Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / How to Diagnose Your REAL Problem (It's Not You!

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How to Diagnose Your REAL Problem (It's Not You! · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Today on the podcast, we're going to do the third part, the
• 0:05
  final part of OK. Now if you're listening to the
• 0:09
  podcast for the first time, the last two days we've been talking
• 0:12
  about how sales and selling is hard and in fact in the early
• 0:16
  days is the hardest business function that you will have to
• 0:20
  undertake to grow your business. So I've been trying to get
• 0:25
  listeners of the podcast to have the right perspective to have
• 0:29
  when it comes to sales and marketing because it's going to
• 0:32
  be hard because it's going to be challenging.
• 0:34
  There are certain things that we have to do to succeed.
• 0:37
  And if this your first time listening to the podcast, Part
• 0:40
  1, which was two days before and Part 2, which was yesterday,
• 0:46
  after you're done listening to this, listen to those parts,
• 0:48
  those two parts to bring you up to speed and also to give you
• 0:53
  the conceptual framework for what it is that we are going to
• 0:58
  discuss today. Because today in particular, I
• 1:01
  want to start looking at the question, when would you be
• 1:04
  justified to start feeling discouraged?
• 1:08
  Because I've spent two days trying to tell you guys like,
• 1:11
  relax, it's going to be hard. It's not entirely your fault.
• 1:15
  This is the right perspective to have.
• 1:18
  But then I don't want, you know, this whole idea of, you know,
• 1:22
  people being positive forever and hopeful forever.
• 1:25
  Yes, there's a time to feel discouraged and there's a time
• 1:29
  to start diagnosing. Are things working and are
• 1:32
  things going wrong? So today we're going to look at
• 1:35
  when to start feeling discouraged.
• 1:38
  And this is going to be the final part of the series.
• 1:41
  Now, apologies, today is going to be a noisy episode because
• 1:45
  for those of you who are regular listeners, it's a Tuesday.
• 1:48
  You know that the house gets cleaned on Tuesday.
• 1:49
  So that's going on. Then the holidays also here and
• 1:55
  my kids are in the room with me as at the time of this
• 1:59
  recording. So you know, they're on the
• 2:00
  computer doing Scratch coding or some other stuff.
• 2:04
  So because of that, expect to hear some noise in the
• 2:06
  background. But in the usual tradition over
• 2:08
  here on the podcast, this is not going to detract, It's not going
• 2:12
  to take away from the value that I hope to deliver to you guys
• 2:17
  over the couple of minutes that we have together.
• 2:22
  Then for those of you who are listening to the podcast for the
• 2:24
  first time, my name is Tava Shima aide.
• 2:27
  I'm a lawyer turned business consultant.
• 2:30
  And over here we tackle business problems every other day,
• 2:35
  especially business problems that can be solved by marketing
• 2:39
  or solved by personal selling. So if you'd love to connect with
• 2:43
  my LinkedIn, just get the correct spelling of my name from
• 2:47
  the podcast episode, wherever you're listening to this
• 2:50
  podcast. Then if you'd love to connect
• 2:52
  personally, you want to call, send me a text message or a
• 2:57
  WhatsApp message. You can do that at 08064662140.
• 3:05
  And yes, when you try to get in touch, it will be me.
• 3:08
  I'm still minding the phones for now, but when I become a
• 3:11
  certified big boy, I will have APA do it.
• 3:14
  But for now it's me. Then let's see what else, OK.
• 3:19
  And then of course, if you if you're feeling the vibe and you
• 3:22
  like these sorts of issues, then subscribe to the podcast on
• 3:25
  Spotify, on YouTube, on Apple or any player of your choice.
• 3:32
  So like I said, when should we start feeling discouraged?
• 3:37
  So yes, we acknowledge that it is hard and yes, we acknowledge
• 3:41
  that most of the times it is not your fault.
• 3:45
  But still we need to be able to be in the right frame of mind to
• 3:51
  be able to know that OK, looks as if things are not working.
• 3:55
  When should we start diagnosing? Because we can be hopeful and
• 3:59
  positive forever. So 1 moment.
• 4:03
  OK, I'm sorry about that. Like I said, my kids are here,
• 4:05
  so I needed to attend to a few things.
• 4:08
  All right, now when to start feeling discouraged?
• 4:11
  Now to make this very, very practical because I don't like
• 4:14
  doing theory over here, we are going to consider 2 particular
• 4:18
  contexts because I've had these conversations with people in the
• 4:22
  last maybe like one month. One person is still in school,
• 4:25
  the other person has a regular job.
• 4:29
  This is also another thing that we need to take into perspective
• 4:33
  when we're thinking about these things.
• 4:36
  Those of you who are feeling discouraged, it's hard enough as
• 4:40
  it is. When it is your sole job, it is
• 4:43
  your sole responsibility to try and grow the business.
• 4:47
  But those of you who are still in school and those of you who
• 4:50
  still have a 95, you need to give yourself some grace because
• 4:55
  it's an awful lot like you're juggling.
• 4:57
  So you guys in particular, you will need to be more kinder to
• 5:03
  yourselves. And that's the reason why I'm
• 5:04
  looking at this too in particular because those are the
• 5:08
  last set of conversations I've had someone feeling discouraged
• 5:12
  growing a business, getting sales, but the guys in school,
• 5:17
  another person trying to grow a business struggling with sales,
• 5:22
  but she's at work. So those are, let me just say
• 5:28
  your situation is challenging, but regardless of whether you're
• 5:32
  in school or whether you're in work, this is 1 exercise I want
• 5:36
  us to do. I want us to assume that we have
• 5:38
  a closing ratio of 10%. I repeat, I want us to assume
• 5:45
  that we have a closing ratio of 10%.
• 5:49
  Now the 10% is not any. Oh, OK.
• 5:52
  First of all, let me just define what a closing ratio is.
• 5:59
  When we're trying to close, when we're trying to secure a deal
• 6:03
  and we're talking to a potential customer, we are going to
• 6:06
  advance people through the business relationship and we're
• 6:10
  going to advance the cause of the sale going through several
• 6:15
  steps. So excuse me.
• 6:19
  For those of you who are regular listeners, you know that after
• 6:21
  my time as a lawyer, I transitioned into wedding
• 6:25
  photography. And that's where I like to I
• 6:28
  like to use that to illustrate this whole thing of how you move
• 6:31
  people through the deal. So my preferred way of getting
• 6:34
  business as a young wedding photographer was I would go to
• 6:39
  wedding shows because I like that sort of thing.
• 6:42
  I like seeing people face to face.
• 6:44
  I like talking to strangers. I like having a conversation
• 6:47
  one-on-one. I like picking up the phone to
• 6:49
  call people. I like going to the office.
• 6:51
  I like having them come over to my studio back when I had the
• 6:54
  studio. So for me, step one was go to
• 7:00
  the wedding Expo. The wedding Expo is like a
• 7:03
  business. What's it called now?
• 7:07
  I call it now like a trade fair for those of you who have been
• 7:10
  to trade fairs. So it's the same thing.
• 7:13
  Waiting photographs to be there, Wedding video people, event
• 7:17
  planners, cake people, MC pyrotechnics, you know,
• 7:21
  firework, What else? Light and sound while there and
• 7:26
  we're hoping to get business from brides and grooms who are
• 7:29
  passing through and looking at the different vendors, the
• 7:32
  different setups, the different services.
• 7:35
  So that is what I preferred. So we show up at the venue and
• 7:41
  the first thing would be try and engage strangers in
• 7:44
  conversation. So if you're mangling on the
• 7:46
  floor and you're able to engage someone in conversation, the
• 7:50
  goal is bring them back to the stand.
• 7:54
  If you're able to get them back to the stand, you have been able
• 7:58
  to successfully complete what we call a conversion.
• 8:01
  A conversion is when you get someone to take the next step.
• 8:07
  Then when they come to the stand and you're having a conversation
• 8:11
  with them, the goal is before they leave, you should collect
• 8:15
  an address, a phone number, an e-mail address, a something so
• 8:20
  that you can establish contact in the future.
• 8:23
  If you're able to get the contact details, the contact
• 8:25
  detail, then you have completed another conversion.
• 8:29
  They're moving the business deal forward another step.
• 8:34
  Then after they leave the event, you would send a text message to
• 8:39
  try and, you know, warm them up like, hey, what's up?
• 8:42
  What's nice having you understand, this is me looking
• 8:45
  forward to the meeting that we agreed, you know, for next week
• 8:47
  Monday, blah, blah, blah. Are we still on course?
• 8:50
  If they respond and they're able to confirm the meeting, that is
• 8:54
  another conversion. Then at the meeting you talk a
• 8:59
  little bit more about what they want to achieve for the wedding.
• 9:03
  And then the next stage will be maybe they come over to your
• 9:06
  office, to your studio, or you go and meet them in the house or
• 9:09
  in the office. And then you guys start looking
• 9:11
  at samples and then you schedule another meeting.
• 9:15
  That is another conversion at the next meeting.
• 9:19
  When you look at samples, the goal would be you try and get
• 9:22
  them to agree that they like one or two things or maybe two or
• 9:28
  three but not too much. When they agree on the ones that
• 9:33
  they like, then the next step would be OK since you like
• 9:37
  Option A, Option B, option C. At this stage I can go and work
• 9:40
  on a proposal and start putting NAIRA and COBOL next to it so
• 9:45
  that you can decide on which particular idea, which
• 9:47
  particular package you want. If they agree to that next
• 9:52
  proposal meeting, that is another conversion.
• 9:55
  Then at the proposal meeting you talk over a few things.
• 9:59
  You get them to try and narrow down which one do they like or
• 10:03
  which elements do they like from which just in case you have to
• 10:06
  come up with something bespoke for them.
• 10:08
  If you guys narrow it down to 1 package or a certain range of
• 10:11
  prices, that is another conversion.
• 10:15
  Now the reason why I'm using this is I'm trying to illustrate
• 10:18
  how the business is closed when you move people through step by
• 10:23
  step by step. So it's one step after another
• 10:27
  and after another before you get people to the point where you
• 10:31
  now say, OK, will you transfer IB?
• 10:34
  Is it going to be card payment? This is my OP number, this is my
• 10:37
  GT bank number, this is my whatever.
• 10:40
  So that is how business deals are closed, step by step.
• 10:45
  The reason why I'm explaining this is because, first of all, I
• 10:50
  don't want people, when we talk about closing ratio, some people
• 10:53
  assume that you can just meet a total stranger and then close
• 10:56
  the deal. Now like that.
• 10:59
  The people who are skilled at doing that sort of thing, it's
• 11:03
  an advanced technique. I don't know that I don't teach
• 11:06
  that. And for those of us who are
• 11:07
  brand new, actually let us learn on doing the simpler basic stuff
• 11:11
  first before we start trying to be advanced.
• 11:15
  And the simple basic stuff is we close the deal one step at a
• 11:18
  time. We get them to commit to one
• 11:21
  small thing, another small thing, another small thing.
• 11:25
  And that's how we close the deal.
• 11:27
  So the closing ratio just means when you're talking to people,
• 11:33
  all these processes we're talking about, how many people
• 11:36
  do you start the process with? And then how many people do you
• 11:39
  collect money from at the end of the day?
• 11:42
  Because remember, for those of you who've been listening to the
• 11:44
  podcast for a while, that as a younger wedding photographer, on
• 11:49
  average I'll select 2530 people who drop their phone number.
• 11:54
  So you're starting this phone number with 2530 people at the
• 11:59
  beginning. Sorry.
• 11:59
  Now at the beginning, at the end of the wedding Expo or the
• 12:03
  business Expo or whatever it is I want to call it, we start this
• 12:06
  process. Phone call, phone call, meeting,
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  meeting, office visit office, visit house, visit house, visit
• 12:12
  location, scouting, you know, whatever it is.
• 12:14
  Then at the end of the day, how many people do you collect money
• 12:17
  from? So if you start the process with
• 12:21
  30 people and at the end of the day you only collect money from
• 12:26
  one person, then your closing ratio.
• 12:29
  Sorry, forgive me, I'm not very good at math and at this point
• 12:33
  in time I won't be surprised if my children are disappointed in
• 12:35
  me. But I'm assuming that if you
• 12:37
  collect money from one person and you are talking to 30
• 12:40
  people, then your closing ratio I think is about what's that?
• 12:46
  Is it 3%? I'll be 1.5%.
• 12:49
  Anyway, whatever it is, that's your closing ratio.
• 12:52
  If you talk to 30 people and then you end up doing business
• 12:56
  with three, then that is a closing ratio of is that 10%.
• 13:03
  So forgive me, my mouth is not right, but you guys understand
• 13:05
  where I'm heading. So what is the ideal closing
• 13:10
  ratio? There is none because it depends
• 13:14
  on you, depends on your level of expertise, depends on your level
• 13:18
  of maturity in the business, depends on what it is that
• 13:20
  you're selling. It depends on the industry, it
• 13:22
  depends on the culture, it depends on a whole lot of stuff.
• 13:25
  So there's no ideal closing ratio.
• 13:26
  But when you're starting off fresh in whatever business, if
• 13:32
  you're doing 10%, it's not bad. So as a brand new wedding
• 13:37
  photographer, if you're talking to 30 people and you're only
• 13:40
  doing business with three is not ideal, it's not the best, but
• 13:46
  well, at least we're starting on an OK note.
• 13:50
  We now know that we either need to work on your targeting or
• 13:54
  your messaging. Maybe you're talking to the
• 13:56
  wrong people because you know, some people prefer some kinds of
• 14:00
  wedding photographers over others.
• 14:02
  Or maybe your messaging is wrong, you're not using the
• 14:06
  right words when trying to address them, when trying to
• 14:09
  send them e-mail messages or text messages or phone calls.
• 14:13
  So we know either need to work on our targeting or our
• 14:16
  messaging and we're trying to improve our conversions.
• 14:19
  Now I remember what I said earlier, conversions is you're
• 14:22
  talking to someone and you're trying to get them to take the
• 14:24
  next step so that ultimately you can close the deal.
• 14:30
  So let us all assume that we're starting at 10%.
• 14:35
  And remember, if you're already at 10%, it's not bad.
• 14:39
  We now know that we are working on the targeting, we're working
• 14:42
  on the messaging, and we're trying to improve our
• 14:44
  conversions because for that number to go up to 15 percent,
• 14:48
  20%, thirty percent, 40%, we need to improve our conversions.
• 14:54
  So back to the wedding photographer example, If you're
• 14:59
  on the floor and you chat with 90 people and you only get 35 to
• 15:05
  come to the desk, if you want to get better at this thing, all
• 15:10
  you should try and do is we're talking to 90 people.
• 15:13
  We should try and see how we can get 80 of them to come to the
• 15:16
  desk automatically. You can see that if you improve
• 15:20
  one conversion, it has implications further down the
• 15:24
  stage. So if in the beginning you talk
• 15:26
  to 90 but you only collect details of 30, if you talk to 90
• 15:31
  and you collect the details of 80, you can see that the
• 15:33
  probabilities now start looking in your favour.
• 15:37
  So we start working on our conventions.
• 15:41
  So back to the wedding photographer example.
• 15:43
  How many people do I talk to on the floor?
• 15:46
  If we can increase the number of quality conversations I have on
• 15:49
  the floor, it would be good for me and for the business.
• 15:54
  How many people do I get to come back to the desk?
• 15:57
  If I can increase the number and the quality of people who come
• 16:00
  to the desk, it'll be good for me and it'll be good for the
• 16:03
  business. For the people who come to the
• 16:05
  desk. How many phone numbers, e-mail
• 16:08
  addresses, office addresses, house addresses am I able to
• 16:12
  collect? If I can increase the number and
• 16:15
  the quality of the addresses, the contact details that I get,
• 16:18
  it'll be good for me. It'll be good for the business
• 16:22
  of the contact details that we collect.
• 16:25
  How many meetings are we able to secure?
• 16:27
  If I can increase the number of meetings that I secure and the
• 16:31
  quality of meetings that I secure, it'll be good for me.
• 16:34
  It'll be good for the business. From the meetings that we
• 16:38
  secure, how many proposals did I send?
• 16:42
  If I can increase the quality and the number of the proposals
• 16:47
  that I send, it'll be good for the business.
• 16:49
  It'll be good for me. Of the proposals that I send,
• 16:56
  how many, how many of those proposals am I able to get
• 17:00
  people to pay a deposit on? If I can increase the number and
• 17:07
  the quality of the deposits that I collect will be the good, will
• 17:10
  be good for the business, it'll be good for me.
• 17:12
  So you can see how it works. Let's just assume that we're
• 17:15
  starting at 10% and the goal is if I'm 10% in December of 2025,
• 17:21
  hopefully by February, March of 2026, I want to be doing 13
• 17:28
  percent, 14% as in small, small. Too many people are trying to
• 17:33
  grow their business 10X. You made 1,000,000 in 2025.
• 17:39
  Too many of you are trying to grow from 1,000,000 to 10
• 17:42
  million in 2026. Relax, calm down.
• 17:46
  It's part of the reason why you're feeling discouraged or
• 17:48
  healthy expectations. Let's assume that we're starting
• 17:51
  at 10%. 10% is not ideal, but it's not bad.
• 17:55
  The goal is let's be going small.
• 17:57
  Small 121317202340 percent, 50. By the way, there's no such
• 18:06
  thing as 100%. Nobody closes at 100%.
• 18:10
  It's not possible, so they even bother trying.
• 18:16
  Now, why was I OK? So let's start off by assuming
• 18:20
  that our closing ratio right now is that we are at 10%.
• 18:31
  By the way, for those of you who are still in school and for
• 18:33
  those of you who are still at work, can you see now where you
• 18:37
  guys are in a much more difficult situation?
• 18:39
  If you're in school, where are you going to find these 304050
• 18:43
  contacts to be talking to? Because you have lectures,
• 18:47
  excuse me, you have lecture, you have fellowship.
• 18:49
  And then of course, you know, you have personal commitments
• 18:51
  because know how know how? If you're a boy, you could
• 18:53
  define babe. If you're a baby with define
• 18:56
  bubble surround is normal. So where are you going to find
• 19:00
  time if you're at work? Even worse, if you're based in
• 19:05
  Lagos, you're stuck in traffic, 2 hours going, two hours coming.
• 19:09
  So that means tomorrow before the day will start, 4 hours.
• 19:12
  You've already wasted 4 hours through no fault of your own not
• 19:16
  to talk. Of the 810 hours that you stay
• 19:18
  at work, where will you find the time to find 20304050 prospects
• 19:23
  to start talking to so you can see how difficult that this is?
• 19:29
  Sorry, one moment. OK, sorry about that.
• 19:33
  I'm back. I had to mediate between my
• 19:34
  boys. OK, now assuming that we have a
• 19:38
  closing ratio of 10%, this is what I want you guys to pay
• 19:41
  attention to. Those of you who are feeling
• 19:43
  discouraged, especially those of you who are in school or those
• 19:46
  of you who are at work, pay attention.
• 19:48
  Now, assuming 10%, if you only talked to 10 people last week,
• 19:56
  honestly speaking, you're brand new.
• 19:59
  Realistically speaking, you only have hope of getting one or two
• 20:03
  meetings. Assuming you talk to 10 people.
• 20:07
  Now, if you have one or two meetings, why do you assume that
• 20:13
  the first proposal you drop, you'll just end up closing the
• 20:15
  deal? Can you guys see where some of
• 20:19
  this frustration is coming from? You only spoke to 10 people, you
• 20:22
  got 2 meetings, you dropped two proposals and you're angry that
• 20:25
  you didn't close any single deal?
• 20:28
  This is what I was talking about in the previous podcast episode
• 20:31
  where I said right technique but also right quantity.
• 20:36
  You have done and said the right things.
• 20:39
  Excuse me, but you have not done and said the right things to the
• 20:42
  right number of people, to a sufficient quantity, a
• 20:45
  sufficient number of people to give you the best chance for
• 20:48
  success. If you'd spoke to 10 people and
• 20:53
  dropped two proposals, don't expect that those two will
• 20:56
  close. By the way, if you talk to 10
• 20:59
  people, you drop 2 proposals and consistently every single time
• 21:03
  you're closing those two deals, then congratulations, It means
• 21:06
  you're a superstar. So what you need to do now is
• 21:09
  you need to improve your targeting so that instead of
• 21:11
  talking to 10 people and sending 2 proposals, if you target the
• 21:14
  right people, you can talk to 10 people and maybe submit 8
• 21:17
  proposals and then end up closing on the 8th.
• 21:21
  Hope you guys have been easy to see the dynamics at play and how
• 21:23
  this thing works. So summary, what I'm saying is
• 21:28
  when should you start feeling discouraged?
• 21:30
  Don't start feeling discouraged if you've only spoken to 10
• 21:32
  people. Let me repeat for those of you
• 21:36
  who are listening for the first time.
• 21:37
  If you have only spoken to 10 people, what are you feeling
• 21:40
  discouraged for? You haven't started yet.
• 21:45
  You only spoke to 10 people. Remember, we are assuming 10%.
• 21:54
  So in other words, for the average person, if you want to
• 21:58
  send out 10 proposals and you're brand new in business for the
• 22:00
  average person, I'm not swearing for you is not a cost.
• 22:04
  But honestly speaking for the average person who will start
• 22:07
  off closing at 10%. If you want to send out 10
• 22:09
  proposals this month, don't be afraid.
• 22:13
  Honestly speaking you it's more like you talk to 100 people
• 22:20
  that's to drop 10 proposals you have to talk to more like 100
• 22:24
  people. So I'm not trying to make you
• 22:28
  guys afraid though. But remember, we are assuming
• 22:31
  10% your brand new, you don't know anything at all.
• 22:34
  So it's just a matter of chances, a matter of luck.
• 22:37
  You know 10% is just about right.
• 22:41
  So a lot of you are feeling discouraged, but you're feeling
• 22:44
  discouraged prematurely. You've only spoken to 10 people.
• 22:47
  I'm sorry you're being discouraged prematurely.
• 22:50
  If you've only spoken to 20 people, I'm afraid I understand
• 22:55
  your discouragement. But my brother, my sister, it is
• 22:59
  too soon. If you've spoken to 100 people,
• 23:02
  I don't think you're making progress.
• 23:03
  OK, now we need to sit down and talk the most.
• 23:07
  Might be a serious problem, like your targeting is off, but maybe
• 23:10
  you spoke to 100 people, but you spoke to the wrong category of
• 23:13
  people. Or you spoke to the right people
• 23:15
  but your messaging is totally off.
• 23:17
  Or your messaging is correct, but how you advance the sale is
• 23:22
  totally wrong. Your conversions are wrong.
• 23:27
  But do not, I repeat, do not be discouraged because you've
• 23:30
  spoken to 1020 people. Talking to 10 or 20 people is
• 23:34
  just the price of admission. If you're starting off as a
• 23:38
  wedding photographer, talking to 1020 brides is just the price of
• 23:43
  admission. It just means you know you're a
• 23:45
  jam bite. You are just starting 1020
• 23:48
  people. That is just orientation in
• 23:51
  business. That's just your orientation.
• 23:54
  That's your business. One O 1.
• 23:59
  If you're an architect, it's the same thing.
• 24:01
  The 1st 1020 people you talk to, that one is just jam bite rush.
• 24:05
  You know, orientation week. That's just it.
• 24:13
  Don't discourage yourself. Speaking of jam bite rush boys,
• 24:18
  now remember when we're in uni now you enter, you start seeing
• 24:23
  some nice things up and down, and then you try your luck.
• 24:27
  So yes, between semester 1 and semester 2, you must have
• 24:30
  pursued like, you know, 10-15 people.
• 24:32
  But you didn't lose hope now and today you're happily married
• 24:35
  with children. It's the same thing.
• 24:42
  Anyway, let me stop here before I say something that is liable
• 24:44
  to get me cancelled. So if you are a newbie, you're
• 24:49
  fresh in business you haven't yet talked to.
• 24:52
  Maybe some of you are saying I'm being harsh, but I'm just being
• 24:54
  realistic. We haven't spoken to 3040.
• 24:57
  Fifty people. Like, what are you feeling
• 24:59
  discouraged for? Well, talk to 50 people first.
• 25:05
  Then we can start trying to figure out if there's a problem.
• 25:08
  So like back to the wedding photographer example.
• 25:10
  You go for a better show, you talk to 3050 contacts.
• 25:15
  You didn't close the single deal.
• 25:16
  OK, in that case, I can say, OK, it's time to start diagnosing
• 25:21
  what's going on and it's time to start feeling discouraged
• 25:23
  because you put in a number of reps, but then there's some of
• 25:27
  you who you come in brand new, you got your equipment, you
• 25:31
  bought the studio space, You only spoke to five people
• 25:34
  already feeling discouraged, like business is hard, like a
• 25:36
  comb on now. So if you're a newbie, there's
• 25:44
  more work than you think and some of you are feeling
• 25:47
  discouraged prematurely, you need to talk to more prospects.
• 25:52
  So after you've spoken to a few people, what is the ideal
• 25:55
  number? I don't know, but for me, I like
• 25:58
  it when I see that somebody has spoken to, you know, 30-40 fifty
• 26:01
  people before you start feeling discouraged.
• 26:04
  Assuming a 10% closing ratio, I would like that you have spoken
• 26:08
  to 100 people. I know it sounds harsh.
• 26:15
  Then after that we can start trying to figure out our
• 26:18
  targeting. Is our targeting on point?
• 26:23
  See, let me give you guys one concrete example.
• 26:26
  In the beginning, as a wedding photographer, I used to take
• 26:29
  business from every single person.
• 26:31
  But then after a while, I realized that there were certain
• 26:33
  classes of brides that me and them we used to fight all the
• 26:36
  time. I'm not picking on those of you
• 26:39
  who are yellow. I'm just keeping it real here.
• 26:42
  I realized that me and yellow babes, we always used to fight
• 26:46
  because I delivered the photo and they would say, what is
• 26:47
  this? I'm not this, I'm not this
• 26:49
  black. Never mind.
• 26:50
  I'm thinking like, now your color be this, now No, be me,
• 26:54
  shooter. No, say no, no, no, no, no.
• 26:57
  I'm not this dark. They wanted me to make them more
• 26:59
  yellow. So I just, I saw the pattern
• 27:03
  after a while that if it's a yellow babe, me and yellow babe,
• 27:06
  we must fight. But then I met another
• 27:10
  photographer more senior, and the guy told me that, oh, that
• 27:13
  is scope. It's not just whether the baby's
• 27:15
  yellow or not. Now when you see that the baby's
• 27:16
  yellow, you look at her knuckle and then you look at the elbow.
• 27:20
  If you look at the knock when you see black, then you know
• 27:22
  that there will be a fight. Those ones are particular about
• 27:24
  their skin, but if you look at the knuckle, you look at the
• 27:27
  elbow and you see yellow. Like is photo comp factory
• 27:30
  fitted and hand those ones, no problem.
• 27:31
  Don't be any fight. So after a while, I learned to
• 27:36
  start targeting brides of a certain color, and if they're
• 27:42
  yellow, I'll look at Noku and I'll look at elbow.
• 27:45
  If I see black, I know that this is not the customer for me.
• 27:51
  I'm just using this one as a concrete way to illustrate.
• 27:54
  When we talk about targeting, like who are you chasing?
• 27:57
  You actually have to be chasing the right kind of person.
• 28:01
  The person that you look, who vibe with you, flow with the
• 28:04
  people that you have chances of actually helping them out,
• 28:07
  increase the chances that they will like you, that they will
• 28:09
  love you, that you have a happy customer and they can get repeat
• 28:12
  business from. That's the reason why I say that
• 28:16
  when it comes to sales, targeting one O 1 is key.
• 28:18
  I'll be running after the right person.
• 28:20
  Now, if you're new in this space as a young wedding photographer
• 28:23
  and you've only spoken to five brides, how are we supposed to
• 28:26
  know who you're supposed to be targeting?
• 28:27
  How? How do we know if you're
• 28:31
  supposed to be chasing northern brides or ebow brides or western
• 28:36
  brides? Or whether you have a problem
• 28:38
  with yellow brides or whether you have a problem with black
• 28:41
  brides, or whether for you high end weddings are the ideal
• 28:47
  things, or whether you need to start at that, you know, low
• 28:50
  level cater first and then work your way up.
• 28:53
  How do we know if you've only spoken to 10 prospects?
• 28:56
  We really don't know who we should be targeting, if you're
• 29:01
  targeting is on point or if you're targeting is off.
• 29:04
  And this applies for every single business.
• 29:07
  So can you see that when I say 50 or 100, even though it sounds
• 29:11
  harsh, can you see that honestly, if you've only spoken
• 29:15
  to 510 people, you're feeling discouraged prematurely.
• 29:18
  You have not done enough legwork for us to even know what's going
• 29:21
  on. So let me stop here.
• 29:28
  This is 30 minutes. So let me bring this podcast
• 29:31
  episode to a close. So over the last three days, I
• 29:35
  hope I've been able to give you guys the right level of
• 29:38
  expectations when it comes to how difficult sales is going to
• 29:44
  be. And I hope I've been able to
• 29:46
  give you guys a sense of the things that we will have to work
• 29:51
  on so that we can improve your business.
• 29:54
  If you listen to yesterday's episode and the one the day
• 29:57
  before, you'll remember that I'm organizing the training.
• 30:03
  It's a paid training in January of 2026.
• 30:07
  It's going to start on the 12th of January.
• 30:10
  It is for people who want to improve their businesses, who
• 30:14
  want to improve their conversions, especially people
• 30:17
  who are interested and desirous of learning how to sell on the
• 30:21
  phone. So consultants, this will be
• 30:24
  good for you. People who are in Tele sales,
• 30:26
  this will be good for you. Even if you're not a consultant
• 30:29
  or you're not in Tele sales, but you think you're like me, you
• 30:34
  like making phone calls and you like hooking up meetings, this
• 30:37
  will be good for you. But remember that I would like
• 30:41
  to meet you guys, have a chat with you guys to be sure this
• 30:45
  program is a fit for you before we begin because this is going
• 30:49
  to be a paid training. As much as I like money, I do
• 30:53
  not want to be a fraud. So I only want to collect money
• 30:55
  from people that I know that I can help.
• 30:58
  If I can't help you, I won't collect your money.
• 31:00
  In fact, I'll try and send you elsewhere where you can get some
• 31:03
  value. So if you're interested in being
• 31:08
  a part of the cohort for the 12th of January 2026, call, send
• 31:14
  me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 31:25
  Remember that one of my clients who is based in Leki Osaka, Leki
• 31:31
  ABI Osaka, London, as they call it, he's trying to put together
• 31:35
  a sales team for his business. And we've agreed that some of
• 31:39
  the people who pass through this training of mine.
• 31:42
  Sorry, one moment. OK, I'm back.
• 31:45
  Sorry about that. Like I said, it's a Tuesday,
• 31:48
  house is being cleaned, so I had to leave.
• 31:51
  I was recording and then move things around a little bit.
• 31:54
  So if I remember correctly, I was talking about how my client
• 32:01
  is based in Leckie, the company is in Osaka, London.
• 32:07
  And we've agreed that the people that I talked to next year on
• 32:14
  the 12th of January 2026, this is going to be a two week thing
• 32:19
  from the 12th of January until the 23rd.
• 32:22
  But it's going to be Monday to Fridays only.
• 32:24
  So don't worry, you're going to have your weekends off.
• 32:27
  The people who I think are the best candidates or the
• 32:30
  candidates they'll be most suited for his kind of industry,
• 32:34
  for his kind of selling contacts, I will be making
• 32:38
  introductions to him so that they can be considered to be
• 32:42
  part of his sales team. So if there are those of you who
• 32:45
  want to take part in this training and you're hoping to
• 32:49
  get some paid employment out of it, then reach out on
• 32:54
  08064662140. You can call, you can send me a
• 33:01
  text message, you can send me a WhatsApp message.
• 33:03
  And remember, I'd like to get to know you guys first before we
• 33:08
  begin and before I collect your money, because I love money, but
• 33:13
  I am not a fraudster. Before I collect your money, I
• 33:16
  want to be sure that I can help you.
• 33:18
  I want to know what kind of businesses you run.
• 33:22
  I want to know what kind of challenges you're facing.
• 33:24
  I want to know what kind of milestones, what kind of goals
• 33:28
  that you want to hit so that we can work together and so that
• 33:32
  this is going to be a good time both for me and for you as well.
• 33:38
  But for those of you who are interested in the Employment
• 33:41
  Opportunity, we will only be considering people who are based
• 33:44
  in Lagos because this is going to be an office thing, not a
• 33:49
  hybrid thing. I repeat, this is going to be an
• 33:53
  office thing. Nine to five, you will be using
• 33:59
  the phone a lot. You'll be making phone calls.
• 34:01
  You will be expected. To have started making phone
• 34:04
  calls by 9:00 AM daily, which is the reason why I've been saying
• 34:10
  that we're only looking for people who are disciplined,
• 34:13
  people who are focused and people who are willing to put in
• 34:15
  the work. And it will not be a hybrid
• 34:18
  thing. Let me repeat, please, this will
• 34:21
  not be a hybrid thing. Don't form my hand.
• 34:24
  Don't disappoint me. Don't start.
• 34:26
  And they now start saying, can we make this thing hybrid?
• 34:28
  It is not hybrid, it is full time and on location, which is
• 34:33
  why we're only considering people who are based in Lagos
• 34:36
  and only people who live on the island or who are close to the
• 34:45
  island. The closer you are to Osaka
• 34:48
  Lakey, the better, because we don't want.
• 34:51
  To put anybody in the. Situation where it's taking you
• 34:54
  2 hours to get to work. We don't want a 2 hour commute,
• 34:58
  we want you to get to work happy and fresh because calling on the
• 35:02
  phone is hard work. If you've been stuck in a
• 35:05
  downfall for 2 1/2 hours, 3 hours, it's tough to go and sit
• 35:10
  down in the cubicle and start calling.
• 35:13
  So only going to be considering people who are based in Lagos
• 35:15
  and people who live on the island, who live in Laki, who
• 35:19
  are close to Osaka. So that your commute.
• 35:25
  Is not. Long and so that you.
• 35:26
  Don't spend too much on transport.
• 35:31
  So please do not. Apply if you live in Ikeja, for
• 35:37
  instance, except if you're fine with that whole thing of, you
• 35:42
  know, I haven't lived in Lagos for a while, but back when I
• 35:44
  lived in Lagos, in Ikeja, you know, for those of us who wanted
• 35:46
  to be on the island by 8, you need to wake up at 4:30.
• 35:49
  So if you're OK for that 430 lifestyle, then sure, no
• 35:52
  problem, apply. But it will be full time.
• 35:59
  And. It will be on location.
• 36:02
  There is no hybrid. You will be making lots of phone
• 36:04
  calls. And part of the curriculum.
• 36:09
  That we have for the 12th of January to the 23rd of January
• 36:14
  2026 is we're going to be doing a lot about the phone.
• 36:20
  How do you start? The conversation How do you
• 36:24
  build rapport? How do you make?
• 36:28
  An. Effective presentation.
• 36:30
  How do you follow up effectively?
• 36:33
  How do you build a relationship over the phone?
• 36:38
  How do you close the deal? Over the phone, if there's
• 36:42
  anything that we need to troubleshoot, how do we do that
• 36:44
  over the phone? Shah How?
• 36:47
  Do we sell on? The phone that is going to be
• 36:49
  the focus of the training. So it's been. 36 minutes.
• 36:53
  Let me. Bring it to a close.
• 36:54
  Thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 36:56
  Remember to subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any
• 36:59
  player of your choice where you're currently listening to
• 37:02
  the podcast. Thank you very much for your
• 37:04
  time and attention. I'll catch you some other time
• 37:06
  and again, if you'd love to connect with me.
• 37:09
  You have questions, you have comments, you have queries or
• 37:13
  you want to ask about the training, then the number to
• 37:15
  call to send a text message or a WhatsApp message to is
• 37:19
  08064662140. So that's it.
• 37:26
  I'll catch you guys some other time.