Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / The Problem is You: Fixing Financial Indiscipline

Transcript

The Problem is You: Fixing Financial Indiscipline · 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 I want to share a conversation that I had with a
0:06
podcast listener and it was a rambling one.
0:09
We spoke about a number of things touching on business
0:14
finances, let's see when to start a new business, you know,
0:18
all these sorts of things. So there's nothing here that is
0:22
specifically sales and business development related per SE, but
0:27
I thought it was a good enough general conversation that let me
0:30
just come over here and share the conversation just in case
0:34
there are other people who are struggling with some of these
0:36
issues that this young lady might be struggling with.
0:42
This is your first time of listening to the podcast.
0:44
My name is Tava Shima Ayede, I'm your host.
0:46
I'm a former lawyer turned business consultant.
0:49
And if you like any of the things that we talk about over
0:52
here on the podcast, subscribe because these are the kinds of
0:55
things that we talk about every other day.
0:58
So subscribe on Spotify, on YouTube, on Apple or any player
1:02
of your choice. And if you'd love to connect
1:04
with me, you can call, send me a text message via WhatsApp
1:07
message on 08064662140. Then also apologies, this is
1:16
going to be a noisy episode because it's a Sunday.
1:19
And for those of you who are regular listeners, you know, now
1:22
the kids are at Catfism classes. So I'm just outside here in the
1:25
parking lot in the church trying to get some work done while
1:28
waiting for them to finish. So let's head straight into it.
1:33
So this lady reached out and she said, good afternoon.
1:35
Listen to your podcast on Spotify.
1:39
OK, So she wanted to text. She's a student.
1:42
She's been running a business. And she think her businesses end
1:45
up that they crumble mostly because mostly due to financial
1:49
mismanagement, because she's getting quite a bit of cash from
1:53
the business. But then she uses that to sort
1:55
out business problems. Then she doesn't want that
2:00
problem anymore. And so because of that, she's
2:03
planning on starting a cleaning business.
2:05
She'll be selling liquid soap, you know, blah, blah, blah.
2:08
And she asked for advice on how on better ways to manage her
2:13
finances and to grow her business.
2:18
OK, two things. I say it a lot on the podcast
2:21
that my area of specialty is sales and business development.
2:25
So if you do reach out to me and you have a problem that is
2:28
outside this area of expertise, to be honest, I have to refer
2:32
you to someone else or I'll have to let you know what I think the
2:34
main issues are. Because I'm not a Jack of all
2:38
trades and I don't want to start solving problems that I have not
2:41
equipped or that I don't have the expertise to solve.
2:45
So when you know, she said here financial mismanagement and I
2:52
like the word that she used. Unfortunately, I'm not one of
2:55
those folks. I don't know how to do handle
2:57
financial mismanagement issues because to be honest, my sister,
3:00
you and me wearing the same boat, me safe.
3:03
I did do financial mismanagement, you know, collect
3:06
money and then me where one or two problems will come up and
3:09
then you know, as how will I sort this thing?
3:11
You just been moving money up and down.
3:13
So my sister, you and me wearing the same boat, not just in fact
3:18
should I say 70% of Nigerians, I think we plenty.
3:21
So financial mismanagement, you have to talk to someone else,
3:24
not me. But one thing I'm going to say
3:27
from a sales and business development perspective is this.
3:31
Whenever the fundamental problems that we're facing in
3:33
the business and we don't solve them and we think that by moving
3:36
on to someone else or something else, things to get better, I'm
3:40
afraid my sister is not the case.
3:42
So you're in business A financial mismanagement day and
3:50
you're now thinking of opening a business where you'd be selling
3:54
soap and cleaning agents. My sister, the commonality here
3:58
is is you. So if there is mismanagement in
4:02
business, AI can assure you, you know, except if you deal with
4:07
the fundamental issues, mismanagement go there in
4:09
business B as well. So anyway, I told her thanks for
4:15
reaching out because I really love meeting people who listen
4:19
to my podcasts because, you know, that's how I figure out
4:21
what it is that they're going through and the kind of issues
4:24
that we need to address over here on the podcast.
4:26
And of course, I offered my condolences.
4:29
OK, Well, not really condolences because I'm sorry to hear that
4:32
our business has crumbled in the past because I'll not put it,
4:37
it's not if it's a bad thing because that's just how life is.
4:41
You know, most people actually build or try to build 3 or 4
4:45
businesses and lose a couple before they hammer.
4:47
So actually that's just a normal way of life.
4:50
But I understand what it is when you put your blood and your
4:53
sweat into something, you know, 2345 years and then yeah, there
4:57
was just scatter. So I know that feeling.
5:01
So. So I had a couple of questions
5:05
to ask her and of course, that is something that I teach you
5:11
people over here on the podcast, those of you listening,
5:14
especially for those of us who are knowledge based
5:17
professionals, professionals. So you're a lawyer, you're an
5:20
accountant, you're an architect or whatever.
5:22
Somebody comes to you, they want your advice or they want to know
5:25
what the ways forward. You actually have to ask them
5:28
questions so that you understand what the problems are.
5:31
You know the lay of the land first before you start making
5:34
any kind of recommendation. So I asked a couple of
5:37
questions. Number one, I asked, is she sure
5:40
that the business failed because of financial mismanagement only?
5:46
The reason why I asked is because yes, financial
5:48
mismanagement is a factor, but sometimes the problem is it
5:52
might be a sales problem. You're not getting in revenues
5:56
fast enough or quick enough to be able to, you know, pay
6:00
yourself a salary or to be able to save something or to be able
6:03
to, you know, come up with a budget.
6:05
OK, this is budget for flexing. This one is the budget for
6:07
reinvesting back into the business.
6:09
So sometimes, yes, there's financial mismanagement, but
6:13
sometimes it's also that, you know, there's a revenue problem
6:17
that we haven't fixed in the business.
6:19
Then the second question was honestly, if she had healthy
6:22
sales in the other business, because it can also be a sign
6:26
because, you know, some people are movers and shakers, some
6:28
people are hustlers, they don't have to hustle well.
6:31
So if the 2-3 other businesses that she was doing in the past,
6:36
you know, the revenue stream Boku as in the revenue, just
6:40
just the flow, you know, just as in revenue just flowing, then
6:45
OK, then maybe there were a couple of things that she was
6:48
doing well in the other businesses and maybe there's
6:50
some other problems here that we need to look at.
6:53
Then also ask questions about her profit margins.
6:57
And OK, then also ask one question that if the other
7:02
businesses were successful, especially the last one, why is
7:05
she thinking of starting something new or learning
7:08
something new? So yeah, a couple of you, you
7:15
know, you do some businesses the thing work well, but then I just
7:18
want to do something different. And from a sales perspective, my
7:21
first question was always why? Because business is hard.
7:28
Selling is hard. When you find something that
7:33
works, you have cracked the code.
7:37
The solution is not on board. Let me move on to something
7:40
else. The solution is you scale that
7:43
thing. You find ways to replicate
7:47
nothing. You find ways to boost nothing,
7:51
you don't go on. Let me just start off something
7:53
new and then begin the whole journey all over again.
8:00
So like now, let's say I have a business, what business will I
8:07
use now? OK.
8:09
The last time I was travelling into Lagos, I noticed this guy
8:13
was advertising portal, portal parties, portable parties, you
8:17
know these people that they bring mobile toilets and then
8:21
they go and pack sheet. So excuse my French.
8:24
So if I have sheet parking business and sheet parking
8:27
business is giving me like millionaire levels, I'm now not
8:33
going to say let me just move on and do something else.
8:37
If sheet business is giving me millionaire levels from a sales
8:41
and business development perspective, what we supposed to
8:44
do is we're trying, we should now try and see that how OK,
8:48
we're doing 30 million every year, 30 million every year, OK,
8:53
this year 2026, how we see whether we'll move from 30
8:56
million to 5050 to 6060 to 70, OK, we've dominated Lagos, now
9:01
we're doing 120 million every year.
9:03
Let's see how we can enter or go.
9:06
You know The thing is already working, continue to build it,
9:10
continue to grow it, continue to replicate it.
9:12
Because if that sheet business is giving me millionaire levels
9:17
like multi millionaire levels. But then on to try opening, see
9:23
what is what is sexy now, OK, let me say honey, honey
9:27
production business. Now I want to move from sheet
9:29
business to honey production business.
9:32
I now have to Start learning honey.
9:36
What is good honey? What kind of honey do Nigerians
9:40
like? What is the best way to produce
9:43
honey? I don't have to learn
9:46
manufacturing. OK.
9:48
No, not manufacturing, because to produce only you need bees,
9:50
Abby. OK.
9:51
And I have to learn animal husbandry.
9:54
Then I also now have to learn processing.
9:57
And I have to learn storage. And I have to learn
10:03
merchandising because I want the only to be in different shops.
10:09
Let's see. What else?
10:10
OK. I can't.
10:10
I can't. I can't think of anything right
10:12
now. But you see what I'm trying to
10:13
say, you will not have to Start learning.
10:16
Some new things are fresh and trying to enter into a new space
10:22
is coming with plenty mental load, new financial investment.
10:29
It's just hard, let me put it that way.
10:31
So whenever I see people like this thing is really working, I
10:35
always wonder, like, OK, you're trying to move.
10:40
Like, why have we maxed out the level of success that we can
10:45
have in business 1 before we move into Business 2 and then
10:49
start all over again and then, you know, give ourselves all the
10:52
headache. So these are some of the
10:54
questions that I asked her. Anyway, from chatting back and
10:57
forth, it turned out that truly, truly, truly a major problem is
11:01
financial management or mismanagement.
11:05
You know, sometimes you would say financial management,
11:07
sometimes you would say mismanagement or join.
11:10
So although mismanagement is not too harsh, should we say
11:14
financially in discipline anyway or join financial management
11:17
mismanagement in discipline. Just remember sure that you
11:22
listening to the podcast, I know that 99% of us over here right
11:27
now on this microphone, Abby in this airport anyway, you know
11:32
what I'm saying? I know that we're all in the
11:34
same boat. So the ladies also student
11:41
community, she's still in school like she said.
11:45
And then she would get money from students, borrow money from
11:49
the business and then not replace it.
11:51
And the emergencies that she had, you know, sometimes cost of
11:54
rent, cost of repairs, cost of moving because she moved to a
11:58
new place, you know, stuff like that.
12:02
So those are some of the issues then.
12:07
Sorry if it seems like I'm rambling because I'm actually
12:10
scrolling through the message now as we're talking as I'm
12:13
giving you guys the gist. I'm just going through the
12:15
message when when it comes to her sales.
12:20
OK, Yeah, so in her own estimation, she says that the
12:24
sales are healthy and is mostly offline.
12:28
She's not doing plenty online online things.
12:30
And the reason why is because she doesn't do official brands,
12:33
if you understand what I'm saying.
12:34
You know, like she did repackage.
12:37
You know how I'll explain it, OK, There's some people who want
12:42
some businesses where they sell correct, they sell the correct
12:47
item. So people who sell perfume, they
12:50
sell the correct, you know, perfume.
12:51
Giorgio Armani. So is Giorgio Armani, you know,
12:54
correct, legit. Then there's some people, what
12:57
they do is you know, you buy the perfume from Dubai or from
13:00
wherever and then you now come and you package it and then you
13:03
now try to resell it. So some of those people who they
13:09
do this repackaging business, sometimes they don't like to
13:13
loud themselves too much. You know, you don't put yourself
13:15
on social media, you just be selling your market quietly
13:19
offline. Also at 1 moment there's
13:22
something here that needs my attention.
13:24
I'll be right back. OK, I am back.
13:28
Sorry about that. My attention was needed just so
13:32
briefly. Again, sorry about the noise in
13:34
the background because, you know, like I said, I'm in the
13:36
parking lot and the kids are having classes, so, you know,
13:39
they're busy, you know, doing their recitals and some children
13:42
playing around. So that's why there's noise in
13:44
the background. So, you know, no Vex.
13:47
Since I'm currently recording on my mobile phone, there's no way
13:49
that I can check, you know, to see the noise levels, whether
13:52
the noise is coming in too strong.
13:54
But hopefully everything will come out OK.
13:57
So yeah, so her major problems, financial management, financial
14:01
mismanagement in discipline because she's been taking money
14:05
for rent, repairs, moving costs. OK.
14:08
So she said that her sales are healthy, but she focuses offline
14:13
because she's more of a repackager.
14:15
She doesn't really do official brands.
14:18
So she makes her money mostly from talking to people
14:20
one-on-one. And she's also doing a drop
14:24
shipping business model, trying a drop shipping business model,
14:28
but you set down and it's not profitable once you once we
14:31
include the the cost of sending things to people.
14:37
By the way, when Nigerians say drop shipping, what they mean
14:40
mostly it's not exactly drop shipping sha, but it looks like
14:46
when Nigerians say they're doing drop shipping, what they mean
14:48
actually they're just doing online delivery.
14:50
Online delivery is not necessarily drop shipping when a
14:56
no point in trying to talk about the difference.
15:00
I'm here for now then the show are profitable.
15:03
The business is whenever she invests like 50K she gets about
15:07
120 K back. That's on average.
15:11
That's before she hasn't even finished the first before she
15:15
hasn't finished the first batch and was being to look as if this
15:20
perfume business is oils business actually is a very
15:23
profitable 1 because even on my radio show, that's the business
15:26
booster show on radio Maria 91.3 FM actually is somebody who
15:30
called in and the the numbers were similar because the guy
15:35
said that he was trying to set up his wife and on 50K she's
15:40
actually bringing 150K back. So the girl dropped 50K per
15:44
shipment and then wifey is bringing back 150K.
15:47
So he's looking as if the economics on this whole perfume
15:50
thing is not bad. So the lady who sent me his
15:55
message, she's talking about how she wants to re strategize.
15:58
She wants to increase the packaging, increase the sizing,
16:01
you know, things like that. And of course, it kind of makes
16:03
sense, you know, for me, because from a sales perspective, if
16:05
something is working, you know, why don't we double down on this
16:08
thing. So if we drop 50K and then on
16:10
top that 50K, we're making 120K surplus.
16:14
We haven't even finished selling the first batch.
16:16
You know, the goal is to actually try and see how we can
16:19
get more customers. Yeah.
16:22
How can, you know, try and get more customers?
16:24
And then she's trying to get what else, OK, she wants to do,
16:29
start doing bigger packaging. So traditionally, yeah, those
16:32
are the kind of things you pay attention to.
16:34
So you're selling 5050ML. What is profit margin OF5050ML?
16:38
Can you repackage the thing as 120ML?
16:41
What would the profit margin be? A120ML.
16:44
So now be the goal. Every time we drop 50K, we get
16:48
120. How can we drop 50 and now get
16:51
170 or 180? That's what we're trying to
16:55
optimize and then we're trying to scale that whole setup first,
17:00
traditionally from a sales perspective before we start
17:03
looking at other things. Now let me use Nigeria's
17:07
favorite entrepreneur or most hated entrepreneur, depending on
17:09
who you are down with it. So it's the same thing.
17:13
First the trucking business, you grow that trucking business, you
17:17
scale that trucking business well then trading business, you
17:21
Max out that trading business. Then next thing importing the
17:25
cement, you Max out the importing.
17:27
Then next thing he set up cement factory, you blow the hell out
17:31
of that cement factory something.
17:33
Then what did he do? Opening in other African
17:35
countries? When you scale to other African
17:37
countries, then what next he opened the refinery as the
17:41
refinery. Don't they blow now?
17:43
Next thing, he's talking about opening your port.
17:45
So you see, traditionally from a sales and business perspective,
17:48
that's how we do it. Is this thing working?
17:51
How can we blow this thing up when we have blown the thing
17:55
like to the Max, OK, now what can we start looking at next?
17:59
But not that you have something, the thing appears to be working.
18:03
You never Max out the thing. And then next thing and I'm
18:06
wondering, oh, let me start looking for another business to
18:08
do. So of course, I can't force you
18:12
guys to do anything, even if you're paying me as as a client,
18:16
you know, I can't force you, but just let you know.
18:19
So you'll be surprised. That's one of the traditional
18:22
opinions there. So I will definitely want to see
18:27
how we can Max that out first. Yeah.
18:31
So she wants to start something different now.
18:34
Then later on she will go back to perfumes.
18:35
That's one that is even confusing me the most because
18:37
you know when you have something now, the thing seems to be
18:40
working. Now.
18:41
Every single time you drop 50K, you get 1000, you get 120 K on
18:47
top. You say you want to let that
18:51
thing go, go and do something else and come back.
18:55
You really think your customer base will be waiting for you
18:58
when you have moved on to something else?
19:00
You will lose customer base. Some people will fade.
19:03
It's normal if I'm in the tailoring business right now and
19:07
I'm a correct tailor, but then I want to take a break because I
19:10
want to Japan or something and I stopped promoting myself as a
19:15
tailor and I'm working on this Canada visa something.
19:18
Then after two years, Canada no click is OK, let me go back to
19:21
tailoring. You think people will just be
19:23
there? Open me, welcome me.
19:25
Open arms. No, my customer base go don't
19:29
fade. They will look for a new tailor
19:33
where people are not just going to be waiting for me.
19:34
It's the same thing with this lady's perfume business.
19:37
You want to go and be trying your hand or something else.
19:39
People who use perfume, especially people who like
19:42
perfume because like me, I don't use perfume so that no problem.
19:45
But my wife likes perfume. If her perfume plug today begin,
19:49
they misbehave, my wife will find another place to get her
19:52
perfume. And I've seen my wife migrate
19:54
like that. So please, let's not be trying
19:58
ourselves. So if you have, if you're into
20:00
this perfume business and I think it's doing OK, don't try
20:02
yourself. You misbehave, your people will
20:05
move to another person after you finish, you know, scratching
20:11
your creative each and you come back, you will have to start
20:14
again afresh and trust when you reach out to other people, your
20:18
other people, that's your, your former clients.
20:20
You already have other people that they're calling now.
20:24
Anyway, because she has already decided what she wants to do.
20:26
You know, my point of view was like, well, looks like you've
20:28
really decided on what you want to do now.
20:29
So, you know, get anything that I would tell you now.
20:32
So now that that's what you want to do, just go ahead, do it now.
20:36
Go ahead and do what you want to do.
20:39
But for financial mismanagement, I told her, look, I can't help
20:42
you because that's not my area of specialty, but I told her a
20:46
couple of things that are kind of common sense that everybody
20:49
should already be doing. So Number one, I told her
20:51
mingling accounts, stop mingling accounts.
20:54
That is where the problem starts.
20:56
So those of us who are having issue with money is because
21:00
we're mingling accounts, business, one account, personal,
21:04
one account, side chick, one account, gigolo, one account,
21:09
everything, one account. That's where the problem starts.
21:13
Don't mingle accounts. Keep everything separate.
21:16
My personal money, this is my account.
21:17
My business money, this is my account.
21:20
Therefore the business. Some people even have business
21:23
savings account, so business savings, this is the account.
21:26
Personal savings, this is an account.
21:27
Don't be comingling. If you're running everything
21:32
from the same account, there will be problem.
21:35
It just is what it is. So even though I'm not a finance
21:39
specialist, I can tell you 99% of you listening to the podcast
21:45
right now, you know, if you separate the account, it's not
21:49
as if we solve the problem, but the problems will become a lot
21:53
easier. So don't be like that.
21:55
This babe, I'll be running everything from one account.
21:57
So don't call Mingo, separate the accounts, then savings.
22:04
Unfortunately, I look, I know things are hard in Nigeria.
22:06
We have, what's it called, hyperinflation.
22:10
So it's hard for. We need to get into the habit of
22:12
saving small, small, small. We just have to do it.
22:17
I don't know how you would do it.
22:19
You know, there's some people who say every single time 100K
22:22
enters the accounts, they will move 10K and put somewhere.
22:24
If it's like that, no problem. I don't know what the adequate
22:28
amount is, you know, but sharp, we need to get into the habit.
22:30
We just have to now if you listen to some of these
22:34
financial gurus, they have different yardsticks so that
22:36
like people on the American and who say you should be trying to
22:39
save about 20% of your income. There are some people who say
22:41
you should be saving about 40% of your income.
22:44
Then there are some people who like like Dave Ramsey them they,
22:50
I think Dave Ramsey people, I think they're the ones who say
22:53
you should have an emergency account.
22:55
An emergency account just means six months worth of savings.
22:59
In other words, if your business collapsed today, your employer
23:02
says get out, they're not paying you money again, at least
23:06
there's money to arrange yourself.
23:08
Six months. NEPA, Internet, fuel, house
23:12
rent, blah, blah, blah, six months.
23:16
So like, I'm not a financial, you know, person.
23:20
So I don't know which one is real, which one is practical,
23:22
which one is workable, But sure, like I like to tell people, just
23:25
pick the one that seems to make sense for you and then see how
23:28
so you can do it. So if you're like Dave Ramsey,
23:30
then then try and follow their principles.
23:34
Listen to the guys podcast, you know, try and follow those
23:36
principles, see how you can get your six months saving account.
23:39
And you can see that if you have a six months saving account, you
23:42
don't have to be putting hand inside your business.
23:45
Or shall we have to start somehow?
23:47
So for those of you, excuse me, like she did, you know, of
23:53
course asking is realistic. Look, I don't know if it's
23:56
realistic or what's possible or whatever.
23:58
I'm just saying that Shah is just facts.
24:01
You know, we, we have to, if we don't start doing this kind of
24:04
thing, putting aside 55K1010K5050K, you know, every
24:09
month or every transaction or something, we'll always end up
24:13
into, you know this, we'll always end up in this problem,
24:15
especially if we're coming, coming in where we're taking
24:18
money from here and then we spend over there and then the
24:21
end of the day will be saying this money itself.
24:23
Where is it? Then also told her, look, you
24:28
have to decide to pay yourself a fixed salary from the business
24:31
proceeds instead of just drawing down whenever you feel like you
24:34
need to take money. Drawdown just means, and I put
24:38
it like, OK, there's money in the business account.
24:41
Let me just took an inside. So that's the drawdown.
24:45
So the last accountant that I worked with, he said drawdown is
24:49
a fact of life. Everybody would have just drawed
24:51
down anyhow. Boy, he told me, is this every
24:54
single time you draw down, every single time you took hand inside
24:56
this account, just write it down.
24:58
Let me know, let me see, and then we'll take you from there.
25:02
So if you have an accountant, then every time you're doing
25:05
drawdown, just note it so that at the end of the month, at the
25:07
end of the week, at the end of the quarter, whenever you do
25:09
your reconciliation, you know the guy who your accountant will
25:12
look at it and I will let you know that, OK, this is how much
25:15
you're in the business. Or anyway, accountants are
25:18
professionals, you know, give them the information, they will
25:20
tell you what to do next. Don't listen to me.
25:22
I'm not an accountant. And by the way, I studied law
25:26
and during my time, all of us who studied law were people who
25:30
failed mathematics. You fail mathematics, what will
25:32
you do? Become a lawyer?
25:35
And they don't mind me. My wife is math inclined and she
25:37
studied law as well. So but we have to decide to pay
25:40
ourself a fixed salary. And yeah, some people say in
25:46
Nigeria, is this realistic? Is this whatever?
25:49
Well, I don't know what what is realistic?
25:51
I don't know what's doable. Like I said, this is not my area
25:54
of specialty. But the people that you like,
25:56
they pay themselves a salary or download it pays himself a
25:59
salary. Uncle Tony Antonio Lumelu pays
26:03
himself a salary. If you like this woman, Ebony
26:07
life, she pays herself a salary. In fact, the business people
26:11
that you hate, you know, they pay themselves a salary.
26:14
There are some people who are indisciplined, thoroughly
26:16
indisciplined, you know like politicians, you know those
26:19
ones, they pay themselves salary.
26:21
OK, well anyway, don't mind me. Let me not get police cover on
26:25
this episode. What I'm just trying to say is
26:27
whether you think is believable, doable, feasible, Niger of
26:29
today, blah, blah, blah. It's just is what it is.
26:33
You have to collect your salary. You have to give yourself a
26:36
salary. And I was listening to the
26:37
Afropolitan podcast, a really wonderful podcast.
26:40
You guys should listen to it, especially those of us who are
26:42
business minded. Afropolitan is a FROPOLITAN.
26:48
Afropolitan Podcast is run by a husband and wife team, NHA and I
26:53
can't remember the babe's name, both, you know, returnees from
26:59
America or correct Podcast and they were interviewing the guy
27:03
behind them, Seplat. Seplat is one of the is an
27:06
indigenous oil and gas company and it's something the guy talk
27:09
about spoke about. He said that they listed on the
27:12
London Stock Exchange not because they were trying to
27:15
raise money abroad in dollars. So I said dollars in pounds that
27:19
the reasons why they wanted to list on the London Stock
27:21
Exchange was because of the controls, internal controls,
27:26
sorry, external controls and you know, governance requirements
27:30
that will make them be a sane discipline.
27:32
So even though they were Nigerian boys, you know they had
27:35
to put their affairs in order and this was one of these things
27:39
that everybody go down and fix salary.
27:43
So me, this is my salary, you that is your salary, you this is
27:47
your salary. The three of us were Co
27:48
partners. Nobody say like we wake up one
27:51
day, you know, 5 billion in the accounts, then we're now good at
27:53
you can't anyhow, No, that's one of the major reasons why I said
27:58
they listed on the London Stock Exchange just the controls.
28:02
You know, if you stay in Niger, you go, you're going to behave
28:05
like how we Nigerians behave. But then you go and list on the
28:08
London Stock Exchange, you know, Weibo would put eye on you
28:11
scrutinizing account everything. So all of them now they had to
28:17
be on salary. So I understand times are hard,
28:21
like we need cash, times are hard.
28:25
I believe me, I'm misbehaving like the rest of you.
28:27
But eventually we have to get, we have to get to that level
28:29
where we're going to pay ourselves salary.
28:32
Now how do we achieve that? Good.
28:35
That's why I say me, I'm not the specialist.
28:38
You go and start looking for other people who that is the
28:41
area of specialty. Once I look into financial
28:44
management, personal saving, personal finance, those kind of
28:48
podcasts and, you know, start listening and start imbibing
28:51
small, small, small. So that was just it.
28:56
So even though I couldn't help her, I told her that, yeah, you,
28:59
you guys to have two accounts, you know, keep it separate.
29:03
She said yes, she has opened a new account.
29:05
I said, OK, correct. Good.
29:06
She's already on course. She's already already on course.
29:10
Then, then let's see what else? What else?
29:15
What else in the message. So I'm scrolling.
29:17
I'm scrolling because you know, we're chatting about plenty,
29:19
plenty of things. Anyway, I think that's just a
29:23
summary. I now had somebody wanted to
29:26
recommend how to one of these personal finance people, but the
29:30
person is on is on LinkedIn. So I told her, look, there's
29:34
somebody I want to send you to, but this person is on LinkedIn.
29:39
Are you do you have a LinkedIn account?
29:41
Then the the lady, the business person, she said no, she's not
29:44
on LinkedIn. She now didn't say anything.
29:46
Again, my mind, I'm thinking, you know, you can't read in
29:49
between the lines. You say that you have a problem.
29:52
I see. I have a friend who can fix that
29:54
problem. This friend of mine is on
29:56
LinkedIn. You say you don't have LinkedIn
29:59
account. You don't think it should be a
30:00
good idea for you to get a LinkedIn account so that I can
30:04
hook you up with this person who might help you the way that I'm
30:07
yawning with you for free. She might say, oh, OK, you know,
30:12
establish man's person. So let me young with her for
30:15
free too. You never know.
30:17
But she didn't clock it and she didn't clock it meets her.
30:19
I keep quiet and say, you know, on LinkedIn, I left it.
30:26
If somebody's willing to make an introduction, please you people
30:31
do what it takes. Especially if in this case, I
30:34
didn't ask her to do anything module.
30:36
I didn't ask her to drop money. I didn't ask her to do and I
30:38
didn't ask her for blood. I didn't ask her for sweat.
30:40
I didn't ask her for anything. I just said this woman is on
30:43
LinkedIn. Her response is I'm not on
30:45
LinkedIn. OK, no problem.
30:48
I'll leave it. Oh, by the way, the reason why I
30:53
wanted to connect them on LinkedIn is because you know me,
30:57
I give my phone number at the beginning and the end of every
30:59
episode because I'm cool. I'm cool with my phone number
31:01
being out there. In fact, my goal is make sure
31:04
that every single Nigerian business person has my phone
31:07
number because I believe that if every single Nigerian business
31:10
person has my phone number and you know they're having sales
31:13
issues, then it's only if the devil is after me that I'll be a
31:16
poor person. So that's my own strategy.
31:19
But there are other consultants who actually do not like their
31:21
number around like that. So that is why if you reach out
31:26
to me and there's another professional I know, most likely
31:31
I will patch you through for them using LinkedIn because some
31:33
people don't like their phone number flying around anyhow.
31:36
And this babe who is a financial specialist and she's like that,
31:41
she doesn't want her phone number to be flying up and down,
31:45
although I don't think that makes business sense.
31:46
But anyway, you know, people run their businesses differently.
31:49
So yeah, that's it. Please.
31:52
You go and set up your LinkedIn accounts are big because that is
31:56
where lots of Nigerian business people and business
31:59
professionals are hanging out. So just go and set up your
32:02
account. So, So there she's now on
32:06
linking LinkedIn and no problem, I freed it.
32:10
But I told her, go on Instagram because that's where she is.
32:12
And then search personal finance and stuff like that and then
32:16
follow people who are in that space.
32:19
So if you suspect that you're having certain kinds of problems
32:22
in your business around business management or around legal
32:26
compliance or around whatever, just go and use these social
32:29
media tools. Search for people in that space.
32:31
Start following these people. You will now start getting ideas
32:35
about, OK, this is what my problem is.
32:38
Maybe I should be looking here or there, you know, things like
32:41
that. So don't just be using social.
32:43
Don't just be watching status and you know, watching
32:47
entertainment content on social media and you like use these
32:50
things for business growth please.
32:54
Then she asked me one question. She wanted to know what I think
32:57
about liquid soap and I answered her from a sales perspective.
33:01
I told her look Madam, I'm the wrong person to ask.
33:05
And this is something I've been trying to drum into Nigerian
33:07
business professionals. Somebody wants to start a
33:09
business open and be asking me what do I think?
33:12
You're asking the wrong person. The only person that you should
33:15
be asking what they think is the person who is a member of your
33:19
target audience. I repeat, only ask people who
33:22
are a member of your target audience.
33:24
If you want to start an Amana restaurant and you're asking me
33:26
what do I think then like you're asking the wrong person.
33:30
Go and ask people who like Amala, who eat Amala, don't ask
33:34
me. So I told her I'm the wrong
33:40
person to ask. She should be talking to her
33:42
target audience. Any other person whose opinion
33:45
you're asking is not important. So, so my family members say,
33:51
oh, you have a podcast or the radio show, like, oh, you don't
33:54
talk about it, blah, blah, blah. I said like, yeah, I don't
33:56
because you are not my target audience.
34:00
It is not people like you that I want to talk to because I don't
34:04
think people like you will give me money.
34:06
So therefore, when I have a new idea around these sorts of
34:09
things, I will not discuss it with certain members of my
34:12
family. They are not my target audience.
34:16
So it's the same thing. You want to start a look with
34:17
your business. You should be talking to people
34:21
who are your target audience. So the conversation shifted as I
34:25
was your target audience. She said, well our target
34:28
audience are businesses, restaurants, hospitals, schools,
34:32
banks. Then she also said then
34:35
souvenirs. I didn't quite explain that,
34:37
understand that one. Then she said individuals too.
34:40
At my first hour, I was OK, no problem.
34:41
Individuals ignore for now. The reason why I said ignore
34:44
individuals is because individuals, that class is too
34:47
broad. But for the others, restaurants,
34:50
hospitals, schools, banks, that one is a very, very, very, very
34:56
doable target because you can stay in your house and you can
35:00
think, oh, which banks are around me?
35:02
Which restaurants are around me, which hospitals are around me?
35:05
Which schools are around me? Which banks are around me?
35:09
Good, you now have your prospecting list.
35:12
You can now start approaching them 1 by 1 by 1 by 1 to sell
35:16
your market. My rights to her was to approach
35:21
the businesses because to be honest, there, there's no if you
35:26
sell liquid soap and you want to reach out to any of these
35:29
businesses that we mentioned, restaurants, hospitals, schools
35:32
and banks. To be honest, they already have
35:34
soap that they use. I hope you know that they really
35:37
have soap that they use. So what you're trying to do is
35:43
not so much sell your market. You're also trying to unseat
35:50
somebody because they already have somebody that they
35:52
currently do business with for soap.
35:54
So you're not just trying to sell your market, you're also
35:56
trying to get them to leave whoever they're currently using
35:59
so that they'll start using you. So just know it's a it's a hard
36:04
job. So a suggestion that I asked
36:06
that was especially now that she's commonly new into this
36:08
space. Of course, Remember Me?
36:10
I prefer that as it is what I'm talking about.
36:13
She's already doing a business where every single time she
36:16
drops 50K, she gets 120. Guaranteed.
36:19
The money has not gotten past 120.
36:22
Not that she will get 120. Then she will move her fifty,
36:25
she will drop 50, and then the money she gets, the one that is
36:29
clean on top is 120. She now wants to leave that and
36:34
then start another business where she will now start running
36:38
after fresh, running after afresh, running after
36:41
restaurants, hospitals, schools and then banks.
36:46
And of course, when she starts that household, it's not as if
36:48
the money will start coming immediately.
36:50
You see the reason why from a traditional sales perspective,
36:53
we advise people the way we advise them.
36:56
You want to leave 120 K confirm to look after, to run after a
37:01
speculative something. So the goal traditionally when
37:06
it comes to business development is that one that is bringing in
37:09
120 K call farm whenever we drop 50K is we try and scale it.
37:14
We try and Max it out. We try and put repeatable
37:19
systems in place. We hire teams like that one is a
37:21
solid business so that by the time you remove yourself from
37:24
the equation every month, you just see pinging, pinging,
37:29
pinging, pinging in your bank account.
37:31
Then that is what will afford you the liberty to say you are
37:34
now going to look for something else to do.
37:40
So yes, I just thought that you're trying to unseat someone.
37:43
So just go there, have the conversation, figure out how
37:46
much it is that they spend on soaps and things like that, and
37:49
then see how you can help them save costs.
37:50
Because when it comes to value the value Trinity, that's
37:54
something Victor Antonio talks about.
37:55
The value Trinity is just reasons why people buy products
37:59
and people buy products because they get a financial benefit,
38:02
they get a physical benefit or they get a psychological
38:05
benefit. So that's the value Trinity,
38:07
physical, financial, psychological.
38:10
Some people, well, Victor Antonio and this time used to
38:12
call it the three FS, even though they don't start with F.
38:15
Well, you know, but anyway, you get the joke.
38:18
So physical, financial, psychological.
38:23
So in this case, I just thought a financial benefit would
38:25
probably be the easiest one. You're trying to sell in this
38:27
case, which you, you know, you're going to the bank, you
38:30
know, you chat with them and let's say they're spending 5
38:32
million every single month of soap and you think you can give
38:36
them a 15% saving on that or 10% saving on that.
38:39
You know, who knows, you might get them to be willing to try
38:42
you out to give you a sample order, you know, something like
38:45
that. But sure, just know you're
38:46
trying to unseat somebody and then some of you will be
38:50
wondering this conversation that you're having.
38:53
One person ID is easy for free. And well, yes, actually it is
38:57
for free. That's the reason why I tell you
38:59
guys that, look, I have commitments to my paid coaching
39:03
clients and my paid consulting clients.
39:05
So just send me a WhatsApp message when I'm free, I will
39:08
respond. But of course, at this point I
39:09
have to tell her, look, OK, with the level of yarning that we've
39:14
yarned. I told her look at this point
39:16
any other thing we have to pay a consulting session, let's sit
39:20
down and make this new official. Let's make this a proper
39:22
relationship instead of you just using me anyhow then and I give
39:27
her one frank advice and I'm sure some of you didn't notice.
39:32
I told her look the next time we reach out to somebody say hello
39:34
first, then compliment the person, then try and offer them
39:38
value. Don't just go straight into
39:40
asking questions for your own benefit only.
39:43
The reason why I'm saying this now is because it's something
39:45
that a lot of you need to hear, especially the younger ones.
39:50
I don't know how you guys didn't get the memo or you guys didn't
39:53
get the training. But, and you know, now I now
39:57
know the reason why there are other people in my own
40:00
circumstance who actually don't even want like, and I put it
40:07
like they're trying to block themselves from you guys, the
40:10
audience. So I understand because a whole
40:14
bunch of you just reach out and your attitude is this is me,
40:17
this is my problem. Help me like relax, relax.
40:24
That's not how you go about it. Greet somebody first, toast the
40:28
person, wine and dine the person, compliment the person or
40:32
try and offer them some value. Now after a while, you can now
40:36
start trying to extract value from them, trying to collect,
40:41
trying to get what you can from them.
40:43
But some of you, especially you guys, younger ones, those of you
40:46
who are still in uni right now, you guys just go straight for
40:49
the kill. Relax.
40:51
Some finesse, please, some finesse.
40:55
Now I take it as a a thing of pride that every single person
40:59
who comes my way gets value. So quite frankly, I'm not
41:02
offended. And you can see that I followed
41:04
this girl, you know, with a yarn and you know, I didn't say
41:06
anything. But at the end, I just realized
41:08
that, look, I'm not going to do this girl well if I don't tell
41:12
her the truth, because it is the attitude that she's using.
41:17
When she's now reaching out to banks, when she's now reaching
41:20
out to restaurants, when she's now reading out to schools and
41:23
hospitals, it will be the same attitude.
41:25
She will show up and the attitude will be me, me, me, me,
41:27
me, me, me, me, me. And that's not how business is
41:29
done. No, especially in this part of
41:32
the world, business is not done that way.
41:35
So when you show up, greet somebody first, try and finesse
41:43
the situation before you start going into me, me, me, me, me.
41:45
So I told her what a nice way to start a business relationship.
41:48
And then I asked her because I need to be frank.
41:51
I asked her, I said, look, babe, help you understand the reason
41:53
why I'm saying this to you. And that's how the conversation
41:56
ended. From there she just fade.
41:59
And that's also another thing that I want to talk about,
42:02
especially those of you who are the younger crowd, you know,
42:05
university, secondary school people.
42:07
You guys need to be thick skinned.
42:10
Any time somebody give give you a small push back, you just
42:14
fade. You are too in your feelings.
42:17
You are too soft and relax. You need to learn how to take
42:21
small bath goals. Sometimes when somebody's
42:23
telling you something there, it's not from a place of how I
42:29
put it. Sometimes it's from a place of
42:31
love is from a place of concern that we want to see you do well.
42:36
But I've noticed that you people, the moment somebody give
42:38
you, you know, small pushback, you know, begin, they get
42:41
defensive or, you know, you fade or you start getting what's that
42:47
word verbally defensive. And you know, you will need to
42:51
relax, relax, relax, relax. Learn how to take a hit.
42:56
Not all criticism is bad. Sometimes when somebody's
43:00
telling you something, there's a lesson there for you to to
43:03
learn. So I'm still going to give my
43:06
phone number out. I always will because I honestly
43:10
believe that if every single business owner in Nigeria has my
43:13
phone number, there's no way that I would die for.
43:16
So if you want to connect with me, if you have a question, you
43:20
have a comment, you have a query, they want us to
43:22
collaborate on something. You can call, send me a text
43:25
message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
43:33
Reach out, let's chat. For those of you who are trying
43:37
to get free coaching. I understand.
43:39
I cite you guys. I see you, I see you.
43:41
I understand. I don't begrudge you whatever
43:45
you can get for free, get for free.
43:46
That's what I'd be just just do some finesse.
43:51
Just use some finesse, that's all.
43:52
Use some finesse at least. At least at least be greeting
43:55
somebody first. At least greet, say hello first
44:00
before we start. Then also, if there's somebody
44:09
you feel as if there's somebody who's willing to give it to you
44:11
straight, just listen and listen.
44:15
Thank the person and say, oh, you give me a lot to think
44:18
about. You know, I'll think about it
44:20
after that. You can now block the person,
44:22
but try to have that listening attitude.
44:24
So that's it. Thank you very much for
44:26
listening to today's episode. I will catch you all some other
44:32
time.