Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Seeding the Future: Planting the Seeds of Success with Your Network

Transcript

Seeding the Future: Planting the Seeds of Success with Your Network · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Today is going to be a noisy
• 0:04
  episode because the kids are home.
• 0:06
  It's a full house. And then this Hammatan Katta is
• 0:08
  really, really killing me here. So this is going to be one of
• 0:11
  those coughing, hacking and sniffing episodes.
• 0:14
  Now today I want us to look at networking with collaborators.
• 0:17
  And the reason why is because I reached out to a former podcast
• 0:21
  collaborator because I had one or two things to talk about and
• 0:25
  and the lady hadn't even stole my phone number.
• 0:27
  And then it just got me thinking about how a whole bunch of us
• 0:32
  throughout the whole year, because right now it's December
• 0:36
  of 2024 as at the time of making this podcast.
• 0:39
  So about a whole bunch of us, you know, run through the whole
• 0:42
  year collaborating with a bunch of people, meeting stakeholders
• 0:44
  here and there. And then we lose out of
• 0:47
  opportunities for networking and building alliances that we can
• 0:51
  carry on to next year. Because I'm not trying to say
• 0:56
  I'm the ish or anything, but I'm just trying to say that if you
• 0:59
  do, if you run a couple of things that a few people, you
• 1:02
  know in 2024, in this case, it stands to reason that as you're
• 1:06
  capping out 2024, you know, it should be a reasonable thing to
• 1:09
  do to reach out to a couple of them, find out how people are
• 1:12
  doing, you know, that sort of thing.
• 1:13
  Remain a good standing because you don't know which way the
• 1:15
  breeze might blow in 2025. I don't know where good business
• 1:19
  is going to come out from if I, if for nothing else, at the very
• 1:22
  least you want to be in touch with some people that you know
• 1:25
  to be credible vendors or credible partners that you can
• 1:27
  reach out to when you have some project that you're working on
• 1:30
  and you might need the assistance.
• 1:33
  So if you'd love to connect and explore opportunities with me,
• 1:37
  the phone number is 08064662140. The country code is +234 for
• 1:44
  those of you who are not Nigerian.
• 1:45
  And then you can connect with me on socials.
• 1:47
  I spend most of my time on LinkedIn.
• 1:49
  I'm closing down Facebook and any other place.
• 1:51
  So don't bother reaching out to me there because I'm not going
• 1:54
  to see it. So LinkedIn, only the name to
• 1:57
  look for is establishing my idea.
• 1:59
  Now, like I said, we're looking about looking at how we're going
• 2:02
  to do networking with collaborators as we're rounding
• 2:05
  up 2024 and getting ready to head into 2025.
• 2:09
  Now, the advice that you're going to hear hear is applicable
• 2:15
  no matter when you're listening to this.
• 2:16
  So if you're listening to this podcast in 2036 and you're
• 2:19
  getting ready for business in 2037, the principles are still
• 2:23
  the same. So First off, I think from a
• 2:27
  common sense perspective here, try not to be too fancy or
• 2:32
  educated about anything. If you have interacted with
• 2:37
  someone in the previous year 2024, now that we're in
• 2:40
  December, it might make sense. You just pick up your phone and
• 2:42
  then just call some people casual and the idea is going to
• 2:44
  be something like, hey, what's up now?
• 2:46
  How you been? You know, it's been a while.
• 2:47
  And then you have that conversation.
• 2:49
  You know, you should they shape the best in talks their own too,
• 2:51
  you know, someone that banter back and forth.
• 2:53
  And then another common sense thing.
• 2:56
  Oh, I appreciated the time we did this job.
• 2:58
  I appreciated our interaction around this.
• 3:00
  I appreciated the collaboration around that, blah, blah, blah.
• 3:03
  And then you talk a bit about how it was a useful project for
• 3:07
  you or how you leverage that into something else and this and
• 3:09
  this and that and that. And of course, you know, that's
• 3:12
  where you throw in the whole thing of, you know, as we're
• 3:14
  heading into 2025, looking for more opportunities for us to
• 3:17
  collaborate in the future. And then it's also common sense
• 3:20
  to ask the person about their goals or priorities for next
• 3:23
  year. So this one now 2025 S like
• 3:25
  what's the plan? What are you working on?
• 3:27
  You know, that kind of thing. It doesn't have to be heavy.
• 3:30
  Just keep a simple conversational, you know, So
• 3:32
  what are you looking at for 2025?
• 3:34
  What are you working on for 20/25/2025?
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  You know, what's the goal? You know, just simple, just say
• 3:41
  the way that suits your fancy and have those conversations
• 3:44
  back and forth about what that person's goal is for 2025.
• 3:48
  Now, the reason why it's a good idea to as this sort of thing is
• 3:50
  because you already know your priorities for 2025, for the
• 3:54
  coming year, for whatever it is that you want to do.
• 3:56
  But then if you cap off the year by talking to let's say 20
• 4:00
  people that you spoke to that you did business in 2025 and you
• 4:04
  have a sense of what their priorities are for next year,
• 4:06
  what their goals are for next year already.
• 4:09
  You already have a sense of where your own goals, your own
• 4:12
  agenda, your own skill set can slot into those things.
• 4:15
  So this could be the beginning of you calling up people in 2025
• 4:19
  to say, hey, what's up, Happy New year, how's the family
• 4:21
  share? Holidays were OK, how's wife and
• 4:23
  kids, blah, blah, blah. How's your husband?
• 4:25
  This is that. Oh, by the way, in December when
• 4:27
  we spoke, you said 123 ABC. You know me, I was thinking I'm
• 4:31
  working on 456 over here and I'm thinking I have two of us join
• 4:34
  hands. You know, this is how we can do
• 4:35
  these things. I mean, how you see them and
• 4:37
  they leave it like that and you hear what the person has to say.
• 4:39
  So some of these things are just straight up common sense that a
• 4:42
  whole bunch of us are not doing and we should be doing in our
• 4:45
  business. So we have that conversation
• 4:48
  about, so what's the goal for next year?
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  What are you working on for 2025?
• 4:51
  You know, what do you have in your view, you know, blah, blah,
• 4:53
  blah. What's important for you?
• 4:54
  What's the priority? What's your vision?
• 4:57
  However it is you want to put it, that's where you can now
• 5:00
  call them up in 2025 to say, oh, based on what we discussed, yes,
• 5:03
  I can be helpful. You know, this and this and that
• 5:05
  and that or me, I'm also working on this thing here and I'm going
• 5:09
  to need help around this and this and this.
• 5:11
  You with this your skill set and you with this goal that you're
• 5:13
  working on, if you plug in here, you know, this is how we can
• 5:17
  move this thing forward. You know, I mean, how do you see
• 5:20
  it now? Should I come over?
• 5:21
  Let's let's discuss in some some more detail how we can make this
• 5:24
  thing work or should we do a Zoom call later on, like on that
• 5:28
  kind 9:00 PM. Let's see how this thing can
• 5:30
  work. So these are conversations that
• 5:33
  we should be having. And like I said, the reason why
• 5:37
  I was inspired to make this podcast episode is because I
• 5:39
  called a former podcast collaborator and I thought there
• 5:43
  was some opportunities for her on terrestrial TV, particularly
• 5:47
  OnStar times. Terrestrial TV just means, you
• 5:50
  know, normal, normal old school TV, you know, like NTATV, you
• 5:53
  know, all these sorts of things where it's not, not DSTV, not
• 5:57
  digital. So I thought she would have,
• 6:01
  there was an opportunity on some terrestrial TV that, you know,
• 6:03
  might be good for her and her business.
• 6:05
  And then of course, you know, she's like, who is this?
• 6:08
  You know, and I just thought, anyway, I just thought it was
• 6:11
  such a shame because before we collaborated on the podcast, I
• 6:15
  interviewed her for my podcast. We had a really interesting
• 6:21
  conversation. Well, at least a conversation
• 6:22
  that I thought was interesting. Got to do a lot about her.
• 6:26
  I mean, if you check my CRM on her and the information that I
• 6:30
  have there. And then of course, the small
• 6:33
  pinging back and forth that we do on LinkedIn, you know, I
• 6:36
  thought we're getting to know us, know ourselves quite well.
• 6:38
  But then, you know, apparently was just one sided.
• 6:42
  So it was all like, oh, who is this?
• 6:44
  So you just got me thinking that there's a whole bunch of you who
• 6:47
  are doing business with people or collaborating with people and
• 6:49
  you're not even doing some of this basic stuff.
• 6:51
  You know, who are they? What are they about?
• 6:54
  What business are they in? What is their priorities or
• 6:56
  stuff like that? Because you have to know some of
• 7:00
  these things. It's not as if I'm asking you to
• 7:02
  care for other people. You don't have to.
• 7:04
  It's just because we're trying to get somewhere in the world
• 7:06
  and we need some building blocks to put together.
• 7:09
  And sometimes we need resources in terms of money and sometimes
• 7:13
  we need resources in terms of people.
• 7:15
  So it's good to know which who are the people in your personal
• 7:18
  network, what they're handy with and how that's going to help.
• 7:21
  Now it turned out that it was not important for her because
• 7:27
  she already is on terrestrial TV.
• 7:29
  So it means that my my guess was correct.
• 7:31
  It's just that I saw what she was doing on LinkedIn and I just
• 7:34
  thought, look, this thing makes sense now.
• 7:35
  If you put this thing on TV, it's going to pop and it's going
• 7:38
  to work like this like this, like that.
• 7:39
  So that's the reason why I called her so I know she's
• 7:41
  already on TV. So.
• 7:45
  So that was not necessary again. But then like I said, it just
• 7:49
  got me thinking that there are a whole bunch of you who have
• 7:52
  collaborated with people in the past.
• 7:54
  You didn't bother to do some basic things, store their phone
• 7:56
  number, follow up with them, have conversations with them,
• 7:59
  figure out what they're about. Figure out how your both of your
• 8:04
  visions, your missions, you know, how everything works
• 8:07
  together and how you can be useful resources for each other
• 8:12
  going forward. And then as I thought about it
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  just occurred to me that of the people that I'd collaborated
• 8:17
  with on my podcast, because I don't interview too many people
• 8:20
  on the podcast, I have over 1002 episodes right now on the
• 8:25
  podcast, only one person was in live interview and that's
• 8:29
  because she knew how to handle it.
• 8:30
  That's afraid Nanette, the communications professional who
• 8:35
  is based out in America. So she handled the recording and
• 8:38
  everything. So that one, her own is a live
• 8:40
  interview. So the other people I had just
• 8:42
  interviewed them and then spoken about the things that we spoke
• 8:45
  about. So it just occurred to me now of
• 8:48
  all the collaborators that we collaborated with in 2025, not
• 8:51
  too many of them, definitely less than 10, only one person
• 8:54
  had reached out to me. So we should be reaching out to
• 9:00
  people. And by the way, this is how when
• 9:03
  you start reaching out to people, it gets like a bitter
• 9:06
  taste in your other person's mouth because think about it.
• 9:08
  So it's coming to the end of the year, only one person has saved
• 9:10
  me up. Now the other people, the next
• 9:12
  time they definitely call me. I now know that OK, these
• 9:15
  people, they definitely want something.
• 9:17
  So you can see how networking should be other centred or can
• 9:21
  be other centred. You only just don't pick up the
• 9:22
  phone when you definitely want something for someone.
• 9:27
  Anyway, don't mind me, I'm just fuffing about on the podcast.
• 9:30
  I guess the summary that I'm trying to say here right now is
• 9:32
  I'm just trying to say take action.
• 9:34
  It's 2024, it's December, the year is almost at an end.
• 9:37
  Or pick up the phone or send a message.
• 9:40
  In fact, pick up the phone. Forget this message thing.
• 9:42
  Pick up the phone. Call your collaborators for
• 9:45
  2024. I have some general conversation
• 9:48
  with him. Look, he's been good doing
• 9:50
  business with you this year, blah, blah, blah.
• 9:51
  He has good timings for 2025. God bless our families, God
• 9:54
  bless our businesses, blah, blah, blah.
• 9:57
  Greater growth, greater progress.
• 9:59
  You know, all those conversations that we'd like to
• 10:01
  do in Nigeria and then keep conversation avenues open for
• 10:07
  the next year. That is just pretty much the
• 10:10
  scope. It's the end of the year.
• 10:11
  Pick up the phone, call these people.
• 10:13
  What's up? How you been?
• 10:15
  How's business? Nothing you are working on.
• 10:16
  Did he click? Oh, OK, that's cool.
• 10:18
  So heading into next year, you'll go better for us.
• 10:21
  God to bless our families. God bless our children.
• 10:23
  God bless our wives, God to bless our husbands, blah, blah,
• 10:25
  blah, blah blah. What up mumsy?
• 10:27
  How is she doing? And this tenable economy self.
• 10:30
  So this 2025, how you gonna be now?
• 10:31
  Oh, OK, This is what you're working on.
• 10:33
  OK, no problem. And tell me more about this.
• 10:36
  OK, that sounds interesting and no problem.
• 10:38
  By the time, you know, we come back from Christmas back, you
• 10:42
  know, I'll buzz you so we can talk some more.
• 10:43
  OK, All right, no problem. So reach your wife for me later.
• 10:46
  Regards to the kids, ma'am. Cut the phone.
• 10:49
  It's not that hard. Pick up your phone.
• 10:51
  You're probably not going to be too many people.
• 10:55
  I mean, worst case scenario, if you had a very busy year, maybe
• 10:58
  you have fifty of these phone calls to make.
• 10:59
  But if you have fifty of these phone calls to make, you can't
• 11:02
  do it now because as a date of this recording, this is December
• 11:05
  9th. If you're calling.
• 11:06
  Sorry. Excuse me, if you're calling
• 11:10
  three people every day between now and December 25th, I'll be
• 11:16
  how many days now? OK, let me not betray my mouth,
• 11:18
  but I'm not saying that you can do it.
• 11:19
  Even if it's fifty people you have to call, you can't do it.
• 11:21
  You just make up your mind that every single day you pick up the
• 11:25
  phone, try and call like, you know, 2-3, four of them.
• 11:29
  Not everybody wants our sense of messages, but we need to get
• 11:32
  these things going. And this is how we start
• 11:33
  greasing the wheels, you know, for networking, for
• 11:36
  collaboration and for opportunities for 2025, for the
• 11:41
  next year. So like I said, this still
• 11:43
  applies. Even if you're listening to this
• 11:44
  podcast in 2036 and you want to do business in 2037, it still
• 11:49
  applies. So it's my prayer that for those
• 11:53
  of us listening to this episode now, whenever it is that you're
• 11:55
  listening to it, even if you're listening to this episode in
• 11:57
  20802087. I think by 2087, I should be
• 12:02
  dead and gone. But if this podcast episode is
• 12:04
  still available, then you know, the scope is still the same.
• 12:06
  And it's my prayer that as you're listening to this podcast
• 12:09
  that we wrap up the current year, that you're in strong.
• 12:13
  And then we look forward to the new year where it's going to be
• 12:17
  filled with opportunities for growth, opportunities for
• 12:19
  progress, not just for us, but for our partners, for our kids,
• 12:23
  for those of us who have kids, for those of you who don't have
• 12:25
  kids anyway, that's another podcast episode.
• 12:29
  But that's, that's some fun things to look forward to.
• 12:31
  If you don't have kids, children are definitely a blessing.
• 12:34
  You know, they come with their own challenges, but it's a
• 12:36
  blessing. It's a good thing to look
• 12:37
  forward to. So it's my prayer that we wrap
• 12:39
  up this year strong and that we have wonderful opportunities to
• 12:42
  look forward to in 2025. So if you'd love to connect with
• 12:45
  me, for those of you who are listening to this thing in, you
• 12:47
  know, 2097, I'm definitely dead. So there's no point in trying to
• 12:50
  connect with me except if whoever it is has taken over my
• 12:53
  business has come up with some AI replica or something.
• 12:57
  So the number is 080, 64662140, the country code is +234.
• 13:04
  And then connect with me on LinkedIn.
• 13:05
  That's the only social media that I'm on.
• 13:07
  But remember, for those of you listening to this podcast
• 13:09
  episode in, you know, 2097 or something like that, I'm
• 13:13
  definitely dead. So it's not the real me you're
• 13:15
  talking to. You're talking to some AI
• 13:18
  version of me. So just bear that in mind.
• 13:21
  But for those of you listening to this in 2024, it's still me.
• 13:24
  I'm still here. So take advantage, you know,
• 13:27
  reach out, let's have a chat. It's always a pleasure for me to
• 13:32
  meet people who listen to my podcast.
• 13:34
  So thanks for your time and attention.
• 13:35
  I'll catch you guys at the next episode tomorrow.