Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / The Nigerian Sales Secret: What to Do When They Don't Pick Up
Transcript
- 0:01Today on the podcast, we're going to be looking at how to
- 0:03set meetings and appointments. I repeat today on the podcast,
- 0:08we're going to look at how to set meetings and appointments.
- 0:11And the reason why it's obvious because lots of us who are
- 0:14listening to this podcast right now, we are in business.
- 0:18We intend to start a business. We have a side hustle, we are
- 0:23self-employed and we have to set meetings and appointments or
- 0:28else we're going to have a hard time selling our products,
- 0:31selling our service and trying to move market.
- 0:33So that's what we're going to be looking at today.
- 0:36Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishima Ayedi, I'm
- 0:39the host of the podcast. And I'm making today's recording
- 0:42at an undisclosed location in Abuja.
- 0:45But yes, I am in the car park at the moment.
- 0:48So expect to hear some noise in the background, you know, people
- 0:51driving by, people gossiping, you know, things like that.
- 0:54Now, the goal of this podcast is not to let you know my paroles.
- 0:58Rather, we talk about business problems here.
- 1:00How do we overcome one or two objections?
- 1:02You know, how do we move things forward?
- 1:03How do we deal with customers? How do we negotiate?
- 1:05How do we price, how do we sell? How do we market all those sorts
- 1:08of things. So if you're interested in
- 1:10listening to all these sorts of things, this podcast is your
- 1:13jam. So make sure you subscribe on
- 1:15Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of your choice.
- 1:18And if you'd love to connect, call, send me a text message or
- 1:22a WhatsApp message on 08064662140 again today.
- 1:28How do we set meetings and appointments?
- 1:31Now, I'm going to give you the background.
- 1:33But before I give you the background, those of you who
- 1:35listen to the podcast and who actually take the opportunity to
- 1:39reach out to me, you know, you send messages or you call, to be
- 1:42honest. I really appreciate you guys.
- 1:43I really, really do. Especially people who listen to
- 1:47episodes and then say, look, bro, I listen to this episode.
- 1:50And I think you were saying no to like the thing, no to add up.
- 1:54So how far so people who keep me on point like that, I really,
- 1:58really, really appreciate it because, you know, I'm human.
- 2:02And unfortunately, a lot of times when I'm making this
- 2:06podcast, you know, I'm freestyling.
- 2:07So sometimes I'm trying to say things of factual importance,
- 2:11you know, historical events, you know, things like that.
- 2:14And I get my names mixed up or I get my dates mixed up, you know,
- 2:17yeah, that's one of the problems with freestyling a podcast.
- 2:22So, you know, that's why I said, you know, when I have a bit more
- 2:23money, I'm going to have research assistants and, you
- 2:26know, things like that. People just just to make sure
- 2:28that if I say in 1968 this thing happened, you know, just to be
- 2:32sure, that was actually 1968, you know, and not maybe, you
- 2:35know, 1971 or something like that.
- 2:38So today I'd like to issue an apology to those of you who've
- 2:42been listening to my podcast. And I also want to say thank you
- 2:45to Fevor Afuya who listened to a podcast episode, the one that is
- 2:50titled From Harare to Lagos Billionaire Battles in Africa's
- 2:55business. Sorry, Africa's biz biggest
- 2:58markets. Again, the name of the episode
- 3:01is from Harare to Lagos Billionaire Battles in Africa's
- 3:05Biggest Markets. So thank you very much to your
- 3:08favor of we who listened and saw something or rather heard
- 3:12something that didn't sound too correct and sent me a message to
- 3:15say, oh boy, how far now you know this thing that you're
- 3:17saying No, to add up. No, I had to admit that, yeah, I
- 3:23made a mistake in that particular episode.
- 3:25And I even made an episode where I apologize and I made a
- 3:28correction. But you know, like Favor pointed
- 3:31out, what I was should have done then was I should have taken the
- 3:33link of the other episode and then put it in the show notes so
- 3:37that, you know, if anybody listens, they can now see that,
- 3:41oh, I realized my mistake and I tried to correct it in the
- 3:43future episode. So I'll try and do that, but the
- 3:47mistake that I made there was talking about some of the
- 3:50pioneer companies in the telco space in Nigeria, you know,
- 3:54Econet and you know, all those companies that would eventually
- 3:56become Airtel and all these companies today.
- 4:00So I got my wires mixed up because, you know, in the 80s I
- 4:07was a young kid then, you know, military era, rounding up or bus
- 4:10and draw, then GSM coming into Nigeria.
- 4:14You know, by that time I'm just becoming a youngblood and you
- 4:17know, as if I used to listen to the news like that.
- 4:19But you know, you hear of all these billionaires, you know,
- 4:23the guy from Zimbabwe, then Shama MO and the rest of them.
- 4:26So, you know, these were things that boys were just, you know,
- 4:28hearing. But basically, you know what
- 4:32stuff that was in the ether at the time.
- 4:34So, you know, I got my wires mixed up mixing up the
- 4:37billionaire from Zimbabwe and Chairman Moore, mixing up the
- 4:43companies, you know, things like that.
- 4:45So for that, I'm very, very sorry.
- 4:47For those of you who have listened to the episode, yes, I
- 4:49do make mistakes. And like I said, sometimes when
- 4:52I'm talking about some of these factual stuff, you know,
- 4:55historical stuff, you know, I'm freestyling from memory 'cause I
- 4:59was a young kid back then. So apologies that I didn't
- 5:04verify the facts, You know, the names of the companies, how the
- 5:06company started and which billionaire particular that I
- 5:09was talking about. However, the principle that I
- 5:12discussed in the episode was correct, that entrepreneurs who
- 5:17take a stake in utility or infrastructure companies on the
- 5:21continent, on the African continent, are really being
- 5:24hindered by corruption. And as a society, we should stop
- 5:28all this rubbish. We really should stop all this
- 5:30rubbish because if big boys are big girls, 'cause let's face it,
- 5:36the usual thing to do, not just in Africa but also in Asia, is
- 5:40that when you hammer, you take your money outside and then
- 5:45relax. So people who say, OK, I don't
- 5:49hammer, I'm a certified big boy, let me go home and let me put
- 5:52some money into roads or let me put some money into telcos or
- 5:56let me put some money into water or let me put some money into
- 5:59power. They were now coming to stress
- 6:02them. And we're now trying to collect
- 6:04bribe from them like in Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
- 6:07Nothing, no to tap. We're not going to develop
- 6:09ourselves and we're going to continue that trajectory where
- 6:14people hammer, they make money and then they go outside.
- 6:17Because one time you know, me and my wife and then some guys
- 6:20are just gist. And I told her, I look, to be
- 6:22honest, even me said when I hammer, what do you think I'm
- 6:24going to do? Carry my money outside and go
- 6:29and do other things in the UK and in the US because I don't
- 6:32want the situation where, you know, I'm here, my assets are
- 6:36here, my businesses are here. Then one day a president will
- 6:41enter a pharaoh who did not know Joseph, and then they will say
- 6:44this establishment, I don't like this guy.
- 6:46They now begin to pin my assets and now begin to make life
- 6:49stressful for me. So as a society, let's be
- 6:53mindful, especially those of us who are still young now.
- 6:56We're going to be in power tomorrow.
- 6:57We're going to be in politics tomorrow.
- 6:59We need to change this game up. We need to switch this game up
- 7:02or else these things will continue to happen where people
- 7:05get paid up, they become big boys and big girls, they become
- 7:08billionaires. Then instead of putting money
- 7:10back on the African continent, they will go outside.
- 7:14They will be investing in UK companies, buying real estate in
- 7:18the UK, buying real estate in America, investing in companies
- 7:23in, you know, everywhere apart from the African continent
- 7:29because you don't want all the wahala that happens over here.
- 7:33So anyway, so thank you very much Favour Afuya for pointing
- 7:38that out. Apologies to the rest of you
- 7:40forget my facts wrong. And yes, let me point out that,
- 7:46OK, let me put it this way, I promise I'm going to freestyle
- 7:49less and less on the podcast and I'll try and confirm facts
- 7:52before I talk. So if you hear me say anything
- 7:54that is factual or that purports to be factual, please go and
- 7:58verify the information before you rely on it.
- 8:01However, if you hear me say anything about sales principles,
- 8:04don't worry. Relax.
- 8:06What I'm saying is sound. If it is sales and selling
- 8:09principles or that one, I know it in my sleep.
- 8:11If it is factual things, I'm a human being, you know, I'll get
- 8:14one or two things mixed up. So let's get back to the topic
- 8:18of today. But I hope you guys got my
- 8:22message tomorrow if you're a president, tomorrow, if you're a
- 8:25governor, please be paying attention to these things.
- 8:28These are the things that help the plight of the black man in
- 8:31court, as people like to say. So please, those of you that
- 8:34want to enter politics tomorrow, I beg pay attention to those
- 8:37things so that those of us who hammer and become large, we can
- 8:42feel safe. We can feel confident to say
- 8:45that we're going to invest in infrastructure, invest in
- 8:50businesses, invest in all kinds of things at home or in other
- 8:54African countries instead of running outside like most of our
- 8:57people do. So today, like I said, what
- 9:00we're going to be discussing is how to set appointments and how
- 9:03to set meetings. Now, this is the background.
- 9:06One of my clients is the founder.
- 9:08He has come up with an app, set up a business and an app, a
- 9:11website, you know, every, every that is going to help with
- 9:14content creation and to make content affordable for
- 9:18entrepreneurs. Now, the problem statement that
- 9:20this guy has is that content is more expensive than it needs to
- 9:23be. And yeah, I would say, I would
- 9:25say, yeah, the guy is correct because OK, well, if he's too
- 9:29expensive, he's relative. But let me just put it this way.
- 9:32If you've ever thought, OK, I like this kind of concept, I
- 9:34need somebody to do this. You reach out to someone, you
- 9:36know, who can make this. And I say, oh boy, how far do
- 9:38this kind of thing for me? And then they say, sure, no
- 9:40problem, I'll do for you just being 250, anything.
- 9:42You're thinking like what, 250K for one post?
- 9:47If I'm dropping 250K for one post, then how many posts am I
- 9:51going to be posting in a month? You know, that kind of thing.
- 9:54So my client, his company, and the app that they're working on
- 9:59is supposed to solve all of these problems.
- 10:03So one company that they have on their list now is sorry, before
- 10:08I get to that. And so the first thing that we
- 10:10did is after figuring out what the unique value proposition is.
- 10:14And by the way, you need to know unique value proposition because
- 10:17it helps you stay grounded when you're having conversations.
- 10:20You really need to know why people do business with you or
- 10:22you really need to know what is the main problem that you're
- 10:24trying to solve. It will help you stay focused in
- 10:26the conversation. So we came up with a prospecting
- 10:29plan, a prospecting list. A prospecting list or plan is
- 10:33just that piece of paper or that note or that document where you
- 10:36write from #1 to number, whatever, 20 or 100, and you
- 10:41decide that, OK, these people are my potential customers.
- 10:44They're my potential clients. These are the ones that we need
- 10:46to come up with a plan for how to go about getting them.
- 10:49And this part is absolutely important, absolutely essential
- 10:52when it comes to growing your business.
- 10:54The problem is a lot of you are doing prospecting what you are
- 10:57using your memory to do it. And it's a problem.
- 11:00Just be humble. Take a sheet of paper, write it
- 11:04down, or open a note on your phone and write it down.
- 11:10Freestyling in this regard is a problem.
- 11:14You wake up tomorrow and you will not remember.
- 11:17Who are my ideal clients? Who have I reached out to?
- 11:20Who have I like? Look, just let's just be
- 11:22meticulous about this. I know you stress, but let's
- 11:25write it down. As in have an actual list.
- 11:30So that was the first part of the action plan.
- 11:32We got the list. Now one company on the list was
- 11:36recommended by the guy's current staff.
- 11:38That's my client. He has hired people to, of
- 11:43course, you know, if you can afford to, you don't start as
- 11:46all my show if you can afford to.
- 11:48So he has really had some staff and then one of his current
- 11:52staff used to work at the company that he wants to target.
- 11:56And the guy who recommended it because he said he said boss,
- 12:00when I was at our company, I was overwhelmed.
- 12:04They wanted to keep me with content production too much as
- 12:09in demand was too much, like the work was too much.
- 12:12So we thought this is a good idea.
- 12:17The problem that we're trying to solve is content for people when
- 12:22you need it quick turn around in less than 48 hours and to do
- 12:26that on a reasonable budget. So he said, we agreed, we'll
- 12:31reach out to these people, we'll put them on the list, we'll
- 12:33start with them. Now the thing was, how do you
- 12:36start the conversation? Because remember, prospecting is
- 12:40the part of business development or growing sales where you try
- 12:46and figure out who is my ideal customer, who is the person that
- 12:49might need my product or my service?
- 12:52Where do they hang out? Where do they live?
- 12:54Where do they stay? Where do they chill online?
- 12:56Now that I know, how do I initiate a conversation with
- 12:59them? This is all that is involved in
- 13:01the part in in prospecting. OK, because it's not a good idea
- 13:05to just walk up to someone and say buy my stuff.
- 13:07We have to be a little bit more smooth than that.
- 13:10Eventually we'll get to the point where you say buy my
- 13:12stuff, but we have to come up with a plan.
- 13:15So in this case, now the guys that we came up with was the
- 13:20founder will call and say, hey, what's up?
- 13:22I just hired this dude for the polls on podcast.
- 13:25Let's say the guy's name is Michael.
- 13:29So the founder, we shall say, hey, what's up, We just hired
- 13:32Michael. Michael said he used to work for
- 13:33you guys. So I'm calling just to do some
- 13:35background checks. Hope the guy is the correct guy
- 13:38when he worked with you. I hope there was no problem.
- 13:40Then from that conversation, they will now slide into, oh, by
- 13:44the way, I was checking up you guys on Google and I tried the
- 13:48social media, but people were difficult to find.
- 13:50Then from there, he will now transition into the services
- 13:54that we offer because obviously putting out content will make it
- 13:58easier to find you people. And in this case, it was not a
- 14:00lie because when his client, he's a sorry, his employee
- 14:05Michael said this was a company. Both of us, we went online and
- 14:08we started looking for this company.
- 14:10Omo, this company is hard to find.
- 14:14We tried them on Google, they're hard to find directly on page 2.
- 14:18We tried them on Instagram. They were hard to find because a
- 14:20lot of companies with a similar name and the other people, you
- 14:23know, they post more regularly. So even if you search and you're
- 14:27just looking at posts, you see the post from other people.
- 14:29So truly, truly, they were hard to find.
- 14:32So that was the guys about how we're going to start the
- 14:34conversation. I say, hey, what's up?
- 14:37I'm reaching out just to do background checks on Michael, by
- 14:39the way. I was trying to find you guys
- 14:41looking at your websites, looking at social, you all are
- 14:44too hard to find. Now from there you transition
- 14:46with problem statement. So early on I had said that we
- 14:51need to know the unique value proposition of your business.
- 14:53In this case what we figured out.
- 14:57So excuse me because the guys my client has already, you know,
- 15:00sold to a few people. So some of the things people
- 15:02have been saying is that they like the fact that these guys
- 15:04are affordable, that, you know, when they do their thing, you
- 15:08know, with the website or whatever, they produce content
- 15:11and is not expensive and that they are fast.
- 15:13They've delivered in 48 hours. They've never taken longer than
- 15:1648 hours. And then the fact that the
- 15:18process is simple and effortless.
- 15:21So I told my client, OK, that's AUVP.
- 15:24Remember, whenever the conversation is lagging and
- 15:28we're losing focus, we'll always come back to look.
- 15:30People that we've worked with in the past, they like the fact
- 15:33that we're affordable. They like the fact that we're
- 15:35fast. We've never taken more than 48
- 15:37hours and we keep our process simple.
- 15:41We believe that we should be able to help you solve XYZ
- 15:43problem. Are you interested?
- 15:44Because conversations can get on wieldy.
- 15:46You need to be able to bring it back.
- 15:48So that's why you need to know your unique value proposition.
- 15:52By the way, this is one of the benefits of working with folks
- 15:55like me who are sales trainers, sales coaches, business
- 15:59development consultants, especially people like me who
- 16:03focus on personal selling, which is where you are face to face,
- 16:07one-on-one inbox to inbox with a particular person.
- 16:10You need to know how to guide the conversation.
- 16:13So we came up with a list of problem based openers or
- 16:19question based openers as it sounds.
- 16:21Problem based openers just means you start the conversation based
- 16:24on the problems you solve. Question based openers as it
- 16:29sounds, you know, you ask, you know a couple of questions just
- 16:31to get people talking. So problem based openers, you
- 16:36know, things like in this case now, because remember what my
- 16:40client does is a content for social media.
- 16:43So simple questions, you know, are you struggling to keep your
- 16:45social media updated with fresh content?
- 16:49That's a question, a question. I will get things going.
- 16:52Or, you know, you say something like, oh, hiring a full time
- 16:55content team can be expensive. What if you could get
- 16:59professional content without having to hire the whole team?
- 17:02Because there's actually somebody who he has done
- 17:04business with in past who said that that's the reason why they
- 17:06like doing business with him because they get the kind of
- 17:08content that they know they would have had to hire a whole
- 17:12team. So that's why we put that there.
- 17:16Then what else? So, you know, simple ways they
- 17:18can get the conversation going, then question based conversation
- 17:23ways to get the conversation going like, oh, what are your
- 17:25biggest challenges with content creation?
- 17:29You get the person talking. How do you manage your social
- 17:33media content since you don't have a dedicated team?
- 17:36You know, is it a struggle to find affordable and reliable
- 17:39content creators in Nigeria? So questions like that get
- 17:42people talking. And, you know, these are easy
- 17:44ways that you can transition. So you can see that we don't
- 17:47just roll up on someone and say buy my thing is is too direct.
- 17:52You know, sales is like toasting.
- 17:54So we need to be more subtle. If you walk up to a babe, I say
- 17:58marry me. Well, it can work, but I just
- 18:01woke up to her the first time you say marry me, you're causing
- 18:04chaos for yourself. If I let me give you a real life
- 18:07situation, real life if I just want to.
- 18:11I remember correctly, this lady is also a content producer and
- 18:15we're talking about Christian stuff.
- 18:16And that's how she said when she was younger that she goof, she
- 18:19made a major goof. There was this guy in her church
- 18:22that she liked the guy. And so she walked up to the guy
- 18:26with her full chest and she said, God has revealed it to me
- 18:30that you are my husband. And actually in her own mind,
- 18:33she thought she actually heard God say that is your husband.
- 18:36So she walked up with full authority, full confidence, and
- 18:40she told the guy, God has revealed it to me that you are
- 18:43my husband. Guess what happened?
- 18:47The guy currently is married to somebody else.
- 18:50In fact, the guy started weaving her, started running away from
- 18:52her because man, that's weird. So it doesn't matter whether
- 18:55you're a guy or a girl. If you walk up to a baby and
- 18:59say, marry me, chances are you're starting on the wrong
- 19:01food. If you walk up to a guy and you
- 19:03say God has declared that you're my husband, you're off to the
- 19:06wrong food. So, you know, before we sell
- 19:09something or before we told somebody, it has to be a little
- 19:12bit more subtle. I'm not saying these guys you
- 19:15advance will be a little more subtle.
- 19:18So that's those are the kinds of things that we're trying to do
- 19:20in this case. So excuse me.
- 19:23Now back to our scenario. The guy asked me about e-mail,
- 19:27whatever you send e-mail. And I told him I look, look,
- 19:29look, look, look, let's hold up. e-mail is easy to send, but
- 19:32e-mail is the least effective form of communication.
- 19:36And it also has the worst open read, for instance, now, as are
- 19:43the recording of this podcast in 2025, based on statistics that
- 19:46we have from North America and from Western Europe, it looks
- 19:51like text messages get a 97% open rate.
- 19:56What that means is if you send a text message to someone, you are
- 19:5998% sure that they will open it and they will read it.
- 20:03It does not mean they will reply.
- 20:04Reply rate is different. But open rate so far is 97%
- 20:09e-mail open rate. I can't remember what it is, but
- 20:12it is low, low, low low low low low low, very low.
- 20:16So knowing that, and that's one problem I have with you tech
- 20:19people, people need tech space, Why the hell are you still
- 20:22sending emails? You know that nobody is opening
- 20:25it. You know that SMS has a 97% open
- 20:28rate. Does it not make sense as an
- 20:31intelligent person to go ahead and you know, do the text
- 20:35message route? But anyway, e-mail is cheap and
- 20:38you can send 1000 emails, you can send a million emails per
- 20:40day. So people keep keep doing it.
- 20:42Don't focus on the number that you're sending.
- 20:44Focus on how effective each particular outreach is.
- 20:50So in this case, I told my guy, no, we're not doing e-mail.
- 20:53It is easy to do e-mail because you can find those people e-mail
- 20:56addresses. What we're going to do is we
- 20:58will make a phone call or we will go to their office.
- 21:03Now you tell people complain it doesn't scale.
- 21:05Yeah, of course it doesn't scale, but don't worry about
- 21:07scaling now. In the beginning, we're trying
- 21:09to get a few customers, we're trying to get some money.
- 21:13There's some market validation for our product.
- 21:15We're trying to figure out that this product, this app, this
- 21:18website, this computer code, this, whatever it is you're
- 21:21trying to sell, you're trying to figure out that this damn thing
- 21:23works and that people even like it in the first place.
- 21:26So in the beginning, we do things that don't scale.
- 21:28We go out, we talk to people face to face, we pick up the
- 21:31phone, we get some sales, one-on-one.
- 21:35Funny enough, my client, the founder, later on, he told me
- 21:40I'm really, really enjoying this process and I said why?
- 21:43He said because I'm finding out things I did not know before.
- 21:46He said I was talking to somebody and then the person
- 21:48said, what about Jingle? What is the Jingle?
- 21:53I explained to him what the Jingle is because you know,
- 21:56media background. I'm also in radio, he said.
- 22:00He said, to be honest, I had no idea that people are even
- 22:02looking for jingles on social media.
- 22:06If you're sitting behind your desk and blasting out a million
- 22:09messages, how will you know that your potential customers, if
- 22:12you're in the content production space, how you know they're
- 22:14looking for Jingle? You won't know.
- 22:17You won't. It is when you're having a
- 22:19conversation with someone one-on-one.
- 22:21I'm here, I'm looking at you, you're looking at me.
- 22:24It's a conversation while talking back and forth and then
- 22:26somebody asks, hey, do you do Jingle?
- 22:28It's from there that you will know.
- 22:29You say, oh, Jingle. What a Jingle.
- 22:33Also, people don't pretend. They'll say, oh, yeah, sure,
- 22:35sure, sure, sure. We do jingles.
- 22:36They do now rush back home and go and do research.
- 22:39They will go to Google what is a Jingle?
- 22:41How do you produce Jingle? How should I price Jingle?
- 22:46The most honest thing to do actually is if you're in a
- 22:48situation and somebody say, do you do Jingle?
- 22:50Just so sorry. I'm, I'm, I'm not familiar with
- 22:52that concept. Can you explain, please?
- 22:53And they hear what the person says.
- 22:56When the person says that, oh, it's going to be a music track,
- 22:59you know, that goes with the contest.
- 23:00Oh, of course we can do that. Yeah, sure, we can do that.
- 23:04But you see, he's enjoying the process because now that we're
- 23:08talking to people phone on phone, face on face, he's
- 23:11getting some feedback, he's learning some things to improve
- 23:13his product. So please order e-mail thing.
- 23:18Yeah, you will send e-mail eventually, but calm down, stop
- 23:20leading with e-mail. So face to face is the highest,
- 23:27the best way of communicating face to face after that is voice
- 23:31to voice. Phone call after voice to voice
- 23:35is video to video. Don't ask me why video is less
- 23:41than voice. I don't know.
- 23:41I have no idea. Maybe it's because when people
- 23:43are on video, they're kind of stiff or they're nervous or
- 23:46something and so it reduces the flow of the conversation.
- 23:52I have no idea. But that is just the priority
- 23:54right now. So remember, the best is face to
- 23:58face. I am seeing you.
- 23:59You are seeing me. That is the best way to
- 24:01communicate. After that is voice to voice.
- 24:04I'm talking on the phone, you can hear me.
- 24:07You are talking on the phone, I can hear you.
- 24:09I'm talking on the WhatsApp, You can hear me.
- 24:12You're talking on the WhatsApp, I can hear you.
- 24:14Then after that is video. So we do WhatsApp video, we do
- 24:18Zoom, we do Microsoft Teams, we do whatever, and then on and on
- 24:22and on. And then the one that is the
- 24:24least effective is e-mail. So please don't argue with this
- 24:28one. This one, there is no need to
- 24:30verify. It's I've, I've told you this
- 24:33one is correct e-mail least effective also because e-mail is
- 24:38not conversational and e-mail right now in 2025, e-mail feels
- 24:42very, very formal. What's up, on the other hand,
- 24:46feels casual and conversational. So you see, you gas to pick your
- 24:50medium when you decide how you're going to be reaching out
- 24:52to people. So where was I?
- 24:57So we agreed as wannabe phone call.
- 24:59So I said you called the guy, you called the company IB and my
- 25:03guy said yeah, he will. And then he called, no answer.
- 25:10Then he called again, no answer. Then after some time he called
- 25:15one more time, no answer. Then we spoke the next day.
- 25:18I said how far now did you call them?
- 25:20Say yes, I called three times, nobody answered.
- 25:22I said did you send a message? He said message.
- 25:25So I now had to educate my guy and that's the reason why I'm
- 25:27here educating people. I say no, no, no, no, no.
- 25:30You know what? When you call people and they
- 25:31don't answer, if you don't send a message, it's as if you didn't
- 25:35call at all. The person will come and they'll
- 25:38see three missed calls. Then they'll see it is from
- 25:42unknown number. And I told him that look, you
- 25:44and me, we're hustlers, we're looking for money.
- 25:48When we see missed call, we call the person back in case it is
- 25:52money. But the people who are calling,
- 25:55if they're not business people and they say missed call from
- 25:58unknown number, most people would just leave it.
- 26:01Those say if they're serious, don't call me back.
- 26:04Also because of all the foreigners that are out there
- 26:06trying to scam people for money. So I told him, and I'm telling
- 26:12you, if you're trying to call someone, excuse me, to book a
- 26:16meeting, to book an appointment and you don't get an answer,
- 26:20send a text message. The point of the text message is
- 26:24this. There should be something in
- 26:26writing on a person's phone that will let the person know that,
- 26:31look, this miss number, this is who I am, This is why I called.
- 26:38This is what I would like us to do next.
- 26:41I repeat, however you craft the message, it is going to be very
- 26:45simple. You send a message saying this
- 26:47is who you are. This is why you called.
- 26:51This is what I would like for us to do next.
- 26:56When you do that for the average person, people are now calm and
- 27:00then they can call you back. There's some people that argue
- 27:04with me about it, but then by the time we implement it in
- 27:07their business, you see that it works.
- 27:09By the way, nothing is 100%, but you will see that, OK, last week
- 27:12you tried calling 10 people. Zero of them called you back.
- 27:16But but by then you now start implementing these things and
- 27:19you see that Oh, like 4 or five people start calling you back.
- 27:21You know, it's not perfect, but it's better than 0.
- 27:26Again, you call somebody doesn't answer if the person is a total
- 27:31strange. If I even if the person is not a
- 27:32total stranger, it's a good thing.
- 27:34So even if you and me, we're cool, we've been talking and I
- 27:37miss your call, still send me a text message.
- 27:39OK, in this case, I know who you are.
- 27:41Send me a text message. Why did you call and what would
- 27:44you like for us to do next? That way I can now pick up the
- 27:46phone and say, oh favour, what's up?
- 27:50How you been? OK?
- 27:51Or you want us to discuss something that I got wrong in
- 27:54the podcast? Why?
- 27:55Shoot, no problem. Tell me what is it?
- 27:57And then we're having a convo. So that's how it works.
- 28:01So this whole process makes it easier for people to pick up the
- 28:07call the next time you call. Now, surprisingly, it also has
- 28:10one after effect. Some people will reply to your
- 28:15SMS or reply to your WhatsApp message, and now you're having a
- 28:18conversation. So I now told the guy, you know
- 28:24what? Yesterday you called three
- 28:25times, didn't answer. We will call back today.
- 28:28But before we call, let us craft the text message that you will
- 28:32send if they don't answer. And this is what I drafted for
- 28:37the guy and this is what we came up with.
- 28:40So excuse me. So let's say, OK, the person
- 28:46that we're going to call was the secretary in the company because
- 28:49that's the person that we have the phone number.
- 28:50So let's say the secretary is Julia.
- 28:53Let's say the secretary is Julia.
- 28:55Therefore the staff member, we said the staff member's name is
- 28:58Michael. That's the name we came up with.
- 29:00So we said this is the message that you said you call poo poo,
- 29:03poo, poo, poo, poo, poo poo. This caller is not available to
- 29:08take your call. Then you caught it.
- 29:10Then you now send text message and text message will say good
- 29:14morning Julian. I tried calling earlier from XYZ
- 29:18Business. We recently hired Michael, your
- 29:22former employee, and I wanted to run a background check on him to
- 29:27see what kind of employee he was while working with you at ABC
- 29:31Company. That is the first part of the
- 29:33message, right? And I told him when we send a
- 29:38message, I've said it on the podcast before, but I know
- 29:40there's some new listeners, so let me repeat it now.
- 29:43So when we send a message, we end our message, our text
- 29:46message with either a question because we're trying to get
- 29:50people to respond, we're trying to get them involved in a
- 29:52conversation, or we end it with a call to action, something we
- 29:56want people to do next. Let me repeat every question.
- 30:00I say question every text message you send for the purpose
- 30:04of business, the text message should end with either a
- 30:07question or a call to action. If you don't do that, your
- 30:11message is just a statement. And when you send statements to
- 30:15people, people just read it and think, oh, OK, and then they
- 30:17close the phone because it is just a statement.
- 30:20You're just saying your mind. But the whole point of sending
- 30:24these text messages, we're trying to pull someone into a
- 30:26conversation. All right?
- 30:29We're trying to pull something into someone into a conversation
- 30:32or we're trying to get them to take the next step that will
- 30:36move our business relationship forward, that will move the
- 30:40agenda forward. So every single text message
- 30:43should end with a question or a call to action.
- 30:47So excuse me, I'm not recovering from a cold.
- 30:51So for one of another client that I'm coaching, well, this
- 30:55one is this person in the solar space because he he forgets I
- 30:58gave him a cardinal rule. I told him, look, don't violate
- 31:01this rule at all. I told him, look, any message
- 31:04you send, it must end with question mark.
- 31:06That's where I put it to him because I didn't know how to
- 31:08explain it. I just told him every single
- 31:11text message or WhatsApp message you send must end with a
- 31:14question mark. If it does not end with question
- 31:16mark, you know, I mean, you're in trouble.
- 31:20All right? So now, in this case, we came up
- 31:24with three endings because I wasn't sure what the ending
- 31:25would be. So ending #1 was would you be OK
- 31:32with us having that conversation, 'cause remember he
- 31:34said he was calling to do background check.
- 31:37So option one, would you be OK with us having that
- 31:40conversation? That is somebody that is
- 31:43something that somebody can reply yes or no to or somebody
- 31:47can reply and that should be OK. But let me check with human
- 31:51resources first. You see they can respond.
- 31:55Option #2 Let me know when you're available to talk and
- 31:59I'll call you back. That also begs a response.
- 32:02Oh, sorry, I was in the middle of a meeting.
- 32:04The meeting should be over by 4:00 PM.
- 32:06You can call me anytime after 4-30.
- 32:10You see, it is begging a response.
- 32:13Then another option that we put there was do you recall Michael?
- 32:19That one also begs a response. They say, Oh yes, I recall
- 32:23Michael. So, so, so and so.
- 32:26And what else would you like to know?
- 32:30You see the conversation is continuing.
- 32:33But if you just send a message saying good morning, Julia.
- 32:38I've tried calling earlier from ABC company.
- 32:41We recently had Michael to work for us and I wanted to run a
- 32:44background check on him to see what kind of employee he was
- 32:47while working with you at this. Is this there full stop.
- 32:51The person will read it. I'm like, OK, and then they'll
- 32:53close the message. You didn't ask them for
- 32:55anything. You didn't ask them to do
- 32:58anything. You didn't show that anything
- 33:00else is required of them. I hope you guys are feeling what
- 33:05I'm what I'm saying. I hope you're picking up what
- 33:08I'm putting down. Every text message or WhatsApp
- 33:12message you send must end with either a question or either,
- 33:18sorry, either a question or a call to action because we're
- 33:22trying to pull somebody into a conversation or trying to get
- 33:26them to do something that will move the agenda forward.
- 33:32By the way, yes, the lady did respond.
- 33:36So the conversation is flowing. So you see the difference
- 33:39between calling three times and now sending a text message and
- 33:45then calling once and sending a text message.
- 33:50But like I said, nothing is 100%.
- 33:53This will work all the time, but the goal is sales is about
- 33:57improving our odds, putting the odds in our favor.
- 34:03If zero people are responding to you after you try calling 10
- 34:10people, isn't all good that at least you're doing something Now
- 34:14that 3-4 people are responding to you over time, that small
- 34:19difference in conversion is what will start putting money in your
- 34:24bank account because people are responding and taking the next
- 34:28step and you're getting better conversions.
- 34:31But please, I need to say this again because some of you lose
- 34:37heart too quickly. Nothing works 100% and nothing
- 34:40works all the time. So don't try this thing that
- 34:44I've said with two or three people, none of them responded.
- 34:46I say, and this thing doesn't work.
- 34:51Try with more people. Perhaps your message is not a
- 34:56good one. Perhaps your call to action is,
- 35:00you know, did not rhyme, it did not blend, you know, but over
- 35:04time we're trying to increase the conversions, the people that
- 35:07take the next step. Oh, wow, 35 minutes.
- 35:11OK, then bring it to a close. So summary people either don't
- 35:18know or they underestimate how well how a well thought out text
- 35:24message or WhatsApp message, how you can use it to continue the
- 35:29conversation or how you can use it to even start the
- 35:31conversation. Because remember what I said,
- 35:34this lady 3 calls, she didn't answer the second time, one call
- 35:38you send text message, she responded through text message.
- 35:41The conversation is continuing through the text message.
- 35:44Some of you either do not know or you underestimate how well
- 35:47that this thing can go. So when you're calling somebody
- 35:51because you want to set meeting, oh, by the way, the reason why I
- 35:55said this orgasm is about how to set meetings appointment was
- 35:58this. We agreed that even though he
- 36:01has a phone number, he's not going to sell over the phone
- 36:03'cause we said it is best to sell face to face.
- 36:07So the whole point of him reaching out and calling and
- 36:09chatting with these ladies, we are trying to get a meeting for
- 36:13him to go into that studio and there from there, sorry, into
- 36:17the office there from there question problem, sorry, problem
- 36:23based opener, question based opener.
- 36:25You'll be able to slide into one more.
- 36:27I was looking for people. People are really hard to find.
- 36:30Do you guys have any challenges around problem around content or
- 36:34have you realized that content might make you more visible,
- 36:37Cure your SEO problems. That's how you would transition
- 36:41and then it would not be like, oh, I have an app that happens
- 36:44to solve this problem. So you understand, you see,
- 36:48that's how you transition. So the goal was actually to book
- 36:51a meeting. So yeah, that's it.
- 36:55This is how you use the phone to book a meeting.
- 36:58In summary, one of the ways, the other ways, but sharp, we need
- 37:02to be much more deliberate about how you use how we use text
- 37:06messages. If you need more ideas about
- 37:10that, no problem. Keep following this podcast
- 37:12because these are the kind of things that we talk about here
- 37:15every day, almost every day. And also, Please remember when
- 37:20you talk to someone or you don't talk to someone, remember to
- 37:23send a text message. Remember to send a WhatsApp
- 37:25message after every single interaction or after every
- 37:28single interaction. So let's say Julia agreed and
- 37:33she picked up the phone, maybe we had a wonderful conversation.
- 37:35As soon as Julia cuts the phone, you say, Julia, it was a
- 37:39pleasure having a conversation with you.
- 37:43I'm looking forward to our meeting at Monday morning, 8:00
- 37:46AM, where I'm hoping we'll be able to discuss ABCXYZ.
- 37:51Then you send text messages, have a 97% open rate.
- 37:58Julia will see it. Julia will read it.
- 38:01Whether she replies or not, you know, we don't care.
- 38:03We know that the chances are she has seen it.
- 38:07It is planting a seed. It is a confirmation.
- 38:10It is a reminder. And then in the future, it also
- 38:14is a history of your interactions because every
- 38:18single time Julia opens the phone as she sees there's one
- 38:21that is prior. So he registers psychologically
- 38:23that oh, this is someone that having an ongoing relationship,
- 38:27ongoing conversation with prior context.
- 38:29This guy not be total stranger because let's be honest, Julia
- 38:33is not going to store your number.
- 38:35People are busy. Everybody has 2003 thousand
- 38:38contacts on their phone. So Julia is not going to store
- 38:40your number today just because you called her.
- 38:42If he's like that, she will have 10,000 contacts, don't worry.
- 38:48Anyway, 40 minutes. So let me just wrap it up.
- 38:50So that's it. And that's all for today.
- 38:52Remember, if you'd love to connect, you can call, send me a
- 38:54text message, send me a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
- 39:01Thanks for your time and attention.
- 39:02I'll catch you next time. Same place in your headphones or
- 39:05in your speakers. And also remember, if I say
- 39:09anything that concerns to history or anything that needs
- 39:13factual verification, please verify when I say it.
- 39:16But all these things I've been talking about today, you know,
- 39:20principles, how to carry on the conversation, how to move the
- 39:23agenda forward. Don't worry if I've said it, you
- 39:26can't take it like gospel truth. All right, so I'll catch you
- 39:29guys at the next episode.