gemini, I am a Nigerian business person.
• 14:20
  Ioffer teaching services, affiliate marketing, making
• 14:22
  money on WhatsApp and social media growth.
• 14:26
  I want to promote my business on WhatsApp status.
• 14:28
  Come up with 20 entertaining ideas that I can use to create
• 14:33
  content to promote my business. Then hit send.
• 14:36
  I see what Google Gemini sends you back.
• 14:39
  It will send a bunch of stuff that you don't like.
• 14:42
  Ignore for the ones that you like.
• 14:45
  Start implementing, it's better than sitting down and doing
• 14:50
  nothing. It's also better than posting
• 14:53
  the same thing every day, which is essentially buy my services,
• 14:56
  buy my services, buy my services and then you end up being
• 14:58
  ignored, you end up being hid or you end up being blocked.
• 15:03
  Then Hercules also, Oh, sorry, it's not as if you won't say buy
• 15:07
  my services or now. It's just that buy my services
• 15:10
  would be once in a while. So maybe Monday, Wednesday,
• 15:13
  Friday entertaining content, Tuesday and Thursday educational
• 15:20
  content, maybe Saturday pictures of, you know, you, your wife,
• 15:25
  your family, your kids, maybe Sunday something about God, and
• 15:30
  then maybe every second Wednesday, buy my stuff.
• 15:34
  So that's how it works, you know, spice it up.
• 15:37
  Then he also said that he has a lack of confidence because of
• 15:42
  some ideas, you know, things that he tried out in the past
• 15:45
  that didn't work. And OK, one thing I'm going to
• 15:50
  say, Hercules, is you actually are on track for this one
• 15:55
  because you've reached out to me.
• 15:56
  That's good. But actually, I think you should
• 16:00
  be investing your time and investing your money in training
• 16:04
  from other people who are in the affiliate marketing space, who
• 16:09
  are affiliate marketing specialists.
• 16:11
  Because in case you haven't noticed, Hercules, I am not an
• 16:16
  affiliate marketing specialist. It's a different field.
• 16:20
  I have some skills that can make you more efficient as an
• 16:22
  affiliate marketer, but it's a different field.
• 16:25
  You know, different mental models, different frameworks,
• 16:30
  different execution. It's different, so it's good
• 16:33
  that you've reached out to me, but actually you should be
• 16:35
  reaching out to affiliate marketing specialists.
• 16:39
  Join affiliate marketing communities and groups because
• 16:43
  there are plenty on WhatsApp and on Facebook.
• 16:46
  The whole point of joining these communities is you're going to
• 16:49
  try and figure out the frameworks for affiliate
• 16:52
  marketing, the principles for affiliate marketing so that you
• 16:56
  can execute because lots of times when people suffer from a
• 16:59
  lack of confidence, just like in your own case, because some
• 17:02
  things didn't work out. The problem is you didn't have a
• 17:06
  plan in the 1st place. So what you're doing is you're
• 17:08
  just freestyling. Today you try like this,
• 17:10
  tomorrow you try like this and what you're trying like this,
• 17:12
  trying like that. On your freestyling, not
• 17:14
  everything is going to work. So the first thing you need to
• 17:17
  do is come up with a plan. When you have a plan and you
• 17:19
  execute it faithfully and you execute it the best of your
• 17:23
  ability, eventually you're going to start seeing results and you
• 17:25
  start noticing that, OK, this playbook was works best for
• 17:28
  these kinds of conditions. Let me continue.
• 17:31
  This kind of playbook doesn't work well for these kinds of
• 17:33
  conditions. Let me discontinue, but join
• 17:36
  affiliate marketing communities, join the affiliate marketing
• 17:38
  groups, look for an affiliate marketing specialist.
• 17:41
  Start listening to that person's podcast, start listening to
• 17:44
  their YouTube videos, you know, pay for the person's coaching
• 17:46
  services or whatever. But bottom, what I'm trying to
• 17:50
  say is figure out the frameworks, figure out the
• 17:53
  principles and then begin to execute.
• 17:55
  Once you do that, confidence starts to go up.
• 17:58
  But don't worry, nobody was born with confidence.
• 17:59
  You know, small, small. Like I tell my son when he gets
• 18:03
  frustrated sometimes I tell him that look, we've been through
• 18:05
  this before. In the beginning you refused to
• 18:08
  crawl. You decided you wanted to walk,
• 18:09
  but you were a baby so I couldn't stop you.
• 18:12
  And you fell lots of times. And each time you fell, you
• 18:15
  would get angry, but you would cry and then you try again.
• 18:18
  So I tell my son, look, you're a natural fighter.
• 18:20
  This how you've been fighting from day one.
• 18:21
  You refused to crawl, you wanted to walk, and no problem, you
• 18:26
  took the hit, you took the falls.
• 18:28
  But that's what you have to do. So I remind my son that, look,
• 18:31
  we've been here before, so don't get discouraged.
• 18:34
  Continue to fall, continue to learn.
• 18:36
  You know, eventually this thing that you're trying to do, you
• 18:38
  will do. You're a fighter.
• 18:39
  You've done this before, so don't worry.
• 18:41
  So that's how we get confidence. You stand your fall, you stand
• 18:44
  your fall, you stand your fall. Eventually you figure it out and
• 18:46
  then you move on. So next thing for Hercules, he's
• 18:51
  been doing work for free, but he has not been able to get some
• 18:54
  conversions. Now, this is what a conversion
• 18:56
  mean. A conversion means you try to
• 18:58
  get people to take the next step with you.
• 19:00
  So the one you listen to this podcast, some of you reach out
• 19:03
  and say, hey, big time, what's up now?
• 19:06
  I like what you do. How can we talk?
• 19:07
  Let's see if we can do one or two things.
• 19:09
  I think you can help me like this.
• 19:11
  And then eventually a person deposits money in my account and
• 19:13
  I do some coaching and consulting for them, maybe some
• 19:16
  speaking at their office. That is conversions.
• 19:19
  You do one thing, you convert to another, You convert.
• 19:21
  You take another step, another step, another step, and then
• 19:24
  ping him. Money enters your account.
• 19:26
  That is what conversion means. So Hercules says he's been doing
• 19:29
  some work for free, but conversions, conversions.
• 19:32
  No, they happen as in it's not happening.
• 19:35
  Things are not entering into his bank account.
• 19:37
  Now, I would like to be upfront about something.
• 19:44
  Doing work for free can lead to conversions.
• 19:46
  Yeah, it can. It can work, but you have to be
• 19:49
  upfront about it because lots of people are doing work for free,
• 19:52
  but they're not being upfront about what they expect in return
• 19:55
  or how this is going to work. So if you're doing work for free
• 19:58
  for people, but you're not saying anything, you know, I
• 20:01
  expect this or this is the next step.
• 20:03
  This is how it's going to work. People will take your free work
• 20:06
  and say thank you very much, My my brother, May God bless you
• 20:09
  and they will mean well and I'll pray for you.
• 20:11
  It's just that right now you don't need their prayers.
• 20:13
  What you need is you need to be hamping him, ping him and you
• 20:16
  look at your phone and you see that XYZ has deposited 100K in
• 20:20
  your bank account. That's what you need right now.
• 20:23
  So you just have to be upfront about the whole thing.
• 20:26
  When you're doing work for free, boss, I'll do this work for you
• 20:30
  for free. I can help you achieve XY
• 20:32
  results at no costs. But if so, boss, I'm hoping that
• 20:38
  what we're going to do next is for XYZ months, I will do this
• 20:41
  work for you, but at ABC price Bros, what do you think?
• 20:46
  Now you're being upfront, Bros can either say no problem now
• 20:49
  let's try now. If it works out and this is
• 20:51
  where the results you deliver, then you're sure I'll be able to
• 20:54
  drop, you know, 50K for us to continue for the next three
• 20:57
  months. Be explicit about your
• 21:01
  expectations when you're having all these free work
• 21:03
  conversations. Even me selfie, you can't be
• 21:05
  giving me work for free. Like, I'll take it and I'll say
• 21:08
  thank you. Actually, after a while, my
• 21:12
  conscience will start to break me.
• 21:13
  And I ask you like, hey, look, dude, you've been doing this
• 21:15
  thing for free or a level with me.
• 21:17
  Like, what's up? Like, what do you want in
• 21:19
  return? But if you tell me that, oh, no,
• 21:22
  no, no, really, just out of the goodness of my heart, I'll tell
• 21:24
  you, OK, no problem. Thank you and I'll take it.
• 21:27
  So just be really explicit, explicit talk about your
• 21:31
  expectations. Let's have expectations on both
• 21:34
  ends. And we're having all these
• 21:35
  conversations for free work. But for me, the main benefit of
• 21:39
  free work actually is the testimonials that you get, the
• 21:42
  credibility and the competence that you get and the chance that
• 21:44
  you have to build your portfolio.
• 21:46
  Maybe you build some referrals. But The thing is with the
• 21:49
  testimonials, with the credibility, with the competence
• 21:51
  and with the portfolio, you will now use that to start chasing
• 21:54
  other jobs. So I'm not, I don't have a
• 21:58
  problem for doing free work. In fact, my preference is if
• 22:00
  you're going to do free work, do it for the portfolio, do it for
• 22:04
  like 4 or five people. Take your results, package it
• 22:07
  well. Now use your results and start
• 22:09
  prospecting. When you're prospecting to other
• 22:12
  people, you will now be telling them, Mister Man, Mr. Woman, I
• 22:16
  have been able to achieve XYZ results for these five
• 22:19
  businesses. The pictures, see them, I'm
• 22:22
  showing you the results. See it, I'm showing you.
• 22:25
  Are you interested to see if I can do the same for you?
• 22:28
  And then keep quiet. And then you hear some people
• 22:32
  will say, no thanks, I'm not interested.
• 22:33
  Some people will say you achieve a results for this business.
• 22:36
  That business really, you really did this thing for Philip.
• 22:39
  So I know Philip now. So you even know Philip.
• 22:41
  Call Philip and ask him. Now.
• 22:43
  I'm the one that worked on on this and this and this for him.
• 22:48
  And then you ask, are you interested to see how we can do
• 22:51
  the same for you? The person says yes, very good.
• 22:54
  That's it. Your free work in the past is
• 22:56
  now paying off. You don't have to tell everybody
• 22:59
  they did it for free. When I started off as a wedding
• 23:02
  photographer, I told you I shot 8 weddings for free.
• 23:04
  I didn't tell, OK, I shot 7 for free for one customer, I-1
• 23:10
  client, I charge a person 50 Ki did not tell the future people
• 23:14
  that look, these 8 weddings are shot for free.
• 23:16
  They don't need to know that. What they need to know is that
• 23:18
  I'm good, I've got skills and this is what I can deliver.
• 23:23
  So that's my own preference. If you're going to do the free
• 23:26
  thing, go ahead. Well, the focus actually is
• 23:29
  testimonials and portfolio. The only ability to show that
• 23:35
  this is what I can do. These people can vouch for me.
• 23:37
  I'm legit. I'm the guy, I'm the very babe.
• 23:42
  So that's my own take when it comes to free work.
• 23:45
  Now, the final thing that I would like to put out there is I
• 23:50
  asked them, Hercules, what his definition of selling was, and
• 23:53
  what he said was a little troubling.
• 23:55
  It's a little troubling because it's the same definition that a
• 24:01
  whole host of you over here have.
• 24:05
  Hercules said that selling is convincing someone into your own
• 24:08
  idea or into what it is that you want to do.
• 24:12
  And that definition is very problematic.
• 24:17
  I repeat, Hercules said that selling is convincing someone
• 24:20
  into your idea or into your own thing.
• 24:23
  So excuse me now that is problematic.
• 24:30
  So First off, I'd like to start by saying this.
• 24:33
  I've said this lots of times on the podcast and want to say it
• 24:35
  again for those of you who are listening to this for the first
• 24:38
  time. You cannot convince someone to
• 24:42
  do something that they already did not want to do.
• 24:45
  Let me repeat, you cannot convince someone to do something
• 24:50
  that they didn't already want to do.
• 24:55
  If you're trying to convince someone to do something and they
• 24:58
  don't want to do it, the process you have chosen is laden with
• 25:02
  friction. It is full of friction.
• 25:05
  You are pushing. The person is pushing back.
• 25:09
  The sales works best when you know you lean back.
• 25:11
  The person for follows you. The person leads back you to you
• 25:15
  leaning. You guys are moving in the same
• 25:17
  direction. You know, you're swinging back
• 25:18
  and forth. You guys are moving together.
• 25:20
  It's a relationship. But if I say A, you say B, and
• 25:24
  we're butting heads. I mean, yeah, people can close
• 25:28
  sales that way, but the less friction we have in the process,
• 25:31
  the better. So instead of trying to convince
• 25:35
  people who don't agree, spend time looking for people who are
• 25:41
  already interested. So Hercules, the reason why I'm
• 25:47
  frustrated is because you're wasting too much time talking to
• 25:50
  people who will never buy. You're trying to convince them.
• 25:54
  Somebody says no, somebodies are not interested.
• 25:56
  You're still trying to convince them.
• 25:57
  Somebody's ghosting you. You're still trying to convince
• 25:59
  them. You're still trying to convince
• 26:00
  them. It is not about convincing
• 26:03
  someone into your idea, It is about looking for someone who
• 26:07
  already has your own idea. You guys already are on the same
• 26:12
  level. If you guys are on the same
• 26:15
  level, the future conversations will be smooth.
• 26:20
  So just change your understanding.
• 26:22
  If you're listening to this podcast right now, you're one of
• 26:23
  those people who thinks that sales is about convincing
• 26:26
  somebody into your own way. You have picked a path that is
• 26:30
  not going to serve you well. Stop looking for people to
• 26:33
  convince. Look for people who are already
• 26:36
  convinced and who already believe and then tell them, OK,
• 26:38
  this is how we can work together.
• 26:39
  This is the results I can help you achieve.
• 26:43
  So the proper understanding of sales is this.
• 26:46
  When you're having conversations with people, try and figure out
• 26:48
  who is interested, try and figure out their motivations in
• 26:52
  your own head. You'll be asking yourselves, OK,
• 26:54
  this is what the person truly wants is their alignment.
• 26:56
  Can I deliver this? And can I deliver it in a way
• 27:00
  that will give me a nice profit margin?
• 27:02
  And there's not going to be any quarrel.
• 27:03
  If there's an alignment, then you make an effective proposal.
• 27:07
  OK, I understand what it is that you're trying to say.
• 27:09
  With my skill set, with my inventory, with the things I
• 27:11
  have in store, with the connections I have, I can help
• 27:14
  you achieve this, this, this, this, this.
• 27:16
  And this is how we can help you do that.
• 27:19
  What do you think? Is that something that you're
• 27:20
  interested in doing? And then you continue to follow
• 27:23
  up because it's not everybody that is going to drop money
• 27:26
  immediately. Make an effective proposal.
• 27:29
  But summary is if there is no alignment, just say goodbye and
• 27:33
  move on to the next person. Stop trying to convince people.
• 27:38
  Sales and business is hard enough that you wake up every
• 27:41
  day. You try to talk to 20 people and
• 27:45
  of the 20 people, 17 of them you're convincing, you're
• 27:48
  explaining, you are educating, you are psyching, you are
• 27:53
  begging, you are pushing. Like life is hard enough as it
• 27:55
  is. Just make it easy.
• 27:57
  If you talk to 20 people and it looks as if 17 of them need some
• 28:03
  convincing, just free it. Put them in a relationship
• 28:06
  building campaign, keep them in WhatsApp, send them helpful
• 28:09
  resources, things like that. But the goal is to look for
• 28:12
  people who are already interested, which is why I still
• 28:16
  keep telling you guys that the first time you're talking to
• 28:18
  somebody, it's like the example that I gave for the marketer of
• 28:24
  real estate. You start off the conversation,
• 28:26
  not by trying to educate the person that do you know that
• 28:31
  buying wealth in Abuja is buying land in Abuja is the greatest
• 28:34
  way to be to build wealth. That's why you start off these
• 28:37
  conversations. All these do you know, do you
• 28:39
  know conversations you're trying to educate somebody rather go
• 28:43
  and ask, have you ever thought about adding landed property to
• 28:49
  your investment portfolio? Some people will say, what does
• 28:52
  that question mean? So actually what it means is
• 28:55
  this and then you have the conversation, you find somebody
• 28:58
  who's interested. Some people will say, Nope, I do
• 29:01
  not believe in real estate as as an investment category.
• 29:06
  And that's the point where you say, oh really?
• 29:07
  Tell me more. You hear the person out.
• 29:11
  And truly, if the person doesn't believe in real estate as an
• 29:13
  investment category, but you happen to know a stockbroker,
• 29:16
  pass the person along to your friend who's a stockbroker,
• 29:18
  collect your 10% Commission. If the person says no I don't
• 29:22
  want to get landed property as an investment but I am looking
• 29:27
  for a place to go and rent, then you know you can have a fruitful
• 29:30
  conversation. But don't start off these things
• 29:33
  by saying do you know that buying a land in Abuja in 2025
• 29:38
  is the surest way to triple your money between 2025 and 2026?
• 29:45
  Don't start off the conversation that way.
• 29:47
  Go and look for any flavor of question that starts the
• 29:51
  conversation saying are you interested in?
• 29:55
  Have you ever thought about? Do you think it would be a nice
• 30:00
  idea too? Chief Odoku has done this and
• 30:05
  this is what he achieved. Would you like to know too?
• 30:08
  Would you like to learn more as well?
• 30:10
  Would you like to explore it too?
• 30:14
  The goal is, is the person already interested and already
• 30:18
  motivated? Those are the people that you
• 30:20
  should be talking to. So Hercules, please change your
• 30:23
  ideas about selling. For the rest of you listening to
• 30:25
  this podcast who are like Hercules, change your ideas
• 30:28
  about serving. I'm selling.
• 30:30
  If you continue like that, you will spend every single day,
• 30:33
  Monday to Friday. And you find that 80% of the
• 30:35
  time you're talking to people and it's like doing head butt
• 30:38
  every day. You're trying to convince,
• 30:40
  trying to convince, trying to educate, trying to educate.
• 30:43
  And that is tiring. We're human, we're mere mortals.
• 30:48
  There's a limit to how much educate, convince, educate.
• 30:51
  Convinced that we can do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
• 30:53
  Friday, and then to now do that 20 days for the rest of the
• 30:57
  month. Many stress.
• 31:00
  All right, as I wrap up, Hercules, I would like to say
• 31:06
  stop sending unsolicited links because that's one thing I
• 31:10
  noticed in our conversation. When you send unsolicited links,
• 31:14
  people ignore you, people block you, people ignore you.
• 31:18
  An unsolicited link just means this is what unsolicited means.
• 31:22
  Or solicit. Unsolicited just means I didn't
• 31:24
  ask you, I didn't say I was interested.
• 31:28
  So if you're sending a link APDF, download a picture is
• 31:31
  something the person didn't ask you, the person didn't say you
• 31:35
  are interested. That is unsolicited.
• 31:38
  Let me give you an example. If my wife is with the kids,
• 31:42
  someone at the birthday party, my son does something silly, she
• 31:44
  snaps the picture she sends. I'll look at it.
• 31:47
  That's cute. They're my sons so I didn't ask
• 31:50
  her for that particular photo. But because of the context on
• 31:53
  our relationship, it is not unsolicited.
• 31:56
  I'm interested, so send me the photo.
• 31:59
  That's really nice. Can you send this photo to my
• 32:02
  mum as well? My mum will like it.
• 32:04
  That is not unsolicited. But if my wife now takes that
• 32:07
  picture and she sends it to you, you as in you who are listening
• 32:14
  to the podcast right now, maybe because, you know, you and I are
• 32:18
  friends or something like it's also listed like from where to
• 32:21
  where? Like, Madam, did I ask you to
• 32:23
  send me pictures of your children?
• 32:25
  Did I say I was interested in pictures of your children?
• 32:28
  That is unsolicited. So stop sending unsolicited
• 32:34
  messages, especially when those messages contains contain links,
• 32:38
  'cause that's how the conversation with me and him
• 32:39
  started. I just saw a link in my inbox,
• 32:42
  Bra. Well, of course, since I'm in
• 32:45
  sales and I like to be nice to other sales people, I always
• 32:48
  proud to try and figure out who are you?
• 32:50
  Why are you sending me all this kind of stuff?
• 32:52
  And then I was like, oh, this is me, the guy that made a comment
• 32:55
  on your podcast. So, oh, OK.
• 32:56
  Then the conversation continued. Just sending unsolicited links,
• 33:01
  unsolicited messages, that kind of stuff gets you ignored, gets
• 33:04
  you blocked, especially nowadays that people have found ways.
• 33:09
  I mean Nigerians are smart. I don't know how they do it.
• 33:11
  They send you a link, you click on it and then next thing we
• 33:13
  have cloned your WhatsApp, they have hijacked your WhatsApp.
• 33:17
  Then they start sending messages to people.
• 33:18
  They please help me, I have police Biggie send me 50K.
• 33:23
  They send that message to all your contacts.
• 33:26
  Maybe four or five people might send 5050 K and then that's it.
• 33:29
  Then I have a 200K. Then I'll call you later on and
• 33:32
  say oh boy, how far would that police matter?
• 33:34
  Are you OK? So I wish police matters.
• 33:36
  I received WhatsApp message from you.
• 33:37
  Now that you have police matter, I say no, no, no, no, that was
• 33:40
  not me. And believe me, these things
• 33:42
  happen because I just changed in one day.
• 33:45
  And then my landlady, you know, she called me up like look,
• 33:47
  don't pay any money. I say I pay any money.
• 33:49
  How my this thing has been hijacked.
• 33:50
  And then true truth, I don't have been hijacked.
• 33:53
  So please, maybe if you're selling in the UK or Latin
• 34:00
  America or North America or whatever, you can send whatever.
• 34:05
  But in Nigeria, please stop sending unsolicited messages
• 34:09
  with unsolicited links and unsolicited material or
• 34:12
  solicited just means I didn't ask you and I didn't say I was
• 34:15
  interested. If you want to send, ask the
• 34:19
  person first. So hello, Mr. so, so, so and so
• 34:24
  might you be interested in this disease?
• 34:25
  Actually, I am explain some more.
• 34:28
  OK, It is like this, like this, like this.
• 34:30
  Can I share with you some resources that will explain
• 34:33
  better? Oh, yes, please send you now
• 34:35
  send the link. So that's how it works.
• 34:39
  All right, now let me bring it to a close for Hercules.
• 34:42
  If you would like to connect for strategy session, the business
• 34:46
  audit or you want me to answer a couple of questions, then reach
• 34:50
  out to me on WhatsApp. The number is 08064662140.
• 34:55
  The country code is +234. Also connect with me on WhatsApp
• 34:58
  the name to look for establishing my ID.
• 35:00
  I'm the host of the show. So thank you very much for your
• 35:03
  time and attention. I will catch you guys at the
• 35:05
  next episode. And Hercules, I hope a bunch of
• 35:09
  stuff that I've said here has been helpful.
• 35:11
  But really, I really think the main question that you need to
• 35:14
  solve and the main thing you need to ask yourself is you need
• 35:16
  to sit down, have a conversation with yourself as yourself.
• 35:21
  Who am I? Am I an affiliate marketer or am
• 35:25
  IA coach? If you answer I'm an affiliate
• 35:28
  marketer, what you need to do to grow your business is much more
• 35:31
  clear. If you answer I am a coach, what
• 35:36
  you need to do becomes a lot more clear.
• 35:39
  But if you decide I am both an affiliate marketer and I'm a
• 35:41
  coach and I'm going to sell teaching services, affiliate
• 35:44
  marketing, making money on WhatsApp and social media, well,
• 35:49
  I would say it can't work. You just, you're multiplying the
• 35:53
  kind of work that you need to do.
• 35:57
  If you start off as affiliate marketer, become really good at
• 36:00
  affiliate marketing, maybe you've now been doing it for
• 36:02
  like 710 years and like you're the best in Niger.
• 36:06
  You now want to try and sell a course like OK, this is how I
• 36:09
  made 1 billion in affiliate marketing.
• 36:12
  This is how I will teach you to be rich.
• 36:15
  Release the course. That's a different thing.
• 36:18
  You have now started like, OK, I'm an affiliate marketer first.
• 36:23
  You become the Don first, then you now start trying to sell
• 36:26
  your coaching thing. So ask yourself, who are you?
• 36:31
  The answer will determine what it is that you have to do next.
• 36:33
  So thank you very much everyone for listening.
• 36:35
  I'll catch you at the next episode.