Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / How to Sell Your Vision Before You Ever Send a Pitch Deck

Transcript

How to Sell Your Vision Before You Ever Send a Pitch Deck · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Today on the podcast, we're going to continue looking at
• 0:04
  reasons why your pitch deck gets rejected.
• 0:09
  For those of you who are in the tech space now, the reason why I
• 0:15
  am revisiting this topic again is because even though I made a
• 0:18
  podcast recording of this much earlier in the year, I got some
• 0:23
  comments on the podcast episode when I put it up on LinkedIn.
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  And the fellow who made some comments or some contributions
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  to the post, I thought he said he said some things are really
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  insightful. And so that's the reason why I'm
• 0:37
  back here today just to talk about some of the things that
• 0:41
  the guy shared. Well, by the way, if you're
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  interested in these sorts of things, you know, raising
• 0:47
  capital for your business, trying to close deals, trying to
• 0:51
  find the perfect customer, trying to build relationships,
• 0:53
  trying to network, these sorts of things, then subscribe to the
• 0:57
  podcast on spotifying iTunes, Apple or any player of your
• 1:01
  choice. My name is Davi Shima Ayede, I'm
• 1:04
  the host of the podcast. I'm a former lawyer turned
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  business consultant, and I'm now I say consultant consultant.
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  And I'm now currently the host of what is known as Africa's
• 1:17
  most prolific business podcast. So thank you very much for
• 1:21
  listening so far. Oh, by the way, if you'd like to
• 1:23
  get in touch then reach out to me, you can call, send me a text
• 1:27
  message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 1:34
  And then again, apologies for the noise in the background
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  'cause I'm still home for the family holidays in the villa.
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  And yeah, even though everybody's asleep, you know, I
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  have the fan blowing at high speed because my Cody is hot,
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  very, very hot. So that buzz again here in the
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  background, that's just the fan trying to keep me cool as I'm
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  trying to get some work done into the night.
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  OK, so back to the question, or rather the issue at hand, why
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  your pitch decks are getting rejected.
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  So First off, some definitions just to make sure that we're all
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  on the same page. Now, what is a pitch deck?
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  The pitch deck is simply that document, simply that tool that
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  you use when you're trying to raise a finance from an
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  investor. So a pitch deck is that
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  PowerPoint, it's that JPG, it's that PDF document, it's that
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  whatever it is that you prepare to show your investor.
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  This is who I am, this is the business idea, this is how much
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  money we need. This is the addressable market.
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  This is the size of the investment opportunity.
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  This is how much money you hope to make in return.
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  This is what we're offering in in return for your investments.
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  This is how long we expect for the investment opportunity to
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  mature. You know, all those sorts of,
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  you know, big, big questions that investors would like to
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  have answered before they start throwing millions and millions
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  and millions of naira at you. Now, the reason why I made the
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  original podcast episode about why your pitch decks are getting
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  rejected is because currently now in the Niger startup space
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  and by the way, I'm making this podcast recording in the year
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  2025 S in 2025 and just beyond just, you know, earlier there
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  has been a lot of focus on pitch deck, pitch deck, pitch deck as
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  a means of raising finance. So lots of people have been
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  creating material, lots of people have been creating
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  tutorials. Lots of people have been
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  creating courses about how to make the perfect pitch deck.
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  And in my own opinion, they have been placing a lot of undue hope
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  on the fact that you can put together a perfect document.
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  And then that perfect document is going to be able to get you
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  all the finance that you need to raise to to run your startup.
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  Now, I'm one of those people who say, look, it's not just about
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  the perfect document because for the document to be convincing,
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  certain kinds of information have to go into the document.
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  And So what is important is not creating the perfect document
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  per SE, but to make sure that you do all the work beforehand
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  so that you acquire the right information.
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  And also you try and validate your business idea so that with
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  those two together, you're going to be able to make a compelling
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  proposal, a compelling pitch. But summary, what I'm trying to
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  say is it's not necessarily the pitch deck that is going to get
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  you the money per SE. Now the reason why I'm coming at
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  it from this angle is because there are lots of people, sales
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  people in Nigeria who assume that your presentation, that
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  your proposal, that your offer document, that your whatever is
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  what is going to close the deal. So people put lots of effort
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  into creating those documents, hours and hours and hours in the
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  hope that the document is going to be able to sell for you.
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  A part of the reason why I make this podcast is I'm trying to
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  dispel such ideas that you can create a perfect document to
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  sell for you. You are the one who has to take
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  responsibility for selling this idea, selling the startup idea,
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  selling this investment opportunity, selling this
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  product, selling this service. So stop relying on a document to
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  sell. Now, the person who commented on
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  that earlier podcast episode, his name is Samuel.
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  I'm not going to use his full name, so let's just say Samuel M
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  and Samuel is involved in strategic finance execution.
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  Let's see what else? OK, And he's vice president,
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  head of strategic finance at XYZ Company.
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  Let's see what else, OK? Then he's also a member of a
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  board and also and investor partner.
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  And it looks like he does a bunch of stuff with fintechs.
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  Of course, he's based in the United States and from his
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  LinkedIn following, he has about 2086 followers.
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  So this was the comment that he made on the post.
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  So he said that the podcast recording that I made hits on a
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  pattern that he has seen, especially when especially from
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  people on the capital side. Now let me define what that
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  means. When we say on the capital side,
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  OK, how will I put it? OK, let's just say that there
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  are two sides of the equation. There's a capital side and then
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  there's people who are seeking capital.
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  Now the person who is seeking capital will be Someone Like You
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  or me who is trying to get investment for his business idea
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  for his startup. Then people on the capital side
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  are people who have access to the money that we need.
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  So remember when we talk about capital, especially in SME
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  space, you know, small and medium scale enterprises, we
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  usually mean money, Cudi over cash, liquid gold, or we mean
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  infrastructure, you know, machines, equipment, you know,
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  stuff like that. So that's the sum total of what
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  we mean when we say capital. But in this case, when we say
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  capital side, we mean people who have money.
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  And this guy, Mr. Samwell has been seeing a pattern when
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  dealing with people on the capital side.
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  And remember, he is someone on the capital side as well because
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  he's involved in sorry, let me look at his bio again.
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  He is involved in OK, yes, he's an investor partner.
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  And by the way, I'm not going to call his organization because of
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  course I didn't get permission from him before making this
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  post. So Mr. Samuel continues, he says
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  that most decks fail because, so he says most ideas don't fail
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  because the business idea is bad.
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  OK, That's one of the things I was saying, that there are lots
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  of that sometimes you are not successful because you're not
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  able to validate your business idea.
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  Not to validate your business idea is to be able to show to
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  your potential investors that your idea has market demand,
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  that there are enough people who are interested in this product
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  or service and enough of them are willing to pay for your
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  product or service in such an amount of that you can plow
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  money back, money back into the business.
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  And then there's excess leftover for you to, you know, do other
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  stuff whether you want to flex or whether you want to do
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  whatever. So when we say market validation
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  over here on the podcast, that is what we mean.
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  Now Mr. Samuel is saying that businesses, when you're trying
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  to raise capital, when you're trying to raise finance using
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  your pitch deck, that you don't always fail because the idea is
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  bad. But Mr. Samuel says that you
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  fail to raise money using your pitch deck because you, the
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  founder, are skipping what he likes to call the decision
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  context. And this is what he means by the
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  decision context. Investors are not just looking
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  at the level of talent you bring to the table or the level of
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  effort that you bring to the table, but what they're trying
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  to do is they're trying to underwrite risk.
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  Now, underwriting is, how do I explain underwriting now?
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  OK, Underwriting is like a practice in insurance.
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  What it means is you're putting money behind risk.
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  Let me put it this way. So if something is a risky
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  venture, but at the end of the day, you think that there's good
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  money to be made, you can put money behind it.
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  If it works good, then you get a good return.
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  But if it doesn't work, well, it's just one of those things.
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  So he says that investors are in the business of underwriting
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  risk. So your pitch deck should be
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  answering those questions. How risky is this enterprise?
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  Now, even though you can see that Mister Samuel doesn't quite
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  agree with me 100%, you can see share that we are both saying
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  that it is not the document. It's not just having the perfect
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  document itself that is going to help you raise finance, but you
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  need to be answering some key questions, some important
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  questions, some pivotal questions that the investors
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  have at the back of their mind. Well, by the way, risk
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  mitigation is a good business strategy and is a good sales
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  strategy. Risk mitigation, I mean, not
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  related anyway, it's just that, you know, since there's this
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  word risk there. So let me just talk about risk
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  mitigation now. Risk mitigation is the idea when
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  you're talking to a potential investor or you're talking to
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  someone who wants to buy your product or service.
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  This is where you tell the person that look, in using this
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  product, in using this service, in this opportunity, ABC are the
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  risks that are involved because these are the potential things
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  that might happen. However, if these things occur,
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  this is how me and my business partners intend to deal with it.
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  We intend to deal with it by doing this, by doing this, by
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  doing that. Now when people see that you
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  have already thought about potential risks and you have
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  already thought about things that you can do to reduce those
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  risks, it makes people calm so that they can buy your product,
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  they can buy your service, they can get into business with you.
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  So that is risk mitigation. And if you are going to remain a
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  loyal listener of the podcast, you're going to hear me talk
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  about these sorts of things from time and time again.
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  So Mr. Samwell says that when you send a pitch deck, but when
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  you send the pitch deck too early, you are forcing the
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  investor to start doing work. The investor has to now start
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  trying to figure out, is this a risky proposition to put my
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  money in or not? You're giving the investor work.
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  And this is something that I've said on the podcast time and
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  time again, that when it comes to sales, when it comes to
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  selling, when it comes to convincing people, trying to get
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  people on on board with your agenda, we are trying to reduce
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  the amount of mental work that they have to do.
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  If you're giving somebody homework, you are stressing
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  them. And money does not move when
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  people are stressed. Generally speaking, of course,
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  we're talking about sales here. So Mr. Salwa says that the
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  strongest pitch shouldn't begin with the document.
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  It should. The strongest pitch should start
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  as a conversation. And this is something that I
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  agree. And this is part of the reason
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  why I'm making today's podcast episode just to tell you guys
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  that, look, I'm talking about things from a sales and business
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  development perspective. When I'm talking about how you
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  come up with the perfect, perfect pitch pitch deck so that
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  I can raise finance. But some of you might say, well,
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  this guy's in sales, what does he know?
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  If you're one of those people in the startup community saying
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  this guy's in sales, what does he know?
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  I hope you can see that some of you are more, some of your
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  senior brothers in the business agree with me, even though
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  they're coming at you from a different perspective.
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  Now, Mr. Samwell, who is also an investor, he's saying that your
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  pitch process should start as a conversation.
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  And I've been saying it since from the beginning that all
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  selling is conversational. I repeat again for those of you
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  who are listening to this for the first time, all selling is
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  conversational. In other words, if you have not
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  had a conversation with someone, you have not started selling.
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  What you're doing is guess work. If I sell washing machines,
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  excuse me. If I sell washing machines and
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  you come into my store and I say, how can I help you today?
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  And then you respond or I want to buy a washing machine and
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  then I start telling you, buy this one.
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  This one is red. It has 120 hours per minute.
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  It has microbial healing properties.
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  It cleans well. It is A7 KG loader.
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  This one is a 15 KG loader. If I continue to vomit and vomit
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  and vomit all these things on you, if I continue to unload the
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  perfect sales pitch on you, I have not started selling.
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  I have not. What I am doing is guesswork.
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  I am guessing that the person is interested in all these things
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  that I am vomiting. It's the same thing for those of
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  you who are trying to raise finance and using a pitch deck.
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  People are just showing up and guessing you are vomiting.
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  The time is this this, is this investment opportunity, is this
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  blah, blah, blah. You are assuming that this
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  person indeed is interested in investing.
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  You're assuming that even that this person is interested in
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  investing and the person is interested in the particular
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  sector that you're interested in.
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  You're assuming that the person has a risk tolerance or a risk
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  profile that matches the level of risk that is involved in this
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  endeavour that you're starting up, that you're starting up.
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  You're assuming that this person is interested.
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  You are assuming a whole bunch of stuff.
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  You just show up and you begin to vomit because somebody told
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  you on social media that these are the 2345 steps that are
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  required for you to come up with the perfect pitch document.
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  And if you come up with the perfect pitch document, then
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  you're going to be able to raise finance.
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  If you don't believe me, because I'm talking at this from a sales
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  perspective and you know, sales people are daft, what do they
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  know? Listen to your senior brother.
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  Now the senior brother is telling you live and direct from
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  America that when you send the pitch document too early, you
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  are giving them unnecessary homework.
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  And this guy is saying that the strong sales pitch starts as a
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  conversation. The guy said it.
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  I've also said it before, even before the guy commented on,
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  excuse me, commented on the post that I put up on LinkedIn.
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  So Mr. Samwell says that the strongest pitch is going to
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  start as a conversation and is not going to start as a
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  document. I repeat, your strongest pitch
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  will start as a conversation, it will not start as a document.
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  So I am not saying that your pitch document is not important.
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  It is. Just make sure that you are
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  having substantial and relevant conversations first before you
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  reduce anything down to writing. So have conversations, according
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  to Mr. Samwell, that will clarify why this opportunity
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  belongs in the investor's portfolio.
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  Have the conversation with him first.
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  Good morning, Sir. Good morning, boss.
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  This is what I'm doing, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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  Is this the sort of thing you'd be interested in or?
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  Good morning, Sir. Good morning, boss.
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  I've noticed from your LinkedIn profile or I've noticed from the
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  people that I've been speaking to so far that you have been
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  invested, you've invested in XYZ kind of opportunities and you're
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  a forward thinking investor when it comes to this and this and
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  this and that. Are these the kind of problems
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  that you are interested in investing, investing in or are
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  you interested in beefing your investment portfolio in this
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  sector and this sector and this sector?
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  Have the conversation first before you now put up the pitch
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  deck. In sales, this is what we call
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  qualification. This is where you ask questions
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  about the person because you want to make sure that the
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  person is indeed interested and the person is suitably matched
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  to whatever it is that you're talking about.
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  This is what we call qualification in sales.
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  Mr. Salmon also says that you should be having conversations
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  with the potential investors so you can discuss what Samuel
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  calls the asymmetric upside. Now, what that means is this
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  asymmetry. All I put it now, OK, asymmetry
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  just means things, no balance. Asymmetry just means that
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  there's no balance. And that is what the investor is
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  looking for. They're looking for a certain
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  level of risk, but they're looking for high reward.
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  They want asymmetry, they want the risk to be there, but the
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  risk should not to, should not be too big, but then the
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  returns, the party, the money, the hammer that they'll make at
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  the end of the day should be big.
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  So they're actually looking for asymmetry.
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  So we should be having the conversation with the potential
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  investors to show that this asymmetric upside exists.
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  This is what we call discovery in sales is where you're asking
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  questions about the problem, asking questions about the
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  vision, asking questions about the investment opportunities of
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  the person that you are talking to.
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  Seek qualification and discovery.
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  Ask questions around the person. We want to be sure we're talking
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  to the right person. Then questions around the
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  opportunity. We want to be sure that you know
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  there's a match in the in the opportunity that people are
• 19:24
  interested. Have these conversations ahead
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  of time. It is only when you have these
• 19:31
  conversations ahead of time that you're talking to the right
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  person and you're providing the right mix of risk versus reward
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  that they're interested in that you can start putting things
• 19:43
  down to paper now, Mr. Sambo says.
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  It is only when you have had these conversations with people
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  that you'll be able to get specific evidence that you can
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  use to argue with them in your pitch deck.
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  And convince them if you don't do that, you are just guessing.
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  If you sit inside your house, you sit inside your office, you
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  sit inside your Co working space, you sit inside your
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  wherever it is, your car, wherever it is that you do work.
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  And you come up with the perfect document, the perfect pitch deck
• 20:22
  in your mind. And then you go and start
• 20:25
  looking for investment opportunities.
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  You are just doing guesswork. You are guessing, and I can tell
• 20:32
  you that confidently for free because there are lots of sales
• 20:35
  people that do the same thing too.
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  You sit down in the office, you sit down in your bedroom, you
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  sit down in your wherever and you come up with the perfect
• 20:43
  proposal and then you send it in.
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  But the perfect proposal is just perfect in your own mind.
• 20:50
  You didn't talk to the prospect. You didn't figure out who the
• 20:53
  prospect is. You didn't figure out if he's
• 20:55
  interested. You didn't figure out whether
• 20:57
  your product or service can solve these problems in some
• 21:00
  unique ways. You are just guessing.
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  You create the perfect document, you send it in.
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  And then you wonder why people are saying, let me think about
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  it. I'll call you when I'm
• 21:08
  interested. Let me talk to my partner.
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  You're too expensive. All the excuses will start
• 21:13
  coming up and you wonder why. It's because you're doing
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  guesswork. You are not having
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  conversations. So those of you who are in the
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  tech space, if you don't listen to me because I'm a sales guy
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  and sales guys, you know, we're knucklehead.
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  We know sharp. Listen to your brother.
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  Your senior brother is telling you here, Mr. Sam is telling
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  you. Then Samuel proceeds to say that
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  targeting and specific, sorry, forgive me a tongue twister.
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  Targeting and specificity are in sales tactics because I talk
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  about those a lot when it comes to sales targeting.
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  Targeting just means, are we talking to the right people?
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  Are we chasing the right people? Then specificity just means the
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  idea, the problem, the thing that we're talking about, the
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  thing that we're producing. Does it meet a very direct and
• 22:08
  exact need that this person has? Because if I'm running around
• 22:12
  talking to the wrong people, how do I expect to close deals?
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  And if I'm running around talking to the right people, but
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  then the solution, the problem, the object, the service, the
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  thing that I'm selling is not meeting a specific need, how do
• 22:26
  I expect to close the deal? Now how?
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  If I'm going around selling the perfect brand of IBO, but I'm
• 22:35
  selling it at SUSU conference, how will I, how will I close
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  deals? My targeting is wrong.
• 22:44
  I'm selling Igbo, I'm selling Mary Jane, I'm selling
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  marijuana. I'm smelling loud.
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  I'm I'm selling good stuff, but I'm selling it at Scripture
• 22:53
  Union conference. People in Scripture Union do not
• 22:57
  smoke ganja. They don't.
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  So I have good product. My targeting is off.
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  Now let's say my targeting is right.
• 23:06
  I'm looking at people who use recreational, how do I put it?
• 23:10
  Recreational substances, you know, things that make
• 23:12
  themselves feel good, feel high, feel all right, but then I'm
• 23:16
  smelling. But when I'm now selling IBO to
• 23:20
  people who typically do, you know, all these synthetic stuff
• 23:24
  like cocaine and whatnot, how will I make sale?
• 23:28
  Targeting specificity. I talk about them a lot because
• 23:31
  they're important in sales. It's also the same thing for
• 23:33
  those of you who are trying to raise finance.
• 23:35
  Targeting. Are you talking to the right
• 23:36
  person? Specificity, Is there a match,
• 23:42
  an exact match when it comes to need or problem or vision here?
• 23:49
  So Mr. Salmon says that targeting and specificity are
• 23:53
  not just sales tactics. He calls them signals of
• 23:57
  strategic majority. And I like the way he put it,
• 24:02
  strategic majority, when you can target well and when you're
• 24:07
  trying to focus to see whether for your customers or your
• 24:09
  investors there's a match, it shows that you're a mature
• 24:12
  somebody. And that's why I've been telling
• 24:17
  all of you who listen to this podcast that sales and business
• 24:19
  development skills are important.
• 24:24
  Because when you have these skills and you step into the
• 24:26
  room, people see that there's a big boy in the room or there's a
• 24:29
  big girl in the room. You see that the person already
• 24:33
  is mature. You stand apart from the pack
• 24:37
  already, You open your mouth. People hear wisdom because of
• 24:43
  what? Targeting specificity, having a
• 24:49
  conversation ahead of time because you're just trying to
• 24:52
  make sure that there's alignment around the person and alignment
• 24:56
  around the opportunity. Already you come across as a
• 25:00
  mature somebody. So these are the reasons why I
• 25:05
  say sales training is the most important business education
• 25:07
  that you can get. Knowledges, I say knowledges,
• 25:12
  forgive me, you know, it's late at night.
• 25:14
  I'm really tired, you know, spending the whole day running
• 25:17
  around running after kids and then also making sales calls
• 25:20
  because this is a working holiday for me.
• 25:24
  So the knowledge that you get from sales training, the
• 25:28
  principles that you get from sales training, the practices
• 25:32
  that you carry out in sales training don't just apply to
• 25:36
  sales, They apply to every other business function.
• 25:41
  And that is what gives me the right and that is what gives me
• 25:45
  the, the knowledge. That is what gives me the, the,
• 25:48
  the certainty. That is what gives me the the
• 25:50
  gumption for me to talk with my full chest to be lecturing those
• 25:54
  of you who are in the startup space, even though I'm in sales,
• 26:00
  because the knowledge, the principles, the practices that
• 26:02
  we talk about here, they apply to every other place.
• 26:06
  So please trust me. Trust me when I say now those
• 26:12
  people who are telling you he had the five steps to the
• 26:14
  perfect pitch deck, they are wasting your time.
• 26:18
  They are really, really wasting your time.
• 26:23
  There's some work that you need to do before you come up with a
• 26:25
  pitch deck. And Mr. Samuel says you need to
• 26:29
  start this with a conversation. Now, if you listen to podcast
• 26:38
  episodes where I talk about these sorts of things, raising
• 26:40
  finance, blah, blah, blah, you say, and there's some
• 26:42
  differences between you and Mr. Sam.
• 26:44
  I understand there are differences, yes.
• 26:47
  But I just want you guys to see that I'm not just making stuff
• 26:50
  up because one of your brothers again, Sam or MI just shortened
• 26:56
  the guy's name because I didn't take permission.
• 26:59
  He's into strategic finance. He's AVP that's vice president
• 27:07
  of strategic finance. What else?
• 27:11
  OK, He's a member of a board. He's an investor partner, OK.
• 27:14
  He also does some stuff with fintech and then SAS, that's
• 27:17
  software as a service. He's also involved in AI, of
• 27:21
  course, based in America because you know, you people in you
• 27:26
  people in the, in the tech space in Niger, you know, you know
• 27:30
  rates, you don't rate those of us who are Nigerians.
• 27:33
  Even Nigerians says something must be stupid.
• 27:35
  If an American says it, anything makes sense.
• 27:39
  So it's not me that is talking again, it's an American who is
• 27:41
  not talking to you. OK, You want social clouds.
• 27:44
  The guy has over 2000 followers on LinkedIn and he's telling
• 27:49
  you, if you won't listen to me, listen to him.
• 27:51
  He's telling you that raising finance does not start with the
• 27:54
  perfect pitch deck. It starts with the conversation,
• 27:57
  and he has told you the kind of things that you should be having
• 28:00
  conversations about. Now, this podcast episode.
• 28:03
  Yeah, there was a lot to take in.
• 28:05
  So Noah Hala, this is your first time listening to the podcast,
• 28:07
  and it seems overwhelming. No problem.
• 28:10
  Rewind, start again. Don't listen to it at 1.5 or 2
• 28:14
  speed, You know, slow things down.
• 28:16
  You get some good ideas about how you can improve your pitch
• 28:20
  process if you're trying to raise finance.
• 28:23
  And please subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, on iTunes,
• 28:27
  YouTube, or any player of your choice because these are the
• 28:30
  kinds of things that we talk about here every other day on
• 28:34
  the podcast. If you'd love to connect, you
• 28:37
  can call, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on
• 28:41
  08064662140. And for those of you who've been
• 28:47
  listening for a while, remember that my partners and I have a
• 28:50
  training covered up on the 12th of January through to the 23rd
• 28:54
  of January 2026. We're going to be talking to
• 28:56
  people about how to sell effectively over the phone.
• 29:00
  So if you're trying to raise finance and you think that using
• 29:03
  the phone is going to be an important part of your business
• 29:05
  journey, connecting with potential investors, setting up
• 29:09
  meetings with potential investors, building
• 29:12
  relationships with the potential investors, trying to secure
• 29:17
  appointments, trying to secure meetings.
• 29:20
  Who knows, maybe trying to even make a proposal or a
• 29:24
  presentation over the phone because it's not always that
• 29:26
  you're going to be able to secure a meeting with your
• 29:29
  favorite would be investor. If any of these things are
• 29:32
  important to you, reach out to me.
• 29:34
  Let's have a chat. Let's see if this program can
• 29:37
  help. It's a paid training.
• 29:39
  And because I don't want to be a fraud, I would like to know you
• 29:42
  before I collect your money. Ought to know who you are, ought
• 29:45
  to know what business it is that you're involved in.
• 29:48
  I want to know your plans for 2026, the problems that you're
• 29:52
  facing, the goals and the targets that you're trying to
• 29:55
  hit. Because I want to make sure that
• 29:57
  when we step into the classroom, well, the virtual classroom,
• 30:00
  when we step into the virtual classroom, I want to be sure
• 30:03
  that the curriculum is going to be able to deliver answers that
• 30:07
  you need to take you to the promised land in 2026.
• 30:11
  So thank you very much for listening to the podcast.
• 30:13
  I'll catch you all some other time.