Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Stop Starving Your Business: Unlock Sales Power

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Stop Starving Your Business: Unlock Sales Power · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:02
Hello and welcome to the show. Before we begin, shout outs and
0:06
today's shout out is going to be someone who we already addressed
0:10
yesterday and that is Emmanuel or Jabbola.
0:13
He's the guy who is my guy from efair who is the graphic and
0:18
product designer. Now the reason why I'm shouting
0:21
him out again today is because he sent me another message on
0:24
LinkedIn. And this time he sent me a
0:26
message with a book recommendation.
0:28
And in principle, I think it's a good recommendation.
0:31
So shouting him out. And then I'm also sharing it
0:34
with you guys today so that you guys can go and read the book
0:37
because it's always welcome development whenever you guys
0:41
can explore other perspectives when it comes to sales,
0:44
marketing and those sorts of things.
0:46
And also him sending me a book recommendation just got me
0:49
thinking. This is the first time someone
0:52
has sent me a book recommendation in the for almost
0:55
five years and over 1020 something episodes that we've
1:01
been running this podcast. So please guys and girls
1:04
listening to the show, don't feel shy.
1:06
Whenever you come across a book that you think would be a good
1:10
read, reach out. Let me know if it's something I
1:13
can get access to. I will.
1:15
I'll read it and discuss some of the ideas here.
1:18
Even if I don't read it, I'll do some research on it and then
1:20
discuss some of the themes. But either way, if you think
1:24
something is going to be a worthy read for people in the
1:27
community, reach out and drop it here.
1:29
Let me share with everybody else.
1:31
So the book that Emmanuel or Jabbola is recommending is
1:35
called Persuasion, the Art of Influencing People and it is by
1:40
James Borg. Borg is Borg.
1:43
It's a book I've heard about before and the reason why
1:46
Emmanuel Jabbola is recommending is to me, and I am also
1:50
recommending it to you guys listening to the show, is
1:53
because it explains how memory and body language can help to
1:58
persuade people. Oh, by the way, that is not the
2:01
official summary of the book. That is just Emmanuel Ojakwala's
2:06
reason for recommending the book.
2:08
So he says read the book Persuasion, the Art of
2:12
Influencing People by James Borg because it explains how memory
2:15
and body language helps to persuade people.
2:18
So if you can, please read the book for a different perspective
2:22
about all the things that we talk about over here on the
2:23
podcast, because the things that I say are not gospel.
2:28
The whole part of me making this podcast is introduce you guys to
2:31
new perspectives and a different way of seeing the world when it
2:34
comes to business. So I don't intend to be the only
2:38
voice that is in your life. I'm just trying to broaden
2:40
perspectives. So that's it.
2:43
So thank you very much, Emmanuel Giguela for the book
2:45
recommendation. If any of you listening to the
2:47
show think that there's another book that it would do well if I
2:52
read or other people read, then reach out, send it to me.
2:55
Let me let other people know. Now before we continue with the
3:01
topic that we've been on for the last week or so.
3:05
Oh yes, if this is your first time listening to the show, yes,
3:08
we are. This one is a quite a bit of a
3:10
narrative because we've been we've been discussing something
3:14
Sha for the last three or four days.
3:16
So after you're done listening to this broadcast episode, skip
3:19
back at least one week's worth so that you can catch up to the
3:23
fuller context of the conversation.
3:26
Well, and by the way, if you'd love to connect with me, just
3:27
like Emmanuel Jaguar has, the phone number to reach me on is
3:31
08064662140. The country code is lost 234 if
3:37
you are not Nigerian. That's my WhatsApp number as
3:40
well. Then I'm also available on
3:41
socials. The name to look for is
3:43
Tavishima Ayede on LinkedIn and also on YouTube.
3:48
All right, now before I continue with our gist, a note of warning
3:53
when reading all these books about persuasion.
3:56
Now you guys listen up. Is it possible to actually
4:00
persuade somebody to do something?
4:03
Because a lot of these books that are being written by
4:05
people, especially people who are not sales people, I've is
4:09
one thing I've noticed, you know, journalists, maybe
4:12
communications specialists, marketing specialists, you know,
4:16
writing books about persuasion, persuasion, persuasion.
4:19
But if you notice those of us who are well versed in the out
4:22
of sales, none of us write books about persuasion.
4:31
And I think it's instructive anyway, let me just put it that
4:36
way, that those of us who are actually on the ground, who
4:38
actually doing the talking to people, we do not talk about
4:42
persuasion. And that should give us cause
4:45
for concern and should make us think that is persuasion even
4:49
possible. Yes, I guess persuasion is
4:53
possible. But the truth of the matter is
4:56
when it comes to business, because remember, in different
5:01
areas, you know, politics, religion, there are ways that
5:05
you can say things and hijack people's emotional compass and
5:08
get them to do things that the Auden or otherwise would not
5:12
normally do. But when it comes to business,
5:16
you're trying to sell iPhone, you're trying to sell rice and
5:19
beans, or you're trying to sell business consulting, or you're
5:22
trying to sell a construction pro project, or you're trying to
5:26
sell fruit juice. You're trying to sell football,
5:29
badminton, kit, whatever it is, it is doubtful whether you can
5:36
persuade someone to do something that they didn't intend to do
5:41
already. In other words, if if deep down
5:48
somebody would never buy an iPhone, you can't really
5:50
persuade the person to buy an iPhone.
5:54
So what do people who sell iPhones do?
5:58
And what masterful sales people do is they look for people whose
6:03
motivations aligns with ours, people who already have the
6:07
pre-existing motivation and then you just look for ways to make
6:11
that connection and then close the sale.
6:14
So in other words, if iPhone is all about being savvy, being
6:20
stylish, being independent, being upwardly mobile, being
6:26
rich and sophisticated, being whatever, whatever, then the
6:31
people who sell iPhones are trying to look for people who
6:34
have those pre-existing motives, people who already want to be
6:38
rich and trendy and stylish and sophisticated and upwardly
6:43
mobile and this and this and that and that and then align
6:48
those motives. And that is how we make money.
6:51
So it's not as if you can take somebody who deep down is an A
6:54
Samsung person and get the person to buy iPhone.
6:58
That's not possible. But to the extent that people
7:01
who buy high end Samsung's and Apples have similar motivations,
7:07
OK, maybe that's possible. But the point that I'm trying to
7:10
make is this. You have these non sales people,
7:13
like journalists for instance, writing books on persuasion.
7:16
But the sales person will tell you that look, if somebody did
7:21
not have the mind for the thing in the 1st place, you can't
7:23
persuade the person. The best you can do is ask
7:25
questions, explore the person's motives.
7:28
If you figure out that the person's motives are close to
7:31
yours, OK, there's room. You can make it happen.
7:36
But it's questionable that you can take someone and persuade
7:42
them to do something that they don't want to do.
7:45
Now. Remember, I'm talking now only
7:48
about the narrow world of business, business development
7:51
and sales. When it comes to politics, when
7:55
it comes to religion, when it comes to counterterrorism and
7:58
blah, blah, blah. Yes, there are skills that you
8:00
can do and mind tricks and all kinds of things that you can
8:04
Take somebody like me now, for instance, I'm a Christian.
8:10
OK, Well, I have some violent tendencies because I believe
8:13
that if somebody is an idiot is your is your responsibility to
8:16
beat the crap out of that person?
8:17
That's what I believe, but I don't go around beating people
8:21
up because I'm a big dude and the last time I slapped
8:24
somebody, the person went into convulsions.
8:25
So I'm afraid, you know, you don't know who is who.
8:28
Let them not be that. I'll go and slap somebody now
8:30
and then the person will die, and then before I know it, I'm
8:32
in jail. So yeah, I believe in the kind
8:35
of whoopass. If somebody's being an idiot, I
8:37
believe that, yeah, you should give the person a sweet kind of
8:40
whoopass. So that's my own.
8:43
Those are my own personal motivations.
8:45
So yes, when it comes to religion and policies and things
8:48
like that, you can take somebody like me and do something and I
8:53
don't know, wind me up and wind me down so I can become a
8:56
pacifist or maybe wind me up and then I become a terrorist or
9:00
something. So yes, in those dimensions,
9:02
there are people who have that kind of specialty.
9:04
Yes, yes, those people exist. When it comes to business, just
9:09
simple business rule. I'm trying to sell consultancy
9:11
services. I'm trying to sell iPhone.
9:13
I'm trying to sell bag of rice. If somebody does not like rice,
9:19
you can't get that person to buy a bag of rice.
9:23
If somebody thinks business consultants are frauds, you
9:27
can't sell consultancy services to that person.
9:30
If somebody thinks iPhone and Samsung is a waste of money, you
9:34
can't sell Samsung and iPhone to that person.
9:37
So have conversations with people.
9:39
Look for existing motivations, pre-existing motivations and
9:43
then try and see how you can align those motives, the
9:46
person's motives, your own person, your own personal
9:48
motives and then you make a sale.
9:52
So that is one thing when you guys are reading all these books
9:54
about persuasion, just be careful.
9:56
Don't take this persuasion of thing too far because some of
9:59
you read these books, you feel all high and then you're trying
10:02
to close a deal that is a deal that is unclosable.
10:08
If the guy says I don't like rice, then why you still talk to
10:13
him trying to send me a bag of rice?
10:15
You know, forget whatever it is that he read in these books, all
10:17
these fancy tips and tricks. Then there's also some
10:21
developments in business literature now.
10:22
People now talk about presuation.
10:26
So there's persuasion, trying to get someone to do something, and
10:30
then there's presuation. The idea behind presuation, I
10:33
can't remember who wrote the book with that in the title, but
10:36
people talk about it now. The idea behind presuation is
10:38
this now that you're going to try and set up some factors, try
10:41
and set up some context, try and set up some habits ahead of time
10:45
so that when you start talking to some people, the people now
10:48
become amenable to persuasion. That whole thing of you try and
10:52
set things up right, set it up with the right time, with the
10:54
right context, make things the right way or discuss some of
10:58
these things in a certain in a, in a certain order.
11:01
And so it makes it easier to persuade people.
11:04
So just to let you guys know anyway that as you're reading,
11:07
there's also new literature, people are now talking about
11:09
presuation instead of persuasion.
11:12
So persuasion, PERSUASION, and then pre situation P RE-S,
11:22
UASION. My own take for those of you who
11:27
listen to the show is please avoid all these Jedi mind
11:32
tricks. Let's just stick to traditional
11:33
selling and we'll be fine. All this whole thing of I say it
11:37
like this or I dress like this or I wink like this or I stand
11:41
like this or I hand over the paper like this, or I stand on
11:46
this foot or I smile this way or I only wear red or I drive in
11:50
this car. I beg all those things that just
11:54
it's not so they don't work or they work, but it's not
11:56
unnecessary mind sock. So just learn how to do
11:59
traditional selling well, you will be fine.
12:02
But still, Emmanuel Jabuella, thank you very much for the
12:05
recommendation. I'm going to have a look at the
12:07
book. I recommend that you guys read
12:08
the book as well. Just take my caveats on board.
12:11
Now today we're going to continue with the whole
12:16
conversation about how sales skills and not lack of finance
12:21
is going to help you to expand and actualize your business.
12:24
Now the context is we've been talking about a lady who is
12:27
based in Makodi who attends Benway State University.
12:30
I've called her Wonder Woman because I don't want to use her
12:33
real name. Now Wonder Woman in Makodi is
12:37
involved in catering and cuisine and she wants to expand, sorry,
12:41
expand the menu that she offers and the orders.
12:45
And then she what she cites, what she cites as not allowing
12:51
her to move forward is a lack of finance.
12:53
So yesterday we looked at how sales skills can help you secure
12:57
grant financing. Because my argument was that
13:01
it's not a lack of finance that is the problem, It's a lack of
13:04
sales skills. And if you have sales skills,
13:06
you are going to be able to use that to cure your financing
13:08
challenge. You'd be able to use the sales
13:10
skills to go and chase grants. So yesterday's episode was to
13:13
show you how you use sales skills to pursue your grants.
13:18
Today we're going to be looking at how sales skills I'm going to
13:22
help you to. So I lost my train of thought.
13:27
So wait, hold on, let me get my I think I wrote down the kinds
13:33
of the ways of getting funds. Let me just check my notes.
13:37
Yes, I've seen it. So today what we're supposed to
13:39
be doing is we're trying to go and see how sales skills can
13:43
help you to secure funding from sales or from revenue, because
13:48
that's the order I listed them first.
13:49
I said, if you lack finance, the first thing you chase is grant.
13:53
Grant means they dashed you. Then the second one is
13:56
bootstrapping. Bootstrapping mean Shah, you
13:58
raise the money, you check your bank account, you check your
14:01
wallet, you check your bag, You, you know, you scrawn Shah, you
14:03
get the money. Then the third is sales on
14:06
revenue. So for those of you just
14:09
listening for the first time, don't worry, continue listening.
14:11
You will get some stuff out of it.
14:12
But if you're lost, if you listen to yesterday's episode
14:15
and then you skip back, listen to the one prior, the one prior,
14:18
just do that for one week. You understand everything that
14:20
we're saying, or rather you understand why we're saying what
14:23
we're saying. So how to use sales skills to
14:30
business development skills to get more sales, to get more
14:33
revenue. And it is that that Wonder Woman
14:35
is going to use to fund the new meats that she wants to roll
14:38
out. Like she wants to do peppered
14:40
meat and some, you know, some nice stuff.
14:42
The new soups that she wants to roll out, the new vegetables
14:45
that she wants to roll out, the new menus that she wants to roll
14:48
out, the new smoothies that she wants to roll out.
14:50
She also wants to try out something in Magodie.
14:52
Where? How did she explain it again?
14:56
I think she said like a hamper basket.
14:59
Yeah. So it's like a hamper basket
15:00
with food. I'm already inside.
15:03
So instead of hamper basket with fruit and stuff like that will
15:05
be hamper basket with food. I'm not quite sure I understood
15:08
the concept, but she's trying to do some new stuff here.
15:11
So we're going to see how sales skills can help her to get money
15:17
from all this. If we're going to get money from
15:19
all this by expanding our sales and our revenue.
15:23
Now if you're going to do this now, that's a option three.
15:27
I'll be 1-2, three, Option 1, grant.
15:30
Option 2 is where's my notes? 1 is grant, 2 is what's up
15:38
around 2:00, I can't remember. Option 2, I can't remember
15:46
anyway, one sales shaft. That's the most important thing,
15:48
whatever option 2 is. So yeah, we're going to do.
15:51
This is going to be a matter of cash flow.
15:54
Cash flow just means money is coming in, money is going out.
15:58
The idea is hopefully plenty of money is coming in, small money
16:02
is going out. Everybody has cash flow issues
16:06
in business. So you build the client, you
16:09
build the client 3 million, you collect the three million, But
16:12
then to produce the thing that you need to produce, maybe.
16:18
OK, let me see. OK, Documentaries.
16:21
Yes, I've been making documentaries recently for non
16:24
governmental organisations. So some of you will hear that
16:27
somebody made a documentary and the person collected 20M.
16:30
Yeah, it sounds big, but it doesn't mean that 20 M is what
16:32
actually entered the person's pocket because it will surprise
16:35
you that the person might collect 20 M and out of that 20
16:38
M you have to pay taxes on it because of obtainable tax now is
16:40
what 14%? So do 14% of of 20 M.
16:46
So that's how much the government will collect.
16:48
That's almost a fifth of the money, which I think is painful
16:51
just to think about it. So teenable demo, collect 14%,
16:55
then you know the other people, you, if you don't have your own
16:59
equipment, you rent camera, you pay editor, pay mixer, pay this,
17:04
pay this person, pay that person.
17:06
So I'm not surprised if production cost might now eat
17:12
out half of the money or even more.
17:15
But basically what I'm just trying to say is that every
17:17
business owner has this whole thing of you collect money on
17:20
front, in the front and then you spend it out at the back.
17:22
That's just what cash flow means.
17:24
Money entered your hand today, money left your hand tomorrow.
17:27
So this is sales. There's a cash flow play.
17:30
So traditionally now the sales playbook that we use now is when
17:36
we're trying to get money to enter our hand, good money to
17:39
enter our hand, what we do is, number one, we get more
17:42
customer, we get more customers to order.
17:45
That just means we get new business.
17:47
So last month you had 20 customers.
17:49
Hopefully this month those two come back.
17:52
But on top of that, 20 customers.
17:53
We'll see if we can get another two or three customers to come.
17:57
So get more people to order, get new customers.
18:01
That is option 1. So Wonder Woman, your options
18:04
are get new customers, then #2 get customers to increase how
18:10
much they spend. So Wonder Woman option 2 is the
18:13
people that I bought from you last month, we're trying to see
18:16
how when they spend this month, they spend more money.
18:24
Then option 3 is get customers to buy again and again that is
18:27
repeat business. So the people that you got last
18:30
month and hopefully they'll do business with us this month.
18:34
The reason why I'm stressing this one repeat business is in
18:37
Nigeria, we just have this fundamentality of one and done.
18:41
You do business with someone, you collect the money and then
18:44
that's it. You let the person go, you start
18:45
looking for a new customer. But no, that's not where the
18:47
sweet money comes in. The sweet money comes in when
18:50
people buy from you again and again and again.
18:52
So if you sell bathroom sleepers and you sell bathroom sleepers
18:55
to someone and you know the person pays you, your profit
18:58
margin is 500. You know, yeah, you're happy,
19:00
but the goal is not that the person bought bathroom sleepers
19:04
and you got 500 non profit margin.
19:06
The goal is to get someone to be able to come back again and
19:08
again and again so that if person bought this month and
19:12
then the slippers pause in two months time, the person comes
19:15
back to you. So that if somebody ends up
19:17
buying from you 3 or 4 times in a year, your profit margin will
19:21
now be two, five on top of one particular customer.
19:23
You know, so that's where the sweet money comes from.
19:25
So it's not just that when somebody bought once, it's
19:28
repeat business, get the person to come back again and again and
19:30
again. Then another level for us to
19:33
pull is to get people to bring their friends, their family
19:36
members and their associates. You know that is called
19:38
referrals. So Wonder Woman for your
19:40
catering business, what we're going to be trying to do is
19:43
we're going to try and get new customers, our old customers.
19:47
We're going to try and get them to buy from us again.
19:51
When they buy from us again, we can try and get them to increase
19:55
the amount of money that they spend.
19:58
After we do that, we'll see how we can get them to bring their
20:02
friends and their family members and their associates to come and
20:05
buy from us. If I ever can bring the enemies
20:08
to buy from us too, the better. So how do we get new business?
20:14
Unfortunately, people try and be very smart and sexy about this
20:17
thing. But The thing is, how you get
20:20
new business is just to sit down and ask yourself, OK, these
20:22
customers that I have, these old customers, how did I get them in
20:26
the first place? Whatever the answer is, go and
20:29
do it again. That's how you get new
20:30
customers. It's that simple.
20:32
So for Wonder Woman, some of her customers are her classmates.
20:36
So if you want to get new customers, it's very simple.
20:38
Go out and do the same thing and you will get more revenue.
20:42
Go and talk to more people in your department.
20:45
So the people that did the business with you last year,
20:48
there were people in your department this year.
20:50
Go and talk to more people in your department.
20:52
If you Max out your department, move to another faculty.
20:56
In fact, you can start thinking of faculties where traditionally
20:59
people say they have money, like medicine, for instance.
21:02
I don't know about now, but back in my day, people used to say
21:04
it's only those who are rich kids who studied medicine.
21:06
Like you're either rich or you're either very smart.
21:09
I don't know how true that is, but that's just what people used
21:12
to say. And then people also used to say
21:14
that law faculty, that's where all the big boys and the big
21:17
girls are because, and it depends on campus to campus,
21:20
because there are some schools where they say law faculty that
21:22
that's where all the Aluta people and all the activists
21:25
are. So, you know, it depends.
21:28
So if you're in a school where people say medicine, that's
21:31
where all the rich children are and faculty of law, that's where
21:34
all the big boys and the big girls are, then Wonder Woman,
21:37
that's your next play. Max out your department and then
21:40
start talking to people in medical department and then law
21:43
faculty. And that's how you're going to
21:44
get new business. So there are creative ways of
21:48
getting new business, but please, please, please, please,
21:50
please, please stop thinking of new, sexy, 21st century, you
21:56
know, blah, blah, blah ways of getting business.
21:58
Just sit down and think this customers that I have, how did I
22:01
get them? Go out and do the exact same
22:04
thing again and you will get new customers.
22:07
So I'm not a fan of new, new, new, new, new.
22:11
There's a time for new tactics, but we'll get to that later.
22:13
So that's how you get new business.
22:15
How did you get your old customers go out, do the same
22:17
thing. So Wonder Woman, go and talk to
22:20
your faculty members again. Now that school is resuming.
22:23
Once you've spoken to everybody in your faculty, when I start
22:26
talking to all the rich people in medical school and all the
22:28
other people in law faculty, then next, next, next, next,
22:35
next OK, order value trying to get people to spell to spend
22:38
more. This is where we now talk about
22:40
upsells and cross sells and stuff like that.
22:42
So if you know, let's say you have maybe like six or seven
22:47
guys in your department and what they order from you is
22:50
breakfast. You talk to them and try and see
22:53
how instead of just breakfast, maybe they can now be doing
22:55
breakfast and lunch combo, you know, that kind of thing.
22:59
Or somebody has been buying all your lunch and then talk to them
23:02
so they can do a lunch and dinner combo or something.
23:07
Or eventually you talk to someone in medical department,
23:11
so medicine faculty or law faculty and you get some good
23:16
relationships there. From there, you can now enter
23:18
event catering because LSS, law student society, they will
23:22
definitely do dinner every year. Every year there has to be law
23:26
school, law school, law students dinner.
23:31
And then also medical students society.
23:34
I'll be sorry, I'm not sure what they're called or what they call
23:37
it in your own school Medical. Yeah, they also, they do like
23:41
orientation week and things like that.
23:42
And then they do dinner during orientation week so you can see
23:47
how you can increase all that value.
23:49
Somebody's been buying breakfast before.
23:51
Try and upsell the person on lunch.
23:53
Somebody has been buying breakfast and lunch before.
23:55
Try and say you can throw dinner into the package.
23:57
Oh, by the way, if you're going to do all this, make sure you're
23:59
studying very hard because it looks like this is going to be a
24:02
lot of time cooking. And you know, if you're going
24:05
there and spend all your time cooking and then you fail your
24:08
exams, you know, your mom's and Popsy, they're going to be very
24:10
upset with you. But I trust that you're very
24:13
smart woman, dear Wonder Woman. So I know that you're going to
24:15
be able to cope then. Yeah.
24:19
So that's how you increase your order value.
24:21
And then with some networking, you can see how we can now get
24:25
money from some other things like event catering if you're
24:28
going to do LSS dinner and then medical students, the
24:30
orientation dinner. But my recommendation is please,
24:34
if you're going to deal with law student society or if you're
24:37
going to deal with medical student society, my
24:39
recommendation is please collect at least 60% of the deposit
24:44
upfront. I beg of you, please collect 60
24:48
or 80%. Cause the problem with the ex
24:51
schools of all these societies is by the time they pay you the
24:55
60% or the 80% and the dinner goes on well after they think
25:00
they'll say they don't have money, they will now start.
25:03
Do not start posting. You next week will turn to next
25:05
month. Next month will turn to two
25:07
months. Before you know it, the term
25:09
will end. They have not paid, and then
25:11
they will now swing in the new Expo.
25:13
And the new Expo, I can assure you, is not going to pay the
25:17
debt of the old Expo. So in fact, make sure you pad
25:21
your budget so that even when you collect the 60% or the 80%,
25:26
so that even if that's all they pay you and you don't collect,
25:29
at least on that 80% that you collect that, there will still
25:31
be a profit. I know some of you might say
25:34
this is being unethical. Look at this is not being
25:36
unethical. This is just real policy care.
25:39
It's just real policy care. But we're Nigerians just being
25:43
off front with you and this thing happens in the real world.
25:46
There's a certain Nigerian telecommunications company, I
25:49
won't call that a company, but content providers and media
25:54
people know that when you deal with this company that they
25:58
never pay you in full. That initial 6070% deposit that
26:02
they pay is the only one you collect and this company is
26:05
famous for that. So that's what people do.
26:07
People just pad and submit the bid so that by the time you
26:10
bribe one or two people here and everything, they pay the 70%, If
26:13
they pay you, the rest is good. You thank God you have plenty of
26:16
money. If they don't pay you, at least
26:18
there was profit margin there. So there's something that you
26:21
can survive on. So this just being real policy
26:24
here, nothing unethical here, absolutely nothing at all.
26:28
So Wonder Woman, if you deal with law students, society don't
26:31
look at the fact that these law students who.
26:33
So in fact, sometimes lawyers can be the biggest criminals.
26:36
So, and I can say so confidently because that is where I started
26:40
off. Yeah, my undergraduate degree is
26:44
in law and started off as a lawyer.
26:45
So I can say so confidently and nobody can harass me for saying
26:49
that. So please collect your 60 or 80%
26:51
deposit. If you go and collect 30 or 40%
26:53
deposit, you're on your own then.
26:57
OK, so that's about increasing the order value and then getting
27:02
some good money through event catering.
27:04
OK, so now repeat business. Now repeat business that is
27:08
getting your old customers, people who bought from you last
27:10
semester to come and buy from you again this semester.
27:14
And then next semester is just a game of follow up and
27:17
relationship building. I repeat, getting repeat
27:20
business is just a matter of follow up and relationship
27:23
building. I don't like saying follow up,
27:25
but I'll just continue saying follow up now.
27:27
We'll make another podcast episode about that.
27:30
So follow up and relationship building.
27:33
So your WhatsApp game has to be strong.
27:36
All the people that you've been cooking for in your faculty or
27:39
medical departments or whatever. In fact, if you've been cooking
27:42
for some lecturers, you know, same thing too.
27:44
Have everybody on WhatsApp. Don't create a group.
27:46
Let the messages be personalized be sending the messages during
27:50
these holidays. So we've just finished the
27:52
holiday period. So you know, there should have
27:55
been Christmas greetings, New Year greetings, you know, blah,
28:00
blah, blah. If the holiday stretch for too
28:02
long, maybe because or strike or stuff like that.
28:05
You could have been sending menu ideas for holidays for those of
28:08
your clients who are women, for instance.
28:11
Then as you guys are about to resume school, I don't know when
28:16
school is resuming anyway as right now this is generally at
28:19
the time of this recording. I don't know when school is
28:21
resuming, but whenever school is about to resume, you can now
28:24
start sending out WhatsApp messages with meal planning
28:28
ideas and results and suggestions or things like that.
28:31
You know, things that people can do when they resume.
28:34
And then of course when you resume, you now pick up your
28:36
phone and start calling up people one by one.
28:38
Assume that you are going to continue with the same order.
28:43
Just assume if you have something is wrong, the person
28:46
will tell you that, oh, OK, no, no, no.
28:47
I did it last semester because I could afford it this semester
28:51
and things are tight. Popsy didn't really give me much
28:53
money. I'm not going to be able to
28:54
afford it. But just assume you're
28:56
continuing. Call the person up with the
28:58
spirit of yeah, we're going to continue.
29:00
And you'd be surprised that some people will just continue.
29:05
And if anybody's not going to continue, at least the person
29:07
will tell you now. So no emotional heartbreak, that
29:12
whole thing of your waiting or will they won't they, will they
29:14
call me? Won't they call me?
29:16
So just call them up. Oh, welcome back, blah, blah,
29:21
blah. So how was your holiday?
29:24
How's the family, blah, blah, blah.
29:26
You know, ready for school? OK, cool.
29:29
So last year your order was amala and egusi soup every
29:36
Wednesday afternoon. So are we going to continue with
29:38
that or are we going to be making some changes this this
29:40
semester or? Yeah, last semester your order
29:44
was pounded yam and megari soup. So what changes are we going to
29:49
be making to that this semester? You know, just assume that we're
29:52
continuing and then carry on the conversation like that.
29:55
So that's a good way of getting repeat business because if you
29:58
do business with people in semester one and then throughout
30:02
the holiday, no follow up, no relationship building and then
30:05
semester 2, you just show up. You didn't call anybody, you
30:09
didn't message anybody, just keeping quiet.
30:11
You're hoping that they'll come and run and get you.
30:13
I mean, look less less. Let's be realistic.
30:16
Let's be realistic here. You're not repeat business is
30:19
good. It's not going to find you.
30:20
You are the one who's going to have to follow up and change
30:22
that repeat business. So Wonder Woman and people who
30:26
are in Wonder Woman situation, this repeat business game is a
30:29
matter of follow up and relationship building.
30:31
So your phone is not just for watching Netflix.
30:35
Go and buy credit and won't put data on your phone.
30:40
You know, I'm try talking to some people and then they say,
30:42
Oh my, my data was off Amazing data.
30:44
What what do you mean you're mising data?
30:47
What's supposed to be in business?
30:49
I mean, what, what the hell are you guys thinking?
30:52
I, I don't know, sometimes it just it, it blows my mind.
30:55
That's how one guy I know was a lawyer and he's a lawyer
30:59
actually based on Abuja. The guys in my WhatsApp is not
31:01
working. The thing just blew my mind like
31:03
you are a lawyer, this was in 2023, you're a lawyer in 2023.
31:09
WhatsApp, common WhatsApp you don't have OK, no problem, you
31:13
die broken. All right.
31:16
So as a repeat business then referrals, I have so referrals.
31:22
So the people that bought from us last year, we're trying to
31:24
get them to buy from us this year.
31:26
And we also want to make sure that they now bring their
31:28
friends, their family members and their associates.
31:31
So if you were able to get two or three people to buy from from
31:35
you in medicine, medicine department or low faculty, the
31:38
goal is that as these three people come back, OK, let's see,
31:42
three people were from you last semester in medical department.
31:45
This semester you do your follow up and relationship building. 2
31:49
of them come back. Again, the goal is hopefully
31:52
that these two people, maybe they will invite one, one person
31:54
each. Think about that.
31:58
If you are retaining maybe 5060% of people who did business with
32:02
you last year and all the people that you retain, each of them is
32:05
bringing, you know, one person each or something.
32:10
If you do a good job like that, at a certain point you don't
32:12
even have to sell again to start chasing new people because of
32:18
the people who are doing repeat business are bringing in
32:21
referrals and those referrals are bringing in referrals.
32:24
That's assuming you do a very good job.
32:27
So this referral bit is really, really, really important.
32:30
But we can't secure the referral unless we do a debrief.
32:33
Debrief just means, hey, are you happy with the menu?
32:36
You didn't purge, the food is OK, Salt is not too much.
32:40
The delivery guy, when he got to you, the soup did not pour.
32:45
Let's see what else. He found your address on time,
32:49
The meat was complete. You know, all those sorts of
32:52
things. That's for those of you who are
32:53
in the catering space, whether in the city or in universities.
32:58
So you, you need to get on the phone and you need to ask those
33:00
sorts of questions. You'd be surprised how many
33:02
people don't do that. In fact, my wife, she likes to
33:08
do these sorts of things, you know, order food sent to
33:11
somebody for their birthday once in a while, other small shops in
33:15
the house, you know, those sorts of thing.
33:17
And since my wife and I have been married, I'm telling you
33:21
now it's like it's almost like 15 years there has been no, no
33:28
caterer and I repeat capital. NO, OK, well, only one, only
33:33
one. And that's the person that they
33:35
now used to do to cook for. I think the directors that were
33:40
passing out in my not passing out them leaving the
33:44
organization that my wife works for.
33:46
So in close to 15 years, only one food vendor has ever called
33:51
up my wife to say did you guys enjoy your meal or sent a
33:56
message to say did the order get there on time?
33:59
Think about it. I'm trying to show you guys how
34:03
to distinguish yourself from the competition in Nigeria.
34:05
You don't have to do anything fancy.
34:07
That's why I say all these new, this new, this latest, this
34:10
later, you don't need any of these latest whatever.
34:12
Just do the fundamentals because your competition is not doing
34:15
it. In Abuja, food vendors are not
34:18
picking up the phone to say did you receive your meal?
34:22
I hope the Okada driver did not steal your meat.
34:26
I hope the children enjoyed the small chops.
34:29
Did your husband like the extra whatever, whatever that we
34:32
packed for you? Was the food enough for the
34:36
party that you ordered? Food vendors in Abuja are not
34:41
doing it. Food vendors in Lagos are not
34:43
doing it. Food vendors in Macod, they are
34:44
not doing it. You can make yourself stand out
34:47
and you can make your business grow just by doing this
34:51
traditional, traditional sales stuff.
34:55
So in my own opinion, it is when you have mastered all this
34:58
traditional stuff, all these basic stuff that you should be
35:00
doing is when you have mastered it is when you become a Don in
35:03
it that you now start thinking, OK, what are the new, the
35:07
latest, the trendy, what new social media tactic?
35:10
What knew this, what knew that, what knew this, what knew that?
35:13
Master the fundamentals and you'll be fine.
35:15
OK, so we're going on for close to 40 minutes.
35:17
Let me just bring it to a close, but basically Wonder Woman,
35:22
don't say lack of funds is the problem.
35:24
Lack of funds is not the problem.
35:25
Lack of sales skills is the problem.
35:27
And this is how we're going to be able to get the funds so that
35:29
you can have new meats, new soups, new vegetables, new
35:31
menus, new smoothies, new every single thing.
35:34
We can do that by getting more, getting new customers.
35:39
Go and chase people in the medical department, they say
35:41
medicine, that's where the rich kids are.
35:43
Go and chase people in law faculty.
35:45
You get new customers. Then the people that bought from
35:48
you last semester. Try and make sure that they buy
35:51
from you this semester. So do WhatsApp follow up
35:55
relationship building over the holidays into the new term so
35:59
that they'll come and buy from you again.
36:01
When they buy from you again. Try and increase the average
36:04
order value. If somebody was buying only 5
36:06
wraps of fufu for lunch every day, try and see how you can get
36:10
the person to buy 6 wraps of fufu this semester.
36:14
Or if the person was buying 5 wraps of fufu and two meats, try
36:17
and see how you can get the person to buy 5 wraps of fufu
36:19
and three meats this semester. I know it's small, but an
36:22
increase in one piece of meat every single week, it adds up to
36:26
quite a bit. Then for the people that you've
36:30
come now that are now doing repeat business with you, try
36:33
and see how you can get them to bring other people to buy from
36:36
you as well. So that that medical student who
36:39
likes dealing with you because he buys a container of soup on
36:43
Monday with maybe 14 pieces of meat and that container of soup
36:48
lasts until OK. He buys it on Sunday and maybe
36:52
it lasts until Friday evening. He's happy doing business with
36:55
you. Ask for the referral.
36:58
Oh bro, hope you're happy with this.
37:00
With that, everything is OK. Size of meat is good, the soup
37:03
is OK. Not too much or not too much
37:05
salt please. Do you know other medical
37:08
student who also would like to do soup prep for this semester?
37:12
Ask and make it a very specific ask 'cause if you just say oh
37:16
Bros, I'd appreciate your referrals.
37:18
It's too vague, so I recommend that if you're asking for
37:21
referrals, you start with someone with a scenario that is
37:25
typical to the context that you're already in.
37:28
So in this case, he's a law student.
37:30
He's buying soup every single week.
37:33
He can make his food by himself. You just ask him the same thing.
37:36
Do you need any of your classmates who like this kind of
37:38
arrangement as well? Who will be buying soup every
37:40
single week? That's simple.
37:43
If you know somebody, good. If he doesn't know somebody,
37:45
yeah, no, Allah. But the problem is it is the
37:48
more you ask, you increase the odds that somebody's eventually
37:51
going to make a referral. So dear Wonder Woman and people
37:55
who are in a similar context, people in similar circumstances,
38:00
lack of funding is not your problem.
38:03
Lack of sales skills is the problem.
38:05
So with small hard work, you can close that funding gap from the
38:13
revenue that you get from sales activities and you should be
38:18
fine. So that's it for today.
38:21
Tomorrow, yes, for those who like gossip.
38:25
Now we'll get into the part that you you guys have been waiting
38:27
for. Tomorrow we're going to look at
38:28
the equity option because remember I said that Wonder
38:30
Woman that is this guy in the class who wants to finance the
38:33
business. And I've told her that, look,
38:36
this thing is a no, no. And I've been telling you guys
38:38
over here on the podcast, females, listen to this podcast.
38:41
Now, please do not enter into business with your boyfriend or
38:44
not boyfriend or toaster or non toaster or somebody who is
38:47
liking you but not quite liking you or he caught eye for you
38:51
once in a while. But some, you know, shy don't do
38:55
it. So tomorrow we're going to get
38:56
into the equity option. Equity just means somebody's
38:58
dropping money so that they keep can be your partner, you know,
39:02
whether it's 5050 or 7030, but they drop money.
39:05
So tomorrow we're going to look at equity.
39:06
Equity. We'll explore the boyfriend
39:08
option. You know, whether you must
39:09
collect money from that toaster or your boyfriend and the non
39:12
boyfriend option. You know what options are
39:14
available now, even for those of you who are married still listen
39:18
to tomorrow's episode because even though you have no drama in
39:21
your life when it comes to equity, it's all about the
39:29
terms, the conditions on which you're going to get the equity.
39:32
So you might not be able to relate because you know, you're
39:34
happily married and or you've chosen not to be married or
39:37
whatever. But whether you have the
39:41
boyfriend drama in your life or girlfriend drama in your life or
39:44
not, it's also be a good episode to listen to so that we can
39:47
start thinking critically about somebody's offering me equity.
39:50
How much should I collect and on what terms?
39:53
What is the proper valuation for my business?
39:56
Are these restrictions something that I can live with or live
39:59
without? And anyway, let me just leave it
40:04
at that. So we'll deal with all that
40:05
tomorrow. So thank you very much for your
40:07
time and attention. Remember, if you'd love to
40:08
connect with me, the phone number is 08064662140, country
40:14
code +234. For those of you who are not
40:16
Nigerian, that's my WhatsApp number as well.
40:18
Then connect with me on socials. I'm on LinkedIn, the name to
40:21
look for establishing my IED. Same name on YouTube as well.
40:24
Thank you very much for your time and attention.
40:26
I'll catch you guys in the next episode.