Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Hustle Hard Now: Your Sales Grind Isn't Forever
Transcript
- 0:01Today on the podcast, we're going to look at how long you
- 0:04should be spending in sales and marketing mode if you are a
- 0:07startup founder or if you're an early business person.
- 0:10So in other words, let's say you're brand new to the game,
- 0:12you're about to start a business or you have an idea for a
- 0:15fintech, some startup, some whatever.
- 0:18How long should you be in the sales grind?
- 0:21How long should you be in the marketing grind?
- 0:24Now, if you like these kinds of topics, these kinds of issues,
- 0:27be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple
- 0:31iTunes, where else, you know, YouTube or wherever you like to
- 0:35listen to this kind of business content.
- 0:38My name is Tavishima Ayede, I'm the host of the podcast and I am
- 0:42a former lawyer turned business consultant.
- 0:45So be sure to subscribe and catch us over here every other
- 0:50day where we talk about all these juicy kind of material.
- 0:53Oh, besides, I'm not like other podcasters.
- 0:56I love to hear from the people who listen to the podcast.
- 0:58So if you'd like to be in touch, you have questions, you have
- 1:02comments, you have queries or you want us to collaborate on
- 1:04one or two things, then call, send me a text message or a
- 1:09WhatsApp message on 08064662140. And don't worry, I'm the one
- 1:17who's going to answer the phone or respond to your messages, at
- 1:20least until I become a big boy. So when I'm a big boy, I'll now
- 1:24give it to my PA, you know, to be doing that.
- 1:26But for now you've got me. So back to the question, how
- 1:30long should you be spending in sales and marketing mode when
- 1:33you are startup founder or an early business person?
- 1:36Now this is the context for the conversation that we're having.
- 1:40There was a start up conference in Lagos earlier on in 2025
- 1:44where a famous Nigerian tech founder who has achieved an
- 1:48exit, you know, exit just means all.
- 1:51I put it like you started your company, the thing grew big and
- 1:55then you guys either did an IPO that's invested on listed on the
- 2:00Stock Exchange or you sold it off to somebody else and you
- 2:04collected good money, plenty, plenty money.
- 2:07So that's an exit. So this is someone who has built
- 2:10a company, who has achieved an exit.
- 2:12So it is not somebody who is talking theory.
- 2:14This is somebody who is doing, who has done the practice.
- 2:18Now this person at the startup conference was talking to
- 2:22newbies, new people in the game and trying to tell them what to
- 2:25expect when it comes to gaining traction for your startup.
- 2:30Now I'll be making a series of commentaries on the guys videos
- 2:33because there's a bunch of stuff that he got correct.
- 2:36For the things that he got right, I want to emphasize it
- 2:38again for those of you who are in the startup space, there are
- 2:41a couple of things that he could have wanted better.
- 2:44And in that case, I want to lend nuance to what he said and give
- 2:47the proper perspective. And then there's some things
- 2:51that are flat out wrong, Although to be fair to the guy,
- 2:56he hasn't said too many things that are wrong.
- 2:58And in that case, I want to tell you what the right perspective
- 3:00is from the level of sales and business development.
- 3:05Now, the reason why I'm doing this is because unfortunately,
- 3:07there are lots of people who build successful businesses in
- 3:10spite of the fact that they made errors when it comes to sales,
- 3:15marketing, business development. And they go around, you know,
- 3:19touting their own way of success as the way, the truth and the
- 3:24life. And we would not want those of
- 3:28us who are know who are more knowledgeable about these things
- 3:31wouldn't want you guys to fall into those errors.
- 3:34Now, let me give one example, one that Gary Vee likes to talk
- 3:37about a lot. Although this is not sales and
- 3:38marketing related. Gary Vee talks about how what's
- 3:42his name? The iPhone guy iPhone, What's
- 3:45his name? What's his name?
- 3:46What's his name? Jobs?
- 3:47Steve Jobs. So Steve Jobs comes on the scene
- 3:50and because of his toxic, you know, acidic management style,
- 3:55but he's successful. Everybody assumes that that is
- 3:59what you're supposed to do if you're an auger, shout at
- 4:02people, berate them. What else?
- 4:05Unrealistic deadlines, you know, that kind of thing.
- 4:08So Jobs succeeded in spite of his management style.
- 4:16But then lots of people assume it is a good management style
- 4:20because if he works for Steve Jobs and if he works for Elon
- 4:23Musk, then people think that that's a valid way to run a
- 4:26business, run people to the ground, abuse them, abuse them,
- 4:29Mama, insult them. You know everything just because
- 4:33you're trying to move towards a certain goal anyway.
- 4:37So let's get back to the topic at hand.
- 4:40How long should you be spending in sales and marketing mode if
- 4:43you're a startup founder? Now the fellow that was looking
- 4:46at the startup conference, he said something and I want to
- 4:49quote him so that we are responding to his actual words.
- 4:53Now this is what the guy said. Of course, I'm not saying who
- 4:56the guy is or who the event was. You know to anyway, I'm not
- 5:01saying who they are. So the guy said and I'm quoting
- 5:07him. Now the reality of being a great
- 5:10founder or being a great salesperson is that you are
- 5:13always selling and at no point in time do you go on break from
- 5:18selling. Let me repeat what the guy said.
- 5:22The guy stood on stage and told his tech people, his start up
- 5:27people, his people who are about to enter into the business.
- 5:30He told all the boys and the girls gathered there who want to
- 5:33be like him and this is what he told them.
- 5:35He said the reality of being a great founder or a great
- 5:39salesperson is that you are always selling and at no point
- 5:45in time do you go and break from selling.
- 5:48So now this is a question. Is he correct?
- 5:51And the answer is, unfortunately for those of you who don't like
- 5:55selling, the answer is yes. But however, it's yes but not
- 6:01forever. So that is your temporary
- 6:04respite. So if you don't like selling
- 6:07what this guy said, is it true? The answer is yes, you have to
- 6:10be selling all the time and you will never go on break.
- 6:15But The thing is that is not going to last forever.
- 6:18Now let's look at why it is, yes.
- 6:21Now some people have pointed out, like Brian Tracy, you know,
- 6:24I won't go that far, but this is the way Brian Tracy explains it.
- 6:27Brian Tracy says that there's some dynamics that apply in
- 6:30physics that also apply in business.
- 6:32And he likes to Brian Tracy likes to use airplanes and
- 6:35rocket ships. So when an airplane is about to
- 6:37get off the ground and when a rocket ship is about to get off
- 6:40the ground, that is the period that they spend the most amount
- 6:45of energy, where they burn the most amount of fuel just so that
- 6:48you can break free from gravity and begin the coast so that you
- 6:52can fly, so you can move. So Barrett Racy says it's the
- 6:56same in business. And there are lots of people who
- 6:58say it's the same in business. So whether you like the metaphor
- 7:01or not, unfortunately that's just the case.
- 7:05To get the business going, there's a lot that you need to
- 7:09get this thing off the ground to get traction.
- 7:13But The thing is, after you get traction, you can now ease back
- 7:18on a couple of things. So you don't always have to be
- 7:23doing 140 kilometers per hour, but once you achieve a certain
- 7:28level of traction, you begin the coast.
- 7:31Everything is flowing smoothly. You can relax and instead of
- 7:34turboing at 140 kilometers per hour, you can remove your food
- 7:39from the pedal and just be cruising at 90 or maybe at 100.
- 7:44So those are just the dynamics that are required in business.
- 7:48In the beginning, there's a lot of stuff that you have to do to
- 7:50get things off the ground. But now how do you know when
- 7:54you're at that level of coasting, when you're at that
- 7:56level of achieving critical mass, when you're at that level,
- 7:59when you can lean back? Unfortunately, it's it's hard to
- 8:03say. For instance, I have a friend
- 8:05who is a lawyer just like I was. I was my senior in secondary
- 8:09school and also in university, but we've been close since then
- 8:13because you know, from secondary school to university to, you
- 8:16know, Shark, we've always been around each other apart from
- 8:19when I went to the UK for a while and you know, tried my
- 8:24luck there before coming back. So he's a lawyer, but he also
- 8:28has a restaurant and currently where they are is he's getting
- 8:32profits of about 250,000 naira weekly.
- 8:36I repeat, the profits are 250,000 naira weekly and he's
- 8:41been doing that for I think close to 8 months steady, like
- 8:43the thing has not dipped. So monthly profits about
- 8:471,000,000. That is profitable.
- 8:50That's by the time you remove money for everything, salaries,
- 8:54food, this and this and that and that and it's been going on for
- 8:57the last 8-9 months. However, this has been driven by
- 9:02advertising. They have been advertising on
- 9:05average 40K every single month, but that is what has sustained
- 9:09this level of growth because it's a franchise franchise in
- 9:13Lagos. Well, sort of like a franchise
- 9:15because they have three outlets in Lagos.
- 9:18And my guy was like, this thing works now, so can we come and
- 9:22replicate this thing in Abuja? And the other people he
- 9:25partnered with said, yeah, sure we can.
- 9:27And so they took the exact same concept and then they're running
- 9:30the play over here. So they're brand new in this
- 9:32space. In fact, when my wife came back
- 9:34from her trip recently because she travelled to Lagos for work
- 9:37and I told her that Oh my God, I started a restaurant that's like
- 9:41a restaurant that what are they called?
- 9:42I mentioned the name. She said I've never heard of
- 9:44them before. I said, yeah, they're brand new.
- 9:47It hasn't reached like one year yet.
- 9:48And the flagship locations actually in Lagos, three of
- 9:53them. But I said here's the Instagram
- 9:55handle I showed her and it was like, oh, OK, this thing seems
- 10:00legit. I think the over 10,000
- 10:02followers. Let's see what else Inisha
- 10:06forget the number of followers. The most important thing is, and
- 10:09he showed me the inbox. You know, orders seem to be
- 10:12coming in steady like every 2020 minutes bringing, bringing,
- 10:17bringing messages coming in. People want order SO250K in
- 10:23weekly profits, but they're currently advertising 40,000
- 10:27naira monthly. Some of you say 40,000 naira to
- 10:32advertise on Instagram. Unfortunately, in this case,
- 10:37that is the level of hustle, that's the level of grind,
- 10:40that's level of graft that is required for now to get things
- 10:45off the ground. Because remember, it's been less
- 10:47than a year. So at some point when they say
- 10:51that they have critical mass, they can relax and reduce
- 10:56advertising spend. But one thing that they've
- 10:58noticed now is if they drop advertising from 40K to, let's
- 11:02say, 30K, they see the difference immediately,
- 11:06immediately. So they now know that they're
- 11:09not at that stage. So it's really hard to say.
- 11:11How do you know when you've achieved critical mass?
- 11:13This is why it's important when you have a business, excuse me,
- 11:16you have a business to keep monitoring and keep measuring
- 11:20all these things. So for now, for this my guy and
- 11:23his partners, their leg is still on the throttle.
- 11:26They won't release it. Yeah, I know it's throttle, but
- 11:30you know, Nigeria now say throttle.
- 11:32So now their leg is firmly on the throttle and they will
- 11:35continue to do 40K every month in advertising.
- 11:40And by the way, for those of you who say it is expensive, you're
- 11:42looking at things the wrong way. They're spending 40K every
- 11:47single month in advertising and the thing generates so much
- 11:50money that they're able to pay staff, able to pay everything,
- 11:53able to settle a mark and all these other people who like to
- 11:57harass businesses and you know, everything.
- 12:00And remember this, my friend is in partnership with other people
- 12:04and there's still 250K leftover for him alone.
- 12:09If you look at it that way, you see that it's not expensive.
- 12:12In fact, for people in the tax base, what they, what they do is
- 12:16those 40K will give us 250K in profits.
- 12:20OK, In that case, if we double the spend and we make it 80 K,
- 12:24does that mean we're going to get 500K in profits?
- 12:27And then they will try it and if it works, the people in tech
- 12:30will say, oh, OK, no problem. Should we make it 120 K And
- 12:37maybe we're now going to get, you know, is that 150K or 100M
- 12:42or sorry or one M in profit? So don't think in terms of
- 12:48expensive or expensive, sorry, expensive or inexpensive.
- 12:50You know, it's, it's always relative to the returns that
- 12:53you're receiving. But Shah, what I'm trying to say
- 12:55is how do you know when you can remove your leg from the
- 12:58throttle? It's hard to say what should I
- 13:01keep measuring? But the point I'm trying to say
- 13:03is you won't always be the case. They won't always have to
- 13:06advertise at 40K monthly. I mean, look at Coca-Cola, look
- 13:09at Nike, look at all these others Abish brands.
- 13:11I mean, there was a time when in the beginning, you know, full
- 13:14scale on the trottle. Like the guy who did Nike, is he
- 13:18Phil Knight and be what's his name?
- 13:21Yeah. So in his book, he mentioned
- 13:22about how he used to put shoes in the car, driving around
- 13:26trying to sell the shoes. So in the beginning, plenty of
- 13:29leg graft. You walk up and down, you're
- 13:30talking to people one-on-one, plenty of graft.
- 13:33Then after that, advertising, advertising, you know, and the
- 13:35business is now, you know, things don't settle, things are
- 13:39mature, things are calm. So every year you run the same
- 13:43playbook. How much do we spend in
- 13:45advertising? Last year, you know, just
- 13:46maintain, you know, was not as if like in the early days when
- 13:50it's do or die running up and down doing this, doing this, you
- 13:54know, also hard. So don't worry when you start no
- 14:00break when it comes to sales and marketing, no break, no rest for
- 14:03the wicked. But don't worry, time will come.
- 14:05You will remove legs from throttle and things will still
- 14:08be moving because you have critical mass.
- 14:11Now, why is this the case that in the early days you can't rest
- 14:14when it comes to sales and marketing?
- 14:15It's very simple. If you just be calm and follow
- 14:19me, you see the reason is very, very simple.
- 14:23People can only do business with you if they know that you exist.
- 14:27If you have the best shawarma in the world but nobody knows you
- 14:30exist, how they come and do business with you.
- 14:35If you have the best deal on Samsung Fold, everybody's
- 14:38selling Samsung Fold at 2.5 M, but you're selling authentic
- 14:41Samsung Fold at maybe 1.8. It is only if people know that
- 14:45you exist that they can do business with you.
- 14:48So it doesn't matter your product or your service, people
- 14:51can only deal with you, they can only flow with you if they know
- 14:54that you exist. And unfortunately, in the early
- 14:57days, nobody knows you. That's just how it is.
- 15:01So if I create the perfect kind of bathroom sleepers right now,
- 15:05which is better than other bathroom sleeper that is out
- 15:07there, maybe the bathroom sleepers I have created, maybe
- 15:10they never chop at all so they last forever or I don't know.
- 15:16OK, maybe that was the wrong example, but sure, you
- 15:17understand what I'm trying to say.
- 15:19If I sit in my room and I create the best, the perfect XYZ, the
- 15:23perfect product, the perfect service, if nobody knows me,
- 15:27they cannot do business with me. So in the early days, nobody
- 15:31knows you. So you have to hustle hard.
- 15:34Let people know you, let them know your name, let them know
- 15:36your logo, let them know your address, let them know your, you
- 15:41know, whatever it is. Only after you achieve some
- 15:45level of notoriety, people know you.
- 15:47Your reputation is out there, people know what you do, people
- 15:51know how you can help them. It is then that you can relax.
- 15:57So in the beginning, cool FM, the, I think they are business,
- 16:01they're part owners in this business where they make cakes.
- 16:05I can't remember in Lagos. So if you remember in the
- 16:07beginning, they used to advertise that cake thing all
- 16:11the time. So I can't remember the name
- 16:12because it's been a while since I lived in Lagos last, but these
- 16:17two advertise that cake as they advertise, advertise, advertise,
- 16:22especially when they invented. OK, well they didn't invented
- 16:25but they brought that technology where you could make a birthday
- 16:28cake, but you could take a picture of your cake of your
- 16:31face or the face of the celebrant and then put it on the
- 16:33cake and the picture was edible. And they used to advertise the
- 16:36hell out of those things. So in the beginning, the reason
- 16:39why they were doing plenty advertisement and don't let
- 16:41anybody rest us because they were brand new in the market.
- 16:45Nobody knows that they exist. They have this technology where
- 16:49you can take the picture of your wife, of your daughter, of your
- 16:52son, of your mom, of your pastor and put it on the cake and
- 16:55people will slice that cake and they will eat it.
- 16:58The picture is edible. So that's why they were
- 17:01advertising like crazy. Now, if you listen to Cool FM,
- 17:05do you hear the advertisement of the cake shop?
- 17:08Again, you don't hear it because they've achieved a certain level
- 17:11of critical mass. People know who they are, people
- 17:14know they exist. People go there, they now get
- 17:16organic business so they can now release their leg from the
- 17:20trottle. No need to be advertising too
- 17:23much. So that is just the dynamic.
- 17:30So the sales bro who spoke at the event is absolutely correct.
- 17:35He's absolutely correct. You will always be doing sales.
- 17:38You will always be doing marketing.
- 17:40There will be no rest for you, no rest for the wicked.
- 17:43You will not rest. But like I said, it is not
- 17:47forever because there's a question of critical mass.
- 17:50At a certain level, we achieve critical mass.
- 17:52Then you release your leg from the Trotter or eventually you
- 17:56will hire a team so that sell, sales and marketing is no longer
- 18:00your personal responsibility. However, the selling function
- 18:04will always continue. So these are the two reasons why
- 18:09I say yes, but not forever. Yes, you will always sell, but
- 18:15not forever because you will achieve critical Marks and you
- 18:17will relax. Or you will hire a team and it
- 18:21will no longer be your job to sell, it will now be their own
- 18:24job. But of course, you have to stay
- 18:26on demo. Don't just tell people go and
- 18:27sell. For me, you don't took idea.
- 18:29You need to put eye and see what's going on.
- 18:35So now that we know that selling is always going to be a
- 18:38responsibility, how do we start this journey?
- 18:40I always recommend that we start with friends, family members and
- 18:43associates. Not because they're your ideal
- 18:45customer, but just to get some early reps because sales is
- 18:49hard. There's plenty of rejection that
- 18:50is involved. So if you practice on your
- 18:52friends and your family members first, you'd be better prepared
- 18:56when you're talking to total strangers.
- 18:57The example that I gave, I've given a couple of times on the
- 19:01podcast was when I was talking to my mom.
- 19:05We're doing role play. She said, well, more role play.
- 19:08I said, who's man? I started again.
- 19:10And then we're talking, talking. And then they go to the pricing,
- 19:13whatever I was delaying to give the price.
- 19:15And then my mom, you know, that's in role play, shouted me,
- 19:18I say, young man, give me the price.
- 19:20I'm busy. And at that point I stopped.
- 19:22I said, mommy, what is this now? Like, is that necessary?
- 19:27And my mother said she laughed. She said, what do you mean that?
- 19:30Is that necessary? I said, is that necessary to be
- 19:32talking to me like that? Now role play with the role
- 19:34play, my mother said, look, this is Niger.
- 19:36People talk like that. And I said, look, if anybody
- 19:38talks like that, I don't want to do business with that kind of
- 19:40customer. And that's why we ended the role
- 19:42play. And I said this woman said she,
- 19:44she, she, she did over too. And then I just like left it.
- 19:47But lo and behold, I have faced that situation where somebody
- 19:51told me, young man, I am busy, just give me the price now
- 19:56because I did a role play with Mumsy and I have been thinking,
- 20:00OK, if somebody vets for me say just your mind, give me the
- 20:03price, what will I say when you think now actually happened, I
- 20:08was better prepared for it. So in trying to sell to your
- 20:14friends and family members, or role play with your friends and
- 20:17family members, or sell to people in church or things like
- 20:20that, you will discover some things that work.
- 20:23And you will keep doing it. When you're talking to people,
- 20:25you'll discover some things that don't work and you will never
- 20:28try that again because it did not work.
- 20:30Even when you are trying to sell to people in the choir who are
- 20:33your friends. Therefore, when you're now
- 20:35selling to people who are total strangers, you should not
- 20:37everyone try it. So that is why I recommend that
- 20:41we start with friends, family members and associates.
- 20:44You know, they like you. You'll get one or two easy wins.
- 20:47You gain some confidence boost. You know, one or two things that
- 20:50work and then honestly speaking, by the time you try and sell to
- 20:54like 20 or 30 people, there's a way that you just feel more
- 20:57confident when you're going live to go and talk to total
- 21:02strangers. Because I've spoken to 150
- 21:06people, I've sold successfully to 40 people and what's the big
- 21:09deal? No betrayed, fair.
- 21:12I can make it work. You'll be able to go with
- 21:13confidence. So I recommend starting with
- 21:17friends, family members and associates.
- 21:19Then if you listen to the previous podcast episode, you
- 21:23remember when I spoke about being multi model.
- 21:27So you know, we do everything in the beginning.
- 21:31So it's not just a matter of going to talk to people, not
- 21:34just physical one-on-one or phone calls.
- 21:36You should also be doing some stuff online.
- 21:39Content marketing I think should be part of your strategy because
- 21:41you need to remain visible on social media because that's the
- 21:45way that you stay top of mind with potential customers.
- 21:50For instance, later, take me, there's some people who reach
- 21:53out and we'll say how far let's talk and I say cool, but then
- 21:58maybe the meeting doesn't hold or something like that.
- 22:00Now me, quite frankly, the reason why I'm not bothered is
- 22:03because as part of my process, I'll probably reach out to them
- 22:07again later on, you know, Hey, what's up?
- 22:10Sorry, it's been a while. Forgive me.
- 22:11We lost track of the conversation.
- 22:13So what say you, are you cool? Should we pick it up?
- 22:16I'll be, are you sorted? That kind of thing.
- 22:19But also because of the broadcast and because of the
- 22:22radio show. I know that I'm still top of
- 22:25mind because if somebody reaches out to me last week because they
- 22:28heard me on the radio show, but today's thing did not click, no
- 22:33how, no how. Next week or upper week, he will
- 22:36still hear me on the radio again.
- 22:38I am remaining top of mind. It's the same thing.
- 22:41We should use social media to remain top of mind, visibility,
- 22:45top of mind. That's how I worked.
- 22:48So that's also something we can use to be in sustained selling
- 22:51mode. So that's why for me, sometimes
- 22:55I can rest, sometimes I can disappear for two or three days
- 22:57because the podcast is always there selling on my behalf.
- 23:01I can be sleeping, somebody's listening to the podcast, but
- 23:05still sustained selling function is still continuing.
- 23:12Then of course, you can also use automations for sustained
- 23:15selling, like on social media, you know, schedule stuff.
- 23:18I schedule a lot on LinkedIn. In fact, that's the first thing
- 23:21I do. I wake up in the morning and
- 23:22then I schedule the post that's supposed to go out at 9:00.
- 23:25I post it 10 o'clock 1112123. So that's how many is that 6,
- 23:32I'll be 7. So I wake up in the morning and
- 23:34I schedule 6 posts like that. Bam.
- 23:39So every week that is 6, I'll be 6 times seven.
- 23:45What is that? OK, let me stop here in case my
- 23:49children listen to this in the future.
- 23:50Then they'll say that he doesn't know 6 times table.
- 23:53So I think that's like 42 now. 6 * 630 six 10 + 6.
- 23:58Yeah. 42. Yeah.
- 23:59Good. SO42 posts every single week.
- 24:04The selling function is still moving because I'm taking
- 24:06advantage of scheduling some of the activities.
- 24:10And then remember my my friend who's a lawyer and who runs a
- 24:14restaurant, you know, the advertising is standard.
- 24:18It is fixed every single month automatically just deduct from
- 24:23the account beam and we'll go to Instagram advertising.
- 24:26So these are some of the ways that we can keep selling mode
- 24:31activated and sustained in the early days.
- 24:34Now for those of you in particular who are thinking
- 24:37about fintechs and all that startup space, who or what are
- 24:43the major groups of people that you're always going to be
- 24:45selling to? So you're always going to be
- 24:47selling to investors because you have to secure funding.
- 24:52You know, it's a never ending. Well, it's not as if it's a
- 24:54never ending because you know they're different funding
- 24:56rounds. So eventually it stops.
- 24:58But in the beginning they're spending a lot of time talking
- 25:01to investors because it's not safe.
- 25:02If you talk to 10 people today, it will then give you value.
- 25:06Truth of matter is if you talk to 10 people today, maybe four
- 25:09or five will say, OK, sounds interesting, let's have another
- 25:12meeting. At the end of the day, maybe one
- 25:14person invest, maybe 0 people invest.
- 25:16So that's why it looks like it's never ending.
- 25:19So you will always be selling to investors, always be trying to
- 25:22get funding to ensure that your company survives and that it
- 25:26grows. For those of you in the startup
- 25:29space, you will always be selling to potential hires,
- 25:32always trying to get people, come along from my startup, come
- 25:34along from my startup. In fact, I was thinking about
- 25:36this thing this morning. I was thinking, it's 2025, the
- 25:41year could have been better. And I started thinking, you know
- 25:43what, I'm a one man show. She'd be as you have somebody to
- 25:48do this, do this. And then I was now thinking in
- 25:50my mind, OK, if I call Sophie, if I call this person, if I call
- 25:55this person, she can handle this.
- 25:57This guy can handle this. How much will I pay them?
- 25:59You know, blah, blah, blah. So you see, in my mind, excuse
- 26:04me, in my mind, I'm really thinking about getting potential
- 26:07hires on board and I'm already trying to figure out how am I
- 26:09going to sell this thing to them.
- 26:11Like, you know what, this thing that I'm working on, you know,
- 26:15you go pay. So therefore come on board, work
- 26:19with me. It's the same thing.
- 26:22Those of you who are in the tech space are going to be doing as
- 26:26well sending potential hires. Then you also have to sell your
- 26:30core team because you have to keep morale high.
- 26:33Especially for those of you who are selling, let's say like tech
- 26:38software or something. You need people's morale to be
- 26:41high because engineers don't like engineering, creating apps
- 26:46and creating stuff just for creating sake.
- 26:49They also want to see that, you know, we're making progress.
- 26:52It's only very lazy people that collect salary for the sake of
- 26:55collecting salary. At a certain point, people want
- 26:56to feel as if this work I'm doing has value.
- 27:00This thing is moving. So you always have to be selling
- 27:02to your core team because you have to keep moral high.
- 27:04You have to inspire your your team to continue to push through
- 27:08whatever challenges you guys are going through.
- 27:10You're also going to be selling to customers, also going to be
- 27:13selling to future partners because you're always building
- 27:18relationships. You're always trying to get
- 27:20product feedback. You want to see if your solution
- 27:23works. You're always constantly talking
- 27:25to customers and partners. Then of course, you're always
- 27:27going to be selling to the media, selling to the public.
- 27:30That's for those of you who want to build the next Unicorn.
- 27:35You want to build that, you want to build the next pay stack, you
- 27:37want to build the next, you know, call your African Abbey,
- 27:43Nigerian Unicorn that is out there.
- 27:45You're going to be selling a lot to the public.
- 27:51So these are the reasons why you will always be selling and these
- 27:54are the people that you'll be selling to.
- 27:55In fact, if you stop selling the vision, if people stop buying
- 27:58in, if investors stop dropping money, if talent starts leaving
- 28:01your your team, if the team loses focus on motivation, you
- 28:06can see that's much more things will begin to die.
- 28:12So these are the reasons why you will always be selling.
- 28:18Selling is not just an activity at this stage, it's also a
- 28:20mindset. So if you're a salesperson now,
- 28:26of course, obviously you should always be selling to prospects.
- 28:28A prospect is a person who might be interested in your product or
- 28:31your service. You should always be looking for
- 28:33prospect, you should always be looking for market.
- 28:35As we like to see in this part of the world in Niger with a
- 28:38fine market, you should always be finding market, selling to
- 28:41prospects. Of course, you also sell to your
- 28:45internal teams because you know other people.
- 28:47There's a limit to how much one person can sell.
- 28:49Eventually you need to get somebody else, which is the
- 28:51reason why I'm thinking, I think it's time for me to call Sophie,
- 28:54say, Sophie, what's up? I know you've been doing this.
- 28:57You've been doing this, Bob, I need you on board.
- 29:00Let's talk. Some people will say you have to
- 29:04sell to yourself, you know, as in get yourself, get yourself
- 29:07motivated because you know how it is now.
- 29:09Sometimes you wake up and like, God, do I have to stand up
- 29:12today. So you have to motivate
- 29:14yourself. So excuse me.
- 29:22So Shah, whether you're a founder, whether you're a
- 29:26salesperson, if you take a break, if you take a break,
- 29:31there's a risk that you fall into complacency and then things
- 29:35will not stop. Things will not stop moving,
- 29:39things will not be moving again. So that's the reason why in the
- 29:41beginning, you will always be selling, you will always be
- 29:45influencing, you will always be communicating value, you will
- 29:48always be building relationships.
- 29:50You will always be whatever it is you want to call it, because
- 29:53it is necessary to take things from where you are and to move
- 29:58things to a higher level. So the tech bro was absolutely
- 30:04correct. But for those of you who don't
- 30:06like to sell, do not be afraid. Because like I said, yes, you
- 30:10will always be selling and there'll be no rest for the
- 30:12wicked. But it is not forever.
- 30:15One day, God willing, you will achieve critical mass and you'll
- 30:19be able to release your foot from the trot.
- 30:23Or before you get to that stage, you will hire one or two people
- 30:28who will be selling on your behalf.
- 30:29And you personally, you can rest, but the selling function
- 30:32will always continue. And so with that, the tech bro,
- 30:37he got it right. And if you attend any conference
- 30:40and you hear any tech bro or tech sister say that kind of
- 30:45thing, remember this podcast episode that this is one of
- 30:48those cardinal kernels of truth that you need to take on board.
- 30:52Just accept it. And your business journey will
- 30:56be, I won't say it will be easier, but you'll be.
- 31:02You might not feel easier, but it will be easier to accept
- 31:04because at least you know what you signed up for.
- 31:07You know, it's like people. It's like guys, young men who
- 31:09fall in love and you want to marry, but then you forget that
- 31:12with marriage comes children. And then when the first child
- 31:15comes, you know, you're now surprised and say, ha, ha,
- 31:18that's all marriage DB. Nobody told me, you know, But at
- 31:22least if you know from the beginning, there's a total
- 31:24package that as you marry the wife became must come.
- 31:27At least when the children come, we'll shake you too much because
- 31:29like what is expected? So that's it.
- 31:32And that is all for today. Remember, if you'd love to get
- 31:35in touch, my name is Tavishima IED, those of the podcast, your
- 31:39favorite lawyer turned business consultant.
- 31:42You can also find me on LinkedIn, but you can call send
- 31:45me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
- 31:52Thank you very much for your time and attention.
- 31:54I'll catch you at the next episode.