Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Unlock Your Potential: Why Sales Training Matters & The Perils of Rushing Automation

Transcript

Unlock Your Potential: Why Sales Training Matters & The Perils of Rushing Automation · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:00
Hello, and welcome to the show. Today's episode is being
0:04
recorded at my desk, and it's raining outside.
0:07
There also isn't any light. So yeah, we have the investor
0:10
going on, but all my neighbors are running their generators.
0:13
And then, of course, there's rain.
0:14
And then the whole family is home.
0:16
So I expect to hear some interruptions in the background.
0:19
The goal of this show is free business education.
0:22
So please, if you like what you hear, share, promote and talk
0:25
about the podcast so that people in Nigeria and abroad can
0:29
benefit from the questions that we tackle.
0:31
And if you in particular have any sales or marketing
0:34
questions, you can call SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140.
0:40
The country code is +234. Today on the show, depending on
0:46
how terrible the weather is or not, we I'll see if we can
0:49
tackle 2 questions or rather two issues now.
0:54
The first one is this, I'm supposed to have been running a
0:58
series of trainings, or rather I am currently running a series of
1:03
trainings for a client of mine who is based in Benin City.
1:06
He has a gadget store he's thinking of running, opening a
1:09
second location. And that is where we started our
1:13
engagement together. And my professional advice was,
1:15
yes, it's OK to open a second location.
1:18
But before you do, or rather before we do that, there are a
1:21
couple of things that we need to iron out.
1:23
First, we need to have standard operating procedures regarding
1:26
sales and a bunch of other stuff so that these things will serve
1:29
as the template for the second location when we open that.
1:33
So that's where we currently are.
1:35
I'm talking with him and his sales associates.
1:37
I'm trying to narrow down a couple of things, you know,
1:41
just, you know, tidy up their sales process, make it more
1:46
efficient where it can be. But the most important thing is
1:49
to put it on paper so that by the time you start location 2,
1:52
location 3, location 4, there is this a steady playbook that
1:56
everybody can run from. So if you're in this kind of
1:59
business and you admire what other people have built, like
2:02
slot for instance, because I know that slot is in Lagos,
2:05
it's, it's in Abuja, where else? Makudi, Kaduna, Port Arcord,
2:09
like it's, it's all over the place.
2:11
I don't know if they are nationwide in all 36 states, but
2:15
if you admire the thing that people like that have built,
2:17
this is precisely how they do it.
2:19
Or the defunct Mr. Biggs, before Mr. Biggs went away, this is
2:24
precisely how Mr. Biggs did it. So you establish the template
2:28
first in a few locations, and then you scale it out and
2:31
multiply it across a couple of locations.
2:36
OK. So unfortunately, one of those
2:39
meetings that we agreed upon, some people didn't turn up on
2:43
time and it's not in my usual character, but I had to give
2:46
them some strong words. And I'm going to share some of
2:49
those strong words with you guys today just in case there's some
2:53
of you who are listening to the podcast right now and you
2:55
haven't quite got the memo. Like you don't really understand
2:58
what is going on when an employer says, you know what, we
3:01
need to do some training. I'm bringing an outside
3:03
consultant, I'm bringing an outside resource person.
3:06
And this is what we have to do. You know, some of you, it hasn't
3:09
quite clicked yet. What's what's going on?
3:13
So that's the reason why I'm making today's episode.
3:15
So one moment I'll be right back and then we'll continue.
3:21
OK, I'm back. Sorry about that.
3:23
Like I mentioned, it's raining over here in Abuja.
3:25
And in fact, the rains have been long, we've been long awaiting
3:30
the rains in Abuja because I won't like the dry season has
3:33
been has been killing somebody. So it's nice that the rains are
3:36
finally here. Anyway.
3:38
So now that the rains are in full blast, I just wanted to
3:40
make sure that, you know, the kids had closed all the windows.
3:43
You know, that'd not be that. I stand up here for the podcast
3:45
recording and then I see that, OK, the children's room is
3:48
flooded or that kind of thing. All right.
3:51
OK, so like I was saying, now me and this guy, this is how I was
3:56
supposed to work with the store. We set up a bunch of trainings
3:59
and then we set up some trainings.
4:01
And then some of the sales people do not show.
4:03
And usually I like to keep things cool, but I had to give
4:06
them a talking to. And I suspect that there's some
4:08
of you here who are listening to the show.
4:10
Who you know, your guy has tried to arrange one or two things in
4:13
the office and you're like, I beg, you know, as far as you're
4:16
concerned, you know now for them pockets and you just, you're
4:21
just doing your own thing, like you can't be bothered.
4:24
So I had to address the team and let them know about a bunch of
4:27
stuff. Number one, we're all sales
4:29
people. So me, the trainer, the
4:33
facilitator, the consultant, whatever it is you call, you
4:36
call me. I'm a salesperson because I have
4:38
to move my own market. The person who owns the
4:40
business, they're a salesperson too because they have to move
4:44
markets, they have to sell gadgets.
4:46
Then those of you who are hired to be sales associates, you also
4:50
sales people because you have merchandise that you have to
4:53
move. And I pointed out to them that
4:58
normally for Niger sales people, I haven't met any career sales
5:03
person in Abuja because typically if somebody is good at
5:08
sales, good at this job, they might start in one place but
5:11
ultimately they end up running their own thing.
5:14
They end up doing their own thing.
5:17
And I haven't met any employer who has been talking to me about
5:21
doing some consultation with their staff or stuff like that.
5:24
I haven't met any of them who is in denial or who doesn't know
5:28
that our sales people have one or two things that they're doing
5:30
outside. So if you're listening to this
5:32
show right now, you're a salesperson working for someone
5:35
your guy knows. Yeah, you're trying to hide it,
5:37
but we all know. So The thing is when we hook up
5:42
these kinds of things, it actually is in your own best
5:45
interest to pay attention and get the most of what you can now
5:50
because by the time you leave your guy and you want to now go
5:53
full 100% into this your side hustle.
5:57
It is from these trainings that your guy is organizing and that
6:01
resource people like me are training you or other resource
6:04
people. It is there that you will get
6:06
the information that you need to blow.
6:09
Now yoga knows you're going to leave one day, but they're still
6:14
willing to put money and time into training you properly
6:17
because they know that even though it's a temporary marriage
6:22
and you're here for now, at least they want you to be
6:25
skilled up for now to make their business move forward.
6:29
So the first thing that we have to learn as salespeople is we
6:35
need to take advantage of all these opportunities that come up
6:39
for professional development or for personal development,
6:44
especially when we are not the ones who are paying for it.
6:47
So whatever free training you get, rush it.
6:52
All these free podcasts, listen, it doesn't have to be mine.
6:56
Take advantage of it. If your guy is paying for
6:58
training, go. There are some people in the
7:04
civil service, for instance, that the office will arrange
7:08
training. Maybe the train is based in
7:10
America or based in the UK or something.
7:13
They will land. Instead of going for training,
7:15
they'll be going for shopping. It is themselves that they are
7:18
deceiving. If the federal government has
7:20
already paid for this training, I'm not saying you should not do
7:22
your shopping. When you land in the US, go for
7:25
your training. After that, you go for your
7:28
shopping. You are improving yourself.
7:30
You will be with the federal government all your life.
7:33
All the time will come when you want to start a business.
7:35
Your spouse will want to start a business, your children want to
7:38
start a business. It's from all these small, small
7:40
foreign training that you didn't pay for, that you've been
7:43
learning one or two things that you'll now be useful to your
7:46
kids, to yourself, to your spouse.
7:47
And it's the same thing for those of us who work in
7:49
organizations. Where do your guy or the Madam
7:53
is willing to drop by so that people can come and train you?
7:56
Anything that is free, take advantage of it.
7:59
Free podcast, take advantage of it.
8:01
Free seminar, take advantage of it.
8:04
Your guy is paying, take advantage of it.
8:06
Now eventually will be nice for you to start paying to beef your
8:10
own skills, but until then take advantage of all these free
8:14
opportunities. Then I also needed to tell these
8:17
people some proper etiquettes that we need as salespeople and
8:20
#1 it is don't be late because when you're late, it shows a
8:24
lack of respect for others and then people end up not trusting
8:27
you. Now, when it is normal in house
8:30
meeting, and I know you don't think it's too much of a big
8:33
deal, but if you get into a habit of coming late for one or
8:36
two things, that's how one day when money is on the line and
8:39
sweet money, you will now show up late for a meeting.
8:42
And you really don't think that all these small, small things,
8:45
you know, showing up late, not dressing right, not sounding
8:48
right, not talking right, not doing what you promised, you
8:50
know, things like that. You really don't think all these
8:52
things add up to the way people see you and regard you and
8:55
respect you. So like I had to tell them at
8:57
this meeting because there were four sales associates that was
9:01
there. There's one that I've known for
9:03
a while because it took a while for them to put together the
9:06
sales team. So the oldest person there, I
9:07
was like, look, at least I know her me and how we've been vibing
9:11
for a while before you 2 got here.
9:12
I know her capabilities by the time this thing ends and then me
9:16
and how we jump on the outside. At least I know that.
9:17
OK, this babe, this what she's capable of.
9:21
Do many three of you you guys are following us on doing smash,
9:24
smash, smash. Like if we meet outside, like
9:26
how do you think I'm going to reach you?
9:28
If there's an opportunity and somebody asks me Tavish and my
9:31
what's up? OK, these four babes are here.
9:33
What do you think? Like who do you think I'm going
9:35
to vouch for? We should be thinking about all
9:38
these sorts of things as sales people.
9:39
We should never be late. Show respect for other people's
9:43
time and let people trust you because of how you're conducting
9:47
yourself. Then do what you say you will.
9:50
If you have said I will do this thing, do it.
9:53
People will trust you. You will become dependable.
9:56
Somebody will think about you as a ride or die person.
9:59
All these things are important when it comes to sales.
10:02
Now, of course, we're not perfect.
10:03
Things happen. I'm like, look at me now, for
10:06
instance, like me and the kids. Things happen that time when I'm
10:10
off to do once or, you know, do something.
10:12
And then somebody calls me like, this one's real life.
10:15
Hello, Sir. Blah, blah.
10:17
Los Angeles fell off his swing, you know, banged his tooth.
10:20
He's OK, blah, blah, blah. You know, should we take him to
10:23
the hospital? I say, yeah, sure, no problem.
10:25
Do whatever it is that is within your Yes, you know, go ahead.
10:30
Do all the first aid. You know, that is necessary.
10:33
He's doing OK, OK, no problem. I will be there to pick him up
10:36
early. Then, you know, I went about my
10:38
business and then I had to counsel one or two things, then
10:41
go and then attend to my son. So these things happen and we're
10:44
human. We know that these things
10:45
happen. So This is why I told them when
10:48
stuff comes up, send somebody a notification, send somebody an
10:52
apology, send somebody a message, try and reschedule.
10:56
Do this well ahead of time. For those of you who've been
10:58
listening to the podcast, you know that my own personal
11:00
standard is do it like two or three hours ahead.
11:03
Because if you guys are supposed to meet by let's say 1:00 in the
11:06
afternoon and you send somebody a message at 11:30, like you
11:09
more or less have wasted the person's time because the person
11:12
has planned to be there by 1:00. You're not sending him message
11:14
at 12:30. So you can't make it like, what
11:16
the hell, If you're going to give somebody an apology that
11:21
you can't make it, give the person an apology with enough
11:26
time so that the person can now plan and do something else.
11:28
So the meeting is 1 by like around.
11:31
I can't 9/30/10. It looks like I can't make it
11:33
and I'll pick up the phone. I'll call the person.
11:35
The person will be relieved. You've told the person hours
11:38
ahead of time. The person can now plan to do
11:40
something else with that time. Really calling somebody up 15
11:43
minutes to say we can't make it is absolute rubbish for
11:46
salespeople. For those of us who are in
11:48
sales, calling somebody 15 minutes ahead to say you can't
11:52
make it is rubbish. As soon as you know you're
11:54
running late, let that person know.
11:55
If you can let the person know 234 hours that you can't make
11:58
it, let the person know. Worst case scenario, one hour.
12:02
But really, if you're calling somebody 30 minutes, 15 minutes,
12:05
I can't make the meeting you've, you've, you've wasted the
12:08
person's time. So please, let's pay attention
12:14
to all of this. In fact, there's one thing I
12:16
need to stress was I say, well, let me know.
12:19
Stress it because you know, I'm a guy.
12:20
I'm a certain age, They are ladies of a certain age.
12:23
So let it not be as if I'm bullying them.
12:26
But this is something let me stress on the podcast.
12:27
Look, especially for women in March of 2025, especially those
12:32
of you who are younger, all these things are important
12:35
because to be honest, people are already looking at you like man
12:38
is a small girl. They're not, they're not really,
12:39
they're not expecting you to measure up to a certain level of
12:42
maturity anyway in the 1st place.
12:44
I'm just being frank with you. So in this environment, these
12:47
things are even much more important for women.
12:49
Be on time. If you know that you're going to
12:54
be late, be professional about this thing.
12:56
Send an apology, try and reschedule the meeting anyway.
13:02
So next thing I tried to tell them that, and it's what I
13:05
started off the podcast by saying is all these things that
13:07
people are organizing your employee, your employer.
13:10
It's not really about your employer.
13:12
It's about you, the salesperson who is being trained.
13:15
Because I told them straight like, look me, I've been paid.
13:18
Whether this thing works good or doesn't work at all, I have been
13:21
paid. So I'm good and I will make my
13:24
money on this training occasion or on other occasions and I will
13:29
be good. Business will be fine, God
13:31
willing, granting me good health, I'll be good.
13:35
And I told them, look, your employee, he's a sharp guy.
13:38
You can see that he's on the move.
13:40
Any which way he's going to be good.
13:42
The second location, whether you guys agree or you don't agree,
13:45
he will open this thing and he will open the 3rd and the 4th
13:48
and he will be good. Any which way he will make his
13:51
money. His train is moving.
13:52
My train is moving like we were set.
13:56
Well, OK, we're on the path. It's about you.
14:01
Are you going to be alone for the journey?
14:03
I was trying to get them to understand for me, You know,
14:07
I've started my journey. I already know the trajectory.
14:10
The other guy knows his trajectory.
14:12
You, you, they are just starting.
14:14
Are you going to be along on the journey?
14:16
Will you follow me and learn one or two things or will you follow
14:19
your guy and learn one or two things?
14:21
I told him this thing is all about learnable skills and life
14:23
skills. He's an OK guy.
14:26
He's very friendly. You know, he's very open.
14:28
The office is there, he's even there.
14:30
What you get you, But we should be shadowing him.
14:32
If he's answering the phone, listen, pick up one or two
14:34
things. If he's going for business
14:36
meeting and things are slow in the shop, just follow him right
14:40
along. Learn one or two things.
14:43
The thing is a family business. So the person who is involved in
14:46
HR is the guy's sister. I said, look, this is an
14:49
established human resources professional here.
14:53
Who is doing this, helping, you know, in the family business to
14:56
help move this thing forward? People are young woman, this is
14:59
a young woman here. Shadow this sister, learn some
15:02
stuff, become her friend. Really.
15:08
When your guy pays money, especially in Nigeria, your guy,
15:11
your Madam, they pay money for training.
15:13
You don't show up. You're not taking these things
15:15
seriously. It is yourself that you're
15:16
showing because your guy, your Madam, they will succeed.
15:20
You're already doing what they need to sort themselves out.
15:22
They will succeed the trainer, if he's any good or if she's any
15:26
good is also going to succeed. It's all about you.
15:29
If you like, sit there like a passive person, let this thing
15:32
pass you by like you're you're doing yourself.
15:35
So what I told them when I'm going to tell some of you
15:38
listening to this now, because there's some of you who are
15:40
employees and whenever the organized training or they say,
15:43
oh, it's not for Friday meeting you black, I beg you know, you
15:47
just be squeezing your mouth one time.
15:49
Look, take this thing seriously because you know, honestly, it's
15:52
about you because me or whoever the facilitator is, they will
15:56
make their money neat and they will go.
15:59
The owner of the business is going to make their money neat
16:02
and they will continue whether you're there or not.
16:04
Granting that God gives us good life and good health for us to
16:07
continue. So for you, just show up for
16:10
these things, be professional, then learn what you can to make
16:13
your own money because nobody is naive.
16:17
I know that this current job that you're at, if you're a
16:20
salesperson, if you're sales associate, I know you're not
16:22
going to spend your life on that job.
16:24
You will move on to other opportunities and God willing,
16:28
you'll move on to bigger and better and more profitable
16:30
opportunities until that time comes.
16:33
Learn the small that has come before you now so that when you
16:36
get to that time where there's bigger opportunities, you have
16:39
learned some life skills, you have learned some sales skills,
16:44
you have learned some personal development, you've learned some
16:46
all kinds of things that will help you to maximize those big
16:50
opportunities that you feel that God is taking you to.
16:53
So if you feel like you're, well, like where you are, it's
16:57
too small for you. I understand if you, we all feel
16:59
that way. We all start somewhere.
17:01
And you look at yourself, like me, an educated person like
17:04
this, This is where I am you now start looking at your age like
17:08
me, an educated person. This is where I am at 30, or
17:11
this is where I am at 40, or this is where I am at 50.
17:15
You hold me. Yeah, almost to everybody,
17:19
wherever you are, be faithful where you are, Start learning
17:22
where you are, acquire the skills that you need.
17:25
They'll come in really handy when God starts to materialize
17:27
the other opportunities in your life.
17:30
So it's part of what I told the sales associates.
17:35
So excuse me and part of what I'm coming to share with you
17:37
today, because I know there are some of you that when August
17:41
says or where Madam says, Oh yeah, Friday morning, everybody
17:45
show sales meeting, office meeting, whatever it is you do
17:50
start squeezing your mouth. Just know yourself that you're
17:54
doing. It's not the business that
17:55
you're doing and it's not the trainer, it's not the
17:59
consultant, it's not the facilitator that you're doing.
18:03
Now, the second thing that I want us to look at is how not to
18:06
use automated messaging. For those of you who are tired
18:08
of WhatsApp episodes, you know, I'm sorry, but this is also
18:10
another WhatsApp episode. Now the reason why I'm doing
18:13
that is because I received a message today and the message
18:15
was saying hello, are you a pro photographer?
18:18
Verify your name to get photo book details.
18:21
So you understand what the guy's trying to do.
18:23
Now he wants to they call it data enrichment where you have a
18:27
phone number, but you don't have a name you don't have, you know
18:29
stuff like that. So you look for ways for people
18:32
to offer more information. The more data that you have
18:34
about people, the better you're going to be able to run your
18:37
sales process. So him just going on the
18:40
Internet, getting some random messages, maybe like 500 numbers
18:43
and then blasting this message to all of us.
18:45
We are. Hello, are you a pro
18:46
photographer to verify your name, get photo book details?
18:50
That's just data enrichment now, because me, now I'm involved in
18:55
sales, you know, I try to be polite.
18:57
So I responded and I responded, I wrote, please remove me from
19:00
your list. I'm no longer in the photography
19:03
business. Then another message now popped
19:07
up. The message says, how can I
19:09
assist? Are you looking for specific
19:11
branding and photo services? And I realized that, oh, OK,
19:13
this is automated message or, or chat bot or whatever.
19:17
Because there are all kinds of things that are out there, you
19:19
know, like this is it many chats?
19:21
Which is it? No many chat.
19:24
I'd be many chat that you can plug all these bots into your
19:27
different inboxes and they help to send messages to you and then
19:30
stuff like that. So I was like, OK, it's a chat,
19:33
no problem. But still I wanted the guy to
19:35
catch the hint. So I did that sliding thing and
19:38
uttered the message and I wrote, please remove me from your list
19:42
because when I wanted that when the guy opens the inbox, he will
19:46
now see that oh, OK, truly this is somebody that should take off
19:48
the list. Then another message now entered
19:51
again, do you need some more information?
19:54
Question mark? That was a summary.
19:57
Now what I did at this point was I decided to just block the guy.
20:00
I just blocked the handle. This guy is trying to be, you
20:08
know, people are trying to use AI for automation, efficiency,
20:11
blah, blah, blah. And you can see the reason why I
20:12
tell you people that look, all this automation automate, like
20:15
you guys should be coming down first.
20:17
You want to be automating like what do you know that you're
20:19
automating? Look, before I get to that,
20:23
let's think of the damage we're doing.
20:24
Let's say that this guy just went to Google or some business
20:28
directory and use some scraper tool just to get 500 numbers of
20:32
different businesses because you know it's possible.
20:34
Now let's say Abuja, you get like that kind of 120.
20:37
Lagos definitely you'll get like 250 numbers of photographers.
20:42
Lagos, there'll be plenty now, but our courts may be able to
20:45
get like that kind. I don't know, 8100 where else?
20:49
OK Cano, maybe you'll to get like 50, but it's possible that
20:52
he can get like a sample size of 500.
20:54
Then you send this kind of messages, Guess how many people
20:58
are ignoring? I can assure you very, very, as
21:01
you know, to the, the people that ignored, they are high.
21:05
Therefore, some of the people that responded, I can tell you
21:08
that there's some people who blocked.
21:09
In fact, some people might have blocked outright.
21:11
And I've been saying on the podcast, and I'm sure some of
21:16
you haven't quite understood. So let me just use this as an
21:18
example. When you do this kind of things,
21:20
you're creating deliverability issues for yourself for future
21:23
campaigns. Because when you do these kind
21:26
of things and then somebody like me clicks block, let's say out
21:29
of 500, let's say 20 of us clicked on block, you think it's
21:34
not a problem? OK, no problem.
21:36
But The thing is, you do realize that by the time you do this
21:38
campaign 10 times in a year and each time 20 people click block,
21:43
it's more like that would be like 2000, more like 2000 people
21:48
are clicking block on your messages.
21:52
This is the reason why some of you wake up one day and you say,
21:55
I don't know why Facebook blocked me.
21:58
Well, I don't know why my messages on WhatsApp are now
22:01
being restricted or I don't know why I'm showing up on Truecaller
22:04
as spam. It is precisely because of these
22:07
kinds of behavior. Every single time somebody
22:10
blocks, ignores move to spam. Was the other one archive?
22:16
You know, move to promotions, whether it's Google inbox or
22:20
Facebook inbox or Instagram inbox or whatever, the algorithm
22:24
is getting all these signals. And the picture that the
22:28
algorithms are getting of you is that this person is, you know,
22:33
the person is not doing anything valuable because the person
22:36
throws out something 80% of the people ignore.
22:39
Of the 20% that respond, you know, 10% are blocking and
22:42
spamming and everything. You're creating deliverability
22:46
issues for future campaigns. Stop this kind of behavior, if
22:51
nothing else, so that your deliverability will remain cool,
22:56
will remain good for future campaigns that you want to run.
23:01
I've told you guys that I've seen this thing live.
23:03
You had a networking session, You exchanged nobody's numbers
23:06
with somebody personal. Sure, no problem.
23:07
Let me buzz you. Let me start this phone number.
23:09
And as the person clicks Buzz Truecaller will now show
23:12
reported as spam by 26 contacts. Of course, in your presence, the
23:18
person will laugh about it and you guys will have a joke.
23:20
But you really think the person is not going to make an
23:23
impression that the person was trying to store your phone
23:25
number? He said, let me flash you small.
23:27
And then the next thing true colour says reported as spam by
23:30
XYZ number of contacts. You really don't think these
23:32
things make an impression? And then let me leave this
23:35
issue. Now, one big issue here that
23:39
I've been trying to tell you guys about this automation thing
23:41
is when you're trying to do AI or chat bot or whatnot, these
23:46
things are algorithms. They have no situational
23:49
awareness, They have no contextual awareness.
23:52
So if these things have to work, you have to program in all
23:56
possible scenarios, including scenarios where people are
24:00
trying to say, get me off the list.
24:03
That is the only situation where the AI or the chat bot is going
24:06
to be able to respond appropriately and say, oh, I'm
24:09
sorry, I will take you off the list is because you have not
24:12
programmed in these kinds of scenarios.
24:14
To do that, you're going to need a lot of data from plenty of
24:17
conversations. And this is the reason why I say
24:21
most of you should stay away from these things.
24:24
Those of us who are fresh in business, the big boys, you
24:27
know, let's say like MTNMTN has fielded, I don't know, MTN has
24:31
been in Nigeria since when? Since ambassador's time up until
24:34
now. So it's possible that MTN has
24:35
fielded like maybe 500 million phone calls that those kind of
24:41
people, if they want to map out a decision tree about how to
24:44
program these things, you know that if a person says this, say
24:47
that. If a person says this says that
24:49
they have all the data to program their bots to function
24:52
suite, you don't, you don't have enough data and you don't have
24:57
enough experiences for that. That's the reason why I say if
24:59
you're fresh in business, if you're brand new, ignore this
25:02
automation thing. You think you're making your
25:05
life easier. You're just causing all kinds of
25:07
issues for yourself. Now, the proper way to use AI
25:10
bots or WhatsApp bought in my own opinion is use this thing to
25:13
start a conversation. Eventually let a human
25:17
specialist enter into this conversation.
25:19
So if you're going to broadcast like this guy, let the broadcast
25:22
remember this. What I tell you people let is is
25:25
not a bad idea to start from problem based openers and things
25:29
like that. You know, so greetings, are you
25:32
a photographer? Let that be the first message
25:35
and the only message that you send Brown send it to everybody.
25:38
Some of us will respond yes from yes.
25:43
You cannot have automated prompts around, you know,
25:45
special areas or specialty or stuff like that.
25:48
But bottom line, what I'm trying to say is that even if it's you
25:51
do the first broadcast, are you a photographer?
25:54
And some people respond yes. Then from there from yes
25:57
manually you now take over even that you have saved yourself
26:00
from work. Sorry 1 moment.
26:07
OK, sorry about that. I am back.
26:09
My wife just kicked me out of the room because you know she
26:12
just walked in like look at me cooking all day.
26:14
I'm tired, I want to bath, so I had to leave.
26:19
Let's see, how was I? Anyway, the good thing about
26:22
leaving is, yeah, things are quite much quieter in the room
26:26
that I moved to. If I should have just started
26:27
here a long time ago. I believe I was in the middle of
26:30
a rant about the proper way to use what's I bought, AI bought
26:36
and things like that. So the philosophy that we should
26:38
be using now on these sorts of things is we should just be
26:42
using this as a way to start a conversation or to prompt a
26:45
conversation that you are going to slide into.
26:47
Let us stop using these things assuming that they can handle
26:51
conversations for us from beginning to end because yes,
26:55
there are businesses that can do that.
26:56
They tend to be businesses that are very, very rich, plenty of
26:59
money and they tend to be businesses that have lots of
27:02
data most importantly. So for MTN, yes, MTN bot can run
27:06
this conversation from beginning to the end because it has all
27:09
the data points that it needs to come up with responses and
27:15
decision trees about. You know what to do because I'm
27:17
sure MTN has have people who have told them, I beg take me
27:21
off your list. Or MTN has had people say things
27:24
to them like look, you people are bastards.
27:26
You're trying to cripple my business.
27:29
If somebody replies your WhatsApp message saying, look,
27:31
you're a bastard, stop messaging me.
27:33
The poor AI bot does not know what to respond.
27:35
You haven't put anything there in its data set.
27:37
But for MTN, they have had that kind of data, so they know what
27:41
to do, how to program the AI. So that I think I respond that
27:44
when people are hostile and they use this kind of language, this
27:46
is how you just escalate. This is how you do this.
27:48
This is how you do that. You don't have the data set to
27:53
program your AI to do all these sorts of things.
27:56
So in my own opinion, in the beginning, ease of relax, do one
28:01
or two broadcasts just so that you can figure out who is
28:04
interested and you can figure out you know where the person is
28:06
coming from. And then at some point you
28:08
inject yourself into the conversation.
28:13
Then this whole thing about auto prompts, in my own opinion, auto
28:17
prompts all I put it, well, let me just say tread likely when it
28:28
comes to these auto prompt things.
28:29
But if you must use auto prompts, in my own opinion, you
28:33
should use it in a way that provides value to the person who
28:37
is sending the message and an auto prompt that says your time
28:41
is important to us, blah, blah, blah.
28:43
We're not available right now. We'll respond to you in two or
28:45
three hours. That is not anything of value to
28:48
the person. So before AI became all the rage
28:54
and automated messages, let us just backtrack small.
28:57
I remember what people used to do in the good old days when
29:00
there was only e-mail and people would use automated e-mail
29:04
responses. So 1 moment.
29:09
OK, sorry about that. This time I was one of the kids
29:11
who wanted something for me. I guess I picked the wrong time
29:13
to record today when we were 30 minutes.
29:15
So let me just bring this thing to a halt.
29:18
Let me just wrap this thing up. So use your automator prompts in
29:21
a way that provides value to the other person.
29:24
Now, back in the good old days when I was only e-mail before,
29:26
you know everything, automate, automate, automate.
29:29
Some people would have auto response messages and the whole
29:32
point of the auto response message was something like this.
29:34
Thank you very much for your e-mail.
29:36
I'm currently not at my desk or I am away on maternity leave or
29:41
I am away on official assignment.
29:43
I cannot respond to this message right now.
29:45
If it is an emergency, please call BC on 080 or please call
29:51
Hamza on this dot dot dot or please message Oge Dengbe at
29:57
this e-mail address. At least that one provides some
30:01
value so that somebody who is reaching out to you sending a
30:04
message expecting an immediate response, at least they know now
30:07
that they can't get an immediate response for you, but they know
30:11
now the appropriate quarters where they can send their
30:14
request to. So please, you should stop all
30:18
this automating. At the very least let your auto
30:21
response message be the same one that has worked of old that used
30:25
to the only that people used to use when e-mail was the only
30:28
game in town. So if you're swamped, you're
30:32
busy. Let's say you're a caterer, your
30:34
business is now moving so you can't attend to your messages
30:37
for 2-3 hours at a time. Let that be the auto response
30:40
message so that the first time client who can wait there with
30:44
chill. Somebody who is having an
30:46
emergency, maybe because they paid you, they haven't heard
30:49
from you. The event is supposed to start
30:50
in four hours and they are feeling tense.
30:54
That kind of message at least is of value to them.
30:57
They will now know OK, I can call BC then they will call BC.
31:00
I shout I busy to say look I paid.
31:01
You know the advance is about to start where you people blah blah
31:04
blah. That is something of value.
31:05
You have given an alternative point of contact.
31:08
So please, for those of us who are fresh in the game, let's
31:10
stop trying to be fancy when it comes to all these AI.
31:14
Many chat, WhatsApp, bought Facebook, but I relax.
31:19
The time will come when we have the sophistication and the data
31:23
to execute on these sorts of things.
31:24
But in the beginning, foundational, good, best
31:27
business practices, How do you have conversations with people?
31:31
How do you be polite? How do you be professional?
31:33
How do you introduce yourself? How do you figure out what they
31:35
want? How do you figure out what's
31:37
going on? Make the best possible
31:38
recommendations. As in, learn all these things by
31:40
yourself instead of expecting some AI tool to close the deal
31:44
for you. Maybe one day we'll get there.
31:47
But for now, especially for the small business owner, we are not
31:51
there yet. So that's all.
31:55
Let me just wrap it up here. So thank you very much.
31:58
That's all folks, basically. So if you've got any sales or
32:00
marketing questions, call SMS or WhatsApp on 08064662140.
32:07
Country code is +234. Thank you very much for your
32:09
time and attention. I'll catch you guys in the next
32:11
episode. And don't worry, next day I'll
32:13
try and pick a day to record when you know, the whole family
32:17
is in home. And maybe it's not a day that is
32:19
raining and maybe it's not a day that the generators have the, I
32:22
say generators that the neighbors have their generator
32:24
on. So thanks.
32:25
I'll catch you guys at the next episode.