Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Business Plan vs. Statement of Intent: Your Roadmap to Startup Success

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Business Plan vs. Statement of Intent: Your Roadmap to Startup Success · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

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  Hello and welcome to the show. I'm taking today's episode from
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  the living room and it's a full house.
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  You know, kids are home, wifey is home.
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  So I expect to hear some interruptions in the background.
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  In fact, some colourful interruptions because we just
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  bought a new keyboard and my son is learning how to play chords
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  and scales. I mean, the older one, at least
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  the little one is still running around.
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  He can't be interested, at least for now anyway.
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  The goal of this show is free business education.
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  You're not here to learn about my family.
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  So this is the first time of listening to the podcast.
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  Don't worry, you're in the right place.
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  And if you get value from this, please share, promote and talk
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  about it so that your friends and family members in Nigeria
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  and abroad can benefit from the questions that we tackle over
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  here. They can do that by subscribing
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  on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of their choice.
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  And if you in particular have any sales or marketing
• 0:47
  questions, bring them to me. You can call SMS or WhatsApp
• 0:51
  108064662140. Today on the show we're going to
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  be looking at another question. Someone who called in from my
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  radio show on radio Maria person called in on the 15th of April
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  and we tackled a few things about business plans, statement
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  of intent. So excuse me, you know, all
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  those sorts of things. So that's what we're going to be
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  tackling today. What is the business plan?
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  What is the statement of intent? When do you need one?
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  When do you need the other? Which one is better?
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  What's the benefit of these things, you know, apart from
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  raising finance? Does a statement of intent or
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  does a business plan help you in any other way?
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  Oh, by the way, just in case, you know, like I said, the noise
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  bleeds and, you know, that's my son hammering away on the
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  keyboard. So I hope you guys find it
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  melodious, if nothing else. OK, So like I said on the radio
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  show that was on the 15th of April, a chap called in
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  engineer, Engineer Peter Celestine.
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  And the question was on how to use his business plan to raise
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  finance for his construction company, which he started in
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  2025. So after the date of this
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  recording, it's still, you know, a young thing because I'm
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  recording this in May of 2025 or yes, I have.
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  So this was a caller that I called in last month.
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  So, you know, when most people call me over the air, we start
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  talking about a few things. Sometimes I need a little bit
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  more detail. So I've got into the habit of
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  telling people to just send me a WhatsApp message so we can talk
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  in more detail. And so like in engineer's case,
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  Engineer Peter's case, so I can have a look at the business plan
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  because I want to make sure that whenever I'm giving advice to
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  anyone, whether those of you who reach out to me through the
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  podcast or reach out to me from the radio show, I want to make
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  sure that the advice I'm giving is relevant, is practical, and
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  it's targeted to your particular context.
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  Because in my opinion is a waste of time to be answering
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  questions in the general, general, because as in who's it
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  going to help? So it's best when we can sit
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  down and say, look, based on what you've said, based on where
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  you're coming from, based on where you're heading to, you
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  know, do it like this, do it like this, you know, not like
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  this would run, you know, stuff like that.
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  So let's see. OK, so he said I had a business
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  plan. I'm like, Oh yeah, cool, send me
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  the business plan. Let me have a look.
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  Now, the thing that he sent, even though he thinks it's a
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  business plan, actually is what some people would call a
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  statement of intent. Because the statement of intent
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  is when you put some things down in writing that shows your
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  aspirations. Like this is me, this is where
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  I'm heading. This is what I want to build.
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  You know, some paragraphs like that, short, short, short, you
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  know, one page. So that is not what we typically
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  would consider to be a business plan.
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  That is just a statement of intent.
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  So based on his well, as you'll find later on, because I'm also
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  going to talk about the kind of things that should be included
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  in a business plan, you see that a business plan is more
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  detailed. The business plan goes beyond
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  just saying this is me, this is where I'm from, this is what I
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  want to build, you know, so any so let me go into what he had in
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  his statement of intent. So for his statement of intent
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  he has here that he wants to build, he wants to supply
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  reliable construction solutions. Let's see what else he wants to
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  focus on Rd. building and bridges.
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  Then he also mentioned that he has ambitions in oil and gas.
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  And then let's see, OK, They also want to leverage new
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  technologies in making concrete for Rd. paving.
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  And that was one thing that I asked Eric, because, you know, I
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  don't have a technical side when it comes to these things.
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  You know, I'm not an architect, I'm not an engineer.
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  So, you know, I know nothing about this.
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  But I just always assume that when people make roads, we make
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  roads with tar for a reason, especially since we make roads
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  with tar all over the world. So I just put an asterisk there.
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  Like there's something he needs to do his homework on if making
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  roads out of concrete is a viable option, You know, I'm
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  surprised that people aren't doing it.
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  But anyway, you never know, sometimes these are, what are
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  they called innovations and things that you can use to make
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  your make yourself stand out. You know, you're doing new
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  methods, new ways, new technologies that other people
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  are not doing. But I just put an Asterix on
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  that. So that's something that we
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  ought to look at. So that's what he just said in
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  statement of intent. Now you can see that just
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  writing out these sorts of things, you know, this is me,
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  this is my company. I want to supply construction
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  solutions. I want to build roads and
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  bridge. I have ambitions in oil and gas,
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  and I want to leverage concrete for Rd. paving.
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  You give that kind of thing to an investor or to a bank, it's
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  hard for the investors who are no problem.
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  Come and take, you know, 5 billion.
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  Yeah, there's not enough there to for an investor to go on or
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  for a bank to go on or even for your rich uncle who wants to
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  give you money. There's not enough meat there
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  for your rich uncle, for a rich auntie to say, OK, based on what
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  I'm seeing, I'll come and take like 5-5 billion once.
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  That's your construction company.
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  So you should have a business plan.
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  And what should be included in the business plan?
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  Well, mostly put an executive summary.
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  The summary just says, you know, welcome to the document.
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  If you read this document, this is everything that you can hope
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  to find here. And then it will summarize
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  everything that is in the document.
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  Then there is also sometimes a section about company
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  description. You know who you are, when was
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  the company founded, who is the executive director, who is the
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  this, who is the that, what does the company do?
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  You know, all those sorts of things.
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  Then there usually is some sort of segment that does market
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  analysis. The market analysis is the part
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  of the business. Business plan.
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  Yeah. So the market analysis is the
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  part of the business plan that answers the question, can we
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  make money on this thing? Who is the target market and is
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  their demand? So like now back to this
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  construction thing, market analysis is going to be the part
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  of the document where you're now going to answer, can you make
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  money by using concrete to pave roads?
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  You know, is it going to be cheaper or is it going to be
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  much more efficient? Who is the target market?
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  Municipals, local governments in Nigeria willing to try that as
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  an alternative to using TA? Maybe communities in the east
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  where they have serious erosion, maybe concrete might be the
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  solution. You know, then of course,
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  looking at the whole thing of market demand, you know, have
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  countries been trying this? Have countries been trying this
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  kind of technology? You know, all those kind of
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  questions basically because in the market analysis segment, the
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  bank who you're asking for money, your rich uncle and
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  auntie who you're asking for money, the investor who you're
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  asking for money. They just want to see, you know,
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  if there's some meat here, is there something we can kill?
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  And by the time we share it, you know, there's, there's money for
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  all of us. So that's just what the market
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  analysis section is. Then a section on products and
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  services. That's where you talk about
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  exactly what you're selling. And of course, I mentioned to my
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  guy, Engineer Peter that, you know, is kind of, you understand
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  this. It's kind of plenty, you know,
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  construction supplies, building roads and bridges or that one
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  makes sense. But then now ambitions in oil
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  and gas, that's a bit, you know, stretching then anyway, maybe
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  because I'm a layman, so maybe I don't understand, but that whole
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  leveraging concrete for Rd. paving, I to be honest, I'm also
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  sure. But yeah, so products and
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  services will be nice to have a concise statement of what it is
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  that you do. It helps when people look at
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  your business plan and they can see clearly that this is what
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  you do, that. Oh, OK, this my niece, she wants
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  to do fashion design full stop. But if you put it there and the
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  uncle is reading, the uncle says, OK, my niece wants to do
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  fashion design, but then she also wants to trade forex.
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  But then she also wants to do crypto and but then she also
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  wants to do lifestyle influencing business.
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  But now she also wants to, I mean, you know, it's a bit much.
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  After a while, your uncle or your auntie will just think this
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  baby is not serious. Let me just keep my money, you
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  know. So if you can clearly define the
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  products and the service, you know, the better.
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  Then my favorite part of the business plan is where you go
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  into marketing and sales strategy.
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  Very, very important. That is how you say, OK, those
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  people that we identified in the market analysis, the people that
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  we're going to run after, this is the plan for going after
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  them. So back to this whole thing
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  about using concrete to pave roads.
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  Let us assume, by the way, I'm not a technically minded person,
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  I'm not an engineer, so I'm just freestyling here.
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  So let's assume now that concrete can actually solve the
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  erosion problems in the east instead of using Kuruta to, to,
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  to build roads. Sorry, those of you who are not
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  Nigerians, I would say Kuruta, we mean coal tar.
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  It's just if I used to say that a lot in primary school, so I
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  mean, I'll shock it on to find out that people are actually
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  saying coal tax. I'm like, why not just say coal
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  tax? What is Kuruta?
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  So if truly, truly the way to solve the problem of erosion in
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  the east is to stop using Kuruta and then to use concrete, then
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  there should be a plan. OK.
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  The states in Nigeria are most affected by erosion.
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  Anambra Abia, you know, blah blah, blah.
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  And the plan is to go and meet, you know, the governors or the
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  Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and, you know, just some
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  plan, sure that this is how we're going to tackle the
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  market. Step one will approaches people.
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  Step 2. Step three-step, you know,
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  whatever, you know, but some sort of plan.
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  It also gives people confidence. Let the bank see that, OK, you
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  have a plan. You're not just for meeting
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  ideas anyhow, like there's something that makes sense.
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  Let your uncle or your auntie see now, OK, you'd be like, say
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  this boy don't get sense or be like, say you know, this baby is
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  maturing. So you know, there's a plan here
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  I can drop some money. So that's the reason why that is
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  my favorite part of a business plan.
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  It should be your favorite part too.
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  And by the way, even if you don't get any money from the
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  business plan, even if nobody drops bar for you by the time
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  you're done, this is the best part of the business plan.
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  So excuse me because you can always look at it from time to
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  time. Anything would guide your
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  thinking. You remember that oh, back in
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  oh, sorry, hold on call coming through.
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  OK, All right, I will return the call later.
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  So you can now look at the segment.
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  You can now look at that particular segment and then say,
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  can I look at the segment? And then what was I, I lost my
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  train of thought and you'll now be able to look at the segment
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  and then remember that, OK, back in the day when I wanted to
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  start this business, these were the strategies that we have for
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  sales and marketing, you know, blah, blah, blah.
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  You can look at that and they think can serve as a road map
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  and guide you forward, you know, so you don't forget that these
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  were the main things that we're going to try out.
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  And this was going to be the thrust of sales and marketing
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  for the business. So that's a useful part of the
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  document. And that's one of the reasons
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  why I say, you know, if you want to set up a business plan, it's
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  not a bad idea. If nothing else, it's a
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  reference document that will help you to.
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  It's a reference reference document.
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  They'll help. They'll help you to bring you
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  back on track because as you're going forward, you know,
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  business is hard. People forget, you know, all
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  kinds of things. So in one moment, one of my
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  children has come. Let me settle him and then I'll
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  get back to you. OK, Sorry about that.
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  You know, fighting over computers as children wants to
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  do some of the wonderful things to look forward.
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  That's for those of you who don't have kids yet.
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  I mean, it's fun. We're waiting for you guys.
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  So, yeah. So then most of the people that
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  have been sending me business plans, as per the radio show,
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  they don't have a funding request in the plan.
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  Now the funding request is the part of the document where you
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  tell the investor, where you tell the bank, where you tell
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  your rich uncle or auntie that, look, this money that I'm
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  raising for you, raising from you this, I'm going to use it.
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  I'll buy this, I'll buy this, I'll invest in this, and
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  hopefully we'll bring this kind of returns.
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  And from these returns is how much I'm going to pay you back.
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  So the example that I gave, As for those of you who've been
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  listening for a while, if you remember the episode about
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  Elijah from Sulija who wanted, who had a business plan to raise
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  money for his sesame seed processing business.
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  So he had it clear in his document that this is how much
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  in total I need for the business.
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  I can't remember the figures. I'm just going to mix stuff up.
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  Even if I remember, I don't use the real figures to protect the
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  gas privacy. So he said, OK, there's how much
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  I need. I need like that kind 30 M from
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  the 30 M, I've been able to drop like 6 M by myself.
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  So what I'm looking for is 24 M. And I thought that was
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  particularly good for Elijah because lots of people in Niger,
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  when there is business plan and even even have the funding
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  segment, usually you can see that they want to raise
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  everything from the other person.
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  You want your uncle, your auntie to drop everything 100%.
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  You want the bank to drop everything 100%.
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  You want the investor to drop everything 100%.
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  Sometimes people are looking for someone.
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  Sometimes we just like the fact that somebody has skin in the
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  game like you might. You've done something.
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  So you need 50 M for this thing. You've been able to raise like,
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  you know, 5-6, that kind of thing.
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  You give somebody confidence that you're doing something.
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  So that would also be nice. So, yeah, so that that was just
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  it. So of course the problem with
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  the statement of intent now Engineer Peter submitted is, you
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  know, there are plenty of gaps, you know, so why are you raising
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  money for the business? You know, why do you need
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  financing? Is there any particular specific
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  project that you're working on? What do you need the money for?
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  Do you want it for office space? Do you want it for equipment?
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  Do you want it for marketing? Do you want it to finance a
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  government contract? You know, stuff like that.
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  So basically whatever it is that you're going to submit, it has
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  to have answers. You need answers to these big
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  questions in whatever document it is that you're raising for
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  finance. But please just know that
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  there's a difference between statement of intent and the
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  business plan. Statement of intent, no too pure
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  when it comes to raising finance, business plan is what
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  you actually should be aiming for.
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  So that's all for today, folks. If you have any questions that
• 15:40
  are sales and marketing related, then bring them to me.
• 15:43
  You can call you can SMS or WhatsApp on 08064662140.
• 15:49
  Thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 15:50
  I'll catch you guys at the next episode.