Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Why Founders Must Sell Early!
Transcript
- 0:01Today on the podcast, we're going to be going over a few
- 0:05issues around building trust for your company.
- 0:09So again, today we're going to be talking about building trust
- 0:11for your company. Who should do that?
- 0:14Is it only the founder? Who is supposed to do this job?
- 0:16And when should you stop building trust for your company?
- 0:20Now, the reason why we're doing this is because we're continuing
- 0:24with the theme that we started yesterday or maybe 2 days ago,
- 0:29conversations with the tech bro. And this was a series of this
- 0:34was 1 lecture rather where a famous tech entrepreneur in
- 0:38Nigeria spoke to the tech community in Lagos at an unnamed
- 0:44event where he spoke about a couple of things related to
- 0:48sales, marketing and building a business.
- 0:50So the video was sent over to me by someone else and I am running
- 0:54commentary basically from a sales and business development
- 0:56perspective for the opinions that he expressed while he was
- 1:01at that event. What did he get right from a
- 1:04sales perspective? What did he get wrong?
- 1:06What can be improved upon? You know, things like that.
- 1:09So that is what we are continuing today.
- 1:12If this is your first time off listening to the podcast, my
- 1:16name is Tavishima Aide and I am your host for today.
- 1:19Well, and always because I don't have a Co host.
- 1:22And if you like these sorts of things, then subscribe to the
- 1:25podcast on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of your
- 1:30choice. Because every every other day,
- 1:33you know, some 2-3 times a week. This is all that I do here on
- 1:36the podcast. And I've been doing this for the
- 1:38last five years, solving business problems, basically,
- 1:41especially solving business problems from a sales and
- 1:44business development perspective.
- 1:46So if you have business challenges, attracting
- 1:48customers, talking to customers, converting them into paying
- 1:51clients, you know you're having problems, especially when it
- 1:55comes to customer facing functions of your business, then
- 1:59this podcast is your jam. Then if you would love to
- 2:04connect with me, you can call, send me a text message or what's
- 2:07that message on 08064662140. So like I said, conversations
- 2:16with the tech bro, building trust for your company.
- 2:18Now one thing that this guy said was he said that building trust
- 2:22for your company is a function that only the founder can do.
- 2:27I repeat, my guy stood on stage in a room full of tech Bros and
- 2:32tech sisters and he told them, he said very, very, I say unto
- 2:35thee, only the founder of this company can build trust for your
- 2:40company. So you in the audience, those of
- 2:44you who are building your fintech, building your startup,
- 2:48building your this building your that, it is your responsibility
- 2:52to go forth and build trust in your company.
- 2:56And that is what he told them. Well, of course he was not
- 2:58dramatic. He didn't use the exact words,
- 2:59but you know, you get the point I'm trying to make.
- 3:02Oh, by the way, I'm making today's recording in the parking
- 3:04lot, so expect to hear bosses driving by and stuff like that.
- 3:10All right, so where was I? So he told them, all of you
- 3:15starting fintech, starting tech, tech startup, starting the
- 3:19starting that it is your job to go and build trust for your
- 3:23company. So that's all we're looking at
- 3:25today. Is that true that only the
- 3:28founder can build trust for a fledgling company, a new
- 3:33startup? Is it true?
- 3:36The answer is maybe. It's one of these things that
- 3:40doesn't have a hard yes or a hard no, because the instance is
- 3:45where. And of course, I know some of
- 3:48you remember Steve Jobs where there's somebody who is the
- 3:52brains of the operation, the person who knows what the
- 3:54technical know how the technical Gizbao, because you know, Apple
- 3:59was Steve Jobs. So excuse me.
- 4:02And then the other guy, what's his name?
- 4:04Wozniak. So Jobs and Wozniak.
- 4:08So everybody knows that when it comes to the technical side,
- 4:11Wozniak was the was the ish. He knew all the gish binary in
- 4:15and out, top and down. But then they needed a
- 4:19visionary, somebody to sell the company and that's where Jobs
- 4:22came in. So, you know, he's, he's one of
- 4:24these things. But let me take it from the
- 4:28angle that this guy was saying that, OK, how do I put it this
- 4:33way? Let me put it this way, since
- 4:35you can go either way, let's look at it from the angle of,
- 4:38yes, let's assume that it's only the founder that can do it.
- 4:40And let's try and see what the implications are and how we
- 4:43should go about unraveling that. So only the founder can build
- 4:48trust for the company. Well, the answer is maybe.
- 4:51But in instances where that works, it is because the founder
- 4:54has product knowledge. The founder, especially nowadays
- 5:00is like when somebody's building a startup, you know, they're
- 5:02usually building it off of an itch, you know, a problem that
- 5:07they face or a problem that they have lots of knowledge about.
- 5:11So the founder has the product knowledge and he has the problem
- 5:14knowledge. So because of that, if you're
- 5:18the founder, you know the product, you know the problem
- 5:21intimately. It gives you the balls, it gives
- 5:25you the courage, it gives you the the host part.
- 5:28It gives you the you understand the Veem to be able to talk with
- 5:32your full chest. And that makes you very
- 5:36convincing when it comes to sales, because it's not as if
- 5:43you know the coffee. Do the confidence is how do I
- 5:47put it? You know what?
- 5:49I don't know how to rank confidence on the scale of
- 5:52importance when it comes to selling, but one thing is for
- 5:55sure, when you're talking to somebody and this person doesn't
- 5:57believe in what it is that he's selling, you can you can't smell
- 6:01it. You just know that this guy or
- 6:03this babe like something is off and you just freed.
- 6:09So when the founder, you're the one that has the product
- 6:12knowledge and you have the problem, knowledge gives you
- 6:15very full confidence. You removes all those kinds of
- 6:17issues. So when it comes to demoing the
- 6:20product, showing people what the product can do, showing people
- 6:23what the app can do, showing different use case scenarios or
- 6:26troubleshooting. If somebody's already using the
- 6:28product and something goes wrong because you have the product
- 6:31knowledge and you are the founder, you'll be able to sort
- 6:34people out 1231 hand you just show them you just put them
- 6:38through. No, no, be like this, noise like
- 6:41this is like this or have you tried this way better off doing
- 6:43it like this. Then you come off as the guy or
- 6:47the girl, you come off as the pro.
- 6:50So these are some of the reasons why the founder can build trust
- 6:55for the company or be the best salesperson for the company in
- 6:58the beginning. So whether male or female, then
- 7:03of course, if you're the one who has the product knowledge or the
- 7:07problem knowledge, it makes you very good at the need analysis
- 7:10stage because you can clearly figure out quickly where people
- 7:14are using your product or your service in a manner that won't
- 7:18give them the best results. Because you uniquely know the
- 7:23problems that you are trying to solve, that the product or the
- 7:27service is trying to solve, the app, the whatever.
- 7:31So these are one of the reasons why you being the founder of the
- 7:36company makes you the best person, at least in the
- 7:39beginning to build trust for the company and despair head sales.
- 7:44Then another reason why sometimes the founder is the
- 7:47best person. So excuse me is because since
- 7:51this is your baby, it is your baby.
- 7:54You have product knowledge, you have problem knowledge like
- 8:00you're uniquely tied, intimately tied into this thing.
- 8:03You're taking it personal. It gives you the passion to work
- 8:07for cheap. I mean, look at it in my own
- 8:10example now, for instance, this podcast, been doing this for
- 8:15over 5 years. And I've not, I've never lied to
- 8:18you guys that it wasn't until year, maybe like 3 1/2 until I
- 8:22got the first inquiry to say, oh boy, you know, how far are you
- 8:25available? How much can we work together?
- 8:29So the thing that keeps you going from year zero to year 3
- 8:331/2 is precisely the passion. You're working for cheap, or
- 8:39you're working for free or you're working for zero.
- 8:42It's because you're the founder, you are the starter, you are the
- 8:45spearheader, you are the promoter, you are the whatever
- 8:49it is. Yeah, baby.
- 8:50So because of that, you can stand on the line and continue
- 8:54to push forward. Now, if I had been hiring
- 8:58somebody, I said, look, this is my podcast, blah, blah, blah.
- 9:02You come and be the face of the podcast and you know, if after
- 9:06two months of not giving the guy salary, what do you think will
- 9:09happen? The guy has a girlfriend or the
- 9:12guy has a wife that he has to report to.
- 9:14After a while, the people say, look, what are we doing here?
- 9:18This guy is building this podcast.
- 9:20Everything you bought into the vision, but now vision, we go
- 9:23chop. You have been working for free
- 9:25for six months. What's the way forward?
- 9:30So eventually you guys won't have to come back to me and have
- 9:32that conversation and say, look, Tavish man, you know, you're my
- 9:34guy and I feel you and I value you know, but you understand,
- 9:41you know, I don't marry you. So, so therefore, you know, we
- 9:44have to have that conversation. And by the way, there's
- 9:47something that's happened to me before.
- 9:49So this one is not, there's not fake gist I'm giving you.
- 9:52So there's this guy I'm supposed to do some work with.
- 9:54Let's just say his name is Judy. But that's what's your name.
- 9:58But your bad guys are based in Abuja.
- 10:00So we have been cool. We have already discussed
- 10:03everything how we're going to pursue this idea and how in the
- 10:07in the beginning, you know, the money will not be sweet.
- 10:10So what we're doing at that time, I think what I was going
- 10:14to be giving him on every single deal was 50K and Jada agrees.
- 10:18So everything don't set then as the first opportunity pull
- 10:23around now I called him, I said Jada, what's up?
- 10:26Are you down? Are you free?
- 10:28And Jada was like, I'll come, I'll call you back.
- 10:31I'll call you back. Say what's happening, Say I'm
- 10:33coming, I'm wifey. Let me just call you back.
- 10:37You know, he had just gotten married.
- 10:38OK, No problem. No problem.
- 10:39Later. We got the call later on the
- 10:42afternoon. Call me back.
- 10:44I said Tavish, man, you know what?
- 10:47You know, now, at the time when we agreed this thing, you know,
- 10:50then I'm still a single guy. So yeah, I understand.
- 10:52So, you know, say I don't marry. So my wife was saying, you know,
- 10:57so tavish my look to be honest, you've not be 150.
- 11:01I can't leave the house. You know, I couldn't beef the
- 11:04guy. I couldn't fault the guy.
- 11:05I understand because you know, at that time each I was married,
- 11:08I just had we're just drop one on ground At that time I first
- 11:11born so understood this. No other no problem, no problem,
- 11:16no beef, no nothing. So I had to go and look for
- 11:17somebody else who was willing to run this thing with me and I
- 11:21will now collect 50K. See, by the way, this is what
- 11:25I'm talking now is this is over like 10 years ago.
- 11:28So don't say I'm wicked now. I'm trying to pay somebody 50K
- 11:32for something today. I'm not talking about 50K in
- 11:362025. I'm talking about 50K in over a
- 11:39decade ago. So where was I now?
- 11:44How did I enter this matter? Yes, about how when you're the
- 11:48founder, you can walk for free. You can walk for cheap, but you
- 11:52can't expect other people to work for you for cheap.
- 11:55You can't. So if you're the founder, you
- 11:58put somebody in the sales role, you expect a person to build
- 12:00trust on behalf of your company. And then you're given the person
- 12:04you know something that you know is not substantial.
- 12:08They can call you and say you're my guy and you know, you're
- 12:11friends and you know, I love you and, you know, ride or die or
- 12:13support you anyhow. But God on my and you know, yes,
- 12:18this is what we agreed to, but I can't continue like that.
- 12:21So these are reasons why as a founder, as the promoter, as the
- 12:25chief visionary officer, as the whatever, sometimes that's the
- 12:29reason why you are the one who can build trust for your
- 12:33company. You can be the face.
- 12:34You can start moving the sales motions forward then.
- 12:40Plus, since you're the founder, you're the one that you know,
- 12:44division is inside you. You know where you're heading.
- 12:47So like now on the podcast, things are taking shape.
- 12:50People are looking now and saying, oh, OK, I understand.
- 12:54But five years ago when I was telling people that, you know
- 12:57what, this podcasting is not a bad idea.
- 12:59I'm all triangle. Not everybody saw it.
- 13:02The vision was in my head. And of course, I couldn't really
- 13:05explain it too well. So you, the vision is in your
- 13:12head, you know what it is you're building.
- 13:16You can see the vision clearly, other people can't.
- 13:20So these are the reasons and these are the dynamics that make
- 13:23you the most suitable person sometimes to be the one to build
- 13:29trust for your company and start putting your face out there and
- 13:33start the sales motions. So these are the dynamics and
- 13:41these are the reasons why some people will say, are you the
- 13:44founder, then you are the guy or you are the girl who should show
- 13:47face. You're the one who should be at
- 13:50the vanguard. You're the one who should be at
- 13:52the front. You're the one who should be
- 13:55leading the charge. So when people say things like
- 13:58this, they're not entirely wrong.
- 14:01But for those of you who they fear, you know, you don't want
- 14:03to put your face forward and no problem.
- 14:05In subsequent episodes, we'll talk about how you can run
- 14:09display where you don't have to people don't have to see your
- 14:13face, but no one thing shall especially using Apple because
- 14:19that Apple story Jobs and Wozniak in the beginning, they'd
- 14:22be friends 5 and 6 by the end of the day.
- 14:25When Jobs died, did you notice that Wozniak didn't come for the
- 14:28funeral? I was not wondering what kind of
- 14:34anyway, you never know money, but just know it's one of these
- 14:39things if you want to be putting your face forward at the end of
- 14:43the day, the person that put in his face for the guy now
- 14:44overshines. You just know that these are
- 14:47some of the dangers or these are some of the beef that can now
- 14:50follow and will now cause friends who used to be 5 and 6
- 14:53will now cause them to quarrel, will now reach the stage that
- 14:56Jobs died and wasn't according to show for the burial.
- 14:59So anyway, I'm not going through all that.
- 15:01You know, this sales podcast is a business podcast.
- 15:05I shouldn't be talking all kinds of personal issues here.
- 15:07So let me get back on point. So excuse me, I'm recovering
- 15:12from a cold. You know how my tongue has
- 15:15started, at least in Abuja. So if you are the one who's
- 15:21going to build trust for your company and you are the founder,
- 15:23then what is your role in this mix?
- 15:25What are you supposed to do? Because it is easy for people to
- 15:29say you are the founder. Stand on the line.
- 15:33Yeah, Therefore, front go first. It's easy to do all that big
- 15:38talk, but The thing is, lots of us who have found us, we have
- 15:41absolutely no idea about what we're supposed to do.
- 15:44OK, I'm supposed to lead the church.
- 15:46OK, I'm supposed to be in front and Amigo build trust sales and
- 15:50Amigo showface. OK, So what next?
- 15:54Let me break it down for you now.
- 15:55The first thing you're going to do is the ICP.
- 15:58The ICP is the ideal customer profile.
- 16:01The ideal customer profile is just the answer to the question,
- 16:03who are we supposed to be chasing?
- 16:06Who are we supposed to be going after?
- 16:10So that's the first thing. As a founder, you have to
- 16:14provide the answer to that question.
- 16:17Answer that question for the rest of the team.
- 16:19You tell them clearly this is who we're chasing after.
- 16:22Now, don't worry if you get things wrong.
- 16:24It's normal. That is sales for you, sales and
- 16:28business development. Some of it is trial and error.
- 16:32Sometimes you assume this person is the right person for your
- 16:35product or service you go after. And then by the time you get
- 16:39some small feedback and I realize that you know what, this
- 16:43class of customers is not as sweet as I thought.
- 16:46Let's try somewhere else. That one is just life.
- 16:50Excuse me? So, you know, same as in
- 16:52relationships, there's also the same thing as in business.
- 16:56Young men listening to podcasts, especially those of you who
- 16:58don't marry, you understand what I'm talking about.
- 17:00Remember back in university we all had that experience where
- 17:04there was one girl that we decided that if it was not this
- 17:07girl that I would die. But then 20-30 years later is
- 17:12not her. You're married to somebody else.
- 17:14Life is fine. Half of you who have been
- 17:16through this experience, you cannot even remember the girl's
- 17:18name. Now you can't.
- 17:21But at the time you thought, if not this babe, I will die.
- 17:25I will kill myself. If she tells me no, I will jump
- 17:29in the lake. But currently it's not her
- 17:35children. You have 5.
- 17:36Life is going all fine. So that's just what happens when
- 17:41we're trying to figure out the ICP, the ideal customer profile.
- 17:46Sometimes we assume that this is the customer for the, for us,
- 17:52for our startup, for our product, for our service.
- 17:54These are the use case scenarios you're supposed to be following,
- 17:58but then you go forward, you interact with the market, you
- 18:02get some feedback, and then you pivot.
- 18:05So that's just normal. But The thing is, you are the
- 18:07one who's supposed to lead the charge.
- 18:11If you accept that as the founder, you're the one who's
- 18:14going to build trust for the company.
- 18:17You can't afford to just let everybody be running on their
- 18:20own direction. It has to come from you, your
- 18:21one that will decide. This is my app.
- 18:25This is what we built it for. Because of that, these are the
- 18:28people who are going to chase after, let everybody know
- 18:31clearly. And if you don't have a team
- 18:35yet, then all running up and down you're doing is you're
- 18:40trying to figure out who is the ideal customer, who are the
- 18:43people that need this product, that need this service that we
- 18:46should be going after. Then as a founder, you should
- 18:51also be trying to come up with the selling framework.
- 18:55Selling framework is the the tactics, the particulars.
- 19:00Now we know the customers that we're supposed to be going
- 19:02after. So the selling framework is
- 19:06where do they hang out real life?
- 19:09Where do they hang out online? Online.
- 19:12What is the process for starting conversations, for getting
- 19:16contact details, starting a conversation with them, moving
- 19:20the conversation forward? You know, offline is the same
- 19:25thing. How do you approach them?
- 19:27How do we start the conversation?
- 19:28How are we going to guide the conversation?
- 19:30The answer to those questions, those are all the things that
- 19:32are going to be spelled out in your selling framework.
- 19:36And of course, you know, you build Sops around it, standard
- 19:38operating procedures. Now, if you've been listening to
- 19:41the podcast for a while, you know that when it comes to
- 19:44sales, and I strongly recommend this, it doesn't have to be
- 19:48formal. Formal.
- 19:49Formal, like bullet points at this stage is fine.
- 19:54Like the conversation framework that I give on the podcast all
- 19:56the time, which is greeting, intention, proposal, sorry,
- 20:02greeting, intentions, question, proposal, close.
- 20:07See, that's a simple outline. You know, it's just bullet
- 20:11points, but enough to guide the structure of the conversation
- 20:15that in the beginning you were given appropriate greeting.
- 20:18After that you will go straight into your intention.
- 20:21You will let the person know why you are talking to them.
- 20:24Then you will ask them a couple of questions because the
- 20:28questions is what we give you the information that you need to
- 20:31make it relevant proposal. Then after the proposal, you
- 20:35will try and get them to take action, which is the close.
- 20:38So you can see the conversation outlined a simple framework
- 20:42here. All right, greeting, intention,
- 20:48question, proposal close. So in the beginning, Mr.
- 20:55Founder, excuse me or Madam founder, listening to the
- 20:58podcast right now, it doesn't have to be that detailed,
- 21:02especially for those of you in the text space, you know, you
- 21:03like to do everything hyper detailed, you know, with bullet
- 21:06points, with everything. But this one just simple.
- 21:10So we figure out who the ICP is, who is the people, who are the
- 21:13audience? Who is The Who are the group?
- 21:15Who are the segments? Who are the whatever you want to
- 21:18call them that we are chasing after?
- 21:19Who needs this product or service?
- 21:21After that, you come up with the framework.
- 21:24Now, the reason why this framework thing is important, I
- 21:27must put it down in writing, is because in the beginning is you,
- 21:31but later on you raise some funds, you have a bit of money,
- 21:34and then you hire a team. It is a cardinal error to send
- 21:38people out to sell on behalf of your company.
- 21:40Meanwhile, you know, give them guidance.
- 21:42You're supposed to give them guidance.
- 21:45When you're in the field, this is our selling framework.
- 21:48When you're approaching people, this is our selling framework.
- 21:51If you're talking to stakeholders, this is how you
- 21:54structure the conversation. If you're talking to
- 21:56fundraisers, I say fundraisers. Why are they called people when
- 22:00they give money? What do you call them now?
- 22:02Investors. This is how you don't just send
- 22:05people out blind. You send people out blind.
- 22:10They'll be trying to manufacture things on the go.
- 22:13It's a problem, no unified brand experience.
- 22:16And the biggest problem is when you send people out blind, those
- 22:18not making promises that you can't keep and you cause all
- 22:21kinds of problem. So Mr. Founder, if you're the
- 22:25one or Madam Founder who's going to build trust for the company,
- 22:28going to be the face of the company, you're going to be one
- 22:30who is leading the charge as you are doing all the early things,
- 22:35all the things, you know in the early days, talking to customers
- 22:38and things like that. You also trying to figure out
- 22:41the selling framework, I'll put it in writing so that when you
- 22:44have a team, there's something that you can use to train other
- 22:47people. Then you're also trying to
- 22:50figure out the UVP, the unique value proposition.
- 22:54Why do people buy my product at all?
- 22:56We need to know because when we know why people buy our product
- 23:00by the service, why they download the app, it helps us to
- 23:04cut to the chase when we're having conversations because we
- 23:07can use that to guide the conversation.
- 23:10You can now say something like our happiest customers typically
- 23:14use this for ABC and XYZ. Is that the case with you?
- 23:20You start the conversation of that.
- 23:21When a person says I owe to you may have never had these
- 23:23problems before. You now know that this person is
- 23:26not a good contact, a good prospect to be talking to.
- 23:32You now know that they're not part of your ICP.
- 23:34They're not part of your ideal customer profile because the
- 23:37unique value proposition or the case, what's it called?
- 23:43Again, the you know, the unique value proposition or the, the
- 23:47different case scenarios where people typically use your
- 23:51product or your service. There's no match.
- 23:53So you just let the person walk on by.
- 23:56So you're also trying to figure out the unique value
- 23:58proposition. It helps a lot while we're
- 24:00having business conversations and selling conversations.
- 24:03Then you're also trying to figure out your distribution
- 24:06channels or your go to market strategy as you tech people like
- 24:09to call it. Although in my own opinion, you
- 24:12tech Bros and tech sisters stop manufacturing new terms.
- 24:15Also all these fancy terms. You just like to feel cool with
- 24:18yourselves. All of you running around now
- 24:20saying GTMGTM. And that's the thing, the trends
- 24:23always change. So in five years now you people
- 24:25would have started coming up with another term.
- 24:29So excuse me buying a less country now with GTM go to
- 24:32market for me. When I when I hear go to market,
- 24:35I say, look, why are you deceiving yourselves?
- 24:36GTM is just sales basically, as long as you give it a brand new
- 24:40name. Well, let's continue since you
- 24:42guys like saying GTM. So what are the distribution
- 24:44channels and what is your GTM? What is your go to market
- 24:47strategy? That's what you're trying to
- 24:48figure out. So as a founder, when people say
- 24:51you're supposed to be in front, these are the things that you're
- 24:53trying to figure out in the early days when it's just you
- 24:56and your Co founder, you're trying to figure out who is our
- 24:58ideal customer, who is the target audience?
- 25:00Who is our avatar? Who should we be chasing?
- 25:02Whom really, really needs this thing?
- 25:05Then you're trying to figure out the selling framework.
- 25:08How do we approach people? How do we chose people?
- 25:10How do we handle the conversation?
- 25:11How do we move things wrong along?
- 25:14Sorry, that was AT moment there. You know, T people are able
- 25:17people. We have this R&L something.
- 25:20Then where was I selling framework and then unique value
- 25:25proposition or the case scenarios.
- 25:27Why do people buy from us? Why do people use this product?
- 25:30Why do they use this app? Why?
- 25:32What are the scenarios under which you know people best use
- 25:35these things? You need to know because we'll
- 25:37help you with your sales conversations.
- 25:39And then you're trying to figure out the distribution channels as
- 25:41well or the go to market strategy.
- 25:43Distribution channel just means what is the way that you get
- 25:48people? How do I put it?
- 25:51How do I put it now? OK, Well, distribution channel,
- 25:53OK, you know, the name defines each other.
- 25:57What are the channels? What are the ways, what are the
- 26:00avenues that you use to distribute these your products?
- 26:05Yeah. So yeah, it declines itself.
- 26:07You're also trying to figure out the distribution channels.
- 26:11Where should you be? Is it lead Mark that you're
- 26:13trying to use people to download or is it that you are in the
- 26:19Apple App Store or you're in a Google Play Store and you're
- 26:23trying to promote heavily by using advertisements?
- 26:25You know, you're trying to figure out all these things.
- 26:29Now remember, the reason why it's important to figure out all
- 26:31these things early you is because eventually you will have
- 26:35a team who will work with you and who will sell with you.
- 26:39And when you get that team, you cannot be sending people out to
- 26:41wear freestyle. You need to give them some clear
- 26:44instructions, some clear direction.
- 26:46That is where we're heading. So these are a couple of things
- 26:48that you need to figure out. So all these things that the
- 26:54founder you're supposed to figure out, make sure you put
- 26:56them in some SOP's. As you guys like to say,
- 26:59standard operating procedures. The standard operating procedure
- 27:02is just a document or some kind of repository.
- 27:06You know, it can be a Google link, it can be a whatever.
- 27:09Something that does not exist in your head, because if it exists
- 27:12in your head, then whenever there's a problem, people
- 27:15actually have to call you at 3:00 AM at night to say, boss,
- 27:19we're getting this issue, how do we solve it?
- 27:21But then if it's in the document or some repository, so whether
- 27:26it's on the piece of paper that you printed it or whether it's
- 27:28on Google Maps, or whether you wrote it in a diary and you left
- 27:33the diary in the office Shard, there's something outside of
- 27:36your head that some other person can go and read and get the
- 27:41answer. So in green, all of this in the
- 27:44SOP, standard operating procedure before you involve the
- 27:48sales team or any other person. So in summary, what I'm trying
- 27:53to say is that your role as the founder is market validation.
- 27:56You're trying to figure out is there a demand for this product
- 27:59or service? Do people even want this product
- 28:02or service? Under what conditions do people
- 28:04want this product or service in the process of figuring out
- 28:07market validation or what you people in the tech space like to
- 28:11call product market fit be recording all the steps that you
- 28:15took to get there. Those are the things that will
- 28:21that will serve as a foundation for your SOP standard operating
- 28:24procedure later on. So should all founders be
- 28:30involved in sales? Well, it's not compulsory, but
- 28:35because of all these reasons that I've given you, I
- 28:38personally agree with the guy who was on stage and I strongly
- 28:42recommend that whether you like people or whether you don't like
- 28:45people, what I measure that tribe tribesmen song back in the
- 28:50day, whether you like whether you know like the team BC or you
- 28:57go swing the shake body the team anyway, you guys won't.
- 29:02Some of you guys will know that one.
- 29:03This was a long time ago. This was the early days of Niger
- 29:06hip hop tribesmen, junior and pretty and some some cool stuff
- 29:10back in the day. So whether you like it or not,
- 29:15in my own opinion, Sha, you're a founder or you're a foundress.
- 29:18Whatever the female version is of a female founder, in my own
- 29:23opinion, yeah, you should be involved in putting yourself out
- 29:25there, building trust for a company.
- 29:27You should be involved in sales in the early days.
- 29:30You don't have to be there always, but in the early days,
- 29:33show yourself, come forward because it will even help you as
- 29:42the founder gain some clarity around who the client is, around
- 29:46what the product is, around what problems do you solve so that
- 29:50when you now retire and you're doing your CEO roles, you know,
- 29:54CEO, you're only in the office, they chop AC, you don't go
- 29:57outside anymore. You'll be able to do correct
- 30:00strategy because you'll be very clear now.
- 30:03These are our clients. This is the product.
- 30:06This is the problem that we solve.
- 30:09So any decision you make, you make it one time.
- 30:11Bam, correct insight with full confidence.
- 30:16Because in the early days, you spent some time in the field
- 30:19interacting with customers, testing out your product
- 30:22knowledge, testing out your problem knowledge.
- 30:26You had a vision, you had a chance to pan a big decision and
- 30:30see whether the thing works or not.
- 30:32You were able to achieve market validation for your idea.
- 30:34You were able to prove that there was demand.
- 30:37People like this thing. At what price do they like it?
- 30:39These are the conditions under which they used it.
- 30:43So because of all this background knowledge, now when
- 30:46you retire as a CEO, your decisions that you'll be making
- 30:52will be correct decisions. So again, with the tech bro who
- 30:59stood on stage and who said only the founder can build trust for
- 31:02your company, I have to say on this one, I align with the guy.
- 31:06So if you are a founder or a foundress, a female founder and
- 31:12you're listening to this, it might be scary.
- 31:16I know it might be scary, but just relax, be calm.
- 31:20It's, it's worth it. Get in the ring, get your hands
- 31:24dirty, get involved, get involved.
- 31:28It is worth it. If you are afraid, subscribe to
- 31:32the podcast. This is what we talk about here
- 31:34every single day or every other day.
- 31:37I'm here for you. You don't have to walk this path
- 31:40alone. Plenty of words you don't walk
- 31:43on before. We've been scared.
- 31:46We learned what we needed to learn.
- 31:49We made it happen and that's why this podcast is here.
- 31:52So you're afraid as a founder? No problem.
- 31:55Continue to listen to the podcast, subscribe on Spotify,
- 31:59on YouTube, on Apple when you play of your choice.
- 32:02And I'll be here to be with you tomorrow.
- 32:04I'll continue with conversations with the tech bro.
- 32:07Well, anyway, when I check the transcript of the the transcript
- 32:14of the of the session that the guy had.
- 32:18We'll move on to the next topic. Now remember, if you'd love to
- 32:21connect with me, my name is Tavishima Aidi, host of the
- 32:23podcast. You can call send me a text
- 32:25message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
- 32:33Thanks for your time and attention.
- 32:34I'll catch you guys some other time.