Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Boosting Sales with Shorter, Sharper WhatsApp Messages

Transcript

Boosting Sales with Shorter, Sharper WhatsApp Messages · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to the show. Apologies for the noise in the
• 0:04
  background, but I guess at this point you guys are used to it
• 0:07
  anyway, So let me just head straight into business.
• 0:11
  OK, So today on the show, I'd like us to do a live case study
• 0:15
  and we're going to look at how we can make our business
• 0:17
  messaging shorter and more effective.
• 0:21
  Now as usual, I'm going to be doing this on WhatsApp and I'm
• 0:24
  sure some of you are going to say WhatsApp again.
• 0:26
  And yes, it is WhatsApp again, because lots of us have access
• 0:32
  to WhatsApp, and so it's the default thing that lots of us
• 0:34
  are using to promote our businesses.
• 0:36
  And as usual, you know, I received a WhatsApp message
• 0:40
  today and that's kind of what inspired today's podcast
• 0:43
  episode. Now, why am I doing this?
• 0:47
  Apart from the fact that I received another WhatsApp
• 0:49
  message today, it's also because, OK, there are a couple
• 0:54
  of things that I'm trying to emphasize, a couple of gospels
• 0:57
  that I'm trying to preach. And one gospel is that most
• 1:00
  people are not reading messages. Most people are skimming
• 1:03
  messages. In fact, when I started off in
• 1:05
  wedding photography over 15 years ago, it's one thing that
• 1:07
  used to confuse me and I would like, it's one thing that used
• 1:10
  to frustrate me. You know, you talk to your
• 1:12
  bride, you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 1:13
  You know, some brides like to be, what's that word?
• 1:16
  I don't know, You know, that's some people that just want
• 1:18
  everything to be dotted and, or whatnot and they'll say sign
• 1:21
  contract. OK, no problem, we'll sign
• 1:23
  contract. They don't at the end of the
• 1:25
  day, they won't read. I'm like, but I said this thing
• 1:28
  to you. You said you read it clearly
• 1:31
  this provision was in here. And, you know, how come you're
• 1:35
  acting like you've never seen this thing before?
• 1:37
  Anyway, so after a while in my early business days, I just
• 1:40
  realized that, oh, OK, Nigerians don't read.
• 1:44
  I thought it was a Nigerian problem.
• 1:46
  But it turns out, you know, talking to other people because,
• 1:48
  you know, you have colleagues who are, you know, doing
• 1:51
  business in other parts of the world.
• 1:52
  You know, it turns out it's a universal thing.
• 1:54
  It's not as if people don't read or it's just that nowadays
• 1:57
  people are skimming. So you send them 10 pages,
• 2:00
  they'll just open it and then like, OK, they'll just fly
• 2:02
  through, fly through, flight through, flight through.
• 2:04
  If this thing catches their attention, then they'll know
• 2:07
  that oh, OK, no, we need to pay attention to this, but they'll
• 2:09
  just fly through like, OK, it looks good.
• 2:11
  And then put it. And then before you know it,
• 2:12
  they forget. So it's not as if people are
• 2:15
  becoming illiterate or anything. It's just that people are
• 2:18
  skimming now, especially online. You're sending WhatsApp, you're
• 2:22
  sending e-mail, you're sending whatever.
• 2:24
  Most people are skimming, they are not reading.
• 2:28
  And it is a universal problem. So just in case, you know,
• 2:32
  you're starting a business now and The thing is really, really
• 2:35
  frustrating. You, you know, don't worry the
• 2:37
  other people who have been frustrated before you and you
• 2:39
  know, it's not an emergency. The sky is not falling.
• 2:41
  You know, nothing is happening. People are just skimming.
• 2:45
  They're not reading. Skimming is when you just open
• 2:47
  the message and you just, you know, touch one or two pages,
• 2:50
  you know, bounce across 3 or 4 lines and then you just exit
• 2:53
  like, OK, I understand the message.
• 2:55
  So because many people are skimming messages, longer
• 2:58
  messages are not getting read in their entirety.
• 3:02
  Let me repeat, if you're in the habit of sending long messages,
• 3:05
  long messages are not getting read from top to bottom, you
• 3:10
  know, all the way complete. So if you're in the habit of
• 3:14
  sending long messages, please truncate that thing, truncate
• 3:18
  the message, and also truncate that habit of sending long
• 3:21
  messages. Also, I don't think lots of
• 3:24
  people have realized that messages should have stronger
• 3:27
  and more compelling calls to action.
• 3:29
  Now, this message that I received this morning did have a
• 3:32
  call to action and that was really good because a lot of you
• 3:34
  that are sending WhatsApp messages, you're not putting
• 3:36
  call to action. So there's something I want to
• 3:39
  stress, and this is it. Now, because my father was a
• 3:43
  journalist, Mumsy was in marketing communications.
• 3:47
  And then of course, you know their colleagues, you know them,
• 3:49
  them, you hang around all these people, you hear some stuff.
• 3:52
  I was able to get a very comfortable back row seats, you
• 3:56
  know, and see behind how some of these things are done.
• 3:58
  Because for the average person in Nigeria, you know, we go to
• 4:01
  school, they teach us English, they teach us, they teach us
• 4:03
  that, they teach us how to write.
• 4:05
  So the average person thinks if I have written this thing well,
• 4:09
  communication has taken place. Let me repeat the average
• 4:13
  Nigerian, because of the education we receive, we assume
• 4:16
  that I wrote this thing well. I used the right words, I used
• 4:21
  the right sentences. I was able to convey my thoughts
• 4:25
  eloquently. The Irish person assumes that if
• 4:28
  I do that, then communication has happened.
• 4:32
  But because I'm the son of a journalist and a form the son of
• 4:35
  a marketing communications professional hanging around in
• 4:39
  those circles, I was a little boy, I was able to learn that
• 4:42
  communication has not happened unless the person on the other
• 4:47
  end takes some action. So for people in the
• 4:51
  professional communication space, it is until somebody does
• 4:54
  one action, they will now know that they have communicated.
• 4:57
  So I say you're a marketer and Peter Obi is getting ready to
• 5:02
  run again. They hire you for the come for
• 5:03
  the campaign. Some of you might say we did a
• 5:07
  bastard marketing campaign, as in it was on fleek, like come
• 5:10
  and see the graphics, come and see this did that, come and see
• 5:13
  the everything that we did that it was on point.
• 5:17
  If people don't come out and vote for Peter Obie, then from a
• 5:21
  communications, a professional communication standpoint, they
• 5:24
  would say that no communication took place.
• 5:28
  Let me repeat, the average Nigerian will think I made solid
• 5:32
  graphics. We used correct video, we used
• 5:37
  words and messages and compelling stories and
• 5:39
  everything. But if nobody comes out to vote,
• 5:42
  then communication did not take place because no action
• 5:45
  happened. So for professional
• 5:47
  communicators, that is the hallmark.
• 5:49
  What action did somebody take after they received the message?
• 5:53
  So for folks like my father, who started off as a journalist,
• 5:58
  Radio Space, Prince, journalism, TV journalism, later on he would
• 6:02
  work with National Orientation Agency.
• 6:04
  I think that used to be called MAMSA, I think.
• 6:06
  Yeah, I think it used to be MAMSA before something for mass
• 6:09
  mobilization and something then anywhere's National Orientation
• 6:12
  Agency. So for those sorts of people, if
• 6:14
  you keep putting out public campaign after public campaign,
• 6:17
  OK, When I was a young boy growing up in Abuja, you know,
• 6:20
  lots of families from Benue state, Nasser, our state, OK,
• 6:23
  Well, there was no natural at the time, Musharra, Benue
• 6:25
  applaud to, you know, that whole area.
• 6:27
  And there's this thing that we do in our side.
• 6:30
  I mean, it's not good. But anyway, people used to do
• 6:34
  each other. That is when you want to clear
• 6:37
  farmland. Instead of using Hoan Kotlast to
• 6:39
  clear the farmland, you just set fire to the whole place.
• 6:42
  And then, of course, two people, when they want to hunt for Bush
• 6:45
  meat, you just set fire, fire to the whole place.
• 6:47
  So there's be lots of Bush burning going around.
• 6:49
  Back in those days, I mean, that used to cause chaos.
• 6:52
  In fact, this is my classmate. What's his name again?
• 6:56
  Coridi. Yeah, Coridi.
• 6:57
  So Coridi's house, it's Popsy's house.
• 7:01
  That's how Popsy's house burned to.
• 7:03
  Somebody set fire to clear farmland before you knew it.
• 7:05
  But the fire has entered their house.
• 7:08
  So that thing used to cause lots of problems.
• 7:10
  So as a young boy now growing up in Abuja in the 80s, you know,
• 7:13
  entering into 90s, there were all these campaigns about stop
• 7:17
  Bush burning, stop fire burning, stop fire burning.
• 7:20
  You know, if you want to clear farmland, use Kotlasa, who you
• 7:24
  know, all these kind of stop, stop, stop Bush burning.
• 7:28
  So for someone like my father, if you keep releasing all these
• 7:32
  campaigns and people are still burning Bush, then it means
• 7:35
  effective communication has not happened.
• 7:39
  The same thing with my mom, who would go on to be a marketing
• 7:42
  communications and professional. If you're running advertising
• 7:45
  campaigns and people are not buying, then communication has
• 7:48
  not taken place. I know I'm overflogging it, but
• 7:51
  I just want you guys to understand that it's not about
• 7:53
  how sweet or eloquent the word is or how tight the graphics or
• 7:57
  the whatever, But if we send the thing and nobody took action,
• 8:03
  from a professional point of view, communication has not
• 8:06
  taken place. You might feel like you've
• 8:08
  communicated something, but we, we didn't see, I mean, you, you
• 8:12
  didn't see any action at the end of it.
• 8:14
  Communication has not taken place.
• 8:16
  So the actions that people take, the responses that you see is
• 8:21
  the hallmark of effective communication.
• 8:25
  So please take that in mind. If you're sending WhatsApp
• 8:28
  broadcast messages and nobody's replying to say how much, how
• 8:33
  far, when can you deliver, when are you available?
• 8:36
  Where's your shop? Do you have it in black?
• 8:39
  Do you have it in green? Can you deliver to Sukoto?
• 8:41
  If you're not getting those kind of responses, then please just
• 8:44
  know you are not communicating then.
• 8:50
  So also another thing I'm trying to inspire is for people to have
• 8:52
  more problem based messaging or messaging around the UVP.
• 8:56
  That's the unique value proposition.
• 8:58
  Unique value population proposition.
• 8:59
  Big word, but it just means what is the main reason why people
• 9:02
  are buying from you? If you're dropping these kind of
• 9:06
  things, there are problems that you solve were the main reasons
• 9:08
  why people buy from you. It will peak curiosity in the
• 9:14
  ideal people that you want to reach.
• 9:17
  For instance, I was just with my wife, I know it was like 2 days
• 9:21
  ago and there was something on TV about sugar mommies.
• 9:25
  So my wife was like I said no, yes, no that sugar mommies.
• 9:28
  Now there's a big business in Nigeria.
• 9:30
  She started laughing. I said look seriously, it's a
• 9:31
  big business. You don't receive the emails,
• 9:33
  you say which emails said emails that say single lonely lady in
• 9:38
  Abuja looking for a friend willing to change your
• 9:42
  lifestyle, you know, something like that.
• 9:43
  All those messages my wife said, I said no, seriously, they send
• 9:46
  those messages. But of course, as far as I get
• 9:49
  them, I delete, you know, spam, you know, everything.
• 9:51
  So there was no, no proof that I could show her.
• 9:57
  So just in case you know, you're wondering the sugar mommy
• 10:00
  business in Nigeria, there is, it's alive, it's thriving.
• 10:04
  Not that I patronize, you know, I'm not a customer, but it's
• 10:08
  thriving. So those people now look at how
• 10:11
  they send their messages. They don't send blankets or
• 10:13
  texts, they just send Looking for single Abuja big girl in
• 10:20
  sorry, single, I'll just put it again, Looking for single mature
• 10:24
  lady friend in Abuja question mark, you know, that kind of
• 10:27
  thing. You can see now that they're
• 10:31
  heading straight to that is problem based messaging so that
• 10:34
  people who are looking for mature Single Ladies in Abuja,
• 10:40
  you know, once they see the message, you know, but as in
• 10:44
  their brain will just lock in. So and of course, unique value
• 10:48
  proposition there is that you know, you render a service to
• 10:51
  single Abuja lady and then your life gets changed.
• 10:54
  She transfer you dollars as if you think that's your thing.
• 10:58
  By the way, I hope there are no children listening to this
• 10:59
  broadcast. OK, I should have given a
• 11:01
  warning. OK, you know what, Let me just
• 11:03
  end this example here just in case you're listening and your
• 11:07
  child happens to be listening as well.
• 11:08
  But show what I'm just trying to say is that that was a crude
• 11:10
  example, but you can see that it is very direct.
• 11:13
  It's very straight to the point. The UVP is clear.
• 11:17
  The problem that they're solving is clear.
• 11:19
  The person who sees it and who is into that kind of thing, we
• 11:22
  click it immediately and understand I will now WhatsApp
• 11:26
  or click or reply e-mail or whatever.
• 11:29
  So those are also ways of making our messaging much more
• 11:34
  effective. So I think that's just the
• 11:35
  gospel that I'm trying to preach nowadays.
• 11:37
  Pretty much when it comes to WhatsApp, don't let it be too
• 11:39
  long. People are not reading, people
• 11:43
  are skimming. Then when you send the message,
• 11:47
  don't congratulate yourself because there's some of you who
• 11:50
  will broadcast and sent to 5000 people.
• 11:53
  You now congratulate yourself and say that OK, today I have
• 11:56
  done work. You broadcast to 5000 people,
• 11:59
  but nobody took action on anything or any action you would
• 12:04
  like. Then you have done nothing.
• 12:07
  In other words, you send 5000 messages.
• 12:10
  First week of January 5000, second week of January 5000,
• 12:13
  third week of January 5000, fourth week of January.
• 12:16
  Don't congratulate yourself and say that you sent X number of
• 12:20
  messages. If after sending all those
• 12:23
  messages people did not respond to say are you available?
• 12:29
  How much? Where's your shop?
• 12:31
  Can you deliver to Umuahia? Do you have this thing in green
• 12:36
  size or do you have the one that comes from Bangladesh?
• 12:41
  OK, then let's see what else. Then of course, use problem
• 12:45
  statements and include the unique value proposition so that
• 12:49
  the people who you're trying to reach, when they see it, they
• 12:51
  will just you will just click one time.
• 12:54
  Don't understand. OK, so we're going to do this
• 12:57
  case study now. We're using the WhatsApp message
• 12:59
  that was sent to me real time. I received this thing this
• 13:02
  morning, was sent to me by a business person.
• 13:05
  The business person is not a listener of the podcast.
• 13:07
  Her name is Zanani. I know she won't mind me
• 13:10
  mentioning that because I'm also going to promote our business at
• 13:13
  the end of the day because I think what she's doing is
• 13:15
  really, really great for those of you who are Lagos based.
• 13:18
  So I think you guys should check out.
• 13:20
  And then it's also a real problem because like back when
• 13:23
  wifey and I were in the old, in the old house, because now we're
• 13:26
  currently in the new house, you know, we don't have a house
• 13:30
  girl, no house girl, no house boy.
• 13:32
  So everything is up to both of us.
• 13:34
  So we also tried some of these solutions trying to get shopping
• 13:37
  done at home and things like that.
• 13:38
  So it's, it's a real need basically, let me just put it
• 13:41
  that way. So Zenani is someone I met while
• 13:44
  filming a documentary for the British Council on sustainable
• 13:48
  Business in Nigeria. Oh yes, by the way, you heard me
• 13:50
  correctly. Yes, I have gotten rid of the
• 13:54
  photography, wedding photography business.
• 13:56
  But corporate money is sweet. So whenever corporate
• 13:59
  organizations call me, you know, I, I show up and I get it done,
• 14:03
  especially for video projects like documentaries, because
• 14:05
  documentaries are, are fun. So yes, I am a business
• 14:10
  consultant, but in my past life, I used to carry camera.
• 14:14
  So if the money is right, I am not opposed to carrying camera
• 14:17
  again. But you know, that's just the
• 14:20
  sighting. So I know that's how Zenani and
• 14:22
  I got in touch. The British Council have this
• 14:25
  thing on sustainable business. It's a program that they have
• 14:28
  that is aimed at entrepreneurial development and then knowledge
• 14:31
  and cultural exchange between Nigeria and the UK.
• 14:34
  So people who took part in the program got some training here,
• 14:37
  you know, received some, you understand, received some
• 14:40
  facilitation, went to the UK, received some training, also
• 14:44
  received some facilitation. Let me not talk too much and
• 14:47
  then came back here. So that's the good of the
• 14:50
  program. By the way, in case you haven't
• 14:52
  figured it out, one reason why I talk about them a lot on the
• 14:56
  podcast is because I really do think that they're an
• 14:58
  organization that is doing real good for Nigerian Youth, British
• 15:02
  Council. Then they try for us, whether
• 15:04
  it's entrepreneurial development, whether it's gender
• 15:07
  based violence, whether it's women empowerment, whether it's
• 15:12
  what else, improving the value chain in agriculture or
• 15:18
  whatever. As in they try.
• 15:20
  I have to hand it to them, hopefully one day in Nigeria, we
• 15:24
  will have that kind of organization that will also be
• 15:27
  trying for people in other parts of the world.
• 15:32
  Like I hear now that things are rough in Niger.
• 15:34
  That's all just that I'm here. So it wouldn't be bad if Nigeria
• 15:38
  has some kind of organizations that is doing good stuff in
• 15:41
  Niger and other places that could use the help of the Big
• 15:45
  Brother. Anyway, let me go back to the
• 15:48
  the main, the main thing. So documentary work.
• 15:50
  Now that's how me and Zanani met and you know, she she's a
• 15:53
  correct babe. Our business is doing all right
• 15:55
  and I definitely endorse and I support her business.
• 16:00
  So only this is the message that she broadcast to everybody saw
• 16:03
  me. I received it.
• 16:04
  So the message went like this. Happy Sunday fam.
• 16:08
  We hope you're having a restful and beautiful day.
• 16:11
  Remember, good food makes every moment better and we've got you
• 16:15
  covered at Me Best Foods. We sell clean, neatly packaged
• 16:20
  foodstuffs at affordable prices. We also offer goat meat and cow
• 16:25
  sharing, ensuring you get fresh, quality meat without stress.
• 16:29
  Plus, we ship abroad with doorstep delivery, so you have
• 16:33
  nothing to worry about. Add us on WhatsApp to place your
• 16:36
  orders and ensure a seamless shopping experience.
• 16:39
  Don't forget to refer us to a friend.
• 16:43
  Quality food deserves to be shared.
• 16:46
  Thank you for trusting us always.
• 16:48
  Again, let me repeat Abby re read the message.
• 16:53
  Happy Sunday fam, We hope you're having a restful day.
• 16:55
  A restful and beautiful day. Remember, a good food makes
• 16:59
  every moment better and we've got you covered.
• 17:01
  At me Best Foods. We sell clean, neatly packaged
• 17:04
  foodstuffs at affordable prices. We also offer goat meat and cow
• 17:09
  sharing, ensuring you get fresh quality meat without stress.
• 17:12
  Plus, we ship abroad with doorstep delivery, so you have
• 17:16
  nothing to worry about. Add us on WhatsApp to place your
• 17:20
  orders and enjoy a seamless shopping experience.
• 17:23
  Don't forget to refer us to a friend.
• 17:27
  Quality food deserves to be shared.
• 17:29
  Thank you for trusting us always.
• 17:31
  So that's the message that she sent.
• 17:33
  Now, my initial reaction when I saw it was I like the message
• 17:37
  because I think it's kind of I like it.
• 17:41
  Let me just put it that way. But of course, you guys know
• 17:44
  that every single time I read a WhatsApp message over here on
• 17:47
  the show, my initial thing is, you know, can we cut this thing
• 17:50
  down? Because even though I like the
• 17:52
  message, to be honest, the message was a two or three
• 17:55
  finger, 2 finger flip, 2-3 finger flips.
• 18:00
  Remember what I said when you're reading this message on the
• 18:02
  laptop, you know, one screen will be OK, but most people are
• 18:05
  reading on their phone. So flip, flip.
• 18:08
  And in my own opinion, we should reduce the number of flip that
• 18:10
  somebody has to do to read your message.
• 18:12
  If somebody can open it one time and get the gist and then carry
• 18:16
  out the action, all good. If the person opens and the
• 18:20
  person has to do 1 flip, OK, no problem.
• 18:23
  But in my own opinion, by the time we're doing 456 flip, I
• 18:26
  mean, let's face it, who's going to be doing flip, flip, flip,
• 18:28
  flip, flip to read your message? People have things to do, you
• 18:32
  know, children to attend, to work, to do build their
• 18:34
  business. What else?
• 18:39
  Go to the mechanic. You never know, people have all
• 18:42
  kinds of things to do. So my initial reaction was even
• 18:45
  though I loved the message I wanted to see we've been edited
• 18:47
  for length, make it puncture, puncture and then include a much
• 18:52
  more stronger and clearer call to action.
• 18:54
  So those were my initial, my initial reactions.
• 18:59
  So now as I was chilling because was I was in the car wash when
• 19:03
  this message came in, I said OK, let me just quickly just rewrite
• 19:06
  these things. So now I pulled out my keyboard
• 19:09
  and then just started drafting. Now this was my first draft and
• 19:12
  I wanted to use as many of her own words as possible.
• 19:14
  So me doing this was mostly, you know, delete this, delete this,
• 19:17
  maybe change this word. So now this is version one that
• 19:20
  I came up with. Remember what I said about
• 19:23
  unique value proposition and problem based statements and
• 19:25
  then all of that. So this is my own version.
• 19:28
  Do you need clean, neatly packaged foodstuffs at
• 19:31
  affordable prices? Are you interested in goat meat
• 19:35
  and cow sharing without stress delivered to your doorstep?
• 19:38
  Please add me best foods on our WhatsApp business line.
• 19:43
  Click here to place your orders. Of course, the click, you know,
• 19:47
  because WhatsApp generates that link where we WA dot media your
• 19:50
  phone number. So the moment somebody clicks
• 19:52
  that thing, they'll enter straight into your inbox.
• 19:55
  And by the way, for those of you who do QR codes in business,
• 19:58
  that is what I mean when I say stop using QR and sending people
• 20:02
  to your Instagram or sending people to your website QR so
• 20:06
  that when somebody does that QR thing, it will be this WA dot me
• 20:09
  link. You know it will just take them
• 20:11
  straight into your inbox because the goal is we're trying to get
• 20:14
  people to have conversations with us because it's from having
• 20:17
  conversations that will make money.
• 20:19
  OK, so again, let me read the version that I came up with.
• 20:24
  Some of you might not like it because it doesn't sound sexy,
• 20:26
  but The thing is, it's short and it's not A2 flip up.
• 20:29
  Do you need clean, neatly packaged foodstuffs at
• 20:32
  affordable prices? Are you interested in goat meat
• 20:35
  and cow sharing without stress delivered to your doorstep?
• 20:39
  Please add me Best Foods to our business line.
• 20:42
  Click here to place your order so you can see it's very short.
• 20:46
  Yes, I know it doesn't sound sexy, but it's short.
• 20:49
  The goal is we're trying to get people to read with their short
• 20:53
  attention spans and to take some to take some action.
• 20:56
  So for me, the call to action here was click here to place
• 20:59
  your order. So once they click, the thing
• 21:01
  will just go straight up into your WhatsApp inbox.
• 21:05
  So direct message. Oh, by the way, that's true.
• 21:08
  People that she's sending this to also have how how on
• 21:12
  WhatsApp. I see.
• 21:13
  Anyway, no problem Sharp. It's all good.
• 21:16
  Oh, by the way, me best foods is not me.
• 21:18
  It is Mee, so Mee and then best foods.
• 21:23
  But the me best is one word MEEBEST then foods in case you
• 21:28
  want to check out. So that was my own shorter
• 21:30
  version. So like I said, my goal in the
• 21:33
  edit now was to make this thing short so that people do not have
• 21:37
  to scroll to read. I don't want people to do flip
• 21:39
  flip to read the whole message. I just want like once you just
• 21:43
  want the screen open, everything is just on that one screen and
• 21:46
  you just use your eye glance it one time, but and then you can
• 21:50
  decide do I want gold meat or I don't want gold meat?
• 21:54
  Am I clicking or am I not clicking?
• 21:56
  Make it short, call to action clear so that people know what
• 22:00
  to do next. So that was my goal.
• 22:01
  Even though it's not sexy. But I thought about it now,
• 22:05
  yeah, even though it's short, it's not sexy.
• 22:09
  So I said, let me now throw this thing into Google Gemini.
• 22:13
  That's my own short version into Google Gemini.
• 22:16
  Now for those of you who bought your Android phones, I'm also an
• 22:19
  Android user, so don't worry, don't be ashamed.
• 22:21
  There are lots of us and besides, Android phones are
• 22:25
  quality phones too. So don't be ashamed if you're
• 22:26
  not an iPhone person. So if you bought your Android
• 22:29
  phone in 2024 or in 2025, in fact, maybe even late 2023, this
• 22:36
  thing that I just mentioned, Google Gemini is already on your
• 22:39
  phone. So no need to go and look for,
• 22:41
  no need to download anything. All you have to do is open up
• 22:44
  your phone. Most Android phones, whether
• 22:47
  it's Xiaomi or Techno or whatever, come with a folder
• 22:50
  that is labeled as Google. Go to that folder, click on it.
• 22:54
  Keep strolling until you see a white icon that has a blue star
• 22:57
  in it. The star only has four points,
• 23:00
  that is Google Gemini. It's already on your phone.
• 23:03
  So I took my short message. Now I just copied and pasted in
• 23:07
  Germany, and then I asked it for suggestions.
• 23:10
  Is there anything we can do to this message to make this
• 23:12
  message more effective? And then he gave me some
• 23:15
  suggestions and I said, well, he's OK.
• 23:18
  So I just said, OK, adopt the suggestions.
• 23:21
  Now just rendered the whole thing.
• 23:23
  Let me see. And so this is what Google
• 23:26
  Gemini Now came up with, not from her original messenger as
• 23:31
  my own shorter message. And this is what Google Gemini
• 23:34
  suggested. Google Gemini said Experience
• 23:38
  the convenience of fresh affordable groceries delivered
• 23:41
  to your doorstep. Enjoy hassle free meat sharing
• 23:45
  with our convenient delivery service.
• 23:47
  Order now and experience the me best foods difference.
• 23:52
  Place your order easily and then the link was there so you can
• 23:56
  see that this one is also short. It is also not A2 flipper as in
• 24:00
  once you open it you know you just see one time.
• 24:04
  Maybe I'm prejudice but to be honest I prefer my own shot.
• 24:07
  What do you guys think? But definitely, yes, the Google
• 24:10
  Gemini version, yeah, it sounds much more sexier.
• 24:13
  It sounds like what the marketing campaign should be.
• 24:15
  But then again, I'm not a marketer.
• 24:16
  I'm a sales person. I'm just trying to get results.
• 24:19
  I'm just trying to make money. So sometimes I sacrifice being
• 24:23
  as I would effective. Sometimes I don't care how sweet
• 24:28
  it looks if it gets me the results.
• 24:31
  So yes, this one is more sexy. Excuse me.
• 24:34
  Experience the convenience of fresh, affordable groceries
• 24:36
  delivered to your doorstep. Enjoy hassle free meat sharing
• 24:40
  with our convenient delivery service.
• 24:42
  Order now and experience the me Best Foods difference.
• 24:45
  Place your order easily then the link.
• 24:48
  Now the rationale that Google Germany gave me for changing my
• 24:52
  short message was this. It said that question statements
• 24:56
  are weaker and I'm curious like how can you say question
• 24:59
  statements is weaker and that by saying experience the blah blah
• 25:03
  blah that's stronger. But anyway, you never know and
• 25:06
  that when I said click here to place your orders that I was too
• 25:09
  bland and not interesting enough.
• 25:10
  Yeah, now and I agree because definitely, yeah, mine was maybe
• 25:14
  too short, maybe too straight to the point, not sexy enough.
• 25:17
  So this whole thing of how did it?
• 25:19
  OK, what did Germany say again? OK, order now and experience the
• 25:25
  me best food difference. Place your order easily, pop
• 25:29
  anything, put the link. So yeah, maybe that's more
• 25:31
  colourful way to do it. But then again, I am in sales
• 25:36
  and of course in sales, what we worry about is results.
• 25:40
  And a good sales person is not stubborn.
• 25:43
  So since sales is all about experimenting, it's all about
• 25:48
  iterating, it's all about taking feedback and it's all about
• 25:52
  doing whatever is the most effective thing to do in the
• 25:54
  moment to drive sales. Because in the past I've had
• 25:57
  business partners, you know, like my brother and then also I
• 26:00
  also, I was in business with my brother-in-law.
• 26:03
  If I put my own idea, my own idea, not make money, you
• 26:06
  brought your own idea and your own idea makes money, then by
• 26:09
  all means we will run with your own idea until it starts making
• 26:12
  us money because that's what we're all about, you know,
• 26:15
  sales. So it is the market, it is the
• 26:19
  user, it's the customer, it's the client that will tell us
• 26:23
  which one is the best. So I now contacted Zanani the
• 26:27
  business owner and I asked her, I told her OK, just join me in
• 26:30
  this experiment and she was down.
• 26:32
  So I said OK, these are the two versions.
• 26:33
  I send it to her, send these two versions out over different time
• 26:37
  intervals. And I'm curious, let us see
• 26:39
  which performs better. If her initial message that she
• 26:44
  sent performs better than the other two, I will let you guys
• 26:47
  know. Excuse me, but I suspect that
• 26:50
  the two ones that I came up with mine and ChatGPT, I suspect that
• 26:54
  they might work better if the char GPT, sorry, I said char
• 26:59
  GPT, Google Gemini, if the Google Gemini one works better
• 27:02
  than mine, I'll let you guys know.
• 27:04
  If mine works better, I'll let you guys know.
• 27:07
  But The thing is we're running the experiment and I want to see
• 27:09
  which one works better. By the way, for those of you who
• 27:15
  have active businesses now, not people who are listening to the
• 27:19
  show and thinking what business will I start as you have the
• 27:21
  business you have started. You see, this is how we actually
• 27:27
  do things. So it's not about, you know, my
• 27:30
  word is law. I'm the most experienced, I'm
• 27:32
  the most whatever you can come up with an idea, somebody else
• 27:35
  on your team might say, but organ, let's do like this.
• 27:38
  And you know, you have three or four options.
• 27:40
  You know, you test the one that wins at the end of the day is
• 27:44
  the one that is bringing in the most money or the right kind of
• 27:47
  clients. That's why you now double down
• 27:49
  on. So this is how it works.
• 27:52
  So she sent one message. I'm a friend of hers who is the
• 27:56
  consultant and I also nailed out over business matters.
• 27:59
  I came up with two and you see her approach, she's like sure,
• 28:02
  no problem. She was handed too at the end of
• 28:05
  the day because she was, she's a businesswoman.
• 28:07
  You know, Lagos babe, at the end of the day is the one that is
• 28:10
  bringing in the most money that she will continue.
• 28:12
  So that is the right attitude. So regardless of how the
• 28:17
  experiment turns out, like I said at the beginning of today's
• 28:19
  episode, I'm trying to inspire a few things.
• 28:22
  And those of you who've been listening to my podcast for a
• 28:24
  while #1 be brave enough to try shorter messages and increase
• 28:28
  the chances that people are going to read your messages.
• 28:32
  Because to be honest, 20 years ago people are not reading.
• 28:36
  And I bet you today people are not reading.
• 28:38
  People are skimming. Then I'm also trying to inspire
• 28:43
  this whole thing of, look, culture action is really
• 28:45
  important. Spend time and think about it.
• 28:48
  She clearly want people to see that message and then to add
• 28:54
  them. Sorry, add her WhatsApp, Abby
• 28:57
  add her business WhatsApp to their comment and also to place
• 29:00
  orders. You can say that's deliberate
• 29:03
  thinking. Although in my own opinion, I
• 29:06
  just cut out that first part about adding, adding to the
• 29:09
  WhatsApp business. Because if you click on the link
• 29:12
  and you go to the business, by the time you do one or two
• 29:16
  interactions and the thing kind of makes sense, you will store
• 29:19
  the number anyway. So that is why I prioritized.
• 29:22
  Click here to place your order. So call to action really
• 29:26
  important. Stop sending out broadcast
• 29:29
  message and you did not put call to action.
• 29:32
  What is the point? Please think about it.
• 29:37
  Then the final thing that ought to inspire hopefully is that you
• 29:43
  guys do not have to brainstorm alone.
• 29:46
  So 1520 years ago, in fact, forget 1520 years ago when my
• 29:51
  Popsy was starting to sell cement in the 80s.
• 29:56
  If you are brainstorming, we brainstorming you alone.
• 29:58
  It was just it would have been him and MMC sitting down and be,
• 30:02
  you know, trying to come up with ideas.
• 30:03
  OK, what do you think? What do you think?
• 30:06
  Luckily, times have changed because of WhatsApp and social
• 30:11
  media, we now have access to other people, you know, friends
• 30:15
  just like me and Zinani, just like, you know, we're now
• 30:18
  friends. You don't have access to friends
• 30:20
  easily. You can say, oh, this person is
• 30:22
  a consultant or this person is a business net.
• 30:24
  You can now send the person a message.
• 30:26
  You can, you know, ask one or two things if you don't have
• 30:29
  people like that in your circle. I've told you that Gemini is
• 30:32
  already on your phone. This phone that you're using to
• 30:34
  listen to this podcast. ChatGPT is if you're an iPhone
• 30:39
  person, I think on iPhone it's Copilot that is on your phone
• 30:44
  and Copilot uses ChatGPT to do all the Gisbaum not you know,
• 30:50
  the AI tool does. So whether you're an iPhone user
• 30:55
  or you're an Android user, this thing is already here on your
• 30:58
  phone. These AI tools are here and can
• 31:01
  help with basic brainstorming and basic copywriting.
• 31:04
  Like you can see, I took one version, I used my mind, I made
• 31:08
  it shorter. I now used my own short version,
• 31:12
  threw it into Gemini. I came up with another version.
• 31:16
  Some of you asked me the question which one is the best
• 31:18
  to use and my own opinion is stop bothering yourselves with
• 31:21
  that question. It isn't.
• 31:22
  There's nothing, just this fascination.
• 31:24
  I don't know where this fascination comes from.
• 31:25
  It's like back in my wedding photography days, people will be
• 31:27
  asking me which is the best camera?
• 31:28
  Like what the hell? Like what does it have to do
• 31:31
  with anything? Take the camera that you have.
• 31:33
  Take the camera that you can afford.
• 31:35
  Go and learn how to use your thing well and learn the
• 31:37
  fundamentals of your craft. You'll be fine when you have
• 31:40
  money to upgrade to another camera or upgrade.
• 31:42
  But now you know why are you antagonizing yourself?
• 31:45
  So it's the same thing which is the best tool to use?
• 31:48
  It doesn't matter Android users, people already have Gemini on
• 31:51
  your phone is native to your phone or I start using it now
• 31:54
  and the thing has access to the Internet.
• 31:56
  Instead. You guys waste two or three
• 31:57
  weeks thinking which is the best tool to use and then start going
• 32:00
  to go and research the best AI tool.
• 32:02
  Just take the thing that's already on the phone.
• 32:04
  I start using the damn thing. If you bought Windows computer,
• 32:09
  copilot is no ChatGPT. ChatGPT is ready on the Windows
• 32:12
  computer. Just go ahead and use the damn
• 32:14
  thing. So there's no point in looking
• 32:19
  for which one is the best so long as we're talking about text
• 32:24
  based inquiries you're trying to ask cha GPT.
• 32:28
  What is your opinion on this Gemini?
• 32:31
  Help me rewrite this or copilot help me compose this.
• 32:35
  Now if you're thinking of video and graphics and all these sorts
• 32:38
  of things, now you can start thinking which one is best
• 32:41
  because there's some AI that are purely for making video, some
• 32:46
  are purely for making graphics, some are purely for doing sound
• 32:50
  composing and editing and things like that.
• 32:52
  So when it comes to that, some are more better for the others.
• 32:55
  But if you're going to be purely on a text based level like me, I
• 32:58
  only do text. I don't see ChatGPT create a
• 33:00
  picture of a of a queen of the coast sitting on a loaf of
• 33:05
  bread. You know, I don't create images.
• 33:08
  Well, not anymore. All I do is just text based
• 33:12
  stuff. If you're doing text based
• 33:13
  things, the one that is already on your phone, the one that is
• 33:16
  already on your computer is a good place to start.
• 33:19
  And the more you use it, the better you will get.
• 33:21
  The more the thing will understand you, the more it will
• 33:24
  understand your writing style, your reasoning style, and the
• 33:26
  better results that you will get.
• 33:28
  So just take whatever is native to your device and continue to
• 33:31
  run with it. So the reason why I use Android
• 33:33
  and I use Gemini and I tell you to use Gemini is because look,
• 33:36
  The thing is already on your phone.
• 33:38
  So just go ahead and be using it.
• 33:41
  So either way, we now have the power of these digital
• 33:45
  assistants freely at our fingertips.
• 33:48
  Let us take advantage of these sorts of things.
• 33:51
  Oh, and my conversation with Zenani just threw up.
• 33:54
  One more thing that said, let me share with you guys.
• 33:56
  Zenani is thinking of creating a website for her business because
• 33:58
  she doesn't have one and she told me of a service called
• 34:01
  Bumper BUMPA. Never heard of it before, did
• 34:04
  some checking, but it looks like it's a platform that helps
• 34:08
  Nigerian business owners to manage their online and offline
• 34:11
  sales. So look, they said they have
• 34:13
  tools for managing inventory, for managing sales, for managing
• 34:17
  customer relationships and then for managing online presence.
• 34:20
  So that's where this whole website thing comes up because
• 34:23
  they have a some website creator creator tool that would allow
• 34:27
  users to create online store and you don't need to learn how to
• 34:30
  code and things like that. And I think you can accept
• 34:32
  payment on the website and those sorts of things.
• 34:35
  So she told me about it and I said, well, let me just come and
• 34:37
  share. I am not an affiliate of Bumper.
• 34:42
  So please, if you're going to check them out, I'm going to use
• 34:45
  them independently verify that this is good for you and for
• 34:50
  your business because what you're hearing from me is them
• 34:53
  say them say I was just with Zenani.
• 34:55
  Zenani told me. I said, hey, I've never heard of
• 34:57
  Bumper. So I said, let me just share the
• 34:59
  gist to you guys. But it's them say them say so
• 35:03
  don't go and try something. You will.
• 35:04
  Now Hook, I said that tavishing man told you like no, I didn't
• 35:07
  tell you. My friend gave me gist.
• 35:09
  I'm giving you gist I also want to mention because when I was
• 35:12
  getting into business in in Nigeria a while ago, the popular
• 35:17
  options back then was GoDaddy for website hosting.
• 35:19
  So me and my brother-in-law and the website was was GoDaddy
• 35:23
  hosting. I can't remember how we created
• 35:24
  the website. Therefore, my brother, the
• 35:28
  photography and video business, we started off with WordPress.
• 35:32
  So we did a free WordPress site and then later on we now paid
• 35:35
  for it and then stuff like that. So that's what we used to use
• 35:37
  back in the day, GoDaddy, WordPress.
• 35:39
  So nowadays bumper. So looks like we have new
• 35:42
  website solutions coming into the Nigerian market.
• 35:44
  So you know, go out there, do your research and see what
• 35:47
  works. If you're interested in learning
• 35:49
  about Zanani also one moment. OK, sorry about that and a
• 35:54
  notification came in on my phone.
• 35:55
  I wanted to see if that was important.
• 35:58
  So if you're interested in learning about Zanani and her
• 36:00
  business, then check the Instagram handle because the
• 36:03
  website is not available yet. Again, it is me Best Foods on
• 36:09
  Instagram written together as one word, MEEBEST and then FOODS
• 36:20
  me best foods. It's a wonderful service.
• 36:26
  It's a useful service. We tried one out in Abuja, but
• 36:30
  of course, the lady got busy and then, you know, the service
• 36:33
  started sleeping, so we just stopped.
• 36:35
  What if you can't find something like this?
• 36:37
  It actually saves a lot of hassle that, you know, you come
• 36:40
  back from work, you know, school runs everything.
• 36:43
  And then, you know, 4:00, somebody just shows up and they
• 36:46
  say, here's your tomato, here's the rice, here's the beans,
• 36:49
  here's the meat, Here's the, you know, it makes, makes life a
• 36:52
  whole lot easier. And at the time that we tried
• 36:56
  the lady out in Abuja, it wasn't expensive.
• 37:00
  So I was leaving high because quality drops.
• 37:02
  That's the Abuja video. But Zanani me best foods.
• 37:05
  This is in Lagos. So those of you who are
• 37:07
  listening to the show in Lagos, you know, give her a try, let
• 37:11
  her know that Tavishma sent you and you are not going to be
• 37:14
  disappointed. If nothing else, she will not
• 37:16
  want to disappoint me. So she'll take good care of you
• 37:18
  guys. So if you'd love to connect with
• 37:20
  me for a strategy session, a business audit, or you have
• 37:23
  questions you'd like me to answer.
• 37:25
  The number to reach out to me on is 08064662140.
• 37:30
  The country code is +234. That is my WhatsApp number.
• 37:35
  Also connect with me on What's that thing called LinkedIn?
• 37:39
  Connect with me on LinkedIn. That's my social my only social
• 37:42
  media. The name to look for is
• 37:43
  Tavishima IED. I also have a YouTube channel on
• 37:47
  the same with the same name Tavishima IED.
• 37:50
  You can find this recording there with a host of 1070
• 37:56
  something other ones free resources take advantage of it.
• 38:00
  So thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 38:02
  I'll catch you guys at the next episode.