Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Beyond Packaging: Honesty and Value for Nigerian Business Growth
Transcript
- 0:01Today on the podcast, we're going to look at honesty, trust
- 0:04and confidence, how that helps us to sell better.
- 0:08We're also going to look at presentation skills, packaging.
- 0:12When we say packaging, we mean in the Nigerian context, you
- 0:15know, when we talk about things like, you know, how you arrange
- 0:18yourself or how you brand yourself, packaging like that
- 0:21and then also dealing with abusive clients.
- 0:26So that's what we're going to be looking at today.
- 0:28You can see that it's a mix of all kinds of things, honesty,
- 0:30trust, confidence, presentation skills.
- 0:33How do you show yourself packaging?
- 0:34How do you arrange yourself and then dealing with abusive
- 0:38clients. Hello and welcome.
- 0:40My name is Tava Shima Ayedi. I'm the host of the podcast
- 0:43Making today's recording at Home.
- 0:44It's a weekend, so there will be noise in the background.
- 0:47And if you'd love to connect, you can call, send a text
- 0:50message or a WhatsApp message on 080 64662140.
- 0:56Also subscribe Spotify, YouTube, Apple or any player of your
- 1:00choice. Now the reason why we're looking
- 1:03at all these things again, honesty, trust, confidence,
- 1:07presentation skills, packaging. How do you arrange yourself
- 1:10dealing with abusive clients is because on the radio show, you
- 1:15know, people call in, not on the podcast or on the radio show
- 1:18because you can't call me. Now on the radio show, people
- 1:21call in. So on the radio show, some
- 1:23people called in and these are precisely what some of the
- 1:26caller comments were about. You know, this was this was two
- 1:29weeks ago. So some of these things are
- 1:32really important. So I said, let me just come and
- 1:34share over here with my, you know, my podcast audience.
- 1:38So there was one caller you do now you do called in and he was
- 1:45talking about the importance of diagnosing honestly.
- 1:49Now, let me give you the context.
- 1:51We had been talking about how another caller was a generator
- 1:56mechanic, how he can build his business.
- 1:59And I was talking about how you do traditional sales motions,
- 2:02you know, prospecting, direct outreach, things like that.
- 2:05You know, some of you will say that isn't it, isn't it too
- 2:08technical? But no, it's not technical.
- 2:09These things apply to every single industry.
- 2:13You sell bread, you can do prospecting and direct outreach.
- 2:17You sell catfish, you can do it. You want to start up your POS
- 2:21business, you know it's the same.
- 2:23You want to start your fintech or your whatever, it is the
- 2:26same. These principles apply.
- 2:28It's just that the mechanic is going to do direct outreach and
- 2:31is going to be doing these sales motions in a different way from
- 2:34the person who is running a fintech or a startup or a
- 2:38consultancy practice or a pharmacy.
- 2:40But we all gas the pass through these motions.
- 2:42We all do so now as a context. So it all called in now to say
- 2:49that, you know, everything that I said is on point, but that he
- 2:52wants to stress that mechanics that they should just and people
- 2:57who do handiwork, they should learn to just diagnose honestly,
- 3:00because too many of them show up and cause problems where there's
- 3:04no problem or say something that is a problem when they should
- 3:07not be. And so because of that, trust
- 3:10gets ruined in the process. And it was a very important
- 3:13thing that you do said. So I emphasized it on the radio
- 3:15show to say that, look, this thing that you do said last
- 3:17week, it actually is on point to is correct.
- 3:19Because when we look at things from a traditional sales and
- 3:22business development perspective, we're not trying to
- 3:25get somebody to buy one time. So let me repeat, when it comes
- 3:29to traditional sales, a business perspective, I'm not trying to
- 3:32collect deposit now, All right. I am trying to collect deposit
- 3:38today and I'm hoping that I'll be able to collect money next
- 3:42month, maybe next six months. Bottom line, I'm trying to keep
- 3:46this person around because selling is hard, Attracting
- 3:49customers is hard. So traditional sales people, we
- 3:52do everything possible to make our job easy so that we don't
- 3:55keep selling all the time. So we don't try and capture one
- 3:58big fish now and then collect millions and then we don't hear
- 4:00from the person. Today, the goal is to capture
- 4:03one big fish and collect millions now, collect millions
- 4:06next year, collect millions again, and collect millions the
- 4:09year after that. You see how it works?
- 4:11Because the more people that I have within my ambit and I'm
- 4:13collecting steady, steady, steady recurrent money,
- 4:17recurrent money, I can plan. Life gets easy.
- 4:21I can have a conversation with my wife and say, oh, you know
- 4:23what? Next?
- 4:24More school fees. Don't worry, this payment is
- 4:26coming in. This one is covered.
- 4:28This, this, this, this, this, don't worry, this one is covered
- 4:31because recurrent income, I can plan.
- 4:35So for salespeople, traditionally that is the goal.
- 4:40The goal is repeat business. Let this guy come back again and
- 4:43again and again, and then referrals as this guy is coming
- 4:48back again and again. Let him be telling his friends,
- 4:50his family members, his associates.
- 4:52It will make my job a whole lot easier if I start off January.
- 4:57I did business with 50 customers last year and then last year.
- 5:02This year, January 30 of them have already called me.
- 5:05This is going to be a sweet year because there's some revenue
- 5:10that I can be looking forward to.
- 5:12Now, if of those 30, let's say even if it's only 10 of them,
- 5:17they refer somebody already, the year is starting off sweet.
- 5:23So that's the goal. And this applies whether you are
- 5:26doing startup, doing fintech, doing consultancy, doing
- 5:31photography, doing catfish, doing copywriting, doing
- 5:38whatever it is that you do building contractor.
- 5:41It's the same. We want people to keep coming
- 5:44back again and again. I want them to send us people.
- 5:48Now. If we have not built trust in
- 5:51the process, there will be no repeat business and referrals.
- 5:55We will not be able to have planned cash flow like OK,
- 5:58January, I suppose collect like this, this, this February, I
- 6:03suppose collect like these, these, these much.
- 6:06It'd be like say this amount will enter my account, won't be
- 6:09able to do that, won't be able to budget.
- 6:13So it's not just for mechanics, it's for the rest of us.
- 6:16Honestly, in our work, we're trying to build trust here.
- 6:19If there's no problem, say there's no problem.
- 6:21Where there's problem, say there's a problem.
- 6:23Don't over diagnose. And for mechanics, I gave a very
- 6:28simple formula. Mechanics are people who do
- 6:29handiwork. Always tell them, OK, Olga,
- 6:32yeah, I'll solve this problem. But just in case I discover any
- 6:35problem, any extra problem, should I tell you or should I
- 6:37keep quiet? Some people will tell you,
- 6:40mechanic, you started again. I say fix my Boris, just fix it
- 6:44and give my car back to me for that person.
- 6:46Fix and give you back for the person who says if you say
- 6:49anything, let me know. We cannot educate that person.
- 6:52Say, Olga, we fix this. But you'd be like say we should
- 6:56check this, we should check this, we should check this and
- 6:58have that honest conversation in your own professional opinion.
- 7:01So you do was on point. Whatever you do, diagnose
- 7:06honestly, we're trying to build trust.
- 7:09The goal is they should buy again.
- 7:12And the goal is after a while they should send their friends
- 7:15or their side chick or their whatever shot.
- 7:18If you send us some business, that's the whole goal.
- 7:21Then with that in mind, I also mentioned that people who do
- 7:25handiwork, you know, mechanics, plumbers, those sorts of people,
- 7:28if you try and have in mind all I put it have in mind like a
- 7:37service maintenance culture, you know, more or less.
- 7:39So coming up to check up on people, you know, things like
- 7:42that, it's because OK, let's say servicing somebody says services
- 7:46the car 1st of January. Well at least in night in Abuja
- 7:53traffic is not bad compared to Lagos.
- 7:55In Abuja we have traffic, but Abuja traffic is all right
- 7:58compared to Lagos. So you can expect in Abuja
- 8:01reasonably you can go like four months before you service your
- 8:03car. Don't try that in Lagos.
- 8:05If you try that in Lagos, your engine will knock, severe
- 8:08knocking. And when I was in Lagos, you
- 8:11used to see it all the time you'd be on 3rd Mainland bridge
- 8:13and you see that some poor idiot, his cars broken down or
- 8:18the gas blowing a gasket or something.
- 8:20But in Abuja you can expect a service every four months.
- 8:22So for mechanics, people who do handiwork, it's not a bad idea
- 8:28to make it a part of your business culture, your follow up
- 8:31culture to be calling people around these times when they
- 8:34should be coming up for their maintenance anyway.
- 8:36So somebody does 1st of January to come and work on their car,
- 8:39they do servicing. Maybe you call like on the 14th.
- 8:44How far? Nothing that we did on the cash,
- 8:46everything is cool, nothing is broken.
- 8:48OK, no Allah, no problem. Then maybe in months 2, you
- 8:53know, two weeks in, like on that kind of February 14th Bros,
- 8:56happy Valentine's Day, blah, blah, blah, just say my greet
- 8:58you. Then March you're calling again
- 9:01is a Bros you don't tell you know, we suppose service like
- 9:06around that kind every 3 three months.
- 9:08So we know how far can we schedule something for this
- 9:10month. So that's the scope.
- 9:13So whether you're a mechanic or you're a plumber or you're a
- 9:16consultant, the idea is still the same.
- 9:19Remember, it is called repeat business and referrals.
- 9:25The goal is recurrent income. It will help us to plan our cash
- 9:29flow. It will help us to budget.
- 9:30It will help us to arrange our life so that we'll stop that
- 9:33thing off. You know, it's now January 21st,
- 9:38you're already sweating that OK money for February.
- 9:40We don't know where The thing is coming from.
- 9:43So how's it do then? Adam called from here.
- 9:47It also in Abuja and and what he took away from all the stuff
- 9:51would be we'd been talking about was confidence in preparation.
- 9:54Sorry, I said preparation in presentation.
- 9:56And yeah, when you're making a presentation or a sales speech,
- 9:59you know, you guys appear confidence.
- 10:02Yeah, because it's important for closing business.
- 10:06But then I don't mention something, the thing prick my
- 10:08mind and I say, you know what, I need to come back and talk about
- 10:10that. So he said that appearing
- 10:13expensive because you know those were talking about confidence in
- 10:16presentation. This whole thing of packaging
- 10:18now came into it. You know how you arrange
- 10:20yourself because Adam was talking about how his oger said
- 10:24that you go and get a plumber to solve something in the office
- 10:27and then he went to go and get a plumber who looked on point like
- 10:32this guy looks professional. Then he brought it.
- 10:34So I say it brought him. Then your guy look at this
- 10:39plumber. I look up and down.
- 10:40I say Oger, you realize that you go be expensive small.
- 10:46So the thing was weighing on Adam's mind and so Adam decided
- 10:50to bring it up. Can appearing expensive be a
- 10:53problem? The answer, if you've been
- 10:57listening to the podcast for any length of time, you'll be
- 10:59surprised. The answer is it depends.
- 11:02It's not one of those things that is a fixed answer by my own
- 11:04opinion. Not really.
- 11:06If you show up to your place and people are saying you're too
- 11:11expensive, then from a sales and business development
- 11:14perspective, traditional sales and business development, you
- 11:17are marketing in the wrong place and you are appealing to the
- 11:21wrong clientele. Let me repeat from a traditional
- 11:25sales and marketing perspective, if you show up to a place and
- 11:29everybody's like Kai Bros, you hash, you're too expensive,
- 11:35chances are you are marketing in the wrong place and you are
- 11:39appealing to the wrong clientele.
- 11:42So back in the good old days when people would sell Xerox
- 11:45photocopier and stuff like that, of course, Everly you will
- 11:48always get price objections, people saying you're too
- 11:51expensive. But The thing is there are some
- 11:53kind of neighborhoods that by the time you show up with a
- 11:55Xerox photocopy, you know they don't want to see you because
- 11:59you know you're too expensive. They have other ways of getting
- 12:04the photocopying needs met. You know, back in those days now
- 12:08people don't do photocopier anymore.
- 12:10So what you do is you will now remove yourself from that zip
- 12:14code. You now remove yourself from
- 12:16that local government area, remove yourself from that
- 12:18portion of the city and go to other places where it looks like
- 12:23people around here use photocopying machines.
- 12:26Then you can go and start selling there.
- 12:29So the challenge I want to give to you listening to the podcast
- 12:32today is if you're getting nothing, let's say you're a
- 12:35plumber, you're looking to, you know, packaging is on point.
- 12:40Every time people see you, they're afraid, they say
- 12:42blessing, you're expensive. Stop hanging around that part of
- 12:45the city. Move to another part of the city
- 12:47where people will appreciate a plumber that is on point.
- 12:51That you look clean, you smell fresh, you sound fresh.
- 12:56You talk like, you know, like you went to school, like, you
- 12:58know, what's up? Move to another part of town.
- 13:03Don't stay in your place. You need to start marketing to
- 13:06new people. Now, of course, we need to learn
- 13:09how to deal with pricing objections because if you're
- 13:12that kind of plumber, because these people, they do exist.
- 13:16When I was serving in Kano, I was quoting because I don't know
- 13:19anybody in Kano. So there's this correct guy, His
- 13:22name is Didier from Cameroon. He was mechanic, although I used
- 13:29to tell him that, look, bro, stop calling yourself mechanic.
- 13:32You're an engineer. And he now educated me that,
- 13:36look, this is what an engineer does.
- 13:38This is what a mechanic does. An engineer is the person who
- 13:42has the knowledge and is able to build the system.
- 13:45That is why they're called engineers.
- 13:47Then there are people who know how to repair the system
- 13:51whenever the system breaks down. And he said I didn't go to
- 13:55school to learn how to build the system, but I went to school
- 14:00because I know how to diagnose when something is wrong and I
- 14:02know how to fix it. So yes, I deal with fancy
- 14:06because used to deal with big, big engines, you know, not I
- 14:09better pass my neighbor not, you know, 1.5 KVA big engines.
- 14:14So they do say, you know, yes, I deal with all that big stuff,
- 14:19but I'm not going to lie and call myself what I'm not.
- 14:23I'm not an engineer, I'm a mechanic.
- 14:26ISD day was also very clean. His overalls were always blue.
- 14:30I don't know how he did it. He will go out, he will come
- 14:33back. Of course, you know how it is
- 14:35now, engine oil, sand, everything.
- 14:38You know he had like 4, you know, you soak it and wear the
- 14:42next one and before you know it, in three or four days, no wonder
- 14:46was soaked. Sand, mud, engine oil, grease,
- 14:52it will be blue again. He will dress in his blue and
- 14:55blue, whether his boots carry his.
- 14:58What do you call that thing? You know that like 2 box and
- 15:02then will be out. So there are people like that
- 15:04who are, you know, building the handiwork business in Nigeria
- 15:09who are doing it on a professional level, on a very,
- 15:11very professional level. So for that kind of person, now
- 15:16somebody will look at you and tell you that, look guy, I can
- 15:19tell you expensive. I just want somebody who's going
- 15:22to fix this thing for me cheaply.
- 15:24Now you have a situation where there's a pricing objection, an
- 15:28objection. So excuse me, an objection is
- 15:31any reason that somebody gives for not wanting to go ahead with
- 15:35the sale, with the agenda, with the matter dies on hand.
- 15:39So if you're toasting a babe and she says I like you, but I want
- 15:43to graduate first class, I need more time to study, that is an
- 15:46objection that needs to be overcome. 1 moment.
- 15:50All right, sorry about that. One of my kids needed my
- 15:55attention. So as I was saying, you're
- 15:57toasting a babe now. She says not to graduate first
- 15:59class. My parents sent me to school to
- 16:01come and do boyfriend, girlfriend.
- 16:03They sent me to graduate first class pharmacy.
- 16:06That is an objection. You go and meet somebody is your
- 16:10boy half and I'll buy my perfume.
- 16:12And the person saying do you have easy Miyaki?
- 16:14You say yeah, I have easy Miyaki is how much you say it's
- 16:17400K450ML. The person says what if I leave
- 16:23here and I go to campus gate, I'll see easy Miyaki there also
- 16:28150ML but they will sell it to me 150K.
- 16:32That is a price objection. If you people are in church
- 16:37committee meeting, you're trying to plan for harvest, you think
- 16:41that this is the best way we should go about doing harvest
- 16:44for the year 2025 or 2026. And then people are saying
- 16:51people are blocking your proposal, whatever it is they
- 16:53say that is an objection. So when I'm in business or in
- 16:56any aspect of life, we always face objections.
- 16:59And it's a good idea to learn how to deal with objections
- 17:02before they come up because the worst time to deal with an
- 17:06objection or the worst time to think about dealing with an
- 17:08objection is when it happens. So always learn how to deal with
- 17:11it before the thing comes up. Be prepared.
- 17:16All right, So sorry. 1 moment. OK, I'm back.
- 17:22Sorry. I beg You guys should know Rex.
- 17:24The kids again. So where was I?
- 17:28Hell. Objection.
- 17:29So if somebody looks at you as somebody who does handiwork,
- 17:32mechanic, plumber, Carpenter. What else?
- 17:37Foreman. Yeah, let me say Foreman.
- 17:39You know, people who you know, work on building sites.
- 17:42Like you're not the bricklayer, but you're the one who's
- 17:44supervising the bricklayer. Supervising everybody.
- 17:47Now this is the value proposition that you guys have.
- 17:50This is the value that you bring to the situation.
- 17:52You guys typically replace things, you refurbish things, or
- 17:56you solve problems one time. Let me repeat for those of you
- 18:00in this situation, plumber, electrician, Carpenter,
- 18:04handyman, foreman. You guys typically either
- 18:08replace things, refurbish things, or you repair things one
- 18:13time. So first of all, this is what
- 18:16you do when somebody gives you an objection.
- 18:18You're always leaning. So if somebody says, bro, the
- 18:21way I'm seeing you be like, say you expensive or you don't say,
- 18:25yes, I'm expensive. That's pompous, is somehow is
- 18:28rude. You're full of yourself, you
- 18:31know, you laugh it off. He said, yeah, of course I do
- 18:37charge more than most of my colleagues.
- 18:40And here is why. OK, now you don't have to sound
- 18:43as formal as me because I'm a very, I'm a fairly formal
- 18:47fellow. So I sound formal most of the
- 18:49times. But you don't have to sound
- 18:51formal, say the way that it will be sweet in your mouth, but you
- 18:55acknowledge somebody says you're expensive.
- 18:57You say, yeah, I do charge more than most of my colleagues.
- 19:00And here's why. Because usually when there's a
- 19:04problem with plumbing, with mechanic, with whatever,
- 19:09whatever, whatever, the way we can solve the problem is, we can
- 19:13either replace what is broken, we want to buy brand new, or we
- 19:18refurbish this thing, let us patch it, let's service it and
- 19:22say we can manage, or we look for a way of solving this
- 19:25problem one time so that it never occurs again.
- 19:31I am one of those XYZI, am one of those foremen.
- 19:36I am one of those mechanics. I am one of those plumbers, I am
- 19:41one of those borehole driller. I am one of those, you name it,
- 19:47who likes to make sure that we solve the problem one time so
- 19:50that you don't come back to me again.
- 19:54And my brother, you know that this is Nigeria and there's a
- 19:59difference between the cost that you pay today and the cost that
- 20:01you pay over time. So it's up to you, Sir.
- 20:09You can go look for somebody else.
- 20:11We can take a chance with me. Let us see how we will solve
- 20:14this thing one time so that if I charge you once, we solve the
- 20:18problem once. So that is the scope in this
- 20:23particular context. Somebody says you're expensive
- 20:26leaning admit there's no point in running away from the from
- 20:30the obvious. And the reason why you charge
- 20:33more than your colleagues is because you want to have a good
- 20:35life for your children. You want to have a good life for
- 20:37yourself, for your spouse. You also want to have some
- 20:40dignity as a man Can't keep going around people treating you
- 20:43like an animal, treating you as if you know, like you don't have
- 20:46value because what? Because you don't have degree?
- 20:51Come on. So admit and they educate them
- 20:55or you justify that This is the value proposition.
- 20:58Some people replace. Let's go and buy new and fix.
- 21:02Some people refurbish and let us try and manage this thing.
- 21:05Let's be managing and then some people solve the problem one
- 21:08time so that you don't come back again.
- 21:11And I gave my experience of dealing with a mechanic earlier
- 21:15on in the year for those of you who listen to the podcast
- 21:19episodes when they looked as if I was sleeping in the mechanic
- 21:22place every two, two weeks. So every one, one month.
- 21:25That was the problem. The problem was Boris bearing
- 21:29the bearing will. The bearing will, what's the
- 21:35word like, wear out? The thing was not making that
- 21:38noise. Then my tire will begin to chop,
- 21:41begin to chop badly. So I had gone to two mechanics
- 21:48each time I had replaced Boris like two or three times.
- 21:52But then I remembered there's this mechanic that works on my
- 21:57auntie, my auntie's cars. But the reason why I don't like
- 22:01going to that guy is because he's expensive, because the
- 22:05guy's a mechanic will go school. And of course, you know,
- 22:08mechanics will go school. They don't charge the same way
- 22:11that roadside mechanics charge, you understand?
- 22:15But I say, shall let me go and meet him.
- 22:16I hear his opinion, so I want to go and meet him.
- 22:19And then he took apart the tire. He looked at it and they say,
- 22:23boss, yes, the problem is the bearing.
- 22:29But then this is what he told me next.
- 22:31He said, boss, let me be honest with you, we can take this
- 22:36bearing and I can give it to the boys.
- 22:38They will remove the ball bearings who service it, fix it
- 22:41back and you'll be fine for a while.
- 22:43Bossa, you'll be back here in two weeks or we can take the
- 22:48bearing, buy a brand new one and put it back.
- 22:51But to be honest, you'll be back here in one month or if you have
- 22:56time leave this car here because sometimes when you have bearing
- 23:02problems it could because of linkage, it would because of
- 23:05then he calls something that is in the shaft.
- 23:07You know I'm not a car person so I don't understand all these
- 23:08things. It will be any number of these
- 23:10systems that are causing the problems.
- 23:13So let me take this thing apart, discover this problem and let us
- 23:16fix it one time. But let me not lie you the
- 23:20tingle costs. What do you want to do?
- 23:23He now left it with me. It was up to me.
- 23:27You hear the guys approach. He said we can fix this thing.
- 23:32We can service this thing now, but I can assure you'll be back
- 23:35here in two weeks. We can replace it or you'll be
- 23:39back here next month. And of course, as he said that
- 23:42because I didn't tell him that I've been struggling with other
- 23:44people. As he said it, his
- 23:46recommendation, the thing matched my experience.
- 23:48And I was like, you know what, this guy's on point because
- 23:51truly I have been coming back every month.
- 23:52So for those of you who've been listening to those podcast
- 23:55episodes where it's like I was at the Mechanic every 3-3 weeks,
- 23:58every four weeks, that was the problem.
- 24:03And like he said, the thing cost.
- 24:06I won't lie, you think cost, but the problem hasn't come back up
- 24:11again. So now what I do is if there's
- 24:14any problem, I try and save small and then I go and meet him
- 24:18because at least I know that with him I will pay.
- 24:21But I'm paying one time instead of paying plenty over time.
- 24:27So that's how you deal with pricing objections if you are in
- 24:32that kind of that kind of space. So that was Adam from Area 8 and
- 24:37confidence in presentation. Can you be too expensive if you
- 24:41are in these kinds of trades? Then Jim is here from Asokoro
- 24:45also spoke about carriage. That carriage is really, really
- 24:48important, you know, carriage packaging, branding, you know,
- 24:52how you carry yourself, how you feel yourself, how you show
- 24:55yourself, you know, very important, very important.
- 24:59Although for me, I downplay all of those anyway.
- 25:01But as a different story, you know, I'm not really packaging
- 25:04guy anyway. Let me not go into it here, but
- 25:07I'll talk about it later. So he's very, very important.
- 25:10But he now warned that there's a problem that is happening in
- 25:14Niger. Some boys we package meanwhile
- 25:19not in there their empty symbol. If you carry them up you'll see
- 25:24that there's nothing under nothing of substance.
- 25:28So that was his own warning. Packaging is OK, but don't
- 25:32package to the extent that you know that there's nothing no
- 25:35substance to you. And I agree with you may say
- 25:38that's very true. We need to pay attention to the
- 25:41fundamentals of business and good business practice because
- 25:46you'll be terrible that our packaging is on points.
- 25:48By the time somebody you know use a stick and just products
- 25:51shake off small, you will see the eyes.
- 25:53Nothing is only paper, nothing there.
- 25:59I think it's terrible and it's very annoying for customers.
- 26:02I remember when wanted to teach my wife how to drive, we went to
- 26:05this place in Abuja and the place looked fantastic from the
- 26:08outside. Then we entered inside the AC
- 26:11was chilling, Mortuary standard, cold, nice place where you can
- 26:16sit down, see me very professional.
- 26:19A part of me was afraid thinking or more these people will be
- 26:21expensive, expensive die. I was thinking maybe we should
- 26:25have gone to you understand those other kind of driving
- 26:28schools. Now we get to the desk, very
- 26:32fine girl there, very fine, very, very fine.
- 26:37I say hey, this is how people come to Abuja and their
- 26:39marriages Qatar. But then any question that we
- 26:43asked her, she did not know. She has to call her boss.
- 26:47How much she has to call her boss?
- 26:49What kind of cars she has to call her boss?
- 26:52What is the driving schedule? She has to call her boss.
- 26:54How long will it take? She has to call her boss.
- 26:57Will you help us to procure driver's license?
- 26:59I don't know. She has to talk to her boss.
- 27:01In my mind, I'm thinking, do you know anything?
- 27:07So you're just fine for fine sake.
- 27:08You're sitting down here packaging to the teeth.
- 27:11But meanwhile we shake you small underneath.
- 27:13Nothing, just empty. It's frustrating for customers.
- 27:19If you must package, package well, let there be substance.
- 27:23If you step into that kind of establishment and the girl looks
- 27:26like she's descended from the angels, the daughters of the
- 27:29angels of the most high and any question you ask her, she has
- 27:34good answers for you. Prep, prep, prep, prep.
- 27:36She will overwhelm you with the substance, overwhelm you with
- 27:39your beauty. Before you know it, you part
- 27:40with your your, your bank card. You're entering your PIN.
- 27:44You're PIN. That's the whole idea, not just
- 27:47packaging. So Timothy was very, very
- 27:51correct because the disciples of packaging in this country were
- 27:55plenty people, just package, package, package, package,
- 27:57package. Meanwhile, nothing underneath,
- 28:00no substance. Then there was OK, it's like 30
- 28:05minutes, OK, and it is the last one.
- 28:07Then there was Gift from Luby and she had listened to a couple
- 28:11of the conversations that we had and she had our own opinions as
- 28:16well. But then she mentioned that
- 28:20there are some things that she said that validated her own
- 28:24experience because she had been dealing with some abusive
- 28:26clients. I'll go into the details and OK,
- 28:33let me just summarize dealing with some abusive clients.
- 28:35People who don't pay well, people who don't pay on time,
- 28:37people who are not respectful, people who don't value your
- 28:40opinion, who value your own contribution.
- 28:42So I've been dealing with some of those people.
- 28:45And so this year she decided, you know what, what the hell?
- 28:50Actually, I'm cutting these people off the money that they
- 28:52owe me self. I don't give an FI don't want to
- 28:55gain. She just cut them off.
- 28:58Now, of course, some people were saying that's a bad decision,
- 29:00that our money is good money. And I told her, I look, my
- 29:02sister, you know, what are some things that business people
- 29:05determine for their own selves? And I can understand, especially
- 29:08when you're broke, because I've been in those situations where
- 29:10I'm dead broke and I know that if I collect this thing, it will
- 29:13be a disaster. But The thing is, honestly, I
- 29:16need money now, now, now, now, now, like I need cash now.
- 29:22So there's sometimes that I've closed my eyes and I've gone to
- 29:26dance with the devil knowing that this thing is going to be
- 29:29it's going to be war. But outside of those emergency
- 29:33situations, actually it's not a good idea to keep hanging around
- 29:38people who don't pay you well, who don't pay you on time, who
- 29:42are not respectful to you, and who don't value your
- 29:44contributions. And this is the reason why.
- 29:47Remember, at the top of the episode I was talking about how
- 29:49the goal is repeat business and referrals.
- 29:53If this person does not pay well or pay on time, respect you,
- 29:57respect your opinion, respect your contribution.
- 30:01Every time the person shows up in January, February, March,
- 30:04April, May, June, July to the rest of the year, every single
- 30:07time the person is causing you immense stress, that person is
- 30:11not helping your life. And usually that person is not
- 30:14helping your bottom line because remember, they're not paying
- 30:16well, they're not even paying on time.
- 30:19So you're making my financial situation worse and then
- 30:22stressing me on top again because of what?
- 30:25See, that's the reason why I say I understand that when you're in
- 30:27an emergency because we all get there.
- 30:30Like the bank account is 0 and I need like 500 K for fuel this
- 30:34month. I understand how you would just
- 30:36close as I say, you know what, I will cry, but at least I will
- 30:40get fuel money from this. I understand but this one should
- 30:44not be everyday thing, should not be habitual thing.
- 30:51So apart from the fact that this person will be a repeat customer
- 30:54who is stressing your life, messing up your mental health,
- 30:59abusive clients Unfortunately usually they refer abusive
- 31:03clients as well. It is hard for a customer who is
- 31:07in Kankar Madhu, who is a useless person to now refer a
- 31:10customer to you who is a correct person.
- 31:13So usually useless customers refer useless customers to you.
- 31:19Correct people usually refer correct people to you.
- 31:22Now of course, it's possible for a correct person to refer a
- 31:25useless person to you. It happens.
- 31:26But I'm just saying as a general rule.
- 31:29So another reason why I want to run away from these abusive
- 31:31people is if we spend more time dealing with people who pay
- 31:36well, pay on time, respect us, value our contributions, value
- 31:41our opinions every single time that they come, not only will
- 31:45our bank accounts smile even though our self esteem, we will
- 31:48smile. They give us a good boost.
- 31:52It's good for your pockets to boost and it's good for your
- 31:55self esteem to boost as well. Then the more they refer other
- 32:01people like that, it's just a win win.
- 32:05So for that one, I'll leave it up to you, but my own personal
- 32:10opinion, one gift from Luke did. I don't know about letting go of
- 32:14all the money that they were owing her, but in the long run,
- 32:17I think she's correct. Good customers only good money.
- 32:23Only people who pay well, pay on time, people who are respectful.
- 32:28So that's it. Like I said, no coherent theme
- 32:32to today's episode because it was just me responding to to
- 32:39call us comments. Probably will make another
- 32:41episode like this on maybe next week, Thursday, Friday, because
- 32:45radio show is every single Tuesday and that's it.
- 32:48So that's it. And that's all.
- 32:50Remember if you'd love to connect, you can call send me a
- 32:52text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
- 32:59Thank you very much for your time and attention.
- 33:00I will catch you next time. Same place right here in your
- 33:04headphones or through your speakers, wherever you're
- 33:06listening to the podcast.