Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Selling Yourself: Job Interviews, Follow-Ups, and Building Lasting Connections

Transcript

Selling Yourself: Job Interviews, Follow-Ups, and Building Lasting Connections · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to the show. This is one of those late light
• 0:04
  recordings and it's going to be a very noisy one because it's a
• 0:06
  full house, you know, kids at home, wife is home.
• 0:09
  And then I think currently they say like the National Grid has
• 0:14
  collapsed or something like that.
• 0:16
  So NEPA has just been taken like anyhow, now my own part of the
• 0:20
  building, there are six of our six families in this part.
• 0:24
  So each I think five of us have inverter solar, you know, so
• 0:28
  this is relatively quiet. But in the building at the back,
• 0:33
  all of them do just their own Gen.
• 0:34
  So if Napa takes light in the middle of this recording, you
• 0:38
  guys are going to hear a massive wall of generators coming
• 0:41
  through the speakers. So hopefully Napa won't take
• 0:43
  light and we should be able to have a relatively peaceful
• 0:47
  recording somewhat. So today's episode is also going
• 0:51
  to be one of those random rambling episodes, you know, on
• 0:55
  a number of things, you know, like how sales skills can help
• 0:59
  you with your career progression.
• 1:01
  Because I'm mindful of the fact that not everybody listening to
• 1:03
  this podcast has a business, has an SME, has a side hustle, you
• 1:08
  know, some people actually just trying trying to boost their
• 1:11
  careers. So how sales skills can help
• 1:14
  your career and then also tips on follow up.
• 1:17
  As for those of you who are actively trying to do some kind,
• 1:21
  you know, side drones or you have a business that you're
• 1:24
  trying to build. So the reason why I'm going to
• 1:27
  be rambling on these sorts of things is because I got updates
• 1:30
  on Wonder Woman recently. Now, this is your first time
• 1:33
  listening to the show. When I say Wonder Woman on the
• 1:36
  podcast, I don't mean the real Wonder Woman.
• 1:38
  I don't mean the comic Wonder Woman, and I don't mean Gal
• 1:41
  Gadot. As you know, even though Gal
• 1:44
  Gadot is a, she's a very babe. She's not the one that I'm
• 1:47
  referring to. Gaga dot, that's the actress who
• 1:50
  plays Wonder Woman in the DC movies, the DC franchise movies.
• 1:56
  So when I say Wonder Woman here on the podcast, I mean the lady
• 1:59
  from Benway State who is a caterer, you know, into the
• 2:02
  cuisine business. And we did a case study on her
• 2:05
  because she was looking for avenues to expand her business
• 2:10
  do that's to boost sales. And then we also look at some
• 2:13
  conditions under which it would be OK to accept outside money,
• 2:17
  to accept funding, to accept equity, to grow her business,
• 2:23
  equity investment. So if you've been listening for
• 2:26
  a while, yeah, I just got updates on her.
• 2:30
  So it's the same. It's the same lady.
• 2:32
  So just updates as far, you know, where is she now?
• 2:35
  What has she been up to? And OK, so if you remember from
• 2:40
  the previous Wonder Woman episode, now she was also
• 2:42
  considering paid employment, you know, as per, you know, she's a
• 2:45
  student, she's trying to do this catering thing.
• 2:47
  And if the conditions are all right for her to accept equity
• 2:51
  investment, then she might as well just have paid employment
• 2:56
  to, you know, just maintain herself and also to finance the
• 3:00
  catering business that she wants to do.
• 3:02
  So those are some of the options.
• 3:04
  So since then she has gone for a job interview, but it turned out
• 3:08
  to be a practical 1. You know, I've always wondered,
• 3:11
  you know, how do you, how do you choose which caterers to hire?
• 3:13
  And apparently this is how you do it.
• 3:15
  People go for practical, you go and cook and then you taste
• 3:18
  their food. But anyway, it turned out that
• 3:21
  the interview she was going on for not was not for the main
• 3:23
  chef, it was for the sous chef. I think that's the assistant
• 3:27
  chef or something like that. So she was going to be a, a sous
• 3:29
  chef, a kitchen assistant, that sort of thing.
• 3:32
  So she went for the whole thing, you know, she was pinging me as
• 3:36
  she went for the thing. It turned out to be late the
• 3:39
  other almost the whole day by the end of the day shot they
• 3:42
  sorted her something they sorted her something nice.
• 3:45
  The TP that they gave her was was 5 figures.
• 3:49
  Let me just put it that way, in my mind I'm thinking OK, you can
• 3:53
  pay this much for TP and it means that the gig must be very
• 3:56
  sweet now that if you learn this kind of job that the money will
• 3:59
  be correct something. So anyway, so she finished and
• 4:04
  as a sharp girl that she is now, that's why I call her Wonder
• 4:07
  Woman. She decided to follow up the
• 4:08
  next day. In fact it is lesson #1 those of
• 4:12
  you who are self-employed, you have a business, you know, some
• 4:16
  of you, your follow up game is weak.
• 4:18
  You allow time to pass too much. You know, you talk to somebody,
• 4:22
  you know, I give it like 2 weeks and then you boss the person
• 4:25
  back. You say you're following up as
• 4:26
  you're following on board like 2 weeks.
• 4:29
  You think they're waiting for you.
• 4:30
  Of course you would have found somebody else to, you know,
• 4:34
  another vendor, another consultant, another specialist,
• 4:37
  another whatever, you know, to do the job.
• 4:40
  So for those of you who are still in like in the event
• 4:42
  space, you know, like wedding photographers, you know, you
• 4:44
  talk to somebody January 1st, you don't call them again until
• 4:47
  January 14th, you know, like you're doing yourself, like what
• 4:50
  do you expect? So she's a sharp girl now.
• 4:52
  So that's why I call a Wonder Woman.
• 4:53
  And she followed up the next day, you know, this is without
• 4:56
  without me even telling her anything.
• 4:59
  And she didn't get the job because the people didn't want
• 5:02
  to wait two weeks because she was writing exams and, you know,
• 5:06
  she wants to finish her exam properly before she resumes
• 5:09
  work. So yeah, they gave the job to
• 5:12
  somebody else basically. But anyway, like the sharp girl
• 5:15
  that she is, like I said, once that two weeks expired and once
• 5:18
  she did pens down, you know, pens up, write your exam pens
• 5:22
  down. So when she did pens down now
• 5:25
  and the exam was over, she called him again.
• 5:27
  I said how far I finished example, have you guys had
• 5:31
  somebody? I beat that rule still
• 5:32
  available, but of course the rule was not available.
• 5:35
  But either way, we guys congratulate her.
• 5:37
  You can see that full up game, you know, it's tight.
• 5:39
  Full up game is on point because it's possible that you have
• 5:42
  somebody and then after like that two weeks, the thing
• 5:45
  doesn't work out. They're ready to hire again.
• 5:47
  You know, since she already did interview the first time and I
• 5:49
  thought she was a good candidate.
• 5:51
  Skills on points, work ethic on points.
• 5:54
  You know, this is what the head chef told her.
• 5:56
  You know, it should have been an easy showing, but then no, they
• 6:02
  were still not looking for somebody for the job.
• 6:04
  I know. See, this is what I mean when I
• 6:06
  say how when it comes to doing sales, we're just trying to
• 6:10
  increase the odds in our favour. So it's not a guarantee that
• 6:14
  because you follow up or take actions or follow your process,
• 6:16
  it's not a guarantee that the team will click.
• 6:18
  But The thing is we just keep doing what we do, increase the
• 6:22
  odds in our favour. And once in a while, you know, a
• 6:24
  couple of things add up. And then if you get good at
• 6:28
  getting repeat business, getting referrals, then you can see how
• 6:33
  you know you can get something, get something good going.
• 6:38
  And we just put it that way anyway.
• 6:41
  So even though that two weeks no expire now, like a sharp girl
• 6:44
  that she is, she didn't stop there.
• 6:46
  She reached out again. She was the the woman, the head
• 6:49
  chef. Now the scope was relationship
• 6:51
  building when the chef didn't respond to that call.
• 6:54
  And you know, that was just the update pretty much.
• 6:57
  But now you can see what I mean when I say that there's some
• 6:59
  people who are doing good sales practice, but they just don't
• 7:02
  know that they're doing good sales practice.
• 7:07
  It's one of my thesis of starting this podcast that there
• 7:10
  are lots of people who are doing well at business or who are
• 7:12
  going to be very good at business because they have good
• 7:15
  sales practice. They just don't know.
• 7:17
  Now this follow up that she's doing like this, I don't know
• 7:19
  whether you know how Mumsy taught her because I think how
• 7:21
  Mumsy was also involved in catering business.
• 7:24
  So I don't know whether it's something that Mumsy taught her
• 7:26
  or she just figured it out herself.
• 7:28
  But actually this is pretty good sales practice.
• 7:31
  So for those of you who have businesses, you see how the
• 7:34
  thing, you see how it works, like you tried, you didn't get
• 7:37
  it. You now put the person in a
• 7:39
  relationship building queue or a relationship nurturing queue so
• 7:44
  that once in a while you guys are hearing from each other, you
• 7:47
  people are seeing, you guys are knowing each other, you're
• 7:49
  building relationship, you're staying familiar because you
• 7:52
  don't know tomorrow something can click.
• 7:54
  So good, good ploy there on Wonder Woman's, Wonder Woman's
• 7:59
  part. Now the only response I gave to
• 8:02
  Wonder Woman was like, you know, pretty good, well done.
• 8:05
  You've done pretty good up till now.
• 8:08
  By the way, when it comes to sales and business in general,
• 8:12
  when we say you've done pretty good, it doesn't necessarily
• 8:15
  mean you got the money or you got the job or you got the
• 8:18
  whatever. If you followed your process,
• 8:20
  regardless of whether the outcome was good or not, it's
• 8:23
  pretty good because at least you are demonstrating to yourself
• 8:27
  that you have discipline and you're able to keep to the
• 8:28
  process. So if you're able to exercise
• 8:31
  discipline, all well and good. So even that one, you have to
• 8:34
  give yourself a smack because The thing is, it's from being
• 8:38
  consistent and disciplined over time that the results are going
• 8:41
  to come. So this is not one of those
• 8:43
  things. It's not like football that, you
• 8:45
  know, you scored the goal good, you didn't score the goal, but
• 8:48
  you know, like you just continue with the process.
• 8:49
  So long as you continue with the process, no idea, results will
• 8:52
  come. So my right style was, you know,
• 8:54
  Oh well, I'm good. But the only thing I added was,
• 8:56
  OK, next time you try buzzing somebody, they don't answer.
• 9:00
  Don't don't just leave it like that because if you buzz, you
• 9:03
  call the person, they don't answer and then you just leave
• 9:06
  it. It's as if you never called.
• 9:07
  Don't forget. So every time you buzz, they
• 9:09
  don't answer. Send a text message sharply or
• 9:12
  WhatsApp message. And I even told her, look, you
• 9:14
  know what, since this thing didn't work out, you know how to
• 9:18
  be in touch with this head chef. So the very scope that we use
• 9:22
  now for this first message will be, you know, that whole good
• 9:25
  evening, ma'am, blah blah blah was a pleasure experience.
• 9:29
  The interview, nice getting to know you, nice getting to learn
• 9:31
  blah, blah blah. I'd appreciate recommendations,
• 9:34
  you know, other head chefs that, you know, for people who are
• 9:37
  looking for a sous chef, looking for an assistant chef, you know,
• 9:40
  that kind of thing. Then that's the kind of message
• 9:41
  that you just send like that. You send it one time, then, you
• 9:46
  know, overtime we'll be able to come up with some more, some
• 9:50
  more ideas. But yeah, anyway, so that that
• 9:54
  was it then. And that was just a general gist
• 9:59
  of the of the advice that I gave her.
• 10:04
  And before we finish the church and now send me a message done.
• 10:07
  Like she already crafted something and she already sent
• 10:10
  it. Now you see, this is one of the
• 10:12
  reasons why I say Wonder Woman as per she's, she's bright,
• 10:16
  she's taking action on shop shop.
• 10:18
  And you know, there's some people that I will say, you
• 10:22
  know, do this and they'll say, OK, you know, I'll do it
• 10:24
  tomorrow or something. But you can see that she took
• 10:26
  action on shop shop. So these are the things that
• 10:31
  help move things in one's favour.
• 10:34
  So summary, how can sales skills help with career advancement?
• 10:40
  From all the things we've been talking about now, Wonder Woman,
• 10:43
  you can see that career advancement, you know, last,
• 10:46
  last. At the end of the day, it's also
• 10:47
  a sale because you're selling yourself on somebody to show
• 10:50
  that you are suitable for the position.
• 10:53
  So what she's doing now with head chef, you know, that woman
• 10:57
  is to show that this is a bright, sharp young lady who is
• 11:01
  persistent and who also has the skills in the kitchen.
• 11:04
  And so she's going to be suitable the next time another
• 11:08
  job comes up or the next time something comes up.
• 11:11
  So these are the kind of skills that you have to demonstrate in
• 11:14
  your place of work that will show that you are suitable for
• 11:18
  the job. I mean, of course, you know, you
• 11:19
  need technical expertise because if one Oma was a rubbish cook,
• 11:22
  then none of this would be happening, you know.
• 11:25
  So definitely, you know, she has the skills, but then, you know,
• 11:29
  these are the extra stuff that you have to do to advance
• 11:34
  yourself in your career. So, yeah, so these are the sorts
• 11:41
  of skills that you need. Follow up game was on point.
• 11:45
  You know, that's good. OK.
• 11:47
  Some other recommendations I would have given her, but I
• 11:50
  forgot to after the interview process.
• 11:54
  We should always reach out to say thank you very much for the
• 11:56
  opportunity. Now there are some kind of
• 11:59
  organizations that you won't have the opportunity to do that.
• 12:01
  Like if it's NNPC, for instance, NNPC, I'm sure they hire like
• 12:05
  when they're hiring, I'm sure they have maybe like 50,000
• 12:08
  people are the short, you know, that kind of thing.
• 12:09
  OK, maybe like 5000, but you're not going to have the
• 12:13
  opportunity to be one-on-one with people in the interview
• 12:16
  pattern and you know those sorts of things.
• 12:18
  Although if you're sharp, you try, you try a lot, you try your
• 12:21
  hand. Because like when my wife was
• 12:23
  being interviewed for the government role that she is in
• 12:25
  now was one of the things where she struck a chord with one of
• 12:28
  the interview panels. And she was like, oh, I really
• 12:32
  told the lady, how did she go again?
• 12:35
  Like, I really admire you, the steps you've taken to build your
• 12:39
  career, something, something, blah, blah, blah.
• 12:41
  Regardless of whether this thing works out or not.
• 12:44
  Can I have your phone number? I would love to keep you in
• 12:46
  touch. So that's how my wife got number
• 12:49
  of somebody who was on the interview panel.
• 12:51
  So you know, you guys be thinking sharp, sharp.
• 12:54
  So these are ways that you get somebody in the inside.
• 12:56
  And then this is how you can now reach out later on to now say,
• 12:59
  oh, thank you very much. Well, thank you very much for
• 13:02
  the opportunity. It was a wonderful time being
• 13:05
  there, the panel, I enjoyed the interaction, the things that I
• 13:08
  learned from you guys, you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 13:10
  So after that initial interview session, you have to reach out.
• 13:14
  Thank you very much for the opportunity.
• 13:15
  That scope, that's the scope of the first message.
• 13:19
  Eventually you reach out some other time and you say, oh, by
• 13:22
  the way, I forgot to ask during the interview panel, was there
• 13:24
  anything I could have done? I could have done better, You
• 13:29
  know, all these sorts of things. If you're reaching out to people
• 13:31
  on the interview committee, you know, these are some of the
• 13:33
  things that will make you stand out because let's let's be real,
• 13:35
  this is Niger. If 100 people go for the job
• 13:39
  interview and this send all of your letters saying, oh, sorry,
• 13:43
  we have applied, we have selected somebody else.
• 13:46
  There is nobody in that set that is going to reach out to people
• 13:52
  in the interview panel to say thank you very much for the
• 13:54
  opportunity, it was a pleasure working with you people, blah,
• 13:56
  blah, blah. Oh, by the way, is there
• 13:58
  anything I could have done better?
• 14:00
  I mean, these are some small, small things that just make you
• 14:02
  stand out. So the job is given to one
• 14:04
  person by you. You're fine up with people on
• 14:06
  the interview panel after this sort of thing.
• 14:09
  You'll say that's a very sharp girl over there.
• 14:13
  Then I keep your CV someplace or did I have your phone number
• 14:16
  handy The next time that is opening in the department is all
• 14:21
  remember that shop gallery. OK, no problem.
• 14:24
  Let's let's let's give her a buzz.
• 14:25
  If she doesn't have a job, let her come and try again for this
• 14:28
  set. You can see that you know
• 14:30
  already you're now standing one step above your peers.
• 14:36
  So follow up game evolved after interview processes.
• 14:39
  Thank you very much for the opportunity.
• 14:41
  Another scope will be, is there stuff I could have done better?
• 14:46
  If you're one of those people who has been selected to go to
• 14:48
  the next step, you, you should reach out to the interview panel
• 14:51
  if you're able to get somebody's phone number.
• 14:53
  Thank you very much. I'm honoured, I'm really happy.
• 14:58
  What's the next step for successful candidates?
• 15:00
  What will be required of what, you know, that sort of thing.
• 15:05
  If you don't get it, you know, thank you very much.
• 15:07
  Blah, blah, blah. And then like in one of all
• 15:09
  man's case, you know, would you have any recommendation, you
• 15:15
  know, any recommendation, you know, that's because you know,
• 15:19
  you are not successful. But anyway, like I said, this is
• 15:23
  a rambling episode. So I'm not giving a very concise
• 15:26
  script about how you suppose run these things.
• 15:29
  But at least I hope you guys are getting an idea about how you
• 15:34
  can tackle these sorts of things.
• 15:35
  I mean, from a sales perspective, because these are
• 15:37
  the sorts of things that a salesperson will do, you know,
• 15:39
  whether we land the gig or we don't land the gig.
• 15:43
  In summary, it's hard trying to balance school, trying to
• 15:47
  balance side hustle. So bottom line for Wonder Woman
• 15:51
  and for those of you in Wonder Woman's situation, do not be
• 15:54
  discouraged. This is a learning experience
• 15:57
  and you are getting lots of transferable skills that is
• 16:01
  going to help you dear Wonder Woman and other people.
• 16:04
  You're learning time and self management.
• 16:06
  You're learning relationship building, you're learning
• 16:09
  networking, you're learning persistent follow through.
• 16:12
  I don't like the word follow up, you know, for different reasons.
• 16:15
  And in fact, in the traditional sales community, we don't say
• 16:18
  follow up, we say follow through My last podcast on episode, you
• 16:21
  know, on it's own. So you're learning persistent
• 16:24
  follow through. And at the end of the day, you
• 16:26
  become a better woman at the end of the process.
• 16:28
  So I didn't realize this thing until there was this babe in my
• 16:34
  uni back when I went over you. She she was in medical
• 16:37
  department. So let me know, use her real
• 16:40
  name. Let me just call Francis.
• 16:41
  So at the time Francis was dating this guy and they used to
• 16:43
  do barbecue and suya and you know, stuff like that.
• 16:46
  And I don't go and sell outside female hostels.
• 16:50
  And you know, at that time, so I was we thought were too cool.
• 16:53
  We thought were to fly like, you know, when uni now you're a big
• 16:56
  boy, you're a big girl. How you going to be selling Suya
• 16:59
  shawarma in front of girls hostel like you somehow now?
• 17:05
  And The thing is Francis and that guy didn't marry Sha.
• 17:08
  So the guy married somebody else.
• 17:09
  Francis married somebody else. But later on, years later, I
• 17:12
  will join Francis in Abuja and found out that she's supplying
• 17:16
  chicken to one of the megastores here in Abuja.
• 17:20
  She supplies, you know, like they have the poultry.
• 17:22
  You take the chicken, you know, the every, every, you know, kill
• 17:25
  it. Butcher ate baguettes, you know,
• 17:27
  everything, you know. And he's then the thing just
• 17:30
  click like, Oh, no wonder if I'm doing business small, small.
• 17:34
  Back in OAU, you do Shama, you do Suya, you know, small, small,
• 17:38
  small. That is what now eventually led
• 17:42
  to her being a major supplier of chicken to megastores in Abuja.
• 17:48
  So back in the uni days when you're trying to run this thing
• 17:51
  now, of course, medicine is not is not beans now like medicine
• 17:54
  is hard. So when you're trying to run
• 17:56
  your medical degree, you're trying to balance relationship,
• 18:00
  you're trying to balance this your side horse, side horse line
• 18:03
  and everything. It might seem discouraging, but
• 18:05
  you don't know how this is that you're sewing is going to lead
• 18:08
  to you becoming a better woman, a correct babe, a boss chick
• 18:13
  like 1520 years down the line. You don't know, just start it.
• 18:18
  Of course, you know, say your prayers, you know, we all need
• 18:22
  help and we all trust that God is going to bless the work of
• 18:24
  our hands. So my recommendations to any of
• 18:27
  my sisters listening to this podcast, Well, of course not my
• 18:33
  blood sisters, but I mean, you know what I mean sisters as far
• 18:37
  as like Esperio Decor, those of us who are we are like 1 minded.
• 18:41
  Some of my sisters who are listening to this podcast
• 18:43
  episode, please keep listening. Even if you haven't figured out
• 18:48
  your business idea or even if you haven't figured out your
• 18:53
  side hustle idea, or maybe you have figured out one or two
• 18:56
  things. You're still trying to run it,
• 18:58
  but you haven't validated it. You don't know if this thing
• 19:00
  will work. Like it doesn't matter, you
• 19:03
  know, even if shy, you're doing nine to five, you're thinking I
• 19:06
  might want to do business, I might not want to do business.
• 19:08
  Just hang in there, you know, keep listening, keep jogging,
• 19:11
  keep juggling, keep ideating, keep thinking, keep trying, keep
• 19:15
  executing. Even if you don't try any
• 19:18
  business thing, it will still be good for your career too.
• 19:20
  Bottom line is just hang in there.
• 19:22
  Everything that needs balancing, just balance in the morning, say
• 19:26
  your prayers because it's not easy.
• 19:29
  And then you continue with the grind and all these things.
• 19:33
  Now for those of you, you need people.
• 19:35
  I mean, trust me, you can't say it now, but this is the
• 19:38
  beginning of you being boss chick 1520 years down the line.
• 19:42
  So just hang in there. So if you'd love to connect with
• 19:45
  me for a strategy session for a business audit or you have
• 19:50
  questions you'd love for me to answer.
• 19:51
  The number to call is 08064662140.
• 19:57
  The country code is +234. For those of you who are not
• 20:00
  Nigerian, that's my WhatsApp number.
• 20:02
  You can reach me there as well. Then connect with me on
• 20:05
  LinkedIn. That is the only social that I
• 20:08
  am on. I'm not on any other social.
• 20:11
  The name to look for establishing my IED.
• 20:13
  Then also have a YouTube channel.
• 20:15
  With the same name, Tavi Shima IED, you find a bunch of my
• 20:18
  videos there, especially when back when I was trying to try
• 20:22
  out Tiktok and Instagram videos and all that.
• 20:25
  So even though I've deleted all my accounts, I still have some
• 20:28
  of those videos there. So you can get to go and see
• 20:30
  some of the old stuff from like 5, maybe six years back.
• 20:35
  So that's it. Thank you very much for your
• 20:37
  time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next
• 20:39
  recording. Oh, and by the way, as of
• 20:41
  today's today's date, this is 10th of March.
• 20:45
  International Women's Day was 2 days ago.
• 20:49
  That was March 8th, 2025. So if you're listening to this
• 20:54
  in 2026, you know I'm not talking about the current
• 20:56
  International Women's Day. I'm talking about, you know, the
• 21:00
  one prior. So March 8th, 2025, that was a
• 21:05
  Saturday, I think that was International Women's Day.
• 21:08
  So happy International Women's Day to all my sisters, all my
• 21:13
  mummies, all my aunties, all my smallies, all my buddies, all my
• 21:18
  cousins, all my sisters in Christ, all my Muslim sisters,
• 21:28
  all my everybody who is listening to this episode.
• 21:31
  Happy International Women's Day to you all.
• 21:33
  It is my hope and it is my prayer that God will see us
• 21:36
  through as we advance in our businesses, advance in our
• 21:39
  careers, advance in our marriages, advance in whatever
• 21:43
  state, state in life that we choose to explore.
• 21:47
  So that's it for today. I'll catch you guys at the next
• 21:50
  episode.