Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Why Nobody Cares About Your Company History (Yet)

Transcript

Why Nobody Cares About Your Company History (Yet) · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

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  Most Nigerian business people or sales people run into trouble
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  when they are creating content that is supposed to be used
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  online to generate interest or to generate awareness or when
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  they're creating collateral. You know, Flyers, PDFs or
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  whatever that you're supposed to send to a potential customer, a
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  potential client that is supposed to get them interested
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  to book a meeting. The common mistake that lots of
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  us make over here in Nigeria is we assume that the proposal, we
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  assume that the material, we assume that the flyer, the
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  whatever it is that we're going to send is all about us.
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  The reason why I'm making today's broadcast episode is
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  because recently I signed in on a meeting with a client of mine
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  and they were designing the collateral.
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  And so I had to tell them to take an upside down approach of
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  the whole thing because typically what they were
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  designing, I mean, what they were designing was the the
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  typical Nigerian thing, which was the PDF, you know, the PDF
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  was, you know, founder history, company expertise, company
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  history, company values, blah, blah, blah.
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  And then at the bottom of the document was this is how we can
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  help. Let me repeat, the document that
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  was going to be sent out to a potential customer, to a
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  potential client started off with this is our founder
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  history, this is our company founding history, this is our
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  expertise, this is our value, this is our blah, blah, blah.
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  And then at the end, this is how we can help.
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  Now when I said take an upside down approach, what I meant was
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  this, most businesses in Nigeria would be better off taking this
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  kind of pyramid and then or what would I say now taking this kind
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  of a communication flow and then turning it on its head.
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  You start off the document by saying this is how we can help
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  businesses just like yours and then you try and instantiate
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  that. And then if you must, then go
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  into founder history, company expertise, company values and
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  blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and then call to action, ask for the
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  meeting. Now the reason why I'm saying
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  that most Nigerian businesses would be better off flipping
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  this thing on his head is in the beginning, you don't have the
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  kind of social cache that you think it has.
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  So this is what I mean, let's say I'm selling for Dangote.
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  Everybody knows Dangote in Nigeria.
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  I can afford to show up and say this is my company profile, this
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  is our founder history, this is our expertise, these are our
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  values, these are blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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  And then lend with end with. This is how we can help.
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  I mean, I'm carrying the force of the Dangote brand behind me
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  in this scenario. So of course, people will
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  listen. But in the beginning, you don't
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  have that cache yet. Nobody knows who you are yet,
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  and because of that, nobody cares who you are yet.
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  So for you to show up and say this is me, Chukudi and Sons.
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  This is how I founded the company.
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  This is why I founded the company.
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  The company has been in existence for 15 years.
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  This is our board of directors, this is our blah, blah, blah.
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  And our company is founded on values of integrity and this and
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  this and that and that. And this is how our company
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  helps people. In your own situation, you're
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  just going to lose people in the first couple of pages.
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  Most people, I'm not going to read that.
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  So flip it on its head. You start with a problem
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  statement. This is the problem that people
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  in your industry face. Then you move to a solution
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  statement. This is how these solutions
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  ought to be solved, or this is how we solve these kinds of
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  solutions, sorry, solve these kinds of problems for customers,
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  for clients, for people like you.
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  Then you can go in through this is who we are, this is our
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  history, blah, blah, blah. And then the call to action can
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  now be, are you open for a meeting on Friday or are you
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  open for a phone call? That is a much more convincing
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  way to start the thing. And you increase your chances
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  that the person is actually going to read the thing because
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  you're starting off with a problem statement, a problem
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  that they have. You move quickly into the
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  solution statement, a solution that they are looking for.
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  Then maybe then you know, the company, blah, blah, blah.
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  In fact, to be honest, I quite frankly always leave out the
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  whole thing of the company and founding history and all those
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  sorts of things. For those of you who have
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  interacted with me personally, you, you catch the gist of what
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  I'm saying. For those of you who've done
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  business with me, till today, you still do not know my company
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  name. And if you do, it's because the
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  time came to make payment and you saw the account details.
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  That's if I gave you the company account details.
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  So a lot of you still don't know my company name, a lot of you
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  don't know my company history. A lot of you don't know company
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  values. A lot of you don't know why the
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  whole thing was founded. You know absolutely none of that
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  because you had a problem, which is why you found me.
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  When we hopped on the phone call or when we got on the meeting, I
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  went straight to the problem or did my best to try and figure
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  out what the problems are. And then from there, we moved
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  into what are the possible solutions?
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  What are the approaches that we can use to solve your problems?
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  And I skipped the whole point of this is who we are or this is
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  who I am or This is why I'm important.
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  And from there, I move straight to call to action, whether it's
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  scheduling another meeting or it's you making the transfer to
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  get this thing started or whether it's you giving me
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  access by giving numbers, phone numbers for other people in your
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  company so that I can, you know, have meetings with them to do
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  need analysis even further. So I know that lots of people
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  are not going to be as gangster as I am in quote and just
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  throughout that whole founder history, company history,
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  values, expertise and all of that, honestly speaking, I think
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  you can do without that. But if you still shall want to
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  say something about your company, not in the beginning
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  please, because at this point nobody cares when you have the
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  social cache, then yes, by all means lead with it.
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  So if I'm going to be selling, selling on behalf of Dangote, I
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  will start with that. Then I'm from Dangote Group of
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  Companies and the person I'm talking to sit up.
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  We say Dangote wants to do business with me.
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  If I'm selling on behalf of Tony alum, Tony alum use companies,
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  what's it called? Householdings, in fact, I won't
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  even say householdings, I will say that I'm here representing
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  Tony Illumelu's group of companies.
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  That's what I will say because most people don't know a
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  householdings but most Nigerians know Tony Illumelu.
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  So I will start off like that and then the person will sit
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  forward and say Uncle Tony wants to do business with me.
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  So when you have the cache, when you have the reputation, when
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  you have the what we call it, use it.
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  But until then, you're better off flipping the script.
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  Start with the problem statement, move into a solution
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  statement. Then you can now talk about who
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  you are. Always end with a call to
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  action, please. Because if you don't put a call
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  to action, what the person is going to say is, oh, thank you
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  very much. Wonderful presentation,
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  brilliant flyer. OK, thank you.
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  Let me think about it and I'll get back to you.
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  And that is what we are trying to avoid.
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  Let me get back to you. Let me talk to my wife.
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  Let me talk to head of accounting, let me talk to my
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  pastor, let me talk to my brother, let me talk to my
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  board. Let me.
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  That is what we're trying to avoid because once he enters
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  that whole, let me get back to you, send an e-mail to my
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  secretary to follow up. From there to ghosting is a very
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  short walk. And of course, once you enter
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  ghosting Wala, how are you going to revive the whole situation?
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  It's a problem. So applying these principles can
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  be tricky, but if you need me to look at your own particular
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  circumstances, then connect with me, call me, send me a text
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  message or send me a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
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  If you're interested, I'm offering a 15 minute sale audit.
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  I can look at your business processes, just WhatsApp me on
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  the same number 08064662140. Or you can join my WhatsApp
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  channel by sending me a WhatsApp message on the same number and
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  we will get you started. So please don't get me wrong,
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  I'm not saying your founder history is not important.
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  It's important to talk about yourself.
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  It's important to talk about your company expertise.
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  It's important to talk about your board.
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  It's important to talk about how you're founded on the values of
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  integrity and honesty and everything.
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  It's important to talk about all those things.
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  But the point in your PDF, the point in your proposal, the
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  point in your slide deck, the point in your whatever that
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  says, this is how we can help you.
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  All those sections, don't bury them at the back.
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  Bring those sections to the front.
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  Don't worry, you have some creative people on your team.
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  They will be able to bring that section from the back to the
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  front and they'll be able to rewrite, rewrite everything.
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  And it will still blend. But please, all those
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  paragraphs, all those figures, all those numbers, all those
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  pictures, all those audio, all those videos, all those whatever
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  that answered the question. This is how we can help you move
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  all that part to the front for the purposes of sales.
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  Move all of that to the front because actually that is what
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  the person who you're going to see, the potential customer, the
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  potential client, that is exactly the thing that they're
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  looking for. So if you're creating
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  advertising content principle is the same problem statement,
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  first solution statement before this is who we are and blah,
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  blah, blah. If you're eating brand content,
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  OK, the rules are slightly different when it comes to
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  branded content because the whole point of branded content
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  is just, you know, make them and see us, you know, want people to
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  see us, want people to let them. Let's register the presence.
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  So that's a good of branded content.
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  But even though you're doing branded content, a lot of you
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  talk about the problems and the solutions and everything.
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  OK, good. If you're going to do branded
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  content and there's going to be that whole talk of the problem
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  and the solution, please don't start with our company was
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  founded in 1940, whatever or our company was founded in 2021 by
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  so, so, so who returned from Harvard and something,
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  something, something, something, something.
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  If it's a fintech or some financial thing you're working
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  on, you're better off starting your content, even if it's
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  branded content, by saying lots of Nigerians have problems with
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  managing their financing. And that is because there is no
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  central place or there is no app where they can look at to track
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  their expenses to see exactly where they spend their money.
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  And so because of that, Nigerians are not able to
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  budget. Nigerians are not able to
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  schedule, Nigerians are not able to plan.
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  We are so, so, so and so Nigeria's first whatever,
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  whatever that plugs into your banking app and allows you to
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  analyze your figures for the last four weeks, six weeks, 2
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  days, 24 hours, blah, blah, blah.
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  So you can have a picture of how much money it is that you are
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  spending on essentials, on frivolities, on this and on
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  that. With this, we are hoping to make
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  financial planning, budgeting, editing, whatever accessible to
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  the average Nigerian audience. There you now end.
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  We are so, so, so and so. We are so, so, so and so, you
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  know, company founded by Tumisha and so, so, so and so who
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  graduated from Harvard and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
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  blah, blah, blah, blah. Then you now put your call to
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  action. You end it.
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  So that's the proper way. So that's it for today.
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  If you've gotten value from today's episode, remember, you
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  can't connect with me. Just call me, send me a text
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  message or WhatsApp message on 0806466 2140.
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  Are you interested in a 15 minute sale audit or you want me
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  to look at some of your business processes?
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  WhatsApp me on the same number 08064662140.
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  If you'd like to join my WhatsApp channel or you just
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  want to say hello, then just WhatsApp me on the same number
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  and we'll take it from there. So thank you very much for your
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  time and attention. I'll catch you at the next
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  episode.