Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Mastering Communication in Nigeria: Balancing Universal Principles with Local Nuances
Transcript
- 0:01Hello and welcome to the show. For today's question, we're
- 0:05going to look at effective communication tactics for the
- 0:08Nigerian market. So yes, it's similar to what we
- 0:11discussed yesterday. And so I'm going to start off by
- 0:15saying the very same thing that I did at yesterday's during
- 0:19yesterday's podcast episode, which is that effective
- 0:23communication is a universal tenant.
- 0:26It's a universal principle. So it's going to apply whether
- 0:29you do business in Ghana, in South Africa, in Mogadishu, in
- 0:35wherever. It's just that the contextual
- 0:39application of how to communicate, what effective
- 0:43communications is, all those sorts of things are going to
- 0:46depend on the contextual application.
- 0:49So where are you, What's the culture?
- 0:51Are you dealing with a simple sales context?
- 0:53Are you dealing with a complex sales context?
- 0:55Those are the sorts of things that are going to determine how
- 0:58are you going to go about communicating.
- 1:00What is the most effective tool to set about communicating with
- 1:03people? So let's look at some of these
- 1:06universal principles first of all, before we decide how they
- 1:09apply in the Nigerian context. First off, same thing that I've
- 1:15been saying time and time again on the show.
- 1:17When we think about communications, most people
- 1:19think about communications being a linear sequence.
- 1:23So there's me, I send an e-mail, the person receives it at the
- 1:27other end and then done. Communication is that simple.
- 1:30Actually, communication is a little bit complex and we need
- 1:33to think about communications in terms of a matrix.
- 1:36So there's a communications matrix and there are different,
- 1:40what would I say? There are different things
- 1:44within the matrix that we ought to take into consideration when
- 1:46we try sending messages or we try communicating with people,
- 1:51whether in a personal context or in a business context.
- 1:54Now, for those of you who studied mass communications in
- 1:56school or business communications or whatever, you
- 1:59will find that the communications matrix I talk
- 2:02about over here on the podcast is unnecessarily OK.
- 2:05Not unnecessarily. I simplify it for a reason.
- 2:08Why you say? My communications matrix is very
- 2:11simple, and I do that for a reason because I want people to
- 2:16be able to remember in a straightforward manner what we
- 2:19talk about over here on the podcast so that when the time
- 2:21comes for them to communicate effectively, people can remember
- 2:25the different things in the matrix without having to
- 2:27remember 15 elements, 20 elements, all those sorts of
- 2:30things. So in my simplified
- 2:32communications matrix, I just pay attention to the sender.
- 2:35For this case, let's pretend that the sender is US, me, or
- 2:39you listening to the podcast. Then the next step is encoding.
- 2:44Encoding is the process of deciding how are you going to
- 2:48pass across that message? What medium are you going to
- 2:50use? So in my own case, me recording
- 2:53a podcast is me and coding a message.
- 2:57Then OK, we're done with sender and encoding.
- 3:01The next step is going to be transmitting.
- 3:04Transmitting is the process of sending across the thing, across
- 3:08the medium. So I upload the podcast and I
- 3:12hit no, there's no send on podcast.
- 3:16What do we have? We have upload, publish, Yes.
- 3:19So I'll upload the podcast and then I hit publish.
- 3:22That is me transmitting the message that I'm trying to send.
- 3:27Then the next person, the next element in the matrix is
- 3:31receiver. Receiver is the person on the
- 3:33other end who is receiving the message.
- 3:37Now some people stop at receiver, but there's also
- 3:39another process, and that is a process of decoding.
- 3:42Decoding is a process of the receiver trying to unpack,
- 3:47trying to understand, trying to break down what they have seen,
- 3:52what they have heard, what they have received.
- 3:55So decoding is also an important factor to pay attention to in
- 3:59the communications matrix. And then this is one that a lot
- 4:02of people fail to take into account, especially when people
- 4:06are talking about communications in very everyday, ordinary sense
- 4:10of the word. And that is feedback and
- 4:13repetition. Because communication is not
- 4:16linear, is not a straight line, is not me.
- 4:19Create a podcast, send the link, you listen, end of story.
- 4:24Communication is feedback, message sent.
- 4:29I get some sort of feedback. And then based on the feedback
- 4:32that I get, I repeat the process over and over again because
- 4:36communications is usually about trying to get someone to do
- 4:41something or to try and influence something in your
- 4:45favour. But there's no such thing as
- 4:47communications for communication sake.
- 4:49Nobody creates a podcast for podcast sake.
- 4:52And nobody sends an e-mail for e-mail sake.
- 4:54Nobody sends, nobody makes a phone call for phone calls sake.
- 4:58Even if your mom picks up the phone to say, Oh my dearly
- 5:00beloved son, I have not heard from V in a fortnight.
- 5:04I just wanted to be sure you're doing OK.
- 5:06How are you? How are the children?
- 5:08End the conversation. That was not communications for
- 5:11communication sake. Your dear old mum is trying to
- 5:15pass across a message. The message is I care about you
- 5:18and the message is also please care about me back home in the
- 5:23village. Do not ignore your poor mother
- 5:26because you live in the fancy city, you and your children, and
- 5:30you think that that is all that there is in the world.
- 5:32So it doesn't matter the phone call, the e-mail, the podcast,
- 5:37the Netflix movie, the Netflix documentary, the National
- 5:41Geographic documentary, the e-mail that you send to your
- 5:44pastor doesn't matter. Whatever it is, communication
- 5:46has a goal. And that is where feedback and
- 5:49reputation comes in. So you go through the whole
- 5:51process, you get some feedback. The feedback tells you whether
- 5:54you communicated successfully or not.
- 5:57So summary, it's not just about passing across a message because
- 6:05most people when they think communication, they think sender
- 6:07encode and transmit. So this is me.
- 6:10How do I come up with the perfect message?
- 6:12How do I come up with the perfect e-mail, with the perfect
- 6:14podcast episode, with the perfect this, with the perfect
- 6:16that and then send and then think done.
- 6:19No, communication is not done. It's also about decoding.
- 6:23How is the person going to receive it?
- 6:25How will they decode it? How will they understand it?
- 6:28Will they understand that they're supposed to do ABC and
- 6:30XYZ? How is this going to move the
- 6:32agenda forward the departmental meeting forward the sail,
- 6:36forward the political campaign forward the whatever it is
- 6:39you're trying to move forward? How is it going to move things
- 6:40forward? So that is what communications
- 6:43is about. Communications is not about what
- 6:45you intend. Most people think I intended to
- 6:49pass across the message so that she knows that she's an
- 6:53attractive woman. It's not about what you
- 6:54intended. It's about what was understood.
- 6:58If she received it and it sounded like a backhand
- 7:00compliment and she was offended, then it's not about what you
- 7:05intended. That is what she received.
- 7:08So you best apologize. You don't say, oh, I'm sorry, I
- 7:11was trying to pay you a compliment.
- 7:13You know, of course you respond. Which kind of compliment in your
- 7:15village? Is that how they compliment
- 7:17people? And yes, this is something
- 7:19that's happened between me and my wife before.
- 7:20You know, I say something. I tried to pass her pay across
- 7:23the complaint. She's like, you know, what is
- 7:24that? What kind of rubbish is that?
- 7:26If this is how people from Benway State compliment their
- 7:28wives, then you're better off not complimenting at all.
- 7:30So yes, I've had some of those situations and yeah, so they
- 7:35apply not just in the business context but also in the personal
- 7:38context as well. So communication is not your
- 7:40intent, it is what was understood and is what was
- 7:42received. So feedback, repetition, the
- 7:45most important part of the process.
- 7:47So if you end up on wittingly insulting your girlfriend or
- 7:49your wife or your husband, take the feedback.
- 7:52And then repetition when it comes to the encoding stage,
- 7:56encoded differently or transmitted differently, either
- 7:59way, we're paying attention to how the person receive the
- 8:01message, decode the message so that we can get the right kind
- 8:04of feedback. And then we know that, OK, we're
- 8:06on course with whatever the agenda is that we're trying to
- 8:09pursue. So yeah, that's it.
- 8:13In summer, when it comes to communications matrix, it's not
- 8:15what was intended, it's what was understood.
- 8:18Communication is not just the words, it's also the action or
- 8:21the reaction of the recipient. In other words, if you did not
- 8:25get a good reaction when you send that e-mail to your pastor
- 8:29or to your imam or to your wife or to your business partner, or
- 8:33you picked up the phone to call your daughter, you haven't
- 8:35spoken to your daughter in a while.
- 8:37She just got into university. You picked up the phone.
- 8:39You wanted to show that you're a caring father.
- 8:42You know, all those sorts of things.
- 8:44If you got a bad reaction, then the communication was not good.
- 8:47Your intent was good. The way you pass it across was
- 8:49not good. Maybe she answered the phone and
- 8:52she was like, oh, my father is trying to police me again.
- 8:54So feedback, repetition, try again.
- 8:58And that is how we judge what good and effective
- 9:01communications is. Now, another universal principle
- 9:04that we ought to pay attention to is active listening.
- 9:10Active listening, How do I define this?
- 9:12OK, well, active listening is the part of the communications
- 9:15process where you're paying attention to what is the
- 9:18receiver saying? What is the audience saying?
- 9:21If you can figure out what it is that they're saying, and yes,
- 9:24this is the same thing as decoding and feedback and
- 9:26repetition. If you can figure out exactly
- 9:28what it is that they're saying, you're going to know how to
- 9:31respond accordingly. So you sent this thing, you send
- 9:34it to your business partner or you send it to the head of your
- 9:37department at the office. What is HOD?
- 9:40Head of department? What is HOD saying?
- 9:42What is Orga at the top saying? What is my business partner
- 9:45saying? What are my business clients?
- 9:49What are they saying? You figure that out.
- 9:51You can now respond accordingly when you repeat the whole
- 9:55process. Then another principle that I
- 9:58want to stress is timeliness, or some people call this the
- 10:02recency principle. What the recency principle means
- 10:06is this. It just means people forget over
- 10:08time. So if you come up with a good
- 10:12communications tactic or strategy, but you deliver it
- 10:17several days late or you deliver it several weeks late or you
- 10:22deliver it several months late, that is bad communications.
- 10:27So we should be paying attention to timeliness or the recency
- 10:29principle. That is contextual.
- 10:32It changes over time. So back in the days of the fax
- 10:35machine, timeliness meant one thing.
- 10:38Now that we're in the day, OK, no, we've gone be on the day of
- 10:40e-mail. So in the e-mail era, when
- 10:42e-mail was king, timeliness meant something else.
- 10:45Now I'll say we're in the era of the DM because, you know, you
- 10:48slide into everybody's DM, WhatsApp DM, Instagram DM,
- 10:51LinkedIn DM, and whatnot. So in the days of the DM,
- 10:54timeliness means something else. So these are the principles that
- 10:59we should be paying paying attention to when we're talking
- 11:01about effective communication. We should be looking at the
- 11:04communications matrix. So that means there are lots of
- 11:07things to consider and communication is not a straight
- 11:09line. We should be thinking about
- 11:14active listening. I'm trying to get some feedback,
- 11:17figure out what's going on. And we'd also be paying
- 11:19attention to timeliness or the recency principle.
- 11:22We should be trying to make sure that we respond at a reasonable
- 11:28rate, reasonable period of time. Now, with all these principles
- 11:32out of the way, let's now ask for some general principles.
- 11:35Sorry, not general principles. General.
- 11:38Gosh, I don't know, general guiding lights that we can use
- 11:41to show how we're going to, OK, let's say general
- 11:44considerations. Yes, in trying to apply all of
- 11:47this to Nigerian communications, now I'm going to hint on
- 11:50something that I said yesterday. So this your first time
- 11:53listening to the episode, listening to the podcast, after
- 11:57you're done with this, listen to the episode prior and you're
- 12:00going to hear some more thoughts about how and whether there's a
- 12:03uniquely Nigerian way of doing business.
- 12:06So yes, indirect communications, I mentioned that yesterday.
- 12:12So indirect communications, if you're in Niger, join Nigeria.
- 12:16My recommendation, avoid confrontation and avoid overt
- 12:20assertiveness. It can come off the wrong way in
- 12:23these in climes like this, you know, old worlds, traditional,
- 12:28you know, whatever kind of societies, this whole thing of
- 12:32rapport and blending with people and know what not it it it takes
- 12:37you a long way coming and being all straight to the point all
- 12:41let's get down to business. All you know, blah, blah blah is
- 12:44a little bit much in this, excuse me, in this kind of
- 12:50environment. So we have to do the dance the
- 12:52whole thing of oh, good morning, Sir, blah, blah, blah.
- 12:54Oh, you went to OAU. OK, I went to OAU as well.
- 12:58Now what's that? OK, 1976, Sir, you're my boy.
- 13:02May I finished in I finished in 2021, blah, blah, blah.
- 13:07How is school? Who is the principal now, the
- 13:09student union, still a problem? What about cultism?
- 13:12Has cultism gone down, blah, blah, blah.
- 13:14You know, you have all that back and forth.
- 13:16So being overtly assertive about what the agenda is and
- 13:20everything, we have to tap that down a little bit.
- 13:24So in direct communication, you dance around a bit before you
- 13:28get to the point. I know it can be stressful for
- 13:32those of us who are brought up with a modern mindset and it's
- 13:35something that I really experienced when my father died.
- 13:38So I was in the UK at the time. I was only able to get a week.
- 13:44Actually I didn't get a week. I got four days, four days
- 13:46leave. So time was not on my side.
- 13:49I knew I was not going to. I had to take extra days from
- 13:53what is it called, is it compassionate leave?
- 13:55And oh, I had to bunch up a couple of leaves to get here.
- 13:59But you know, me and my brother, we were coming with because my
- 14:03brother and I, we grew up OK. My brother was born in Suleja, I
- 14:06was born in Makuti. But then we spend most of our
- 14:10lives in Lagos, in Abuja, so and then from there to the UK.
- 14:15So we, we think a certain way, we don't think like the old
- 14:18folks. So I was coming home for the
- 14:20burial. We were thinking let's get shit
- 14:22done, you know, as in it's unfortunate it has happened, but
- 14:26can we just move things along, bury my father and let's get
- 14:30along and things. We just drag and drag and drag
- 14:34and meeting upon meeting upon meeting and was very frustrating
- 14:38to go for one meeting and to think that we're going to make
- 14:40progress, but the only resolution of the first meeting
- 14:43is that we're going to have another meeting.
- 14:45It was really, really, really annoying for me, but it's
- 14:49something that my mom had to talk me through.
- 14:51Like, look, relax, you guys are more modern, whatever about this
- 14:55whole thing, but you need to relax.
- 14:56There's a lot of tension here. People are hurt.
- 15:00The things that people need to be to say, there are certain
- 15:03things that need to be expressed and like play, like play.
- 15:06There was one meeting that was kind of like the mother of all
- 15:09meetings and people erupted and set their mind and there was
- 15:12shouting and there was accusation and there was all
- 15:14kinds of things back and forth. But by the time that meeting was
- 15:17done, in fact, during one stage in the meeting, my mom just
- 15:20tapped my knee and she made that hang signal like it's time to
- 15:25move. And at that point, I was able to
- 15:29now suggest certain things, say we should do this point of
- 15:33action, blah, blah, blah, and everything just started taking
- 15:35shape. So anyway, OK, I guess that was
- 15:42the wrong example to use because that's more of a personal thing
- 15:46and this is a business podcast. But I'm just trying to show you
- 15:50how indirect communications is something that we have to deal
- 15:55with, especially those of us who are much more modern minded when
- 15:58it comes to doing business over here.
- 16:00Also, one moment. OK, 15 minutes.
- 16:04So let me bring it to a close. I'm trying to make sure that
- 16:07podcast episodes don't drag on for too long.
- 16:12So, yeah, so indirect communications, unfortunately
- 16:15something we have to deal with in Nigeria, of course, depends
- 16:18on whether in a simple context, simple sales context, the
- 16:23complex sales scenario, those sorts of things.
- 16:26Then respect for hierarchy. Also something that I mentioned
- 16:29yesterday, in your communications, in your e-mail,
- 16:31in your phone call, in your letter writing, in your proposal
- 16:33writing, consider the seniority of the person, the person's
- 16:37position, the person's sex, the person's marital status is the
- 16:42person in chief. You know, consider all those
- 16:45things when you're sending the e-mail and all these sorts of
- 16:48things because you don't want to end up taking taking people off
- 16:51for the wrong reasons. There's something that's
- 16:52happened to me before. My mom wanted me to drop off
- 16:56something with a business associate of hers a long time
- 16:58ago, back when I was a teenager and learning how to drive.
- 17:01And of course, then any excuse to drive was, I mean, not
- 17:04looking for any excuse to drive. So she's like, here, take the
- 17:07car keys, drive to the island, drop this thing off with this
- 17:10woman, this and this. And this is what we're working
- 17:12on. And please, when you go there,
- 17:14you are to address this woman as Doctor, Missus engineer.
- 17:19So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so. I said, OK, yeah, sure, sure,
- 17:21sure, sure, sure. No problem.
- 17:23And I took the keys. I didn't pay attention to my
- 17:24mom. I took the thing, drove to the
- 17:26island. Then I called.
- 17:28And when I was outside the gate, so hello, please.
- 17:32Is this Madam? So, so, so, so.
- 17:33She says yes. So OK, I'm here from Benedictal
- 17:36party. The message Something,
- 17:37something, something. OK, come in.
- 17:38And I come in and then I greet the woman again the same way
- 17:41I'll greet my other mom's friends, the whole thing of oh,
- 17:44good afternoon, my lovely home, everything and whatnot.
- 17:47And this woman stopped me sharp in my tracks and she said, young
- 17:50man, I am doctor, Miss engineer something, blah, blah, blah,
- 17:55blah, blah. I said, oh, I'm sorry, man.
- 17:57That was my first experience of that sort of thing.
- 18:01It happens in this part of the world.
- 18:02So pay attention to hierarchy. So consider seniority, position
- 18:07and all those other other stuff. It might seem excessive to some
- 18:14of us who grew up with a much more modern mindset.
- 18:16Or for some people in this part of the world, it is important
- 18:18that you call the person Chief Pharmacist Okoro and you don't
- 18:22just say, oh, Mr. Okoro, how are you or Mr. Okoro, good morning,
- 18:26how's the family? OK, so let me move on because I
- 18:29think that's simple enough. Yes.
- 18:31Now respect for hierarchy. Now, there's also a reverse
- 18:34aspect of looking at this sort of thing.
- 18:37It also helps in this part of the world if you show courtesy,
- 18:40if you show respect, if you show politeness and if you show
- 18:43regard to gatekeepers, secretaries, security guards,
- 18:48underlings, case officers, clerks, admin officers, whatever
- 18:52it is you want to call them. Respecting these people will go
- 18:55a long way because in this part of the world, these sorts of
- 18:59people are ignored. You just brushed by the
- 19:02secretary. Hey, good morning.
- 19:03How are you, Sir? Is Ogar Chukudin, Tell him that
- 19:06Chief Chief George is here and just go all the way in and then,
- 19:10you know, the secretary just passes you in.
- 19:12But then if you show up and you're nice to the security
- 19:15guards and to the secretaries and stuff like that, it goes a
- 19:19long way. It makes your visits a lot
- 19:22smoother. The number of hoops you have to
- 19:24jump through reduce because you've been nice to these sorts
- 19:27of people. And I've said time and time
- 19:30again on the podcast that back in my wedding photography days
- 19:32and my event photography days, this is something that I took
- 19:34advantage of. So it didn't matter what we were
- 19:37covering. Even back when the vice
- 19:39president was going to be at, it was a British Council program.
- 19:44The vice president was going to be at Ventures, Ventures
- 19:48Incubation Park in Abuja. And I didn't, for me, I had no
- 19:52hassles about it 'cause I've been there a bunch of time or
- 19:55school with the security guards. So I just went there a day ahead
- 19:59and say, hey, Bros, how now? How are you doing this VP
- 20:02program? I'm coming tomorrow.
- 20:04So I beg you guys, keep an eye out for me.
- 20:06You know, that sort of thing. And I showed up and I was able
- 20:09to get entry quite easily. So when I was doing the training
- 20:13for the media team in the British High Commission was one
- 20:16of the things that they complained about like this is
- 20:19the event I'm trying to get in, security is being an ass, blah,
- 20:22blah, blah. You know, these are the reasons
- 20:24why in this part of the world we don't pay attention to these
- 20:26sorts of people, and so they react accordingly.
- 20:31So if you've been nice to a security guard, to a secretary,
- 20:33to a gatekeeper, to a clerk, to an admin officer, to a whatever,
- 20:37it doesn't have to be something complicated.
- 20:39Just remembering the person's name and how are the children or
- 20:42something, you know, you seem different.
- 20:44You're not trying to blow past them.
- 20:45So respect, politeness, flattery, whatever you want to
- 20:50call it in the opposite end also takes you a long way as well.
- 20:54Sometimes this is the thing. Sometimes this is a solution to
- 21:00making sure that your file in quote You know when you're
- 21:02trying to do things with the civil service.
- 21:04Sometimes this is a solution to making sure that your file does
- 21:07not disappear. You haven't been nice to the
- 21:09people who you consider to be underlings.
- 21:12Your file will conveniently disappear until your attitude
- 21:16improves your attitude in quote. So be nice to these people.
- 21:20Your file will not disappear. Your communications will go
- 21:23through and you will find that whenever you stop by the office
- 21:26and you want to see Olga, you'll be surprised that you'll be
- 21:28ushered in to see Olga a whole lot more than other people are.
- 21:33Then there's a whole thing of use of proverbs and idioms.
- 21:36Yeah, you can can take that into account, but as if you know the
- 21:40lingo enough, well, even if you're a foreigner and you try
- 21:44and you get it wrong, at least it will be.
- 21:50At least it will be. What's the word?
- 21:52People find it endearing, Like, oh, OK, at least he's trying.
- 21:56So yeah, try. But only do this for
- 21:59interpersonal communications. Don't do proverbs and idioms
- 22:02when it comes to e-mail proposal, written reports and
- 22:05those sorts of things. So you can use interpersonal
- 22:08proverbs and idioms, you know, to build rapport.
- 22:11So instead of saying worst case scenario, you know, you can say
- 22:14last last, you know, for instance, you know that that
- 22:18boner boy song, yeah, last, last everybody, everybody go chop
- 22:21breakfast. So last last worst case scenario
- 22:23is something worst case scenario, you say last, last
- 22:25everybody understands what you're trying to say.
- 22:28Then if you're talking about OK, which other one?
- 22:32OK, let me use which other one. OK, go collect.
- 22:35So when you say somebody go collect or you say the person
- 22:37will chop breakfast, it just means the person is going to get
- 22:39his just desserts. So you use all these kinds of
- 22:43lingo, like with Nigerians of a certain age, for instance, like
- 22:48my own age, if you were to say somebody was a bad guy or a bad
- 22:51girl, it doesn't mean that the person has done poorly, it means
- 22:53that the person is highly competent.
- 22:55So if you say arching Irish, she's a bad girl as you forget,
- 22:58you know. So within a certain context,
- 23:00that means she's highly competent.
- 23:02And if you say Coonley is a bad guy, it means that he's an
- 23:05assassin. He's very competent, you want
- 23:06the job done, you give him a call.
- 23:09But remember, if you're going to use proverbs and idioms, all of
- 23:12this is not for written communications, it is not for
- 23:14official communications. Then translation of marketing
- 23:18collateral into local languages, that is also something we need
- 23:22to take into account, especially for those of you that are trying
- 23:25to sell on behalf of national organisations or multinational
- 23:28organisations. And I've spoken about how
- 23:32there's a case study of Nine Mobile try to 9 mobile, not to
- 23:37what do you call them mobile national mobile carrier try to
- 23:40penetrate the northern market in Nigeria and how their radio
- 23:43campaigns for the north had to be segmented.
- 23:46So the campaigns that ran in Kano were not the same that ran
- 23:49in Kaduna and stuff like that because of local variations in
- 23:52Hausa. So these are some of the things
- 23:54that you ought to pay attention to as well.
- 23:56So yeah, over 20 minutes. Let me bring it to a close.
- 23:59Please hold on. WhatsApp phone number is 0806466
- 24:032140. Country code is +234.
- 24:06Connect with me on WhatsApp because I love talking to you
- 24:08guys. Then also connect with me on
- 24:10WhatsApp. My name is Tavishima Ayede, I'm
- 24:13the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of
- 24:15my name and my e-mail address from the link.
- 24:17We're currently listening to this episode, so thank you very
- 24:19much for your time and attention.
- 24:20I'll catch you guys at the next episode.