Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Identifying and Targeting Your Most Profitable Clients
Transcript
- 0:01Hello and welcome to the show. Today we're going to be looking
- 0:04at how to identify and target high value clients.
- 0:08So this was the narrative that we were on maybe two or three
- 0:13days ago before I took a detour to start discussing some of the
- 0:17stuff. So let's get back to that and
- 0:19see how we can finish on all this high value talk.
- 0:23So today, hopefully if I'm able to be disciplined and go
- 0:27straight to the point, we should be able to talk about the
- 0:30definition of high value clients, the different
- 0:33contextual stuff that we have to consider when it comes to
- 0:37determining who is a high value client.
- 0:39Because of course, like I hinted at maybe two or three episodes
- 0:43ago in a high value client or a high value opportunity for a
- 0:47wedding photographer, it's not the same thing as a high value
- 0:50opportunity or high value client for someone who is an architect
- 0:55or an engineer or someone in the oil and gas space.
- 0:59So before we dive straight in, we're going to look at the geek
- 1:02list and we're going to examine what I have today on my
- 1:06playlist. So currently listening to, OK,
- 1:11well, not currently because I listened to, I think that was
- 1:14last night. I'm Savannah Alton.
- 1:17She's an American based alternative pop musician.
- 1:21She's kind of hard to pin down because she has different
- 1:24influences, and that's because a whole lot of the stuff that she
- 1:26has done has been covers of work that has been done by much more,
- 1:34much more famous artists. Like this lady that did Eye of
- 1:37the Tiger, What's it called? What's her name?
- 1:41Can't remember. But really popular song, you
- 1:43know, I got the Eye of the Tiger and something and something and
- 1:49something, and you're gonna hear me roar.
- 1:55So you know that song. So she's done copies.
- 1:58So I know copies are covers of that and lots of other songs.
- 2:02And for those of you who are Nigerian musicians or aspiring
- 2:06musicians, especially for those of you who do the indie folk
- 2:10acoustic thing, I strongly recommend that this is how you
- 2:13should get into the game because there are a whole bunch of you
- 2:16who are trying to blow as aspiring indie musicians in
- 2:22Nigeria. But The thing is, you're at the
- 2:24beginning of your career and nobody knows who the hell you
- 2:27are. And until you establish some
- 2:32kind of following, nobody cares what it is that you have to say.
- 2:37So it's unfortunate, but you know, the likes of Savannah
- 2:39Alton, I think have shown the way.
- 2:41Start, do covers, reinterpret things that other people have
- 2:45done. You gain a following, use that
- 2:48to show how creative you are. And then after a while, you
- 2:51cannot start dropping your own original stuff.
- 2:52And then labels can start chasing you and things like
- 2:54that. Because if you stay there and
- 2:57you say you want to be true to yourself, you want to do this
- 2:59indie thing, God will make it for you.
- 3:01You know you will blow. You ought to be authentic to
- 3:03yourself. You just stay hungry or you end
- 3:07up like a whole lot of Nigerian musicians, independent Nigerian
- 3:12musicians who have tried to do their thing.
- 3:15And then after like 5 or 6 years you see them working in Zenith
- 3:17Bank and like oh boy, how far now like you don't do music
- 3:20again. And they're like I beg forget
- 3:23that thing. And then that's how the
- 3:24conversation ends. So please, for those of you who
- 3:27are Nigerian indie musicians, this is the way to go.
- 3:31So let's say you are an acoustic kind of fellow, you know, guy or
- 3:35girl, and you want to blow and your, you know, blocking the
- 3:39strings, singing away at your heart right now, nobody knows
- 3:42you are. But if you take something that
- 3:45Bonoboy has done or Davido has done or, you know, any of these
- 3:50boys and then you reinterpret it, do an acoustic unplugged
- 3:55version, and let's say you're putting out these sorts of
- 3:57things, you know, two or three every month.
- 3:59You know, it's the beginning of you starting to build a fan base
- 4:03and this whole thing of authenticity.
- 4:05I'm sorry, authenticity. This is also how you're going to
- 4:08be able to flex your creative muscle because, OK, like this
- 4:13banner boy. So you know that one.
- 4:14I need to go. I need you.
- 4:18You know that one so like, you can take that and remix it.
- 4:21You don't have to use a hip hop beat or the Toni Braxton beat or
- 4:25whatever. You can take your guitar, do
- 4:28finger style slamming against the the body of the of the
- 4:33guitar. For those of you who play
- 4:35guitar, you know what I'm talking about.
- 4:36It's finger style and slapping technique.
- 4:38So you can do finger style plus slapping technique and you can
- 4:41deliver your own rendition. If you don't like the guy's
- 4:44lyrics, then you can make it a medley.
- 4:46And for the lyrics part, use the same tune.
- 4:51But sorry, for the first part, use the same tune, introduce
- 4:54your own lyrics, you know, make it a medley, blend it with
- 4:58another song. You know, the opportunities like
- 5:00that when I've been talking too long about this sort of thing.
- 5:03So for those of you who are listeners to the show here,
- 5:05aspiring indie musicians, check out Savannah Alton.
- 5:07Listen to her on Spotify. Also check out our stop on
- 5:10YouTube and let that inspire you to see how you can reinterpret
- 5:13Nigerian popular songs so that you can gain some sort of a
- 5:16following so you don't end up like one of those people.
- 5:19They say, hey, how far now? Like in uni used to be very good
- 5:21with music, like what happened? And then the person says, oh
- 5:24boy, forget that, you know, as in those music pay the bills,
- 5:27you know, blah, blah, blah, music can pay the bills.
- 5:31So let's look to our brothers and sisters like Savannah
- 5:35Houghton and Boise Ave. and all these other people.
- 5:38I'm in the West, you know, they've shown us the way.
- 5:40So let's just adopt and Carrigo and we'll be OK.
- 5:45Then also listen to Savage Garden.
- 5:49Some real good stuff. Again, grown folk music.
- 5:53OK, maybe not grown folk music, but definitely stuff that we
- 5:55used to listen to when my own set were teenagers.
- 5:58I mean, they had songs that crash and burn truly madly,
- 6:01deeply, you know, those are songs that we used to try and
- 6:04toast babes with back in the day, with varying degrees of
- 6:08success. And that's the reason why I made
- 6:10the yesterday's podcast episode. Stop trying to rely on something
- 6:14else to move your market and to sell you.
- 6:18So that was the whole point of yesterday's podcast episode.
- 6:20You're trying to let the presentation, the PowerPoint,
- 6:23the PDF, the whatever, do the heavy lifting.
- 6:26And some of us young boys back then were thinking that if you
- 6:29just play Savage Garden for the babe, you know, you play Crash
- 6:32and Burn, that the babe doesn't melt into your arms.
- 6:34And you know, unfortunately don't work that way.
- 6:37You know, sometimes you can play the right song and it's going to
- 6:39help to set the mood. But by and large, you have to
- 6:42sell yourself. So for those of you who came
- 6:46here, business tips and all, not listen to yesterday's episode,
- 6:50you're going to hear how you're supposed to sell by yourself and
- 6:54not rely on the presentation, the proposal, the PDF, the
- 6:58glossy package, whatever it is that you put forward.
- 7:01For those of you who are here because you'd like to hear about
- 7:03my thoughts about relationships, then Savage Garden.
- 7:08Good stuff. But do not rely on Savage Garden
- 7:12to catch the baby for you. Learn how to sell yourself.
- 7:14Learn how to toast yourself. And for girls as well.
- 7:17Do not think that because you send the song truly mad deeply
- 7:20to the guy that he would just melt.
- 7:21And you know, you come and toast you or whatever.
- 7:24But I must warn you though, there are some guys who are
- 7:27sappy romantics. I hope everything they hear.
- 7:31So if you send this truly, madly deeply, I'm talking to women Now
- 7:34young girls, if you send truly madly deeply to any guy and he
- 7:38happens to be that sort of guy, you put yourself in trouble
- 7:40because the guy is not going to be able to extricate himself
- 7:43from you. As in the guy will just gel and
- 7:46it's going to be either you or nothing.
- 7:49So don't send truly madly deeply to any young Nigerian boy except
- 7:54if you're ready for marriage. That is my warning to you,
- 7:57females. Then let's see what else?
- 8:00OK, now I'm currently listening to Sarah Reeves.
- 8:03She's more of a pop gospel crossover artist, so yeah.
- 8:09So for those of you who think I'll listen to music of the
- 8:12world, fleshly music, I do listen to other things as well.
- 8:16So that's what I'm listening to on Spotify.
- 8:19Some of you may have noticed that everything I've been
- 8:21listening to is SSS. And you know, yes, that is
- 8:24because I listen to my music alphabetically.
- 8:27So yeah, maybe I'm a geek after all.
- 8:29So I listen to my music alphabetically.
- 8:31Then on Netflix, still the same movie.
- 8:33Trouble. The Scandinavian movie, I'd be
- 8:35the Swedish movie, I'd be the Danish movie.
- 8:37I'm not even sure where I should go and check.
- 8:39And please, those of you from that part of the world, you
- 8:41know, don't, don't be annoyed. It's just that, you know, for we
- 8:44local Nigerians who haven't travelled the world, the world,
- 8:47it's hard for some of us to tell you guys apart.
- 8:49So I really can't tell the difference between a Swede and a
- 8:52Danish person. And I'm sure it's the same
- 8:54thing, like you guys probably can't tell the difference
- 8:56between the two person and the House of person.
- 8:58You think we all sound the same and you know, likewise.
- 9:01And then let me run before Spotify cancels my show because
- 9:05of racist comments or something. And let's get straight back to
- 9:09the topic for today. So now we're looking at how to
- 9:12identify and target high value clients.
- 9:16If you've listened to the episodes from two or three days
- 9:18back, then you should be caught up to speed.
- 9:21But let me just do a small review for those of you who are
- 9:25listening for the first time. So let's try and define what a
- 9:28high value client is. A high value client is someone
- 9:33who brings opportunities for more revenue, for more
- 9:39profitability or for strategic importance.
- 9:43So let me repeat, when we think high value clients, those are
- 9:46the three things that we're considering this person that I'm
- 9:49chasing, that I'm toasting, that I'm pursuing, that I'm courting,
- 9:53that I'm chasing after that I'm whatever.
- 9:56If I click this deal, is it going to give me more revenue?
- 9:59Is it going to be a highly profitable one?
- 10:03And then is it going to be something that would lead to
- 10:05opportunities that are strategic importance?
- 10:09So revenue, that one is easy. The number of zeros basically.
- 10:13So back to wedding photography examples, 150.
- 10:17Well, I don't know about now prices now, but back when I
- 10:20started out 150K client, you know, kind of average.
- 10:25So high value would be bigger zeros.
- 10:28SO350K would be relatively high value.
- 10:32If you're coming from 150K space by the time you start hitting
- 10:36506 hundred 800, I mean, that's definitely high value, at least
- 10:40back back in the day. I have no idea what wedding
- 10:42photography cost now. So yeah, so that's the revenue
- 10:47end. How many zeros?
- 10:49Profitability. Profitability is important
- 10:52because it's not just the amount of zeros, but how much money do
- 10:55you keep in your pocket? Because there are some business
- 10:57opportunities that by the time you submit the invoice, you
- 11:01submit the invoice for 1.5 M, but by the time you pay all the
- 11:05vendors, you do transportation, you pay value added tax, you pay
- 11:10this, you pay that. The money that's left at the end
- 11:12of the day, maybe it's 250K. So if you're dropping a 1.5 bill
- 11:22by the end of the day, the thing that entered into your pocket
- 11:24was 250K. You know, it's up for debate.
- 11:26Can you really say that that was a high value opportunity because
- 11:30the zeros were plenty, 1.5 M, but how much entered your
- 11:33pocket? 250K.
- 11:35So can you say it was really high value?
- 11:36So these are some of the things that we look at.
- 11:38That's revenue and profitability.
- 11:40Then there's a whole thing of strategic importance for some of
- 11:43us who come from a artistic background, you know, those of
- 11:46us who are wedding photographers, aspiring
- 11:48musicians. I wasn't an aspiring musician,
- 11:51but I sang for my wife once. Well, then she was just my
- 11:55girlfriend and she laughed and, and that's the story for another
- 11:59day. But that's how my music career
- 12:01ended. Basically, I thought I was going
- 12:02to be able to serenade someone, you know, sing my way into
- 12:05somebody's heart. And I whipped up my guitar and I
- 12:08sang from the bottom of my heart.
- 12:10And the baby just laughed. But anyway, the story ended well
- 12:13because we're married today and we have two healthy children.
- 12:15So all glory to be to God. Where was I?
- 12:19I have strategic importance. So basically folks like wedding
- 12:22photographers, people who are in the movie space, you know,
- 12:25things like that, aspiring singers.
- 12:28We place a lot of emphasis on these sorts of things.
- 12:30You know what we're thinking about opportunities and clients
- 12:33that we're courting because we think that OK, I'm shooting the
- 12:37wedding for this person and I'm only doing the 450K, so the one
- 12:40is small. But if I do a good job and this
- 12:44thing is cool, he's going to be able to hook me up with XYZ
- 12:46number of people and I'm going to get wedding clients that will
- 12:50now start paying ME800K. By the way, wedding
- 12:54photographers listening to this particular episode, let me tell
- 12:58you right now, it is not likely. It is not likely that you do a
- 13:02150K wedding and that person is going to lead to 800K
- 13:08opportunities. It can happen, but statistically
- 13:12speaking, 150K couples hang out with other 150 K couples.
- 13:19So this whole thing of I'll hook you up, I will introduce you, I
- 13:24will give you opportunity, I'll give you recognition, I'll give
- 13:26you exposure. Like look, don't buy that whole
- 13:28crap. You know that that doesn't work.
- 13:31If you want to go ahead and take the 150 K like you're broke,
- 13:33like I did back then when I was taking it, I was taking it
- 13:37because look, I know I'm broke, not because of all the rubbish
- 13:39that the groom was saying. And usually it's grooms will
- 13:41start promising you all these things and we're promising you
- 13:43exposure. I mean, some guys are daft.
- 13:45Like how daft do you think I am you if you had any level of
- 13:49exposure you would have exposed yourself and you'd be having a
- 13:51big boy wedding. You know you come and be pricing
- 13:54ME150K on top wedding photography.
- 13:58Anyway, glory to God that was a long time ago you know we've all
- 14:02moved on. May God bless our marriages so
- 14:05artistic people don't fall for that scam.
- 14:07When people start saying I'll open doors, I'll make
- 14:10introduction, I'll do this, I'll do that, but that's a topic for
- 14:13another episode. But bottom line, what I'm just
- 14:15trying to say is that yes, there are opportunities where you
- 14:18might come in today because the profit margin, the revenue
- 14:21number of zeros is small. Profit margin, the one went that
- 14:26went to your pocket is small. But if the thing clicks, you
- 14:30will get introduced to other people for higher paying
- 14:34opportunities or for access to technology or for access to new
- 14:38kinds of markets or you know, whatever it is depending on your
- 14:41context. So when you say high value
- 14:43client, that's just what it means.
- 14:45Basically, the people that are going to put plenty of zeros in
- 14:48my wallet. Oh, sorry, the people that are
- 14:51going to give me the value of a deal that has plenty of zeros,
- 14:56hopefully the number of zeros by the time I'm done with the costs
- 15:01of X or fulfilling this thing is going to leave plenty of money
- 15:05in my pocket and then also open up doors to greater
- 15:11opportunities. So that's what we talk about
- 15:12when we mean high value clients over here on the podcast.
- 15:16So how to identify and target a high value client?
- 15:22It depends. It is highly contextual.
- 15:25It depends on the product, it depends on the service, it
- 15:27depends on the industry. So for someone who is selling
- 15:31sesame seed, for instance, a high value client or a high
- 15:35value opportunity is worth, you know, XYZ amount.
- 15:38It's not going to be the same if you're a Carpenter.
- 15:40It's not going to be the same if you're a brain surgeon.
- 15:43It's not going to be the same if you're a wedding photographer.
- 15:44So it depends. So you have to take the onus,
- 15:50you have to take the burden and do a lot of research on your own
- 15:54end. You have to ask yourself what
- 15:56makes somebody valuable in your industry?
- 16:01These are part of the reasons why I say tools like ChatGPT,
- 16:04Gemini, and all these AI tools, LLMS, large language models.
- 16:09This is the reason why I say that they're important because
- 16:11you can sit down and rack your brain, come up with a number of
- 16:14prompts, throw in a few things, and you might be able to get
- 16:17some helpful ideas. Now, I'm not saying that every
- 16:20single time you use these tools, whatever it is that you get is
- 16:22gospel truth or is correct. But I am saying that if you try
- 16:26these tools, like if you put in like if you say I'm a Carpenter
- 16:29living in Abuja, FCT or poor region, I'm thinking of how to
- 16:35identify high value clients. This is the style of work that I
- 16:38do and blah blah, blah, blah, blah, you hit enter.
- 16:41It's possible that it might come up with maybe like 5 responses
- 16:44and then three of them don't make sense.
- 16:46But for the two that makes sense.
- 16:48If you try it out, what have you got to lose?
- 16:50I mean, you never know. So you have a start thinking
- 16:54about what the the key characteristics are for people
- 16:57in your own industry, in your own product or service or
- 17:01whatever that makes them valuable.
- 17:04So for those of us who are in who sell professional services,
- 17:10you know, copywriters, sales consultants, life coaches, let's
- 17:15see, what else? OK, architects, project
- 17:19management, specialist, accountants.
- 17:21So people like us, we start thinking in terms of job titles.
- 17:26So presumably a clerk might not lead to a high value
- 17:34opportunity, but an MDCEO might. I said presumably on paper.
- 17:41So we look at job title, some of us look at company size.
- 17:45You don't want to consult for one man shop or one woman shop
- 17:48because how much would they pay you?
- 17:50But if you Zenith Bank, I want to go and do training for Zenith
- 17:53Bank because I can't go in there and do one session and maybe
- 17:56they pay me 5 M or something like that.
- 17:59By the way, I do not know how much Zenith Bank charges for
- 18:02consultancy services. But if it happens to be 5 M or
- 18:05above and you want to hook me up so that we can pursue it
- 18:10together and then at the end of the day we split the profits.
- 18:12You know, maybe like 7030, I give you 3070 for me because I'm
- 18:17not doing all the hard work, then please reach out to me.
- 18:20My contact details are at the end of every single show and
- 18:23let's see how we can make that happen.
- 18:25So look at job title, look at company size, and then we also
- 18:29look at pain points because there's some problems that are
- 18:32just not worth, just not worth solving.
- 18:36So let's say you are the teacher.
- 18:40OK, good. Let's see you're not those
- 18:41people who does lessons for kids after school.
- 18:47If you're if you're offering remedial coaching for people who
- 18:53are trying to skip from one level to another, you know,
- 18:55maybe people who are in primary six who want to get into JSS 1,
- 19:00you know, the value that might not be much.
- 19:03But if you're able to pin down those clients who are really
- 19:06nervous about the state of Nigeria and who think Nigeria is
- 19:09going to blazes like Nigeria is going to crap.
- 19:11And so the solution is for them to send their children abroad
- 19:14and then you catch them in that moment and you're trying to sell
- 19:18them on coaching services so that the children will smash
- 19:22GMAT or i.e. LTSI think that is that the
- 19:25international English language proficiency test something,
- 19:30something, something. So if you're able to catch those
- 19:33kinds of clientele, then that is obviously a much more high value
- 19:39client or high value opportunity because of the pain points.
- 19:43So my child is in JSS 2 and as repeated once, I want them to
- 19:50move to JSS 3. That might not be, I'm not
- 19:53saying that that's my case. So you know, and God forbid that
- 19:55that happens, you know, our children will pass all their
- 19:57exams in Jesus name. So what was I?
- 20:02So for somebody who is facing that kind of problem, that might
- 20:05not be the kind of problem that is worth spending serious money
- 20:08over. You might just go and get a
- 20:10lesson teacher and I don't know, maybe 2K every lesson or 5K
- 20:13every lesson or something or 30 KA month.
- 20:16But then that whole IL TS1G Mart GR e.g.
- 20:22CSE you know that whole my child is in secondary school now, but
- 20:27I want to quickly move them abroad, you know, from the
- 20:29secondary school thing and then use the schooling opportunity
- 20:33from there to enter Jabba. As in like let me just export
- 20:36all my children. Then those might be the
- 20:39opportunities where you might be able to get hundreds of
- 20:42thousands of naira for coaching engagements so that those
- 20:46children can pass their exams. So you see that these are the
- 20:49different things that we have to look at when we're talking about
- 20:52high value clients, high value opportunities.
- 20:54So do some research. Are you looking at job titles?
- 20:57Are you looking at company size? Why are you looking at the pain
- 20:59points in the market and what individual actors in the market
- 21:03might be willing to pay for? Because some people might be
- 21:06willing to pay for some opportunities.
- 21:08Like I said, I might not be willing to pay for some others.
- 21:13So yeah. So that's it then.
- 21:18OK, that's we want to go to the research route.
- 21:20Now what I like to recommend to folks when I end up working with
- 21:24you guys is I say that we should use our existing clients to
- 21:30track trends and to track patterns to try and figure out
- 21:34who the high value clients are because these things do happen.
- 21:38So back in the day, young photographer, I've left Lagos,
- 21:42I'm not in Abuja. I'm trying to be in that 350K
- 21:46market. Once in a while, I'll close my
- 21:48eye, bow my head in shame, I'll take a 150K job.
- 21:52I pray that nobody sees me shooting that kind of wedding
- 21:54because I needed the money. But while I was in that, in that
- 22:01space, there was one time when I started to partner up with some
- 22:05agents and one of them told me, I look, I have this worker for
- 22:08you to go and see your ministers heal.
- 22:10And I'm like, look, is this a serious thing?
- 22:12I don't want to just drive there and waste my time.
- 22:14You guys like, no, don't worry. Now that I've done work with the
- 22:17chairman for a while, so don't worry, it's OK, no problem.
- 22:19So had a bath, dressed up nice, drove to Ministers Hill and it
- 22:24turned out to be a good opportunity.
- 22:27I spoke with the guy. I can't remember how much I
- 22:31build him. It was going to be an
- 22:33architectural shoot. When the person chairman looked
- 22:36me straight in the face, I said, look, this is what we're going
- 22:38to do. I'm going to give you 250,000.
- 22:42Now if I don't like your work, I won't pay your balance.
- 22:46But if I like your work, what I'm going to do is I'm going to
- 22:48pay you 500 K. So I said, OK Sir, can I have a
- 22:53moment? He said sure, no, while I went
- 22:54outside and I called the agent and I said, look, this is what
- 22:58guy said. I mean, I don't like this kind
- 23:00of, I don't like these kind of issues.
- 23:03Like between you and me, you've already said you're collecting
- 23:0520%. I don't like long story, like
- 23:09should I weave this thing or is this guy good for his word?
- 23:11And then he was like, don't worry, that's our chairman
- 23:13always talks. No problem.
- 23:14So I went inside and then chairman calls his PA going to
- 23:19his room. And that was the first time I
- 23:21saw this sort of thing. This guy brought out a block of
- 23:24cash. This was a long time ago.
- 23:26When I say block, I mean block like look like building blocks
- 23:29wrapped in nylon. And then he toyed and then he
- 23:33peeled a bunch of, peeled a bunch of what do you call this
- 23:37thing stacks and then put you on the table.
- 23:44And then I said, OK, thank you very much, Sir.
- 23:46I said, are you not going to count it?
- 23:47I said, Oh no, Doris, I trust you.
- 23:49Actually, the truth was I was kind of embarrassed because my
- 23:52math is not very good. So I didn't know how much is
- 23:54inside 1 bundle, you know, because there's some people that
- 23:57know that math like, OK, this is a stack of five hundreds.
- 24:00So this stack is equal to whatever.
- 24:02This is a stack of one thousands, so this 1000 is equal
- 24:05to whatever. I didn't know how to do the
- 24:06stack math, so I told myself on our doors, I trust you.
- 24:10I carried in and I put in my bag and after I left, I went
- 24:14straight to the bank, gave it to them to deposit.
- 24:17They did the machine counting thing and everything checked
- 24:19out. So that was good.
- 24:20So that was that was good money. Where was I?
- 24:25Look at me, I got lost in the story.
- 24:30So what I was trying to say is I can use your trading history.
- 24:33So if I knew what I did, if I knew now, Abby, if I knew then
- 24:40what I know now, I would have looked at my trading history,
- 24:45the kind of clients that I have dealt with and things like that
- 24:48and try to figure out how did I get access to Chairman?
- 24:53It was by this agent. How can I get access to more
- 24:58agents like this guy so I can end up doing more business with
- 25:02Chairman, you know, chairman them and ignore these 150K
- 25:08people because trust me, is an easier life.
- 25:10Shooting a wedding means you're standing on your feet for like
- 25:1412 hours. So you don't collect good money.
- 25:16You end up quarrelling with the babe.
- 25:19It's just a nightmare. But the architecture shoot is
- 25:21sharp, sharp, sharp. You go, you look at the
- 25:24building, you like a couple of places, you take your photo,
- 25:27you're under exposed, you call your retoucher, the person
- 25:30retouches, you design the album as an architectural shoot is
- 25:33sweet is you and the building. There's no, no Valhalla, no
- 25:39talking back, no nothing. You can shoot that thing in 2-3
- 25:44hours. Editing will be another 2-3
- 25:47hours. And that's good work.
- 25:49That's good work. And then so those are high value
- 25:51opportunities. So you see how I say that, you
- 25:53know, it's it's relative. So, yeah.
- 25:56So look at your trading history, look at your CRM.
- 25:59Who are the people that paid you with plenty zeros?
- 26:02Who are the people that paid you with zeros that left enough
- 26:05margin to put in your pocket? Who are the people that paid you
- 26:08with plenty zeros with plenty margins and who you enjoyed
- 26:11working with? They didn't give you stress, you
- 26:15know, things like that. So look at your CRM trying to
- 26:19figure out your preferences. Look at your purchasing history.
- 26:22Go and look at invoices like this one was a big invoice.
- 26:26It had was a big invoice for 2.5.
- 26:29Then maybe you and your wife, you can sit down, look at all
- 26:31the invoices, all the invoices of 2.5 and above.
- 26:34Put them to one side. You start looking at them.
- 26:36You now start figuring out a couple of things like oh, the
- 26:39people that pay 2.5 and above are usually this kind of people
- 26:43who live here and who behave like this or who belong to this
- 26:46social club or who belong to this tribe or whatever.
- 26:50I mentioned that because back when I was a wedding
- 26:53photographer, there are people who had this theory that if you
- 26:55wanted to corner the market in Nigeria, you had to be an
- 26:58exclusively northern wedding photographer as in covered
- 27:02northern weddings. So that was the whole thing.
- 27:03Like OK, this is where the wedding is at, this is where the
- 27:05money is AT. And you had people talking about
- 27:08creating cabals so that they can commandeer northern weddings.
- 27:12Many that's a topic for another day.
- 27:15So look at your CRM, look at your invoices, look at your
- 27:18purchase history, look at your WhatsApp messages.
- 27:21And from there you get a close. You start getting a picture of
- 27:24who might be high value and what the opportunities are.
- 27:29So that if you are that stage in life, like where I was back
- 27:32then, where you're taking some of these jobs that you're not
- 27:35proud of, you're hiding your face, let nobody see you.
- 27:37You open it on your Instagram, you don't let anybody know about
- 27:40it. You just take it for the money.
- 27:41But then you happen to run into a chairman, ask yourself, you
- 27:46say yourself, you sit down with a pen and paper and you see,
- 27:49where can I get more of these opportunities so I can have
- 27:52access to more chairman or Chairlady or His Excellency or
- 27:57Her Excellency or Madam Commissioner or whatever.
- 28:02Then while you're doing all that, research the metrics, the
- 28:05numbers, you should be looking at customer lifetime value.
- 28:08Customer lifetime value doesn't mean the person will buy from
- 28:10you until they die. But if you did work for chairman
- 28:13and chairman paid you like this, and the relationship between you
- 28:16and chairman lasted five years, then you know, you just take the
- 28:19money, do some multiplication, some rough multiplication.
- 28:22By the way, they are very precise mathematical formula for
- 28:26doing this. But for me, I like doing general
- 28:27math. So by the time you do it, you
- 28:29will see that, OK, every single time I get hooked up to a
- 28:31chairman, I can expect to receive this amount of revenue
- 28:35over the course of five years or six years.
- 28:37So that's costing my lifetime value for the period that I'm in
- 28:40relationship with this guy or this babe.
- 28:43How much money did they drop? Then there's also average order
- 28:46value. There are some people that don't
- 28:49buy much. Let's say you sell pyjamas.
- 28:53They don't buy the expensive ones, but the woman buys from
- 28:55you repeatedly. Maybe she has five children and
- 28:58the children are growing up fast.
- 28:59Maybe they're now teenagers, so she doesn't buy much.
- 29:02Maybe she comes and buys pyjamas worth ATK.
- 29:05But The thing is that ATK, she's buying it every every two
- 29:08months, that kind of thing. So average water value, how much
- 29:13is she spending? But then there might be that
- 29:15person who doesn't buy every month.
- 29:16Maybe the person buys once a year because they only buy
- 29:18Christmas pajamas. But then for that Christmas
- 29:21pajamas that they buy, they buy the top of the line 1.
- 29:23So maybe they come, she buys one for herself, 100K buys one for
- 29:28her husband, you know, 60K buys for the children, maybe like 120
- 29:32K, something like that. So you know, it's left for you
- 29:36to do the math, like who is worth more?
- 29:38The woman who only comes once at the end of the year and buys all
- 29:40those top of the line pajamas or the one who is mine only for her
- 29:43children. But you know that every other
- 29:46month is 80K80K80K. So you do the number and then
- 29:49you compare average or that value.
- 29:52How much does this person spend each time they enter my shop or
- 29:56each time they hit me up in the DM?
- 29:58Then there's also customer acquisition cost.
- 30:00How much money did you spend to get this customer?
- 30:04That's something we used to consider a lot back in the day
- 30:06in the wedding photography space, in the event space,
- 30:09because we would go, some of us would go for these wedding
- 30:10shows. So you do the math in your head.
- 30:12OK, wedding show, you're asking for a booth that is in the A
- 30:16section that is close to the to the entrance.
- 30:20And because of that, you know, the fee that they're building is
- 30:22250 K. So you're doing the math in your
- 30:24head. OK, If I buy a booth for 250K,
- 30:28might I be able to get some clients?
- 30:29How many clients did I get? You know those sorts of things.
- 30:31So you look over your trading history at the end of the year
- 30:35and it's like, OK, I met chairman or chairman's daughter,
- 30:38I did their wedding. But it came from this, it came
- 30:42from this, it came from Instagram advertisement or it
- 30:45came from bridal Expo. That's business Expo.
- 30:51So it came from Instagram where it came from business Expo and
- 30:53they run the math. So I spent this amount of
- 30:56business Expo, this is how much business I got.
- 30:58I spent XYZ amount on Instagram advertisements and this is the
- 31:02money that I got. So you consider all those sorts
- 31:05of things at the end of the day. So OK, which one paid more now?
- 31:09OK, the Instagram, yes, I was only spending 77K every month on
- 31:12advertising, but at the end of the year, I ended up spending
- 31:15hundreds of whatever, but see how much I got.
- 31:18But for the wedding Expo, I only spent 250K to get this spot and
- 31:23at the end of the year, see how much I got.
- 31:25OK, wedding Expo, the money is bigger, but the returns were
- 31:29also bigger. Let me do wedding Expo again
- 31:31next year. So that's how you, that's how
- 31:34you run the math. So again, you're looking at
- 31:35customer lifetime value. How much money do you get from
- 31:39these people over the course of XYZ number of years, the average
- 31:42order value every time they come and see you, how much money do
- 31:46they drop and then cost more acquisition costs.
- 31:49I spent money to get customers. I printed flowers, I did
- 31:51Instagram advertisement. I went for business Expo.
- 31:54Which one brought the highest amount of money?
- 31:56Those are the sorts of things that you and your business
- 31:58partner, you and your spouse, you and your babe or you and
- 32:01your boyfriend. If you guys are doing business
- 32:02together. And like I said, I've told you
- 32:05guys before, I do not recommend that you babe, listen to this
- 32:09podcast should get into business with your boyfriend.
- 32:12But that's it. Podcast episode for another day.
- 32:15I do not recommend. But if you are doing that, these
- 32:18are the sorts of things that you should be looking for.
- 32:21Then let's see what else. OK, Then learn to network with
- 32:24high net worth individuals. HN is as people call them or
- 32:29people that match your ICP. Learn how to network with them
- 32:31online on offline. But I must say, in Nigeria, at
- 32:36least at this time, at the point of this recording in 2024,
- 32:40Chairman, you know, big guys, you know, big boys, they don't
- 32:45do a good job of socializing online.
- 32:47So if you want to network with Dangote, you're better off
- 32:49looking for face to face opportunities because if you
- 32:52connect with Dangote on LinkedIn, you know you're on
- 32:55your own. I don't think you guys are going
- 32:56to be able to build a profitable relationship.
- 32:59So you're better off trying to look for avenues where Dangote
- 33:01is going to be in the flesh and put yourself in that opportunity
- 33:04and try and see if you can scheme an introduction that way.
- 33:08But like a friend of mine said, you know, trust not in man what
- 33:10trust in God. So don't think that your miracle
- 33:13is going to come through knowing down with it.
- 33:14So continue to hustle, but don't rely so much in the fact that if
- 33:18I get hooked up to down with it, my life is going to change.
- 33:21So network then, OK, partners and channels.
- 33:27The whole idea behind partners and channels is you're in a line
- 33:29of business. You know, somebody who's in
- 33:31another line of business, you guys can do marketing together
- 33:34and that is something that in the event and in the event and
- 33:37wedding space, we used to do a lot back then, I don't know
- 33:40about now. So you're coming you into the
- 33:42market, you have some skills, you're new in Abuja, you don't
- 33:45know anybody. So, you know, partner up with a
- 33:49an event planner, a wedding planner who seems to have access
- 33:52to high clientele and that should give you access to high
- 33:57net worth individuals to high value clients and high value
- 34:00opportunities. So that's the sorts, you know,
- 34:03those are the kind of marriages that I'm talking about.
- 34:05So the wedding planner, at least back then, that's the scope we
- 34:08used to use. So the wedding planner has
- 34:10access to you, your wonderful photography and some free
- 34:13services in covering what's it called, decoration photos,
- 34:17things like that. And then hopefully leads to to
- 34:25more strategically important opportunities, if I can put it
- 34:28that way. Well, of course, I have opinions
- 34:29on whether this is a good idea or not, but I'm just letting you
- 34:32guys know that it is an option. You're in this business, you're
- 34:35in this industry, Look for someone who is in a similar
- 34:38industry and both of you have an incentive to go chasing people
- 34:41together. So that can work.
- 34:43So this whole thing of me and that other agent who introduced
- 34:47me to chairman and ended up working for chairman on
- 34:50Ministers Hill. Yeah.
- 34:54So it's that sort of thing. So hook up with complimentary
- 34:57people. So wedding photographers, they
- 34:58pair up with video people. So maybe you're a fashion
- 35:02designer. And yeah, OK, that's a good one.
- 35:05Fashion. Like I know someone in the
- 35:06fashion space who hooks up with movie people.
- 35:10And I've seen some of your stuff on there was this soap that was
- 35:15big in in Abuja, at least back in the day.
- 35:19OK, not back in the days. A few a few a few years ago.
- 35:21I'm Halita. Yeah.
- 35:22Halita. Kind of like a Nigerian
- 35:24Cinderella story. So I saw some of your stuff on
- 35:26Halita. I saw some of your stuff in some
- 35:28other place. And I thought it was a real
- 35:30brilliant strategy that the fellow was doing because I
- 35:33actually met him through my video guy at the time, Shagu.
- 35:36So. Yeah.
- 35:39So that's it. So he partners with movie people
- 35:41and and his stuff gets featured on Nigerian TV soaps and of
- 35:46course credits at the end of the scene, you know, costume
- 35:48designed by so, so, so and so, you know, Madam, So, so, so and
- 35:51so's dressed designed by so, so, so, and so that gives some
- 35:54exposure and that leads to high value clients, high value
- 35:58opportunities. So that is the partnership
- 36:01approach or the channel approach.
- 36:03Then if you do a good job with all these things that I've been
- 36:06saying so far, you know, you sit down with our GPT, try and do
- 36:10some research, come up with job title, company size, pain
- 36:12points, things like that. Or you sit down you and your
- 36:16brother or you and your wife or you and your, your boyfriend.
- 36:21Again, I do not recommend that you should be in business with
- 36:24your boyfriend. I will make a separate episode
- 36:26about that later. So you and your boyfriend, you
- 36:29sit down and you run through invoices, WhatsApp message and
- 36:32everything. Then you now come up with, you
- 36:36now get all kinds of data. All this data that you get is
- 36:40going to be very viable when you're ready to start running
- 36:42Instagram advertisements, Google advertisements, Facebook
- 36:46advertisements and you know, blah, blah, blah.
- 36:48Because then you will have to put in the, in the parameters.
- 36:51Now that's not my thing. I'm not a specialist here, but I
- 36:53know that it's part of doing the targeting individuals age So,
- 36:57so, so and so occupation, so, so, so and so living within, so,
- 37:03you know, 5 kilometre radius of this part of city or that part
- 37:05of the city. Interested in this, this, this
- 37:08interested in that, that, that hobbies this, this, this, you
- 37:10know, so you, those are all the things that you'll be putting in
- 37:13there. And The thing is, if you do a
- 37:15good job with doing the research and with going through the,
- 37:21your, your previous trading history, you should know exactly
- 37:24what to put in Instagram so that by the time you run that
- 37:27Instagram campaign, the kind of people that will reply to you
- 37:30will be, you know, chairman local government, OK, no local
- 37:34government counselor. Are they big boys?
- 37:37You know, I don't know. I don't know if there's money in
- 37:38local government, but you know, big boys, big girls.
- 37:42Madam CEO, who again, chairperson of XYZ committee,
- 37:49Ministry of Finance, Central Bank.
- 37:51So you can now do all that online stuff online targeting to
- 37:55get those sorts of people. So that basically is how we get
- 38:02or rather these are some thoughts about how to go about
- 38:05identifying and targeting high value clients.
- 38:09So remember, at the end of the day, it's not just how many
- 38:11zeros because it is very painful because I have been through
- 38:15this. Believe me, I've been through
- 38:17this. You see plenty of zeros and you
- 38:19think correct, like this is good money.
- 38:22But by the time you certainly everybody, the one that enters
- 38:24into your pocket is you're angry and like, I should have just
- 38:27stayed home. There was no need for me going
- 38:28out. So only come back and keep this
- 38:30small thing in my pocket. So it's not just how many zeros,
- 38:33but how profitable, how much entered into your pocket.
- 38:36And also think about strategic importance.
- 38:38You know, where can I open doors or who can hook me up with what
- 38:42so that I can have access to open doors.
- 38:44Then do some research on your own to figure out who you should
- 38:48be running after or if you've been in business for a while,
- 38:512-3 years. Look at your trading history,
- 38:53open your WhatsApp messages, check your invoices, look at
- 38:55your bank statements. Look for all that time when you
- 38:58saw big ping him, you know, big money hitting your account.
- 39:01It's OK. Who was this OK, that was this
- 39:03job. That was that job.
- 39:04Or who is that person itself? You cross check with the phone
- 39:06number. You remember, like, oh, OK, this
- 39:08Alhaji, this Madam or this young man or this agent, then I've
- 39:14already spoken about the metrics and how you're supposed to
- 39:17network. Take all that information that
- 39:19you get so that when you're ready for online activity, that
- 39:22is what you're going to use to throw in into your advertising
- 39:25campaigns so that the algorithm can hook you up.
- 39:28So that in summary, is just some of my ideas about it.
- 39:31But because I'm giving ideas about high value clients today
- 39:34doesn't mean I might not do another podcast episode about
- 39:36that in the future. But only rest assured when I do,
- 39:40it'll be me saying something else, taking the conversation
- 39:43further, not repeating the same thing.
- 39:46Oh, by the way, is it taking the conversation further or taking
- 39:49the conversation further, you know, FURTHER or FAR?
- 39:55It's one of those things that I never quite figured.
- 39:58And I'm glad that my English teacher, I mean, she's too old
- 40:01to be listening to podcast anyway.
- 40:03So yeah, one of those questions that when my child asked me, I'm
- 40:06like, you know what? Go ask your mother.
- 40:08I'm not answering that one. I can answer any other question.
- 40:11But if you're not asking me receive, is it RECIV?
- 40:14Is it I before E or E before I? Is it further or further?
- 40:18I'm like look go ask your mom, don't disturb me.
- 40:21So thank you very much for your time and attention.
- 40:24Connect with me on WhatsApp, the phone number 08064662140 country
- 40:31code is +2344 Nigeria. And then connect with me on
- 40:34LinkedIn the name to look for establishing my IED.
- 40:36Check the link. We're listening to this episode.
- 40:38You see my name there highlight copy paste.
- 40:41You see my handsome face send connection request and in 24 to
- 40:4648 hours, we should be having a conversation.
- 40:48If you have anything interesting to say.
- 40:51I engage with everyone for now. So take advantage of that and
- 40:56engage with me before me. I'm done with this start hanging
- 40:58together because when me I'm done with this start hanging
- 41:00together. You guys will see me again on
- 41:01this podcast. So actually I'm just kidding.
- 41:04I'll probably do this for another two or three decades
- 41:08before I retire, so thanks for your time and attention.
- 41:10I'll catch you guys at the next episode.