Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Sales & Product-Market Fit: The Secrets to Business Success (You Can't Afford to Ignore!)

Transcript

Sales & Product-Market Fit: The Secrets to Business Success (You Can't Afford to Ignore!) · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Today's episode is going to be a
• 0:04
  noisy 1 because I am out and about.
• 0:07
  And today I'm going to take a detour because we're supposed to
• 0:11
  be talking about the Nigerian lady who wants to start a
• 0:16
  practice legal consultancy, practice as a securities
• 0:21
  compliance consultancy. But we're going to take a break
• 0:25
  from that today because the radio show, my radio show went
• 0:29
  live yesterday. So I figured, let me just come
• 0:31
  up here and then share with you some of this stuff that I
• 0:34
  discussed with the radio audience yesterday.
• 0:38
  Yeah. So that's what we're going to
• 0:39
  tackle today. I have some of my notes from
• 0:41
  yesterday, and we'll just go over it real quick.
• 0:45
  But OK, Well, my first experience as a broadcaster, it
• 0:50
  was was really interesting, really, really interesting, I
• 0:53
  must say. You know, podcasting and being
• 0:55
  on the radio entirely two different things.
• 0:57
  You know, I have much more leeway here, you know, for
• 1:00
  humour, for, you know, time management, things like that.
• 1:03
  Because on the radio, you know, things have to be really, really
• 1:05
  chop, chop, chop, you know, quick go to music break, quick
• 1:08
  go to music break and some viewer calls and then another
• 1:14
  call bumps in. So it wasn't quite like, it
• 1:19
  wasn't quite like, you know, live speaking live, because when
• 1:24
  you speak live, you actually get to finish one question before
• 1:26
  somebody else raises their hand, you know, but then on on radio
• 1:30
  yesterday was kind of chop, chop, chop, you know, questions
• 1:33
  coming in. So it was an was an interesting
• 1:36
  experience. My radio producer said I did a
• 1:38
  fantastic job and the few people who I spoke to afterwards after
• 1:43
  the show aired were also I'm happy with my response.
• 1:46
  So it looks like that experiment is going quite well.
• 1:49
  So after a few months, I'll let you guys know the results of my
• 1:53
  experiment. You know, whether we can use
• 1:55
  radio for business development purposes and the best way to do
• 1:58
  it because you know, apart from putting out all the goodness out
• 2:02
  there, this actually is that experiment to see if I can use
• 2:05
  radio for business development. So let's see.
• 2:10
  So the things that we discussed on the show, well, first of all,
• 2:15
  I introduced the show to people there.
• 2:17
  How did I put it again? OK, Well, the focus of the show,
• 2:23
  as I explained it to my radio audience yesterday, was to reach
• 2:26
  out to people who have SM ES, excuse me, small and medium
• 2:30
  scale enterprises, nano and micro businesses, self-employed
• 2:33
  people, business owners and then career individuals who are
• 2:36
  looking to build a side hustle. And I'm glad I added that one
• 2:39
  because one of the people who called actually is an employee
• 2:43
  currently in the real estate marketing firm.
• 2:45
  But of course the guy wants to start his own thing some
• 2:48
  someplace else. So I'm glad that I put that
• 2:50
  there so that people like that could call then.
• 2:54
  Oh yeah, Before I forget, one thing that's really, really I
• 2:58
  found really, really interesting is that when you cough on air,
• 3:02
  it sounds really loud. So now I know for sure that,
• 3:07
  yeah, because I'm, I'm over here making the podcast.
• 3:09
  I'm really complacent. You know, I clear my throat, you
• 3:11
  know, things like that. When you do that on radio, man,
• 3:14
  it sounds really loud, you know, And I know that because I had
• 3:16
  the, the, what do you call those things?
• 3:19
  Headphones in. So I could hear what was going
• 3:21
  on really live over the air. So now I know that I need to
• 3:24
  take my voice routine very seriously.
• 3:26
  You know, I need to find a coach, a voice coach.
• 3:30
  I also need to do all the fancy stuff that people do to them,
• 3:33
  take care of their voice, you know, whether it's a drink or
• 3:35
  crow or take hot water and melon and, you know, all that stuff.
• 3:39
  So that when next time I'm on the radio, I can sound silky
• 3:42
  smooth like all those professionals and I don't have
• 3:44
  to, you know, cough and hack and things like that.
• 3:48
  So, yeah, that was, that was a really interesting experience.
• 3:50
  But it's been fun. It's been fun so far.
• 3:54
  Episode 1 real good then let's see what else then.
• 4:00
  I now try to explore the central question that most Nigerians
• 4:04
  believe about business failure because in this part of the
• 4:07
  world, if your business fails, people just say lack of capital
• 4:11
  or they say unfavourable economic conditions.
• 4:14
  In other words, my business didn't succeed because I didn't
• 4:17
  have enough capital or my business didn't succeed because
• 4:20
  of something that Tinbu has done.
• 4:21
  Tinbu has messed up the economy. Oh, yeah.
• 4:23
  That's also another thing on radio, You know, over here on
• 4:26
  the podcast, yeah, I can speak my opinions freely.
• 4:29
  But then you go on radio, and you need to be much more
• 4:32
  measured and you need to be much more objective.
• 4:35
  So I made a comment about how lots of people think that their
• 4:38
  businesses are suffering because of things that Tinibo have done.
• 4:41
  And then I received comments, you know, warning me that I
• 4:44
  should not be partisan. So I had to.
• 4:47
  After we came back from the music break, I had to let people
• 4:49
  know that. Look, it relax.
• 4:51
  You know when I said your business is not suffering
• 4:54
  because of something that Tinamou did and that I was not
• 4:58
  trying to be partisan and I was not trying to wait until that
• 5:00
  whole thing of APC versus PDP. I was just trying to say that
• 5:03
  whether the economy is good and whether the government is good,
• 5:07
  there are people who are successful in business and when
• 5:10
  the economy is bad and the government is bad, there are
• 5:12
  people who still are successful in business.
• 5:14
  So the prerogative for those of us who want to build successful
• 5:19
  businesses, we should try and figure out the principles, the
• 5:22
  frameworks, the whatever it is that we need to do so that we
• 5:25
  can do those things. And our businesses are going to
• 5:27
  be good regardless of whether things go up or go down.
• 5:31
  So let's look at the big three billionaires right now.
• 5:35
  OK, well, I don't know that the three current big three because
• 5:38
  you know, Nigeria will have a couple of billionaires We have
• 5:41
  or two deco of Honeywell. Then there's a dinner gap of
• 5:45
  Globe. Then there's what's his name, my
• 5:48
  Uncle Tony. Tony.
• 5:50
  Tony, Tony, Tony, What's his name now?
• 5:53
  Tony something Shah of which bank?
• 5:56
  I can't remember, but he he owns music Horizons of Horizons.
• 5:59
  You know, those are the people who own transport Hilton Hotel.
• 6:03
  Tony, what's his name? I know you guys know who I'm
• 6:05
  talking about. There's Uncle Tony.
• 6:07
  Then who else? There's Dangote.
• 6:08
  So so let's just say the big four.
• 6:12
  Well, of course, I'm sure Nigeria has much more
• 6:14
  billionaires apart from O2 Deco of Honeywell, identical of glue.
• 6:20
  What's the name Dangote of Dangote Industries And then
• 6:24
  Tonio Lumelu. Yes.
• 6:25
  And then Tonio Lumelu of, of which bank is Tonio Lumelu is
• 6:31
  the first banker and he's the bank that has red anyway and he
• 6:34
  owns Hilton Hotel. So now if you look at those
• 6:38
  individuals in particular, you will get a, you will get the
• 6:41
  gist of what it is that I'm trying to say because I don't
• 6:42
  want to call any names. There are some people whose
• 6:45
  businesses have steadily been, I mean, amongst these billionaires
• 6:49
  I've called, you will say that there's at least one of them.
• 6:51
  It looks as if his business has been going down, down, down,
• 6:53
  down, down since the days of Babangida up till now.
• 6:56
  It looks like the person's fortunes have been going down.
• 6:58
  There's also another person on this list.
• 7:00
  It looks as if his business has been growing, you know, up and
• 7:03
  down. It has moments and, you know,
• 7:05
  moments where it goes up, moments where it goes down.
• 7:07
  And then there's also another individual in this group who it
• 7:10
  looks as if his business has been steadily on the incline,
• 7:13
  you know, going up since the days of Barangita up until now.
• 7:17
  So I'm not going to call any names.
• 7:19
  I'll just leave you guys to make that judgement for yourself.
• 7:22
  So the point that I was trying to makeover on the show is that
• 7:24
  if you look at these individuals, you'll see that you
• 7:26
  know, government come government go, military in power, civilian
• 7:30
  in power, Hausa man in power, Yoruba man in power, Niger Delta
• 7:35
  man in power. So it didn't matter, you know
• 7:37
  whose government, there's somebody whose business has been
• 7:40
  going down and it has been going down since Bawangita zone.
• 7:42
  He still have been on it anyway. But the person has been going
• 7:45
  down and it has been going down irrespective of whether PDP and
• 7:48
  APC have been in power, irrespective of whether a
• 7:51
  northerner has been in power or a southerner or good luck.
• 7:54
  Jonathan has been in power and there's one individual there
• 7:57
  whose business has been on the incline going up since the days
• 8:00
  of IBB and his business has been going up regardless of whether a
• 8:04
  military man was in power or a civilian was in power, a Yoruba
• 8:06
  man was in power or a house and man was in power.
• 8:09
  And then for the people whose businesses have been up and down
• 8:11
  regardless, I mean, I think you get my point.
• 8:14
  And sometimes the reason why your business is going up or
• 8:17
  going down has very little to do with whichever government is in
• 8:20
  power. Also, if you want to make the
• 8:23
  excuse that unfavourable economic conditions is the
• 8:25
  reason why your business is suffering, then I mean, look,
• 8:29
  let's be a big boy about it or be a big girl about it.
• 8:32
  And so if teen boy has done something and it's messed up the
• 8:35
  whole economy, you think it's only you that is affecting?
• 8:37
  It's affecting everybody now, it's affecting me is affecting
• 8:41
  you, is affecting Popsy and Mumsy is affecting every single
• 8:44
  business person. So it's not as if Tin would do
• 8:47
  something and then the thing uniquely picked out you to now
• 8:52
  distress your own business or stress you out.
• 8:55
  It affects everybody. So just, you know, shut the
• 8:58
  effort and try and get your business on the road.
• 9:02
  Oh, by the way, another experience with radio
• 9:05
  broadcasting and I realize that I have to watch my tongue.
• 9:09
  I can't make the jokes that usually crack over here on the
• 9:13
  podcast. I can't use the language that I
• 9:16
  use over here on the podcast. So I had to do a lot of self
• 9:18
  censorship. So that was going to be thinking
• 9:20
  perhaps I even need to change the style of the podcast so that
• 9:24
  I don't have to do this mental thing, this context switching,
• 9:27
  like, OK, am I on the podcast? Am I on, I'm out live on air,
• 9:31
  you know, just keep it consistent.
• 9:34
  Bernie. Yes.
• 9:34
  So that was the second thing that I spoke about.
• 9:36
  And for those of you who have a plan on being on radio, just
• 9:39
  realize that these are some of the niceties.
• 9:40
  You can't go out there and crack all the jokes you want to crack
• 9:43
  and say all the things that you want to say.
• 9:46
  And you have to try to be much more objective and nuanced when
• 9:49
  you speak. So that was the first thing that
• 9:51
  I looked at with the radio audience, that look, lack of
• 9:54
  capital is not killing your business and unfavourable
• 9:56
  economic conditions are not killing your business.
• 9:58
  So let's get rid of those excuses.
• 10:01
  Now. Another reason why I want us to
• 10:02
  get rid of all those excuses is because we need to look at
• 10:05
  things that are family within our control.
• 10:08
  If we keep looking at in favourable economic conditions,
• 10:10
  we have no control over that. Because even if you think Peter
• 10:13
  OB or whoever or Madame Due Process, what's her name?
• 10:19
  She didn't run again this time Madame Due Process, what's her
• 10:22
  name? Obi Ezequeserly.
• 10:23
  And so whether you think Obi Ezequeserly or Peter OB is when
• 10:28
  you turn this country around, there's nothing that you can do
• 10:32
  personally to make sure that happens.
• 10:33
  The best you can do is to go and cast your vote and pray that OBS
• 10:36
  sequentially runs again. But it's something that is
• 10:40
  beyond your control. So I think we should always look
• 10:42
  at things that are within our control to move our business
• 10:46
  forward. So now for my radio audience, I
• 10:48
  just want to look at the real corporate and the things that we
• 10:50
  should be paying attention to actually is lack of sales skills
• 10:53
  and the lack of product market fit.
• 10:56
  Those are the reasons why businesses are suffering
• 10:59
  nowadays. You don't know how to sell
• 11:01
  period or you didn't achieve the product market fit before you
• 11:07
  started. Then let's see what else?
• 11:11
  What else? OK, before I went into defining
• 11:13
  that, I, you know, took a music break and then I also told
• 11:15
  people where they could stream the show.
• 11:17
  So I'm going to share that with you guys in case you are living
• 11:21
  somewhere. Maybe you're a Nigerian in
• 11:22
  diaspora, maybe you're a Nigerian, you live in Canada or
• 11:25
  you live in China and you're wondering, oh, how can I catch
• 11:27
  this young man's radio show? So all you have to do is just to
• 11:31
  check the Radio Maria Play app, it's on Google Play Store, also
• 11:35
  Apple iTunes store. So you check the Radio Maria
• 11:38
  Play and then you'll be able to tune in at Tuesdays, 7:00 PM to
• 11:43
  8:00 PM. By the way, when we say 7:00 PM
• 11:46
  to 8:00 PM, for those of you international audience, we're
• 11:48
  talking Nigerian time because there's one listener in the UK
• 11:52
  who tried listening and we spoke afterwards, but the person got
• 11:56
  that whole day times. Sorry, is it daytime day times
• 11:59
  saving thing mixed up? So when the guy wanted to tune
• 12:03
  in at 7:00 PM to listen to the show, they actually tried tuning
• 12:07
  in at 7:00 PM UK time. And 7:00 PM UK time currently is
• 12:11
  Niger, 8:00 PM. So the person just got the last
• 12:14
  few minutes of the show. So just bear that in mind.
• 12:16
  If you're in China, it's not 7:00 PM Chinese time, it's 7:00
• 12:19
  PM Niger time. So look at your clock and set
• 12:23
  the what's it called, world clock, whatever on your phone so
• 12:29
  you can figure out what time it is in Nigeria.
• 12:32
  Then you can also stream the show live on radio.
• 12:34
  Maria dot Ng. So for those of you who are
• 12:38
  outside the country, you want to hear what your voice sounds like
• 12:40
  on the radio. Then that's it.
• 12:41
  That's how you can hit me up. Then I think after that, sorry
• 12:46
  one moment, let me look up my notes.
• 12:48
  Also, that's another thing, being on radio, you need to have
• 12:50
  a nice well prepared script. You can't just go and be
• 12:54
  freestyling. So had a proper script for the
• 12:56
  radio show. In fact, you guys would have
• 12:58
  been very proud of me because I showed up looking real
• 13:00
  professional with my script, everything all typed out,
• 13:03
  looking all good. So, you know, your boy tried.
• 13:06
  You guys would be proud. Where was I?
• 13:12
  Yeah. So now after that, I now try to
• 13:15
  define the key terms so that people understand what it is
• 13:20
  that we're talking about. Because over here on the
• 13:22
  podcast, especially those of you who've been following me for
• 13:23
  years, you know, we have over 1034 episodes now.
• 13:28
  You guys already know what some of these times mean.
• 13:31
  But then again, you know, since radio has much more, what is the
• 13:36
  word? You know, it's a much more
• 13:38
  broader demographic. It's not as if everybody who
• 13:41
  called into the show was going to be a, you know, self
• 13:45
  improvement junkie or a business bro or a mindfulness or, you
• 13:51
  know, things like that. People who just immediately get
• 13:54
  what it is I were talking about. So I had to try and speak to a
• 13:58
  much more, what's the word now? How will I put it?
• 14:03
  I had to try and speak in terms that are much more accessible.
• 14:05
  Let me put it that way. So that's why I was really
• 14:08
  important to define the terms because sales, yeah, everybody
• 14:11
  knows what sales means. Well, they think they know what
• 14:12
  it means. Then product market fit.
• 14:14
  Some people will be like product market.
• 14:16
  What? What is this guy talking about?
• 14:19
  So in defining sales, I basically just try to tell them
• 14:21
  that, look, in this part of the world, whenever we hear sales,
• 14:24
  we think toasting, we think sweet mouth, we think being
• 14:27
  gregarious and flowing with people.
• 14:29
  So if you flow with people, you have sweet mouths, you can say,
• 14:34
  you know, you can't talk freely, you're extroverted and people
• 14:37
  say, OK, you should be in sales. So what I tried to impress upon
• 14:40
  the radio audience was to tell them I look, that is not what
• 14:43
  sales is. That sales first and foremost.
• 14:45
  When you think about that, you think business conversation or
• 14:47
  business relationship. Now I had to stress that because
• 14:50
  in this part of the world, when you hear sweet mouth or when you
• 14:52
  hear toasting, it actually is you, the toaster who is doing
• 14:57
  most of the talking. And that is where people begin
• 15:00
  to fail. I repeat in this part of the
• 15:03
  world in Nigeria, when we hear sales and we think toasting, it
• 15:07
  is up to the toaster to do most of the talking.
• 15:10
  It is up to the sweet mouth to do most of the talking.
• 15:13
  And that is the reason why a lot of you are failing because
• 15:17
  you're heading into business situations and you're trying to
• 15:19
  toast your way or try to sweet talk your way into the sale and
• 15:23
  it does not work like that. This thing has to be a business
• 15:26
  conversation. It has to be A2 sided, A2 way
• 15:30
  relationship. I talk my own, you talk your
• 15:32
  own. That's how I should flow.
• 15:34
  It's not about a sweet mouth dominating the conversation or
• 15:38
  about a toaster trying to toast their way into your wallet.
• 15:41
  That's not how it works. Then I also tried to get the
• 15:45
  radio audience to realize that when we talk about sales, the
• 15:50
  talking that we're doing is not even about toasting somebody to
• 15:54
  buy straight up. It's about figuring out if
• 15:56
  somebody's even interested in the 1st place.
• 15:58
  Because one of the callers who called it, the real estate guy
• 16:00
  was one of his frustrations that you find somebody, the person
• 16:03
  has a correct car, person has correct suit, Boomer has a nice
• 16:06
  wig. She's looking all right.
• 16:08
  Be like, say, you know, they're really, really paid up.
• 16:11
  But then when you start trying to toast them to buy a property
• 16:16
  or something, they say, let me get back to you.
• 16:17
  They say they're not interested. Of course they will say they're
• 16:20
  not interested. Like, relax, you're coming on
• 16:22
  too strong. You're coming on too hard.
• 16:24
  The first point of call is to figure out if this person is
• 16:26
  even interested in the 1st place.
• 16:28
  And I said it now look, for instance, if I get some nice
• 16:33
  paper now, I would like to change my car eventually.
• 16:37
  But The thing is changing my car is not the biggest priority that
• 16:41
  I have right now. When money comes right now, I'm
• 16:45
  always thinking about things like, OK, well, fuel, fuel
• 16:48
  expenses have gone up for sure. So whatever money comes in, the
• 16:51
  first thing I do is I load up my phone.
• 16:53
  You know, I buy credit. I won't say how much credit I
• 16:56
  buy because some of you be like, ah, do you spend that much on
• 16:58
  credit? And yes, I do, because the more
• 17:01
  people that I talk to, the more money I make.
• 17:03
  So I need to make sure that my phone is always loaded so that I
• 17:07
  can be calling prospects back and, you know, try and work on
• 17:09
  one or two things. So that's the first thing I do.
• 17:13
  I load up my phone real heavy. Then I also set aside money for
• 17:17
  fuel. Real heavy.
• 17:19
  I need plenty and plenty of money for fuel.
• 17:21
  Because you know what? Does it profit you if there's a
• 17:24
  meeting or somebody calls you, but then you look at a fuel
• 17:27
  tank, maybe it's quarter tank or something, and then you check
• 17:29
  your wallet. You see that, OK, I only have
• 17:32
  100K in my account. If I now use 40K to buy fuel, it
• 17:36
  will only be 60. You know that dangerous dance
• 17:39
  like a whole lot of us do. Now you're now wondering what to
• 17:42
  do. So I will set aside money for
• 17:44
  fuel, then what else? Then I like to pay, make sure
• 17:49
  that we have money for school fees upfront.
• 17:52
  I don't like that whole thing of school fees is in January, then
• 17:55
  November, December. We're now beginning to sweat.
• 17:57
  So whenever money comes in, I like to just load up things.
• 18:00
  Then of course, put money aside to saving things like that.
• 18:03
  So with all these things on my mind, when money comes right
• 18:07
  now, buying a new car is not the the thing of my priority at all,
• 18:11
  even though it would be nice. So like I told them, if you just
• 18:14
  see me, you look at my car, you say, Olga Bros, it's your car is
• 18:17
  old, it's time to buy a new one. It doesn't necessarily mean I am
• 18:20
  in the market for cars. So you can't just size somebody
• 18:23
  up like this and say, OK, this guy should buy a new car.
• 18:26
  Maybe I should buy a new car. Maybe if you see my car, you'll
• 18:29
  let me know whether I think I should buy a new car or not.
• 18:32
  But The thing is I'm not there yet.
• 18:34
  So the first thing you do if you're selling cars when you get
• 18:37
  to me, after you do that whole sizing up thing is at some point
• 18:40
  you have to ask, have you have you thought about buying a new
• 18:43
  car? Have you thought about changing
• 18:45
  your car? Are you curious to find out what
• 18:47
  you could get for this car if you tried trading it in?
• 18:49
  You have to ask all these soft, soft, small, small questions to
• 18:52
  figure out if the person is interested in the 1st place.
• 18:54
  That is all. I'll let you know whether this
• 18:57
  person is cool, you know, let me follow the person.
• 19:00
  I'll be talking or man, there's no Rd. here.
• 19:03
  Let me just flash you this person.
• 19:04
  This door is closed. So the first point of call when
• 19:09
  we're having these sales conversations is figure out if
• 19:11
  the person is interested in the 1st place.
• 19:14
  If the person is closed, don't try and open the person, just
• 19:16
  leave him, leave her be going because that whole let me open
• 19:20
  up, let me educate, let me this man is hard work.
• 19:24
  Now when it comes to sales, we're trying to reduce the level
• 19:26
  of work that we are doing. I know it sounds
• 19:29
  counterintuitive, but actually when it comes to sales, we are
• 19:32
  trying to reduce the level of work that we are doing.
• 19:35
  So 1 moment a bunch of idiots just showed up.
• 19:38
  So let me wind up the windows so that we can have our own
• 19:44
  conversation in peace. Sorry about that.
• 19:48
  Some *** are just rude. As if some *** are just
• 19:51
  downright rude. You can see over here and I'm on
• 19:53
  the phone. As far as you know, I'm having a
• 19:55
  conversation with somebody. I could be quarreling with my
• 19:57
  wife. I can be trying to get a
• 19:59
  business deal going or something like that.
• 20:00
  You *** just come out and then just start talking.
• 20:02
  Anyhow, next to the car. Some people are just rude.
• 20:06
  Hey, what was I? So for sales now, hey,
• 20:16
  definition of sales. So that's the first thing.
• 20:17
  Figure out if the person is interested, if somebody is
• 20:20
  interested, that's how we know whether we're going to be able
• 20:22
  to make progress or not. Then the people are interested,
• 20:26
  the sales process involves trying to figure out what
• 20:27
  problems they have or the visions that they have in their
• 20:29
  business or their personal life. So let's say you ask that
• 20:32
  question like, hey Bros, you know, you're a big boy now, but
• 20:35
  if your car is looking old, you know, and then we laugh and say,
• 20:38
  look, forget that thing. And then you say, but seriously,
• 20:41
  bro, have you ever thought about it?
• 20:43
  If you think about the trading this your Toyota.
• 20:46
  So, so yeah, you might be able to get up to like that kind,
• 20:49
  maybe 100K if you do a trade off, if you say that kind of
• 20:53
  thing, somebody might be interested.
• 20:55
  So in that case, let's just say, maybe I say, are you serious for
• 20:57
  this car if I trade it in 800K saying yes, no.
• 21:01
  And then you see these bands over here, these bands is worth
• 21:04
  5 M. So if you're going to trade in
• 21:07
  instead of paying 5 M for these bands, what you pay is 4.2 for
• 21:11
  someone that might be enough to get the conversation going.
• 21:14
  So let's just say it now that now I'm interested because what
• 21:18
  the person has said that if I drop my car, they will move 800K
• 21:24
  or 900K on the next car. The next step is try and figure
• 21:27
  out the problems or the visions that the person has in their
• 21:29
  business or their personal life. So you start asking so oh this
• 21:32
  do it herself. You know, if you are considering
• 21:36
  to trade, trade it in. Why would you even trade it in
• 21:38
  yourself, especially since to let us have good mileage.
• 21:41
  Yeah, the Toyota has good mileage.
• 21:43
  But you know, I've been using this car for like 7 years.
• 21:46
  My wife is complaining. She says, you know, we need
• 21:48
  something new in our life that how can we just be stagnant, you
• 21:51
  know, that kind of thing, you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 21:53
  If you get the person talking and the person starts talking
• 21:56
  like this. Now obviously the person is
• 21:57
  talking in terms of the vision that they have for their life.
• 22:02
  It will now give you a sense of what kind of car you can
• 22:05
  recommend to them. You know to to fulfill that
• 22:11
  vision. So if his wife has been
• 22:13
  complaining, the attitude is tell me more.
• 22:16
  What is your wife saying or what kind of car does your wife has
• 22:19
  in mind or what does your wife mean when she says progress?
• 22:22
  Is progress Mercedes-Benz or BMW or is Mercedes-Benz just means
• 22:27
  or sorry, all those progress mean we're currently driving
• 22:30
  2009 version of Toyota, but progress means, you know, we
• 22:34
  should be using 2023 version or 2002 thousand 2025 version.
• 22:41
  You ask? This is how you know somebody's
• 22:44
  interested and this is how you now be able to know, OK, which
• 22:47
  kind of car am I recommending? Or it could be problem for
• 22:50
  instance, the person will be like, yeah, I would like to
• 22:53
  trade in this car because this Benz, this Mercedes-Benz is very
• 22:56
  sweet. But I won't like I'm spending
• 22:58
  like 120 K in fuel every single week and I can't keep living
• 23:02
  like this. How will a single guy like me,
• 23:06
  small boy like me be spending 200K every single week just
• 23:11
  buying fuel? I beg, let me downgrade, let me
• 23:13
  get something, let me get Toyota.
• 23:15
  In that case, person is coming from the problem angle.
• 23:17
  But then you also ask questions like 120K200K in fuel.
• 23:22
  How come now what do you do? I'll be where are you driving
• 23:24
  it? Do you drive to Makodi every
• 23:26
  week, blah, blah, blah questions.
• 23:29
  You figure out exactly what the problem, what the problem is,
• 23:33
  what the person's requirements are.
• 23:35
  And it's from there that you're going to be able to make a
• 23:37
  recommendation that, OK, yes, you're stepping down.
• 23:40
  But based on the level of driving that you've been doing,
• 23:42
  if you go and get Toyota Corolla, you will kill this
• 23:45
  Corolla cause Corolla is, is OK, but Corolla is not as strong as,
• 23:48
  you know, this G wagon that you're driving.
• 23:50
  So what you should do is as you're stepping down, don't step
• 23:53
  down to Corolla, step down to Toyota Helox to Helox is also
• 23:58
  fuel efficient. So you see, this is how the
• 24:01
  sales process works. You don't just show up and then
• 24:04
  start trying to sweep mouth somebody from the beginning,
• 24:07
  trying to toast somebody from the beginning.
• 24:10
  The sweet mouth and the toasting is good.
• 24:12
  If you have a sweet mouth is good.
• 24:14
  Continue learning the sweet mouth thing.
• 24:16
  If you're a good toaster, it's good.
• 24:17
  Continue to up your toasting game.
• 24:20
  But remember it's a business conversation and it's a
• 24:22
  relationship. So it's two way.
• 24:23
  I talk my own. You talk your own.
• 24:25
  But First off, softly figure out who is interested.
• 24:28
  If the person is interested, tell me more, you know, get the
• 24:33
  person to share more about the problem, about the vision.
• 24:37
  Then in your mind you already know whether you have a product
• 24:40
  or service that can match the problem.
• 24:42
  After that, that is where your sweet mouth comes in or your
• 24:44
  toasting comes in. You now try and make a
• 24:46
  convincing proposal. Now, can you see that sweet
• 24:48
  mouth is important but sweet mouth is not?
• 24:50
  Where you start with sweet mouth and toasting is towards the end.
• 24:54
  But most Nigerians when they hear sales, they think sweet
• 24:57
  mouth and they think toasting. So we will sweet mouth it and we
• 25:01
  will toast. But the toasting is at the end,
• 25:03
  the toasting is not at the beginning.
• 25:05
  Then after that, we now try and get them to take action.
• 25:07
  And that's how I'm defined what sales was for them.
• 25:11
  And I'll keep on stressing that because you won't believe how
• 25:15
  many Nigerians still think, oh, that guy is a good talker.
• 25:18
  She's a good talker. She dresses well, he dresses
• 25:21
  well. They'll be good in sales.
• 25:23
  It's, it's, it's, it's not just that.
• 25:26
  I mean, somebody even approached me in the past, a long time ago
• 25:29
  and the person figured I was good in sales because I'm tall.
• 25:32
  And my mind, I'm thinking like, because I'm tall, I really,
• 25:36
  well, first of all, the guy was not that short himself because
• 25:39
  he's 5 something. I mean, I'm 6/1, so I understand
• 25:42
  why the girl says because I'm tall.
• 25:44
  But in my mind I'm thinking, look, you're fairly successful
• 25:47
  dude yourself. You really think it is your
• 25:49
  height that has been holding you back?
• 25:50
  But I didn't tell him anyway. But yeah, there's some people
• 25:52
  who have those real funny ideas. Yes, she's good in sales because
• 25:58
  she's yellow and tall. OK.
• 26:00
  He's good in sales because he's a he's a dark and tall any.
• 26:05
  Let me move on. So the next thing that I tried
• 26:07
  to explain to the radio audience was what product market fit is
• 26:12
  and how this is central to being good in business, I mean, for
• 26:15
  your business to survive. So let me have a look at my
• 26:17
  notes. What did I write?
• 26:19
  What did I write? Yeah.
• 26:23
  So I told him that the central question is when it comes to
• 26:26
  product market fit, is this #1 market demand.
• 26:28
  Some of you entire business. And you don't have to figure out
• 26:30
  this market demand. If the market demand is low,
• 26:33
  then clearly before you enter this business, you already know
• 26:36
  you're losing proposition, you're already dying because the
• 26:39
  market demand is 0 or the market demand is plummeting.
• 26:43
  So it's not just enough that you have a product or a service.
• 26:45
  And I think it's a good idea, but we had need to now figure
• 26:47
  out this question. Is there demand for this thing?
• 26:50
  Then the next question to tackle when it comes to product market
• 26:54
  field is whether this is a problem while solving because
• 26:56
  some people have problems, but they don't think it's a big
• 27:00
  enough problem to to do anything about it to to drop money to
• 27:05
  solve that problem. So some people have a problem,
• 27:09
  but I don't want to drop money for it.
• 27:10
  Then really should you be in that line of business?
• 27:14
  So back when I was consulting with somebody for the in the
• 27:17
  solar industry, it's one thing we didn't get to try out, but I
• 27:20
  really, really had this hunch that the messaging should have
• 27:23
  been for people who are in band A and people who are in the
• 27:28
  lower bands. Because people who are in band A
• 27:30
  are paying serious, serious, serious cheddar for their power.
• 27:35
  There's a friend of mine whose Mumsy is spending on average
• 27:39
  80,000 naira per week because of where she lives in Asokoro.
• 27:43
  And there's another guy in Lagos that I was complaining about my
• 27:46
  own Nepal wars. And the person was like, wait,
• 27:49
  sorry, sorry. How much credit did you say you
• 27:51
  bought? And I said, well, I buy
• 27:53
  sometimes 20,000 sometimes 40,000 in a month.
• 27:58
  And the guy was like, how is that possible?
• 28:00
  I, I was like, what do you mean? How is that possible?
• 28:02
  He said that where he lives in Lagos Band-Aid that they're
• 28:05
  paying over 250 KA month in Nepal.
• 28:08
  So what was that? So this was my theory that for
• 28:14
  somebody who is paying 80 K every single week for Nepal or
• 28:18
  250K every single month for Nepal, and you're trying to sell
• 28:23
  inverter solar power, stuff like that for them.
• 28:26
  You can lean in real, real, real, real heavy on this whole
• 28:30
  thing of if you buy this thing now, you're going to be saving
• 28:34
  money on Napa in the future. Oh, by the way, I've seen this
• 28:37
  thing work because while I was in Mumsy over on the Christmas
• 28:41
  for the Christmas holidays, because we're able to put
• 28:43
  together solar for her. I've seen how it works.
• 28:46
  Basically during the day when the sun is shining, mummy just
• 28:48
  turns off. Napa was that simple And she's
• 28:50
  powering the whole house using solar.
• 28:53
  I mean nothing is is brilliant, you think it makes sense
• 28:57
  intellectually, but you have to leave it and see it to really
• 29:01
  understand what I'm saying. So like today is a hot day in
• 29:06
  Abuja. So my guess is it's going to be
• 29:09
  even hotter in Lagos. So on a day like this, Mumsy
• 29:11
  just goes outside and then she turns off net back.
• 29:13
  Well, OK, well for Mumsy is not one of those automatic We didn't
• 29:17
  get one of those packages where everything is automated.
• 29:21
  So she has to still go and do some things manually, but still,
• 29:24
  it's better than her trying to manually turn on a generator,
• 29:27
  you know, with none of us in the house, no children in the house.
• 29:30
  So she just goes outside and then she does that that that
• 29:34
  thing that used to flip for generator.
• 29:36
  So she just go and do Bam, bam, Napa is off and then she's
• 29:40
  running the whole house on solar.
• 29:42
  So effectively Mumsy has caught her electricity bills by more
• 29:47
  than half, really more than half.
• 29:49
  Because once the song comes up, boom boom, she switches over to
• 29:53
  solar and she is not touching NEPA again.
• 29:57
  So it is only later on in the evening, like around that time,
• 30:01
  5-6 ish, she will now do boom boom and then switch over to
• 30:08
  NEPA so that NEPA can now take over and then she can run
• 30:11
  security lights and then things like that.
• 30:13
  So for people in Band-Aid, there's a huge problem that they
• 30:17
  might be willing to pay money for.
• 30:19
  So if you tell somebody that, look Bros, you are now spending
• 30:20
  250K in power every single month.
• 30:24
  What if I was to show you how with solar over time we can make
• 30:27
  sure that you're only spending 100K in electricity bills every
• 30:31
  single month. That kind of person might say,
• 30:33
  OK, tell me more because he thinks that there is a problem
• 30:37
  worth solving. So all of you have entered into
• 30:40
  business and you haven't even tried to answer this question.
• 30:43
  Is there demand for this thing itself?
• 30:45
  About the people who are demanding, do they think it's a
• 30:47
  problem worth solving? Because if they don't think it's
• 30:49
  a problem worth solving, they will not drop money.
• 30:52
  The example I give over here on the podcast and I'm giving again
• 30:55
  is my this my jalopy that I'm driving the window on the
• 30:59
  driver's side, the passenger side in the front.
• 31:02
  It doesn't work. Whenever Mumsy is eating in
• 31:05
  Abuja, when Mumsy enters the car, the first thing she says is
• 31:07
  when are you going to fix this window?
• 31:09
  And I tell her I am not fixing this window because my AC is
• 31:13
  tight, so there's no need to fix the window because my AC is
• 31:17
  tight. My my AC is always tight.
• 31:19
  So as long as AC is tight, I don't care if that window is not
• 31:21
  working. If my AC breaks down OK, I might
• 31:25
  now go and fix that window so that the other person in the car
• 31:28
  won't die because Breeze is not entering the car.
• 31:31
  Because for me, whether I'm right or wrong, as far as I'm
• 31:35
  concerned, it's not a problem worth solving.
• 31:37
  And every time I go to the mechanic, mechanic says the same
• 31:39
  thing, OK, whenever we're going to fix this window and I say,
• 31:41
  look, pay attention to what I came here for, leave that
• 31:43
  window. I'm not fixing that window
• 31:45
  because for me it's not a problem worth solving.
• 31:49
  So is there demand for this thing?
• 31:51
  And are people going to drop money for it?
• 31:53
  Do they think it's a problem that is worth solving?
• 31:55
  Then there's also the thing of addressable market when it comes
• 31:58
  to product market fit. Do you have enough people who
• 32:00
  are willing to buy or use this thing?
• 32:04
  Because if there are enough people, if there's demand and
• 32:09
  enough of them and it's a problem, what solving are they
• 32:13
  willing to drop money, then these are the ingredients for
• 32:15
  being successful in business. So the example that I gave was
• 32:20
  this vegetarian craze that was rocking Abuja and Lagos a while
• 32:23
  ago. It looks like the vegetarian
• 32:24
  thing is here to stay. So me now as a layman, years
• 32:31
  ago, when people asked me about the vegetarian meat thing, my
• 32:33
  own, my own rationale was this. And look, Nigerians love meat,
• 32:39
  Abuja people love Surya and Sharma and stuff like that.
• 32:41
  And in Lagos, they love their meat as well.
• 32:43
  So in my own opinion, I would say, look, vegetarian business,
• 32:46
  don't try yourself, the thing will fail.
• 32:48
  That's what I used to say. But then there are some people
• 32:53
  who are very successful in this business because of soy and
• 32:58
  other vegetarian substitutes like tofu.
• 33:01
  You take soy that's, I think, dawa dawa, and you take tofu and
• 33:05
  all those things. I make it to look like meat.
• 33:08
  And so some people sell those substitutes.
• 33:10
  And in my own opinion, I'm like, who the hell would buy this?
• 33:12
  First of all, this thing looks funny.
• 33:14
  I don't know what it tastes like.
• 33:16
  And then The thing is even more expensive than the natural meat
• 33:19
  itself. Who will buy this thing?
• 33:21
  That's why if anybody had asked me, I said it's a bad business.
• 33:25
  But people who have entered the business, they have figured out
• 33:29
  product market fit. They have figured out that there
• 33:33
  is a demand. There are some people who are
• 33:35
  saying, look, I do not want to die.
• 33:37
  I am not going to eat meat again.
• 33:39
  I will only eat the substitutes. So there is a demand.
• 33:43
  Then those people also think it is a problem worth solving.
• 33:46
  So they're not deterred by the fact that if you go to the
• 33:49
  market, you will get one kilogram of beef for 6/5, but if
• 33:54
  you want to buy 1 kilogram of this vegetarian stuff, you're
• 33:58
  going to pay 13 K. For them, it's not a problem.
• 34:01
  So let's repeat, there's a demand.
• 34:04
  There are people who want this thing.
• 34:05
  They think it's a problem worth solving, and they have no
• 34:08
  problems paying double the price of normal meat.
• 34:12
  For me, I think that's madness by the way, that they're paying
• 34:15
  twice the price of this thing. I think it's madness.
• 34:17
  But anyway, maybe if I meet somebody in the business and I
• 34:20
  talked to some of the consumers, I really understand what is
• 34:22
  going on. Maybe it's a fear of death.
• 34:25
  Maybe they're wealthy people and they're afraid of dying.
• 34:27
  So maybe that's it anyway. And then there's enough of these
• 34:31
  people who are willing to use these things.
• 34:33
  So there's an addressable market.
• 34:34
  So there are people who are making a living selling
• 34:38
  vegetarian meat substitutes in Abuja and Lagos regardless of
• 34:42
  what I feel. So if you ask me, Tavish
• 34:44
  Shimmer, I would say bad business idea, don't go there.
• 34:47
  But the people are succeeding because there's product market
• 34:50
  fit, there is a demand, the people think it's a problem
• 34:55
  worth solving, so they're willing to pay and then there's
• 34:58
  a large enough addressable market.
• 35:01
  So I hope I was able to convince the radio audience and I hope
• 35:05
  I've been able to convince you guys that you can see now why
• 35:07
  these are the two big things that we need to solve when it
• 35:12
  comes to business growth and business success.
• 35:14
  Can you sell? Do you know how to handle the
• 35:18
  conversation, how to have the conversation?
• 35:22
  And can you figure out the mathematics of the equation?
• 35:26
  Product market fit? Is there demand?
• 35:30
  Are people going to pay for this thing?
• 35:32
  And are they enough people to make this thing profitable?
• 35:37
  So that essentially was what I tried to share with my radio
• 35:41
  audience on day one. So let me have a look at my
• 35:44
  notes. Let's see if there's anything
• 35:45
  else. I think that was the main thing.
• 35:47
  I tried to share my radio audience on day one.
• 35:51
  And then after that, we opened up the lines and then we started
• 35:53
  taking some questions. Lots of the questions were
• 35:55
  dropped. One person was able to what's up
• 35:57
  in a question, but I had a conversation with three people.
• 36:00
  So since we have done close to 40 minutes of today's podcast
• 36:03
  episode, I'm not going to go into detail on those three
• 36:07
  people, but I definitely will tackle their own questions over
• 36:09
  here on the podcast at a later date.
• 36:13
  And interestingly, one of them had to deal, had to deal with
• 36:15
  investments. But I told together, look,
• 36:18
  investments is not my specialty and you really shouldn't be
• 36:20
  getting investments. This advice from all APS, not
• 36:24
  from all their personalities, but I was able to direct him to
• 36:27
  some resources from the Security and Exchange Commission because
• 36:30
  they have registered broke stock brokers who are there.
• 36:33
  So I'm more the less what you guys know as well.
• 36:35
  So you have investment issues. OK, it's OK.
• 36:38
  You can listen to what podcasters are saying and you
• 36:40
  can listen to what radio people are saying.
• 36:42
  But please, please, please, please, please go and check the
• 36:44
  Securities and Exchange website, the SETSEC, they have a list of
• 36:48
  registered stockbrokers that are there in the country.
• 36:52
  Scroll down to your section. So let's say you are based in
• 36:56
  Orbakaliki, just Scroll down to a bucket leaking and see the
• 36:59
  registered stockbrokers who are there.
• 37:00
  And then go in there, have a chat with those people.
• 37:02
  You know they'll be OK, they'll be OK to have a chat with you.
• 37:05
  Although there's some people who are very standoffish, you know
• 37:07
  they will look at you if your suit is not this, if you're not
• 37:10
  looking sharp, then they will be treating you one time.
• 37:12
  And you know you don't want to do business with those people
• 37:14
  anyway. But check the list, look for
• 37:19
  registered stockbrokers in your area.
• 37:20
  Go and ask those people, the stockbrokers who actually know
• 37:22
  what's up and who can give you good qualified advice.
• 37:29
  So that was it. That was my day one on radio,
• 37:32
  and that was the adventure. That was the fun that I had.
• 37:35
  Looking forward to the next episode.
• 37:37
  If any of you listen using the app or streaming, feel free to
• 37:42
  call. We will.
• 37:44
  We will talk to anyone. So that's it.
• 37:47
  It was fun and it was good. And yeah, I've learned that
• 37:51
  podcasting is definitely not is everything as radio.
• 37:56
  So I guess I'm even more glad now for the podcast because when
• 37:59
  I keep back, relax, we can have a conversation.
• 38:02
  I can cough, it's not a problem. And if I say something about
• 38:05
  good luck, Jonathan or Tinubo or whatever, I trust that you guys
• 38:09
  over here on the podcast are not going to misunderstand what it
• 38:12
  is. And I'm saying.
• 38:13
  And you get me in the proper context, especially since I can
• 38:15
  do really silly things like talk for 40 minutes straight without
• 38:18
  going for a music break. So that's it.
• 38:22
  Thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 38:23
  If you'd love to connect to have a strategy session or a business
• 38:28
  audit or you have questions that you want to ask, the phone
• 38:30
  number is 08064662140. The country code is +234.
• 38:36
  That's my WhatsApp number as well.
• 38:38
  Then you can also connect with me on LinkedIn and aim to look
• 38:41
  for establishing my IED, my YouTube channel where I host all
• 38:44
  the other videos. That's the name you should look
• 38:46
  for as well. Tavishima Aidi.
• 38:48
  And yes, just in case you are curious, when he came to calling
• 38:51
  out the phone number, I swear I almost made that mistake.
• 38:54
  I almost called up my own, my own phone number.
• 38:57
  But it's a good thing that they had the calling number there on
• 39:02
  the table laminated. So I just looked at it and then
• 39:06
  I I called it out here. So that would have been a very,
• 39:09
  very interesting mistake. If I give up my phone number
• 39:11
  live over the air. I mean, that happened.
• 39:13
  My producer would have just gone ballistic.
• 39:16
  But anyway, it, it, it turned out well.
• 39:18
  So I'll catch you guys at the next episode tomorrow.
• 39:21
  We're going to go back to the case study.
• 39:24
  Yoruba baby lawyer, sorry, I know you're about a female baby
• 39:29
  lawyer from Lagos who is thinking of starting going into
• 39:33
  legal practice on her own as a consultant for securities
• 39:36
  compliance. We'll go back to that case study
• 39:39
  and we'll continue discussing how it is that you're supposed
• 39:41
  to look for customers in case you're starting up a service
• 39:44
  that is similar. So thanks for your time and
• 39:46
  attention. I'll catch you guys in the next
• 39:48
  episode.