Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Why "No" is the Second Best Answer in Sales

Transcript

Why "No" is the Second Best Answer in Sales · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

0:01
Hello and welcome. Today on the podcast we're going
0:05
to look at how to target people for your business outreach.
0:10
Again today we're going to look at how to target people for your
0:14
business outreach. So you have a product, you have
0:16
a service you're about to roll up into the market.
0:19
You want to start approaching people.
0:22
We're going to come up with some ideas about how to look for the
0:25
best possible people that you should be running after.
0:28
Because when it comes to sales and marketing, if your targeting
0:31
is off, you're going to be wasting a whole lot of time
0:34
because there's no point in talking to people who are not
0:37
going to end up buying. At the end of the day, you're
0:39
just wasting your time. You're frustrating yourself.
0:42
So today, how to target people for your business outreach.
0:47
Now, the reason why we're doing this particular topic today is
0:51
because yesterday we discussed webinars as a form of lead
0:55
generation. And for those of you who
0:58
listened yesterday, you remember that lead generation is any
1:02
activity we do that causes people to show that they might
1:05
be interested in our product or our service.
1:08
So for people who run webinars to promote their businesses here
1:12
in Nigeria, what they're trying to do essentially is this.
1:16
Let's say you're in real estate and you guys don't specialize in
1:23
home ownership, but you specialize in investment
1:25
opportunities in real estate. Now, if you create the webinar
1:29
on real estate investment opportunities in 2026, so excuse
1:34
me, so you create a webinar called Investment Opportunities
1:38
in Real Estate in Abuja or in Lagos in 2026 and then you run a
1:42
bunch of advertisements on that on Instagram or Facebook or
1:47
whatever. The assumption is that any
1:51
single person who shows up for that webinar and who signs up,
1:55
that person might be a potential lead, might be a potential
1:58
contact, might be a potential prospect because it's not as if
2:03
you are advertising beauty secrets or something.
2:07
The title of your webinar is Real Estate Investment
2:10
Opportunities in Lagos in 2026. So the chances that somebody in
2:16
Uber Montreal might sign up, OK, well, the chances are it's
2:22
possible that that kind of person might come, you know, so
2:24
that, you know, well, let them learn.
2:26
But we're hoping that if we did a good job with the targeting in
2:31
our advertising, that people who show up for that kind of webinar
2:36
are people who are interested in investment opportunities in real
2:40
estate in Lagos. So that when you collect their
2:43
contact details, you know they can be reaching out to those
2:45
people. So these were some of the things
2:48
that we spoke about yesterday and we're going to continue into
2:53
that today. Just tease out a few more
2:56
issues, particularly around targeting.
2:59
So yes, Nigerian businesses, you can use webinars as a form of
3:03
lead generation because the idea is while we're trying to
3:10
increase the likelihood that people who show up are
3:14
interested, that they want our product or service, they can
3:16
afford it, they have a sense of urgency.
3:19
So targeting is key. When it comes to all these
3:23
things, targeting is key. How will I define targeting?
3:27
OK, targeting, let's just say who are you aiming for or who
3:30
are you running after? So we need to settle these
3:33
questions. Who are we aiming for?
3:35
Who are we chasing after? Who are we running after?
3:38
Who are we trying to attract? So targeting is key, because if
3:43
you're going to have a webinar and you target the wrong kind of
3:48
people, you have very little hope that good business
3:53
conversations will start at the end of the day.
3:55
But if you target the right kind of people and there is alignment
3:59
between you and them, then we increase the likelihood that
4:02
we'll have good business conversations starting at the
4:05
end of the webinar. So let's define a few terms as
4:10
usual. So outreach, for those of you
4:12
who are new, outreach just means you're going out to chase
4:16
people. That's just what it means.
4:18
Outreach, go out, reach outside, that's all.
4:22
Now, some of you who listened to yesterday's episode might be
4:25
confused. You say yesterday you said that
4:28
webinar is inbound. And yes, actually webinar is
4:32
inbound. It's an inbound strategy.
4:34
So we can't really call that outreach per SE.
4:36
But The thing is there are times when you have a webinar that you
4:40
have to go out and start inviting people individually to
4:45
come to your webinar instead of just promoting it on social
4:47
media. So yes, you can have your
4:49
webinar. You know, real estate investment
4:53
opportunities in Lagos for 2026, that can be your webinar and you
4:58
can run the promo on LinkedIn or Instagram or whatever.
5:05
But it doesn't stop you from being outreach, from reaching
5:08
out to people one-on-one. They say Bros, Madam, Sir, you
5:14
know, Adogu, you know, lol or whatever, reaching out to people
5:19
to say that I think you'd be interested in this webinar.
5:22
This is what we're going to discuss, blah, blah, blah.
5:24
This is how it will benefit you. So nothing stops you from doing
5:27
outreach. And in fact, I mentioned it
5:29
yesterday that the reason why we're talking all this time is
5:33
because in usual fashion, somebody reached out to me to
5:36
try and invite me for a webinar. But of course, the lady went
5:41
about it the wrong way. And I think this is 1 mistake
5:44
that she made targeting. So this is the scenario.
5:49
The lady reached out to me on LinkedIn.
5:51
She sent me Adm Oh, by the way, sorry if this is your first time
5:55
listening to the podcast. My name is Tavi Sharma IED.
5:58
I'm a former lawyer turned business consultant, and I like
6:02
solving business problems. So that's what I do over here on
6:04
the podcast every single day. Most especially, we try to look
6:09
at issues around reaching out to customers and potential clients,
6:14
how to start conversations with them, how to build relationships
6:17
with them, how to get them to commit, how to get them to pay
6:20
our deposits, how to make sure that they're happy, how to get
6:23
them to buy again. And then how to get them to
6:25
refer people to us so that our business continues to grow.
6:28
So those are the kind of problems that we solve over here
6:30
on the podcast. So this is your first time
6:32
listening. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple
6:35
iTunes, YouTube, you know, web Ware, everywhere because at this
6:41
point, I'm everywhere. I am not on Amazon Music,
6:43
unfortunately. Don't worry, I'll sort that out.
6:45
But anywhere else you search, you will find me.
6:48
This is a six year old podcast or over six years old and I have
6:53
over 1300 episodes, so I'm everywhere.
6:56
If there's anywhere that you can find me apart from Amazon Music,
6:59
let me know so I can sort that thing out because I want to be
7:01
available to everyone across all platforms.
7:05
So subscribe and then if you want to connect with me, you can
7:09
find me on LinkedIn. Let's have a chat.
7:11
But if you want to talk to me directly or you want to connect
7:16
with me, then you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp
7:20
message on 0806466 2140. In fact, there are some people
7:29
that I want to hear from right now.
7:30
And those are people who have 345 business ideas and have not
7:34
been able to decide on which one is the best idea to roll out.
7:40
So reach out to me because I put together a training course so
7:46
that we can help you select the best idea for you.
7:50
Will also help you validate the business idea to make sure that
7:54
there is demand for this idea. There's no point in starting a
7:57
business that people are not interested in, people are not
8:00
willing to pay for. So that's what we're going to
8:02
sort out when we talk about market validation or trying to
8:06
validate the demand. Then we're also going to come up
8:10
with a selling system so that, like I said, you will get people
8:16
to buy once, come back again, come back repeatedly, and then
8:22
refer other people to come and buy from you as well.
8:25
So that's what the whole package is for.
8:27
Now, there is one person who has reached out to say, bro, I'm
8:30
interested, but I don't like #1 and two, can we do #3 that's not
8:34
a problem you're interested in #3 just creating a selling
8:37
system for yourself. No problem.
8:38
Reach out and let's see how we can help your business grow with
8:41
this three simple, easy steps. But like I told the guy, because
8:46
I'm saying easy, it doesn't mean work is not involved.
8:49
There's going to be serious work that is involved.
8:51
The framework is easy, but you know, there's always a sweat
8:56
that is involved in some things. I almost had blood, blood, sweat
8:59
and tears. Let me not say that, so I won't
9:01
chase you guys away. So yeah, the framework is
9:04
simple, but we have to put some elbow grease.
9:06
We have to do some, you know, there has to be some legwork to
9:09
get this thing moving. All right, so back to the
9:13
scenario now. So the lady reached out to me on
9:14
LinkedIn and the webinar that she's organizing is called
9:19
Emerging Trends in Internal Audit.
9:23
And in the e-mail was very long. In fact, let me not even go into
9:27
that one. We'll do that tomorrow.
9:29
So in the e-mail, sorry, not e-mail, in the LinkedIn DM, she
9:33
essentially told me what the training was about and she
9:37
wanted me to attend. So that was it.
9:42
Now for those of you who have been listening to the podcast
9:45
for a while and who are familiar with my methods, you already
9:49
know what the main problem is. For those of you who are
9:52
listening for the first time, just let it sink.
9:55
Let let it sink in. You'll get it.
9:57
You will clock it. The problem is this.
10:01
The lady has reached out to me. She wants me to attend the
10:04
webinar. The webinar is titled Emerging
10:07
Trends in Internal Audit. Remember, I've been talking
10:11
about how targeting is important because you only want to invite
10:14
people who are going to come for this webinar, who might have a
10:17
want, who might have a need, who might be interested, who might
10:21
have a budget. Because we don't just do webinar
10:24
for webinar sake, like right now, not just podcasting for
10:26
podcasting sake. The reason why we do these
10:28
things is because we're hoping to attract certain kinds of
10:31
people who at the end of the day, we can engage in profitable
10:35
business conversations with so that by the end of the day, by
10:38
the end of the week, we'll hear ping him in our bank account.
10:43
And once we hear that ping him, you know, we can do things.
10:47
We can settle school fees, we can flex, we can buy shawarma,
10:50
we can travel abroad, we can send money to the village, you
10:53
know, whatever. So the problem obviously is how
10:59
does this lady know that I'm interested in internal audit?
11:04
How does this lady know that I might become a paying customer
11:07
for her service? She doesn't know her targeting
11:12
is off. Long time listeners of the show,
11:16
you already know, those of you who have checked me out on
11:18
LinkedIn, you already know. There is nothing, absolutely
11:22
nothing on my profile. There is nothing, nowhere from
11:27
the things that I see from like if you look at me up and down
11:33
there is I don't even know how she even thought I'd be
11:36
interested in internal audit. I have never ever spoken about,
11:40
posted about reading thing anything about anything remotely
11:45
close to internal audit. This is one problem that lots of
11:51
business owners, lots of consultants in our own case as a
11:55
consultant. So it's not, well, consulting is
11:59
hard, Yes, definitely. But one of the reasons why you
12:02
Nigerian business consultants are suffering is because you are
12:05
not doing good sales practice. Your targeting is off.
12:08
You're trying to talk to everybody other than the sun.
12:10
But it's not everybody under the sun who can end up being a
12:13
paying customer for your product or service.
12:15
And it's not everybody under the sun who is interested in what
12:17
you do. So why not just make your job
12:19
easier by targeting the right people from the beginning, from
12:22
the get go? Give yourself a chance to
12:24
succeed in this business. You're in the business of
12:27
internal audit. Why are you wasting your time
12:30
talking to people who it looks as if they have no connection to
12:34
internal audit? OK, I'm sure you'll be thinking,
12:36
well, they might know somebody who they might know somebody
12:38
who, but come on, target people first.
12:45
Exhaust the targeted people on your list.
12:48
Then maybe after that you can start saying, OK, let me talk to
12:50
anybody because they might know. They might know, they might know
12:56
as a wedding photographer. Because even though I started
12:58
off as a lawyer, eventually moved into wedding photography,
13:01
I did not just go around talking to babes on the street.
13:05
Have they proposed to you? Are you getting married?
13:07
No, it's not like that. Yes, it's possible I might run
13:12
into a babe on the street. Nobody has proposed to her.
13:14
Or maybe they are proposed to her sister.
13:16
That doesn't mean I should just go on the street and then be
13:18
talking to everybody. Sister, have they proposed to
13:20
you? You, they marry, it's not like
13:25
that targeting. Now, how do you do targeting for
13:29
your business outreach? Or in this woman's case, how do
13:33
you do targeting to invite people for your webinar?
13:36
So number one, we use some common sense.
13:39
You ask yourself who might be interested in your product or
13:42
your services. At this stage, we're not being
13:45
too picky. We just want to think of
13:47
absolutely any single person who might be interested in the
13:51
product or the service and we need to be thinking in terms of
13:55
demographics and psychographics. You know, this is key.
13:58
I keep saying it a lot. I want this thing to lock in,
14:01
lock into everybody's head who's listening.
14:03
Now. We should always be thinking in
14:04
terms of demographics and psychographics.
14:07
Now demographics, that's the easy bit because all of us who
14:10
schooled in Nigeria in primary school and junior secondary
14:13
school, in business studies and in social studies, they taught
14:16
us demographics. Demographics, Those are the
14:18
characteristics of Abby. How do you put it?
14:21
Again, characteristics of population that they share in
14:24
common, Abby, Something like that anyway.
14:27
So demographic just means age, height, sex, location,
14:35
occupation, what else? You know, all of those things.
14:41
Break it down. You need to be able to think in
14:43
terms of who might be interested in your product or service.
14:46
Is it mostly men or women? Is it small boys, middle-aged
14:51
people or old men? Is it senior babes?
14:55
Is this CCA codes or is it small girls?
14:58
You need to be thinking in terms of demographics.
15:01
Is it people who mostly live in Abuja or in Orca or in
15:05
Maiduguri? Is it people who mostly work in
15:08
the civil service or in the oil and gas space or who are tailors
15:14
and professional seamstresses? These are the terms you should
15:19
be thinking in who might be interested in your product or
15:22
service. And then start plotting down the
15:26
demographics. What are the age of these
15:28
people? Where do they live?
15:31
Where do they work? Then psychographics.
15:34
Psychographics that is interests or hobbies.
15:37
So what are the kind of things that people are interested in?
15:40
You know, things like that. So psychographic is kind of hard
15:43
because, well, first of all, it's new.
15:46
And so excuse me, a whole, a whole lot of us who are products
15:50
of the Nigerian primary and junior secondary school system,
15:53
we haven't really studied it yet.
15:56
But don't worry, that's the reason why podcasts like mine
15:58
are here, you know, to train you up in these sorts of things.
16:02
So after you ask who might be interested in your product or
16:04
service, the next thing is decide on a channel.
16:08
When we say channel, we don't mean TV.
16:09
Channel just means a medium that you want to use to go and meet
16:13
somebody. Now a lot of you be worried
16:18
about what the perfect channel is.
16:20
Don't worry about the perfect channel.
16:21
When we're starting in sales, there's a lot we have to figure
16:24
out. There's a lot that is going to
16:25
be experimental as per, you know, you try the one that work,
16:29
you continue, the one that don't work you discontinue.
16:32
So a whole lot of stuff is going to be experimental in the
16:35
beginning. So don't worry for now.
16:36
Don't worry about the perfect channel for now.
16:39
Just look for the channel that OK, this one makes sense.
16:42
I think I can run it. Then begin the runner.
16:45
As you're running it, your vision will clear.
16:47
Like OK, I'm not on the right path, let me try something else.
16:50
But please don't do this Nigerian thing of everything has
16:53
to be perfect. So I will decide on the perfect
16:55
channel before I will start. So if like this woman, you
17:00
assume that, OK, LinkedIn DM is the way and no problem, begin
17:04
with LinkedIn DM. After a while, you know, you
17:08
discover one or two things. I'd be like, no, this LinkedIn
17:10
DM thing is not is not working. Maybe I should try e-mail or
17:15
maybe I should start going physically to certain kinds of
17:18
offices to talk to people. But you know, like I said in the
17:20
beginning, the whole thing about sales is this is certainly
17:23
element of it being experimental in the beginning or just trying
17:26
to figure out was was working or was jiving with me or what, what
17:32
is the one that I can do well. So don't worry about the perfect
17:37
channel. Those of you who are thinking
17:39
about perfection, you want to launch your consulting practice,
17:42
you're thinking of perfection. Calm down, take it easy right
17:47
now. Just pick the most realistic
17:48
channel and start. We'll worry about perfect later.
17:51
So Step 2 is decide on the channel then #3 obviously we
17:56
have to start the conversation. But this is one thing I want to
18:00
advise. When you start the conversation,
18:02
keep it focused on the individual's needs, the person
18:05
you're talking to. Focus on their own needs because
18:08
too many of us, especially in the Nigerian context, we like to
18:11
focus on why we're the greatest. Come for this webinar on
18:15
internal audit because I have 25 years experience because I was
18:20
schooled in Edinburgh and then my master's was in Harvard.
18:24
And then after that I did a post doctorate in Washington state.
18:27
And since then I have worked in the UN and then I have worked in
18:32
the United Kingdom. And then I have and then and
18:34
then and me and me and me, my, my, my, me, my, my.
18:37
Like, relax. Your time will come when you
18:41
can, you know, boost your credentials by in the beginning.
18:45
It's not that time. Some people will be impressed.
18:49
OK, but how do you know you're even talking to the right person
18:52
first? It's about the person's needs
18:56
first. So when you start the
19:00
conversation, relax, You can flex your credentials later
19:03
because you know, Nigeria would like to, would like to flex.
19:06
And I remember when I started off in wedding photography, it's
19:09
something that people used to tell me all the time.
19:10
They say, oh boy, that look, you're a lawyer, you should put
19:13
it in your marketing material that you're a lawyer, you
19:17
schooled abroad, put it in your marketing material that you
19:19
schooled abroad. That's the kind of thing that we
19:22
like to do, by the way. I didn't do it.
19:26
I didn't see what the point was. Yes, I studied law and yes, I
19:32
schooled abroad for a while and then I was back in the country.
19:40
I really didn't think it was that important.
19:44
Anyway, that's a no conversation.
19:46
Sure, focus on the person's needs, who you're talking to
19:50
right now, not why you're the greatest and blah, blah, blah.
19:54
Then you should also be ready for a no for people to say no
20:00
thank you. I am not interested now when
20:03
somebody tells you no thank you. I know that we want to hear yes,
20:08
yes, yes all the time. But let's be realistic, even
20:11
your wife doesn't tell you yes all the time.
20:13
Even your husband doesn't tell you yes all the time.
20:16
Even your children, you know they have enough of you from
20:19
time to time. And even your mumsy and your
20:21
policy right now, they're glad that you are married or glad
20:24
that you are grown and you're not their problem anymore.
20:26
So this whole thing of getting a yes all the time is not
20:28
realistic. So if we hear yes all the time
20:32
from people, yes, I'm interested, yes, I will buy,
20:34
yes, I will attend your webinar, your seminar.
20:37
It's good. But then people are afraid of
20:41
no. Yes is the best answer.
20:43
No, actually it's the second best answer because when
20:46
somebody tells you, no, you are free, you're now free.
20:52
Oh, they're not interested. You can now keep it moving.
20:55
You can start looking for who else is interested.
20:59
All those people who say maybe let me think about it.
21:02
Let me talk to my doctor, let me talk to my wife, let me talk to
21:05
my pastor, let me pray about it. Let me this, let me that.
21:08
You'll be happy when you're here.
21:09
Maybe, maybe it's a huge waste of your time.
21:12
All those, maybe, maybe, maybe people, they will just keep you
21:15
in suspense. Meanwhile, they're not telling
21:18
you anything and you're wasting time following up with the
21:20
maybes, my friend. If you get yes, it is good.
21:24
If you get no, it is very, very good.
21:27
Keep it moving. In fact, ask the person who
21:30
you're talking to right now. OK, no problem.
21:32
You don't want to attend my seminar on internal audit.
21:35
By the way, do you know anyone who might be interested in
21:38
attending a webinar on internal audit?
21:42
If they tell you, good. If they don't tell you, keep it
21:44
moving, But before you go, leave a flyer, leave your business
21:48
card, leave your e-mail address, leave a website link, leave your
21:51
podcast, leave your whatever and then keep moving.
21:56
So if you're listening to this podcast for for the first time
21:59
and you've always been afraid of no, please, I'm telling you now,
22:02
yes is a good answer, but no is the second best answer.
22:07
If you hear no, be happy. At least I know where you stand.
22:10
All those maybes, a huge waste of time, a huge waste of time
22:15
you spend, you waste your time chasing maybes.
22:19
Meanwhile you could have been going out looking for more
22:22
possible yeses. So maybe is a rubbish answer.
22:27
Yes is good, no is second best. It's also the same thing in
22:33
relationships. Boys, you know what I'm talking
22:35
about. Now remember university you call
22:38
me 100 level you know you went to an all boy school.
22:43
OK you had one or two field girlfriend but that was on the
22:45
level of writing letters. You're now university you want
22:49
to have a proper girlfriend so be nice for you to hear yes?
22:55
So you start chatting on Nikki and Nikki saying maybe maybe you
22:59
think you're making progress. You start hanging around Nikki
23:02
for two semesters. Then in semester 3 you now go
23:05
and hear that she's dating bio. Meanwhile, she has wasted 2
23:09
semesters of your life instead of hanging around with Kevin,
23:17
hanging around on. Maybe, maybe, maybe it would
23:19
have been better for Kevin to tell you no, I don't like you.
23:22
You're too tall, you're too short, you're too black.
23:25
You sound funny, you're too smart, you're too dumb.
23:28
Whatever it is would have been nice for Kevin to tell you no.
23:31
Then you go and cry for two or three days.
23:33
You drown your sorrows, and then you wake up.
23:35
And then you're going to start toasting like Baquet.
23:39
You try your luck. That's how it is.
23:43
Yes, it's good, No, it's very good.
23:46
Maybe it's a waste of time. So as in relationships, also as
23:50
in business, so in relationships, please young men,
23:55
if there's anybody who's telling you, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe,
23:57
maybe. Please just push for a yes or a
23:59
no and then move on. The same thing, sisters, you're
24:02
hanging around any bloke. The bloke is saying, oh maybe,
24:06
maybe, maybe. Why should we define anything?
24:08
Why should we put ourselves under pressure?
24:10
If you like, keep wasting your time, push for a yes or no and
24:13
then move on. It's also the same thing in
24:15
business. Will you buy my product?
24:17
Will you buy my service? Will you attend my webinar?
24:19
Will you do this? Will you do that?
24:21
Or maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe.
24:23
Push for a yes or no. Get either, then move on.
24:27
So these are the simple steps. Ask who might be interested in
24:30
the product or the service, or in this case in the webinar.
24:33
Decide on the demographics and the psychographics because that
24:36
will determine who you will chase.
24:38
Then pick a channel that you're going to use to start chasing
24:41
people. The mode of communication that
24:43
you use to start chasing them. Don't worry about the perfect
24:45
channel for now. Just pick something that'll be
24:48
comfortable for you, like you know you'll be easy to do later
24:52
on. You do what is perfect.
24:53
When you pick the channel, remember that this is a
24:57
conversation. Try to engage people in
24:59
conversation. Focus on their needs.
25:01
Don't focus on your credentials yet.
25:03
The time will come for you to brag and to boast how you got
25:07
degrees from Edinburgh, from Washington State, and from
25:11
Harvard. The time will come, but it's not
25:14
now. It's not yet.
25:16
Then be ready for a no. In fact, if you hear no, rejoice
25:20
and then keep it moving. But before you go, ask them, do
25:23
you know anybody who might be interested in buying my product?
25:25
Who might be interested in buying my service?
25:27
Who might be interested in buying my webinar?
25:30
If they give you a number, good go and meet that person.
25:33
If they don't give you a number, you say thank you very much for
25:35
your time. Hope you don't mind if I leave
25:36
your flyer. So you leave your flyer, you
25:38
leave your business card, you leave your website link, you
25:41
leave your podcast, you leave your whatever it is that you
25:43
have your newsletter and then you keep it moving.
25:46
Or then Step 5, rinse and repeat.
25:48
Continue going round and round and round around with this
25:50
process until you hit your goal. If you wanted five people to
25:54
register for the webinar, rinse and repeat, continue until you
25:57
hit 500. If you have a certain revenue
26:00
target, you know, continue, rinse and repeat until you hit
26:02
the revenue target. If your goal was, I want to talk
26:05
to 30 prospects this month, you know, whether they buy or not, I
26:08
want to talk to 30, no problem. Rinse and repeat.
26:11
Keep going around, around, around until you hit that 30.
26:14
Now to the main question, who is interested in your product or
26:17
your service? Now I want to be very, very
26:19
specific. I want to use this babe.
26:22
Sorry, this woman, by the way, please moan and ovex anytime I
26:25
say babe or guy or stuff like that.
26:27
I'm just trying to keep it casual.
26:29
I'm not trying to denigrate the person that I'm talking to or
26:32
rather talking about. So who's interested?
26:34
Let's keep you very, very specific now.
26:36
So this babe, she's in the business of selling internal
26:41
audit management software. She's selling consulting
26:44
services and then she's selling software that you use to be
26:48
doing internal audit. If you don't know what internal
26:52
audit means, then clearly you are not this woman's target
26:56
audience. So she should be asking herself
27:00
that. Who are the people we even know
27:02
what internal audit means? Who are the people who
27:05
understand what internal audit means?
27:07
Who are the people that can relate to this world?
27:08
When we say internal audit, I remember what I said,
27:11
demographics and psychographics. So demographics, name, age, sex,
27:16
location, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
27:18
Now, when it comes to age, I, I don't know.
27:25
I can't guess. When it comes to sex, I don't
27:28
know. I can't guess 'cause I'm sure
27:29
that there are men who are in internal audit and there are
27:32
women who are in internal audit. So that one I can't guess.
27:35
But then occupation. Now occupation, I can start
27:39
making some guesses. Now, these are a couple of
27:42
guesses that I came up with. So I wrote this thing down.
27:45
Let me scroll on my phone, the same phone I'm using to record
27:50
this podcast is actually, that is where I I made those notes
27:55
about people who might be interested.
28:01
Good, good, good. Now, some of you who have
28:04
listened in the past, you remember how I said that
28:06
sometimes people just target me because I'm visible and that
28:10
this is what happened because I'm podcasting, because I'm
28:14
throwing things out on the Internet, my profile is visible.
28:16
And so that's the reason why lots of people sell to me.
28:18
Because some of you are wondering, every time they're
28:21
complaining, they're trying to sell to you, they're trying to
28:23
sell to you. Is it only you?
28:25
Well, yes, lots of Nigerian business people are making a
28:28
mistake, Mistake. They're running after people who
28:31
are visible. It's not a matter of who is
28:32
visible but also who is a good fit for the product or the
28:36
service. So I mentioned how a lot of the
28:40
people who reach out to me on LinkedIn actually should be
28:43
reaching out to people like my wife and her colleagues.
28:46
This is one of those instances. You have seen me.
28:51
You can see that I'm a consultant, and then I'm also a
28:55
radio show host and I host the podcast.
28:58
Somehow you think I'm interested in internal audit.
29:01
You didn't ask. You didn't do some small
29:05
brainstorming. Now, if you brainstorm it
29:09
internal audit, my guess is you should be looking at
29:13
professionals who work in risk management or people who are in
29:21
corporate governance, excuse me, or people who have some kind of
29:26
organizational oversight. Those are the kind of people you
29:29
should be looking for from my profile on LinkedIn.
29:34
For those who have seen my LinkedIn profile because you
29:37
reached out to me on LinkedIn, by the way, it's not too hard.
29:41
Before you send somebody on a message on Instagram, can you
29:43
look at the Instagram profile first and get one or two queues
29:46
about maybe they might be interested in your product or
29:49
service or not? Just glance their profile 5
29:52
seconds before you send a message?
29:57
Is anything on my profile that shows I'm into risk management,
30:01
I'm into corporate governance, or I have any form of
30:04
organizational oversight on my profile?
30:07
Did it say that I have a team of consultants under me?
30:11
If you look at my LinkedIn profile, I think it's clear that
30:14
I'm a one man gang. I'm a one man show.
30:15
I think it's pretty clear. Yet she's sending me, inviting
30:21
me internal audit. Then my guess is that it would
30:24
also be people who work in medium to large scale
30:26
organizations because there's only medium or large scale
30:30
organizations that will have all those kinds of issues.
30:32
Because they say The thing is called internal audit.
30:35
It means we they audit ourselves with the audit the company for
30:38
somebody who is a one man show like me, which internal auditing
30:41
are the audits? Where's the internal?
30:43
Where's the company? Well, of course, yes, on paper
30:48
every Nigerian has a company. But realistically speaking now
30:52
where is the company, where the internal, where is it?
30:57
So it has to be medium or large scale organizations.
31:00
Now again, I say before you send that message to somebody on
31:05
LinkedIn, on TikTok or on Instagram, glance their profile
31:09
first. That is just some basic research
31:11
you can do to know whether you should continue or not.
31:15
Does it look like for those of you who know me, who I've seen
31:17
my profile, does it look like I run a medium to large scale
31:20
organization? Can you see how those of you who
31:27
are trying to start consulting services in Nigeria, can you see
31:30
how you're making your job unnecessarily difficult?
31:33
You now say consulting is hard in Nigeria.
31:35
Yes, I agree, consulting is hard.
31:38
I'm with you. I feel you.
31:39
I feel your pain, but you're making it worse on yourself.
31:42
You're frustrating yourself because you're talking to every
31:44
single Tom, Dick and Harry and you don't need to be talking to
31:46
those people. So for my brothers and sisters
31:51
who are in internal audits, why are you talking to people who
31:54
are one man show, one woman gang?
31:57
Why are you talking to them? So I also came up with some job
32:02
roles, subtitles that this kind of woman should be targeting
32:05
chief audit executive. To be honest, I didn't know
32:08
those ones exist. And you know, I found it on the
32:11
Internet. But you know, you learn new
32:12
things every day. So chief audit executives, you
32:14
should be looking for chief audit executives then internal
32:19
audit directors. Yes, there are departments that
32:21
have internal audit. Yes, today I drove past
32:27
surveyors council because my wife has a meeting in town.
32:31
I dropped off at the meeting. So when I was passing and I saw
32:34
this surveyors council something something of Nigeria, I said OK,
32:40
I didn't know surveyors have their own council is in Abuja in
32:43
Central district. But judging on the location,
32:48
judging on the size and everything, definitely those
32:51
people have intern, definitely will have an internal audit
32:54
function. They're surveyors now.
32:57
They suppose, you know, survey, audit the survey and everything
33:02
and audit the organization. So they'll have internal audit
33:06
officers or directors. There's also a job role,
33:09
internal audit managers. I see.
33:12
By the way, since this lady reached out to me on LinkedIn,
33:14
these are job titles that she can readily search because you
33:19
can search for these roles on LinkedIn.
33:21
You actually can go to LinkedIn, go to the search bar, and then
33:24
type in internal audit manager. Hit enter.
33:28
Ma'am. This woman has the paid profile,
33:31
so it will now bring out people who are associated with internal
33:38
audit, people who have the title of internal audit director,
33:41
internal audit manager, companies that are involved in
33:44
this line of business. Everything will just come out
33:46
like that. Those are the people she should
33:48
have been going after. Instead of clicking my own
33:52
profile. She should have gone straight to
33:54
the search function in LinkedIn, put it there as a search term.
33:57
Hit enter. Thousands of names will come up.
34:02
She can start from now until the end of next month.
34:05
She wouldn't have finished all those names.
34:07
Those are the people that you target, compliance officers.
34:11
There's a friend of mine who is a compliance officer in the
34:13
wealth management firm Cedar Crest.
34:16
They're the ones that did Taste of Nigeria.
34:19
Sorry, Zed Crest. Cedar Crest is the hospital.
34:21
So Zed Crest, he's a legal and compliance officer.
34:26
He's people like him that should be targeted, that should be
34:27
targeted. He's people like that that are
34:29
worried about internal audit because he's a legal compliance
34:32
officer. So he always has to be looking
34:34
outside. Are we doing OK?
34:36
You also have to be looking inside.
34:37
Inside. How are we packaging ourselves?
34:39
How are we arranging ourselves? Are we doing OK?
34:42
Is everything above board? There's no one do the current
34:45
thing that CBN will find us or that Securities and Exchange
34:48
Commission will find us or Pencom, that's pension.
34:53
ABI Utah has Pencom again, pensions Commission something
34:56
and I can't remember. It's his job to make sure that
35:00
internally the company is OK and they're not going to do
35:03
anything. They do now get fined.
35:05
So legal and compliance officers, risk officers, yes, my
35:08
wife has done some training in risk management and so for the
35:11
organization that she works for, she's one of their risk and
35:15
compliance officers. So you see how I said that you
35:17
will chasing people who are visible.
35:19
It's not about who is visible online.
35:21
Just sit down and target and follow people.
35:23
It's not a matter of oh, this person is on is online now let
35:27
me let me try and chat him up. It's not like that.
35:31
So risk officers, compliance officers, compliance managers,
35:35
quality assurance, quality control, all these people are
35:37
there, IT auditors and then on external auditors like
35:43
accounting firms and stuff like that.
35:45
These are the people that this young lady should have been
35:47
targeting from the get go. These are the people you should
35:49
have been trying to have conversations with.
35:51
And can you see how with the simple basic training that we
35:54
have from Niger primary school into secondary school, can you
35:58
see how like simple demographics, occupation, you
36:02
start to write these things down?
36:03
Your eyes will not become clear. Your eyes become clear.
36:07
Where are we supposed to go is becoming clearer so that whether
36:11
it is online, you know the people that you're targeting,
36:13
even if it is also offline. From all these things I've
36:16
called so far, your brain has started jogging.
36:18
You started seeing one or two things.
36:19
I'm sure that there's some of you.
36:21
Once I said legal compliance, your mind went to oh, Zenith
36:23
Bank. My sister works in Zenith Bank.
36:25
That's how it works. You just make the connection.
36:29
Oh, my sister works in Zenith Bank.
36:31
She's in Forex department. Maybe she knows somebody in
36:33
compliance. Good.
36:35
You now know to call your big sis says no, I'm starting my
36:39
consultancy practice. So blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
36:41
I want to organize webinar. I beg Shabee Madame.
36:44
So, so, so she's in compliance. I beg, can I have a phone
36:48
number? I just want to see if she will
36:49
attend my webinar. That's it.
36:52
That's how you start. So pick a channel.
36:56
In this case, the lady picked LinkedIn.
36:58
So I think she should have started searching and sending
37:02
direct messages to people who have these job titles.
37:05
Now, when it comes to age, I don't know, maybe 25 might be
37:12
too young. So maybe between 30, I don't
37:16
know. OK, let me just guess.
37:16
Let me say 35 to 45. This is me just guessing, OK,
37:19
maybe 35 to 65. So you just put in those
37:24
criteria on LinkedIn 35 to 65, and then you start running the
37:28
search on these different professions, job titles, and
37:33
then some names come up, some organizations come up.
37:36
Then you slide into those people's DMS and then you now
37:38
start telling them, asking them whether they're interested in
37:41
coming for your seminar, your webinar on internal audit.
37:46
And now you stand the chances that anybody who attends this
37:50
thing might be interested in your product or your service,
37:53
your consulting service. Because me honestly speaking,
37:57
even if I go for this webinar, at the end of the day, what can
38:00
she sell? What product or service will she
38:03
sell me? Nothing, because I'm not doing
38:06
any internal auditing something. But if she knows somebody who
38:15
works in Zenith Bank and is able to get some phone numbers or
38:18
some e-mail addresses for, let's say 6 or 7, excuse me, 6 or 7
38:26
legal and compliance officers or internal audit officers who work
38:30
in Zenith Bank, and she approaches those kind of people
38:33
after the webinar, don't you think it's possible that you'll
38:35
be able to sell some consulting services to them?
38:39
It's possible. During the seminar, they'll be
38:42
discussing internal audit, They'll be discussing modes of
38:46
internal audit. And then of course, you know
38:47
Niger. So the internal audit officer
38:49
probably hasn't received training.
38:52
Then of course, you you're coming back from, you've gotten
38:55
your degrees from Edinburgh, from Washington State and then
38:58
from Harvard. So you've come back with the
39:00
best of the best. You have world class knowledge.
39:03
So by the time you bamboozled down with your knowledge,
39:05
they'll be like, it is true. There are lots of things we're
39:07
doing in Zenith Bank that are not proper.
39:11
They are not up to code. The next question will now be,
39:13
Madam, how much for you to come and look inside our
39:18
organization. That is the whole point of doing
39:22
the webinar. We want to make sure that the
39:25
people who attend are people who have a likelihood of after the
39:28
training to be able to say, ah, Madam, thank you very much for
39:31
your time. How much will it cost for you to
39:34
come and do this thing in our organization?
39:36
Or, Madam, can you have a chat with me and my team?
39:39
Let us see what we need to improve on.
39:41
Like we're trying to make sure that we have profitable business
39:44
conversations after that. So whether it's a webinar or
39:47
whether you're doing outreach for your general business, these
39:50
are the kind of thought processes that you should be
39:52
following. And I hope you can now see how
39:55
targeting is key. Targeting is key.
40:01
Who are we running after? Who doesn't make sense, makes
40:04
sense to run after. Oh, it's 40 minutes.
40:08
Let me bring it to a close. So summary the mistake that
40:11
Nigerian business owners. Nigerian consultants, Nigerian
40:16
salespeople, Nigerian marketers, the mistake that all of you are
40:19
making is that you're not bothering to sit down and target
40:23
effectively. You want to hit the road
40:25
running. And so because of that, you are
40:27
running and you're sending DM and you're running up and down,
40:30
but you didn't even see to think, let us target
40:33
effectively. So yes, the economy is hard, but
40:36
really you're the one who is frustrating yourself.
40:39
You're not giving yourself a chance.
40:43
And so that's it. And that's all for today.
40:46
Remember, if you'd love to connect, the number is
40:48
08064662140. If you are a business
40:55
consultant, you're new in the field, you're rolling out a
40:58
product, you're wondering why am I not converting?
41:02
I'm talking to potential customers.
41:04
I'm not closing deals. Reach out to me 08064662140.
41:12
You're trying to organize webinars.
41:14
People are attending your webinars, but at the end of the
41:16
day, you're not making any money.
41:18
Why am I not making money? The number to reach out to me is
41:22
08064662140. And then the first group of
41:29
people that I spoke to. You want to start a business.
41:31
You have 3456 ideas. You're not sure which one is the
41:36
business you should start? Reach out to me 08064662140,
41:45
call me, text me, WhatsApp me. Let's figure out which of these
41:49
ideas is the best one for you to start.
41:52
Let's figure out which of these ideas might be the most
41:54
profitable. And let's figure out which of
41:56
these ideas we can create a selling system around.
41:59
So thank you very much for your time and attention.
42:02
I think tomorrow there's one more thing I need all to say
42:04
about webinars and this woman who reached out to me, and then
42:07
we can wrap it up and move on to other things.
42:10
So thank you very much for your time and attention.
42:12
Remember, if you're discovering the podcast for the first time,
42:15
please subscribe. Tell your friends, your family
42:17
members, and your enemies, because if your enemies make
42:20
money, you make money as well. I'll explain it later.