Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Keeping Up with Sales Trends: How to Future-Proof Your Strategy

Transcript

Keeping Up with Sales Trends: How to Future-Proof Your Strategy · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Before we begin, apologies
• 0:05
  because today is one of those rowdy Saturday mornings.
• 0:07
  So there will be some interruptions during today's
• 0:10
  recording. Now today, the question that
• 0:12
  we're going to tackle is how to stay ahead of the curve and the
• 0:17
  concern behind the question is around the emerging trends so
• 0:22
  that we can future proof your approach when it comes to
• 0:25
  growing your business in sales. So that's just me summarizing
• 0:28
  the question basically now, why is this a relevant topic for
• 0:31
  today? It is a relevant 1 because
• 0:33
  customers expectations are constantly changing.
• 0:36
  And then of course, you know, technology, ChatGPT, you know,
• 0:40
  blah, blah, blah. So with all these changes,
• 0:45
  people feel or rather people are concerned that it has an impact
• 0:50
  on our traditional sales and business tactics.
• 0:56
  OK, well this is a little warning that I'd like to give at
• 0:59
  this stage. So yes, changes in customers
• 1:03
  expectations, changes in technology impacts the way that
• 1:07
  we sell, but it only impacts the way we sell on a tactical level,
• 1:12
  but not on a principled level. So the principles for sales and
• 1:17
  business success will always remain the same.
• 1:20
  So long as the fundamentals remain the same, the principles
• 1:23
  will always remain valid. So business principles, sales
• 1:27
  principles are always valid. What changes are the tactical
• 1:31
  applications because the tactical applications are time
• 1:34
  bound and change according to the context that we're in.
• 1:39
  For those of you who've been listening to the podcast for a
• 1:40
  while, remember that there's a distinction between strategy and
• 1:44
  between tactics. So strategy is where we're
• 1:47
  heading. This is where we want to go.
• 1:49
  Tactics, those are the everyday one-on-one single things that we
• 1:55
  do to move that whole thing forward.
• 1:57
  So the principles are from are from a strategic level, things
• 2:01
  will always remain the same. From a tactical level, the
• 2:05
  applications are always going to change.
• 2:06
  Now let me give you one example. We should always respond timely
• 2:12
  to our customers. That is a business principle.
• 2:16
  It was the same in the Roman Empire.
• 2:20
  It's going to be the same, or rather it was the same in the
• 2:23
  age of the empire, the the English Empire, and it's also
• 2:29
  the same now that we are living in the age of the American
• 2:32
  Empire. Now I know that's something
• 2:34
  controversial to say, but for all intents and purposes, let's
• 2:36
  just say we're living in the American Empire right now.
• 2:39
  So, but any business person that has lived in any of these ages
• 2:45
  had that as a growing principle that you should always respond
• 2:48
  timely to customers because it shows regard for your customer.
• 2:52
  It shows you being customer centric.
• 2:55
  And also because eventually, even if you're a pioneer in your
• 2:58
  business space, eventually there's competition and you need
• 3:01
  something else to help you stand apart from the crowd.
• 3:04
  So respond in a timely manner, be customer centric.
• 3:08
  That is a business principle that has always been there.
• 3:10
  Now this is how the tactics change with the advent of
• 3:13
  technology. So in the era, in the era of
• 3:17
  postal only service, back in the time of the English empire, you
• 3:22
  know, with the United African Company and the United Indian
• 3:25
  Company and all those other conglomerates that they were
• 3:30
  throwing up at the time, during that time when the prevailing
• 3:35
  technology was at the Postal Service, timely response could
• 3:39
  have meant days or maybe weeks when we're talking about postal.
• 3:45
  OK. In fact, I should say timely
• 3:46
  response would have been weeks, maybe even months because days
• 3:51
  or weeks. That was back when I was a kid
• 3:54
  in the 80s. So yes, back then in secondary
• 3:57
  school, if I wrote a letter to my pups back at home, it would
• 4:01
  take him about two weeks to get the letter.
• 4:03
  So, and, you know, now we're thinking even longer than that.
• 4:06
  And you catch my drift. So in the era of postal only
• 4:08
  service, respond timely to your customers means get back to them
• 4:12
  in a month, that sort of thing. We move beyond that and then we
• 4:16
  get to the era of analogue telephones.
• 4:19
  Now in this case, get back to your customers might mean maybe
• 4:22
  a day because of course your customer might call in the
• 4:26
  morning. It's analogue.
• 4:27
  You're not with a mobile phone. Your secretary takes the call,
• 4:29
  she makes a note. Eventually you come back into
• 4:32
  the office and then and then you know, you call the customer
• 4:39
  later maybe the next day or something like that.
• 4:41
  That is acceptable. That is a timely response
• 4:44
  because all we have are analogue telephones that are fixed to the
• 4:48
  wall, chain to your desk, you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 4:51
  Then we move beyond that and then the fax machine is
• 4:53
  invented. So timely response to your
• 4:57
  customer now means maybe hours because somebody can type out
• 5:03
  something, pick up the fax machine, do that call thing, it
• 5:08
  sends over. There's a document you can look
• 5:10
  at, annotate, you know, whatever, make your
• 5:13
  recommendations and then send back.
• 5:15
  So you can see that as technology is changing, what it
• 5:18
  means to respond in a timely manner seems to be changing.
• 5:21
  Well, the principle is the same and the principle is always
• 5:23
  there. Always respond timely to your
• 5:26
  customers. Then we move to the era of
• 5:30
  mobile phones and social media. And can you guys see the
• 5:32
  evolution now? So now timely response, maybe it
• 5:36
  means now, maybe minutes, because in theory it's a mobile
• 5:44
  phone, it's with you all the time.
• 5:45
  You're already logged into your Twitter account.
• 5:47
  So if somebody sends you a nasty tweet at 9:01, it might be
• 5:51
  reasonable to assume that somebody should respond by,
• 5:54
  let's say 950 latest. If it reaches 11 o'clock 12:00,
• 5:58
  maybe that's too late. So you can see that the
• 6:02
  principle doesn't change. Respond timely to your
• 6:06
  customers. But then the application of that
• 6:08
  principle will change whether you're living in the age of the
• 6:12
  Postal Service, whether you're living in the age of the
• 6:14
  analogue telephone, whether you're living in the day of
• 6:17
  facts, or whether you're living in the age of mobile phones and
• 6:20
  social media. So that is the guiding light
• 6:24
  that I want to advocate for you guys to adopt.
• 6:28
  So stop being like all these people who get nervous every
• 6:31
  single time something comes up. So, you know, social media is
• 6:36
  becoming a thing. All of a sudden people are
• 6:38
  getting nervous like, oh, things are changing, things are
• 6:39
  changing. Now are we going to cope?
• 6:40
  Are we going to cope? No, things are not changing.
• 6:43
  Things are still the same. The contextual applications
• 6:47
  might be changing, but the principle is still the same.
• 6:49
  If you take the old principle and try to apply to how you run
• 6:52
  Business Today, you'll be fine. It's the same thing with AI.
• 6:55
  Oh, AI. Things are changing.
• 6:56
  Things are changing. Things are changing.
• 6:58
  Well, yeah, maybe. But for the purposes of business
• 7:03
  and serving our customers, the principle will remain the same.
• 7:07
  AI will mean that we have to apply things contextually in a
• 7:12
  different way. But the overriding principles
• 7:14
  are always going to be the same. And that's the reason why on
• 7:16
  this podcast I keep advocating for system, system LED thinking,
• 7:22
  frameworks, principles, those sorts of things.
• 7:24
  Because that is what is going to be your guide.
• 7:26
  If you're always thinking about tactics, then you're going to be
• 7:29
  jumping from one thing to another.
• 7:30
  So if it's Postal Service and you're thinking tactics, you'll
• 7:33
  be jumping from one thing to another.
• 7:34
  Then when the analogue telephone is ring is invented, then you
• 7:38
  you have to now start looking for a new tactic.
• 7:40
  And then the fax machine is here over a new tactic and then the
• 7:43
  era of social media or a new tactic and then the inventor.
• 7:48
  What's it called? Not alternate reality.
• 7:50
  What's it called? You know this immersive
• 7:52
  technology where you put on the VR headset and you log into the
• 7:55
  metaverse and you just go into constant, you just be changing
• 7:58
  tactics, tactics, tactics, tactics and giving yourself a
• 8:00
  headache. Just figure out the principles
• 8:02
  that are good for all time and then try and apply it regardless
• 8:05
  of whatever the changes are in society or in technology.
• 8:09
  So that is my big caveat regarding those sorts of
• 8:13
  questions for those of you who have those kinds of anxieties.
• 8:16
  Now the key trends to watch out for and adopt when it comes to,
• 8:23
  you know, all these changes and things we need to watch out for
• 8:25
  is the rise of the informed buyer.
• 8:28
  And that's because now buyers have access to more information
• 8:31
  than ever. So in the past, let's say you
• 8:34
  sold mobile phones. Yeah, let's go back to the good
• 8:36
  old days when mobile phones are just getting into the country in
• 8:39
  Nigeria. That was during OBJ Obas and
• 8:41
  just time. So back then I was in yeah, I
• 8:45
  was in uni. I was in uni back then during
• 8:47
  Objs time, so mobile phones are coming in.
• 8:51
  You want to buy a mobile phone? We didn't have access to
• 8:54
  information. It was all brand new.
• 8:56
  But now there's access to information on their websites.
• 8:59
  People can go online and check which one is 5G, which one is
• 9:03
  4G, which one is 7 inch screen? Which one is 8 inch screen?
• 9:06
  Which one is Fold? Which one is this?
• 9:08
  Which one is that? Which one has this applications?
• 9:11
  Which one is Android Go? Which one is Android Premium?
• 9:14
  Which one is Android this Which one is Samsung that you know,
• 9:19
  there's all you know, all that information is readily available
• 9:21
  now. So that is something that
• 9:23
  impacts the way that we sell because in the past, during OB
• 9:27
  JS time when it came to mobile phones, if your job was selling
• 9:30
  mobile phones, you had to do a lot of providing information.
• 9:33
  So oh, Madam, this is Samsung blue face.
• 9:36
  The difference between Samsung blue face and Nokia 3310 is
• 9:39
  blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 9:41
  You have that conversation, you get Madam to buy the blue face.
• 9:45
  So, but now it's different. Now we have to go beyond
• 9:50
  providing information. We have to provide insights and
• 9:52
  not just give product pitches. So it's now it's now it goes
• 9:57
  beyond just, oh, Madam, this is blue face.
• 10:01
  This is 3310. The difference in specs is
• 10:06
  Internet Protocol this and that that, that.
• 10:08
  But you actually have a need to have a conversation with Madam
• 10:11
  to figure out what she wants, what she needs.
• 10:13
  Is there a problem she's trying to solve with the mobile phone
• 10:15
  purchase? Try and source out.
• 10:17
  Is she buying this thing for status or is she a much more of
• 10:21
  a functional user? And then you provide insights
• 10:24
  along the way to move the sale along.
• 10:27
  So that's how we cope. Buyers are becoming much more
• 10:29
  informed. So trying to dazzle people with
• 10:31
  information now, it's not going to work anymore.
• 10:35
  So we have to be able to provide valuable insights about how we
• 10:38
  sell. And that's the reason why on the
• 10:39
  podcast, I advocate the approach that I do around qualification
• 10:43
  and discovery, asking questions about the person, asking
• 10:45
  questions about their vision, the problem that they're trying
• 10:47
  to solve, know who they are, know where they're trying to
• 10:50
  head to. You'll be able to provide
• 10:52
  insights and guide them along to the right purchase.
• 10:56
  So yeah, that's it. If you don't adopt this
• 11:00
  approach, you're just going to be making product pitches in the
• 11:02
  dark. And then that doesn't help.
• 11:04
  Then another rising trend, the power, personalization, this
• 11:07
  whole thing of one-size-fits-all.
• 11:09
  You know, that is dead. Of course, everybody talks about
• 11:12
  Henry Ford because, you know, in the beginning it was famous that
• 11:15
  all his cars were going to come in one colour, you know, which
• 11:17
  was black. So one side fits all.
• 11:20
  It's dead. Cars now come in different
• 11:22
  colours. I mean, I've seen, I've seen
• 11:25
  puke green. That's what my wife calls it.
• 11:27
  And I'm wondering like puke green.
• 11:29
  Like I've never seen puke that has green in it.
• 11:31
  So there's puke green, there's Chingon pink or Chingon pink, as
• 11:37
  my wife would say. Let's see what else.
• 11:39
  I mean, like I've seen all kinds of colours, even some
• 11:42
  fluorescent looking kinds of things.
• 11:45
  So things are personalized to different tastes.
• 11:49
  And now let's look at toothpaste.
• 11:50
  So back in my day, there was only one kind of toothpaste.
• 11:53
  Well, not only one kind, but like there was close up, there
• 11:58
  was Mcleans and there was what else close up Mcleans.
• 12:03
  I can't remember another, the third one, but there was only
• 12:07
  one kind of toothpaste. So the kind of toothpaste my
• 12:09
  father used was the same kind of toothpaste that I used.
• 12:12
  So everybody used the same kind of toothpaste.
• 12:14
  But now things are different. There's close up for adults,
• 12:18
  there's close up for babies, there's close up for smokers.
• 12:23
  So there's not one-size-fits-all anymore.
• 12:25
  Things have to now be personalized.
• 12:27
  So it's toothpaste, yes, but the toothpaste should be
• 12:29
  personalized for adults, should be personalized for baby, should
• 12:33
  be personalized for smokers. Let's see, OK, There's even
• 12:38
  close up for sensitive teeth. So you can see that there's some
• 12:40
  form of personalization or customization or whatever going
• 12:43
  on. So in delivering our products
• 12:45
  and our services, we need to look for ways of getting data.
• 12:50
  Data just means information basically.
• 12:52
  It doesn't necessarily have to mean numbers.
• 12:54
  So I have to look for numbers. So I'm sorry, information.
• 12:57
  So we can personalize how we talk to people, how we reach out
• 13:00
  to people, how we deliver content to them, our
• 13:02
  communication styles and then also to tailor the products and
• 13:05
  services to them in particular. So how to get this data is you
• 13:10
  should always be talking to your customers and asking them
• 13:12
  questions. So yes, that can be e-mail, can
• 13:15
  be SMS, it can be Instagram DMS, or it can be customer service or
• 13:19
  on site visits or whatever it is.
• 13:22
  But just take the frame of mind that you should always be
• 13:25
  engaged in conversation. So don't be emailing at people,
• 13:29
  Smsing at people or Instagramming DM me, sorry,
• 13:32
  Instagram DM ING at people. We should be trying to engage
• 13:36
  them in a conversation because you say A, they say B, and you
• 13:40
  can read into in B lines and figure out C.
• 13:43
  And then you seek for feedback and you find out that in fact,
• 13:45
  what they meant was D. And that helps to tailor your
• 13:49
  product and personalize your outreach.
• 13:52
  Then automation, yes, automation, AI, you know, people
• 13:57
  get nervous, things are changing, things are changing.
• 14:01
  Embrace automation. Yes, it will help you to
• 14:03
  streamline repetitive tasks because repetitive tasks, it
• 14:07
  takes up a lot of time and that leaves you to do the high value
• 14:11
  stuff. However, automation doesn't have
• 14:15
  to be high tech because there's one kind of automation ish in a
• 14:20
  sense that's available to all of us, which is copy and paste plus
• 14:23
  editing. That saves a lot of time.
• 14:25
  In fact, I prefer copy and paste plus edit rather than trusting
• 14:31
  that the automatic script that comes in your WhatsApp messages
• 14:33
  or your Instagram DM is going to solve the whole situation.
• 14:37
  So that's why I keep advocating over here that, you know, take
• 14:40
  your computer, hook up your WhatsApp account, your Instagram
• 14:45
  accounts, you know, so you can type on the keyboard, you can
• 14:47
  copy paste edit, you know, move quickly or for those of you who
• 14:51
  like to work from so excuse me from mobile phones like I do,
• 14:55
  then get an external keyboard. So copy, paste, edit will save
• 14:59
  you a whole lot of time. We need to do all of this first
• 15:03
  before we can come up with all these automatic scripts that
• 15:07
  will cater to all kinds of situations.
• 15:10
  Because if you're using automation so that you don't
• 15:12
  have to talk to customers personally, I'll tell you like
• 15:15
  you're really failing. You're creating attrition and
• 15:18
  you're creating friction in the process.
• 15:20
  Let me give you an example. Recently, I was trying to pick
• 15:23
  up delivery from my wife. My wife is a fish person.
• 15:25
  Me, I don't eat fish. I don't like fish at all.
• 15:28
  You've been listening to the show for a very long time.
• 15:29
  You know, I'm not a fish person, but my wife is a fish person.
• 15:33
  And excuse me, I just got paid recently for something and I
• 15:37
  figured, oh, it's a big deal. She hasn't had fish in a while.
• 15:40
  She saw some of the stuff from her vendor.
• 15:43
  They were advertising it. It looked like the prices were
• 15:46
  good. And I was like, no problem, just
• 15:47
  place the order. She said she was like, but when
• 15:51
  it comes to delivery cost, the delivery costs are high and
• 15:55
  blah, blah, blah. And I will.
• 15:56
  And I had a meeting with the customer, I think about three or
• 16:01
  four hours earlier and the place was not fire away.
• 16:03
  I was like, hey, these places are just 15 minutes apart, Just
• 16:06
  place the order. I'll go for my meeting when I'm
• 16:09
  done, I'll pass through the woman's place and then I'll pick
• 16:11
  it up. So no problem, we'll place the
• 16:13
  order then. I tried using the pin that the
• 16:18
  person had on the the mapping on their Instagram page and it led
• 16:24
  me to the wrong address. I tried calling this Madam,
• 16:27
  Madam is not answering. Calling the other numbers there,
• 16:30
  the person is not answering. Sending messages on WhatsApp.
• 16:34
  All I was getting on WhatsApp was all those response messages
• 16:38
  and then on social media automated response messages, you
• 16:41
  know, the usual bland bot messages that they get.
• 16:44
  Welcome, your business is important to us.
• 16:46
  How can we help you? Select from the responses below,
• 16:50
  press one for this. But you know all those stupid
• 16:53
  stuff. But in this situation, there is
• 16:56
  no option for I can't find your office.
• 16:59
  That thing was not in the menu option.
• 17:02
  So you can see that this was a lot of attrition and friction in
• 17:09
  the process. Luckily for this woman, and This
• 17:11
  is why I talk about the beauty of being a monopoly because of
• 17:14
  the kind of things she deals in, in Abuja.
• 17:18
  So I just in Abuja, really she's the only one.
• 17:20
  That's why she's famous. So me trying to pick up the
• 17:24
  order, taking me close to an hour, 30 minutes because I can't
• 17:27
  find their place. I have to wait for somebody to
• 17:29
  call me back. We've already paid.
• 17:31
  This is something that people will put up with.
• 17:33
  But imagine what happens if next year there's a competitor who is
• 17:37
  able to match these women's prices and who is able to get
• 17:40
  all the fancy stuff she can get. That is fish plus crab plus
• 17:44
  octopus plus shark fin plus this plus that.
• 17:47
  Imagine if there are two or three of them and this is how
• 17:49
  you're treating your customers. I mean, trust Nigerian,
• 17:52
  Nigerians. Now, of course, people will just
• 17:53
  switch on. Like we can't put up with this
• 17:54
  bullshit after all. Let me try this woman and then
• 17:57
  you try somebody else. But for now, we worked for her.
• 18:00
  She's the only person. So she'll be fine until
• 18:02
  competition comes in, and then she'll have to adopt her
• 18:05
  approach. So this is what I mean by if
• 18:07
  you're trying to use automation because you don't want to talk
• 18:09
  to people, you're creating all kinds of friction in the
• 18:11
  process. All kinds.
• 18:13
  So let somebody be available to pick up the phone, direct the
• 18:19
  inquiry accordingly. Let's see what else.
• 18:24
  This is where copy and paste comes in handy.
• 18:26
  Eventually I spoke to someone and looks like this is a problem
• 18:28
  that they've been having before. So let's only pick up the phone
• 18:31
  sharply and and say oh OK, sorry, this is the problem.
• 18:34
  Sorry, I will send you the right address.
• 18:36
  Right now you drop the phone and all you do is control, copy,
• 18:39
  control paste, plop and then you send.
• 18:41
  It's that easy. Shop, shop.
• 18:44
  So let's stop using automation because we don't want to talk to
• 18:47
  people. Automation is meant to help us
• 18:51
  and our staff. It is not meant to remove us and
• 18:54
  our staff from the conversation all together.
• 18:56
  Then another trend. People are looking at the video,
• 18:59
  the video advantage. Video content is king.
• 19:02
  Yes, you can use video for testimonials, product demos,
• 19:05
  social proof, all kinds of things.
• 19:08
  Also, videos seem to have high engagement time, and that's good
• 19:11
  for the algorithms on social media.
• 19:12
  And that is something that I've learned from working with a
• 19:16
  client right now because they do lots of video content.
• 19:18
  And I was curious, like video, of course, video takes time.
• 19:21
  So it's like my video and I listen to them and I've seen the
• 19:24
  results like OK, yeah, video does have high engagement time
• 19:28
  and it's good for the algorithm. But for video, does that mean
• 19:31
  that we have to everything has to be high production value, You
• 19:34
  know, top of the line camera, top of the line lighting,
• 19:37
  microphone, blah, blah, blah. That's the whole topic for
• 19:39
  another day. But let me give you guys a clue.
• 19:42
  All my responses, my responses be that it's contextual.
• 19:45
  It depends. But the high end stuff might not
• 19:48
  be required all the time. There are situations where
• 19:51
  mobile phone will be fine. Like it's no secret that I do my
• 19:54
  recording on my phone all the time and I can recall from
• 19:59
  anywhere, which is the reason why we keep getting all those
• 20:02
  interruptions, you know, people walking by and gossiping or
• 20:06
  maybe cows in the background because, you know, Abuja is not
• 20:08
  becoming cow central and every day you go out to see cows
• 20:11
  crossing the road and stuff like that.
• 20:13
  So yeah, it's contextual. You don't need to have high end
• 20:15
  production all the time so long as your message is on point.
• 20:20
  Let's see. OK.
• 20:21
  Well, there's so many things you can keep going on and on, but
• 20:24
  let me just jump to this one real quick because we're at 20
• 20:27
  minutes customer experience. So yeah, like I've been hinting
• 20:32
  from the beginning of the podcast and now customer
• 20:34
  experience now reigns supreme. So sales is no longer just about
• 20:38
  closing deals. We have to prioritize long term
• 20:40
  relationships and to exceed our customer expectations.
• 20:45
  If you're a monopoly like this fish woman in Abuja, nobody else
• 20:49
  does what you do at the prices that you do.
• 20:51
  Then to help customer experience, people don't have a
• 20:53
  choice. If they want to get fresh
• 20:55
  octopus, they have to call you because there's no other person
• 20:57
  in Abuja who delivers fresh octopus.
• 21:00
  But then if there are three, four other people who deliver
• 21:03
  fresh octopus in Abuja, then you're in trouble.
• 21:06
  Now customer service becomes very important because that's
• 21:09
  going to be the distinguishing factor because after all you
• 21:12
  have fresh octopus. Woman A, woman B has fresh
• 21:15
  octopus, woman C has fresh octopus.
• 21:18
  The prices are not going to be different, not that much anyway.
• 21:21
  So I don't eat octopus. So for those who like octopus,
• 21:23
  this is just me guessing. So, so let's say octopus is is
• 21:30
  one first woman sell they had 1007 per kilo.
• 21:33
  The other woman sells it at 18 per kilo.
• 21:36
  Another parent sells IT165 per kilo.
• 21:38
  The difference is not much. There is not much really.
• 21:44
  So other things like delivery time, how polite are you guys?
• 21:48
  The packaging of the octopus, does it come neat or when it
• 21:51
  comes, does it have octopus blood dripping from the nylon?
• 21:54
  You know, all these sorts of things become important.
• 21:55
  So customer experience becomes really, really important.
• 22:01
  By the way, those are you people that like to eat octopus.
• 22:03
  What do you see in octopus? Just curious Anyway, Yeah, so
• 22:08
  customer experience really important because repeat
• 22:12
  business referrals, that's the secret sauce to growing your
• 22:14
  business. If you want people to keep
• 22:16
  buying your octopus and your calamari and all those fancy
• 22:20
  seafood stuff, you get the profit when people come back
• 22:24
  month after month, week after week.
• 22:26
  So somebody buys octopus from you in January, in February they
• 22:30
  buy calamari, and then in March they buy shark fin and, you
• 22:34
  know, on and on and on and on and on.
• 22:36
  And by the way, for those of you who think I'm just making stuff
• 22:38
  up, you know, no, I'm not. My wife is a fish person and
• 22:41
  trust me, there are people in Abuja who eat this kind of
• 22:43
  stuff. So I know for sure that there
• 22:45
  are definitely people in Lagos and Port Harcourt who eat this
• 22:48
  kind of stuff. So yeah, repeat business
• 22:51
  referrals. That's how your business is
• 22:53
  going to grow. You'll make sales and marketing
• 22:55
  a whole lot easier. You'll make your business to
• 22:57
  live longer, but you're not going to know your customers
• 22:59
  expectations. So you're not going to exceed
• 23:01
  your customers expectations unless you know what the
• 23:03
  expectations are in the 1st place.
• 23:05
  That's why I keep saying you should always be talking to your
• 23:08
  customers. I hope you guys can see the
• 23:09
  thread running through about how we should always be talking to
• 23:12
  our customers. If you can't see the thread,
• 23:14
  Noahana, connect with me. Let's have a chat.
• 23:17
  And don't fear, no matter what comes in the future or the
• 23:23
  changes, so long as you stay informed and you adapt your
• 23:27
  approach to these emerging trends, you'll be fine.
• 23:29
  You can future proof your business.
• 23:30
  Just remember, keep to the principles and you'll be able to
• 23:33
  adapt and you'll be fine. But in case you haven't noticed,
• 23:36
  these trends are not just trends for today in 2024 as at the date
• 23:40
  of this recording. Because the time will come in
• 23:43
  2036 or 2052 or whatever and the trend will still be the same #1
• 23:50
  customers will always keep getting better educated.
• 23:53
  So this whole thing of customers are now better educated is not a
• 23:55
  new thing. In 1980, customers were getting
• 23:58
  better educated. In 2020, customer getting better
• 24:02
  educated. In 3054, customers will also be
• 24:05
  getting better educated. Then customers always want more
• 24:08
  personalization and more customization.
• 24:10
  It's not new. This is not a modern thing.
• 24:13
  In 1976, customers wanted personalization and
• 24:17
  customization. It's just that you know the
• 24:20
  flavours, the palettes, the things you could customize.
• 24:23
  The options are not much today. In 2024, it's much.
• 24:27
  In 3026, there will be more, but customers will always want more
• 24:31
  personalization and more customization.
• 24:34
  That's because people get more sophisticated, they get more
• 24:37
  money. There's more purchasing power.
• 24:39
  That's what drives it. Then customer experience will
• 24:43
  always matter. It has always mattered.
• 24:45
  Back in the days when our parents were growing up in the
• 24:47
  villa and there was only one butcher.
• 24:49
  Yes, when you're the only butcher in town, no problem.
• 24:51
  You can treat your people anyhow.
• 24:52
  You can't even sell rotten meat. People don't have a choice.
• 24:55
  They want meat. They will come to you
• 24:57
  eventually. The second butcher shows up in
• 25:00
  town, that evil guy shows up and he opens another butcher shop.
• 25:04
  Now customer service becomes important because there is
• 25:08
  competition. Competition always eventually
• 25:10
  opens up shop. And because of that, customer
• 25:13
  service is important. We're looking for different ways
• 25:14
  to distinguish our business and that has always happened in
• 25:18
  human experience, whether we're talking about 1900 or 1976 or
• 25:23
  2010 or 3052. So all these people running
• 25:28
  around saying that these are the new new found trends of the day
• 25:33
  or fads of the day. And in a sense they're correct.
• 25:35
  But to be honest, it's just the way things have always been.
• 25:38
  Customers are always getting educated.
• 25:40
  They will always want personalization and
• 25:42
  customization. They will always want customer
• 25:44
  experience. It will always be there.
• 25:46
  So it's nothing new. So that's all for today, folks.
• 25:49
  Please connect with me on WhatsApp.
• 25:50
  The phone number is 08064662140. The country code is +234.
• 25:56
  For those of you who are not Nigerian, also connect with me
• 25:59
  on LinkedIn. My name is Tavishima Aydi, I'm
• 26:01
  the host of the show, and you can confirm the spelling of my
• 26:03
  name and e-mail address from the link.
• 26:05
  We're currently listening to this episode.
• 26:07
  Thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 26:09
  I'll catch you guys at the next episode.