Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Is Your Fintech Idea a Turnoff? It Might Be the Lingo

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Is Your Fintech Idea a Turnoff? It Might Be the Lingo · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:02
  Hello and welcome to the show. Today we're going to continue on
• 0:05
  the challenges of selling your fintech ideas in Nigeria or
• 0:09
  whichever part of the world. The only reason why I'm making
• 0:12
  it Nigerian specific is just because currently over here we
• 0:17
  have a bunch of boys and girls running around trying to start
• 0:20
  fintechs and we keep on getting the news in the blogosphere and
• 0:25
  on the podcast about who raised millions of dollars for their
• 0:27
  fintech. And sadly, we also then hear,
• 0:32
  you know, another month or a couple of weeks later, the next
• 0:35
  round of fintechs or, you know, fancy startup ideas that have
• 0:38
  died. And my thesis in making this
• 0:43
  series of podcast episodes, not the podcast in general, but just
• 0:47
  the last, you know, two or three episodes that I've made so far,
• 0:50
  is that if you have sales and business development involvement
• 0:54
  right early in your startup idea, your fintech idea, and
• 0:58
  then the chances for your business surviving or your
• 1:02
  fintech idea playing out goes up dramatically because you're able
• 1:07
  to achieve buy in. And most importantly, you're
• 1:10
  able to validate your business idea that it's a product or a
• 1:14
  service, that it's time has come.
• 1:15
  There's demand for the idea, and this is something that can work
• 1:18
  because a bunch of folks have folded up their fintechs or
• 1:21
  their start-ups because they haven't been able to raise
• 1:23
  funding. And it's my thesis that the
• 1:25
  reason why you've not been able to raise funds is because you
• 1:28
  haven't been able to demonstrate that this is a workable idea to
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  begin with. Because if it's a workable idea,
• 1:34
  even though Nigeria is tough and things are tight, you know,
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  people should be willing to throw more money at it so that
• 1:39
  they can make so they can reap their rewards on the back end.
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  You know, that's why people invest in businesses to begin
• 1:46
  with. So with that intro out of the
• 1:48
  way, just in case this is your first time listening to the show
• 1:51
  now, little should be like you should bring you caught up to
• 1:55
  speed. OK.
• 1:57
  So today what we're going to look at is a problem that you
• 2:01
  guys have in the fintech space and the startup space, and that
• 2:04
  is that there's too much technical jargon.
• 2:08
  Well First off, since you're selling in the financial space
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  or you know fintechs by definition are trying to work on
• 2:17
  problems that they perceive in the financial space.
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  There's loads of financial terms and stuff that you have to deal
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  with to begin with. Then you now throw in technical
• 2:27
  jargon into the mix. You know technical lingo, you
• 2:30
  know all that fancy tech stuff that you tech Bros and tech
• 2:33
  sisters like to talk about all the time.
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  Now the problem with the jargon and the lingo and the inspeak is
• 2:42
  that it is complex and it is off putting to non experts.
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  And believe me, I'm a reasonably intelligent guy.
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  And you know, sometimes I listen to the shows and I listen to you
• 2:53
  guys talk and you guys are just going on and on and on you guys
• 2:56
  and girls and it's plenty of in house speak you guys know what
• 3:00
  it is you're talking about. But then the everyday average
• 3:02
  person, you know, like me, we have absolutely no idea what it
• 3:04
  is that you're talking about. Now this is really, really
• 3:09
  problematic and it would help if you guys try to use synonyms or
• 3:12
  try to express yourself much more clearly.
• 3:15
  So there are sometimes that make a lot of sense to you guys who
• 3:19
  are in the business, but that mean nothing to us.
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  Now let me give an example. There's web three and then
• 3:24
  there's Blockchain 2 episodes back.
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  I spoke about how I was speaking to someone who is going, who
• 3:31
  went to my alma mater. That's because he has a business
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  that they can put academic records on the blockchain so
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  that your verified school credentials can be viewed by
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  universities in other part of the world.
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  Now, this is a very handy solution because back when I was
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  serving in Kando and I had to sort out my stuff so I could
• 3:51
  apply to the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, I had to
• 3:55
  go back to Kano to go and pay. OK, well, I didn't go back to
• 3:59
  Kano because I knew someone who could make the payment on my
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  behalf, but it was just a nightmare, basically, you know,
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  you'd have to leave Kano, go back to OAU and then pay and
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  then OAU. That's the university.
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  I think Unilag also would not give you the transcript.
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  They would have to send the transcript through registered
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  mail. And I think over you was using
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  Registered Night Post, that's the Nigerian Postal Service, you
• 4:24
  know, which is also a nightmare. So you're there trying to get
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  your stuff done. You know, I was having candle,
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  you know, some people are working in Abuja or in Lagos or
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  whatever. So trying to orchestrate the
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  whole thing, make sure that everything is going on OK, you
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  know, was a nightmare, was a hassle.
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  Then a week passes, two weeks passes and you're wondering or
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  you said they sent it, You call your school abroad.
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  Your school abroad has not received it.
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  So this person I was chatting with, I can't remember if he's
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  called Akoi or Kawi or something like that.
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  They've come up with a way that you can have verified academic
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  records put on the blockchain so that people abroad can easily
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  see that yes, you're first class was a first class and that your
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  4.5 GPA was a 4.5 and you know you got this, you got this, you
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  got that. Now I have no idea how all of
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  this works because I don't know what blockchain is.
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  Well, I know that blockchain is a distributed Ledger.
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  So that means you have a bunch of people who are trying to
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  track certain transactions and well, let's just say it's a
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  distributed Ledger. So a Ledger, it's a store of
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  records distributed. It means that tons of people are
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  working on it because tons of people are working on it.
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  You can't falsify the records because it's hard to get other
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  people that you don't know to start falsifying records because
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  you want to cheat someone. And so because of that block,
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  blockchain is secure. But The thing is, you know,
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  everyday guys like me, I can see a mobile phone, I can see a web
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  page, I can see lots of stuff. So blockchain, it just sounds
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  like it's up there in ether. Web three, you know, means
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  absolutely nothing to me. So when you start off the
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  conversation with an everyday ordinary guy, like when the
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  founder was talking to me, and you start off with that whole
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  Web 3, blockchain, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, the
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  person has absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
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  Now because I was curious and I'm interested in new kinds of
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  businesses that are starting up in Nigeria.
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  You know, I was pressing and I was asking questions and that's
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  how I was able to understand this core idea.
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  So if you come to this conversation and you are talking
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  to potential customers, potential investors, and you're
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  starting off with grammar that people don't understand, you can
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  see that you're already making the job of selling your fintech
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  much more difficult than it is. So you guys need to look for
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  synonyms and look for ways to express yourself more clearly.
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  So whenever you say Web three or blockchain, or whenever you
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  start talking about verticals, I wonder why.
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  Excuse me, you folks, sorry, one moment.
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  Sorry about that. Still walking through a sore
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  throat. So yes, as I was saying, you
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  guys in the Web 3 and Fintech space, startup space, I don't
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  know why you guys like saying vertical, vertical, vertical,
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  yes, saying vertical sounds cool.
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  That makes you sound like, I don't know, you listen to
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  American podcasts and you went to you studied in Harvard.
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  But in this part of the world when you say vertical apart from
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  the boys and girls who know what's up, most people don't
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  know what you mean. If you just say industries
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  people like, OK, OK and they'll follow.
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  So I don't know why you guys are whether to this whole thing of
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  we're working in this vertical, we're trying to optimize that
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  vertical, this vertical, that vertical just use words that
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  everybody knows environment specific relative, I mean
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  relative to the environment or the context that you are.
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  So when you're talking about Web 3 verticals, use case scenarios,
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  latency, redundancy, 5G, blah, blah, blah, all those things,
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  believe me, you're losing lots of folks in the process.
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  But The thing is, you're trying to gain a general acceptance for
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  your business ideas because you want the public to understand
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  what it is that you're trying to do.
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  Because the more people that understand, the more people that
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  get get on board with this, the better.
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  You're trying to gain investments.
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  You're trying to deal with people in stakeholder
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  organizations and not everybody understands this in speak
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  because trust me, you're trying to get buy in from people in CBN
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  or Ministry of Finance or Securities and Exchange
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  Commission. Not everybody in these places
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  knows what Web 3 means or blockchain means or redundancy
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  means. And for some people,
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  unfortunately, when they hear 5G, what do you think of his
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  brain cancer so well of course we have to thank the WhatsApp
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  forums and forwarded messages for all that misinformation.
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  So bottom line, you guys try and use synonyms, try and express
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  yourself much more clearly. And then instead of speaking in
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  terms of features or technical terms, you should be speaking in
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  terms of benefits. So instead of, you know, 5G,
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  just say twice the speed of your current Internet provider or
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  twice the speed of MTN or something.
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  Or I mean, you, you get the point.
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  If you're running around saying 5G5G5G, people don't know what
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  5G means. Or by the way, I'm just guessing
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  that maybe 5G is twice the speed of 3G.
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  Sorry, 4G. Yeah, 4G is what most of us
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  currently have on our mobile devices.
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  So I'm just guessing that maybe 5G is twice faster.
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  That's just a guess. So if that's the case and so
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  saying 5G5G5G speak in terms of the benefits, which is twice the
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  speed of this. Your MTN phone that you're using
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  right now, that one people get then sort of, you know,
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  blockchain, blockchain, blockchain speak in terms of
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  benefits, The records that we're going to generate, they can't be
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  hacked. They can't be falsified.
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  People can get that. People need financial space,
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  they can get that. Oh OK, this back to Kawai or is
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  it Akoi the the Fintech, the guy that is putting, what's it
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  called, academic transcripts on the blockchain.
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  So if you if you explain it like that, you know to the university
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  administrators, now look this record that you put here, nobody
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  can hack it, nobody can alter it.
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  That's something that they can understand if they want to get
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  into it. Nitty gritty, yes.
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  Then you have to start explaining the technical this
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  and this and that and that. But The thing is you show up to
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  Nigerian universities and you're talking Web 3 blockchain, Web 3
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  blockchain. You lose a bunch of folks.
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  But if it's this is something you can put on the Internet and
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  once you put it there, nobody can change it, OK?
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  That's the benefit they understand.
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  So instead of talking web three, speak in terms of the benefit.
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  Instead of saying 3 factor authentication, you know to most
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  folks you can say nobody apart from Kunle, Tadi and Garba, you
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  know, can access the system. You know, that's something that
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  people can understand. If they need to know the
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  specifics, you can go into the whole thing of, OK, technically
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  it's called 3 factor authentication.
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  So Kunle is holding the phone, Garba is holding the the, the
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  dongle, and then Afolion, he's the one that has the the
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  password to the e-mail or whatever.
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  So before anybody can hack into this thing, you actually have to
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  kidnap Kunle and Garba and Afolayo and put them in the same
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  room before you can hack into the system.
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  So. Oh, and then it's of Speaking of
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  redundancy and latency and blah blah blah.
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  Just say faster speed or the service is not going to fail,
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  you know? So just speak in terms of
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  benefits like oh God, you remember that time two weeks
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  ago, the way that GTB was just failing?
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  Anyhow, GTGT bank service failed for three days.
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  You couldn't make any transfer. OK, you remember how that
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  happened. Orga with this service, with
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  this tech, I can assure you that will not happen.
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  The service will not fail. Instead of talking about how one
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  like GTB we have redundancies and latencies built into
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  something something, something, something that sounds
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  impressive, it sounds fancy but chances are person you're
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  talking to might not understand what it is that you have just
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  said. So the benefit of simple speak
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  or speaking in simple terms is that non-technical people
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  because there are people who want to understand which is the
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  reason why those of you who follow me on LinkedIn, I notice
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  that you're in web three. I start trying to have
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  conversations with you guys because to be honest I don't
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  know the difference between web one and web 2, not talk of the
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  difference between web two and web 3.
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  So I'm curious, I want to know, so you're going to be able to
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  carry along non-technical people who might be your customers, who
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  might be your investors, who might be operators of this
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  technology or who might be other stakeholders.
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  You're going to be able to get them to follow what it is that
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  you're saying and to achieve buy in for your product, for your
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  service, for this app, for this apps website, for this Web 3
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  crypto fintech thing that you're trying to start.
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  Now there are times when it is appropriate to use technical
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  lingo because I am not saying get rid of technical speak
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  altogether. No, that would be irresponsible.
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  When you're talking to the technical user, yeah, that is
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  when you can do all the technical, blah blah blah.
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  If you're talking to the technical person, then please
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  use all your lingo. You say this is blockchain,
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  something something, something person says, what about ISP blah
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  blah blah HTP? You say no, this one does not
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  apply because by the time you run protocol this and something
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  something something and you inversely transact and connect
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  to this node, that node you will be communicating because you
• 13:45
  know what's up. So if you're with a technical
• 13:47
  person, use all the technical terms because you people are
• 13:50
  talking a special language, it will now show that you know
• 13:53
  what's up, you know what you're talking about, the person will
• 13:56
  understand you. But then for a simple person
• 13:59
  like me, if you're talking about node to node intermissions like
• 14:03
  node, like what do I know about nodes?
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  I mean, as far as I know, a node is that thing when if you split
• 14:09
  open the radio or if you split open the TV and you're looking
• 14:11
  at the motherboard, you see a physical node.
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  I mean, for people like me, that's the most I can think of
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  when you're talking about nodes and intermissions and
• 14:20
  everything. So where was I?
• 14:23
  Yes. So when you're talking to a
• 14:24
  technical person, use all the technical grammar he or she
• 14:27
  understands. If you're creating an SOP for
• 14:31
  implementation, SOP is like a standard operating procedure.
• 14:35
  If you're leaving technical instructions that this is how
• 14:38
  you do this, this is how you connect this, this is how you
• 14:40
  integrate the system with another system, this is how you
• 14:44
  implement this protocol with this protocol, then please, by
• 14:47
  all means use technical language, because the person who
• 14:50
  is going to be using that standard operating procedure,
• 14:55
  the person who is going to be implementing that system, will
• 14:57
  be a technical person. So the person needs to know
• 15:00
  exactly and precisely what am I connecting to what, what is
• 15:04
  integrating with where, and which version of this am I
• 15:10
  optimizing for what, So the person needs to know.
• 15:13
  Then it is also appropriate to use technical lingo sometimes
• 15:17
  when you're trying to show that you're credible, show that
• 15:20
  you're competent, but you know that's usually in special
• 15:22
  circumstances, so use it sparingly.
• 15:24
  Don't use technical lingo all the time just to show that you
• 15:28
  know what's up or that you're the big cheese.
• 15:30
  Not. I know, you get my point.
• 15:33
  So the summary of what it is I'm trying to say is that the
• 15:36
  natural tendency when it comes to folks in this space, Web 3,
• 15:41
  fintech, tech startup, whatever, the natural tendency seems to be
• 15:45
  to appear that you are smart. And that's not a problem.
• 15:49
  I get that feeling because, you know, everybody wants to,
• 15:54
  everybody wants to appear that they're they're smart.
• 15:56
  And then again, you know why, Nigel, you know how it is.
• 15:58
  Now, I started off in wedding photography space, so there's an
• 16:02
  eye that somebody can be looking at you as, oh, this one is a
• 16:06
  common photographer. Or OK, this one is calling
• 16:08
  himself entrepreneur. That means he was not smart
• 16:11
  enough to get a job, this guy is unemployed or whatever.
• 16:14
  So I get it. You want to apply, you want to
• 16:18
  appear smart. But we should be aiming for is
• 16:21
  to sound competent, sound relatable and to sound
• 16:25
  knowledgeable and no more so that you can get your potential
• 16:28
  customers on board, get your investors on board, get the
• 16:32
  operators on board, get the stakeholders on board.
• 16:35
  If I especially the operate orbit, because unfortunately I'm
• 16:39
  just being frank and candy with you, We all know how Niger is.
• 16:42
  It's not everybody in CBN or Minister of Finance or
• 16:46
  Securities and Exchange Commission or whichever body it
• 16:51
  is that you're talking to. It's not everybody that is going
• 16:53
  to understand all these technical jazz that you're
• 16:55
  talking about. So keep it simple, Look for
• 16:59
  metaphors, speak in terms of benefits, don't speak in terms
• 17:03
  of features, and you should be fine.
• 17:06
  So thanks for your time and attention.
• 17:08
  Connect with me on WhatsApp. The phone number is 08064662140.
• 17:14
  The country code is +234. Also connect with me on
• 17:17
  LinkedIn. My name is Tavishima Ayede.
• 17:19
  I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of
• 17:22
  my name from the link. We're currently listening to
• 17:24
  this episode, so thanks for your time and attention.
• 17:26
  I'll catch you guys at the next episode.