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Transcript

Trust & Familiarity: The Secret Sauce of Nigerian Sales · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Today I'd like to look at the
• 0:04
  question, is there such a thing as a Nigerian sales pitch?
• 0:07
  That's another way of asking, is there a Nigerian way to sell?
• 0:12
  I can't remember who sent in this question, to be honest.
• 0:15
  It's just a list of questions that I have right now.
• 0:18
  But I do know that several books have been devoted to the
• 0:21
  subject. And you do have some people on
• 0:23
  social media trying to say that this is how you sell in Nigeria
• 0:27
  and this is how you shouldn't sell now if you've been a
• 0:31
  listener of the show for a very long time, you know that I keep
• 0:34
  saying time and time again that sales principles are universal.
• 0:38
  So the sales principles for sales, selling, persuading,
• 0:43
  people having business conversations are going to be
• 0:45
  the same whether it's in Afghanistan, in Nigeria, in
• 0:48
  America or Australia. So the sales principles are
• 0:51
  universal. However, the application of
• 0:55
  these principles is going to be nuanced according to the
• 0:58
  context, according to the personal context, according to
• 1:03
  the social context, according to the cultural context.
• 1:06
  You know, there might be any different number of contexts
• 1:09
  that determine how these principles are applied.
• 1:12
  So yes, if you are in Nigeria or Afghanistan or in America, you
• 1:17
  should be paying attention to contextual nuance in order to be
• 1:20
  successful in sales or in selling.
• 1:25
  So if you're selling to a grandma, you're not going to go
• 1:27
  about it the same way that you're selling to teen girls and
• 1:30
  if you're selling to Asians. But in the general sense, you're
• 1:34
  not going to sell in the same sense that you will to
• 1:37
  Americans. Now I'm going to say something
• 1:40
  now that I'm going to keep hopping on while I'm making this
• 1:45
  podcast episode and that this is, it's difficult to tackle
• 1:49
  this kind of question without encroaching into stereotypes.
• 1:53
  So when I do encroaching the stereotypes, forgive me, it was
• 1:57
  not my intention to be close minded.
• 2:02
  I'm just trying to illustrate what is otherwise a difficult, a
• 2:08
  difficult conversation to have. You know, given that we're just
• 2:13
  talking about these things in the universal sense.
• 2:16
  So if we were face to face with a particular Nigerian or a
• 2:20
  particular American or a particular Asian, OK, now I know
• 2:24
  very little about Asian cultures.
• 2:26
  I'm not saying that if we had a particular situation on hand,
• 2:28
  I'll be able to say something that would be the most
• 2:31
  appropriate and honest to the situation.
• 2:33
  But while we're talking about these things in the universal
• 2:35
  sense, forgive me, I might encroach on some stereotypes
• 2:38
  here while I'm trying to provide examples.
• 2:42
  So sales principles, universal, the application is nuanced
• 2:46
  according to the context. We should pay attention to the
• 2:49
  context so that we can be successful at the sale.
• 2:52
  Now, the particulars of the sales principles in a very
• 2:55
  general sense are this and number one, people have to be
• 2:58
  familiar with, you have to be familiar with your product, they
• 3:01
  have to be familiar with your service.
• 3:03
  This applies whether it's Afghanistan, Nigeria, America,
• 3:10
  United Kingdom. People have to be familiar with
• 3:12
  you, your product or service. The people also have to trust
• 3:17
  you. This is just a general speaking
• 3:19
  in general terms here. They have to trust you.
• 3:21
  And it's going to be the same whether we're talking about
• 3:23
  Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon or Ethiopia.
• 3:29
  Then there also has to be a pre-existing relationship in the
• 3:32
  general sense and that applies whether we're talking about
• 3:35
  Canada, New Zealand or Australia.
• 3:41
  Now a caveat, these three things that I've spoken about so far,
• 3:45
  people being familiar with you, your product or your service or
• 3:48
  people trusting you having a pre-existing relationship.
• 3:52
  This is when we're talking about complex sales scenarios.
• 3:54
  Complex sales scenarios are typically where we're dealing
• 3:57
  with services whether we're the product or service has multiple
• 4:03
  users or multiple decision makers.
• 4:05
  And typically when we're talking about expensive stuff.
• 4:08
  So if we're talking about going to the market to buy an Apple or
• 4:12
  to buy a Gucci or to buy a sponge from the open market,
• 4:16
  these things do not apply. You don't need to know the
• 4:19
  seller per say, you don't need to know the product or the
• 4:21
  service. There's no need for trust,
• 4:23
  there's no need for pre-existing relationship.
• 4:25
  You've gone to the market, it is kind of assumed that because
• 4:28
  it's in the general market that the apple, the sponge, the
• 4:32
  whatever it is that you want to buy is not going to be defective
• 4:34
  in some way. So that takes care of the trust
• 4:37
  element and the whole pre-existing relationship thing.
• 4:40
  Not necessary because in Nigeria at the very least if you buy
• 4:44
  something that is really, really bad and it's terrible, at the
• 4:50
  very least you can go back to the market and you can talk to
• 4:52
  the what's it called. Markets usually have
• 4:55
  associations. You can go and talk to somebody,
• 4:58
  the person will talk to the market chairman or the market
• 5:00
  share lady and the person can be traced down and there's going to
• 5:03
  be some redress at least in Nigeria for when you buy
• 5:07
  defective stuff. So pre-existing relationships
• 5:09
  and trust, you know, not really essential.
• 5:12
  But then when we're talking about complex hill scenarios.
• 5:14
  So if it's a service, let's say wedding photography, it'll help
• 5:17
  if people have heard about your brand before or your product or
• 5:20
  service or if you can find your way to make yourself familiar.
• 5:24
  So you know wedding photographers posting on OK,
• 5:27
  well, I don't know if the wedding photographers use
• 5:30
  Instagram anymore because I'm not in the, I'm not in the
• 5:33
  business anymore. But I'm assuming using
• 5:35
  Instagram, some forms of social media to make people familiar
• 5:37
  with what it is that you do has to be part of the game.
• 5:41
  And then of course, through all that, you're trying to build
• 5:42
  some trust when you're having personal conversations with
• 5:45
  them, you're trying to show credibility and competency
• 5:48
  because you're trying to increase the level of trust in
• 5:50
  the situation. You're trying to create a
• 5:52
  relationship. So eventually when you get to
• 5:54
  the point of money, this is how much it's going to cost.
• 5:57
  This is what you're going to get.
• 5:58
  There's some level of trust and you can have the conversations
• 6:03
  safely and with your guard down. So that's an example about the
• 6:07
  service and like I said, some services complex multiple
• 6:13
  decision makers, Let's say life insurance for instance, you're
• 6:18
  selling life insurance, you're trying to sell to the husband or
• 6:21
  or to the wife. The husband might want to
• 6:23
  discuss with the wife, you know, concerning personal goals,
• 6:27
  financial requirements for the future or things like that and
• 6:30
  vice versa. The wife might also want to
• 6:31
  discuss with the husband. So you can see that this is not
• 6:34
  just a straightforward thing. It will be nice for people to
• 6:37
  get to know you before they hand over their millions of naira and
• 6:39
  they trust you and that you build some sort of relationship.
• 6:42
  And then when it's over, expensive stuff.
• 6:46
  You're selling a car, you're selling a OK, let's just leave
• 6:52
  it a car before I say something outlandish.
• 6:54
  So you're selling a car, you're selling an expensive computer,
• 6:57
  for instance. You see that some of these
• 6:58
  dynamics start coming back into play again.
• 7:01
  So these are principles that I've discussed so far.
• 7:05
  People knowing who you are, your product or service people
• 7:08
  trusting you, having a pre-existing relationship.
• 7:10
  This is only when we're talking about complex sales.
• 7:13
  If you're faced with a simple sales scenario, then it doesn't
• 7:15
  matter whether you're in China, America, Nigeria, Ghana or New
• 7:19
  Zealand. When it's a simple sales
• 7:21
  scenario, people pretty much just fall back to take it or
• 7:24
  leave it. So in Nigeria, if you're hugging
• 7:27
  too much, at some point the market woman or the market man
• 7:30
  is going to say, look dude, if you don't want to buy this
• 7:32
  thing, can you step please the other people who want to buy it,
• 7:35
  can you please get out of my shop, Please move away from
• 7:39
  here? You know, blocking people from
• 7:41
  coming to my store, That's because we're dealing with a
• 7:43
  simple sales scenario. So it's take it or leave it.
• 7:47
  You don't want to buy. I've told you the price.
• 7:48
  If you don't want to buy it, then half off, that's somebody
• 7:51
  else coming back. That is not the kind of thing we
• 7:54
  would do in the complex sales scenario.
• 7:56
  So for simple sales scenario, regardless of the context,
• 7:58
  whether America, Nigeria or Asia, at some point is going to
• 8:02
  be look, take it or leave it, this is it, take it or leave it
• 8:05
  Complex sales after a little bit more.
• 8:07
  Now I've spoken about 3 sorts of principles, people knowing you,
• 8:12
  your product or service, people trusting you and then having a
• 8:14
  pre-existing relationship. Now what that usually devolves
• 8:17
  into is there are certain number of tactics that we have to use
• 8:22
  and the tactics well, some people call them stages.
• 8:24
  The tactics or the stages are called by different names.
• 8:29
  But on the podcast, the terms that I've used before are
• 8:32
  prospecting, qualification, discovery, proposal, close,
• 8:37
  customer success and satisfaction, and then repeat
• 8:40
  business and referrals. Prospecting.
• 8:43
  That is the stage where you're looking to people who might be
• 8:45
  sorry, looking for people who might be interested in your
• 8:48
  product or your service. You're trying to figure out
• 8:50
  where they hang out in real life or online.
• 8:54
  So, you know, checking out Instagram or LinkedIn, that is
• 8:57
  actually part of prospecting as well.
• 8:59
  It doesn't have to be prospecting to say that you're
• 9:01
  going to the person's office or to the person's house.
• 9:04
  So in the real world or online, we're trying to figure out who
• 9:08
  they are, where they hang out, what they're interested in, and
• 9:11
  you're trying to figure out how to start the conversation.
• 9:13
  The best way to go about having the conversation all that is
• 9:16
  under the stage, prospecting. Other people might call it
• 9:20
  something else, but this is actually a very popular term.
• 9:23
  Now, the next two terms, qualification and discovery, a
• 9:26
  lot of people don't speak about it using those exact words.
• 9:29
  And it makes sense because if you're talking to an everyday
• 9:31
  ordinary person and say qualification and discovery, it
• 9:34
  sounds like you are talking about something real weighty,
• 9:36
  something real heavy. But all qualification and
• 9:39
  discovery is, is that you're trying to make sure if you're
• 9:42
  speaking to the right person who can make the the call about
• 9:47
  whether to buy the product or the service.
• 9:49
  Because there's no point talking to someone who might be
• 9:51
  interested. But the person is not going to.
• 9:56
  The person is not going to make the decision.
• 9:58
  The person doesn't have the power to say yes.
• 10:01
  That's the whole thing about you're trying to talk to
• 10:03
  somebody. The person is a a high net worth
• 10:06
  individual. You spend a lot of time talking
• 10:08
  to the person's PA, the person's personal assistant.
• 10:11
  You might have spent, you know, nine months, one year building
• 10:14
  relationship with the personal assistant, but at the end of the
• 10:16
  day, the personal assistant can be impressed by every single
• 10:20
  thing. But the personal assistant is
• 10:21
  not going to be the person who can stroke a check and say yes,
• 10:26
  we're going to buy supplies. So, so, so and so number.
• 10:29
  There are some personal assistants who have been given
• 10:31
  that authority by their bosses, by their employers and well of
• 10:35
  course that's part of the whole qualification process.
• 10:37
  Who am I talking to? What authority do they have?
• 10:39
  Is there a need for my product or service?
• 10:41
  Is there a problem that my product or service can help them
• 10:44
  solve? Discovery is the stage where we
• 10:46
  try and figure out how significant, how bad the problem
• 10:49
  is and whether there is an actual need for our product or
• 10:52
  service. Because sometimes your product
• 10:55
  or your service, well, it means a lot to you, boy.
• 10:57
  You're talking to potential customers and clients.
• 10:59
  Sometimes they're just curious. And even today it happened,
• 11:03
  we're walking through the store and my son saw one of these
• 11:07
  TV's, he said 3D plasma something, something, something.
• 11:10
  And was was a huge TV. Well, of course it was sitting
• 11:14
  on one of those things, postings that you put TV's on camera,
• 11:17
  what they're called, you know, those wooden bits of furniture
• 11:20
  that was maybe a foot and a half off the ground.
• 11:22
  But then even at that, the TV was almost, almost to my eye
• 11:28
  level. And I'm a fairly big dude, I'm
• 11:31
  almost six one. So you could see that was a
• 11:33
  massive TV. So anybody approaching us in
• 11:39
  that kind of situation would have well or well, of course
• 11:44
  there is some interest, but The thing is, do we need a new TV or
• 11:48
  do we need a larger TV? Yeah, that would help.
• 11:51
  But I'm sure you get the point that I'm trying to make who are
• 11:54
  merely curious. But we don't have a problem that
• 11:57
  is worth solving at the moment, or at least not worth throwing
• 12:00
  millions of naira at the problem.
• 12:02
  Because currently in that store I've seen some TV's that are
• 12:04
  3,000,000 naira, I've seen some 2,000,000 Naira.
• 12:07
  I've seen about 6-6, I think maybe even 7 million naira.
• 12:11
  And that's just not the stage we are right now in our lives.
• 12:14
  In fact, we also spend 7,000,000 now on the TV.
• 12:18
  My in laws would look at me, I say if I'm crazy and my mom
• 12:20
  would ask me like really? You guys had nothing to do with
• 12:23
  your money, but you spend 7 million naira on the TV anyway,
• 12:28
  so that's what discovery qualifications are about.
• 12:31
  You have to try and figure out does the person have a problem?
• 12:34
  Is the person just curious? Is the problem significant
• 12:37
  enough that the person is willing to suspend significant
• 12:39
  money behind it? Then of course proposal and
• 12:41
  close. That's why you tell the person
• 12:42
  this is what I can do for you. close.
• 12:44
  You try and collect the money, customer success and
• 12:47
  satisfaction. You want to make sure people are
• 12:48
  happy, repeat business and referrals.
• 12:51
  You're not really going to make money unless people buy again
• 12:53
  from you because it's a lot easier sale referrals because
• 12:57
  when they introduce people to you, those are easier sales as
• 12:59
  well. And it's best to deal with as
• 13:02
  much repeat business and referrals as possible because it
• 13:05
  costs time and money to go out looking for new customers.
• 13:08
  So these are the tactics that are involved.
• 13:10
  So now these are the things when we talk about selling in a
• 13:15
  Nigerian way or in an Asian way or in an American way or in a
• 13:19
  New Zealand way, these are the things that we now have to be
• 13:23
  asking the the nitty gritty, the particular context.
• 13:27
  How do I get people to be familiar with me, my product and
• 13:29
  my service in China? How do I get people to trust me
• 13:33
  in Lagos? How do I build a relationships
• 13:37
  with people in New Zealand? And when we get further down to
• 13:40
  it, prospecting, how do I go about prospecting in Canada that
• 13:45
  is not going to get me arrested, you know, because there are
• 13:49
  things that you might do in some parts of the world, it's
• 13:51
  perfectly fine. You go to other parts of the
• 13:52
  world, you do it and you get arrested or you insult someone.
• 13:56
  How do I go about having qualification conversations with
• 13:59
  someone in Asia, for instance? Because as I understand, sorry,
• 14:03
  forgive me, I know, yes, I'm encroaching on stereotypes here.
• 14:07
  As I understand it looks like a Chinese and Japanese brothers
• 14:13
  and sisters and not as, how would I say, expressive as those
• 14:17
  of us over here on the African continent.
• 14:19
  So, you know, we talk freely on some things, but as I understand
• 14:22
  it, in Japan, for instance, it's a matter of honour that you're
• 14:25
  not going to be able to ask some questions because you'll be
• 14:27
  hinting that the person is dishonourable or incapable of
• 14:31
  certain things. So you can ask some questions
• 14:34
  here and the man can answer, it's not a problem.
• 14:35
  But you have some questions of a Japanese man and he might be
• 14:38
  like, what are you hinting at? Are you trying to say I can't
• 14:40
  take care of my family or that I'm deficient in this way or
• 14:43
  that way? So sorry, forgive me again
• 14:46
  because I'm encroaching on stereotypes.
• 14:48
  Then you also try and have to figure out discovery.
• 14:50
  How do we have the money conversation?
• 14:52
  There are some cultures where money conversations are not
• 14:57
  necessarily taboo, but you can go about having very direct
• 15:00
  money conversations. So you know, it depends.
• 15:03
  So you have to try and figure out these sorts of things.
• 15:06
  What is the best way to make a proposal or to try and close the
• 15:11
  deal. In fact, this is something that
• 15:12
  I read in a book about how for Japanese people, for instance,
• 15:17
  when you go and you negotiate the contract and you sign and
• 15:19
  you go ahead. And in Japan, the signed
• 15:22
  contract actually is more like heads of agreement.
• 15:26
  So yes, they are binding and everybody's going to follow
• 15:29
  through with it honourably, but these are more like heads of
• 15:32
  agreement. So there are signals as to what
• 15:34
  needs to be done when you guys run into trouble.
• 15:37
  But it's not as if we are going to live and die by these
• 15:39
  documents. So the document is important,
• 15:42
  but it's not the same as in when you're dealing with a litigious
• 15:44
  culture like the Americans or maybe like the Nigerians.
• 15:47
  So for the Nigerians, you know, it's straightforward.
• 15:50
  If you sign that you're going to give me 50 pieces at this price,
• 15:54
  then you know you had better supply that because that's what
• 15:57
  is in the contract. Except if somebody decides to
• 16:00
  say, you know what, this can happen while not in control of
• 16:03
  anything. That may be a good Christian.
• 16:06
  Let's just ignore this. Let's ignore that so you can see
• 16:10
  how some of these cultural contexts now come into play.
• 16:13
  Then we now try and look for the best way to get repeat business
• 16:17
  and referrals because there are some contexts and there are some
• 16:20
  cultures where if you use, if you talk in the Nigerian way or
• 16:25
  maybe in an American way and you're trying to get repeat
• 16:27
  business from someone or referrals, it might come across
• 16:30
  like you are hounding on the person.
• 16:32
  So this is where we now start getting into the nitty gritty.
• 16:37
  How are Nigerians supposed to prospect?
• 16:39
  How do you have qualification and discovery conversations when
• 16:42
  you're talking to a Nigerian? What is the best way to make a
• 16:45
  proposal or to close? So these are the sort of things
• 16:48
  that we have to be culturally and contextually sensitive to
• 16:52
  and that we have to apply. Like I said, it is difficult to
• 16:56
  do in a general sense without encroaching on stereotypes.
• 17:00
  So I'm not trying to offend anybody here.
• 17:05
  OK, Now let's look at some examples.
• 17:10
  Let me just use only one stage of the items that we've
• 17:14
  discussed so far, unless if we can come up with an example.
• 17:17
  Again, Like I said, I'm going to come up against some stereotypes
• 17:21
  here, some generalities. I'm not trying to offend anyone
• 17:23
  and I'm not trying to make any kinds of assumptions.
• 17:26
  I'm just trying to flesh things out here.
• 17:28
  So let's look at the prospecting stage.
• 17:30
  Remember that prospecting is where you ask yourself, who
• 17:33
  might be interested in my product or service?
• 17:36
  Where can I find them? Where do they hang out online?
• 17:38
  Where do they live in the real world?
• 17:40
  How should I start conversations with them?
• 17:43
  What is the best way to start conversations with them?
• 17:45
  You know things like that. So at the prospecting stage 1,
• 17:48
  something, one thing rather, that might be on people's mind
• 17:51
  might be the appropriate greeting.
• 17:53
  Because eventually, whether you have a conversation with the
• 17:57
  person on LinkedIn or whether you go to the person's office or
• 17:59
  the person comes over to your studio or to your home, or you
• 18:02
  guys meet in church or at an eatery or something like that,
• 18:05
  eventually there's a matter of the appropriate greeting because
• 18:08
  like I've said time and time over here on the podcast that
• 18:10
  sales people will have to be professional by one of being
• 18:13
  professional. It's not just dressing
• 18:14
  appropriately, but making sure that you have the appropriate
• 18:17
  greeting relative to the context.
• 18:19
  Now for those of you, my brothers and sisters listening
• 18:21
  to the podcast who are from Canada, you know that the
• 18:25
  appropriate greeting is you approach someone, you call them
• 18:27
  by their first name and you extend your hand.
• 18:30
  So that is typical in commercial scenarios in Canada.
• 18:34
  In Nigeria, on the other hand, it depends on the context.
• 18:38
  That might actually be rude for you to show up, call someone by
• 18:42
  their first name, extend your hand and, you know, try to get
• 18:47
  things rolling. So it might be rude depending on
• 18:51
  the context. So in Nigeria, should you be on
• 18:54
  the first name basis? I'd say probably not.
• 18:57
  It depends. As a general rule, this is a
• 18:59
  commercial context. You should be differential.
• 19:02
  And then the person is going to bring you up.
• 19:04
  So you can approach and say, oh, Madam Felicia, nice to meet you.
• 19:07
  And then Madam Felicia says, ah, come on, stop that.
• 19:09
  We've been emailing back and forth Now just call me Felicia
• 19:12
  and you're good. You guys can start off the
• 19:14
  conversation. You're calling her Felicia.
• 19:16
  But then if I show up and I say, ah, Felicia, nice to meet you,
• 19:20
  and I stick up my hand, Depending on who the woman is,
• 19:23
  the culture, marital status, high level within the
• 19:28
  organization, that might be a problem or it might not.
• 19:32
  So it depends. So in Nigeria, first name basis,
• 19:35
  my recommendation probably not start off being differential and
• 19:39
  the other person is going to bring you up to speed so you can
• 19:42
  show up myself. Mr. Cooley, nice to meet you.
• 19:44
  And I said no, it's alright. Cooley is my official name.
• 19:47
  Most people just call me David. And then now you're good to go,
• 19:50
  you start calling him David. But in Canada, it's OK to show
• 19:53
  up and say David, nice to meet you and you extend your hand in
• 19:58
  Nigeria might be a problem. It depends.
• 20:01
  So the factors to look out, it depends on the ethnicity.
• 20:05
  Like I said, age, sex, position within the organization,
• 20:10
  relative status between you and the other person.
• 20:13
  So in Nigeria, there are some situations where the appropriate
• 20:16
  greeting might be good morning, Sir, or you address the person
• 20:19
  as a chief or daddy. That one has happened to me
• 20:23
  before, where I said, oh Madam, when I was talking to your
• 20:26
  husband and the woman flared up, wasn't an old hero couple and
• 20:31
  lady flared up and she was like, what do you mean that my
• 20:34
  husband, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah blah, he's older than
• 20:37
  you, older than your parents, we have grandchildren that older
• 20:40
  than you, blah blah, you will address him as daddy.
• 20:42
  That is respectful thing to do and blah blah blah blah blah.
• 20:45
  Now it seems kind of harsh, but The thing is, at the time I
• 20:48
  lived in Lagos for a while and yes, I should have known better.
• 20:50
  I should have come in. I should have said, daddy a
• 20:53
  Cairo, Mommy, a Cairo, a Cairo, you know, and you know the whole
• 20:58
  Yoruba greeting thing. So there are times when that is
• 21:01
  the more appropriate thing to do.
• 21:02
  You come in and say, daddy, Mommy, good morning.
• 21:05
  I'm not Mr. Adisoji. How are you?
• 21:10
  And you extend your hand might be a problem.
• 21:13
  So daddy, Baba, Ma, aunty, sister, Bros.
• 21:19
  It depends, depends on the context.
• 21:22
  So the whole thing about extending your hand, like I
• 21:25
  said, it depends sex, marital status, culture, age.
• 21:29
  It really really depends. For a northern culture, for
• 21:32
  instance, I can get away with coming into a room and then I
• 21:36
  extend my hand, address the person.
• 21:39
  But of course, if the person is someone of a higher status or
• 21:42
  older, all I have to do is extend my hand and cop my hand
• 21:45
  or extend my hand with a light bow.
• 21:47
  And that's not a problem with me extending my hand first.
• 21:51
  Back to the Yoruba example that I gave.
• 21:52
  In Western cultures, among Yoruba people, that might not be
• 21:56
  a good idea. You're better off coming into
• 21:58
  the room and then you bow or nod, and then you wait for the
• 22:03
  elder to extend their hand and that will determine what will
• 22:07
  follow. Because in fact, sometimes
• 22:09
  you're dealing with Westerners in, shall I say, higher status,
• 22:16
  older than you, something like that.
• 22:17
  You come in, you bow, and the woman extends for you to come
• 22:20
  forward. And actually she gives you a
• 22:21
  part on the back. So it's not even a a handshake.
• 22:24
  So for Canadians and Americans apart on the back, that might be
• 22:29
  condescending, you know, like, do you think I'm a pet or
• 22:32
  something like that? But actually in some Nigerian
• 22:34
  cultures, it's a good thing. You walk in, you do the
• 22:37
  greeting, the lady calls you for.
• 22:39
  She gives you a part on the back.
• 22:41
  It's good you guys are making progress.
• 22:42
  You know, she doesn't perceive you to be a threat.
• 22:44
  She's willing to have the conversation with you.
• 22:46
  So yes, all these things I'm talking about can be complicated
• 22:50
  because it sounds complicated, especially if you're not a
• 22:52
  Nigerian. I think for Ghanaians, listening
• 22:54
  to the podcast, you know, Ghanaians, Cameroonians, you
• 22:57
  guys probably understand because you guys have some similar
• 23:00
  version of all these dynamics that are going on.
• 23:03
  So if you want to sell to Nigerians or if you want to sell
• 23:06
  to Canadians, you know you are in Nigeria, you move to Canada
• 23:08
  or whatever. You have to be observant.
• 23:11
  Sometimes they help. If you have a local guide, not
• 23:14
  necessarily someone who's going to accompany you everywhere all
• 23:17
  the time, but at least someone that you can call to ask
• 23:19
  questions like, oh, I did this, this happened.
• 23:21
  Was that right? Was that appropriate?
• 23:23
  What was the wise thing to do? What was the better thing to do?
• 23:26
  If you're able to do some research beforehand, luckily the
• 23:30
  Internet, YouTube, there are lots of avenues that we can do
• 23:33
  lots of research on to make sure that we do not.
• 23:37
  We're not culturally inappropriate in business
• 23:42
  situations, but the bottom line is this, do not take your
• 23:47
  cultural assumptions into commercial or sales situations.
• 23:51
  So I as a team man should not assume that because team people,
• 23:57
  I'm from the middle belt part of the country that because this is
• 24:00
  how we middle belt people roll, this is how we have
• 24:02
  conversations, this is how we engage with people.
• 24:04
  I should not assume that if I go to Katuna and I'm trying to sell
• 24:07
  something that I should start off conversations the same way.
• 24:10
  If you are coming from Sokoto and you're trying to sell in
• 24:14
  Lori, do not assume that things just happen the same way.
• 24:18
  So we should be ready. We should observe, have a local
• 24:21
  guide if you can do some research, but don't assume that
• 24:25
  things just happen here the way that it happens back home or
• 24:29
  amongst your people. So for a Nigerian young man like
• 24:33
  me, I'm able to get away with some stuff.
• 24:35
  I'm able to walk in and say, hey boss, how you doing now?
• 24:37
  Nice to finally meet you or good afternoon Sir or good afternoon
• 24:41
  man. You know things like that.
• 24:44
  It might be out of sync. I was trying to do that in
• 24:46
  Scotland and in fact I ran through trouble.
• 24:49
  Well not really trouble once because there was this lady dark
• 24:54
  skinned like us. So I just want, I said our
• 24:56
  sister good morning and then she looked straight at me.
• 24:59
  She said we are not all Nigerians and then she walked
• 25:01
  away you know she was offended so but in Nigeria it's not a
• 25:05
  problem. I woke up with someone and say,
• 25:07
  hey, good morning sister. And it's not a problem.
• 25:08
  She's not offended. But in Scotland I tried that.
• 25:11
  Maybe she was, even though she was of African descent, maybe
• 25:15
  she was one of the people from the Caribbeans, for instance.
• 25:17
  Or maybe she was OK Well, she didn't sound black American, so
• 25:21
  let's just say she might have been Caribbean.
• 25:23
  So yeah, in Nigeria it works. In Scotland it doesn't work.
• 25:29
  So yeah, that's it. Pretty much.
• 25:32
  That's it. Observe.
• 25:34
  Get a guide. Do your research.
• 25:36
  So that's all for today folks. Connect with me on LinkedIn.
• 25:39
  My name is Tamashima Ayede. I'm the host of the show.
• 25:43
  Don't worry about the spelling of my name.
• 25:44
  You can confirm that from the link where you're listening to
• 25:46
  this episode. Also, connect with me on
• 25:48
  WhatsApp. I love hearing from you guys.
• 25:50
  The number is 08064662140. The country code is +234 for
• 25:57
  those of you who are not Nigerian.
• 25:58
  Thanks for your time and attention.
• 26:00
  I'll catch you guys at the next episode.