Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Navigating Nigerian Markets: A Guide to Rural and Urban Selling

Transcript

Navigating Nigerian Markets: A Guide to Rural and Urban Selling · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishima Ayede.
0:04
I saw sales and marketing challenges and I'm making
0:07
today's recording outside church because my kids are at catechism
0:10
classes. Now.
0:12
The point of this podcast is not to tell you about my church or
0:15
my kids. We're here for all matters
0:17
business education. So please spread the word so
0:20
that friends and family members in Nigeria and abroad can
0:23
benefit from the questions that we tackle.
0:25
They can do that by subscribing on Spotify, YouTube, Apple or
0:29
any player of their choice. And if you'd love to connect,
0:32
you can call SMS or WhatsApp me on 080646621400.
0:38
Yeah, by the way, it's raining outside.
0:40
Just, you know, in case the extra noise case, it sounds
0:43
extra noisy today. So today on the podcast, I want
0:46
us to look at how to sell in urban areas, how that's
0:50
different from trying to sell in rural areas.
0:53
Again, I repeat the question for today, how to sell in urban
0:56
areas versus selling in rural areas.
0:59
And I don't think that's a question that we've tackled
1:01
before. I'm sorry, one moment.
1:03
Let me just wind up the windows because this rain is getting
1:06
real heavy. OK, Sorry about that.
1:10
I have wound up the windows and hopefully I should be OK by any
1:14
this the first time for everything.
1:15
This is the first time I've had to record in the rain.
1:17
So hopefully the audio is going to be good enough because I've
1:20
never had to do a retake before. So anyway, let's get straight
1:24
into it. So how to sell in the urban area
1:27
versus selling in the rural areas?
1:29
How are they different? Now I'm going to go back and
1:32
restate one principle that I keep talking about all of the
1:35
time. Whenever you're faced with these
1:38
sorts of questions. How do you sell in America?
1:39
How do you sell in Nigeria? How do you sell in the village?
1:42
How do you sell in Swahili land? How do you sell in South Africa?
1:46
How do you sell in the North Pole?
1:49
How do you sell in? I mean, whatever question it is,
1:54
the guiding principles that we're going to use will always
1:57
be the same. Let me repeat, we're human
2:00
beings. So long as human beings are the
2:02
same and so long as you know, we keep on, I'll put it sales is a
2:08
system. It just means that there are
2:10
different parts that work together, but they work together
2:14
generally in the same sort of way.
2:16
That's the reason why you can have economic principles, for
2:19
instance, which will kind of guess that if you do this in
2:21
America, it might work this way. If you do this in Nigeria, it
2:25
might work the other way is because we're human beings and
2:28
what might be complex, but you can get some rough and ready
2:31
simple principles that guide human behaviour.
2:36
So in a sense, selling in town, selling in village, selling in
2:41
America, selling in Nigeria, in a sense, it will all be the
2:44
same. However, there will be some
2:47
contextual differences that means you will emphasize some
2:50
things over another or that you will do one thing before you do
2:54
another. So the order might change and
2:57
the emphasis might change, but the principles will always
3:00
remain the same. So I always like to take you
3:03
from that level. So the best way to think about
3:08
different selling situations is to think about the level of
3:11
complexity involved in the sale or the level of simplicity that
3:15
is involved in the sale. Let me repeat, whether you're
3:18
thinking about how to sell in America, in Nigeria, in Cuba, in
3:22
South Africa, in Abuja, in the Villa, in Yobe, in Bauchi, in
3:28
Cross River, we have to think about the level of complexity
3:32
first or the level of simplicity before we look into other
3:38
things. Oh, sorry, hold on, a phone call
3:40
is coming in. Let me just have a look.
3:48
OK, Sorry about that. Just had to mute.
3:50
I'll call the fellow. I'll call the fellow back.
3:53
OK, where was I? So we have to think about the
3:57
level of complexity or the simplicity first.
4:02
That is what is going to guide how it is that we're going to
4:04
sell. Now, the level of complexity or
4:06
simplicity. Sorry, 1 moment.
4:14
OK, sorry about that. The fellow called again.
4:16
OK, I guess I have to make this a short episode so I can get
4:18
back to him. So no one is going to determine
4:22
the level of complexity. How complex is this situation or
4:25
how simple is this situation #1 is going to be the number of
4:28
parties that are involved? Are you trying to sell to only
4:31
one person? Are you trying to sell to five
4:32
people or are you trying to sell to 10 people?
4:35
This matters because you're trying to sell to one person.
4:38
It's easy If you're trying to sell to husband and wife
4:41
together, it gets a little harder.
4:43
If you're trying to sell to a brother and sister team and the
4:48
brother and sister have to come up with their uncles or their
4:50
aunties, it gets a little bit more more complex.
4:53
So I hope you see where I'm heading with this.
4:55
The more parties that you have, the more complex the sale is
4:59
becoming. So we have to look at how
5:02
complex is this situation. So that's why I hope you guys
5:05
can see that it's not a matter of am I in Township or am I in
5:08
village, That will now determine how I will sell.
5:11
So whether you're in Township or whether you're in village or
5:14
whether you're in Washington, DC, start thinking first.
5:19
Complexity, simplicity, how many parties are involved in this
5:23
sale? Those are the things that will
5:25
now determine how you start moving forward.
5:27
Small, small, small, small. If it's one person, you arrange
5:30
yourself one way. If it is husband and wife, you
5:34
arrange yourself another way. If there are 12 people that are
5:37
involved in taking the decision. And yes, that situation can
5:40
arise because think about it for land deals here, if you want to
5:44
sell, buy or sell land in, let's say, my part of the my part of
5:49
the country, Benoit State, you know, of course, you do all the
5:53
normal and necessary things. But it's not unusual that the
5:58
person that you're talking to might have to discuss with his
6:01
brothers and sisters first. Maybe there are six of them.
6:04
The person you're talking with is the oldest child.
6:06
Before he would sell the land, he would talk to his brothers or
6:08
sisters. Let's say they are 6.
6:10
And then they might decide that, you know what, let's comes up
6:13
with four or five of our uncles and aunties.
6:16
You can see that, you know, one piece of land.
6:18
We're already talking about the involving like 11-12 parties.
6:23
So these things happen. So the number of parties
6:26
involved. Then we also have to think about
6:29
the subject matter. How simple is the subject matter
6:32
and how complex is the subject matter?
6:34
For the purpose of today's podcast, every time we hear
6:36
complex or simple, it just means how many moving parts are there.
6:40
Some things have very little moving parts.
6:42
So it's not, it's not a big problem selling bread.
6:45
Bread is not a problem because bread only has one moving part.
6:49
Bread is meant to be eaten. That's all you take it, you put
6:52
in your mouth. It's very simple.
6:54
There's no complexity there. A car on the other hand, now
6:57
that's some level of complexity. Yes, the car is meant to move
7:00
you from here to there, but it has a steering system, it has a
7:04
fuel system, it has an electrical system, it has a
7:06
hydraulic system and at every single point in those systems
7:11
something could go wrong. So somebody who is going to buy
7:15
a car is considering all these things.
7:17
Is it brand new? Is it from the factory?
7:20
Is it accidental? Is it Sweden second hand?
7:25
You know, all these sorts of things.
7:27
Or is it Niger fairly used because they're trying to gauge
7:31
the level of complexity. How old is this car?
7:33
Who used it? How well has it been used?
7:35
How badly has it been used? Because it is a fairly complex
7:39
process and things can go wrong at every single step of the
7:42
stage. So we should be looking at the
7:45
subject matter. Is it simple or is it complex?
7:48
So I hope you guys are beginning to see it's not a matter of am I
7:50
in village or am I in Township, That should determine.
7:55
Then we also have to look at the cost or the price, cheap things,
8:02
and it's not hard to sell whether you're in the village or
8:04
in the Township. So selling bread in the village
8:06
or selling bread in Township is relatively easy.
8:11
Selling Okada in Township and selling Okada in the village.
8:15
When I saw Okada, I mean you know, commercial motorbikes,
8:20
well, you can see things are getting a little complex here,
8:24
but arguably maybe the price sensitivity of people in
8:26
Township will be different from the price sensitivity of people
8:30
in the village. You know, people in the village
8:31
will be much more price sensitive.
8:34
So that's what you should be looking at.
8:36
Then we also should be looking at the sales cycle.
8:40
Sales cycle just means traditionally how long does it
8:42
take to sell XYZ. So for bread sales cycle for
8:47
bread is sharp seconds and most maybe minutes somebody walks
8:53
into the store, they see all the bread that you have there and
8:56
they say, how much is this one? This one is a 2/5 per loaf.
9:00
How much is this one? This one is 1/2 per loaf.
9:03
It's OK. This one that is 1/2 give me 3
9:05
loaves and then they go. You can see that the sales cycle
9:08
is straight to the point. Then there are some other things
9:11
that the sales cycle is protracted like let's go back to
9:13
the car thing. Somebody will hit you up on
9:15
Instagram and say, do you have Honda Civic 2000 and 2025 model?
9:21
You say, yes, I have Do you have it in blue color?
9:23
Do you have some some something How much is the price?
9:26
You, you know, you chat and it was OK, where's your car lot?
9:31
We tell them to say, OK, I'm coming, I'll come and see you on
9:33
Monday. Maybe they don't show up on
9:35
Monday, the show on Wednesday. You guys talk a bit and they say
9:38
I'm coming, let me think about it.
9:39
They leave. One week has passed.
9:42
Next week they come back with their wife.
9:43
They look at the car again, maybe they test drive it and
9:47
they say, you know what, let me come with my mechanic.
9:50
They leave. Week 2 has passed to come up
9:53
with a mechanic. Mechanic will look at it as
9:55
well. Mechanic might drive it up and
9:56
down, you know, come back hurdle about some warranty, Something,
9:59
something, something, something, you know, they leave, maybe they
10:02
will come back. Week 4 has passed.
10:04
So before you know it, now selling a car.
10:06
Now the sales cycle for selling a car could be, you know, one
10:09
month, maybe a month and a half, you know, I don't know, I'm not
10:13
in the car space. But you can see that everything
10:16
has its own sales cycle and that will determine how you pace
10:19
yourself and how you follow up. So if it is for the sale of
10:21
bread that the sale cycle is a few seconds or a few minutes,
10:26
you can follow up with people, shop, shop.
10:27
You can tell somebody that, look, Bros, this thing is not
10:30
rocket science. It's just bread.
10:32
Now, if you want to buy bread, you know, pick one and pay.
10:35
If you don't want to buy bread, please just move.
10:37
People are standing at the back, let them come and buy.
10:39
So you can be that brush when it comes to selling bread.
10:42
But if it comes to the sale of car, on the other hand, you
10:44
know, you can't just be close marking people anyhow because
10:47
it's a fairly complex thing and traditionally normally the thing
10:52
has its own long sales cycle. Then of course, you also have to
10:55
look at the level of risk or the level level of perceived risk.
10:59
Perceived risk just means the level of risk that the person
11:02
feels is involved in this thing and then the level of actual
11:06
risk, like back to the bread thing.
11:08
I mean, you know, there's no risk involved in the bread.
11:11
Now, of course bread is bread, they'll bite, they'll eat it.
11:14
But therefore the car, the person will be thinking, OK,
11:16
this thing is a Niger fairly used.
11:19
That means if you would have received some rough treatment,
11:23
the car sounds OK, the braking system sounds OK, but we don't
11:28
know about the fuel system or maybe the electrical.
11:30
You know, they'll be thinking about all kinds of things
11:32
because perceived risk is high that if I carry 14 M and give
11:36
this person and carry this car and then tomorrow we hit the
11:40
road and then the sump drops out of the car.
11:43
For instance, you know, they won't give me my money back.
11:45
I now have to take the money to fix the sample and you know, of
11:49
course buyer beware, like you examine the car you came with
11:51
the mechanic. So you know you bought it, you
11:54
bought it. So these are all the things that
11:56
are going through it. So before you start asking
11:58
yourself how do I sell in village, how do I sell in
12:01
Township, how do I sell in city, how do I sell in Europe, how do
12:04
I sell in South Africa? Be thinking about the level of
12:07
complexity or the level of simplicity that is involved.
12:10
How many people am I going to be talking to?
12:12
Is the subject matter simple or complex?
12:15
Am I dealing with something cheap or am I dealing with
12:17
something expensive? Am I dealing with something
12:19
luxury? What's the sales cycle like?
12:22
And then what is the level of risk that is involved?
12:25
So these are the things that you look at first first, first,
12:29
before you start talking about culture, before you start
12:32
talking about context, before you start talking about
12:35
interpersonal relationships, inter religious relationships or
12:39
intercultural dynamics. You look at these principles
12:43
first, first. Now, This is why, because the
12:48
more complex something is, you have to be consultative in your
12:53
sales approach. Let me repeat, the more complex
12:56
something is, you have to be consultative.
12:59
Pretend to be a doctor. Whenever I say consultative on
13:02
this podcast, I mean just pretend that you are a doctor
13:06
because when you walk into a doctor's consulting room, the
13:11
doctor does not say, OK, welcome young man.
13:14
What we're going to do is we're going to take malaria and we're
13:16
going to take malaria medicine. And then tomorrow you come for
13:19
surgery and then we'll cut off your testicles.
13:21
No, the doctor doesn't say that. The doctor will ask you some
13:24
questions 1st and you will go into family history and
13:29
everything. And the doctor might say, OK,
13:30
you know what, we will give you malaria medicine now and
13:34
paracetamol for the pain. But ultimately what you have is
13:37
cancer of the lower region. So we have to cut off your
13:40
testicles. Now you can see that the
13:42
recommendation is the same. Panadol plus malaria medicine
13:46
plus they castrate you. But the consultative way, you
13:52
have more faith in the doctor, OK, that this doctor knows what
13:54
he's thinking because he asked me some questions.
13:57
You even want to go and do second opinion first because
13:59
nobody would take castration that likely.
14:01
At least no man will take castration that likely.
14:04
OK. So when I say be consultative, I
14:06
mean just pretend that you're a doctor.
14:08
It doesn't matter what you do. Even if you're a Carpenter, you
14:11
can't pretend to be a doctor or Madam.
14:14
I want a carpet or a Carpenter. Yes, Ma, Come.
14:17
Come to the house. OK.
14:18
What am I? OK, Ma, what do you want to do?
14:21
I want to do a table. You don't just say OK table.
14:24
That is 150 K. You ask questions.
14:27
OK, Madam, the table you want us to make, is it center table or
14:30
dining table or dressing table for your room?
14:34
It is dressing table. OK.
14:35
No problem, Madam. No, Vex, I bet.
14:37
Can I go and see the space inside the room where you're
14:39
going to put the table? You'll help me come up with some
14:41
designs and, you know, some things like that.
14:43
OK, no problem. To send somebody to go and tidy
14:46
up the room. Then you go inside and then you
14:48
have a look. So, Madam, where do you want the
14:50
table to be? Do you want it to be next to
14:52
this window or do you want it to be here?
14:53
She said I wanted to be here. Oh, Madam, actually, it would
14:56
have been best if The thing is next to the window because this
14:58
electrical lighting doesn't look too good.
15:00
But if it's next to the window, you'll be able to see your face
15:03
well. You'll be able to apply your
15:04
makeup well. Very nice and very cool.
15:07
It's OK. No problem.
15:09
OK, So based on the space that I'm seeing.
15:11
OK. What else are you going to put
15:13
on this thing? We'll have one drawer.
15:15
One drawer before makeup. OK, Madam, let me see your
15:17
makeup bag. Let me see your makeup.
15:19
Whatever. We'll put makeup.
15:21
We'll put what else? Toiletry.
15:23
We'll put, you know, every, every.
15:25
She will describe everything that she wants to put inside.
15:28
It is then you'll not be able to give a quote.
15:31
No, Madam, based on what you've said for the table that will be
15:35
here, these are the dimensions. If I went to pull drawer, based
15:38
on what I'm looking at, we'll have to put like 5-6 drawer.
15:41
So based on that, everything now this thing is going to cost 150K
15:45
for this table. You can see that in either case,
15:49
the recommendation is the same. It is still 150K.
15:52
But the second way where you pretend to be a doctor, when you
15:56
try to be consultative, you can see that you are giving some
16:00
more, I'll put it, give some some credence to the process.
16:06
It makes you much more believable when you go the
16:11
consultative route when you pretend to be a doctor.
16:16
So every time I say consultative, I mean pretend to
16:18
be a doctor. So the more complex the sales
16:20
process is, pretend that you're a doctor.
16:23
Just carry it as if you're a medical doctor.
16:26
If there's more than one party, if it is a complex subject
16:29
matter, if The thing is expensive, if it has a long
16:32
sales cycle and people feel as if, man, if I drop money and
16:35
this thing doesn't work out, you know, voila, yard.
16:39
Then pretend that you're a doctor.
16:42
The more simple something is just go straight to the point.
16:46
So my favorite example, a goosey.
16:48
If you're daily darling woman can't tell you that.
16:50
Look boss, are you buying this thing or not?
16:53
If you want to buy, I've told you that One Cup of goosey is
16:55
3/5 how many cups do you want? If you're not buying, please
16:59
leave. Let somebody come out open
17:01
market. The reason why they can't be
17:03
that straight to the point is because it is a very simple
17:09
sales scenario. So the more complex it is, be
17:13
consultative, pretend you're a doctor, the more simple the
17:16
sales scenario is. Be straight to the point.
17:19
I don't beat about the Bush. You know who has time to waste?
17:24
Now with that in mind, we can now start discussing some of the
17:27
differences between urban and rural settings, the difference
17:32
between city and Township, the difference between selling in
17:36
Abuja central area and maybe selling in Maraba or warehouse
17:43
or yeah, OK, no Maraba and yeah, that's still Township.
17:47
I'll be how will I put it now, difference between selling in in
17:52
Victoria Island versus selling in Ikorodu.
17:55
I know that Ikorodu is still Township, but I mean, I hope you
17:57
guys get what it is I'm trying to say.
17:59
So now start looking at some of those differences.
18:02
But remember, the overriding principle first of all would be
18:05
how simple is the situation? How simple or how complex is
18:09
this selling situation? Then let's see.
18:14
Oh, sorry, the rain didn't turn out to be as hot as I thought.
18:17
Sorry, one moment. Let me just wind down the
18:18
window. I'll be back.
18:22
OK, I'm back. I just had to wind down the
18:24
windows because was getting hot in the car.
18:25
The rain didn't rain didn't fall like I thought it was going to
18:29
fall. So where were we?
18:32
So now that we've looked at the principle, which is how simple
18:35
or how complex, when I would start looking at differences
18:36
between urban and rural settings.
18:39
So First off, income, we'll have to look at that or purchasing
18:44
behavior. By the way, as we're talking
18:46
about these things, I hope you realize that we're just making
18:48
some simple assumptions. So I'm as I'm just assuming
18:51
because it's possible that somebody who is in the village
18:55
can be, you know, a guaranteed odogo, as in the guy has like
18:59
box like plenty of money. But then the person who is
19:02
staying in the village. So a person who is staying in
19:04
Township can be broke as hell because yes, these things
19:07
happen. You know, like back when I
19:10
schooled in Iffair, there are lots of people who have country
19:13
villas in Iffair. They build, you know, because
19:17
ordinarily you say Iffair is a small town or some parts of Ilay
19:20
fair. You will say it's village,
19:22
village setting, but somebody who is a certified big boy, you
19:26
know, somebody who has lived in America, was worked with WHO,
19:31
UNICEF, you know, all these things, you know, and you know,
19:33
they come back to retire and then they build a nice Chateau
19:38
or build a nice, you know, whatever it is, you call it
19:40
holiday residence, you know. So now one is still is rural
19:43
setting. Abbey is village setting.
19:45
But in that case, the person has bar, the person has serious bar.
19:49
So you can see that why I say it's not a matter of, you know,
19:53
urban versus rural. We have to be thinking of some
19:55
things on a small, small level, figure out the principles first.
20:00
So I'm making some assumptions here.
20:01
So ordinarily now urban areas and rural settings, there's a
20:06
difference in income, there's a difference in purchasing
20:11
behavior or disposable income. You know, those are trying to
20:13
say that all things being equal, normally people in Township,
20:17
they have more money. Now people in the village,
20:20
please, when I talk like this, I am not trying to say that people
20:23
in the village are not are less than or not equal to people in
20:28
Township. I'm not trying to say that
20:31
people in village are lesser than or lower status or so.
20:34
Please do not quote me out of context whenever I talk about
20:37
these things. I'm just trying to talk about
20:39
socio economic realities. It is what it is.
20:44
I'm not saying that people in Township are better than people
20:46
in the village. Please, nobody should misquote
20:48
me. So on the normal level, people
20:52
who live in city center have more money to waste than people
20:57
who live at home in the village. So because of that, because of
21:05
that, now when you're dealing with urban people at the price
21:11
conscious in a way, but not in a very drastic way like somebody
21:15
in town can be thinking that the difference between something
21:20
that cost 2005 and the thing that cost 2008, for somebody in
21:25
the in the Township, that's not a problem. 2000 and five, 2008,
21:28
yeah, it's not really, it's not really a big deal.
21:32
So let me just take the offer to it.
21:34
Maybe because it tastes better or it smells better.
21:36
But for somebody who is in the village, the difference between
21:39
2005 and 2008 is a big deal. Most likely they will pick the
21:43
1425 because the person in the village is thinking or more
21:46
which one is most affordable or which one will meet my basic
21:50
needs. And because of that,
21:52
surprisingly, village people are very brand conscious.
21:57
So in town you can introduce a new brand of soap and this and
22:00
this and that and that. And you know, a Township person,
22:02
that's OK, let me try this, your new soap.
22:05
But in the village, no, that's not the case.
22:07
If in that village they've been using or more for the last three
22:09
generations and always all they know, you best believe that if
22:13
they go to the market, all they will buy is Omo.
22:17
Because money is gas. They don't have money to waste.
22:20
They don't want to F up and buy a brand of soap and at the end
22:23
of the day, the soap will not now come and be washing as good
22:25
as what they're used to. So surprisingly village people
22:29
can be brand conscious, loyal because money is gas.
22:35
They're just trying to meet their basic needs so they will
22:37
stick to the brand that they know, which is the reason why
22:41
when people are launching new soap, new butter, new whatever,
22:45
you launch it in Township first. You launch it in the city first.
22:49
Let the thing gain some currency there.
22:52
Let the thing be around for a while, you know, build some
22:55
notoriety before the thing can now start spreading to villages.
22:59
Small, small, small then. OK, so that's one of the
23:03
differences now in income or yeah, in income purchasing
23:08
behaviour, how people buy disposable income.
23:11
Then they also have some preferences in in the urban
23:15
sector, urban centers in Township.
23:18
People don't mind modern retail and diverse options.
23:21
You know much is the whole thing about soap.
23:24
I say soap, soap, soap and biscuit and all what not.
23:28
You know, you walk in there and you know, it's crazy.
23:32
Like you walk into a place like Grand Square, you go to the to
23:38
the detergent section, you can walk to like 25 different kinds
23:42
of soap. I mean, for me, The thing is
23:43
overwhelming. Like I just want to wash
23:45
clothes. I mean, so many brands.
23:49
It's overwhelming. But that's what you do in urban
23:52
setting. Kill them with options.
23:56
Try and make things as convenient as possible.
23:58
Do you have foreign goods? Show it.
24:00
Try and be aspirational, you know.
24:02
So put one more there, no problem.
24:04
But next to all more you also put what are these foreign
24:07
brands now? OK, Ariel is not foreign anymore
24:11
because we have Ariel. Let's see what else and but you
24:15
understand what I mean. So you put one more there, you
24:18
put Ariel there, then the washing up liquid for France,
24:22
you put it there. The one from Belgium, put it
24:24
there, the one from America, put it there.
24:26
Just keep them with options, let them choose.
24:28
That's what you do in the Township.
24:30
But then when it comes to rural areas, it's all about
24:32
essentials, essential goods, essential services.
24:36
So in the rural areas, you put Omo and you put what?
24:41
Again? There'll be Omo, there'll be
24:45
geek, Geek is beach. And once again, as in straight
24:50
to the .23 brands, straight to the point.
24:52
Let them come in, see price, buy and then leave.
24:55
Then in urban centres, the marketing strategies are
25:00
different. You can do for urban centres,
25:03
you can do digital first influencer campaigns.
25:06
You can try and use social trends to sort of social trends,
25:10
yes, social media trends in your marketing and advertising, you
25:13
know, things like that. But then when it comes to rural
25:16
areas, your marketing strategies are going to be built around
25:18
affordability, reliability, you know, affordability, you know,
25:22
is this thing cost effective reliability, this thing that
25:24
you're going to buy, will it get the job done?
25:26
Is it going to break down? Is it going to work?
25:28
You know, things like that. Then of course, you focus on
25:30
traditional driven media. That's one thing I found really,
25:34
really interesting. That's back when I was in uni
25:38
university, there was a session I was organized by, I think back
25:43
then they used to be called Equinet, I think was Equinet
25:46
wireless. And so the session where the
25:48
person was in charge of their marketing was talking about how
25:50
the broke into Northern Nigeria. So not equinet 9 mobile, yes, 9
25:57
mobile I heard so how they broke into northern Nigeria.
26:00
And I'm surprised to hear the organ of marketing talking about
26:04
how for them, radio was a key tool for penetrating the North.
26:09
And I was shocked. I said radio.
26:12
I mean, now things are much more, much more modern, you
26:15
know. But you know, back then, that's
26:17
the thing about modernity. Whenever you're living in a
26:19
time, you think you're living in the modern ages.
26:22
So even back then, no, as a young university, somebody,
26:29
Abby, wasn't in secondary school.
26:30
No, no, more like university. I was thinking, how can somebody
26:34
say that you're launching a product and you're using radio
26:36
in this day and age? And the guy broke it down for
26:39
us. You know, they did the normal
26:41
campaigns that you needed to do. Social media was not really a
26:44
thing then, you know, Yes, there was Facebook, you know, so they
26:47
did all the other stuff. But they had a problem cracking
26:51
the North was not until somebody on the team said, look, we're
26:54
trying to crack the North. And, you know, radio is a big
26:58
thing in the North. They say, Are you sure?
27:00
They say yes. And so they tried it and then
27:02
they cracked it. They cracked the code because up
27:04
north, lots of people still listen on radio.
27:08
And when the guy put it like that, I was like, OK, kind of
27:10
makes sense because, you know, for cultural reasons, I don't
27:14
know, maybe you're about people don't carry radio up and down.
27:15
But I heard stories about my grandfather and how he used to
27:20
listen to the radio early in the morning.
27:22
And then, you know, how some people have this thing of what's
27:25
it called, you know, this Voice of Nigeria, this Voice of
27:29
Nigeria, this Voice of Africa, BBC and all these other radio
27:33
programs that transmits and in the House of language and then
27:36
things like that. So there are lots of people that
27:38
do the radio thing. And so radio advertising was one
27:41
way that they used to break into the northern market.
27:44
And I thought, wow, interesting. Interesting.
27:48
So there's still a space for traditional, traditional media.
27:53
And by the way, that's the reason why I'm doing this
27:55
experiment with my own radio show.
27:57
So don't forget, at the end of a year, I'll come and let you guys
27:59
know that. OK, I've been doing this radio
28:01
thing for a year. This is how it panned out.
28:02
You know, this is what has been good or this is what has been
28:05
bad. So what was I?
28:11
Yeah, I lost my train of thought anyway, so I was talking about
28:15
marketing strategies now for urban and then rural areas.
28:19
But when it comes to rural areas, your marketing has to be
28:23
community driven. You know, you have to try and,
28:26
excuse me, you have to try and achieve a certain level of trust
28:29
then. So these are sorts of things
28:33
that we're trying to juggle. So in other words, if you're in
28:39
a rural setting, right, don't just think, OK, these are
28:43
villagers. Let me just come in here and
28:44
bamboozle them. Now that's that's not good.
28:47
If you're in the village setting, ask yourself, is this
28:50
simple or complex? If it is simple, then go ahead,
28:53
bamboozle them. But by the way, I really do not
28:58
advocate for those kinds of things.
28:59
You should respect our customers all the time and we should deal
29:02
with people as if they're human beings.
29:04
This is not a good idea to go out, right people, just because
29:10
you feel as if, you know, you're a fine boy, you're a sharp girl,
29:13
or you're educated and you know, they are plebeians, you know,
29:16
they are low class or whatever. Social history people will
29:18
respect. But if it's a simple sales
29:21
scenario, then yes, you can go get straight to the point and,
29:23
you know, just get in, get out. But if it is complex, even if
29:28
you're in the village setting, you have to ask yourselves, how
29:31
many parties are we dealing here?
29:33
What is the subject matter? How long is this sales cycle
29:36
going to be? You know, stuff like that.
29:39
So if you're dealing with complex parties, don't rush.
29:41
If you're sorry, if you're dealing with multiple parties,
29:43
don't rush. Slow things down.
29:45
Figure out the figure out the DMU, that's decision making
29:48
unit, how people come into decisions.
29:50
Like I've told you this whole thing of buying land, that is
29:52
why buying land, this land issue causes problem in Lagos and
29:57
those areas. And then also in, you know, some
30:01
areas where we still have some, you know, traditional values,
30:03
you know, Ben Ray, NASAR, Teraba all decide this why land can
30:07
cause serious problem. You will go there, the person
30:09
will say this is my land. You will agree you transfer
30:13
money. After you transfer, by the time
30:15
you come and lay block, people will now show up and say we are
30:17
sons of the soil. The problem is not that the guy
30:21
was shady. Maybe the guy was shady.
30:22
But The thing is you did not do the research.
30:25
You did not try and figure out the decision making unit.
30:29
You did not try and figure out the number of parties to the
30:32
deal. It is your problem.
30:34
It is your fault. You didn't ask some questions
30:37
now, OK, yes, I like the land, the everything.
30:39
I can see the sea of old blah, blah, blah.
30:42
But Bros, you know, normally you know where Nigerians now.
30:46
So when these kind of things are about to happen, you know, you
30:50
know, normally they inform family head or inform this or
30:53
that that that. I mean, so like, has that been
30:56
done or is that your boost culture?
30:58
Is that how you do things in this part of the world?
31:00
As in you ask, ask yourself, You said OK, we've done, we're going
31:07
to go and meet the Yes, we've spoken with the family head.
31:10
All is good. Everything or whatnot, you know,
31:12
you also stylishly, you know, try and be wise now it's OK.
31:16
Oh, no problem. No problem.
31:18
I'll transfer the money on Wednesday.
31:20
But you know what? I'm coming into town again on
31:24
Monday. When I come, just take me, let
31:26
me go and greet Baba. I just want to go and tell him
31:27
thank you. This is part of your
31:29
investigation. You're trying to shine your
31:31
eyes. You're trying to see what's up.
31:32
This one level of a buyer, you know, so try and figure out the
31:38
number of parties once is a village something.
31:42
Then if this is a complex something, you have to be
31:47
consultative, pretend to be a doctor, you have to be
31:49
educational. You have to let these people
31:51
know exactly what it is they're they're buying.
31:54
Some of you saying I'm over dramatizing this thing, but I'm
31:56
not because you will know that I have done some work with people
32:01
in the alternative energy space, in the solar space.
32:04
And surprisingly for me, surprisingly, because I would
32:07
have thought, you know, massive solar projects will start in the
32:12
city. But surprisingly there are some
32:13
companies that are breaking into rural areas, especially rural
32:18
areas that are built around certain industries.
32:20
Like let's say for instance, around that kind of Bini area,
32:23
you know, maybe where people do a heavy into palm oil and then
32:26
things like that. You know, solar companies are
32:29
going into their place and saying, you know what, we can
32:31
power up this whole village. We can create a so, so, so, so
32:34
megawatts, you know, something, something power station that
32:37
will generate so, so, so MW for this factory and then we'll be
32:41
able to connect the rest of the village with agreed.
32:44
And you know, blah, blah, blah. So all these things are going
32:46
on. So you have complex products
32:49
that are being sold in the rural setting.
32:52
It happens. Don't say that because they're
32:55
villagers. There's no market for solar.
32:59
Like I said, you and myself are surprised because you have all
33:02
these companies. Sun is this sun king?
33:04
I be solar king or something. You know, they're they're doing
33:09
big things in the in the rural areas anyway.
33:14
What was that? So subject matter.
33:17
So you have to be educational. So because it's solar and you
33:21
know, villagers might not understand, even educated people
33:23
self, it takes us a while before we understand what's going on.
33:26
You know, you're talking about solar panels, you're talking
33:28
about kilowatts, you're talking about photo vacuities and this
33:32
and this and that and that. So even for we educated people,
33:36
it's quite a bit. So even for the in the village,
33:39
you know, you have to break things down.
33:40
When you go to go and see Oba to discuss with Oba why this thing
33:44
might be good for the community, you have to break it down.
33:46
You have to make presentation to council of elders.
33:50
I say council of elders. What do you call it?
33:52
The ruling council or the elders, You know, break it down.
33:58
I pretend you're a doctor. Go and educate people.
34:02
And then the sales cycle for complex things will take long.
34:04
So don't rush. Don't assume that you will come
34:08
into the village January 1st and then you sell them on the plan
34:13
for solar by January 15th and then you go back to the city.
34:15
No, no, no, no, no, no. They're going to take your time.
34:18
This is a complex something lots of people are going to have to
34:21
decide. It's not just all bad that will
34:23
decide because the installation, the thing that you will install
34:26
the whatever it is that useful that people you know make all
34:30
these your big, big machines. It has to be on somebody's land
34:32
now or on communal land in all these things will happen now.
34:36
The person's land that you are going to colonize to put the
34:39
machinery on the person will need to be compensated like
34:42
discussions will have to will have to happen now.
34:46
So one note of warning though, Township, small time Township
34:54
and village setting, they're being on trust.
34:59
If you try and come and bamboozle your way in one
35:01
community, you will burn your credibility.
35:05
Seriously. You will not become persona non
35:07
grata in the other communities. Persona non grata just means do
35:12
not give this guy access. Do not allow this guy to come.
35:14
Do not allow this babe to come. If you go and you sell in the
35:18
first community, you just use muzzle, you bamboozle them.
35:22
You, you know, you get the deal done.
35:26
You're feeling like you want something.
35:28
Maybe you want something. But the other villages, they're
35:31
now aware. They've now heard your name
35:33
because everybody know about how Tavishima went to village A.
35:38
This is what they did. And people in village A are
35:40
crying. The word will spread fast.
35:43
By the time you get to village B, your reputation has started
35:46
preceding you. Small, small.
35:48
So I really don't think it's worth it.
35:49
Don't burn your credibility when it comes to these sorts of
35:56
thing. Positive word of mouth really,
35:58
really helps when we come to, especially when we're dealing
36:02
with, well, let's say provincial towns, rural settings, you know,
36:09
things like that. So OK, 36 minutes.
36:14
Let me see. OK, let me wrap this up quickly.
36:16
So let's see some other random thoughts.
36:17
I made notes of some things. So OK, of course, we already
36:20
discussed product and pricing. So in the urban areas that you
36:25
bring out your premium product show, be diverse, be
36:28
aspirational, show them everything.
36:30
This is from Sweden, this is from Germany, this is from
36:33
Mogadishu, this is from, as you just put it all there, show
36:36
everything, every, every, every, every.
36:38
And then also you can do bundles in urban areas and try and put
36:43
people in loyalty programs because you're trying to
36:45
maximize customer lifetime value.
36:47
In other words, you're trying to make sure that somebody who buy
36:49
today, buy next month, buy in six months, keep buying over and
36:53
over and over again. But there's a limit to how much
36:56
your loyalty program will work in the village because apart
37:00
from essential things that they need like Omo and soap that they
37:03
keep buying over and over again, OK, school uniform for the kids,
37:07
foods to eat, what else? All those sorts of things,
37:12
there's very little chance that they're going to be locked into
37:14
any kind of loyalty program. So those of us who stay in the
37:18
city, sure, no problem. You know, we'll buy Netflix and
37:23
we'll continue to do Netflix and roll it over and roll it over
37:26
and roll it over. You know, because we have
37:27
disposable income in the village.
37:30
Maybe somebody might save up and do Netflix for like one month
37:34
and you know, enjoy himself. And after that he now terminates
37:39
the Netflix subscription because it's not a it's not an essential
37:42
something. So these are some of the things
37:44
that we talk about. So, so many things to consider.
37:48
So if you're in the urban area, yeah, be aspirational, show them
37:52
everything, give them plenty of choice.
37:55
If you're in the village setting, you know, show them
37:57
what's affordable or what's essential and make sure that
38:00
these things that are local, sorry, relevant to to their
38:05
locality. So, you know, I'm not saying you
38:09
can't sell flat screen TV's in the village because yes, you run
38:13
into an Adoco who has retarded the Village and you can sell the
38:16
flat screen TV. But generally, you know, all
38:18
these big multi what are they called?
38:21
Again, these TV's that connect to the Internet, smart TV's I
38:25
have so multimedia smart TV, modern flat screen this that
38:28
that that that chances are you're not going to be able to
38:31
sell a lot of that in the Village.
38:34
Then let's see what else what else?
38:38
What else? I already spoke about marketing,
38:42
how you have to do lots of digital and social media in with
38:47
your selling in urban areas in Township, in the big city, then
38:54
let's see. OK, but the selling in the
38:57
village community based events, those ones really, really,
39:00
really move. You know, you guys sponsor like
39:03
back when Mumsy worked with one of the telecommunications
39:07
outfits, I will say which one in particular that was one of the
39:11
strategies that they used to break into a certain part of the
39:13
country. They were sponsoring this
39:17
communications telecommunications company.
39:22
When I say telecom, I mean you know like MTN, Glue, you know
39:27
all these things. So this particular telecom was
39:32
sponsoring things like Village New York festivals, refurbishing
39:38
school, school classrooms, school complexes, you know,
39:42
because it's from doing small, small things like this, you
39:45
know, you sponsor New York festival, you do it like 2-3
39:47
years straight. By the time you say you want to
39:49
now put tower in the community, they will say, OK, these people
39:52
have been nice to us, they will listen to you.
39:53
You cannot put up your tower there.
39:55
And then rejuvenation school classrooms, you know, things
39:58
like that. So.
40:00
All that reputation management, community based marketing,
40:05
sponsorships, word of mouth, you know these things matter a lot.
40:12
When you're talking about village ship and all these small
40:16
small towns, then OK, one thing I haven't mentioned are payment
40:20
options. So when it comes to the urban
40:24
areas or city, give them a wide range of options.
40:27
Pay by card, pay by POS, do mobile money, you know, like
40:32
Momo, for instance, MTN Momo, I put it back to MTN.
40:36
So that's why I've heard of Momo.
40:38
I haven't used this SHA, but I've seen the app.
40:39
So MTN Momo transfer, you know, all kinds of things.
40:45
And then even them online payment gateways, you know, make
40:48
sure that you can receive payment on your website.
40:52
Make sure there's a seamless online experience when it comes
40:54
to payment. But as all for the city, for
40:59
city boys and city girls. Now when we come to village, on
41:02
the other hand, please keep it mainly cash.
41:07
Collect your cash for very obvious reasons.
41:10
If you go and buy something from any of my uncles in the village,
41:14
it's not as if they're trying to swap you.
41:17
It's just that you know, things happen.
41:19
You're going for village meeting.
41:20
Today is a market day. Or maybe you have to go and do
41:23
something on the farm. And then of course, light.
41:26
In my own part of of the world, light is useless.
41:30
As in useless as in since I've been going to Popsy's village
41:34
since I was an embryo up until now, I have only seen NEPA light
41:39
once in villa. That's how bad it is.
41:44
I've only seen it once any other time while doing something in
41:47
the village. We have to budget for generator.
41:50
But you know, it depends. My wife's village on the other
41:52
hand, oh boy, I was shocked. The first time we went there, I
41:56
saw Tad Rd. I see.
41:57
Is this somebody's village you say?
41:58
Yes, this village. I told my wife that you people
42:00
do not know what village is. This is not village.
42:03
You will have Tad Rd. you will have running water.
42:06
Everywhere I was looking, I could see DSTVI said this is not
42:09
village, that this is Township. Now, OK, maybe when your boy,
42:12
your father was a young boy, maybe it was a village.
42:14
But now this is not village again, this is Township.
42:18
So anyway, let's just say this village and this village, so
42:23
that kind of place. Now if you go and sell to my
42:25
uncle, you know, yeah, he will. Especially we sell on credit.
42:29
It's not that he's trying to cheat you, it's just that the
42:31
phone is dead. The phone is dead.
42:33
So he has gone to the market, You came.
42:35
So he has gone to farm. You came, you didn't meet him,
42:37
you didn't meet him. It's not he's trying to swab
42:39
you. The phone is not working.
42:41
So mainly cash when you're in these sorts of places, then
42:48
let's see, I know you know what we can keep on going and on and
42:51
on and on and on. But bottom bottom line is this,
42:54
remember that don't be thinking modern versus traditional, be
43:00
thinking simple versus complex. Then when you now decide whether
43:06
it is simple or is complex, the rest will now fall into place.
43:09
If it is complex but it's in the villa, pretend you're a doctor
43:13
and try and interact with these people like how doctors will
43:16
interact in a traditional setting.
43:21
So ask around, do some research because a lot depends on your
43:26
product, on your service, your industry, the culture, the
43:30
context. But ask around the other people
43:32
that have been selling in this community before you.
43:34
Just ask around and get some opinions and you should be fine
43:38
as long as you're thinking of things from a principled point
43:40
of view. And then please, please, please,
43:43
please, please, please, please, please, especially since in
43:45
Niger, you know, we respect money above all things when
43:49
we're trying to sell in this community is letting us just
43:51
assume that, OK, these people are useless.
43:53
You know, they no go school. You know, they're higher or
43:55
open. So because of that, we don't
43:56
respect them. Please, let's, let's, let's
43:58
respect everybody and especially for those of us Nigerians,
44:03
listen to this podcast. You know, some of you might not
44:07
accept, but you know that the reason why where you are today,
44:12
for most of us, it is not something that you achieved by
44:15
yourself. Sometimes it's just luck.
44:18
Like I did not determine who my father was and I did not
44:21
determine who my mother was. Honestly, it was luck.
44:25
I look at some of my cousins, I look at myself and the
44:28
difference honestly is just pure luck.
44:31
I was born to a father who's his father decided to educate him
44:35
and I was born to a mother that her own father and mother
44:39
decided to educate her. That's just the difference.
44:42
And then I ended up being a Township baby.
44:45
That's one of my cousins that are village babies are to be
44:49
honest, the difference between us.
44:50
That is just the difference. They just happened to be born to
44:56
a father and a mother who are on the village level.
45:00
I happened to be born to a mother and the father who are on
45:04
the Township level and who appreciated education and some
45:07
of the final things of life. So between me and my cousins,
45:10
that is just some of the biggest things that marked our
45:14
trajectory. So please, it's not as if we're
45:17
better than these people like it, especially Niger of today,
45:21
2025. You know, it's just, it is what
45:23
it is. Sometimes it's just down to that
45:28
simple look, of course, if you're born as a village boy, it
45:33
doesn't mean you can't improve yourself.
45:34
Because my mom and my dad, yes, they received education.
45:39
But of course, you know, they grew up in the village.
45:41
So was not just the fact that their parents had to educate
45:44
them and also because they had some ambition and some hostile
45:46
on their own. So yes, our village people can
45:49
increase their lot with some ambition, with some education,
45:53
they can increase their lot. But I'm just trying to say is
45:56
let us respect them because to be honest, any small mistake
46:03
that could have been us, we could have been the ones born in
46:06
the village and been there and then the Township people now be
46:10
looking at us as if we are nothing, as if we are useless.
46:16
So let's respect everybody, please, as we go about selling.
46:19
So that's it. And that's all for today.
46:21
Remember, if you'd love to connect, you can call, you can
46:23
SMS, you can WhatsApp me on 08064662140.
46:29
Thank you for your time and attention.
46:30
I'll catch you next time. Same place in your headphones or
46:33
in your speakers.