Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Networking, Credibility, and Differentiation: Keys to Corporate Dealmaking

Transcript

Networking, Credibility, and Differentiation: Keys to Corporate Dealmaking · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello and welcome to the show today.
0:03
I'm not in the audio booth, so apologies for the interruptions
0:07
that are going to come in. I'm from the background now.
0:10
In fact, I'm making today's recording from the new house.
0:13
For those of you who've been listening for a while, you know
0:15
that I've been house hunting, finally found a place.
0:18
So I'm currently on site working with the, you know, electrician,
0:23
plumber, Carpenter and all those sorts of people getting the
0:27
house nice and ready so we can move quite soon.
0:30
So I expect to hear some noise in the background.
0:33
I might have to pause and go talk to someone, come back,
0:35
maybe might hear some hammers in the background or something like
0:38
that. So, yeah, apologies.
0:40
And that's also the reason why you can hear lots of echo.
0:43
That's if you're one of those people who can pick up those
0:45
sorts of things. There's a lot of echo because
0:48
you know, it's me just sitting down here in an empty house
0:51
waiting for the next batch of workmen to show up.
0:55
Now, what I'd like for us to look at today on the podcast is
0:58
on how to mastermind big deals. I'm not going to do that in a
1:04
very structured way in today's episode, but rather from the
1:07
perspective of a former student of mine who is an employee for
1:13
one of my corporate clients from last year, 2024.
1:16
Now the client is in the alternative and renewable energy
1:21
space. They're into solar panels,
1:23
inverter batteries, what else, You know, all those sorts of
1:27
stuff, you know, good stuff. And at the time I started
1:30
working with that client, you know, that's the organization
1:34
now because there are two people that we're talking about.
1:37
There's the corporate client of mine and they're called Crimson
1:39
Power. And then there is this student
1:42
in particular whose name is, whose name is Rudy.
1:46
I'm not going to use his full name because I haven't taken his
1:49
permission, but and it's so Rudy, that's one of his
1:51
nicknames. So Rudy's a sales engineer for
1:54
Crimson Power. So I'm going to be talking
1:58
interchangeably, you know, about the different parties.
2:00
So Crimson Power, that's his auger the the company and then
2:05
engineer Rudy. So at the time I started working
2:09
with Crimson Power, they were in a transition because they were
2:13
doing lots of deals with retail clients, individual clients.
2:18
So they're doing lots of deals with people like you and me, you
2:20
know, single, single, 11, you know, renter or owner of a
2:25
house, you know, that kind of thing.
2:26
So they show up to my house, install my solar panels and then
2:29
they leave. And they were trying to get into
2:32
high value accounts, you know, maybe do installations for
2:37
banks, corporate organisations, you know, those sorts of things.
2:41
Because of course, you know, those kind of jobs are much more
2:43
high. The margins of those are a whole
2:47
lot higher. And then typically, you know, if
2:49
you're in the corporate space and you get referrals from, from
2:54
corporations, you know, it's, it's, it's just a Better
2:56
Business. Let me put it that way.
2:58
And it's something I have tasted myself because when I started
3:00
off with wedding photography, if one bride refers you to another,
3:04
you know the money that you collect on top your profits are,
3:08
you know, 10s of thousands or hundreds of thousands.
3:10
But then when you start doing business with corporations, you
3:14
know, like if you're from that event vendor space, like my was,
3:18
you know, all of a sudden, you know, your money starts entering
3:20
millions and millions. So it makes a whole lot of sense
3:22
that if you've been doing business with people on the
3:25
retail side, you know, normal people one-on-one, you know,
3:29
individual people one-on-one, it makes a whole lot of sense that
3:33
if you can transition to the corporate space, you transition
3:35
to the corporate space where your money will be correct cash.
3:38
Like one of the people that I was talking to last year who is
3:42
in the gift giving space, you know, hampers and stuff like
3:46
that. If you sell one hamper, the
3:48
profit you're collecting is 10s of thousands.
3:50
And that's just per head. Unlike if you are to try and
3:53
supply hamper to all of Zenith Bank.
3:55
Now one particular branch. I mean, imagine how much your
3:59
profit will be not to talk of if you're even cool enough that
4:02
you're able to now capture maybe like 10 branches of Zenith Bank
4:06
also, and you're the only one who receives the contract to
4:10
supply the hamper. So that's the sort of transition
4:13
that this company, Crimson Power was in.
4:15
They're doing good work for and private, but they're trying to
4:18
transition into corporate because corporate, that's where
4:22
the good margins, the good margins are Also the CEO of the
4:27
company, that's the chief operating officer, whose name is
4:29
Mr. George. OB George is an engineer by
4:32
training. And you know, they have lots of
4:34
aspirations for moving into the energy as a service space and
4:38
that's basically where they provide mini grids and things
4:41
like that. Essentially, they wanted to
4:43
expand to become sort of like NEPA, you understand.
4:46
So providing power not just to retail people, single, single
4:50
11, you know, like me, for instance, somebody who is a
4:53
renter or a home owner, but now providing power like NEPA, maybe
4:58
the whole estate or who knows, the whole local government, you
5:02
know, so those who are their aspirations.
5:04
And so that is when I started working with them.
5:07
And even though ultimately transition to corporate was the
5:11
focus, we started off just by trying to make sure that the
5:15
sales team was effective on their own and that they're
5:18
pulling weight. And that also that the sales
5:21
team was. The sales teams are working
5:24
together with all the other teams in a cohesive fashion.
5:28
You know, sales working well with fulfillment.
5:30
Fulfillment are the people who go and deliver.
5:32
So the person that closes the deal might be a sales engineer,
5:36
single person like me, close the deal, but of course I'm not the
5:40
person who's going to climb the ladder, climb on top of the
5:42
house and start installing the solar panels.
5:44
So this is one of those businesses where the distinction
5:47
between sales team and and fulfillment team is very sharp.
5:52
The person that is on the phone that is selling is selling.
5:56
The person who is visiting the client is visiting, the person
5:59
that will show up and now go and climb ladder and put on the roof
6:02
is different. So we also wanted to make sure
6:04
that we minimize issues of hand off because sometimes
6:07
salesperson is talking to auger or Madam in the house and auger
6:12
Madam say one or two things. The salesperson say, OK, no
6:15
problem. I will tell the boys when they
6:16
come to install, but then maybe you forget to tell the boys when
6:19
they come to install. So that leads to all kinds of
6:21
problems with with the user experience and then also affects
6:27
the way that people think about your company.
6:29
So if you're one of those businesses where there's a sharp
6:32
divide, you know, sales people, they're separate, the people who
6:36
now do installation fulfilment, whatever it is you want to call
6:40
it, no one is different. You know, handoff is something
6:42
you need to work on. So, yeah, so that's how I got in
6:46
touch. We started dealing with Crimson
6:48
Power. So my former student, now Rudy,
6:53
Engineer Rudy, an employee of Crimson Power, he pinged me a
6:57
message in December saying that the company had won a major
7:00
contract and was to supply 200 kilowatts of power to a place
7:05
called Euroto Centre in Ogola State.
7:08
He wrote to that IROTO, it's a 14 weeks project.
7:13
Currently at the time of this podcast, they're halfway into
7:16
finishing the whole thing. And so 200 kilowatts, I know
7:21
it's for photovoltaic PV systems.
7:25
Now, of course, I know absolutely nothing about what
7:28
all these things mean. I mean, I don't know what a
7:30
kilowatt is, but it's a big project.
7:32
Let me just put it that way. So 200 kilowatts.
7:34
And anyway, so I'm not the technical guy me, I'm more of
7:39
the the sales guy, the money guy, which is also another
7:44
reason why you guys have to be the subject matter expert before
7:48
you engage a consultant. So one of the reasons why it was
7:51
easy for me to work with Crimson Power was because they were the
7:53
subject matter expert. They know what a kilowatt is,
7:56
they know what a photo fake is. They know what where you can get
8:00
the best sonar panels, whether from China or India or Pakistan
8:04
or Switzerland or wherever. You know, they are the subject
8:07
matter expert. They know what the best
8:08
connection should be. They know the best way to do
8:11
this. They know the best way to do
8:12
that. And they also had they also had
8:16
this thing where they wanted to work on quality, which is one of
8:20
the reasons why they're running away from, well, not running
8:22
away, but trying to move away from the retail market.
8:25
Because sometimes, you know, you're dealing with somebody and
8:27
the person is like, look, I know that this is the best quality of
8:30
thing that we should do, but I'm broke, so just go ahead and give
8:33
me second best. SO yeah, trying to avoid some of
8:36
those issues. So it was easy to work with
8:38
them. I could come in and just pay
8:39
attention to the sales team's performance and making sure that
8:44
the fundamentals are down. Do you know how to identify a
8:48
customer? Do you know how to how to
8:49
approach them? Do you know how to start a
8:51
conversation with them? Do you know how to build
8:52
rapport? Do you know how to find out what
8:54
it is that they need? How do you deliver an effective
8:57
proposal? What is the best way to?
9:00
Because for these people, unfortunately, sometimes
9:03
proposals have to be technical. So it's not like waiting
9:05
photography where you can just come and talk mouth, mouth,
9:07
mouth and then seal the deal. You know, people are going to
9:10
know, want to know what's up. You know, how many kilowatts,
9:13
how many panels, how many this, how many that's what are the
9:16
contingency plans, you know, all those sorts of things.
9:21
So it was easy to work with them because they were subject matter
9:24
experts. So I could come in and just pay
9:26
attention to my own part of the angle, which was how the sales
9:30
conversations were being had. So, subject matter expertise.
9:34
Really, really really. Important make sure that you are
9:37
the expert, no matter what it is that you're doing.
9:39
So whether it's fashion or whether it's solar panels or
9:42
whether it's catfish, you have to be the guy and you have to be
9:44
the very babe. So if you're a catfish person,
9:46
you need to know what's up. Which catfish is good?
9:49
Taraba catfish, Benway catfish, Donnie catfish, Bayesa catfish,
9:54
You know which one is best for what.
9:56
Which one is best for pepper soup?
9:57
Which one is best for weddings? Which one is best for lactating
10:00
mothers? Which one is best for pregnancy?
10:02
You want to clean the womb? Which one is best for B Apollo?
10:07
I mean, you need to know those things.
10:08
So you have to be the absolute best in what it is that you do.
10:12
So Rudy now reached out to me, told me the good news that they
10:15
have won the contract and installing it was going to
10:18
involve 360 solar panels. And they're also going to supply
10:25
3 phases of uninterrupted power to that to that Euroto Centre,
10:31
I'll pronounce your name correct.
10:33
Euroto Centre in Oakland state, OK.
10:35
And the total capacity of the project was 150 kilowatts.
10:38
So like I said, I still do not know the difference between a
10:41
kilowatt and the you know, whatever and a MW.
10:44
But anyway, you technical people, you guys will know the
10:47
size of the scope. All I just know shy stuff is big
10:50
because the money that was paid was big.
10:51
So for me is the number of zeros at the end that I know, OK,
10:54
whether it is a big project or a small project.
10:57
All right. So like I said, the company name
10:59
is Crimson Power. Now the CEO, his name is Julian
11:02
Basi. He's the person who reached out
11:04
to me. They're based in Lagos where I
11:05
was coming through Abuja. He had some one or two business
11:09
deals. So he sent me a message on
11:12
LinkedIn. That's how we got charted and
11:13
came to Abuja, you know, correct guy.
11:15
We got talking and we figured that I might be able to help the
11:17
company out. And then that's how we got
11:19
talking. And then it's through him that I
11:20
now met the CEO, the chief operations Officer, That's
11:23
George Obi. And George is a technical
11:26
person. Now notice this split that I'm
11:29
saying there's a chief executive officer, Julian Basi, and then
11:33
there's a chief operating officer, George Obi.
11:36
Now in this case, the split happened to be that Julian Basi
11:39
is kind of like the sales guy, you know, charismatic sales guy,
11:42
been doing the business for a very long time.
11:44
I think collectively he's been doing the business.
11:47
I think like over 20 years, he and George together, I can't
11:50
remember how long they've been working together, but then
11:52
George is the engineer, engineer, engineer.
11:54
So this is a formula that some people use in business.
12:00
In case you are afraid of selling now, I would prefer that
12:06
if you're the business owner, you still need to know how to
12:09
sell small even if you don't sell.
12:12
You also have to be able to chat with your clients and understand
12:15
your clients and know your clients no matter how small.
12:18
That is what I would prefer. But there are some people who
12:21
say, look, you know what, I'm the ideal person.
12:23
I'm the technical person, I don't want to talk to customers,
12:26
you know, blah, blah, blah. It's possible if you now go into
12:29
business with someone who knows the sales end.
12:32
So for those of you who are still in the wedding photography
12:34
space, I don't know who is raining right now, but back when
12:37
I was in the game, the people that π and Jessa or some people
12:41
that used to rain, Pi is Pye, then Jessa GIRSA, and they are
12:47
American celebrity photographers.
12:50
So they used to rain as in like top notch photographers.
12:55
Now everybody knows π because π is the one that used.
12:58
To do the. Videos and do the everything and
13:00
what not. So you know π was the man, as in
13:03
he's one that's taking the pictures.
13:05
Everybody knows π But then one day I was listening to one of π
13:08
seminars and then Pi said that, well, for him, he focuses on
13:12
photography only and the creativity.
13:15
When it comes to money, he removes himself and that is when
13:18
the other lady will now step in. So his own is to do the
13:22
photography, do the everything. He knows how to light
13:24
everything, edit everything. When it comes to Nara and Kobo,
13:27
he remove himself. The babe will now step in.
13:30
The babe is the one that will now finalize the sales
13:34
transaction. So this kind of split is nothing
13:36
new. For those of you who are afraid
13:37
of selling, it's a possibility. So you have it here with
13:41
Crimson. So Julian Basi, charismatic
13:43
sales guy, fine boy, visionary leader, then George will be also
13:49
fine boy, charismatic as well. But he's the one who knows
13:53
kilobytes, kilobytes, kilo, these recycle uptime, downtime,
13:59
photovaic, bloody hair, so all that whatever.
14:02
That's what he went to school for.
14:03
So he knows. He knows every, every.
14:06
And then the same thing with pie and jersey.
14:09
When it comes to posing the couple, it is pie.
14:12
When it comes to shooting the photo, it is pie.
14:14
When it comes to editing the photo, it is pie.
14:17
When it comes to framing, when it comes to designing the book,
14:20
when it comes to everything, it is pie.
14:22
But the moment it is naira and cobo, sorry, dollars and cents,
14:25
because the American Pie will just remove himself for the
14:29
situation. Because Pie said, look me, I do
14:31
not like sales. I don't like to talk money.
14:33
It makes me feel dirty. So I removed myself from from
14:36
the situation my business partner will enter.
14:38
She's the one who knows how to price, how to haggle, how to do
14:41
everything, how to chase people for money.
14:42
Pie will remove himself. She should just step in.
14:44
And then that's how to finalise it.
14:47
So for those of you who say, look, I don't like pricing, I
14:50
don't like customers, I don't like talking.
14:52
I don't like whatever that is an Ave. that is open to you for you
14:56
guys to try out. So now back to Ruby sales
15:01
engineer. Sorry, Rudy.
15:03
So Rudy told me now about the deal and of course I was happy
15:06
for him because every time that, you know, I'm working with
15:09
someone and they close something, it makes me very,
15:12
very happy. And look, to be honest, I'll
15:14
confess to you guys. I will confess to you guys.
15:17
The, the engagement that I had with Crimson, we worked together
15:22
for over four months. And so this is one engagement
15:25
that the thing pained me to do to, to, to, to, to my marrow.
15:28
It pained me because usually I work with people and and in 2-3
15:33
months I'm able to give demonstrable results.
15:35
And for Crimson, by the time I left them at month four, I was
15:40
not able to deliver the bump in sales that I was expecting.
15:47
You know, when we started off with them, I told them that this
15:49
is how it works. First of all, we aim for
15:51
behaviour change. If you can get your sales team
15:54
to change their behaviour, then the money results will flow
15:57
essentially. So these sorts of things, sales
16:00
engagements, sales interventions, I would say take
16:04
about maybe 2-3 months before you start seeing the naira and
16:06
cobo inside your bank account. So the thing pay me to my marrow
16:09
that we had some small, small wins here and there, but I
16:12
wasn't able to deliver bumper harvest to them.
16:14
So man, the thing pay me out. I won't lie, you know, 'cause
16:18
though sometimes I'll be like, shit like this kind of thing has
16:21
not happened to me before that I'm with, I'm with a client four
16:26
months and I can't boast that, OK, I started in January and
16:31
then by April profits had gone up 20%.
16:33
So the thing, you know, pay me and you know, on a separate
16:36
whatever me and my wife had a chat about that.
16:38
But basically it's when Rudy came in to now say, bro, this
16:43
house closed though. And these are these and these
16:46
are the things you taught me that I think helped me to close
16:48
that deal. It made me feel very good.
16:50
I was like, now I can, I can feel good again that OK, I did
16:58
stuff and this stuff is this stuff is working.
17:02
By the way, I hope you guys are seeing now that in business, you
17:06
know, there's ups and downs because, you know, sometimes you
17:08
guys hear me sounding all confident and you feel as if
17:10
everything I touch turns to gold.
17:12
And unfortunately it's not the case.
17:14
It's not everything that I touch that is going to multiply, you
17:17
know, times 3 or times 4 / 6 months.
17:19
You know, it's not always the case.
17:20
Would be nice if not the case, but it's not always the case
17:23
because there are some things that are beyond my control.
17:27
I can come in and try and instill behavioural change in
17:30
your team, but if your team does not adopt to 100%, you know, at
17:34
the end of the day, I cannot there's there's not everything I
17:39
can be responsible for buying a Basically, I was happy shower
17:42
and Rudy called me. So Rudy said that this was
17:45
through church networking through a church group.
17:49
And I was happy to hear that because it was one of the things
17:51
I was telling the sales team while I was there, because the
17:55
way Julian and George, Julian CEO and George the CEO had set
17:59
things up was this was an inbound organization.
18:02
Now, for those of you who have been listening for a long time,
18:04
you remember that I say that two kinds of organizations when it
18:06
comes to drumming up sales. You have inbound organizations
18:09
and outbound organizations. Inbound organizations are people
18:13
who do stuff to make customers to begin to chase you.
18:17
So you're there in the office, in your AC, you just chill and
18:21
then people are chasing you. You all need to pick up the
18:23
phone and say this is a good customer, let's go ahead and
18:26
this is a bad customer. Let's let's reject.
18:29
Then there are outbound organizations.
18:30
So outbound is the sort of thing that I like to do, which is I
18:34
see somebody like, OK, this person will be a good client.
18:37
I will carry my own 2 left legs and walk to the person's office
18:40
and try and get business, drive to the person's office, try and
18:43
get somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody to give me
18:46
their phone number. Let me call and let me see how I
18:48
can draw more business. That is our bound.
18:50
So our bound means now you they pursue, but then inbound means
18:54
now customers, they pursue you. So that's the difference.
18:57
Inbound, outbound. So when Crimson started, Julian
19:00
was an outbound kind of guy. He will stand up and go to chief
19:04
doctor So, so so and so's house and try and sell solar panels.
19:07
That's how they started. But he was now trying to migrate
19:09
the company into an inbound organization so that they run
19:12
Instagram ads, run Google ads, things like that.
19:15
And then people will call them. I end up doing business with
19:18
them. So that's part of the thing that
19:20
they were transitioning to. So I was telling the sales team
19:24
that, look, you guys don't know how lucky you are, but in other
19:28
places in Nigeria, sales is purely outbound.
19:31
You guys are here, you're sitting in the office and then
19:34
leads are coming in. You just pull up the sheet and
19:36
you just start calling people. Now other sales people have to
19:39
go out and work like hard work, you know, go to an estate in
19:47
solar panels. You're not be going one house,
19:49
one house, one house, you know, that kind of thing.
19:51
Or you'll be responsible for drumming up your own leads.
19:53
So I should try and tell them that, look, you guys are lucky.
19:56
The way that Julian and George have set up, these people are
19:58
lucky. You're sitting down here.
19:59
All you have to do is pick up the phone.
20:01
Now, look, if it was me, it'll be very easy.
20:03
It's just to call all day. I'll just call from 9:00 until
20:08
5:00. I'll take lunch break from 2:00
20:09
to 3:00. But this would have been the
20:11
sweetest job ever. So I told them that you guys,
20:14
you guys have, you will have to supplement like what's going on.
20:17
You can't just rely on the fact that these people are paying.
20:20
For Facebook ads, Instagram ads, Google ads, and then people are
20:24
not trying to don't generate something on your own.
20:27
So I used to tell them all of you on LinkedIn optimizes your
20:30
profile. Let people see what it is that
20:33
you do. People supposed to know like,
20:35
OK, Kunle works here, you know, Kunle works here or or Chukudi
20:43
works in this place. So that OK, if I need so, so so
20:45
I can call him, I can call that people should see from your
20:49
Facebook, from your LinkedIn, from your from your social
20:53
media, from your everything that solar.
20:55
That is what you do so that anytime somebody thinks solar,
20:59
they will think of you that how it's supposed to be.
21:02
So I said tell them, you know, optimize your LinkedIn profile,
21:07
establish some thought leadership, Let anybody, your
21:10
uncle, your mother, your sister, your enemies, your friends,
21:13
anytime they think solar, let them think of you.
21:17
Also, in one moment, one of the workers is here.
21:19
Let me just open the door and then we'll continue.
21:25
OK, Sorry about that. I'm back.
21:26
It was the electrician so I just let him in so he can continue
21:30
with his own. With his own stuff.
21:32
Yeah. But the hammers and all that,
21:34
the noise was too much. So I just stepped outside to
21:36
continue. OK, I think where was I?
21:42
So I was saying that Rudy told me that this whole thing is
21:47
because of networking in a church group.
21:51
And where was I? So I was not talking about how I
21:56
used to advise them that if you're an inbound organization,
22:01
you can't just chill and let the leads come to you all the time.
22:05
So yes, you're an organization. Your guy or your Madam is paying
22:09
for leads. They're running Facebook ads,
22:11
they're running Instagram ads. You can't just chill comfortably
22:14
and that stuff becoming to you Yousef.
22:16
You have to be doing some things proactively on your own because
22:22
is from when you start doing stuff from your own, that salary
22:26
can increase, Commission can increase or promotion can come.
22:32
So if you're one of these folks who works in an organization
22:36
that is an inbound organization, your guy is paying for Instagram
22:39
leads, your Madam is paying for Instagram leads.
22:42
Every two or three months they pay for Lagos International
22:46
Trade Fair. You people go there, you sit
22:48
down, Madam paid for the booth. You also have to be doing your
22:51
own thing. So my own advice to them at the
22:55
time was people need to know that you're in the solar
22:59
industry. People need to know what's up.
23:01
They need to know who you are, they need to know what you do.
23:05
So part of me advising them was like, look, at the very least,
23:10
you guys should optimize your LinkedIn profile.
23:14
So I told them, I understand sometimes face Facebook,
23:17
Instagram, you might say, oh, is private, is private, is private.
23:20
OK, no problem. I'm not saying you should use
23:22
your own private Facebook page or Instagram handle to promote
23:27
somebody else's business. But for LinkedIn, excuse me,
23:32
LinkedIn is a professional something, is a career something
23:35
is a business something. So whatever it is that you're
23:37
trucking your hand inside, that brings money.
23:39
People need to know. So if you sell cars, you don't
23:44
want to put cars on your Instagram handle, I understand.
23:50
But on your LinkedIn, it's supposed to be there.
23:53
You know, auto dealer, car importer, whatever it is, yeah,
23:57
it should be there. And then you should also do a
24:01
good job of, excuse me, talking to people in your network,
24:05
talking to people in church, talking to people in school, in
24:08
case you're one of those people who's running part time degree
24:10
course or something. People need to know what's up.
24:13
People need to know what you do because people cannot buy from
24:18
you until they at least know you and know what you do.
24:22
And that's one mistake that lots of people are doing.
24:25
You've surprised a number of people who reach out to me and
24:27
say, oh, business is not moving. Something, something.
24:29
I asked them a couple of questions.
24:30
And then you find out that in five months the person, all the
24:35
person has done is they told their mom, told their pops, told
24:38
their relatives, and then maybe spoke to one other person in
24:41
church, spoke to deaconess in church.
24:43
I like really. And you think business is going
24:45
to take off like that? In the last five months, you've
24:47
only spoken to 10 people. How will your business take off?
24:51
How will people know who you are?
24:53
How will people know that? OK, if I'm thinking about
24:56
eyelashes, let me come and patronize you.
24:59
So eyelashes and beauty cream or whatever is your thing.
25:02
Everybody needs to know that you're the eyelash girl or the
25:05
eyelash guy because there's some guys that, excuse me, there's
25:09
some guys that are in this business.
25:10
In fact, before I left, one of the biggest guys in Abuja and
25:13
Lagos in the eyelash thing, eyelash makeup and all that was
25:17
actually a guy. People need to know that you see
25:20
from a WhatsApp status, that you see from your LinkedIn, that you
25:23
see from your Instagram, that you see from your Facebook.
25:25
Everybody should know that when it comes to eyelash, a kundayo,
25:28
that's the person you're supposed to call.
25:30
That's how you're supposed to be.
25:33
So for those of you who are neither here nor there, I hope
25:36
you guys are beginning to see how this thing works in real
25:39
life until you begin to start letting people know in your
25:44
circle, this is me, this is who I am, this is what I do.
25:48
So if you're looking for eyelashes, call me.
25:50
If you're looking for solar, call me.
25:52
If you're looking for cement, call me.
25:55
Until people know you, associate you with your trade, with your
25:58
craft, with your specialty, with your something, things are not
26:01
when they take off for you. Somebody has to know who you are
26:05
first before we can even talk about people liking you or even
26:09
buying from you. You know, people say that people
26:13
do business with those that they like and then they trust before
26:16
like and trust. People have to know you.
26:20
So please, those of you who are shy, shyness is keeping you in
26:24
poverty. You guys need to wake up.
26:28
So for me, it's podcast and it's LinkedIn.
26:30
You need to wake up and find your thing.
26:32
No matter what your thing is, you have to start putting the
26:34
word out there because exceptive God has decided that you know He
26:40
will bless you regardless of your laziness or whatever.
26:44
No business is going to come and meet you in your house or in
26:50
your office. Anyway.
26:52
Let me not get on the rant on that one.
26:54
So he said that it's a church group networking like they like
26:58
Pleo, you go to church, you only serve God.
27:01
But of course, you also talk to people.
27:05
You know, after service and after something, you get
27:07
talking. Yes, the focus is God, but then
27:09
you also get talking. And that is how the connections
27:13
were being made because Rudy eventually had a conversation
27:18
with somebody who is a member of the board of the other company
27:22
that Crimson eventually ended up winning this bid for.
27:26
Just like that chance encounter. You go and say, let me worship
27:29
God. You say your prayers,
27:31
everything. Service is now over.
27:32
You stand up, you're talking to people, and then, lo and behold,
27:36
this person is a potential client.
27:38
Now, it doesn't happen every day, but The thing is, the more
27:42
you do these things, it increases the odds of these
27:45
things happening. If you just go to church and
27:49
then you say your prayers and then you leave, you're not even
27:51
talking to people. Hello.
27:52
What's up? How you did.
27:54
Welcome to the church. How long have you been here?
27:56
What department are you in? Blah, blah, blah.
27:58
Or by the way, what do you do for a living?
28:00
You don't mean it. This is what I do for a living.
28:02
Are you serious? Of course.
28:04
Now, OK. In fact, Monday I'll be around
28:06
your side. Let me just branch in the
28:07
office. Maybe there's a way that we can
28:09
hook up and do something in the future.
28:11
I said sure, no problem, call to my office on Monday.
28:13
That's how these things happen. If you just start off my name,
28:16
you leave church. You don't greet the person to
28:18
your left, you don't greet the person to your right, you don't
28:20
say welcome to the wordy of God. You know, by the way, this
28:23
applies to Muslims too. Anyway, I shouldn't be trying to
28:26
school Muslims on this because I hear that national mosque in
28:29
Abuja that that's the main reason why people go there.
28:31
And people go there because they know that that's where you will
28:33
see DG, that's where you will see Palm SEC, that's where you
28:36
will see Major General, that's where you will see.
28:38
So I guess there's no need for me to be educating Muslims or
28:40
not. I guess maybe you Muslims, you
28:42
know how to do this thing already.
28:43
So Christians pay attention. So primarily, yes, we're going
28:47
to go and worship God. Yeah.
28:49
But once in a while, you look to your left, you look to your
28:52
right, you say neighbor, you greet the person.
28:54
And so having some conversations.
28:57
So that's how it happened. Like joke, like joke, one of the
28:59
person is having a conversation with happens to be a member of
29:02
the board who ends up becoming the client company.
29:04
That person who is the member of the board is a mutual friend
29:06
with somebody that Rudy is also a friend with one of the
29:10
organizers of the group. It was that simple.
29:15
And when I keep saying on the podcast that you have to do
29:18
things that put the odds in your favor, this is what I mean.
29:23
Those of you who've been listening to the podcast for a
29:24
long time, you remember when I spoke about my secondary school,
29:27
I went to CKC Guava Ladder in Abuja.
29:31
I'm a grad boy. So there was one time that we
29:33
played, I think was, was the FGC quali, I can't remember anyway,
29:38
but those boys were ruthless. I mean they were older than us,
29:41
they were stronger, they were well, let me not make excuses,
29:44
do a better team. Now.
29:46
At some point, I think it became like a joke that every time
29:49
their captain shouted advantage, whoever was with the ball would
29:52
just fire, Bam, just take shot on goal.
29:56
Now of course it's not all the things that we enter, but they
29:59
ended up beating us like 70 or like 80 every time captain
30:04
shouted advantage. Whoever you are, whoever you
30:06
are, shot on goal. What?
30:08
It's not everything that we enter, but because they were
30:11
taking lots of shots on goal, they ended up beating US70 or
30:14
80. That's what I mean when I say
30:16
put the odds in your favor. If you never take shot on goal,
30:20
nothing will enter. But at least if you try shot on
30:23
goal, there's there's hope. If you try fifty shot on goal,
30:29
only three enter is better than nothing.
30:31
They're not even trying shot on goal at all 'cause it's only
30:33
when you take the shot that the chance is there.
30:36
And when I went to Scotland, there's also a joke that I heard
30:39
in Scotland that knows it, 'cause people in Scotland, man,
30:43
they gamble. I mean, you think Nigerians have
30:45
a problem when it comes to gambling In the UK and in
30:48
Scotland, people gamble steady as in Monday morning, you've
30:53
collected your weekly weight. Next thing you go to the to the
30:56
corner store and then you now remove 1 LB or however many
31:01
pounds and then start buying the weekly something so that you can
31:05
scratch it. I'm like, like these people are
31:07
like, man, they have issues like money is hard to come by, but
31:11
then steady every single Monday or every single Sunday, they're
31:15
buying this thing, they're scratching it so that they can
31:17
gamble. So they have a gambling thing
31:19
going on in the UK. It looks like Nigeria is heading
31:23
in that direction too with sport better and all these things.
31:27
So there's a joke there about somebody who used to pray that,
31:29
oh, if I could win $1,000,000, so I know $1,000,000 a
31:32
£1,000,000, or if I could win the the lottery, if I could win
31:35
the lottery. And so one day God had to come
31:36
down and tell the person, I look, you want to win the
31:38
laundry, buy the ticket. I can't help you because you're
31:41
never buying ticket. So when I'm talking about
31:43
putting the odds in the favor, I'm saying buy the ticket, do
31:46
something. It's not guaranteed though,
31:50
because I know some of you were saying it's not guaranteed.
31:52
Now, what are the odds that I talked to somebody and that
31:54
person has to be connected to this person and connected to
31:56
that person? Yes, it's not guaranteed, but we
32:00
are trying to increase the odds in our favor.
32:02
It's about taking shots on goal. If you don't take shot on goal,
32:06
nothing will enter. At least we know that for sure.
32:09
So that's it. Now was not a smooth deal
32:12
because they had some early challenges.
32:14
The client company was concerned about whether they had they
32:19
could meet the manpower requirement because of this kind
32:21
of thing. You want people to have a
32:22
certain number of engineers or I don't know, I'm assuming OK,
32:28
engineer staff strength should be it.
32:30
Then maybe trading history. You want to see that they have
32:32
worked on the same kinds of projects before, you know,
32:34
things like that. So there are some of those
32:36
credibility challenges that they had to, excuse me, that they had
32:40
to, that they had to work through.
32:43
Then they also had to distinguish themselves through
32:46
the whole process because there were also multiple competitors
32:49
that were there. And so for those of you who are
32:52
trying to play in the corporate space, these are the sorts of
32:54
challenges that we face. So don't assume that.
32:57
I mean the profit margin is is sweet, but don't assume as a
32:59
walk in the park because somebody would say, come on, do
33:02
RFPRFP is a request for proposal or what again request for
33:07
proposal, request for. I can't remember.
33:11
But whatever it is that is called that companies that have
33:13
different processes and they're multiple competitors.
33:16
Do we even tell you? In fact, when Mumsy was still a
33:21
communications professional back in Lagos, the client will even
33:23
schedule you people on the same day.
33:26
So there are times when Mumsy's agency, cause the last agency
33:29
Mumsy work with was quadrant. So sometimes that quadrant is
33:32
sitting down there, you see the person in your competition,
33:34
competition A that's sitting there, competition B that's
33:36
sitting there. All of you are there, the client
33:38
is in the office and you say next you enter and make your
33:40
presentation. So it can be brutal, can be
33:43
ruthless when you don't worry, there's no problem that doesn't
33:46
have solution. So distinguishing yourself
33:48
becomes a problem Now by the time you're stepping up into
33:51
this corporate game because there are multiple competitors,
33:53
whether you. Like it or you don't like it,
33:55
they are there. Whether you see them or you
33:57
don't see them, that there. So they had to deal with that.
34:01
So you have to distinguish yourself in the RFP process.
34:04
You have to distinguish yourself through your presentation.
34:06
You know, stuff like that. But while I was with Crimson, I
34:10
told Rudy and his colleagues I look true.
34:11
Distinguishing now is not when it comes to features and
34:13
benefits. Lots of you think features and
34:15
benefits is what we set you apart.
34:17
It's not because to be honest, everybody has the same features
34:19
and benefits. Everybody you go and sit down
34:23
there in the meeting, you want to say that our inverters are
34:24
the best, that our inverters are triple rated something,
34:28
something, something 560 cycles, whatever, whatever made in
34:31
China. Some that is, no one would
34:32
distinguish you. You think the other person
34:34
doesn't have a triple rated something made in China.
34:36
Just you know, everybody has the same equipment.
34:38
Now, especially when you start 1, you want to start playing in
34:41
the big leagues. Everybody has the same thing.
34:46
So when I was a wedding photographer, when people would
34:48
try and be forming like, oh, my camera is a this dot dot dot dot
34:51
dot. You're trying to use your camera
34:52
to distinguish yourself. Continue.
34:54
Everybody's using the same camera.
34:57
Everybody, everybody has the same gear.
34:59
Everybody has the, the same features.
35:02
Everybody has the same, the same features and benefits.
35:07
That's not how you distinguish yourself at all.
35:11
So what I was telling Rudy and his and his colleagues was that
35:14
you have to become the distinguishing factor.
35:16
You, the human being that they're talking to now, you
35:18
should be the difference. So you need to have a sales
35:22
process. You need to know how to do needs
35:24
analysis so that when the person is sitting down and they're
35:26
talking to you, they'll say, Kyle, this Young Money shop, he
35:28
understands what it is that we're trying to do.
35:30
I trust this guy. That's how it works.
35:33
It's not from features and benefits because let's face it,
35:35
this is a highly technical something.
35:37
Kilowatt is kilowatt at the end of the day.
35:40
Photo vague is photo vague at the end of the day solar panel.
35:42
OK, well then let me not show my ignorance.
35:44
But those of you who are technical, you understand what
35:46
I'm trying to say. The technical thing at the end
35:49
of the day, everybody has it. Once you step into the big boy
35:53
level or the big girl level, sorry.
35:57
So the distinguished factor is you sitting across the table.
36:00
They should be able to see that every single time Chingerie
36:02
comes here, the way she opens her mouth and the way she talks,
36:04
we can see that Chingerie is the professional.
36:08
She knows this thing left, right, back, front, center, that
36:12
look, when it comes to solar, if he hears chinnery, you should
36:16
hear solar. That should be the
36:19
distinguishing factor. Have a sales process, be able to
36:23
do needs analysis. You do needs analysis.
36:26
Well, people on the other end, they feel like, oh, you're
36:28
listening to them and you understand.
36:30
Once they feel like you're listening and you understand,
36:33
confidence begins to grow. And then they'll feel like I'm
36:36
in safe hands because at the end of the day, I read to you the
36:40
the, the the specs, 360 solar panels, 3 phases on interrupted
36:45
power, 150 kilowatts. Kilowatts is kilowatt.
36:49
You can do your configuration. I say this will guarantee you
36:51
150 kilowatts. The other person can do their
36:53
own configuration. I say this will guarantee you
36:54
150 kilowatts. At the end of the day, was the
36:56
difference the people who are on the tenders board, If the
37:00
ordinary people like me, you think we can tell the
37:02
difference? All we know is that kilowatts
37:04
and a kilowatt, there has to be something else.
37:08
What UK people like to call The X Factor.
37:10
There has to be that X Factor. And this is how you come about
37:12
getting The X Factor. So please stop thinking that
37:15
your features and benefits are the difference because everybody
37:19
has it. In the beginning, you might be
37:22
the only person I'll have it, but eventually everybody catches
37:24
up. So in the beginning, car safety,
37:27
it used to be Volvo. Volvo was #1 when it comes to
37:29
car safety, because they were the only one who had seatbelts
37:33
and they're the only ones who had what do you call this thing?
37:37
You know when you match, when you know if you collide with
37:39
somebody, the airbags, automatic airbag deployment.
37:42
Is Volvo the parent and all these things now?
37:44
So in the beginning, yes, you can say, yes, I'm the only
37:46
person who has this. And people will rush to you, but
37:48
eventually everybody will have it.
37:50
So now that everybody has a anti brake locking suspension,
37:55
everybody has seat belt and everybody has airbag.
37:57
And so what's the distinguishing factor now anyway?
38:05
So of course with all these things now, credibility, trying
38:07
to distinguish yourself, follow, follow up game has to be tight.
38:11
And that's something I was trying to let the people know as
38:13
well. Your follow up game gets me on
38:15
point. You can have a conversation with
38:17
somebody in January and by the time the meeting is ending, you
38:20
don't have a plan for what you're going to do in two weeks
38:23
or three weeks or four weeks. You can't just finish a meeting.
38:26
And so that was a good meeting and then now wait to be hand on
38:29
the other person. No, no, it doesn't work like
38:31
that. Have a plan.
38:33
How is it supposed to go, OK, first meeting, we do need
38:36
analysis. By the time I come off from that
38:38
meeting, what should be the next, the more the the next
38:41
reasonable step that we should be aiming after.
38:44
And you should be able to be on your toes, you know, have your
38:48
diary, keep your CRM. You know, you need to be able to
38:51
move conversations along. You can't lose track of these
38:53
things because if you lose track of these things, somebody else
38:56
was slotting. And then that's how people start
38:59
forgetting you if you're on point, because remember I told
39:02
you now there are multiple competitors.
39:05
There were multiple competitors in this thing.
39:07
If you sleep, you think the other people are going to sleep.
39:09
This is big money that we're talking about here.
39:12
If you sleep on it and your follow up game is weak, don't
39:15
forget you think about it on your phone.
39:19
You're listening to this podcast right now.
39:20
How many numbers do you have on the phone?
39:22
You probably have like 2003 thousand phone numbers.
39:24
So sometimes you actually mean to call so, so, so and so, but
39:27
you cannot remember how you stored the person's phone
39:31
number. You can't remember.
39:35
So somebody else comes up and like, well, and it was the big
39:38
deal. And then you go with the other
39:39
person anyway, So follow up game was on point.
39:43
You guys, I need to make sure our follow up game is on point.
39:46
The mental game also had to be on point before he said he even
39:49
relied on prayer. It's something that I recommend
39:52
because it's not easy, especially those of us who are
39:55
self-employed. Eat what you kill.
39:57
You know, sometimes the bank account is full and you're
39:59
happy. Sometimes the bank account is
40:01
very skinny. Like me right now that I'm
40:03
moving house, bank account is kidding right now.
40:06
So, you know, in times like that, we all remember God.
40:10
We say, Father, forgive me for my sins.
40:12
I beg bless your boy anyway. So yeah, prayer game on .2.
40:18
It's not opium and it's not trying to be.
40:22
What's the word? What's the word?
40:25
It's not believing in magic. It's just acknowledging your own
40:27
role in the grand scheme of things.
40:29
You know, I'm just one man. No.
40:30
So yeah, I want to become a trillionaire, but it doesn't
40:33
mean everything I took my hand in is going to work.
40:35
So, you know, you do your best, and then you say God bless the
40:37
work on my hands. And that's how you'd be doing
40:39
it. You know, Monday, you do your
40:42
thing, God bless the work on my hands.
40:44
Next week, you do your thing. You know, like that.
40:46
Small, small, small, small. Eventually we get to the
40:48
promised land. So Rudy was able to, excuse me,
40:51
midwife the whole thing. Eventually George and Julian,
40:56
the chief operating officer and the CEO were able to step in
41:00
later on when there was a meeting with the board of
41:03
directors and when they needed to discuss payment terms and
41:05
then stuff like that. But pretty much this is
41:08
something that Rudy handled from beginning to end.
41:10
I wanted to be sure. So I contacted the Olga because,
41:13
you know, I have his Olga because I have their phone
41:16
numbers. So I got in touch with George, I
41:18
got in touch with Julian. I said this is what Julian told
41:20
me. So yeah, actually it's it's
41:22
correct. From beginning to end, it was
41:24
him. This is where we came in.
41:25
He actually did a very, very solid job.
41:31
So I'm happy that Rudy called in and I'm happy that there's
41:37
progress. And my prayer for Rudy and all
41:40
the people that I work with in 2025 is that it's going to be
41:44
sorry in 2024 is that it's going to be progress all year round.
41:48
And that the investments that people are making in themselves
41:50
and in their businesses, because, you know, it's not
41:54
small money saying that you're paying for a consultant.
41:56
To come and walk with you, you know, one month, two months, you
41:58
know, three months, four months, five months, you know, so it's
42:00
my prayer that we're all going to see increase all going to see
42:03
results from all the investments that are making in ourselves and
42:06
in our business. But one thing that I want to.
42:12
Throw out there, especially for those of you who are employees,
42:14
is listen. I had no doubt that Rudy was
42:18
going to do big things. Remember, I was with Crimson in
42:23
2024, so I did not know if Rudy would do something big in 2024
42:30
or 2025 or 2026 or 2027. I didn't even know if I was
42:33
going to do big things with Crimson because sometimes you
42:37
work for one person and eventually work for someone
42:39
else. But I knew that Ruby was going
42:41
to do big things and this is how, because Rudy is a straight
42:45
up Boy Scout. This is what I mean by Boy
42:48
Scout. There's some people that when
42:50
you tell them something, they'll say this won't work, this won't
42:52
work. My business is different.
42:53
My own is different. No, I don't like that.
42:55
Excuses, excuses, excuses. Too many excuses.
43:00
There's some people, on the other hand, who say, oh, I'm
43:03
confused, how can we make this work?
43:04
That's the kind of personal Rudy is.
43:07
OK, how can we make this work? And if you tell him, OK, let's
43:13
just try it like this. Let's just try and see how far
43:17
you'll go ahead and you'll try it.
43:18
I'm not saying that you should be an idiot and switch off your
43:20
critical brain. I'm just trying to say that if
43:24
look, think about it, if your guy is saying something, your
43:27
coworkers are saying something goes all that and say something.
43:30
And then as far as you're concerned, everybody is wrong.
43:32
I mean, think about it at some, at some point you're being
43:35
you're, you're being stupid, you're being obtuse.
43:38
Everybody can be the one with the problem.
43:41
So at least once in a while you. Should be able.
43:43
To willing to reckon oh OK, this person may have a point this
43:46
person may have a point what do I have to lose?
43:47
Let me just try. And so that's I knew that he was
43:50
going to do big things because he's a Boy Scout.
43:56
Eventually he will say, OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, let's see if we can
44:01
make it work like this. And then he will try it.
44:05
And anyway, I'm not going too much but but online, sure as I
44:10
knew that he was was going to do big things.
44:13
So please, you guys should stop this whole thing off.
44:15
This won't work. This won't work is different is
44:17
different is different is different is different.
44:19
Excuses, excuses, excuses. Somebody will tell you 10 things
44:23
to do. You already have reasons why the
44:25
ten of them will not work. Just try something.
44:29
If your guy says, look, I have more selling experience, do it
44:32
this way. Try it.
44:33
If the consultant they have brought brought it in and saying
44:36
that, look, OK, let's try this, let's try this and why have you
44:38
got to lose? Just try it.
44:40
At least if you try it and it doesn't work, you can come back
44:42
and say, auger consultant Shabe I told you would not work.
44:46
Can you see I was right? At least we'll give you bragging
44:48
rights if nothing else. But The thing is, if you go and
44:51
try it and it works, who has the glory isn't isn't all you.
44:54
I'm not going to share my commissions with you when you
44:56
try the thing and then the money comes in anyway.
45:01
So please have a Boy Scout mindset or a Girls Guide
45:04
mindset. Always try and see how can I
45:06
make this work? How can I make this work?
45:09
And I've been talking for 45 minutes.
45:10
Let me just bring this thing over to a close.
45:15
Basically, I have immense gratitude in my heart for Rudy
45:19
Engineer, Rudy Julian of Crimson Power, and George the CEO.
45:25
Of Crimson power. Not just for three of them, but
45:29
for the clients who are willing to have faith in my methods and
45:32
who are willing to put in work over weeks and months that we
45:36
worked together For Crimson Power in particular, because
45:40
we're trying to revamp the source process.
45:42
We're trying to work on CRM implementation.
45:44
We're trying to work on mindset and team handoff and things of
45:47
that nature. So I have immense gratitude to
45:50
everyone, not just Rudy and Julian and George.
45:53
People who had. Faith in me and engaged me in
45:56
2024. I'm really grateful to you guys.
46:01
I'm grateful to my clients of 2024 and I'm looking forward to
46:04
the big things that are going to happen in 2025 and beyond.
46:08
Now, even after you stop working with me, I tell this to everyone
46:14
and I'm saying it here, Josh, remember that when it comes to
46:17
sales, it is behavior change first, then the naira and cobalt
46:21
comes later. There's nothing you do when it
46:24
comes to sales and business development that will bring
46:28
immediate profit. Now, you cannot call sales
46:32
consultants January 1st and then January 15th.
46:36
You will love millionaires. It doesn't work that way.
46:39
There are some cases when it happens because I remember the
46:40
first time Rudolph and I had a conversation, it was really
46:46
impressive. He had a troublesome client.
46:48
He told me this problem is a problem.
46:49
I told him to just do it like this dude, I just do it like
46:52
this. He went and did it and ended up
46:53
closing the deal for because he thought money was the problem.
46:57
And I told him, look, money is not the problem.
46:58
Go back, do it like this, do it like this.
47:00
Ended up closing at a higher point.
47:02
So there's sometimes when those immediate ones happen because I
47:05
had only been working with them I think 2 weeks when this
47:09
happened. So the first week was so excuse
47:13
me, the first week was classes. Then the second week was now
47:16
trying to figure out a couple of things on the client.
47:20
And, and you know, he told me, OK, or he might not lose his
47:23
money and I could just tell her, look, this thing is no money
47:26
running this way. So what was I trying to say?
47:30
This is what I'm just trying to say is that when it comes to
47:32
sales, just remember behavior change first.
47:35
You change your behavior 1st and you continue doing the thing
47:38
every single day. Then over time, that is when the
47:41
results happen. So grateful for those of you who
47:46
did business with me in 2024, and I'm grateful in advance for
47:50
those of you who do business with me in 2025.
47:52
Remember that behaviour change is the main thing that we're
47:56
aiming for. That is what we're going to lead
47:58
to the results. But I guess the summary of the
48:01
take away of what I'm trying to say is that I am not the
48:05
Messiah. I'm not going to come in and
48:07
touch your business and you will go from 1.5 to, you know, 7.5
48:12
million every single month. I'm not the Messiah.
48:15
Especially if you're not going to apply what it is that we talk
48:18
about. If you're not going to try and
48:21
achieve some behavior change, if you don't apply and there's no
48:24
behavior change, there will be no results.
48:27
That is why I keep saying over here, for those of you who are
48:30
looking for free resources, it is not a problem.
48:32
Just make sure that whether it's my podcast or another person's
48:35
YouTube channel or something, always listen with a pen and
48:38
paper. Write something down so that
48:40
tomorrow morning, 9:00 AM or whatever, you can start
48:45
executing. So like I said, this is a game
48:49
of probability. Try 1 moment.
48:51
Somebody's should be right next to me.
48:54
Let me wind up the window before I start choking on this.
48:59
Oh well, some people are just. Rude.
49:02
You see me here on the phone, you can't even say I brought.
49:03
I beg. I won't sweep now.
49:05
Just that, anyway. Where was I?
49:12
So that's why I always say listen with a pen and paper,
49:15
note something down that you can do tomorrow morning to move your
49:19
business forward because it's all about it's just a game of
49:23
probability. So you have to listen, you have
49:25
to execute, you have to change your behavior to increase the
49:29
odds in your favor. So keep on swinging, keep on
49:32
taking shots on goal. Eventually we score one or two
49:35
goals with proper technique and with practice.
49:37
It doesn't mean that every single thing will work.
49:40
Because if you noticed, I stopped working with them
49:43
towards the end of the year and you know, there was nothing.
49:46
And then December, this big one came work.
49:48
But he hasn't called me to say that there's a big one in
49:50
general. So it happens big one in
49:52
December, January and February might be quiet.
49:54
Maybe another big one comes April, July, and then maybe two
49:56
or three, 1 ^2. But you know, not sorry.
49:58
They have small, small, small, small, small.
50:00
And the better you get at having sales conversations and figuring
50:06
out the kind of people to approach and I should approach
50:08
them, it is then that your results keep getting better and
50:11
better and better and better. So behavior change, that's the
50:14
main thing. Listen, pen and paper, write
50:16
things down. Don't assume you know everything
50:18
if your gas is something you know.
50:21
Listen. Your guy might be an idiot on
50:23
maybe 5 things, but on the remaining four or five things, I
50:26
suppose I need you to listen and then try.
50:28
You know? Don't be.
50:30
Don't be too smart for yourself. And I'm talking to some people
50:35
in particular. One person in particular.
50:37
Anyway, I don't got his name, but every single time you're the
50:44
one who has all the answers. Your guy is wrong, your
50:46
coworkers are wrong, the consultant is wrong.
50:49
Everybody is wrong. I mean, think about it.
50:52
Think about it. You really think like you're the
50:57
know. You're the one that knows it
50:59
all. Everybody else is stupid.
51:01
Perhaps the reason why you're in the situation where you are
51:04
actually is you. And then let me overflow it.
51:08
And thank you very much for your time and attention.
51:09
And thank you very much for people who had faith in me in
51:12
2024. Looking forward to doing more
51:14
business with you guys in 2025. If you'd love to connect for a
51:17
business audit strategy session or you have some questions, the
51:21
number is 08064662140. Country code is +234.
51:27
That's my WhatsApp number as well.
51:29
And connect with me on LinkedIn, the name to look for
51:31
establishing my aid. I also have a bunch of stuff on
51:34
YouTube. We have close to 1050 episodes
51:37
up there right now. So plenty of free resources.
51:39
Remember, listen with the pencil, write down something on
51:43
your pencil and paper that tomorrow morning, 8 AM, 9:00 AM,
51:46
you can begin to apply to move your business forward.
51:49
So thanks for your time and attention.
51:50
I'll catch you guys at the next episode.