Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Conquering Fear and Achieving Success in Law
Transcript
- 0:01Hello and welcome to the show. Before we begin, the usual
- 0:04apologies. Today is a weekend recording so
- 0:07you will be hearing my children in the background.
- 0:09Also, I'm still getting better with the whole chest nasal
- 0:13thing, so there might be some sniffling on the episode.
- 0:18Then today's recording is going to be a two-part thing because
- 0:23I'm making comments on stuff that I've seen on link on
- 0:26LinkedIn. One was a post about fear.
- 0:29I'm going to give my comments on that.
- 0:31I've already given some comments on that.
- 0:32But I guess, you know, there are different perspectives that we
- 0:36can always explore on these sorts of things.
- 0:37So comments on that. And then there was a post on
- 0:40career progression. We don't normally talk about
- 0:44careers over here on the podcast, even though all the
- 0:46things we talk about personal selling especially, you know,
- 0:49these sorts of skills come in real handy when it comes to
- 0:52career progression. But since the post was about
- 0:56someone who had recently been elevated to the rank of San,
- 0:59San, SAN, that's the senior advocate of Nigeria, is one of
- 1:03the more prestigious awards that we have in this part of the
- 1:06world. And the whole idea behind the
- 1:08San award is the legal community gets together to say that this
- 1:14person is totally legit. This person is a good advocate.
- 1:17This person is a correct lawyer. This person knows what it is
- 1:20that they're doing. And so some lawyers have been
- 1:23able to leverage this award for, well, I guess you could call it
- 1:29career progression, but it's also a form of business
- 1:32advancement because when you attain the rank of SAN at a
- 1:35senior advocate of Nigeria, again, you're going to be able
- 1:37to use that to parlay it into your business and marketing
- 1:40efforts. And so, yeah, the lady who came
- 1:44up with this post was talking about career progression.
- 1:46But of course, there are definitely stuff that we can
- 1:48talk about from a business perspective.
- 1:50So I'm going to be giving some comments about that.
- 1:55Now, before I begin, let's head straight to the geek list or to
- 1:57the nerd list. And so today on my playlist on
- 2:01Spotify, I have scripture in song.
- 2:05Now, the reason why I'm listening to that or the reason
- 2:07why I got that my playlist was because I have this Bluetooth
- 2:14thing. I'm sure you guys have really
- 2:16seen it because they're real popular for some reason.
- 2:18It happens to be with people who Dr. Toyotas, you know, I haven't
- 2:21seen a Benz user. I mean like like for my friends
- 2:27who drive different kinds of cars.
- 2:29Yeah, I haven't seen those in a Mercedes-Benz, maybe because
- 2:31Mercedes-Benz is already have Bluetooth sync on mobile phones
- 2:35and stuff like that. Anyway, OK, I guess that's the
- 2:37reason. So I got one of these Bluetooth
- 2:40things so that we can listen to my wifey and I can listen to
- 2:43good stuff when we're in traffic because radio stations are cool,
- 2:46but the music doesn't always suit my fancy.
- 2:49And Nigerian music right now is kind of lazy.
- 2:53It's all Shyo bottles, models, you know, twerk on the you know
- 2:59what and stuff like that. And it's nice stuff, but it's
- 3:05just lazy. There's a limit to how much of
- 3:09they call it Afrobeats. I don't agree with that name
- 3:12anyway. There's a limit to how much Afro
- 3:14beats, you know, Niger piano stuff that one can tolerate.
- 3:18So once in a while that's good, but then listen to listening to
- 3:21all that if that's your soul palette.
- 3:23Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I think that's
- 3:25a bit much. So I got this Bluetooth thing so
- 3:27that I'm listening to all kinds of stuff and maybe even once in
- 3:29a while listening to podcasts because my wife listened to some
- 3:32cool podcasts, you know, like Honest bunch.
- 3:34And I said what I said, you know, but those are just
- 3:38podcasts, you know, So you want to know what's up, what's going
- 3:41on with celebrities or Nigerian millennial culture, stuff like
- 3:46that. So anyway, yeah, that's why I
- 3:48got that list because wifey likes hymns and things like
- 3:51that. So scripture in song, you know,
- 3:54nice stuff you can listen to, especially going to church.
- 3:57So that's why that's on the on the list.
- 4:02If you're going to try that out, just bear in mind that Scripture
- 4:05in song is it's it's hymns. So it's not upbeat.
- 4:09It's not, there's not that kind of music.
- 4:12Then on Netflix. I'm currently on Jack Reacher,
- 4:17Tom Cruise. You know, the movie's OK.
- 4:20It's about a super detective, basically.
- 4:22But I'm going to wonder, like Tom Cruise, you know, Akbar,
- 4:27bro, is it everything you need to act in?
- 4:30I mean, yeah, there's Mission Impossible and all that is still
- 4:34popping off. But there's some things, there's
- 4:35some projects that you can take and your name is behind it, but
- 4:39then hire somebody else to do it.
- 4:40Now, you don't have to be in every single thing.
- 4:42That's my own take shot. So for those of you who know Tom
- 4:45Cruise, just tell him that, you know, that's the message I'm I'm
- 4:49sending in. Yeah.
- 4:50So that's on the geek list. That's on the playlist.
- 4:53Then I've also loaded up House of Georgia.
- 4:55That is GAA. Mumsy watched it and Mumsy said
- 4:58I should watch it. It's from, I think, Bonnelly,
- 5:02Austin Peters. And so, you know, Mumsy doesn't
- 5:06really, Mumsy doesn't really watch some kind of films.
- 5:10So when Mumsy says check out this thing and I checked it,
- 5:13it's like Niger film. OK, no problem, I'll give it a
- 5:16go. So yeah, House of Guys loaded up
- 5:20on the playlist. So now that we are done with the
- 5:23geek list, let's get straight to business for the day.
- 5:28Yeah, two posts. So the first one is about fear.
- 5:31I am not going to read out the post, I'll just go straight into
- 5:35summary of what the person said and what my comments are.
- 5:38And so the lady said that the fear of unknown is keeping you
- 5:41rooted to one spot. And that is absolutely true for
- 5:46a whole host of you. The reason why you haven't made
- 5:48progress is because you're scared.
- 5:50You haven't applied to the new job because you're scared.
- 5:52You haven't started talking to people on your prospecting list
- 5:55because you're scared. You haven't attended the
- 5:58business Expo because you're scared.
- 6:00If I drop 50K for attendance fee, I'm going to make that 50K
- 6:03back. You know, all sorts, all sorts
- 6:06of things, you know, even on a personal note, you know, you're
- 6:09a guy. You think the baby's cute.
- 6:10You haven't said anything to her because you're scared.
- 6:12What if she rejects me? You know?
- 6:13So all that is keeping you in one spot is keeping you from the
- 6:15woman of your dreams, the guy of your dreams, the job of your
- 6:18dreams, or that business deal which might pop off or which may
- 6:22not pop off. So the lady's recommendation was
- 6:25basically do some research to conquer the fear.
- 6:27And that is absolutely true because fear is about protecting
- 6:35you, fear is about keeping you from loss, and fear is about
- 6:39harm mitigation. So if these nasty things could
- 6:42happen to me, then of course you wouldn't be afraid.
- 6:46Like when I was a kid, I wanted to try an experiment.
- 6:49I noticed a naked electric cable.
- 6:52That's why I peed on it, because I wanted to see what effect that
- 6:54would be. In my childish mind, I was
- 6:57thinking that if I peed on the cable, the exposed cable, the
- 7:00whole thing would catch catch fire.
- 7:03But then I found out that pee is also a good conductor of
- 7:05electric of electricity. And so by me peeing on the
- 7:08cable, I ended up electrocuting myself in a very, very nasty
- 7:12way. But The thing is, I learned the
- 7:14lesson. And I swear to you guys, since
- 7:18then, I have never, ever, ever peed on another naked electric
- 7:23cable again. In fact, I've never peed on an,
- 7:25an electric cable since that point.
- 7:28You know, so now I only pee in toilets and I only pee in
- 7:30bushes. So that's the role of fear.
- 7:32Fear is to stop you from getting hurt, you know, physically,
- 7:34financially, emotionally and whatever.
- 7:37So fear actually is a very, very useful emotion to have.
- 7:40So all these people that are going around talking about get
- 7:42rid of fear, this, this, this relinquish as and all that is
- 7:45just beers. It's just total beers.
- 7:47We need fear. It's not about getting rid of
- 7:49fear, it's about learning how to cope with it and using the
- 7:53instincts you know to help us move forward.
- 7:56And learning and research and validation are the things that
- 7:59will now help us to go forward. So if you are afraid that if I
- 8:03drop 50K to go for this Abuja business fair, am I going to get
- 8:07my 50K back? Do some learning and some
- 8:09research first? How do business expose work?
- 8:14How can you guarantee that people will visit your booth?
- 8:17What are the best ways to get people to sign up on your
- 8:20contact list? How do you follow up with people
- 8:23after the call? How do you make convincing
- 8:27proposals or presentations? How do you effectively close the
- 8:30deal? How do you follow up and how do
- 8:32you get more business? So it's by doing all those
- 8:35things that you can now see that or more is is kind of 5050.
- 8:39I might get the 50K back. I might not get the 50K back,
- 8:42but you feel more comfortable that OK, entrance fee is 50K or
- 8:45entrance fee is 150 K. But if I drop this money, at
- 8:48least this is a plan that I can follow through one to make sure
- 8:51that things go my way small. So it's from the learning or
- 8:56from the research that you're going to be able to do that.
- 8:58And then it's the same thing. On the personal note, you want
- 9:02to approach the girl. You don't know what's up, Ask
- 9:04around, kind of figure out who she is.
- 9:07It might give you a sense about how to start an interesting
- 9:10conversation. And it's also the same thing,
- 9:13you know, the other way. If you're a girl and you're
- 9:14thinking about the guy, I know that in this part of the world,
- 9:17it's not. It's somehow for you to make the
- 9:20first move. But at the very least, if you do
- 9:23some research, I know who he is, you'll be able to end up in
- 9:25interesting situations where he always is.
- 9:28And that might lead to opportunities for the
- 9:30conversation to pop off. But by the way, this is not a
- 9:34relationship show, so do not take any of my advice here when
- 9:38it comes to relationship things. So if I talk about business,
- 9:42especially sales, pay attention. I'm talking about relationships.
- 9:46Just take it with a grain of salt because I'm no Casanova.
- 9:51What was that? So learning research, that is
- 9:55what is going to mitigate. It's going to reduce the
- 10:00occurrence of loss, mitigate the amount of harm that is going to
- 10:04come to you. And then that's why I talk about
- 10:05validation, especially people who are talking thinking of
- 10:08about starting a brand new business and I talk about market
- 10:11validation. You know, go out, talk to
- 10:13people, try and sell one or two items first.
- 10:15Be sure that there's market demand for this sort of thing
- 10:18before you now throw your life savings into the whole thing.
- 10:22If you have two M in life savings and you throw 2M in
- 10:25sweet. And then the whole business
- 10:25crash Walhalla for you, serious Walhalla.
- 10:28If you're married and that is yours, will hala between you and
- 10:31your wife or between you and your husband because your
- 10:33husband is going to be pissed. Then you took 2M4M5 M and you
- 10:37flushed it down the toilet and the other way around too.
- 10:41You have a lot to answer to for your wife, you know, because
- 10:45school fees next time, this and this and that and that.
- 10:47And then you took two M and just blew it behind one of your odd
- 10:52business ideas again because plenty of quarrel.
- 10:55So validation is the key, you know, research, research the
- 10:59project. Small, small, online, offline,
- 11:01We'll talk to people, see if people are going to buy one or
- 11:04two items. If it looks like there's some
- 11:05demand, then you now know that you can throw small money behind
- 11:08it, small money behind it, small money behind it.
- 11:10So you actually take out, I don't know, 5-10 K, buy a few
- 11:14items. If people buy, the thing moves.
- 11:17It didn't stay too long. You can now be increasing small,
- 11:21small. So that's the whole idea behind
- 11:23validation. So yes, the lady who wrote that
- 11:25post absolutely correct. Fear getting rounded.
- 11:29That is how learning, research, well, she said learning and
- 11:32research and one who added the thing about validation.
- 11:35So that is what will help you get through it because it's
- 11:37limiting the amount of loss that can occur.
- 11:41Then when it comes to this whole fear thing, I like to let people
- 11:43know, especially from a business perspective, the right
- 11:46expectation to have is there will be losses.
- 11:50It is inevitable. There is no business person that
- 11:54has not experienced a loss. So knowing that you have a much
- 11:59more realistic expectation going in.
- 12:03That is not that I'm going to avoid loss, it's just that I'm
- 12:05going to make sure that the losses I suffer will not be
- 12:08catastrophic and that I'll be able to learn good stuff from it
- 12:11and then parlay that into my next endeavour or trying to move
- 12:14this business forward. But just know it, it has not
- 12:16happened yet. There is no business owner that
- 12:20has not suffered a loss. That person does not exist.
- 12:26And if you happen to know that person who exists, maybe it's
- 12:29you or Mumsy or Popsy, please let me know.
- 12:32I would like to interview the person for the podcast and trust
- 12:35me, it's going to be a world exclusive.
- 12:37Everybody want to hear from this business owner who has gone
- 12:40five, 10/15/20, how many years long and the person has not
- 12:43experienced one single loss. So it's not possible.
- 12:47So just know there'll be losses. Let's just make sure they're not
- 12:50catastrophic. Let's make sure that we learn
- 12:51from them and let's find out how we can mitigate those losses
- 12:55then. So that's the lady of Korea.
- 13:04OK, before I get to Korea, one more thing.
- 13:07So for those of us who are on the business journey, OK, I've
- 13:11already spoken about that. Anyway, that's for those people
- 13:13on the business journey, there will be losses.
- 13:15So we're trying to chase the upside.
- 13:17We're just trying to mitigate losses.
- 13:18And so we have to come up with a plan for dealing with that.
- 13:21So now let's move on to the lady on Korea because we've already
- 13:24done 13 minutes so far. So like I said, that post was
- 13:29about someone, a lawyer who had been elevated to the rank of San
- 13:33SAN Senior Advocate of Nigeria. That is the pinnacle of success
- 13:37for those lawyers who choose to be advocates.
- 13:42Advocates are people who go to court and argue cases basically.
- 13:46So I've explained already why that's a prestigious award.
- 13:49So there's no need for me to go into that in detail.
- 13:53Now. The lady attributed the success
- 13:56of this particular candidate who just got awarded or rather who
- 13:59just got elevated to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
- 14:03She attributed it to a CARS model.
- 14:07Cars model. And by the way, those of you who
- 14:09keep coming up with these models, I'm like, I salute you
- 14:12guys. Like I carry bum, bum for you
- 14:13guys. You guys are really, really good
- 14:15at coming up with models that people can remember.
- 14:17So it's a CARS model, and the model that Lady came up with
- 14:24seized for competence. Basically.
- 14:25That means just get good at what you do.
- 14:28So if you are a badass lawyer, then the chances of you becoming
- 14:32SAN, you know, go up. So #1 competence #2 agility.
- 14:36That's our whole thing of being flexible.
- 14:38And you know, stuff like that #3 resilience.
- 14:41That basically means you have to be able to take a punch and keep
- 14:44moving. In fact, if you tie it back to
- 14:46the first one about fear, I mean, losses will happen.
- 14:48We just have to be able to be resilient.
- 14:50And then the final thing that Lady spoke about was sponsorship
- 14:53because this particular candidate happened to be a
- 14:55deputy managing partner at a very, very prestigious leading
- 15:00law firm in Nigeria. And so that was the sponsorship
- 15:03element. So CARS, the cars model
- 15:06competence, you have to be competent.
- 15:08Agility, we got to be flexible. Then resilience, we should be
- 15:13able to take a punch and keep on going.
- 15:14And then sponsorship, we need sponsors to get us to where it
- 15:18is that we're moving to. So this is just an overtly brief
- 15:23summary of the whole post. Now, are these things truly
- 15:27attributable to SAN success? If you're a baby lawyer now, you
- 15:31graduate from the best university on the African
- 15:34continent. And that's about for me at
- 15:35Wolliwell University, in case you guys don't know what's up.
- 15:38So if you're just your baby lawyer, just graduated from
- 15:40where you are, you want to be signed in the next, you know, 15
- 15:43years, Is this truly what you have to look forward to
- 15:47competence. Is this what you have to plan
- 15:49for competence, agility, resilience, and then sponsorship
- 15:52really is that is what we're going to take you to the
- 15:54pinnacle of legal success. The answer is sure, definitely
- 16:01capital, yes. However, these things that
- 16:06people study sometimes when they're talking about progress
- 16:08and career progression and everything are not the main
- 16:11causes of success, but rather they are the artifacts.
- 16:14You know, the artifacts are the the observable things that we
- 16:18can see that go with the whole journey, but are not necessarily
- 16:23the cause. So for everybody who is a son,
- 16:28you will see that there's competence that they are badass.
- 16:31They know the law inside and out and they know how to argue the
- 16:35law. You will also notice that
- 16:37there's agility, agility, flexibility, creativity, those
- 16:41things are necessary when it comes to reasoning, the legal
- 16:44brief, arguing the brief, all these sorts of things.
- 16:46Definitely there's going to be resilience because you can't
- 16:50even qualify unless you've been 10 years post call and you've
- 16:52met a couple of requirements. Appeared in a certain number of
- 16:55cases at the High Court of Records, the High Court, the
- 17:00Court of Appeal, at the Supreme Court, you know, those sorts of
- 17:02things. And you know, it's not beans.
- 17:03It requires, you know, resilience.
- 17:05And then, you know, there will be sponsorship for some people.
- 17:09Yes, there will be sponsorship because one of my classmates
- 17:11just recently made SAN and he came out from the law firm of
- 17:17guy. What's this guy based in Lagos
- 17:19now? I can't remember his name
- 17:21anyway, but you know, my classmate was a smart guy.
- 17:24So even when he was leaving the firm, he made sure that he was
- 17:27in contact with his with his boss.
- 17:29And in fact, till today, he still calls the guy my boss even
- 17:32though he doesn't work for a boss anymore.
- 17:35So you know that whole thing, you're in Lagos, you know, go
- 17:37and greet him like oh God, I don't know how you did blah,
- 17:39blah, blah, you know, hang out that whole thing.
- 17:42So yes, I know someone who has used the small social elements.
- 17:46All these things are going to be there, but however, these are
- 17:49not the real causes of success. The real cause for SAN success,
- 17:55if you're a baby lawyer coming out from OAU, coming out from
- 17:58UNILAG, coming out from UNIBEN, coming out from Abu, coming out
- 18:03from, you know, wherever uniport you want to be SAN, the real
- 18:10reason for SAN success. Senior Advocate of Nigeria is
- 18:15basically around sales and marketing, full final stop.
- 18:21That is the reason why some lawyers in Nigeria say son, I
- 18:24will never be a son because all those people are, they're just
- 18:27fine boys and fine girls and they know how to sell and they
- 18:30know how to market. It doesn't mean that they're
- 18:31smart. There are some lawyers who say
- 18:34that that look son, I will never bother.
- 18:35They're just fine boys, fine girls in order to talk.
- 18:38They know how to hobnob. That's why they're sound.
- 18:40So there's even a reverse sound thing that is going on in
- 18:43Nigerian market where some people avoid the title.
- 18:47And yeah, there's some truth to that.
- 18:49It's primarily sales and marketing success because First
- 18:52off, you're starting off as a baby lawyer.
- 18:54You need to be very clear from the beginning who your ICP is.
- 18:58The goal is to have a certain number of cases in the High
- 19:00Court, in the Supreme Court, in the Court of Appeal, you know,
- 19:03the upper courts. So from the beginning, you need
- 19:05to be very, very clear about the kind of clients that are going
- 19:07to get you there. It's not by doing charge and
- 19:10Bill Cherry weather and doing tenancy agreement and all you
- 19:16know, that's not the thing that's going to get you the sun.
- 19:19So people who become sans are people who are very, very clear
- 19:22from the beginning. Like this is my ideal customer
- 19:24and from day one, let me start chasing them.
- 19:26That's how people finish from OAU, UNILAG, Guwalada, Abuja,
- 19:32you know, wherever Benoit State University and then that's how
- 19:34they make sand in a decade. Well, and by the way, all these
- 19:38schools that I'm calling, they have produced senior advocates
- 19:41of Nigeria. So don't say that because you
- 19:43went to University of Akon Baoko that you can't become a son.
- 19:48It doesn't mean Sans have come from every single university in
- 19:51the country. I don't know of any university
- 19:54that has not produced a son. Well, so long as they have an
- 20:01accredited law faculty. So it is possible, OK, maybe the
- 20:07newer universities because those ones are young because anybody
- 20:10that has to be a son must have been I think at least 10 years
- 20:13post called so. All these new universities that
- 20:16opened up in the last, you know, five, maybe 10 years, you know,
- 20:19they, I don't think they would have produced any sound because
- 20:21their graduates have to be at least 10 years in the field to
- 20:24qualify. But your school is not going to
- 20:27be a limiting factor. So even if you don't go to the
- 20:30best university on the African continent, which is, I repeat
- 20:33again, Obafa me, I won the war University for those of you who
- 20:36don't know what's up. So even if you don't go to Obafa
- 20:39ME or university, even if you go to a second rate school like
- 20:41UNILAG, you can still become a senior advocate of Nigeria.
- 20:44And yes, I'm taking shots at you, you know, like folk.
- 20:47It's my podcast. It's not like you can reply.
- 20:50Where was I? Uh huh.
- 20:51So yeah, they're very good deciding what the ICP is from
- 20:55day one and they have to come up with a plan.
- 20:57Am I going to attract the right client?
- 20:59Because it's not by chasing tenancy agreement that you're
- 21:01going to end up at High Court, Supreme Court, Court of Appeal.
- 21:05Then they also need to be able to figure out what are the wants
- 21:07and the needs of these kinds of clientele and then people who
- 21:10can afford their services because it's not being.
- 21:13So if you're going to pursue a matter from High Court all the
- 21:15way to Supreme Court, the litigation is going to last
- 21:17several years and you're not going to ask somebody like me,
- 21:20for instance, to pay for litigation that is going to last
- 21:22five years because I'm I'm just not going to do it.
- 21:26Exactly. The thing is really, really high
- 21:27stakes. I would just think about it and
- 21:29say like this thing we always going to call for two years.
- 21:32Like is it worth the hassle? I will pay lawyer.
- 21:35You do this, you do that, you mobilize police.
- 21:37I beg, let me just flash it. So you have to look for, so
- 21:44excuse me, folks who can't afford.
- 21:47And then you also have to be good at figuring out the kind of
- 21:51clientele that have a sense of urgency around what they're
- 21:53trying to do. Because like I said, if you
- 21:55approach someone like me and I do the math in my head, lawyers
- 21:58fees, how much for two years? Mobilize police, how much for
- 22:02two years, once in a while, mobilize bailiff, once in a
- 22:05while, settle this person, settle that person.
- 22:07Administrative things, credit all that.
- 22:10I'll be like, I beg, it's not that deep.
- 22:13Let me just flash you. So you need someone who has a
- 22:15sense of urgency so you can see that to get the SAND, Senior
- 22:19Advocate of Nigeria, people are sitting down, people are doing
- 22:21their homework and then they're hitting you from day one and
- 22:24they're being very clear about these sorts of things.
- 22:27Then of course, to be sand, you also need to be very, very good
- 22:29at needs analysis. Lots of us don't pay attention
- 22:33to that back when we're in university, but by the time we
- 22:36get to law school and what there's this course on
- 22:39professional ethics, lots of people don't pay attention to
- 22:42professional ethics because, you know, the course is easy to
- 22:45pass. You know, after all these
- 22:46ethics, they're just talking grammar, blah, blah, blah.
- 22:48This is how you should be professional.
- 22:50But there's a part of the course where they're going to talk
- 22:53about client engagements. How do you conduct your customer
- 22:57meeting, you know, these sorts of things.
- 22:59So if you're a baby lawyer right now, you're still in OAU, you're
- 23:02still in UNILAG, you know, you're able to graduate first
- 23:05class, you know, congratulations.
- 23:06You know, by the time you get to law school, actually you should
- 23:09be paying attention to the parts of the curriculum that are
- 23:11business oriented. And one of those courses is
- 23:14professional ethics. Pay attention to professional
- 23:16ethics. If you have a lecturer that has
- 23:20been out in the field, all those stories that they're telling
- 23:23you, you're paying attention. It's good, good, good, good,
- 23:26good. Nuggets there about how you find
- 23:29the right clients, how you conduct the meeting, how you
- 23:31draw the proposal, how you build them properly, how you make sure
- 23:34you collect your bill. Because billing clients is one
- 23:37thing, collecting the money is another all together.
- 23:39So pay attention to professional ethics.
- 23:41Please baby lawyers, pay attention to professional
- 23:44ethics. Yes, you must pass your criminal
- 23:47procedure. You must also pass your Civil
- 23:51Procedure. What else?
- 23:53Was there a course on evidence? I can't remember because it's
- 23:56it's been a while since I passed through the system.
- 23:58But please pay attention to that legal ethics class.
- 24:02If the woman or the man who is teaching is telling you plenty
- 24:05of stories, open your ears. You're going to learn a lot
- 24:08about how you run the business side.
- 24:11So yes, the courses to pass to make sure you graduate will be
- 24:13Civil Procedure, criminal procedure, the course on
- 24:16evidence, and I can't remember what else.
- 24:19Besides, that was 20 years ago, so I don't know, the courses
- 24:21might have even changed then. Let's see what else.
- 24:27So those are the main things. Those are the cocoa sales and
- 24:30marketing basically. Who is the ICP?
- 24:32Who are you chasing? What are the people that will
- 24:34get you the High Court, Supreme Court, Court of Appeal?
- 24:37What what are the ones and the needs of that client base?
- 24:40What are the people that can afford so I don't go wasting my
- 24:42time? What are the people that have a
- 24:44sense of urgency and I ready for this grind?
- 24:46Because it'll be a grind. Some courses can take 3 years.
- 24:49That's why I say courses. Some cases in court can take,
- 24:52you know, 123-4567, ten years. There's some cases that have
- 24:56gone 20 years still have not been resolved.
- 24:58So it's going to be a grind. Then what's your bedside manner
- 25:04when you're talking to clients? I'd be able to carry on the
- 25:08conversation. You know what else, You know,
- 25:10client relationship, all these sorts of things.
- 25:13Then you also have to be able to get repeat business and
- 25:15referrals, you know, from the people because if they're a good
- 25:17client, you also want to work with other people in that
- 25:20network. So these are the things that get
- 25:21you to Senior Advocate of Nigeria and these are also the
- 25:26things that are going to be responsible for career success
- 25:31in other kinds of fields. But for those of us who grew up
- 25:34lawyer, accountants, architects, you know, blah, blah, blah,
- 25:37these kinds of fields where you finish and you might work for a
- 25:41senior, but at the end of the day, the option always is there
- 25:45and it's kind of expected that you will set up your own
- 25:47practice. That's the way forward.
- 25:52So of course, from the CARS model, the first one,
- 25:55competence. We cannot get around competence
- 25:58because it doesn't matter. The sales trainer that you meet,
- 26:00they will tell you that subject matter expertise is the
- 26:03cornerstone and is the building block and the beginning of a
- 26:06successful sales career. Because if you're selling
- 26:10exercise bikes, exercise equipment, but inside your head
- 26:14exercise is 0, you will be a terrible salesperson.
- 26:19If you're selling exercise bikes, you need to be subject
- 26:23matter expert. You need to know cardio exercise
- 26:28versus aerobic versus resistance versus dead weight versus
- 26:33machines. You need to know all these
- 26:35things inside out so that when somebody comes to your shop,
- 26:38you'll be able to have that conversation.
- 26:39Oh, Madam, thank you very much, blah, blah.
- 26:41What are your goals? You're trying to lose weight
- 26:43now. What's the problem?
- 26:44OK, You think your bum bum is too big?
- 26:45Or is it your stomach or your Christian water arm?
- 26:47OK, to get rid of Christian modern arms, Ma, you actually
- 26:50need to do these kinds of exercises and these kinds and
- 26:52these kinds. And so because of that, even
- 26:55though you came here thinking that treadmill is the right
- 26:57thing for you, actually, Ma, you should buy kettlebell free
- 27:00weight and exercise bike that's not be able to work for you, ma.
- 27:04And then, of course, also try and sell her an upsell to let
- 27:08her know that you're available to come to the house to be
- 27:10coaching her so that she achieves her goal of limiting
- 27:14her Christian modern arms. Or if he's a man, maybe a
- 27:18wealthy politician, but his potbelly is too big.
- 27:20He wants to look nice on trim like Tino Woo.
- 27:23Yeah. You also have that conversation
- 27:25like, oh, OK, OK, no problem. Belly.
- 27:27That is what you want to reduce your thinking that you need a
- 27:30treadmill. But based on what you said,
- 27:32based on your age, based on your lifestyle, based on what you
- 27:34eat, I'm recommending that you do this, do this, do this, do
- 27:36this. And you should buy this machine
- 27:38instead of that. That is what will make you an
- 27:40expert salesperson. You have subject matter
- 27:43expertise and that is how you're going to be able to successfully
- 27:46move your equipment in your exercise shop.
- 27:51And for those of you who own exercise equipment, this is the
- 27:54real reason why your market is not moving.
- 27:58It's not because of the Nigerian economy.
- 27:59You think these people didn't go online and know beforehand that
- 28:03the treadmill actually cost 1.5. The person already knows that it
- 28:06cost 1.5 before they came into your shop.
- 28:09But because there's no subject matter expert there, you just
- 28:12put all the equipment there, you put a fine girl there, and you
- 28:15expect that somebody's going to come look at the treadmill and
- 28:18then just buy the treadmill and then leave.
- 28:20So even if you put a fine girl in the shop, make sure that it's
- 28:23a fine girl that has subject matter expertise that can ask
- 28:26the questions to figure out who is this person?
- 28:29How old are they? What are their health
- 28:31conditions? What goal are they trying to
- 28:33achieve? Is it strength?
- 28:34Is it muscle mass? Is this slim body?
- 28:36Is it big bom bom? Is it removed the stomach?
- 28:39Is it removed? Christian mother arms, whatever
- 28:43it is, put somebody there who's a subject matter expertise, who
- 28:46has subject matter expertise, and then your equipment will
- 28:49start moving. Because right now they come in,
- 28:53they look around, they see the fine girl and they just think,
- 28:57let me think about it. And then they leave.
- 29:00So excuse me. In fact, for some of you, you
- 29:01put your relatives in trouble because if the fine girl happens
- 29:04to be your niece or whatever, you know, that's how long story
- 29:08might start. Politician comes in, sees her,
- 29:10they start talking younger. Let me have your phone number.
- 29:13The person came in to buy treadmill.
- 29:15Next thing he's toasting your niece.
- 29:17So you know, things to consider when you want to staff your shop
- 29:23anyway, so summary of what I'm saying here in this episode
- 29:27today is be careful who you follow on LinkedIn.
- 29:31People who come up with fancy business models and stuff like
- 29:34that, you know they're pretty good, really interesting.
- 29:36Let's pay attention to them. But people who are talking about
- 29:39business and who are ignoring the customer side of things, the
- 29:44marketing side of things, the sales side of things, that
- 29:47person is only telling you half the truth.
- 29:50So well then this person is only telling you the easy things to
- 29:54do. It's easy to just say
- 29:55competence, agility, resilience and then sponsorship.
- 29:58It will keep you jazzed up and you know you'll be motivated
- 30:02from day-to-day. But the hard stuff actually is
- 30:05really waking up in the morning, you after you eat your hair bath
- 30:08for breakfast and then you sit down and start thinking, OK,
- 30:11yes, I finally graduated law school.
- 30:14I got my first class ahead if I wanted me the degree.
- 30:17So now what's the way forward that I want to be son.
- 30:19OK, now that I want to be son, who are the kind of people that
- 30:21I should start chasing instead of just waking up and taking
- 30:24every single case that comes your way?
- 30:26So sit down and do the hard work.
- 30:28That is what is responsible for career progression and for
- 30:31business growth. There are baby lawyers with any
- 30:34of you listening to this podcast.
- 30:36Yeah, take this advice. So competence, agility,
- 30:38resilience and sponsorship, yes, really important.
- 30:41But Coco, the main thing actually is the sales and the
- 30:43marketing side. Who is your ideal customer?
- 30:46How are you going to attract them?
- 30:47What do they want? What do they need?
- 30:49Who can afford your services? Who has a sense of urgency?
- 30:52Who's going to be able to pay you for the three or four years
- 30:54while you're pursuing this case? Are you going to figure out what
- 30:57it is that they want? Are you going to make an
- 30:58effective proposal? Are you going to convince
- 31:00people? Are you going to get them to
- 31:04introduce you to the network? Because if you're able to nab
- 31:09Wiki, Wiki is the current, what's it called, Administrator
- 31:13for the FCC, Federal Capital Territory in Abuja.
- 31:16So, so excuse me. So if you're able to get Wiki as
- 31:20a client, but then you don't, you're unable to get Wiki to
- 31:23introduce you to his boys or to his godfather or to whoever,
- 31:28then yeah, you might have made some millions from knowing Wiki.
- 31:33But the real, real benefit will be if Wiki hooks you up with a
- 31:36couple of people. So that at least if we can, if
- 31:38you handle Wiki's case this year and he pays you 7M, but then
- 31:41next year he introduces you to a couple of other people, each of
- 31:43those people paying you 77 M. And let's say this year he paid
- 31:47you 7 M, now went to your pocket.
- 31:49Next year he introduces you to four or five people, and then
- 31:53those five people, each person on average also paying you 7 M.
- 31:56Can you see the math? Can you see how it works out?
- 31:58So that's where all the juices repeat.
- 32:00Business referrals. So that is going to be the real
- 32:04reason how you're going to become senior advocate of
- 32:07Nigeria. It's hard work.
- 32:08Put your head down, start doing the work and see what else.
- 32:14OK. And then if you do your
- 32:15research, so if you're afraid before you set out to do your
- 32:19law firm or to sell your exercise equipment or whatever,
- 32:22do your research. When you do your research, you
- 32:27try and validate your business idea, you're going to be able to
- 32:30mitigate the amount of losses that will occur.
- 32:32And remember, everybody suffers business losses.
- 32:36In fact, since we're talking about senior advocates now, go
- 32:38out and talk to any senior advocate.
- 32:40You know, if you're a baby lawyer, they will all tell you
- 32:42the losses that they've suffered.
- 32:44They will all tell you of the time when they thought this was
- 32:45the correct client and they took the case and then the client
- 32:49maybe dropped, you know, plenty of money in the beginning and
- 32:52then they kept on financing the whole thing.
- 32:55And then eventually, you know, the client ghosted them or
- 32:58whatever, or they lost the case or something.
- 33:01You know, everybody has question mark.
- 33:03Accountants have it, lawyers have it, people who sell bread
- 33:06have it. People who sell groundnut have
- 33:09it. People who sell, I mean,
- 33:11Dangote, you know, people who have refineries having everybody
- 33:13suffers a loss. So the goal is not to avoid the
- 33:18loss and stay rooted in your fear.
- 33:20It's about mitigating the losses.
- 33:22Make sure that the losses don't cripple you.
- 33:24So you do that, you're going to be cool.
- 33:26So thanks for your time and attention.
- 33:28I'll get you guys at the next episode.
- 33:30Then for those of you who want to reach out connecting with me
- 33:33on WhatsApp, the number is O 806-466-2140 and the country
- 33:40code is +234. For those of you who are not
- 33:42Nigerian, then connect with me Tavishimayudhi.
- 33:44I'm the host of the show. If you're worried about the
- 33:47spelling of my name, just look at the link where you're
- 33:48listening to this episode. Highlight it, copy it, paste it
- 33:51and LinkedIn, you see my handsome face.
- 33:53And then, yeah, send the connection request and I'll
- 33:58definitely respond in 24 to 48 hours.
- 34:01So thank you very much for your time and your attention.
- 34:03I'll catch you guys at the next episode.