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How to Schedule and Confirm Meetings Like a Pro · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome. Today I want us to look at how
• 0:04
  to deal with scheduled calls or how to schedule calls.
• 0:08
  And the reason why is obvious because a lot of us listening to
• 0:11
  the podcast right now are either entrepreneurs, self-employed
• 0:15
  business owners or we sell on behalf of someone else.
• 0:19
  And so because of that, I'm assuming that one of the tools
• 0:24
  that we have in our war chest is phone calls.
• 0:27
  So we use phone calls to try and build relationships with people,
• 0:30
  to nurture relationships with people, to schedule
• 0:34
  appointments, to move the agenda forward, to try and close the
• 0:38
  deal. So it's my understanding that a
• 0:40
  lot of us use the phone. If my understanding is wrong and
• 0:45
  you are listening to this and you have not been using the
• 0:48
  phone as a tool in your sales kit, then you are wrong and you
• 0:53
  should be using the phone. One reason why I should be using
• 0:56
  the phone is because there's a communications hierarchy.
• 0:59
  Not all forms of communications are created equal, and not all
• 1:04
  forms of communication have the same effect.
• 1:07
  So the most effective one is face to face, because you can
• 1:09
  see someone you can smile someone, you can touch someone,
• 1:12
  you can hear tone, you can hear nuance, you can hear inflection.
• 1:16
  You can see that even though somebody is using words of
• 1:22
  approval, you can tell from their body language that they're
• 1:24
  not really impressed. You know, things like that,
• 1:27
  things that you're not going to be able to catch if all you do
• 1:30
  is send emails back and forth. So using that now face to face,
• 1:36
  the reason why it's important is because of being able to
• 1:39
  communicate, being able to properly understand the other
• 1:43
  person. So inflection, no tone, nuance,
• 1:46
  body language, no things like that.
• 1:48
  So if we look at things from that perspective, you will see
• 1:50
  clearly that the next most important one is audio, which is
• 1:53
  the phone call. So you do a WhatsApp phone call,
• 1:56
  you do a regular phone call, you do a Zoom audio, you do a Skype
• 2:01
  audio, you do a whatever audio. But you know, audio would be the
• 2:05
  next most important one. You know, for the same reason,
• 2:08
  because when you're talking to someone, you can hear tone, you
• 2:11
  can hear inflection. Body language is missing.
• 2:14
  But from listening to how people say things, you pretty much get
• 2:18
  a sense of exactly what it is that they're trying to say.
• 2:21
  And you're also going to be able to communicate much more
• 2:24
  effectively. Like anybody who has experienced
• 2:26
  this before, whenever you're having a quarrel with a client,
• 2:31
  the difference is clear. If you've been through this,
• 2:33
  trust me. If you haven't been through
• 2:35
  this, trust me. But for those of us who have
• 2:37
  been through it, we know typing out to someone I'm sorry is not
• 2:41
  the same thing as when you call the person and you say I'm
• 2:44
  sorry. It lands different when it's an
• 2:47
  e-mail. Somehow people aren't just
• 2:49
  getting that you're sorry when you pick up the phone and I say,
• 2:51
  what am I beg no fix. You know, I didn't mean it like
• 2:54
  that, blah, blah, blah. All of a sudden things come
• 2:56
  down. The only difference was you
• 2:57
  picked up the phone. You're saying exactly the same
• 3:00
  things that you had done in the e-mail or in the WhatsApp
• 3:03
  message, but Madam is not getting it.
• 3:05
  She's still a vex. But then you pick up the phone
• 3:08
  or you show up to our office and then all of a sudden, 20-30
• 3:12
  minutes, everything is cool. The quarrel is still there, but
• 3:16
  at least it's not to the level that, you know, somebody wants
• 3:19
  to cut off another person's head.
• 3:21
  So audio then after that would be video.
• 3:25
  Video is not as effective. Whatever the reasons are, I
• 3:30
  don't know. I suspect that maybe it's
• 3:31
  because people are anxious when they're on video.
• 3:33
  You know, do I look good? Am I looking directly into the
• 3:37
  camera? Did I dress well?
• 3:38
  You know, blah, blah, blah, all those things.
• 3:41
  And so they get distracted or they get preoccupied, then
• 3:46
  excuse me. Then text based forms of
• 3:48
  communication are at the bottom. e-mail is at the absolute bottom
• 3:54
  because e-mail has the worst open rates.
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  So people don't open their WhatsApp.
• 3:58
  So I say WhatsApp, people don't open their, don't check their
• 4:02
  inboxes. And when they do, they spend a
• 4:04
  lot of time deleting, moving to spam, archiving, you know,
• 4:09
  things like that. Not really reading messages per
• 4:11
  SE. Or rather they're trying to
• 4:13
  filter out all the BS in the inbox so that they pay attention
• 4:16
  to those emails that they only want to.
• 4:18
  Absolutely have to have to deal with.
• 4:21
  So e-mail is at the bottom. Then conversational mediums like
• 4:24
  WhatsApp and SMS are in the middle.
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  Now. SMS has the highest amount of
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  open rates depending on where you check in the world or
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  depending on who you ask. Some people say 97%, some people
• 4:34
  say 98%, but either way it's pretty good.
• 4:37
  I mean, it's a given that if you send a text message, it's, it's
• 4:41
  a given. At least you know 90% of people
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  are going to open the thing. Even if they don't respond, at
• 4:48
  least you know that they opened. So there is a communications
• 4:51
  hierarchy. Now, in case you didn't catch
• 4:54
  it, phone call or audio is on #2 of that hierarchy, which is the
• 5:00
  reason why if you have not been using phone calls as a way to
• 5:03
  move deals forward, you are wrong.
• 5:07
  Whenever you possibly can. Phone calls, phone calls, phone
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  calls. The reason why I'm stressing it
• 5:13
  is because, you know, I'm in the consulting space and you know,
• 5:18
  it blows my mind how people build a business, OK?
• 5:21
  Like I have a client now for instance, who they started the
• 5:25
  business fresh and in the first month they were able to get 1.5
• 5:28
  million naira in revenue. But then by the time I said, OK,
• 5:31
  yeah, give me phone numbers, let me talk to this client, let me
• 5:33
  talk to this client. They don't have phone number,
• 5:34
  they only have e-mail address. Now a lot of you are happy to
• 5:40
  get a client who will pay you because I think one client paid
• 5:43
  like 800 and 900,000 there. Then I think another client paid
• 5:47
  me like 400,000 there, another client paid.
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  I can't remember how much, but I know for most of you think it's
• 5:52
  fantastic they did all that through e-mail.
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  But have you thought about looking at things this way?
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  If you are able to use the hardest medium of converting a
• 6:02
  sale and you were able to get 1.5 million, have you thought of
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  how much more success you would have if you actually picked up
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  the phone? Let me repeat, e-mail has the
• 6:15
  worst open rates. It is not conversational.
• 6:19
  It is very formal. Because of that, it is hard to
• 6:22
  be closing deals over e-mail. So if in your first month in
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  business you successfully closed over 1.5 million naira and
• 6:32
  you're rejoicing and the lesson you take out of it is, oh, let
• 6:35
  me continue sending emails my friend, you're wrong.
• 6:38
  The lesson is what I did 1.5 by sending emails only that must
• 6:44
  mean that my product is very good.
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  So therefore let me jump on the phone and I will close more or
• 6:52
  since this product is obviously high value, let me enter both
• 6:58
  and go to somebody's office and sit down face to face and then
• 7:01
  watch the business. So but anyway, for some reason
• 7:03
  people are just in love with emails.
• 7:04
  So let me leave that whole e-mail thing today when I was
• 7:08
  like, so I was talking about how to deal with scheduled calls.
• 7:12
  So I spent the 1st 5 minutes trying to talk about why phone
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  calls are important or sorry about the noise in the
• 7:20
  background. It's a Tuesday for those of you
• 7:22
  who listen regularly, you know that the house gets cleaned on
• 7:24
  Tuesday. So there's going to be noise,
• 7:26
  you know, people moving things around and my attention is going
• 7:29
  to be called off every now and then.
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  So using the phone is important. I already stressed that.
• 7:36
  If you don't believe me, no problem.
• 7:37
  We'll argue about, we'll argue about that some other day.
• 7:40
  So using the phone is an important, is important.
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  And using the phone is a very, very good way to gain
• 7:47
  advancements on business deals. Advancements just means you are
• 7:50
  moving the deal forward. It means that you and the other
• 7:53
  party agree on the next step that you're going to take.
• 7:59
  And it's easier to secure advancements when you're worth
• 8:01
  the phone. If you don't believe me, you
• 8:03
  tried be sending e-mail back and forth.
• 8:05
  I'll be sending text messages back and forth and say, oh, in
• 8:08
  case she when should I come and see you?
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  You send a message in case she doesn't see it for three hours.
• 8:13
  She responds in three hours and says, oh, Friday is fine.
• 8:16
  Then you don't see it for another two hours.
• 8:18
  You respond after two hours and I say, OK, Friday good.
• 8:20
  Should I come in the morning question mark you sent in case
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  she doesn't see it for six hours.
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  Then by the time she responds, you know, we're already in
• 8:28
  Friday. Almost 11 agreed on the time.
• 8:31
  But then if I'm going to use the phone, I just pause po po.
• 8:35
  She picks it and say hello. That tavishma say we agree with
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  you on Friday. Say yes.
• 8:39
  So. But you know we didn't agree on
• 8:40
  the time. So.
• 8:41
  Oh, Oh, OK. So what time works for you?
• 8:43
  I'll stick around that kind. 10 AM.
• 8:44
  No, 10 AM. My children have something is OK
• 8:48
  for me. Afternoon is not really pure.
• 8:50
  OK. How about 5:00?
• 8:52
  OK. Five o'clock. 5:00 is good.
• 8:53
  OK. No, Alan.
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  No problem, ma'am. Cut the call.
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  You want to do the thing by text message.
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  You will spend surprisingly, you know, 12 hours, 24 hours just
• 9:04
  trying to agree on the meeting time.
• 9:06
  But don't you pick up the phone, sharp, sharp, 3 minutes.
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  You already agreed. This is the next time we're
• 9:11
  going to meet. This is the next thing we're
• 9:12
  going to discuss. So the phone call is a very
• 9:15
  important tool for scheduling advancements, for moving the
• 9:18
  deal forward, for trying to move your agenda forward, for trying
• 9:21
  to get progress on whatever it is that you're working on.
• 9:23
  The phone is a very important tool.
• 9:26
  Now, let us assume that you've been talking with someone and
• 9:29
  you've been able to schedule a call.
• 9:31
  The reason why I'm bringing this up is because there's someone
• 9:33
  who reached out to me. We scheduled a call.
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  I missed the call. It was my own fault because I'm
• 9:39
  the one who forgot. I missed it.
• 9:42
  But then I didn't think this person handled it too well.
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  And to be frank, there are lots of you who are trying to have
• 9:47
  conversations with other people, not just me.
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  But the way I look at it is this, whenever I tell you
• 9:54
  people, OK, let's have a call and then I give you assignments,
• 9:56
  I say send me a reminder. I'm also trying to test because
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  I'm trying to feel out how you interact with your potential
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  customers, because the way you try and set appointments with me
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  is the same way you would try and set appointments, you know,
• 10:08
  with your customers. And The thing is lots of you
• 10:12
  don't know how to schedule appointments, right?
• 10:18
  Let me put it that way. Schedule appointments, right?
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  And follow up with people to make sure that they do attend
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  those, those those meetings. So for like this person now
• 10:30
  person was supposed to have sent me a reminder and the person did
• 10:32
  send me a reminder, but the person sent it at 1:00 AM, you
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  know, for a call that was supposed to happen the morning
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  before. Now, if you do things like that,
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  obviously the chances are that somebody can miss that kind of
• 10:43
  thing because you sent it. 1:00 AM, everybody's asleep, People
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  wake up, you know, traffic school runs, blah, blah, blah.
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  Early, early emergencies of the day.
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  And it's if you're going to be sending your reminders at 1:00
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  AM, two AM, three AM, 4:00 AM, then it's understandable that
• 11:01
  people are going to miss the meetings.
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  But anyway, the person is not at fault because the person sent a
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  reminder. I should have been diligent and
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  not missed that. But given that, OK, given that
• 11:15
  this thing has happened and given that I'm seeing that lots
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  of people don't know how to do this, that's why I'm making
• 11:19
  today's podcast episode. So Step 1, you agree and you fix
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  the meeting time. So the guy did that.
• 11:25
  So that's perfect. And I'm assuming that you're
• 11:28
  doing that as well. Now what you're going to do is a
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  lot of us have modern phones and modern phones have calendars.
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  Calendars allow us to schedule. The allowance to schedule allows
• 11:40
  us to set alerts, allows us to set reminders.
• 11:43
  So this is what you're going to do when you fix a meeting date
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  or a visit or a site inspection or whatever.
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  You use your phone, you're going to schedule something.
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  You're going to create some kind of alert, You're going to create
• 11:58
  some kind of a reminder. Some of you will be saying,
• 12:01
  shouldn't it be the other person?
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  Look, forget, forget about the other person.
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  You have no control over what the other person does.
• 12:08
  If I'm trying to fix a meeting with Dangote right now, yes, if
• 12:11
  we agree on a time, ideally Dangote should set a reminder
• 12:15
  and take that meeting seriously. But The thing is, I have no
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  control over Dangote schedule. I repeat, I am chasing money.
• 12:23
  I want money from Dangote or I want money from Tony Olumelu.
• 12:27
  They should take this meeting seriously and they should set
• 12:29
  reminders. But The thing is, I have
• 12:31
  absolutely no control over Dangote schedule.
• 12:35
  I have absolutely no control over Tony Illuminous priorities.
• 12:39
  I can't force them to set reminders.
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  The only thing I can do is I can set the alerts and the reminders
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  by myself #1 the alerts and the reminders that I will set will
• 12:50
  help me to prepare for those meetings.
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  The alert will come up, ping him meeting with Dangote Friday 10
• 12:58
  AM and I'll say, Oh yes, it's true, I'm supposed to see Chief
• 13:01
  Dangote. So therefore I need to sit down
• 13:04
  and I gas repair what will be the agenda, what we talk about
• 13:07
  these diseases, da da, da, da, da.
• 13:10
  So using my own Google Calendar, using my own CRM tool that's
• 13:16
  crossed my relationship management tool, using my own
• 13:19
  notification, using my own whatever, whatever, whatever it
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  is, my own phone alarm, whatever it is that you use, it would
• 13:26
  remind me to prepare because I can't force language to show up
• 13:30
  for this meeting. Then these alerts or these
• 13:34
  reminders, apart from reminding me to prepare, it will remind me
• 13:39
  to now remind the other party. So if me and Langote Antonio
• 13:46
  Lumelu, we agree to a meeting together, all right, remember, I
• 13:50
  can't force them to set on their own alerts.
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  The best I can do is I will remind myself.
• 13:55
  When I remind myself, I will now remind them.
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  By giving them reminder a few times, I increase the odds and
• 14:02
  increase the chances that they will show up for this meeting.
• 14:07
  OK, so setting the alerts, setting the reminder, remember,
• 14:10
  is twofold #1 I guess be prepared before this meeting #2
• 14:16
  So in fact, this remind, this thing about reminding me to
• 14:19
  prepare is very, very important because there are lots of people
• 14:21
  who we serve meetings and then they show up and quite clearly
• 14:25
  I'm the one who's driving the agenda.
• 14:30
  How do I put it? When you are the one that is
• 14:32
  chasing something, you're the one that should be trying to
• 14:36
  determine the agenda, that should be trying to determine
• 14:39
  the pace, you know, So if I show up for this meeting and I'm
• 14:44
  waiting for Dan Gote to now set the agenda for the meeting is
• 14:49
  somehow I'm rubbing off on down Gote the wrong way.
• 14:53
  Dan Gote will be thinking that this guy no sharp, he's not a
• 14:57
  good guy to have around. That is not the kind of young
• 14:59
  men that I want around in my own ecosystem.
• 15:05
  So this remind you to prepare parts, really, really serious,
• 15:08
  set up an agenda. You see the reason why?
• 15:11
  So OK, but just make a mental note, you set up an agenda
• 15:15
  first. Now I will not have to be
• 15:18
  reminding Dangote or Tonio Lumelu or whoever it is I have
• 15:22
  this meeting with Bill Gates or whoever.
• 15:24
  I'll now have to be sending them reminder.
• 15:27
  Now when I say tell people send me a reminder, what most of them
• 15:30
  do is like there's somebody who has even sent me a reminder like
• 15:32
  4 minutes before. So yeah, 4 minutes before is not
• 15:36
  a reminder. Let's get real.
• 15:38
  People are busy. People are doing all kinds of
• 15:40
  things in their lives. You will agree for a meeting at
• 15:43
  10:00. You sending somebody message
• 15:45
  Gentry reminder at 9:55 or 956, That is not a reminder 5 minutes
• 15:53
  before. If the person hasn't remembered,
• 15:54
  the person has gone on to start doing other things.
• 15:57
  You think the person is going to see your textbook and say oh and
• 15:59
  then the person will now change all their whole paros just
• 16:04
  because of a 5 minute reminder. For those of you who I say send
• 16:09
  me a reminder, you send me a reminder 15 minutes before, that
• 16:12
  is not a reminder 5 minutes before.
• 16:14
  That is not a reminder one hour before.
• 16:17
  Well, well anyway, one hour before, let's manage.
• 16:23
  But I will say one hour before is not a reminder because the
• 16:25
  person that has forgotten has gone to start doing other
• 16:28
  things. A one hour reminder is not going
• 16:30
  to be enough for the person to say, oh, this thing that I'm
• 16:33
  doing, let me cancel everything, I'll come.
• 16:38
  So you set your reminders to remind you to prepare.
• 16:43
  Then you set your reminders so that you can remind the other
• 16:46
  people. You will set your first reminder
• 16:50
  at least a week in advance. You hear me?
• 16:55
  You will set your first reminder at least a week in advance
• 16:59
  because you're trying to get people to remember.
• 17:02
  The first reminder goes like this.
• 17:04
  You'll be going around mind, you know, minding your own business.
• 17:07
  And then your phone just zooms and you will see that, oh,
• 17:09
  meeting with Dangote Friday, 10 AM.
• 17:13
  You will now quickly send a text message to Dangote.
• 17:15
  All right, then you also send the same text message to
• 17:19
  Dangote's PA, because as you're sending Dangote, you'll be
• 17:22
  sending to Dangote as well. We're trying to increase the
• 17:24
  odds that Dangote shows up for this meeting, so we'll be
• 17:27
  running it the two ways. We'll send Dangote message,
• 17:31
  we'll send his PA message that will now send e-mail again to
• 17:35
  Dangote's formal inbox. We'll now send e-mail again to
• 17:39
  Dangote's PA e-mail inbox. Now, first reminder is going to
• 17:45
  be thank you very much, Malaji. Looking forward to our meeting
• 17:49
  on Friday. You know, just that kind, just
• 17:52
  that kind of reminder. Oh, thank you very much, Malaji.
• 17:55
  I'm looking forward to our meeting on Friday.
• 17:57
  You know, I'm glad to have a few moments of your time.
• 18:00
  Then, you know, really looking forward to our discussion.
• 18:02
  Send that simple kind something you can see.
• 18:05
  It's a reminder. That's kind of thing that
• 18:07
  somebody can say and say, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, it's
• 18:09
  true. That young man, that young
• 18:11
  woman, I promise this person that we'll see on Friday.
• 18:15
  See, that's a reminder. A week before a week is enough
• 18:19
  time for people, if they really mean to attend that meeting.
• 18:22
  A week is enough time for people to start thinking, oh, OK, let
• 18:24
  me move this like this. Let me move this like this.
• 18:26
  Let me move this like that because I promised this young
• 18:28
  man that he can come to my house.
• 18:31
  So let's make this happen. So reminder #1 you will send it
• 18:36
  at least one week before. Thank you very much.
• 18:39
  Looking forward to our meeting. You know that kind of film, just
• 18:44
  sharp. Thank you very much.
• 18:45
  I'm looking forward to our meeting.
• 18:47
  That will be the scope of the 1st reminder.
• 18:49
  The next reminder you set now will be like, oh, that kind
• 18:53
  three days in advance because Nigerians, you like to say
• 18:58
  gentle reminder. So all that gentle reminder that
• 18:59
  you would like to send 5 minutes before, which is not a reminder,
• 19:04
  set it three days before. That is when you send gentle
• 19:06
  reminder. Oh, gentle reminder.
• 19:09
  Alhaji Dangote, I'm really looking forward to our meeting
• 19:12
  this Friday at 10 AM where we agree that we're going to
• 19:14
  discuss, you know, blah, blah, blah on the agenda.
• 19:20
  So that'll be the meeting for reminder for 2nd reminder.
• 19:24
  Remember 1st reminder will be one week before.
• 19:27
  Thanks. I'm looking forward to our
• 19:28
  meeting send three days before. Gentle reminder.
• 19:33
  Alhaji, I'm looking forward to our meeting on Friday morning
• 19:36
  where we're going to discuss so, so, so and so send.
• 19:43
  Then one day before, 24 hours before you will send another
• 19:48
  reminder. That reminder will be in the
• 19:50
  form of good morning. Alhaji.
• 19:53
  I just want to confirm if we're still on calls for our meeting
• 19:55
  tomorrow, this kind reminder. I just want to confirm if we're
• 20:00
  still on calls for our meeting tomorrow at 10 AM.
• 20:03
  That is now the point where he will now say, oh, sorry, I'm in
• 20:06
  Switzerland. Because Bill Gates and I were
• 20:08
  making a presentation at World Economic Forum, blah blah blah.
• 20:11
  Where in Davos. That will now give you a chance
• 20:16
  to reschedule. You see first one one week
• 20:22
  before. Thanks.
• 20:23
  I'm looking forward to our meeting.
• 20:24
  You said the day Friday 10, three days before.
• 20:28
  Gentle reminder, Alhaji. Looking forward to our meeting
• 20:31
  on Friday where we're supposed to discuss XYZ.
• 20:33
  Send one day before another reminder.
• 20:37
  Good afternoon. Al Haji, just want to confirm,
• 20:39
  are we still on calls for our meeting tomorrow, 10 AM?
• 20:41
  We have what the apps you say? Then the other reminder that you
• 20:47
  now send in the morning will also be another confirmation
• 20:51
  now. Good morning, Sir.
• 20:53
  OK, since Nigeria is like this, a Gentry reminder.
• 20:55
  OK. Good morning, Sir.
• 20:56
  Gentle reminder. We're going live in.
• 20:59
  We're going live in three hours. Is this going to be a phone call
• 21:03
  or a Zoom, you know, something like that?
• 21:06
  Then at the time, this is one thing I've noticed a lot of you
• 21:10
  are afraid to initiate the call because there are people who
• 21:13
  actually send the reminder that the time comes.
• 21:15
  But The thing is, they never call me.
• 21:18
  I guess they're trying to do the respectful thing in Niger, maybe
• 21:21
  waiting for me to call as per you know, maybe I'm more senior
• 21:24
  or something. I understand as per Niger
• 21:30
  culture. But honestly speaking, so long
• 21:32
  as it is an advancement, both of us mutually agreed, there's
• 21:35
  nothing wrong with me calling. So if me and Dangote agreed,
• 21:39
  then we're going to meet at 10 AM on a Friday and then they set
• 21:42
  a meeting link. When it's time, I will jump on
• 21:45
  the meeting link and I will wait.
• 21:46
  If I don't see them, I will send reminder to him or to his PA.
• 21:50
  How far? You know, like, OK, I won't use
• 21:52
  the language. How far?
• 21:53
  That's a bit disrespectful. But I will send a reminder that
• 21:55
  you know, I'm ready. I'm in the meeting.
• 21:58
  So long as it was mutually agreed, you are allowed and it
• 22:02
  is OK for you to initiate the call.
• 22:06
  So I have told you luminous phone number and we agreed for
• 22:10
  10 and 10. I didn't hear from him.
• 22:13
  I'm on 10 O one. Yeah.
• 22:14
  Obozo Oboz. Now, of course, let's assume
• 22:19
  that he's busy. That's a very busy schedule.
• 22:22
  Maybe he's, you know, mediating stuff with the president and
• 22:25
  things like that. So let's say he doesn't call.
• 22:30
  So that's how that 10:00 has passed. 10:00 I waited, I didn't
• 22:33
  see him turn O1. I called guy no answer.
• 22:35
  Immediately I make that call turn O1, he no answer.
• 22:41
  I will send a text message. So if I call 10 O 1, he don't
• 22:44
  answer ten O 2. I sent a text message straight
• 22:48
  to him and to PA saying good morning Sir.
• 22:52
  I tried calling as per the meeting that we agreed, you
• 22:55
  know, to discuss blah blah blah. I'll wait around for 10 more
• 23:00
  minutes just in case you can make it, but I'll send it.
• 23:06
  But I'm putting it out there. We're supposed to have seen at
• 23:08
  10. I didn't see you.
• 23:10
  I called you didn't buzz or Allah I'll hang around for 10
• 23:13
  minutes then if for that 10 minutes now nobody show Uncle
• 23:21
  Tony didn't call me back. Dangote didn't call me back.
• 23:24
  Their PA did not call me back. No problem will be another
• 23:26
  message that I will send. So let's say I give them 10
• 23:29
  minutes. So 10:00 there was no call 1001
• 23:34
  I called no answer 1002 I sent text messages.
• 23:38
  I said oh, be around for like that kind of 10 minutes.
• 23:41
  OK so 10 minutes would be 10 1012.
• 23:44
  Let me round the top 10/15 10:15 I'll send Nanguti a message or
• 23:49
  turn a Lumelu a message or their P as message.
• 23:52
  Now I was supposed to have had a meeting earlier blah blah blah.
• 23:55
  I understand that you and your principal might be busy.
• 23:57
  Would you like to reschedule for then me?
• 24:01
  I'll propose a date. The reason why I like to propose
• 24:06
  is just because I like to keep things moving forward because
• 24:09
  you can tell somebody like, oh, would you like to reschedule?
• 24:11
  And then they will say, Oh yeah, sure, let's talk again in six
• 24:13
  months time. And for me that's, you know,
• 24:16
  when people push meetings like that, six months, three months,
• 24:18
  two months, three weeks, nothing doesn't work for me.
• 24:22
  So that's the reason why me and I prefer to recommend no.
• 24:24
  Would you like to reschedule for then this meeting, let's say was
• 24:27
  for some for held. We said Friday, right?
• 24:29
  OK, Friday at 10. Now I will just assume that the
• 24:34
  rest of Friday is Moshe Lashi. You know it's for mosque because
• 24:37
  Dangote is a Muslim. So I'll just assume that Friday
• 24:40
  none is is. No, it's not possible.
• 24:44
  Then I'll assume that Saturday is family.
• 24:46
  Sunday is rest. So what I'll push for is Monday.
• 24:50
  So would you like to reschedule for Monday at 10 AM?
• 24:53
  Question mark sent. And then the ball is in their
• 24:58
  court. Now, I don't want to speculate
• 25:01
  ad nauseam, but honestly speaking, if you come up with a
• 25:04
  simple process like this for scheduling your calls, for
• 25:07
  pursuing your meetings, things like that, you are increasing
• 25:10
  the odds that people will take you seriously and people will
• 25:12
  show up for your meetings. So this is how you schedule a
• 25:18
  call. This is how you stay on the case
• 25:20
  to make sure that people show up for a meeting.
• 25:23
  And please, this Nigeria thing of gentle reminder, gentle
• 25:26
  reminder is good. The problem is too many of you
• 25:29
  are doing gentle reminder. 5 minutes to the meeting.
• 25:32
  Gentle reminder 5 minutes to the meeting.
• 25:34
  Please just take it that it's it's, it's ineffective.
• 25:39
  It's not going to work if I didn't take all these steps.
• 25:43
  One week before. Send reminder. 3 days send
• 25:45
  reminder. One day send reminder.
• 25:47
  Day of. Send reminder.
• 25:49
  If I don't pursue it like this, the chances are down with you.
• 25:53
  We'll forget. Excuse me, He's a busy man.
• 25:55
  You'll forget. You be yourself.
• 25:59
  We'll forget to be honest, the PA won't even be interested in
• 26:04
  this kind of thing because you know, it's not as if it's a
• 26:08
  meeting that if the thing clicks like it will be good for all of
• 26:11
  us because if that would take agrees for a meeting with me,
• 26:15
  honestly speaking, you'll pay me more than I will pay them.
• 26:16
  So the PA probably won't be PA mind is not even there at all.
• 26:23
  So from setting all these reminders that I increase the
• 26:25
  chance that the meeting will happen.
• 26:27
  If that would says let's talk Friday 10 AM and I wait until
• 26:31
  9:56 to now send message saying gentle reminder, I've never
• 26:34
  started. He's already on the plane on the
• 26:36
  way to Switzerland. I has totally forgotten.
• 26:41
  He's not going to tell the pilot, oh, you know what pilot
• 26:43
  switch on the Wi-Fi. Let me call this guy back in
• 26:45
  Nigeria. He will say, Oh no, let's get to
• 26:48
  Switzerland when I'm done. We'll, we'll deal with him
• 26:52
  later. That's what he will say.
• 26:55
  But if I send a reminder one week before, oh, he will
• 26:59
  remember three days before, let's say the Switzerland thing
• 27:02
  has come up, you know, either from chatting with him or
• 27:06
  chatting with the PA will not have a chance to reach out with
• 27:08
  that. Oh, terribly sorry, won't be
• 27:10
  able to make Friday 10 AM. This thing with Davos just came
• 27:14
  up. Me and Bill Gates were on the
• 27:16
  way right now for Uncle Tony is even in the plane itself.
• 27:19
  You know, the three of us wherever wherever we're heading
• 27:22
  to Switzerland at the moment, we're not going to be able to
• 27:23
  make the meeting. Then the next thing now is I
• 27:25
  will now be trying to reschedule like, oh, you're in in Davos.
• 27:29
  Oh, OK. This year's summit is going to
• 27:31
  be for two weeks, right? Oh yes.
• 27:32
  OK, so that means you'll be back in Nigeria by so as well.
• 27:34
  So, OK, so how about so this and this and this time, and I'll
• 27:40
  propose and I hear what it is that they have to say if The
• 27:42
  thing is becoming too much of an issue because, you know, I mean,
• 27:46
  they find money. I will say, you know what,
• 27:48
  chief? That's not a problem.
• 27:49
  When you're landing, you were heading straight to the Hilton.
• 27:52
  OK, no problem. I can come see you at the
• 27:54
  Hilton. You know what, what time works?
• 27:56
  If the phone call thing is not working, I will get boats, I
• 27:59
  will drive down, you know, whatever.
• 28:03
  I mean, they find money. I mean, they push you.
• 28:06
  So this is how you schedule the calls.
• 28:11
  If you want to do gentle reminder, don't wait until 5
• 28:13
  minutes before to do gentle reminder.
• 28:15
  People have forgotten, people have moved on.
• 28:18
  So I'm not going to give you fixed principles per SE, but
• 28:22
  what I'm just trying to say is remind early and remind often.
• 28:28
  Remind them one week to remind them three days to the reason
• 28:33
  why I say 3 days is just maybe like half, half halfway.
• 28:38
  They remind on the day and they remind a couple of hours.
• 28:41
  So if we have fixed something and what we fixed, let's say a
• 28:44
  site visit and that site visit is one month away.
• 28:49
  At the time that we finished the conversation, I'll send the
• 28:52
  person a WhatsApp message because WhatsApp is more
• 28:55
  conversational saying, oh, thanks, looking forward to our
• 28:57
  meeting next month. OK, so today's date is the 5th
• 29:01
  of May. So I'll send the person a
• 29:03
  WhatsApp message saying looking forward to our meeting next
• 29:06
  month on the 5th of May when we will go to Orca to go and do
• 29:10
  site visits. So I've sent one message.
• 29:13
  Now remember this thing is in one month, two weeks to the
• 29:19
  date, I will send another reminder.
• 29:23
  So you got a reminder really looking forward to our meeting
• 29:26
  in Orca for the 5th of. So when?
• 29:29
  Me now? So that's June for the 5th of
• 29:33
  June where we are going to conduct the site visit.
• 29:37
  Looking forward to meeting you and looking forward to meeting
• 29:39
  chief sent that is 2 weeks then I will send another one a week
• 29:47
  before. Because remember in this
• 29:49
  scenario now we're both traveling to Orca in a number of
• 29:52
  States and now send a week before because if I book flight
• 29:55
  and I show and then they don't show, that's the problem.
• 29:57
  And yes, these things happen. Everybody book flight, you land
• 30:00
  and then the main person who's supposed to be at the meeting
• 30:03
  will not be there because they forgot.
• 30:04
  This is how you make sure people don't forget.
• 30:06
  So a week before, I'll now send another message or try to call
• 30:10
  to confirm. Are we still on course for ORCA
• 30:14
  next week on the 5th of June? That will give everybody enough
• 30:20
  time to, you know, let's say chief has forgotten, he didn't
• 30:23
  book his ticket. You know, we'll not have time to
• 30:26
  rebook our flight tickets and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 30:29
  That's the Week 2. Then I won't even just send on
• 30:35
  the day off the very day that I land orca, I will send a message
• 30:38
  to everybody saying looking forward to our meeting me, I
• 30:42
  just arrived Orca now, now, now, now checking into the hotel.
• 30:46
  Looking forward to seeing you guys in two days and three days.
• 30:49
  Like you see how you do it, remind early, remind often.
• 30:53
  You increase the chances that people show up for these things.
• 30:56
  So I've used an example how one week to how you send reminder
• 31:02
  one week ahead, 3 days ahead, one day ahead and then on the
• 31:05
  day off. And I've used another example
• 31:07
  now where the meeting is supposed to happen one month
• 31:10
  ahead and how I'll send reminder on the day that we agree.
• 31:14
  I'll send a reminder 2 weeks before, I'll send a reminder one
• 31:17
  week before, I'll send a reminder the day that I arrive
• 31:21
  occur, and then I even send a reminder that morning as as
• 31:24
  well. You know, now, good morning
• 31:26
  everyone, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 31:27
  I am on my way to site. So I can't give any principles,
• 31:33
  but just using the scope, using the philosophy that we've spoken
• 31:36
  about here. You see how you can schedule
• 31:39
  calls, keep meetings on course, you know, things of that nature.
• 31:43
  So that's it for today. Remember, if you'd love to
• 31:46
  connect with me, call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp
• 31:49
  message on 08064 662140. Thank you very much for your
• 31:55
  time and attention. I'll catch you all some other
• 31:57
  time.