Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Starting a Fashion Business: A Guide for Hat & Fascinator Entrepreneurs

Transcript

Starting a Fashion Business: A Guide for Hat & Fascinator Entrepreneurs · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to the show. Apologies for the noise in the
• 0:03
  background because I'm currently back at the mechanic.
• 0:06
  So we expect to hear some noise in the background.
• 0:09
  Now I know some of you are going to be wondering why is this guy
• 0:11
  spending so much time with the mechanic now?
• 0:13
  Well, like I said, you know, we're just one of these things,
• 0:16
  these things, you know, these cars, they pack up on us every
• 0:19
  every now and then, you know, which is why I'm saying that the
• 0:21
  next time I get a car, it has to be brand new.
• 0:25
  So I know that I buy it, I'm driving it for like 3 to five
• 0:29
  years, no major issues. And if you feel concerned, go
• 0:32
  ahead. You can do a GoFundMe or
• 0:34
  something like that, you know, contributing my brand new car.
• 0:37
  Well, until then. I'm still here.
• 0:39
  Chilling in at the mechanic now. Let's see.
• 0:43
  So I was going through the comments now and I realized that
• 0:45
  there's someone that I haven't paid attention to.
• 0:48
  Her name is Bolu Tunji. I'm assuming it's a she because
• 0:52
  of the business idea that we're going to be discussing in the
• 0:54
  moment. Now, Bolu.
• 0:57
  Well, shout out to Bolu. Tunji, thank you very much for
• 0:58
  listening to the show. She says she's been listening to
• 1:01
  the show while cooking. And I'm glad that I've been
• 1:04
  keeping you company on your motherly duties or wifely duties
• 1:09
  or well, if you're not married on your, you know, stomach
• 1:12
  duties or whatever anyway. So I'm glad that I've been
• 1:15
  keeping you company while you're busy.
• 1:17
  And I'm hoping that our relationship will continue for a
• 1:19
  long while. I'm hoping to remain in your
• 1:21
  earbuds for the next, you know, 234567, however many, however
• 1:26
  many years that this relationship might last.
• 1:30
  So Bolu left some comments on Spotify saying that she wants me
• 1:34
  to make a podcast episode on making hats and fascinators
• 1:38
  because she's a first time business person who has a prior
• 1:41
  career in Asia that's in human resources and she's looking for
• 1:48
  knowledge upfront before she starts the business because she
• 1:51
  doesn't want to start the business and then fail.
• 1:55
  So let me repeat Bolotunji. And the case that we're going to
• 1:58
  be discussing today is she wants to get into business of making
• 2:01
  hats and fascinators. You know, fascinators are those
• 2:04
  fancy, you know, like feathers and scraps of, you know,
• 2:08
  artistic, you know, artistic stuff.
• 2:12
  You know, all those things I want to put on their heads.
• 2:14
  And I'm like, you know, if you're wearing a hat, wear a
• 2:16
  hat. Anyway, it's not about us.
• 2:18
  It's about the customer. And people love those things.
• 2:21
  They love fascinators. Yeah.
• 2:24
  You know, like my wife, my, my sister-in-law.
• 2:27
  So that woman, I like wearing all those, you know, fancy
• 2:29
  things. But anyway, so where was I
• 2:36
  anyway? So that's what we're going to
• 2:37
  discuss today. If you're getting into the
• 2:38
  business of making cuts and fascinators, how do you go into
• 2:41
  the business? What kind of knowledge do you
• 2:43
  need to make sure that you're not going to start the business
• 2:45
  and to fail? So that's what we're going to be
• 2:48
  doing now. In the comments section, I reply
• 2:51
  to Bulla and I told her to hit me up on WhatsApp.
• 2:53
  I gave her my phone number, and this is my phone number.
• 2:55
  I'm giving it to you guys as well so you can reach out.
• 2:58
  The number is 08064662140. Country code is +234.
• 3:05
  No, the reason why I give up these this number and the reason
• 3:08
  why I ask you guys connect with me on LinkedIn, the name to look
• 3:11
  for establish my IED is because for some of you who have very
• 3:15
  specific questions, you know, it would help for us to actually
• 3:18
  chat a bit or maybe have a conversation.
• 3:20
  So I know who you are, what you are about, where you've gone,
• 3:22
  what you tried, what failed before I start giving some
• 3:26
  advice because it's possible that I may make this whole
• 3:28
  episode and say a bunch of stuff that she has already tried
• 3:31
  before. So that's the reason why I asked
• 3:34
  for her to reach out, but she didn't.
• 3:36
  So let me just go ahead and make this episode anyway.
• 3:39
  Now, some of you might be afraid because I think some of you
• 3:42
  might be afraid of getting in touch because you think I'm
• 3:44
  going to now try and strong arm you and get you guys to pay for
• 3:47
  consulting. And no, that is not the case.
• 3:50
  I put my number out there because I generally want to know
• 3:53
  what kind of things you guys are struggling with.
• 3:57
  And I'm trying to get a sense of who my ideal listener is and the
• 4:02
  kind of problems that you guys are facing.
• 4:04
  And I think that's one of the reasons why the the podcast is
• 4:08
  growing steadily because each time I have an interaction with
• 4:10
  you guys and I make a podcast episode about that, it is
• 4:13
  something that is relevant to what other people are facing.
• 4:16
  And there are lots of people who can relate to some of the case
• 4:22
  studies that we use over here. So it's not just me doing
• 4:24
  conjecture. It's because I'm talking to
• 4:25
  people live and direct Now, of course this is how I make my
• 4:29
  living. So definitely one or two of you,
• 4:32
  we definitely would turn this into a paid consulting
• 4:34
  arrangement. But the default is not for me to
• 4:37
  try and strong arm you guys because I know some people are
• 4:38
  just curious and I know like for the students that I've been
• 4:41
  talking with, you know, the, there was the Uniband students,
• 4:45
  there was the Benoit State University student, there were
• 4:48
  the girls from UI. Then I think there was like two
• 4:51
  or three from Musuka. OK, I haven't heard from OAU.
• 4:55
  OK, one OAU person I haven't heard from.
• 4:59
  I haven't heard from anybody in Amadou Bello.
• 5:01
  Let me see why else anyway shall so like the university people, I
• 5:06
  mean, of course, I'm not going to try and squeeze any money out
• 5:08
  of you because like, how much money do you have anyway?
• 5:10
  But I'm just saying that I'm doing this primarily #1 to help
• 5:15
  because I like to help #2 to figure out who my audience is.
• 5:20
  Number 3, the case studies are now going to be relevant.
• 5:23
  It's going to be engaging content, and it's also going to
• 5:25
  help my podcast to grow. And then of course, yes, for
• 5:29
  some of you who can afford it will have to go in depth on what
• 5:32
  some of the problems are. So bottom line, what I'm trying
• 5:35
  to say is that when I give you my number at the beginning of
• 5:37
  the episode and at the end of the episode, don't be afraid to
• 5:39
  call, you know, just call. And if you call and I sound like
• 5:42
  a scam artist and I'm trying to collect some money from you,
• 5:44
  just cut the phone and block straight block immediately.
• 5:48
  You know, as in protect yourself by all means.
• 5:52
  So let us go straight into answering Bolu Tunji's question.
• 5:56
  And now we're going to look for the frameworks for starting a
• 5:58
  business. Oh, by the way, I just want to
• 6:00
  address something when about her expectations.
• 6:02
  She wants to start a business and to not fail.
• 6:06
  OK, Primarily all of us will get into business.
• 6:08
  Definitely we want to succeed and we don't want to fail.
• 6:10
  But just know that there is no 100% recipe for making a
• 6:16
  business to not fail. Businesses failings because of
• 6:19
  complex number of reasons. But for me the one I like to
• 6:23
  harp on is sales. Whether you can sell or whether
• 6:27
  you can get other people to sell on your behalf, whether you can
• 6:30
  set up the systems, the processes to make sure that your
• 6:34
  business can sell and then thrive.
• 6:37
  So those are the sorts of challenges that I pay attention
• 6:39
  to. But I guess what I'm trying to
• 6:41
  say is some businesses will fail and that is OK.
• 6:48
  My concern is because some of us are afraid of failing, we do not
• 6:53
  even start now. That is the problem and that is
• 6:58
  the reason why on the podcast I keep talking about my framework
• 7:01
  for starting a business in three easy steps.
• 7:04
  OK, well, the steps are simple, but applying it may take some
• 7:07
  effort. And the framework for starting a
• 7:09
  business is number one. We want to make sure that we're
• 7:11
  selecting the right business to begin with because one more, if
• 7:15
  we start with the wrong business, wahala day as in
• 7:18
  serious wahala, so we need to start make sure that we're doing
• 7:21
  the right business #2 when you try and figure out is this
• 7:25
  business feasible? Is this thing profitable?
• 7:28
  Because sometimes the business can work, but the business is
• 7:31
  bringing cobble, cobble, and it's not even the kind of
• 7:33
  cobble. That's when you add everything
• 7:35
  together, you know, we'll be able to be something reasonable.
• 7:38
  So there are some people who do the business and yes, the
• 7:40
  business is going, I guess it's bringing the money, but the
• 7:43
  money is not worth my while. You know how much money is worth
• 7:45
  your while? You know it depends.
• 7:47
  It really depends. Like the example I gave a long
• 7:51
  time ago about wedding photographers.
• 7:52
  As a wedding photographer if you do one single event, OK.
• 7:57
  I don't know about now but back in my own day when I was active
• 7:59
  in the field if you do one event I able to charge the clients
• 8:04
  like one M 1.5. That's a sweet deal, the sweet.
• 8:08
  But then if you're an architect or if you're an engineer. 1.5 is
• 8:13
  rubbish if a 1.5 might be an insult.
• 8:15
  So you know, it depends. Who are you, what industry,
• 8:19
  what's the scope of the project, how old are you?
• 8:21
  What's your stage in life? How many children do you have?
• 8:24
  Are you single? So you know, it depends.
• 8:25
  So these are questions that we all have to answer for
• 8:28
  ourselves. So step one, make sure we have
• 8:30
  the right business. Steps 2, make sure that this
• 8:33
  thing is feasible and it's profitable.
• 8:35
  And then #3 my favorite selling frameworks.
• 8:38
  Can we sell the damn thing? Because if we find the right
• 8:40
  product or service and The thing is profitable, but we we don't
• 8:44
  know how to sell the thing, then sorry, you know, or yours, your
• 8:46
  own, like I'll give you an example, Facebook, this whole
• 8:50
  thing with social media networks, is that the right
• 8:53
  business? Yes, depending on your skill
• 8:54
  sets and everything. So Zuckerberg is there and
• 8:57
  others who are before him. Is this thing feasible and
• 8:59
  profitable? You know, in theory, yes, If you
• 9:01
  gather billions of people on the social network, you should be
• 9:04
  able to get money from them. But then the last thing selling
• 9:06
  framework, you know, can you extract value from the network?
• 9:08
  And unfortunately for what's this one called, before
• 9:14
  Facebook, there was this network called, is it Myspace, Abby,
• 9:18
  Myspace and all of them, them, all those ones, I wasn't on that
• 9:21
  one. My brother was on that one.
• 9:22
  So like Myspace and all of those ones, they couldn't figure out a
• 9:25
  way to extract value from the network.
• 9:27
  And so, you know, rightfully they died, but then Facebook was
• 9:30
  able to figure out a way to extract value from the network.
• 9:33
  LinkedIn has been able to find ways to monetize.
• 9:36
  So you can see that as a three-step thing, you know,
• 9:37
  right product or service is the thing feasible, then can we
• 9:40
  sell? Can we extract value?
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  Can we pull something out? If these three things are not
• 9:45
  there, then yes, your business will fail.
• 9:47
  Now, when it comes to right business, for those of you
• 9:49
  who've been listening for a while, you're really familiar
• 9:51
  with this part of my framework, you know, passion, skill set,
• 9:55
  market or environment gaps, passion.
• 9:58
  Is this something that you're passionate about?
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  I do not advise for people to go into business solely based on
• 10:02
  passion because whenever you start as a passion or as a
• 10:05
  hobby, when you start charging for it, the thing will cause you
• 10:08
  serious grief. Like you guys have heard about
• 10:10
  how some people are owning me some Ms. and I'm chasing them,
• 10:14
  you know, for the money to be paid.
• 10:16
  If these things are purely passion projects, then you can
• 10:18
  see how the thing will not be frustrating.
• 10:20
  Something that I used to do before for joy, let's say, OK,
• 10:23
  since I'm the mechanic, let's say fixing cars.
• 10:27
  Okay, well, in Nigeria, people don't fix cars as a hobby, but
• 10:29
  in America, people fix cars as a hobby.
• 10:30
  So for my American listeners, even though not many of you,
• 10:34
  let's use you guys. So let's say you're fixing a
• 10:36
  car. Now fixing cars, a hobby, you
• 10:38
  know, you work on your car. It makes you feel like a man.
• 10:40
  It makes you feel relaxed, you know, it makes you feel cool,
• 10:44
  you know, because of that, you know, wifey sees like you're a
• 10:47
  different man, stuff like that. But then when you set up a
• 10:49
  mechanic shop, it is different. Somebody drops the car on
• 10:52
  Monday. They want their car on Friday
• 10:54
  and the reason why they need it on Friday is because they needed
• 10:56
  to travel on Saturday or something like that.
• 10:59
  You now have to order parts. You now have to supervise boys,
• 11:02
  you now have to supervise volcanizer, panel beater,
• 11:05
  welder. You know, this is this.
• 11:07
  So before something that used to give you joy, you now wake up
• 11:09
  and you'd be thinking, oh God, I have to go to this.
• 11:14
  I have to go to my shop again. So that's the problem with
• 11:18
  passion businesses. But the thing about passion is
• 11:21
  if there's something a passion is about, it's going to give you
• 11:23
  staying power for when the going gets rough.
• 11:25
  So, you know, everything has, you know, problems and you know,
• 11:30
  it's head and tails, you know, 5050 or so, it's that kind of
• 11:32
  thing. But I'm just letting you know
• 11:34
  that if you're passionate about baking, it does not mean that
• 11:37
  when you start baking as a business person that the going
• 11:40
  is going to be smooth and that you'll be having fun in.
• 11:43
  Fact, a time will come that if you love baking and you start
• 11:47
  the business of being a Baker, a time will come when you will
• 11:50
  hate baking for some of you. Then let's see what did I say
• 11:56
  again? OK, skill set and then effort.
• 11:58
  Now the good thing about starting a business around your
• 12:00
  skill set and effort, whether you have passion for it or not,
• 12:05
  because I was a wedding photographer, but clearly I did
• 12:10
  have some skills when it comes to customer relationship sales.
• 12:14
  You know, these sorts of things, which is why some wedding
• 12:17
  planners started asking me come and train my people.
• 12:20
  And that's how it began. So if it's around your skill set
• 12:24
  or effort, it helps with building credibility.
• 12:26
  And then it also helps if you're the subject matter expert,
• 12:29
  because when you're the subject matter expert, you're going to
• 12:31
  be able to design effective sales processes around the
• 12:35
  thing. So OK, let me personalize it
• 12:39
  now. So, So Balu, if making hats is
• 12:42
  your passion, Yeah, good. That's, that's one good thing.
• 12:45
  It will give you staying powerful when the going gets
• 12:48
  rough. But just know that if making
• 12:49
  hearts is what gives you joy now, just know that there will
• 12:52
  be times that making hearts is going to give you stress, like
• 12:56
  you'll be making the heart for the client.
• 12:58
  And you'll be angry. So it happens to everyone that
• 13:00
  one is just normal. But the good thing is if that's
• 13:02
  your area of expertise, it's going to give you credibility.
• 13:05
  There's a way that when you're talking, people will just know
• 13:07
  that when it comes to fascinators, this babe is the
• 13:10
  very babe like you know it will. It will show, you know, because
• 13:16
  the things that we are experts about or that we know a lot
• 13:19
  about, it carries in the way that we talk, in the way that we
• 13:23
  can express ourselves. And so, you know, it shows.
• 13:26
  So skill set, effort, subject matter, expertise, all of that
• 13:31
  really, really, really important.
• 13:33
  And then like I said, it will help you to create an effective
• 13:36
  sales process because because Bolu, I'm assuming now that
• 13:42
  hearts and fascinators is your thing because you know how long
• 13:45
  it takes to make a heart or the things that are important in
• 13:48
  making a heart. It will go into your sales
• 13:51
  process. Like the way you handle the
• 13:53
  conversation when you're trying to understand what it is that
• 13:56
  the client wants, what it is that the client needs.
• 13:57
  You'll be asking the right kind of questions because it is your
• 14:02
  area of expertise. If I'm going to sit down with
• 14:05
  somebody now to do need analysis for making a heart, to be
• 14:09
  honest, I don't know what questions I'll ask.
• 14:11
  I mean, I'll ask, you know, what kind of occasions do you go to?
• 14:14
  I might ask what's your favorite colour?
• 14:17
  Let me see what else. Those are the only things that
• 14:19
  come to my mind. So like, I don't even know the
• 14:21
  right kind of things to ask. But you, if this is your area of
• 14:25
  specialty, you will now know the kind of questions to ask.
• 14:27
  Or maybe you even need to do wardrobe consultation ahead of
• 14:30
  time. You know, I don't know, those of
• 14:31
  you in the hot space, you know what the right kind of questions
• 14:33
  are. So this is the reason why under
• 14:36
  the right business, it's not just passion and skill set, but
• 14:39
  we need to make sure that we have the skill set and the
• 14:42
  expertise. Then also starting a business
• 14:45
  around gaps in the market or around gaps in the environment.
• 14:48
  So it's possible that maybe Niger babes like fascinators.
• 14:52
  Maybe it's possible that it's not just my wife or my
• 14:54
  sister-in-law who likes fascinators.
• 14:56
  Let's assume that maybe there's like, I don't know, maybe like
• 14:58
  15,000,000 babes in Niger who want fascinators but who do not
• 15:02
  know where to get fascinators. So in that case, now there's a
• 15:05
  market gap. So it might make sense for you
• 15:11
  to start the business because there's a gap in the in the
• 15:13
  market or there's something in the environment.
• 15:15
  So in a simple or let's say no simple summary, these are the
• 15:21
  things to consider when it comes to picking the right business.
• 15:24
  Are you passionate about the damn thing?
• 15:26
  But remember, passion isn't everything.
• 15:28
  Do you have some skill set? Do you have some expertise in
• 15:30
  this thing? Is there a gap in the
• 15:31
  environment? Is there a gap in the market
• 15:34
  that you're trying to fill? Another reason why gap in the
• 15:37
  market or gaps in the problems in the environment are important
• 15:40
  is because it helps us to figure out stage 2, which is existing,
• 15:45
  feasible or profitable. If there's a gap in the market
• 15:48
  and you start this thing, obviously you will see that
• 15:51
  there is some. There's some demand, there's
• 15:54
  some also. One moment, let me attend to the
• 15:56
  mechanic. I'll be back.
• 16:00
  OK, guys, sorry about that. The mechanic just showed up, so,
• 16:03
  you know, I had to attend to him and, you know, discuss, try and
• 16:06
  find out what's going on with the car now.
• 16:08
  And I've had to move because they started working on the car.
• 16:11
  So it's real noisy there. And unfortunately I can't find a
• 16:14
  quiet place to continue. So yeah, Windy and some other
• 16:18
  people around. So just the everyday adventures
• 16:22
  in making podcasts. Live out and in the field.
• 16:27
  So I just finished talking about how you should select the right
• 16:30
  business and let's see OK, product market fit.
• 16:34
  Now I have So the reason why looking for something you know
• 16:39
  where there's a gap in the market, why that's important is
• 16:41
  because it helps you to solve this whole thing of demand is
• 16:43
  that demand for this thing. So obviously if babes in Nigeria
• 16:47
  are feeling this whole heart idea, this whole fascinating
• 16:50
  idea, so the only way for them to get hurt is to go online, go
• 16:53
  to Marks and Spencer's, go to Amazon, go to a source, go to
• 16:57
  all these places and then order. Then you know, you stepping in
• 17:01
  like you're going to meet a lot of demand and that's going to be
• 17:05
  good for the business. So Step 2 is trying to figure
• 17:07
  out is this thing feasible or profitable?
• 17:09
  Now, in my own opinion, this is what I like to tell people that
• 17:13
  we should not get too fancy. We have to get involved in some
• 17:16
  sales motions. And when I say sales motion, it
• 17:19
  just means activity, things that you're going to be doing,
• 17:22
  whether physically, online or offline, you know, whatever.
• 17:25
  But we have to do some kind of activities.
• 17:28
  And we're trying to figure out, is there market validation here?
• 17:32
  Is the market telling us that this thing is a good idea?
• 17:35
  Because it's not about you, it's about the market.
• 17:37
  If you think fascinators are the best thing since sliced bread,
• 17:40
  but Nigerian babes are not feeling fascinators, they're
• 17:42
  nothing for you. Like you're dead on arrival.
• 17:45
  If Ghanaian babes like fascinators, then you're better
• 17:48
  off trying to see how you make your fascinators and sell them
• 17:51
  in Ghana rather than making fascinators and selling them in
• 17:54
  Niger. So that's what market validation
• 17:56
  is all about. Does the market think this thing
• 17:58
  is a good idea? Do people demand this thing?
• 18:00
  Do people like this thing? Is there room for growth with
• 18:03
  this kind of thing? And we're not going to solve
• 18:06
  this problem by staying in our house.
• 18:08
  That's why I say we need to get involved in some traditional
• 18:10
  sales motion. So it involves us going out,
• 18:13
  picking up the phone call, you know, making some emails or
• 18:17
  sending some WhatsApp, but we're not going to figure out the
• 18:19
  problem just by staying in the house.
• 18:22
  So whenever you hear me say market validation or product
• 18:25
  market fit, that is just summary.
• 18:28
  That's what we mean over here. Product market fit, This is my
• 18:31
  product or my service. Is this thing fitting the
• 18:34
  market? If it's Ghanaian babes or Benin
• 18:36
  Republic babes that like fascinator, then you can make it
• 18:40
  in Niger, but then your eye will be on Benin Republic.
• 18:43
  How can I sell it there Because the product is not fitting
• 18:46
  inside the Nigerian market. That's what product market fit
• 18:50
  is about. Then I also advise people,
• 18:54
  especially people who are going to be doing products something
• 18:57
  like this because to make fascinator, you know, you buy
• 18:59
  material, you buy suede, you buy Ankara, you buy this iron thing,
• 19:06
  what's it called? This iron thing that gives it
• 19:08
  body frame, You buy metal frame, you buy mesh to cover the, the
• 19:15
  fascinator. Now what again, you know, you
• 19:18
  buy material shop and then of course you also want to hire
• 19:21
  some people eventually. We're in the beginning, you
• 19:24
  know, you can make some of these things OK, like Magnisi.
• 19:26
  Now Magnisi lady who does the handbags.
• 19:30
  When she started off in Abuja, I was just her and her husband.
• 19:32
  So she's one that knows how the to do the stitching and the the
• 19:36
  tampering and the everything. But at least the husband could
• 19:40
  cut one or two fabric. Bob, where was I?
• 19:44
  How am I going with this? I guess what I'm trying to say
• 19:48
  is this. Therefore, some businesses that
• 19:50
  know how know how you spend money.
• 19:51
  For somebody like me who is a consultant, I don't necessarily
• 19:54
  have to spend money per SE to get things going because it's
• 19:58
  mostly my time and my talent that's going to be involved.
• 20:01
  But for this fascinating business now know how know how
• 20:03
  you're going to buy material. So this whole thing now of MVP
• 20:06
  becomes important. MVP is not Most Valuable Player.
• 20:09
  I mean, that's a basketball or football.
• 20:11
  But when we're in business, MVP means minimum viable product.
• 20:15
  Minimum viable product just means what is the smallest
• 20:17
  version of my idea that I can use to test whether this thing
• 20:22
  is a sweet product or a sweet service.
• 20:25
  Let me repeat, Minimum viable product just means what is the
• 20:28
  smallest, most workable idea that I can use to test whether
• 20:31
  this thing is going to work or not.
• 20:34
  So the catch now for Bolu Tunji is to try and figure out how can
• 20:40
  we use some small, small ideas to test whether people are
• 20:44
  feeling this fascinating idea, whether Nigerian babes like this
• 20:47
  fascinator, whether if we try fascinator like this or like
• 20:52
  that, we can make this thing catch in the Nigerian market.
• 20:56
  So that's what MVP is all about. So the different kind of
• 20:59
  tactics, if you go on Google or Gemini, you can research lots of
• 21:06
  ways of coming up with your own MVPS.
• 21:08
  But let me just throw a couple of ideas out here.
• 21:11
  Number one is presale. Like me, I like presales.
• 21:14
  So basically presale is when you show somebody that you see this
• 21:17
  thing, I have this thing, do you like this thing?
• 21:22
  Pay X amount. If you pay it, I'll now deliver
• 21:25
  it to you two weeks from now. That is presale.
• 21:29
  You go to somebody, you sell them on the idea, they give you
• 21:33
  money, you now use the money, go and arrange everything and now
• 21:36
  deliver the product. Presale is not for everybody
• 21:39
  because some people think it's fraudulent.
• 21:40
  If I had me the first time I had it, I was like, what kind of
• 21:42
  scam is this? And now sat and I thought and I
• 21:45
  just realized that, oh, you know, to be honest, for some
• 21:47
  businesses on a presale anyway, like when your Carpenter comes
• 21:52
  and looks around and you show him the picture and everything
• 21:56
  you know is based on the money that you give him that he will
• 21:59
  now take and used to build the thing.
• 22:01
  It's not as if the Carpenter already has the chair already
• 22:04
  has the table, already has the dresser, already has the thing
• 22:08
  waiting in the shop. You collect your money first.
• 22:10
  He will not use your money to arrange the things.
• 22:12
  So when I realized that, oh, OK, it's just a normal something
• 22:16
  like some businesses, they already do it anyway, that's
• 22:18
  when I stopped thinking that pre selling was a scam.
• 22:20
  So you can presale, you can go to church and you can say,
• 22:23
  sister busy this your heart looks wonderful.
• 22:26
  By the way, check this picture on my phone, this kind of thing,
• 22:30
  Does it look sweet? Do you like it?
• 22:31
  I like it. If I do go well with my peplum
• 22:34
  dress with my this my, this my that.
• 22:36
  So OK, I'm in business. This is what I do.
• 22:40
  If you pay me the sweet amount of 98,000 naira, I'll be able to
• 22:44
  deliver to you this exact thing, this picture that I'm showing
• 22:47
  you. But pay now January 1st, by
• 22:50
  January 14th we'll deliver this thing to you.
• 22:53
  That is a pre sale. When you go around and you start
• 22:57
  trying to pre sell on some people, it will give you the
• 22:59
  idea of whether this thing is a sweet idea or not.
• 23:02
  If you go to all the all the babes in your church, you talk
• 23:05
  to Sister Busy, you talk to Madam Amina, you talk to all of
• 23:09
  them who like wearing hats and who like wearing fascinators.
• 23:13
  You show them some designs and nobody seems to be tripped by
• 23:18
  your designs. You know, it could be a sign
• 23:19
  that there's a problem or maybe they are tripped by the designs.
• 23:22
  But then when you start talking money, you know they start doing
• 23:25
  the amount one kind. It could be a sign.
• 23:28
  OK, there's a problem with the price.
• 23:29
  But either way, without spending money by going out to try and
• 23:34
  presale, you will now begin to get some signs like OK, this
• 23:38
  place I'm about to choke my head.
• 23:40
  If I enter, will this thing lead to progress or will this thing
• 23:43
  lead to heartache? So that is trying to pre sale
• 23:46
  and you can see now MVP, the smallest workable version of
• 23:50
  your idea to see whether there's some demand.
• 23:52
  In this case, the MVP is picture.
• 23:54
  You go online, you go and check Instagram.
• 23:58
  Let's see who is fascinators now, does Kim Kardashian work
• 24:02
  fascinators? OK, OK, no, no, no.
• 24:05
  She's I don't think Kardashian wears fascinators.
• 24:07
  What's this lady? Now Beckham, David Beckham's
• 24:10
  wife now David Beckham's wife. Yes, that babe, she loves
• 24:13
  fascinators and hats. So you can go and check David
• 24:15
  Beckham's David Beckham's wife. You can go and check her, her
• 24:20
  Instagram and they go and screenshot and show some things
• 24:23
  ahead. Yeah.
• 24:24
  So that's it. So you all you have to do, just
• 24:26
  go do some research, show some designs and this can give you
• 24:32
  very good signs about whether you're going to make progress
• 24:35
  going forward or not. So that's presaling.
• 24:37
  Now another one is especially in the fashion space, I think they
• 24:40
  call it something collection. I can't remember what it is, but
• 24:43
  this is the idea basically that when you're involved in fashion,
• 24:46
  before you go and you raise millions and you create
• 24:49
  thousands of bags or whatever and then try to sell, you create
• 24:52
  one small batch first. And then you now try and sell
• 24:54
  that small batch. So that if you sell out the
• 24:57
  small batch quickly, you now know that OK, there's room.
• 25:00
  You now go and borrow money or raise money and then you build,
• 25:02
  you go and produce the rest. But then if you make the small
• 25:05
  batch and you can't sell it, you now know that there's no room
• 25:08
  here. And you just say, OK, this money
• 25:10
  is just some capital is lost capital.
• 25:15
  So that's also another thing that I advise people that if
• 25:17
  yes, your ideal thing is that you go and raise like 3 or 4
• 25:20
  million to do this thing. Is there a way that you can
• 25:24
  borrow maybe like 1020 K and make a small version or make a
• 25:28
  small collection? If you sell that one quickly,
• 25:31
  you now know that OK, there's room.
• 25:33
  You can now do maybe the next batch.
• 25:35
  The next batch should now be 50K.
• 25:37
  The next batch should now be 100.
• 25:39
  You know, small, small, small until ultimately you get to your
• 25:42
  dream version of your, you know, 3,000,000 naira business, you
• 25:46
  know, producing whatever it is that you want to produce.
• 25:49
  So that is also another way that we can get into it.
• 25:52
  If you don't want to pre sale, assuming you are like me 10
• 25:56
  years ago when I thought pre selling was a scam, you can
• 26:00
  actually go and raise money. Talk to your husband, you guys
• 26:03
  set aside, I don't know, 50K-150 or something.
• 26:07
  Produce a small batch one, produce like 10 fascinators and
• 26:11
  then go to church, go to the office, go wherever.
• 26:15
  Try and see if you can sell. So now that one is a, excuse me,
• 26:19
  that one is a traditional fashion strategy.
• 26:23
  Then there is, sorry, one moment.
• 26:26
  OK, 30 minutes on it. See how we're doing on time.
• 26:28
  I don't want this episode to stretch too much.
• 26:32
  Let's see let's see OK, local market testing now.
• 26:34
  So I used to see this one a lot in the UK, you know like with
• 26:37
  farmers markets and things like that.
• 26:40
  So basically you create your small batch and then you go to
• 26:44
  the market where there are buyers and sellers and then try
• 26:46
  and see how you're selling these things.
• 26:48
  So go to local boutiques, Bulu, try and see who is willing to
• 26:53
  stock some of your designs. If you have friends who owns
• 26:55
  boutique, you know even better for you.
• 26:57
  But The thing is, we're going to get some very good signs from
• 27:01
  the market because if The thing is in the boutique and people
• 27:04
  are not looking at it, there's a problem.
• 27:07
  If it is that they're looking at it and they're trying it and
• 27:10
  they love it, but then they're not buying it, you know there's
• 27:13
  a problem. And but either way, by putting
• 27:15
  it out, we'll be able to know what is going on.
• 27:17
  So since we're talking about fascinators, you can do craft
• 27:20
  fairs like in Abuja, there is family and fun, fun fair or
• 27:26
  something happens at BMO, BMO Parks next to the BMO Event
• 27:31
  Center. So the thing used to happen like
• 27:33
  every year, but it's been a while since I, I went there.
• 27:36
  To be honest, I don't like going for those things because you
• 27:37
  just go there and end up spending money because you go
• 27:39
  there and your children will say, oh, I want sweetheart.
• 27:41
  And then sweetheart costs three times the price.
• 27:44
  And then, oh, I want chicken. And then of course my wife will
• 27:46
  say, oh, that she wants some peppered fish or something like
• 27:50
  that. And you just go there and just
• 27:53
  end up spending a bunch of money.
• 27:54
  So me personally, I don't like going for those things, but I'm
• 27:56
  not saying abulu, those things exist, at least in Abuja.
• 28:00
  I've been out of Lagos for a while.
• 28:01
  So I'm not sure what's up in Lagos, but I'm surprised if
• 28:04
  there are those sorts of things, you know, craft fairs and things
• 28:06
  like that, then let's see what else.
• 28:10
  And then when people buy, we're just trying to get some
• 28:13
  feedback. You know, they love it.
• 28:15
  What works, what doesn't work. We're trying to get a sense of
• 28:17
  customer trends, you know, things like that.
• 28:20
  Remember that what we're trying to do here is we're trying to
• 28:22
  figure out this place where I want to troop my head.
• 28:25
  Is there room for progress here so that you won't go front and
• 28:30
  then you start regretting that, oh God, why did I get involved
• 28:33
  in all this? So these are ways of figuring
• 28:36
  out whether, so excuse me, sorry about that.
• 28:42
  I've been talking all day, you know, phone calls and all.
• 28:46
  So these are ways of fixing out, figuring out now whether this
• 28:48
  thing is feasible, whether it's profitable.
• 28:50
  And what we've been talking about now is MVP smallest
• 28:53
  version that we can put her into the market to see whether it is
• 28:56
  wrong. Now the final question, the
• 28:58
  final thing now boils down to sales.
• 29:01
  Can we sell the damn thing? That's my own part.
• 29:04
  That's the part I like the most because it is possible that
• 29:07
  Nigerian babes are feeling fascinators and we have a market
• 29:11
  of 1,000,000 Nigerian babes who love fascinators.
• 29:14
  By the way, this is me just making up conjecture just for
• 29:17
  the purpose of the podcast. I didn't go and do market
• 29:19
  research. So Balu, don't quote me that
• 29:22
  there are many non babes who like fascinators.
• 29:24
  So the minimum babes are like fascinators and I'm very good at
• 29:27
  making the thing. It does not necessarily mean
• 29:30
  that I can sell the thing myself or that I know how to set up a
• 29:33
  framework, processes and channels that will sell the
• 29:38
  thing. That's a separate question
• 29:40
  altogether. That is why I've told you guys
• 29:43
  in previous episodes that there are some people who set the
• 29:45
  whole thing up so that you have the technician on one end and
• 29:49
  then you have the salesperson on the other end.
• 29:51
  So Balu, it is perfectly doable and perfectly feasible that you
• 29:55
  are the one who is making all these things.
• 29:56
  You're supervising production and then maybe your husband is
• 29:59
  in charge of sales. It's perfectly fine.
• 30:02
  Or maybe your husband is like me who doesn't know the difference
• 30:06
  between the fascinator and the, I don't know, whatever it is.
• 30:12
  So it's possible that you might be in charge of production often
• 30:16
  and then your sister, maybe he's the one who is in charge of
• 30:21
  sales. So that is also a possibility.
• 30:24
  Oh, sorry, One moment I have to turn off something on my phone.
• 30:34
  OK, sorry about that. The mechanic is about to drive
• 30:36
  off with the car, and then I have a Bluetooth thing in the
• 30:38
  car. If I didn't turn off Bluetooth
• 30:40
  now, before I know it, the Bluetooth would just hijacked
• 30:42
  the phone and that would ruin the recording now.
• 30:46
  So it's a new framework. Now whether you can make The
• 30:48
  thing is one thing, whether you can sell The thing is another
• 30:50
  thing. So we need to sit down and have
• 30:52
  an honest conversation with ourself and then try and figure
• 30:55
  out all these things around selling.
• 30:58
  How are we going to be selling this thing?
• 31:00
  Are we going to be doing offline stuff or are we going to be
• 31:02
  doing online stuffs? How to figure that out?
• 31:06
  So offline, which is my preferred, I always like for
• 31:10
  people to start with the offline moves.
• 31:12
  The reason why I say start with the offline moves is that gives
• 31:15
  you. Qualitative.
• 31:17
  Info, When I say qualitative, it means quality.
• 31:21
  Because when you go and you're talking to somebody and you're
• 31:23
  trying to sell, you're looking at them one-on-one.
• 31:25
  You're hearing them over the phone, you're looking at them on
• 31:27
  the Zoom call. You get very direct signs from
• 31:31
  how people are talking, from the body language, from you know or
• 31:34
  not. You get very good quality data
• 31:37
  straight up about what people like, what they don't like, what
• 31:41
  they think is good versus what they think is bullshit.
• 31:43
  You will see live and direct, which is why I'm not a fan of
• 31:47
  Google service in the beginning because Google service people
• 31:51
  can type anything and you won't even know what is really choking
• 31:56
  people. So let's start off with offline.
• 32:02
  So start direct. The example I gave up going to
• 32:05
  church is our sister busy? I'm now in the business.
• 32:07
  So I now have hearts and I have this and I have that.
• 32:11
  Have that conversation. Have direct conversations.
• 32:14
  Talk to people within your network, talk to people in
• 32:17
  church, talk to people in the mosque, talk to people at the
• 32:20
  office, talk to people at secondary school association.
• 32:25
  You know, So let's say you went to FGC or Obama Shaw.
• 32:28
  The next time there's FCFGC or Obama Shaw meeting, talk to your
• 32:31
  babes. They're like, oh, you know, I've
• 32:33
  started this business, you know, support your baby, support my
• 32:37
  house, you know, that kind of thing.
• 32:39
  You want to get good quality data about what's going on in
• 32:42
  the market, then offline, go and talk to boutiques, want to talk
• 32:46
  to stores. Like back when I was in Lagos,
• 32:49
  we lived off, we lived on Amina Crescent that was off 20 St. 20
• 32:52
  Street is off Allen Ave. And again, Allen Ave. was famous
• 32:55
  for, you know, you understand, I know you people, you bad boys
• 33:00
  and girls, you understand what I'm saying?
• 33:02
  So that's what I used to live apart from being famous for all
• 33:07
  I put it now you know, people who traffic in alternative
• 33:10
  lifestyles. Let me just put it that way.
• 33:12
  Apart from being famous for that, there also are lots of
• 33:14
  boutiques, you know, on Allen Ave. and then on 20th St. and
• 33:19
  all these places. So let's say you live around
• 33:22
  there. It's not hard.
• 33:24
  At first you'll be afraid. You've never done this before,
• 33:28
  but you can walk into a store, introduce yourself.
• 33:31
  You like what this is? This is what I do.
• 33:33
  I'm trying to roll this thing out.
• 33:35
  I'm just trying to see if this thing will work.
• 33:37
  Can I put some samples here? What will it take for me to have
• 33:40
  samples in your store? You know, small, small, small,
• 33:44
  but you can actually go and start talking to other people,
• 33:46
  different boutiques, different stores to try and see what you
• 33:49
  can put there to try and see how you can get into get into
• 33:53
  retailers. Then in Lagos, fashion shows and
• 33:57
  bridal shows are still going on strong like this GTGT food and
• 34:02
  fashion fair. Hey, it makes a lot of sense
• 34:04
  now, because I'm sure that Balu Balu 2G for you to be doing fast
• 34:07
  nature business. I'm sure that you're you're
• 34:09
  correct, girl like you're, you're, you know, you're
• 34:11
  stylish, you're sophisticated like you know, what's up, you
• 34:15
  know, so this kind of things will definitely fit you GT food
• 34:19
  and fashion affair. You can go and get it stand
• 34:21
  there and put your fascinators there.
• 34:23
  You know, that's another way of selling and also getting good
• 34:27
  feedback. So brighter shows, events, all
• 34:32
  these lifestyle events, you know, all these, all these kind
• 34:34
  of things. There's also in Lagos, there's
• 34:38
  also makeup and something, something, something fair.
• 34:43
  I can't remember, but it's been a while.
• 34:45
  They used to do Lagos, Abuja, in Nugu and Makudi, but they've
• 34:50
  stopped doing in Abuja and I think they've stopped doing in
• 34:53
  Makudi as well. But I hear that a nugu is still
• 34:56
  goes on and I hear that Lagos is still goes on.
• 34:58
  So all these things I'm saying if you just use Google, you
• 35:00
  know, fashion fair, Lagos enter, you'll see things will come up
• 35:04
  on Google. Then from there you can now
• 35:06
  start strategizing. OK, when is the date?
• 35:10
  Where's the location, which will be convenient?
• 35:12
  Which one can I afford? And then you start planning so
• 35:14
  brighter shows in the events. Then you might also try personal
• 35:19
  styling sessions. I think you should.
• 35:21
  That might be a good way of selling some stuff.
• 35:25
  You know, as Sister Busy. I like this.
• 35:27
  You look good. This might work like this.
• 35:29
  It's my work like that. You know what?
• 35:31
  Why don't you come over to the house on Saturday?
• 35:33
  Let's have a personal styling session.
• 35:34
  I have different fabrics, I have materials, I have different ways
• 35:37
  that I want to try out. Why don't you come Saturday
• 35:40
  morning? Just, you know, we'll be quick.
• 35:42
  45 minutes, one hour Max. Let's have a look and let's see
• 35:46
  what beautiful ideas that we can come up with.
• 35:48
  There's some babies that really feel that kind of thing.
• 35:51
  So for people like me who have the fashion sense of a Ghanaian
• 35:54
  school teacher, because there's some women who are like that,
• 35:56
  you know, ignore them down on your market.
• 35:58
  But then there's some babes. I like to try out stuff like my
• 36:00
  wife gets surprisingly excited over these sorts of things.
• 36:03
  Like over her birthday I was like last year, I'll be two
• 36:06
  years, they organized them massage for her and, you know,
• 36:10
  for me. And she was so excited.
• 36:12
  I'm like, it's just massage now. Like, I don't understand.
• 36:15
  But basically there's some women who love these kind of things,
• 36:17
  styling this, trying on new dresses or pedicure, manicure,
• 36:23
  this cure that cure and testing on dresses and all these sorts
• 36:27
  of things. So try and look for those sorts
• 36:30
  of babes and do styling sessions.
• 36:33
  Then you can also do collaboration with other
• 36:36
  artists. Maybe one or two of your friends
• 36:37
  are doing some other things. Maybe you have a friend who
• 36:40
  sells dresses or something, you know, go and have a conversation
• 36:43
  with a friend. Is there a possible room for
• 36:45
  collaboration for things like that?
• 36:47
  So for me, I prefer and yes, how I put it, let me know, hide it
• 36:56
  if I can't hide it. It's my personal preference.
• 36:58
  So if I'm going to be working with any of you, you will find
• 37:00
  that that is where I'll start pushing you guys in the
• 37:02
  beginning. Because it's only when we lock
• 37:04
  down all these offline things that we get all the information
• 37:08
  that we need and all the data that we need for powerful
• 37:12
  strategies that we can now start doing online.
• 37:15
  It is only when you have done all this and you know what
• 37:17
  people like and you know what is moving that you now know how to
• 37:20
  craft the perfect online campaign or design the perfect
• 37:24
  flyer. Excuse me, Hope you guys are
• 37:27
  feeling me. This is the reason why I say
• 37:29
  offline first. That is where we go get good
• 37:32
  qualitative data. We get quality data.
• 37:35
  All right, then you can also go and do the online stuff.
• 37:39
  There's no need for me to go into online because all of you
• 37:41
  know, go and get your personal website, go and do your social
• 37:44
  media. You all know that, and there's a
• 37:47
  million other people. Who are there to teach you guys
• 37:49
  about how to do that? So don't ask me about that.
• 37:51
  Then the final thing is, sorry, one moment.
• 37:55
  OK, 40 minutes. Let me round up now.
• 37:57
  The final thing is the selling framework itself or the selling
• 38:00
  script. There has to be something that
• 38:02
  is going to guide your conversations when you're
• 38:04
  talking to potential customers. There has to be something that
• 38:08
  will guide you because in the beginning, trying to freestyle
• 38:11
  The thing is a recipe for disaster.
• 38:14
  The problem with freestyling is that freestyling is as the
• 38:17
  spirit leads. When you're in a good mood, it
• 38:20
  might go well. And if you're in a bad mood,
• 38:22
  things might go poorly. And if you remember to ask some
• 38:26
  things, then the conversation will be great.
• 38:29
  If you forget to ask some things, the conversation will be
• 38:31
  poor. When you come up with a
• 38:33
  framework, when you, when you come up with a, a framework and
• 38:41
  outline something to guide the conversations, you find that you
• 38:46
  are going to have a much more consistent selling process.
• 38:50
  And you'll be, let me just put it this way, you'll be selling
• 38:52
  consistently well most of the time because it doesn't depend
• 38:56
  on which side of the bed you woke up on or whether you
• 38:58
  remember this or you remember that.
• 38:59
  So we need to come up with a framework.
• 39:01
  They come up with a script. The script should be focused on
• 39:04
  doing a few things #1 who's your ideal customer?
• 39:08
  Who should we be pursuing? I should be there, part of the
• 39:10
  script, then need analysis. When you're having conversations
• 39:14
  with people, how can you figure out exactly what it is that they
• 39:16
  want? Because you have the skill, you
• 39:20
  have the talent. But if you don't do need
• 39:22
  analysis, well, you would design A fascinator that you think is
• 39:25
  good, whether the customer thinks it's rubbish.
• 39:27
  The reason why she thinks it's rubbish is not because The thing
• 39:29
  is rubbish is just because the design does not work for her,
• 39:33
  for her style, for her temperament, for her clothes,
• 39:36
  you know, for her, whatever. So need analysis, especially for
• 39:40
  you people who are designing these kind of things need
• 39:41
  analysis very, very, very important.
• 39:46
  If not, you spend 2 weeks designing something, materials
• 39:50
  cost you like 200 K, you deliver to the client, they open the box
• 39:53
  and then they will say what errant nonsense and the Inquirer
• 39:56
  will start is because you did the bad job of need analysis.
• 39:59
  Then you also need to be able to handle objections.
• 40:01
  Objections just means what are the concerns that people have?
• 40:03
  You need to be able to handle that in the conversation.
• 40:05
  Then you also need to be able to make effective proposal
• 40:08
  proposals and presentations. So that's what the final stage
• 40:12
  is about when we're worried about the selling framework or
• 40:14
  the selling script. Now, since this is 40 minutes,
• 40:16
  let me stop here so that I don't take up all of Balu's time when
• 40:20
  she's doing cooking and listening to this podcast.
• 40:22
  So Balu, thank you very much for listening to the show.
• 40:24
  Other people like Balu listening to the show who have questions,
• 40:27
  reach out. The phone number is here.
• 40:29
  Don't be scared. I'm not going to force you to
• 40:30
  pay for consulting services. I suspect that BOLO has money.
• 40:33
  So BOLO, when you call me, yeah, I I think I will charge you
• 40:36
  accordingly because you sound like you sound like an expensive
• 40:40
  babe because cheap babes don't make fascinators.
• 40:43
  So thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 40:45
  The number to call, the number to SMS, the number to send the
• 40:48
  WhatsApp to is 08064662140. The country code is +234.
• 40:55
  If you'd love to connect with me on LinkedIn, the name to look
• 40:58
  for establishing my IED. I'm also on YouTube, same name,
• 41:02
  and the podcast is also on YouTube sales for the Nigerian
• 41:05
  business person. So go there.
• 41:07
  We have over 1080 free episodes. So thank you very much for your
• 41:11
  time and attention. Let me head back to the mechanic
• 41:13
  and see what's up with my car and you guys should pray that by
• 41:16
  this time next year, I should be driving Brabus.
• 41:19
  If not Brabus, at the very least I should be driving
• 41:21
  Mercedes-Benz. I should be driving SLK,
• 41:23
  something sweet. All right, so I'll catch you
• 41:25
  guys in the next episode.