Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Stop Hiding Behind the Keyboard: The Power of the Phone Call

Transcript

Stop Hiding Behind the Keyboard: The Power of the Phone Call · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello and welcome to the podcast.
0:04
Today we're going to look at some circumstances when you
0:06
should be using the phone, when the phone is going to be much
0:10
more effective than other means of communication that you
0:15
probably have in mind. Because making phone calls is
0:18
hard. And going to people's offices,
0:20
you will find that most people nowadays anyway default to
0:26
sending emails or sending text messages or sending WhatsApp
0:29
messages when they want to introduce themselves, when they
0:34
want to make a sale, when they want to get an agenda going.
0:37
And you know, it's understandable because now we
0:39
have different options. So I mean, think about it, let's
0:42
rewind back, you know, some 30-40, fifty years, you know,
0:45
when our parents were getting into business, you know, there
0:48
was no, I mean, these options just were not there.
0:50
If you wanted to see Chief Ogi Dengue, you had to go to Chief
0:54
Ogi Dengue's house. Was was that simple?
0:57
Because even after Nitel was introduced, that was the
1:02
Nigeria's national telephone company.
1:05
It's not as if everybody had a telephone.
1:08
So let's say you're one of those families where you are lucky
1:11
enough to have a telephone, It's possible that Chief Obedebi will
1:14
not have a telephone himself. So our parents, our uncles, our
1:19
aunties, you know, they were forced by circumstances of their
1:22
time to get good at these sorts of things.
1:24
They had to learn how to walk up to Chief Ogdingby in church or
1:29
at the village meeting or at the company secretariat, whatever,
1:35
and introduce themselves to Chief Ogdenby and try and get
1:38
some interest and try and hook up a meeting and try and go to
1:42
Chief Ogdenby's house. So eventually Nighthawk comes on
1:46
the scene. You know, there are more
1:48
options. Let's Fast forward a bit after
1:51
the military era, Obasajar comes in as civilian president, then
1:55
GSM comes in and now mobile phones are now readily
2:00
available. Now that's where some people
2:02
like me come onto the scene because by the time I was
2:07
becoming a young adult, you know, 20 somethings up to 30
2:12
something mobile phones were now hitting the scene.
2:15
And so these were the new technologies that we had to
2:18
learn. We had to learn how to use if I
2:22
can remember when and they don't mind me, it's just from side.
2:27
Just let me not go into that. Let me stay focused today.
2:29
So we had to get very good at learning how to use the phone,
2:34
then eventually e-mail and you know, a bunch of other stuff
2:39
would come on the scene. And as easier and easier forms
2:43
of technology get invented, how I put it, OK, let me just say an
2:48
easy form of technology just means it requires less, less
2:52
human involvement. Let me put it that way.
2:54
You don't have to see somebody, you don't have to talk to
2:56
somebody, you don't have to touch somebody, you don't have
2:59
to smell somebody, you don't have to shake somebody's hand.
3:01
Let me just say those are easier forms of communication.
3:04
So it's easier and easier forms of communication get invented.
3:09
And then now with social media and you know, Snapchat and
3:13
whatsapping and everything, it's a lot easier to just text
3:16
somebody and assume that OK, I've done my bit, it's now over
3:21
to the other person. And because of this, I think a
3:28
lot of us have lost sight of the fact that there are times when,
3:32
like in our Parents day, we actually should learn how to
3:36
walk up to somebody, shake somebody's hand and get a
3:39
meeting. And there are also times when it
3:46
would be best to actually pick up the phone and call someone
3:50
instead of doing the easy thing which is hiding behind the
3:53
keyboard. Now for those of you who have
3:56
been listening to my podcast right in length of time, you
3:59
already know that I talk about the communications hierarchy,
4:03
that the best form of communicating actually is face
4:05
to face. I see you, you see me.
4:10
The reason why that's the best way to communicate is because we
4:13
get the full range of expression, the full range of
4:16
emotion, the full range of context.
4:21
If I send somebody a text message and I say, oh boy, how
4:24
you doing? And the person says I'm good.
4:28
All you see is text. You don't know.
4:30
What if you're in front of your homeboy and you say, oh boy, how
4:32
far? And the guy says I'm good.
4:34
There's a way that you hear the I'm good or see the I'm good
4:37
that you that you will know that there's fire on the mountain
4:41
that your homeboy is saying I'm good.
4:42
But you know that this guy is drowning in something.
4:47
So that is why face to face communication is the best means
4:50
the best way to communicate. You're trying to sell, you're
4:54
trying to get across your agenda, business agenda,
4:56
political agenda, whatever it is, face to face is the best.
5:00
If you guys are vibing, you can't see it that Chief Ogden
5:03
Bill is vibing with you. If you are being an irritant,
5:08
you will see that Chief Doctor Mrs. Tokumbo.
5:11
You will see it on her face that you're irritating her.
5:15
If you're making progress, you will know.
5:19
If you're stalling, you will know.
5:22
If you're regressing, you will know.
5:24
And you will know quickly. Not just because of words, but
5:28
because of body language, because of tone and because of
5:31
all the subtle nuances that you can get.
5:34
So wherever you can, if possible, it's just that is the
5:37
most expensive because to go and see Chief, you actually need to
5:42
enter bus, enter Uber or drive your car.
5:45
And then of course, there's the amount of time that is involved.
5:48
For those of us who are in Abuja, you know it's not a
5:51
problem. You can drive 30 minutes, have a
5:53
meeting one hour, drive 30 minutes back.
5:55
All you've wasted is or rather all you have investors is 2
5:59
hours. But of course, for those of you
6:00
who live in Lagos, it's another thing.
6:03
Be stuck in traffic 2 hours getting there, then you have a
6:06
one hour meeting and then you're stuck in traffic 2 hours getting
6:08
back. In other words, you've invested
6:10
5 hours that day. So yes, face to face is the most
6:15
expensive, but then the next best thing actually is phone
6:19
calls. And the reason why is because
6:21
for phone calls, you have the words, you don't have the,
6:28
excuse me, you don't have the visual feedback.
6:30
You can see, but at least you can hear.
6:34
And if you've been trying to use the phone to do business by the
6:36
length of time, trust me, you can hear it when somebody's
6:40
disappointed. You can hear it when somebody's
6:42
excited. You can hear it when you're kind
6:45
of falling flat, like you're never here, you're never there.
6:49
This person is maybe feeling you, maybe not feeling you.
6:52
You can hear these things over the phone.
6:58
So that's the reason why using the phone is a very useful tool
7:01
to communicate. Also, forgive me my manners,
7:04
forgot to introduce myself. My name is Tavishma Ayede.
7:07
I'm the host of the podcast. I am a former lawyer turned
7:11
business consultant. Excuse me.
7:14
And if you like these sorts of things that we talk about over
7:17
here, how to sell, how to network, how to grow your
7:22
business, these sorts of things, then subscribe to the podcast on
7:26
Spotify, on YouTube, on Apple iTunes, wherever it is that you
7:31
like to listen to your podcast. Subscribe so that you can get
7:35
all the juicy business goodness that we talked about here every
7:39
other day. Then also, if you'd love to
7:41
connect with me, you can call, send me a text message or send
7:44
me a WhatsApp message on the 08064 662140.
7:51
If you have a question, you have a comment, you have a query or
7:54
you would love to collaborate, then reach out.
7:57
I'd like to hear from everyone, but please don't you reach out.
7:59
I beg you guys, be respectful, especially those of you who are
8:05
much younger. It's like people haven't taught
8:08
you guys. If you, if you think you know,
8:10
say good morning to someone, don't just say you know my name
8:13
is Kunle, blah, blah, blah. This is my business.
8:15
I have this problem Yeah. Give me the first.
8:18
Give me the best 5 tips to solve my business problem.
8:21
Business problem. I mean, you guys relax.
8:26
For some reason, human decency or politeness has like you guys
8:29
didn't get the memo, You guys didn't get the chip.
8:31
I don't understand. Say good morning to somebody and
8:36
you guys learn how to compliment somebody know complimenting will
8:41
take you guys a long way. Anyway, let me stay focused.
8:47
Sorry, forgive me. You know, I go on rants
8:49
sometimes on the podcast. Anyway, before I went on that
8:53
rant, we're talking about why using the phone is much more
8:58
effective than other means of communication like e-mail,
9:02
WhatsApp, texting, things like that, and when we should
9:05
consider, well, we should consider using the phone.
9:09
Now the reason why this is the topic we're tackling today is
9:12
because one of my former clients, we did some work
9:15
together in 2025. You know, of course now you're
9:18
supposed to stay in touch with your people.
9:21
So we're having, we're chatting, you know, early on, you know,
9:24
happy New Year. What's up?
9:25
How you been, housewife? He has everything, you know,
9:27
that's all. I can't just.
9:30
And so the guy says that the year is starting off good.
9:33
I say good, that means money is coming in.
9:35
He say, yeah, I said correct. I said, feel me, what's going
9:39
on? What's going on?
9:40
So the guy said that he has got 2 clients so far in January of
9:43
2026. That has nice.
9:45
That's the kind of news that I like to hear.
9:48
Now some of you say 2 clients, is that a big deal?
9:50
You know, it depends. Look, we're all at different
9:52
stages of growth now for somebody who is opening up a
9:56
boutique agency and they're involved in social media content
9:59
creation and moderation and those sorts of things.
10:02
And it's a six person team, you know, 22 clients every single
10:07
month, 22 clients actually. It's not bad.
10:09
You know, it's enough to pay the bills and you know, stuff like
10:12
that. So it's not bad.
10:13
And then again, remember, it's not just about the number of
10:15
clients, it also is about the the profit margins.
10:19
So if you're having 22 clients every month and each of those
10:22
clients is worth, you know, 1.5 to you, you see, you get the
10:25
picture. So don't despise when you hear
10:28
that somebody only got 2 clients in in general of 2026 because it
10:33
all depends what are the clients worth?
10:36
How much money are the clients bringing in?
10:38
What is the size of the team? What is the operating cost for
10:42
the business? How much do they need for
10:43
salaries, for Internet, for fuel, for generator, for, you
10:47
know, blah, blah, blah. Sony.
10:49
Bottom line, I'm just trying to say the guys start off with two
10:51
customers and I said, correct, we're doing well.
10:53
We're doing well. So I said give me the rest of
10:57
the gist. Now what's going on?
10:57
What's going on? So because then two, content
11:01
creation, the clients want to run some campaigns and they're
11:04
going to need to use social media influencers for the
11:10
campaign, you know, which is of course is not a big deal.
11:13
Then the clients now that they've gotten also have
11:16
specific ideas about which content creators that they want
11:20
to work with. So they're saying, you know,
11:23
we'll work with you, we'll come up with the concepts, you know,
11:27
you guys are the ones that were on it, but then this is the
11:31
social media influencer that we want to use.
11:33
So I beg you guys, you know, hook up with these people and
11:36
negotiate on our behalf. Let's make this happen.
11:40
So that's where they are. The clients have agreed the
11:43
clients are dropping money is now to reach out to the social
11:47
media influencer and then my clients now former clients by
11:51
the way, because it's been a while since they pay me money.
11:54
Last night they pay me money was when was itself I think was like
12:00
like October, September, October 2025 S where was I?
12:08
So for my clients now then I said, then I told me the thing
12:14
that I dread to hear the most. And unfortunately for a lot of
12:18
my former clients, that is the case When I'm with them, when
12:23
they're paying me money, when I'm responsible for getting them
12:26
results, I stay on their case. I'm like use the phone or like,
12:32
why are you sending e-mail? You are here in the keja.
12:36
The person's office is in Maryland.
12:38
Just get in the car and drive down there.
12:42
It is just Maryland. Worst case scenario, if you
12:46
enter small traffic, you'll be on the road one hour, it's just
12:49
Maryland. You are on Allen Ave. it is just
12:53
Maryland. So we're working together.
12:57
I can stay on that case. But then, of course, the
13:03
coaching relationship ends. But of course, I'm still in
13:06
touch with everybody because I want to see all my clients
13:08
succeed. And of course, I hear from them
13:11
and, you know, they've gone back to some bad habits.
13:14
And so that was it in this case. So that, yeah, we've gotten
13:18
details from the person's manager and we're going to be
13:21
sending them an e-mail now. Another guy, I say e-mail.
13:28
Why e-mail then silence. Why e-mail?
13:36
You know who this content creator is.
13:39
You know who their manager is. You have a phone number.
13:43
Why do you think sending an e-mail is the best way to get
13:48
these content creators on board? No answer.
13:53
That's OK. No problem.
13:54
Shah. Let me even see the e-mail that
13:56
you want to send. And this was copy of the e-mail
14:00
that he sent to me. Says hi XYZ, we hope you're
14:04
doing great. I'm reaching out on behalf of
14:08
excuse me, I have a quote. Let me start again.
14:12
So hi, XYZI, hope you're doing great.
14:15
I'm reaching out on behalf of ABC company.
14:17
We're currently handling a paid campaign for a new brand that
14:22
would love to explore having you on board as a brand ambassador.
14:26
Can you please show us your rates, available deliverables
14:32
and point us to your manager? OK, OK, no, that was the e-mail
14:35
that was meant to go to the content creator.
14:37
That's what they wanted to to send to them.
14:42
So I looked at this thing and I had to tell my clients that,
14:44
look, you guys, you're beginning to go for you suppose call this
14:48
person. If you have a phone number, call
14:52
this person with this e-mail that you wanted to send.
14:55
What is the best that can happen?
14:57
The best thing that happened is the person will say, oh, thank
14:59
you very much for your inquiry. Then they will send you a sheet
15:02
and the sheet is just going to be, you know, what was it
15:06
called? You know, rate card.
15:09
If you want me for one day, it is this.
15:11
If you want me for two days, it is this.
15:13
If you want me for one Instagram real, it is this.
15:15
If you want me for 10 Instagram reals, it is this.
15:17
It will just be a sheet card. I do send back to you.
15:19
Now when they send you the information, how you move this
15:22
thing forward, how you build rapport with this influencer,
15:25
how you build relationship with this influencer, how you get a
15:28
vibe going, how you start toasting this influencer when
15:33
all you did was you sent one e-mail, then they send you a
15:35
rate card back. How in this situation when you
15:43
have somebody's phone number, what the hell are you sending an
15:47
e-mail for? Now, of course, there are some
15:50
people who say send me phone number, don't call me.
15:54
Like let's say I'm trying to chase downloading now because
15:57
it's like big money on the line or something.
16:00
So understandably downloading, you know, because I'm sure
16:02
everybody is begging him for money.
16:04
You want me to have his phone number, So even if I get his
16:06
phone number through Conacona means, you know, it might be
16:08
somewhere for me to send him phone number.
16:10
So yeah, if he says e-mail my secretary, what choice do I
16:14
have? What?
16:15
e-mail secretary? But of course you get to know
16:17
how I roll when I e-mail secretary.
16:20
My next thing actually is you try and get secretary's phone
16:21
number so that me and Dan with the secretary will be only
16:24
one-on-one as I like. I can pick up the phone and I
16:27
can call her direct. That's the level that I'll try
16:29
and be. I can't get there with his phone
16:31
number. No problem.
16:32
His secretary's phone number, his PA's phone number, I'll get
16:35
the babe's phone number or the guy's phone number and then we
16:37
go to relate one-on-one so I can move my agenda, you know, Quick,
16:41
quick, excuse me. So pick up the phone and
16:49
unfortunately they had already sent the message and so they now
16:54
give them the the influence and I'll give them manager's phone
16:58
number. I say, OK, no problem, you will
17:00
have goof. No problem, we can rescue it.
17:04
So I said what you are. I told him you are going to make
17:08
a phone call. You guys say yes, so OK, no
17:10
problem. Where you call the manager, what
17:12
are you going to say? You guys said, I don't know.
17:15
By the way, this is typical. I don't know why you work with
17:19
someone you know. One or two months trying to
17:22
steal some habits, check back with them in another 5-6 months
17:27
and they've forgotten half the stuff that you've taught them.
17:30
So it's just, it's normal. Just so you know that if you're
17:36
going to pay for a consultant and you guys come up with
17:40
guidelines, you guys come up with frameworks, you guys come
17:43
up with, you know, certain yardsticks that you guys have to
17:49
meet. Please take these things
17:51
seriously and continue to do it, Continue to imbibe it on a
17:56
daily, on a weekly, on a monthly.
17:57
That is the way that you're going to get the best results.
18:01
There's no point in hiring a consultant, in paying money for
18:03
a consultant if you're not going to do what the consultant says.
18:09
So I said, OK, you call the guy. Well, you say I don't know.
18:15
So I had to remind him that, look, remember when we're
18:18
coaching, I told you guys about a simple conversational
18:21
framework? Didn't I say yes?
18:23
I said, what is that conversation framework?
18:26
Conversational framework is greeting, intention, question,
18:31
proposal, close. I'm going to say it again for
18:35
those of you who are listening for the first time between me
18:38
and my client, I say, how far you remember the communicational
18:41
framework? The guys say, yes.
18:42
I say, what is that simple omnibus conversational
18:46
framework. Omnibus just means, you know,
18:47
like it applies everywhere. If you're face to face, you can
18:50
use this framework by sending an e-mail, you can use this
18:52
framework. You're on a phone call, you can
18:55
use this framework. Wherever you are, you can use
18:57
this framework and the framework is simple.
18:59
It is greeting, then intention, then question, then proposal,
19:05
and then close. By the way, this framework is
19:09
not original to me. I can't remember if it was Brian
19:11
Tracy or Greg Cardone, but I remember, you know, when I
19:16
started taking sales seriously, I came across this thing.
19:19
Whoever it is, whether Greg Cardone or Brian Tracy does, it
19:22
is a simple framework. It applies everywhere.
19:24
And I was like, well if this thing is easy, it's only 5
19:27
things. I'll never forget it and I've
19:29
been using it ever since. Excuse me Now, the other
19:33
conversation frameworks that we're going to come across and
19:35
that we have explored in the podcast in the past and that
19:37
we'll explore the explore on the podcast in the future.
19:41
But just know that is a simple one that everybody can use.
19:43
Let me say one more time for people in the back and for those
19:46
people who are brand new on the podcast, the framework is
19:50
greeting, intention, question, proposal, and then close.
19:56
Greeting just means you will hail that person.
19:59
You would greet them in the manner that is appropriate to
20:02
them or appropriate to your context or to your culture or to
20:06
your circumstance. The reason why I say that is
20:08
because some people assume that the greeting should always be
20:11
good morning, Sir. It depends.
20:13
Sometimes appropriate greeting is car BSU, or sometimes
20:18
appropriate greeting is bras or sometimes appropriate greeting
20:23
is big CS. Your boys are loyal.
20:27
So it depends. Greeting doesn't always have to
20:31
be good morning, Sir. Good morning, ma.
20:33
It depends on the context. All right, So appropriate
20:39
greeting then next will be intention because people are
20:44
busy, people are skeptical. People value that time.
20:49
So people always want to know that this guy that is in front
20:52
of me, this girl that is in front of me, what's the 411?
20:55
What do they want waiting in a fine, like what's going on?
20:58
Who is this person? So we have to get to the
21:02
intention quickly. We need to put them on notice,
21:07
put them on blast. That This is why I'm here.
21:12
You're helping them and you're helping you.
21:14
You're helping them because now that they know us up, they can
21:16
relax and people can get down to business.
21:19
You're also helping yourself because once the person hears
21:21
your agenda, if they're not interested, they will let you
21:24
know and you can promptly leave and move to somebody else.
21:29
So intention quickly. Why are you here?
21:35
Then? Question questions.
21:39
That is the part of the relationship or the part of the
21:42
conversation where you start obviously asking them questions.
21:47
Because you need to learn something about the person.
21:50
You need to learn something about the opportunity.
21:52
You need to learn something about the problem, about the
21:54
vision, about the mission, about the context, about the whatever.
21:58
Because the next step is that you are going to make a
22:01
proposal. A proposal is when you are
22:02
suggesting something that this is what I think we should do
22:05
next. The only way your proposal will
22:08
make sense is if you asked questions that make sense and
22:12
that are relevant after proposal, you now close. close
22:19
just means try and get the person to take action.
22:21
Try and get the person to commit to that next step.
22:27
Excuse me. So I repeat again, greeting,
22:31
intention, question, proposal close.
22:35
So this is my former client. So I now let's walk through this
22:39
thing because after we are done with this, you will pick up the
22:43
one and you make a call. Because if I hear that you got
22:48
the manager's phone number, but you send text message, you send
22:51
WhatsApp message or you know, if I hear the next time I'm in
22:55
Lagos, I will grab you in a chokehold for real.
23:00
I will choke you. I'm just kidding.
23:03
By the way, I'm not physically violent.
23:05
Don't don't worry, I'm not violent anymore.
23:08
You know, of course, the secondary school boarding school
23:09
now, you know, you know, they be with boys now, but that was that
23:13
was a former life. So appropriate greeting, you
23:21
call up the manager and you say hi or you say Brossi or you say
23:26
whatever and you identify yourself, you say that blah
23:31
blah, blah from so, so, so company.
23:35
And in this case, you also state whatever the prior context was.
23:38
In this case, you got the phone number from his client.
23:41
You got the phone number, his phone number from the social
23:44
media influencer. That's his client.
23:46
So appropriate greeting in this case will now be what's up?
23:49
Good morning, Bruce here, Chief senior man, whatever your
23:53
appropriate greeting is, so, so and so from this company.
23:57
And I got your number from your client, Genevieve Naji.
24:00
By the way, Genevieve Naji is not the influence.
24:02
I'm just using that name. OK?
24:04
Now use another name because people know who Genevieve Naji
24:06
is. You know when when I was a much
24:12
younger guy, I'm still a young man, but when I was much younger
24:15
and Nollywood, Nollywood was beginning to blow.
24:17
There was this fine starlet, very fine girl.
24:20
Genevieve Naji, nobody finer. If you don't believe me, you've
24:26
never heard of her. If you don't believe me, just go
24:28
and check what we look for the old pictures.
24:29
When she was much younger, very fine babe, finest Nollywood
24:33
starlet ever existed. Ever existed.
24:37
Very fine girl. Black Beauty, premium skin, see
24:42
her eyes, see nose to die for. So Genevieve Naji.
24:47
Yeah, she used to be big back in the day, but eventually she
24:50
would become a movie director. And I think one of her early
24:53
movies, sorry, movie producer, one of her early movies got
24:56
featured on Netflix. I can't remember what it was,
24:59
what the movie was called again. But anyway, where was I?
25:04
So what I'm just trying to say basically is whenever you're
25:07
doing appropriate greeting, you also have to state the context.
25:10
So hello, I'm so, so, so, so I got your number from blah, blah,
25:13
blah. It's also a way of building
25:14
commonality. So you listen to the podcast now
25:18
you know, you think you know me because you've been listening to
25:21
a couple of stuff that I say, but you know, I don't really
25:24
know you. So if I need to achieve
25:29
commonality, OK, let's pretend that you've not been listening
25:31
to the podcast. So we don't know anything about
25:33
each other. If I need to achieve some
25:35
commonality, it would really help if the first time I call, I
25:37
say it was up. Is this Jude Chukunyam say,
25:41
yeah, this is Jude who is speaking.
25:43
Oh, my name is Tavishima. I got your number from Auntie
25:46
Alice. The moment you hear Auntie
25:47
Alice, your mind will calm down because Auntie Alice is your
25:51
favorite auntie. So therefore the person that
25:54
Auntie Alice gave this phone number to, the person calling
25:57
you must also be a reasonable somebody must be a reasonable
26:00
person, so you be calm. So inappropriate greeting.
26:04
If there is a common context, be sure to state it.
26:07
So in this case, the propagation will be, hi, I'm so, so so from
26:10
social company. I got your number from your
26:13
client. Let's see who is an influencer
26:17
now that everybody will know. I was going to say Mr. Macaroni,
26:20
but if I say that, you guys now be laughing at me like, oh, Mr.
26:23
Macaroni was so five years ago that times have changed.
26:25
OK, you know what? I don't know any social media
26:28
influencer by name, so let me not call anybody, but you get
26:31
the point. Hello, I'm so so from this
26:33
company. I got your number from your
26:35
client, blah, blah, blah and person will say, oh, oh, OK, OK,
26:39
OK, how can I help you then You now go straight into your
26:42
intention. You will now say I have been
26:45
looking at your talent, Jamaka, I've been looking at your
26:49
talent, your clients, blah, blah, blah.
26:51
And I think she will be brilliant for one of our own
26:55
clients. So, so, so and so campaigns.
26:59
Of course the manager will be interested because when somebody
27:03
calls like that, it means money is about to change hands.
27:06
So of course you want to know some more.
27:09
Then you now start asking up question.
27:11
You now start asking questions about availability and blah,
27:15
blah, blah. And eventually we get to the
27:17
point where you say, can we set up a meeting so that the four of
27:22
us, you, me, your clients, my own clients, can we set up a
27:26
meeting so that we can discuss, We will discuss the scope of
27:31
this social media campaign. We will discuss what we need you
27:38
guys for. And after we talk about the
27:41
whole idea, then after that, can we start discussing rates?
27:46
How does that sound? When you put it like that, any
27:51
manager of a social media talent will of course will say yes, OK,
27:55
well there's some social media managers who don't want you to
27:57
have direct contact with the client.
27:58
So don't say don't worry, I'll handle the meeting myself.
28:01
But basically from asking questions, that will be your
28:05
proposal. Can we hook up this meeting?
28:07
How about XYZ date next week? Does that work for you?
28:13
That is a proposal. Can you see how it flows from
28:16
greeting? You stated your intention, you
28:18
asked a couple of questions. You are not able to make a
28:20
proposal. How about we set up a meeting on
28:22
XYZ date and the guy will say yes or he will say let me check
28:29
my schedule. Hopefully he doesn't say no.
28:32
If he says no don't worry let's we'll we'll deal with that
28:35
problem later. If he says yes then they close
28:38
trying to get him to committees. OK cool no problem.
28:41
Hope you don't mind if I call you a reminder.
28:44
If I make a reminder call 2 days before that is one way of
28:48
closing. You're seeking a small commit,
28:52
which is? We have agreed for this day,
28:55
Abby. OK, No problem.
28:57
If it's like that, I will boss you a day before or two days
29:01
before to be sure that we're still on course.
29:04
If the person gives you permission, you have made one
29:06
small commitment. If the person says I left my
29:13
diary in the office, let me check my secretary and get back
29:16
to you. You said.
29:18
Oh, sure, no problem. Sounds reasonable.
29:20
So in this case, now the clothes would be OK, How will I put it
29:26
now? OK, so he says he wants to get
29:27
back to the secretary. So he said OK, how will I put it
29:30
now he wants to get back to your secretary.
29:33
First of all, you now try and narrow things down.
29:35
OK, No problem. Sure, that makes a lot of sense.
29:37
Or you said you were heading into the office today, right?
29:40
So yes. So would you be in the office
29:42
like around afternoon time between 3 or 4?
29:44
Oh, you're sure I've gotten to the office by then?
29:46
Oh, fantastic. In that case, can I call you
29:48
back by 5:00 so that we can be sure that we have timing that
29:52
works for both of us? They will say, OK, no problem.
29:55
So you can see now that in this case, closing is you're trying
29:58
to get the person to commit to something.
30:03
So you can see now that honestly speaking in this context, you
30:10
can see how making a phone call actually is the best thing to
30:14
do. Because if you e-mail this
30:17
social media manager, the e-mail that will come back will be.
30:20
Thank you very much. Here are our rates.
30:22
Pick the rates that you like. What are you going to do with
30:28
that? If you want to start pricing,
30:31
how will you start pricing over e-mail?
30:34
If you don't think they understand the concept, how you
30:36
make sure that they understand the concept very well over
30:38
e-mail If you're trying to toast them so they can get small
30:45
discounts like how you start toasting somebody over e-mail,
30:49
but then when you pick up the phone, you guys get in a
30:52
conversation and then you set up a meeting.
30:58
Since they're both in Lagos, you know it'll be easier.
31:02
You catch our Maryland distance is not far.
31:07
If you drive to the office, what will it cost you?
31:09
Or if you get them to come to your own office, what will it
31:11
cost you is the best way to go. Now, for those of you who don't
31:19
want to pick up the phone because you're afraid you don't
31:21
know what to say, please, please, please and please get a
31:25
pencil and a paper. Write this thing down.
31:30
The simple outline, the simple framework is greetings,
31:35
intention, question, proposal, close call the person.
31:40
The first thing you do is greet the person.
31:44
After that, say state your intention clearly, then ask a
31:50
couple of questions. From the questions you'll be
31:53
able to make a proposal that makes sense.
31:58
After that, try and get the person to commit to something
32:01
and that is how you move the agenda forward.
32:03
Small, small, small. If you wonder if you want to
32:07
know or how they put it. If you think you like the
32:10
creativity about how to use this framework, no problem.
32:17
The artificial intelligence tools that are available,
32:20
Google, Gemini, HR, GPT, whatever, you can make that as a
32:23
prompt. You can say I'm a Nigerian
32:25
entrepreneur in the oil and gas space and I'm talking to
32:29
potential contacts at so, so, so and so company.
32:33
I would like to make a phone call to make sure to start
32:37
discussing agendas around this and this and that and that.
32:40
I'm not quite sure how to handle the conversation, but I heard
32:43
about the conversation framework that goes through these stages.
32:48
Greeting, intention, question, proposal, close.
32:52
What kind of things do I have to say within this conversation
32:56
framework that would increase the chances of me closing a
33:01
deal? And then send.
33:03
So that's your prompt. Yeah, I know it's a long prompt,
33:08
but trust me, the longer the prompt or the more context you
33:10
have in the prompt, the better. So you write that prompt and
33:13
then you send and then ChatGPT, Google, Gemini, clawed
33:18
perplexity. Whatever you use autopilot, it
33:21
will send you. It will give you some
33:23
suggestions. Some suggestions will make sense
33:25
and some will not. The ones that don't make sense,
33:28
delete the ones that make sense. Write them down, rehearse them
33:32
small. Keep it in your pocket.
33:34
Trust me, it will help a lot when you're having that
33:38
conversation because you have some structure to this
33:41
conversation. You have some structure, you
33:45
have an agenda. You'll know where you're going.
33:46
You'll be able to Telegraph. I say Telegraph, you'll be able
33:49
to, to, to, I wanna put it to guide this conversation where.
33:57
But anyway, it's been 30 minutes.
34:00
So let me bring this podcast recording today to a close.
34:05
The main thing that I want to say is this, there is a
34:09
communications hierarchy. Some forms of communication are
34:13
better than others. If you can see somebody face to
34:16
face, that is the best way to communicate.
34:20
Young men, if you don't believe me, remember back when, when
34:23
secondary school, back when, when university, when you are at
34:26
the, the letter writing stage, some of you won't know this
34:30
because like I said, you know, GSM didn't come until I was in,
34:34
you know, 20 something like into my 30s.
34:37
So my generation was generation where in secondary school, if
34:40
you like the girl, you'd have to write letters.
34:44
You know, like I was in Greg's, there was one baby that I like
34:47
and she was in what was it called, I was in Saint Gregory's
34:51
College of Ban and then there was a girls school that was just
34:54
across the fence. So back in those days that's
34:56
what you do. You write a letter, you give it
34:58
to your guy because you're a border, then your guy will give
35:01
it to another girl. That girl will now go and give
35:03
it to her, be writing letters back and forth.
35:06
So at the letter writing stage it is hard to know whether the
35:09
baby is feeling you or not. But then when you see face to
35:12
face during holiday, you will know for sure whether you're
35:14
making progress or not. Because at the later acting
35:18
stage, you'll be feeling as if she's feeling me while making
35:20
progress. But then by the time you see and
35:22
you see the level of disgust on her face, you now know that
35:25
child that this thing is not working.
35:29
So that's why face to face communication is the best.
35:32
You see it all. The full range of emotion, the
35:36
body language, volume, intensity of voice, tone of voice,
35:41
everything. That's the best way to
35:44
communicate, especially in business, not just
35:46
relationships. After that, voice.
35:52
If you're going to do WhatsApp call, Telegram call, GSM call,
35:58
mobile phone call, landline call, that is next best.
36:03
After that, for now is video. I don't know why I'm thinking
36:10
maybe because lots of people are still nervous when it comes to
36:12
video. So when the video is on, you
36:14
know, they're kind of guarded, they're kind of nervous.
36:16
You don't know, should I look at the camera?
36:18
Should I not? So maybe people are too busy
36:20
being nervous to have an effective conversation.
36:23
So who knows? But right now, as in 2025,
36:28
sorry, 2026, when 2026, right now I'm making this podcast
36:31
recording in January of 2026. So right now in general of 2026,
36:36
voice is more effective than video.
36:38
If you're listening to this podcast in 2072 and things have
36:42
changed, you know, go, you know, blend with whatever is the best
36:46
practice for your day. But right now, 2026 voice more
36:52
effective than video. Then after you pass video, we
36:57
now enter into text. When it comes to text, please
37:02
SMS that is text message and WhatsApp message a lot better
37:08
than e-mail. e-mail is very formal.
37:14
I repeat, today in 2026, e-mail is considered a formal
37:19
communications channel. You can't build rapport in
37:22
e-mail. You can't vibe in e-mail.
37:24
You can't joke in e-mail. You can't tassi somebody in
37:29
e-mail. You understand what I'm saying?
37:32
So if it must be texts wherever you can, try and do SMS first.
37:41
In fact, try and do WhatsApp first.
37:43
Because WhatsApp is conversational.
37:46
It is expected in WhatsApp that you will use emoji, or that you
37:49
send voice note, or that you send thumbs up, or you send a
37:53
GIF, or that you can use paging language or you can contract
37:58
your sentences in e-mail. You can't contract any sentence.
38:01
You write everything out in full.
38:07
So if it must be text, please SMS or WhatsApp.
38:12
If you have no choice I will go ahead and send that e-mail.
38:16
But that is the hierarchy. Face to face is at the top,
38:20
e-mail is at the bottom. What I'm just trying to say
38:23
today is you have absolutely no reason to just go ahead and
38:26
start from the bottom if you have other options.
38:30
So if I try to enter Dangote's network, everybody blocked me.
38:35
All they give me is e-mail. I will work with e-mail, but if
38:39
I can get one person's phone number for a physical meeting
38:41
with one person, believe me, I'll take the physical meeting
38:45
straight. If I can't get the physical
38:48
meeting back and get the phone number, good, I'll take the
38:51
phone number. Once I have the phone number, I
38:54
will try and be doing text message and WhatsApp.
38:57
If that one is not open and all I have is e-mail, OK, I'll work
39:00
with what I get. But please don't be in the
39:03
situation where this, my former client is in that you have
39:06
somebody's phone number but you are choosing to send e-mail.
39:10
Please don't do that. If I see you, I will joke you
39:13
and then let me stop saying I'll choke you before, you know,
39:18
before somebody flag my content on Spotify.
39:22
Don't say this guy's advocating violence.
39:23
I'm not advocating violence. I'm just saying.
39:28
Anyway, you get the point. So that's it.
39:30
Thank you very much for your time and attention.
39:32
My name is Tavishima Ayede, again, your host for the day and
39:38
let's see what else. Yeah, if you'd love to connect,
39:41
you can call, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on
39:43
08064662140 in case you have questions, comments or queries
39:51
over anything that I said. Maybe if you want to disagree
39:53
with me. I like people who disagree with
39:54
me, as long as you're being respectful, of course.
39:57
Don't be a rude twat. Then if you want to collaborate
40:00
with me, then sure, no problem. By the way, please.
40:03
Collaboration means that there's a business deal and by the time
40:07
we enter this thing, you will make some money.
40:08
I'll make some money. Don't come at me with an
40:11
opportunity where you're the one who gets all the profit and then
40:14
you say no collaboration. How is this in collaboration?
40:16
Collaboration means you eat and then I eat, so we have to eat
40:19
together. That's why collaboration is.
40:22
In case those are some of you don't know, you surprise kind of
40:25
things we want to collaborate with me on and even when I asked
40:28
them like, OK, it's a collaboration.
40:29
I'll be saying yes, OK for you. What you get to say, I'll get
40:32
this is me. What like what what like get
40:35
those connections. How is that?
40:38
How is that collaboration connection?
40:40
You you make money, you earn currency mean is the connection
40:44
I would job anyway. So yeah, that's it.
40:49
Also remember to subscribe to the podcast and if this is your
40:52
first time listening, you like all the things you talk about
40:54
over here, subscribe because there are plenty more wonderful
40:58
episodes. And then also share the show
40:59
with others because I'm still trying to grow the podcast.
41:02
I have 4000 subscribers on Spotify alone and I'm really
41:06
thankful. But of course, you know, more
41:08
growth. In fact, let's see if we can
41:09
round up 2026 and let's see if I can get another 4000
41:12
subscribers. So that's it.
41:14
Thank you very much for your time and attention.
41:16
I'll catch you all some other time.