Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Leveraging Your Support System for Entrepreneurial Success

Transcript

Leveraging Your Support System for Entrepreneurial Success · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show today.
• 0:04
  We're going to be well today I wanted to share a business
• 0:08
  audit, sort of like a case study, just to give you guys a
• 0:11
  taste of what it would be like if you have to connect with me
• 0:14
  and troubleshoot and solve a couple of problems.
• 0:16
  But instead, today I'm going to share a conversation that I had
• 0:19
  with Vidora. Not her real name, but actually
• 0:21
  is a nickname and a cool name on that because Vidora is Italian.
• 0:26
  It's a phrase that means life should not be hard or well or
• 0:30
  life should be easy. So today I'm going to share my
• 0:34
  conversation with Vidora. There's going to be some stuff
• 0:36
  there, not just about how to start your own podcast, but then
• 0:39
  also about how family members can help promote your business.
• 0:42
  Because for her, Popsy has been instrumental to floating her
• 0:47
  business as a voice of artist. So we're going to talk some.
• 0:50
  I'm going to freestyle a bit around that.
• 0:52
  So apologies because today is going to be a noisy episode
• 0:55
  because it's a full house and kids are home, it's a weekend
• 0:57
  and all that. If you'd love to connect and
• 1:00
  have the sorts of conversations that I've been having with
• 1:03
  Vidora and the other people who have connected with me before
• 1:06
  now, then call me on 0806466 2140 or connect with me on
• 1:12
  socials. I spend most of my time on
• 1:14
  LinkedIn and the name to look for is Tave Shima IED.
• 1:18
  So like I said, I had a conversation with Vidora
• 1:21
  listener of the show, which has already connected a couple of
• 1:24
  people to the podcast. Now for that, I'm really
• 1:26
  grateful. So in fact, today's shout out
• 1:27
  actually should be for Vidora. I really appreciate you guys who
• 1:30
  not only discovered the show, but then also shared the show
• 1:33
  with other people. So that if there's stuff of
• 1:37
  value that you seem to get out out of it about how to build
• 1:40
  your business, to promote your career or whatever, it's, I
• 1:43
  really appreciate that you guys, some of you who are real avid
• 1:48
  listeners also promote the show as well.
• 1:50
  So thanks for helping my ministry grow.
• 1:55
  So Vidora, currently, she works with a radio station.
• 1:59
  She's an on air personality in Lagos at Smiles FM and it has
• 2:04
  the weirdest spelling ever because it's SMAILZ dot FM and I
• 2:10
  think that's weird. But anyway, that's the name that
• 2:13
  they've chosen for the radio station.
• 2:14
  So young radio station and she handles the a musical show there
• 2:20
  where they do the top five countdown.
• 2:22
  And the reason one me and her started talking was just because
• 2:28
  we're both members of a mutual group.
• 2:30
  That's the APVA, that's the association of professional
• 2:33
  voice over actors and podcasting.
• 2:35
  Something something, something, you know, it's a long nature.
• 2:37
  So we're both members of the group and whenever there's a new
• 2:40
  member, I always like to reach out, you know, say what's up
• 2:43
  because you never know what you can learn from people or you
• 2:45
  never know what collaborations lie in store.
• 2:48
  So that's how me and her got this thing.
• 2:51
  So apart from working in the the radio station Smiles FM, she
• 2:58
  also works and she also handles operations in a music company.
• 3:02
  They do music management and they have some artists that
• 3:05
  they're managing on Spotify. Nobody big, you know, nobody
• 3:09
  that is on the level of, you know, blowing.
• 3:11
  I was I was hoping actually that maybe she has some connects with
• 3:13
  Don Jazzy so that me self I can start rolling in that kind of
• 3:16
  circles, But she's she's not there yet, But I'll still keep
• 3:20
  on keep eye on my address book, you know, just in case, so that
• 3:24
  when she's at that John Jazzy level, you know me and I'll
• 3:26
  follow them, you know, private jets, you know, popping bottles,
• 3:31
  clubs and you know, that kind of lifestyle.
• 3:34
  So where are we? Yeah, so that's what she's
• 3:38
  running, walking small Smalls FM, Smiles FM and then also
• 3:44
  doing the music management thing.
• 3:46
  And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to talk about it,
• 3:48
  because a bunch of you don't realise that this whole thing
• 3:52
  about side hustle actually is a very realistic and stress free.
• 3:59
  OK, well, not stress free because it doesn't matter which
• 4:01
  route you take, it's going to be stress.
• 4:03
  If you say let me burn on my bridges and start doing these
• 4:06
  things self-employed from day one like I did, it's stress.
• 4:09
  If you say you want to maintain a 95 and then be doing something
• 4:12
  on the side is stress. So any which way the stress.
• 4:15
  So let's not say we can't avoid the stress, but it actually is a
• 4:18
  viable alternative. And it's something that I talked
• 4:21
  to young men about particularly because I see too many young men
• 4:25
  say, OK, I want to get here, let me just jump in.
• 4:27
  Let me burn the boats. Let me whatever, whatever.
• 4:30
  Plan A, No Plan B. But for young men, it's not
• 4:33
  realistic because you start this thing and then eventually you
• 4:36
  see one babe and then you know, you're feeling her.
• 4:38
  And then before you know it, three to five years you guys get
• 4:40
  married. And it's really rough to start
• 4:43
  building a marriage with the financial demands that come with
• 4:48
  it and raising your family and stuff like that, you know, if
• 4:51
  you're not, if the business doesn't kick off immediately.
• 4:55
  So it's something that I actually talk about when I meet
• 4:57
  lots of young men because for some reason, young men, just
• 5:00
  like, you know, I ought to be my own man.
• 5:02
  I ought to be my own man. You know, please just relax.
• 5:05
  You will be your own man. But please, you know, for now,
• 5:08
  it might be rough staying in Popsy's house, but just stay
• 5:10
  there. You know, I haven't heard of a
• 5:13
  Popsy who says you should come back, you know, before 9:00 or
• 5:17
  something. So well, I guess if you're young
• 5:21
  ish nine O clock might seem harsh, but it's a reasonable
• 5:24
  price to pay. Just stay there, live rent free,
• 5:27
  go to your work, have the side also, you know, continue,
• 5:29
  continue, continue. And then your cash flow, your
• 5:33
  your cash flow is what's going to determine when would be the
• 5:35
  right time to move. Rather than saying I want to be
• 5:37
  my own man, you leave and then you start living on your own.
• 5:41
  And then from day one, oh, I'm so stressed, I'm so depressed
• 5:44
  and blah, blah, blah. Like how would you be stressed
• 5:45
  and how would you be depressed? I mean, how would you be?
• 5:48
  You had free rent over here, but you decided you want to go and
• 5:51
  be your own man, so you went out to go and get a house and then,
• 5:54
  you know, blah, blah, blah. I mean, how would you be
• 5:56
  stressed? Well, anyway, the stress any
• 5:57
  which way. But I think the whole thing of
• 6:00
  staying at home, leaving on the Popsy's roof for now while
• 6:05
  you're trying to run one or two things, I think it's a much more
• 6:07
  realistic way to go. And even though there's stress
• 6:09
  involved there because Popsy is putting an eye on you, Popsy
• 6:12
  will say, look, it's 10:00, where are you?
• 6:13
  Or come back, lock the gate, you know, bring back my car and all
• 6:16
  these sorts of things. But I still think it's, I think
• 6:20
  it's a, it's a, it's a better way to go.
• 6:22
  So it's an option. You can have a nine to five
• 6:25
  working someplace and then be spending time building a
• 6:28
  business on the side. But of course, side hustles is
• 6:31
  not something that I talk about. In fact, there's a podcast that
• 6:34
  is dedicated to that. And I called this, I think it's
• 6:36
  called the side Hustle show. He's not a Nigerian guy.
• 6:40
  I think he's an American guy. I think he's called the side
• 6:43
  hustle show, Abby, either side hustle show or side hustle FM or
• 6:47
  something like that. So check it out.
• 6:50
  So for those of you who are thinking, you know, like I have
• 6:52
  a full time job, I'm running something on the side, you know,
• 6:55
  that is where you can get more. What's the word, you know, learn
• 6:59
  from other people's experiences, people who have tried to do
• 7:02
  something that way since I don't address those kinds of things
• 7:05
  directly over here on the show. So Vidora prime example, you see
• 7:09
  that it can be done. It has stress, everything has
• 7:11
  stress. You know, just pick the kind of
• 7:13
  stress that you are good to that you're good to go with.
• 7:17
  Then let's see what else. OK, so she started off 2016.
• 7:25
  That's why she started trying to look for voice over money
• 7:28
  because people told her she has a nice voice and yes, she does
• 7:31
  have a nice voice. So that's when she started
• 7:33
  trying to look for that voice over money, that voice over
• 7:37
  hustle. And she made an initial demo or
• 7:41
  something that she thought was cool.
• 7:43
  But looking back now years later, she thinks it's
• 7:45
  laughable. And you know, in fact, since
• 7:48
  lots of people ask me questions about starting a podcast, it's
• 7:50
  something that I should mention here.
• 7:53
  I don't know if I mentioned it before, but let me stress it
• 7:54
  again. Nobody likes the sound of their
• 7:57
  own voice. The day that you lay your voice
• 8:01
  down on a recording on something and you hear it, you'll be like,
• 8:05
  what the hell? Who is that?
• 8:07
  Is that me? Is that how I sound?
• 8:09
  Nobody likes the sound of your their own voice.
• 8:11
  No one. And this is the reason why,
• 8:14
  because now as you are talking, if you're talking to someone
• 8:17
  right now, you are hearing the voice resonating inside your
• 8:22
  skull and inside your body. So you're picking up different
• 8:24
  frequencies, you're getting the high loads, you're getting the
• 8:27
  base notes, you're getting the everything.
• 8:28
  So that is how you hear it. Well, people who are outside are
• 8:31
  not hearing that internal resonance.
• 8:33
  So you might feel like your voice is your voice is rich,
• 8:37
  like it's smooth, like, you know, bass and everything, but
• 8:40
  that's not exactly what people are hearing.
• 8:43
  So just know that there's going to be a difference and there's
• 8:45
  always going to be that feeling. So it's not just Vidora who had
• 8:48
  that thing. It happened to me.
• 8:50
  My father was in radio, Momsi was ATV journalist.
• 8:55
  So it happened to them. It happens to everybody.
• 8:57
  The first time you hear your voice, you'd be like, what the
• 8:59
  hell is that? And you'll be tweaking knobs and
• 9:03
  trying to get yourself to sound like you, but nobody like the
• 9:06
  sound of their voice. So just for those of you who
• 9:08
  want to be in the voice over voice, you want to become a
• 9:11
  voice voice actor, do voice over game, podcaster, whatever.
• 9:15
  Just be ready for it and just continue.
• 9:18
  Don't let it discourage you. For me, what made me comfortable
• 9:21
  with it was I just realized that OK, this is how I sound.
• 9:24
  I sound nasally. But I was like, well, I guess
• 9:28
  people have always been hearing me like this, so it's just me
• 9:30
  that is surprised because I'm hearing it today, but this is
• 9:32
  what the whole world has always heard.
• 9:34
  So I just continue doing my thing.
• 9:36
  So if you're going to use your voice to make a living in any
• 9:39
  way, that's something that you need to be prepared to be
• 9:41
  prepared for. The voice you hear.
• 9:43
  You are going to be shocked. You are not going to like it
• 9:45
  when they lay back the voice. Now, the reason why I said I was
• 9:50
  going to share the conversation with Vidora, not just because of
• 9:53
  this whole thing of I have full time employment and I'm trying
• 9:55
  to do side hustle. It's also because for her, one
• 10:00
  of the ways that she has been making some of her voice over
• 10:02
  money is because Popsy is a fan as her Popsy is a fan, likes her
• 10:07
  stuff and the Popsy even took demos and put on his phone.
• 10:11
  So he has been the one that's been responsible for saying,
• 10:14
  look, this is my daughter's whatever or this is what you do.
• 10:17
  Listen to my daughter, she can hook you up, she can do this,
• 10:19
  she can do that. And she's been responsible for
• 10:22
  getting most of the clients that she has had so far.
• 10:25
  Now over here on the podcast, I keep talking about how when it
• 10:28
  comes to sales, movie market, no matter what it is they are
• 10:31
  trying to do, friends, family and associates is a wonderful
• 10:34
  place to start. But some of you don't seem to
• 10:36
  understand. These are some of the reasons
• 10:38
  why if you're standing with friends, family and associates
• 10:41
  and you and Popsy are cool or you and Momsy are cool or you
• 10:44
  know, your cousins are cool and they're already fans, they're
• 10:47
  going to be honest advocates or whatever it is that you can do
• 10:50
  say, ah, come and see my big sis, My big sis as you see this,
• 10:53
  she did so die like her clothes are on point or come and see my
• 10:57
  big bro, my big bro does this, you know that or oh, my younger
• 11:02
  brother does wedding photography.
• 11:03
  The guy is mad. If I come and see you something.
• 11:06
  I mean, these are very good advocates that we can have in
• 11:08
  the beginning. Then apart from that, if we use
• 11:13
  all these people to practice talking to Popsy, talking to
• 11:16
  your brother and sister, talking to your cousin, talking to your
• 11:18
  auntie, talking to all these people, friends, family members,
• 11:21
  associates, you know, church people, you know, that kind of
• 11:24
  thing. You would have built up some
• 11:27
  what's the word, some some comfort, you know, build up some
• 11:30
  comfort and some, some confidence that will carry over
• 11:33
  to that time when you now start talking to total strangers.
• 11:37
  So whether it is profitable or not, whether like in her own
• 11:41
  case, Popsy is like this daughter of mine, she's the
• 11:44
  bomb. And then he starts going to go
• 11:46
  and promote. Whether that happens or not, my
• 11:48
  own opinion, always start with friends, family members and
• 11:50
  associates. An easy way to gain traction, an
• 11:53
  easy way to get advocates. And it's not a bad way to
• 11:58
  practice. You know your talk track,
• 12:00
  practice pricing, practice negotiation, practice haggling,
• 12:03
  practice selling practice. It's a good and a safe, easy way
• 12:07
  to practice because these are people who know you.
• 12:09
  They have your best interest at heart.
• 12:11
  Even if they're trying to reject you, they're not going to reject
• 12:15
  you in a very harsh way. So please, for those of you who
• 12:18
  are getting ready to do your hustle, Please remember,
• 12:22
  friends, family members and associates, do not make the
• 12:25
  mistake that I made for me stepping into wedding
• 12:30
  photography at the time, my wedding photography mumsy, of
• 12:32
  course, was like, Oh well, my son, you decided this is what it
• 12:36
  is you're going to do. I don't quite agree, but no
• 12:38
  problem. Let's let's be going.
• 12:41
  Let me see how I can support you.
• 12:43
  So she tried hook me up with two or three people, you know, and
• 12:45
  he clicked. But then, you know, the young
• 12:47
  man, the idiot in me, I wanted to say, and This is why I keep
• 12:50
  talking to young men on this thing because, you know, as a
• 12:53
  young man, sometimes you have a good thing going and you want to
• 12:55
  mess it up because you're proud. So me, I, I was kind of feeling
• 12:59
  like on the mind, like, OK, if this thing is going to work, I
• 13:02
  want it to be my hustle. I want it to be my sweat.
• 13:05
  I want it to be my own effort. I don't want to look back and
• 13:08
  say, this person gave me a heads up.
• 13:10
  This person gave me a prop. This person, you know, this
• 13:13
  person pushed me small like this.
• 13:14
  This person sponsored me small like this.
• 13:16
  And so after a while, I told mom said, I look, you know, mommy, I
• 13:19
  appreciate this hookup. I appreciate that hookup.
• 13:21
  The money was good. But please just, you know, stop
• 13:24
  it. Let me be now, young men,
• 13:27
  listening to the show, your young man now is absolute BS,
• 13:31
  right? Is absolute BS.
• 13:34
  If Popsy or Momsy is trying to prop you up and then making one
• 13:37
  or two correction connections, please leverage on those
• 13:41
  connections, leverage on those connections.
• 13:45
  Take advantage of whatever it is that Poppy is trying to hook up
• 13:48
  when our Mumsy is trying to hook up.
• 13:51
  From there, you will get traction eventually because
• 13:54
  you're not lazy, because no lazy person decides to enter into
• 13:57
  business for himself or herself because you're not lazy.
• 14:00
  Eventually you will start saying that.
• 14:02
  Oh, OK, now I've gotten to the stage where most of the deals,
• 14:04
  I'm the one that is doing it. I'm the one that is doing it.
• 14:06
  I'm the one that is doing it. But please, in the beginning, if
• 14:10
  you have a Popsy who says, my daughter, my dearest daughter,
• 14:13
  this is what you can do, blah, blah blah, I will support you.
• 14:17
  I'm your #1 fan. Please accept the traction, run
• 14:20
  with it. You're a young man and your
• 14:23
  mumsy says OK, my son, this is what you decided to do No
• 14:26
  problem. Let me say how I can support
• 14:28
  you. Take the traction, run with it.
• 14:31
  Young men, don't be too proud eventually, because you know
• 14:36
  what life is now. Momsy's not going to be around
• 14:38
  forever. And then Momsy's connections or
• 14:40
  Popsy's connections are limited anyway.
• 14:42
  So eventually they're going to run out of a pool of people that
• 14:45
  they have to they, they can connect you with.
• 14:49
  But while they're there, while they're doing it, please, we
• 14:53
  need all the help we can get. Business can be very, very hard,
• 14:57
  can be lonely, can be depressing.
• 15:00
  Whatever lift you can get, whatever traction you can get,
• 15:03
  please take it. So if your big bro is a fan and
• 15:07
  big bro is introducing you to people here and there, no what
• 15:09
  not. I understand as a young man you
• 15:11
  feel on the mind like, OK, this business is really my senior
• 15:14
  brother that is propping up. It's not me.
• 15:15
  Just accept the traction for now.
• 15:18
  Well, definitely don't do what I did, which is say thank you very
• 15:21
  much, I appreciate it, but please don't introduce me to
• 15:23
  anybody again. That's a wrong way of totally
• 15:25
  wrong way of doing it. If I when I look back, sometimes
• 15:28
  I see how I shot myself in the food because think of it mumsy
• 15:33
  at the time I decided to get involved in wedding photography
• 15:36
  business was a marketing exec. The people that she was
• 15:42
  introducing me to were people who are kind of like her, in a
• 15:47
  similar position, in a similar earning capacity and also at
• 15:51
  this stage of life where their children were also getting
• 15:54
  married. So looking back now, I said I
• 15:57
  shot myself in the food, I should have just, you know, Pipe
• 16:00
  Blue and I should have just wrote that thing for as long as
• 16:03
  possible. Would have made for a much more
• 16:06
  interesting ride on the photography font.
• 16:10
  So that's one of the reasons why I said let me just share this
• 16:12
  conversation with Vidora. So I think about 0.5% of the
• 16:17
  people listening to this show, is it like 65 to 70 something
• 16:22
  very small amount 0.3, I'd be 0.5% very, very small.
• 16:27
  But just to let you guys know that if there's any mommy or
• 16:30
  daddy here or grandma or grandpa, you value what it is
• 16:34
  that your son is doing, your son-in-law, your
• 16:38
  daughter-in-law, you know, your grandchildren and you're
• 16:41
  promoting their hustle. I just want to say, Mommy,
• 16:44
  Daddy, thank you very, very, very much for trying to support
• 16:49
  what it is that these your young people are trying to do.
• 16:54
  You know, we might not appreciate what it is they are
• 16:56
  trying to do now. Sometimes it might even be as if
• 16:59
  like, like yourself, you're overdoing.
• 17:01
  Can't you just let me do my own thing?
• 17:03
  But the time will come when you know, we will, we will
• 17:08
  appreciate the support and look back firmly on the on the
• 17:11
  support. So for those of you who like the
• 17:14
  Doris Popsy, you know, you become a very big fan of what is
• 17:17
  that your daughter is doing. Please, Sir, continue.
• 17:24
  Please, mommies and daddies, continue to support.
• 17:29
  We appreciate. They might not appreciate it
• 17:31
  now, but on their own behalf, I'm telling you that we, we
• 17:35
  appreciate it. And therefore the rest of you,
• 17:38
  please take advantage of these dynamics.
• 17:40
  Friends, family members, associates, it's an easy way to
• 17:44
  get this thing going. Momsie talks to her friend, you
• 17:49
  do a good job. Mumsy talks to another friend,
• 17:53
  you do a good job. Those other two friends happen
• 17:55
  to be talking. Another person is listening, you
• 17:57
  do a good job. That is how it will begin to
• 17:59
  grow. Small, small, small, small,
• 18:01
  small. So let's take advantage of
• 18:03
  friends, family members and associates.
• 18:07
  Some idiots in America say friends families are fools.
• 18:10
  I mean like why? Why would you say friends
• 18:11
  families are fools? The explanation I've heard is
• 18:14
  they say fools because people are blinded by the fact that
• 18:19
  they love you so they don't see whether you're really good or
• 18:21
  not. But I don't, I don't like it.
• 18:23
  That's why I don't use the term friends, family members and
• 18:25
  fools. So friends, family members and
• 18:28
  associates. So the very easy pool to look
• 18:31
  for your first set of evangelizers, your first set of
• 18:34
  referrals, your first set of promoters, your first set of Co
• 18:38
  sellers, your first set of investors.
• 18:40
  Although when it comes to investing, talk to your lawyer
• 18:44
  or someone who has some training on these sorts of things because
• 18:47
  when it comes to family members and friends and them investing
• 18:51
  in your business, it can be quite tricky.
• 18:53
  But you know, that's a broadcast episode for another day.
• 18:56
  But from the sales angle, please, very good run with it
• 19:00
  friends, family members and associates.
• 19:03
  So that is all I was going to share here today with my
• 19:05
  conversations with Vidora. I'll try and see how the next
• 19:08
  episode will be one of the business audits so that you guys
• 19:12
  can see what it is that we get to when I'm sitting down with
• 19:16
  you guys one-on-one. And we're trying to solve
• 19:18
  particular problems that you guys have.
• 19:21
  So if you're ready to get actionable strategies to grow
• 19:24
  your business, you can book a no cost business audit with me by
• 19:27
  calling or messaging me on 08064662140 or connect with me
• 19:35
  on socials. I spend most of my time on
• 19:36
  LinkedIn. And don't worry, it's not going
• 19:38
  to cost you an arm and a leg. Because by the time Humi and
• 19:40
  Vidora were done talking about podcasting, how you could switch
• 19:43
  up our podcasting game, how to take the whole thing forward,
• 19:46
  how to enhance production value when it comes to creating your
• 19:50
  content calendar, finding your unique voice, titling your show,
• 19:55
  all these sorts of things. She said that the value of the
• 19:58
  consultation that she had was worth 2,000,000 naira.
• 20:00
  And so she was grateful. And I said, oh, that's good to
• 20:03
  hear. Because you see, actually don't
• 20:04
  charge 2 million. So don't worry, I'm not going to
• 20:07
  charge you 2 million. So call up the business audit is
• 20:11
  going to be free. Let me be sure I can even help
• 20:14
  you in the 1st place. So thank you very much for your
• 20:16
  time and attention. I will catch you guys at the
• 20:18
  next recording. Oh also shout out to some to
• 20:23
  another listener of the show who made a comment on Spotify.
• 20:26
  Santo, I replied to the message. I said just WhatsApp me, let's
• 20:30
  let's talk because the story is long so we can't keep pinging
• 20:34
  back and forth. And that's not the proper forum
• 20:36
  to discuss these sorts of things.
• 20:39
  So yeah, for those of you who are reaching out, leaving
• 20:42
  comments on Spotify, I give my phone number in every single
• 20:45
  episode. So yes, please comment on
• 20:46
  Spotify. I really love that I keep
• 20:48
  sharing, I keep liking. But if you have questions, the
• 20:51
  surest way to have me respond to the question is actually if you
• 20:54
  send me a WhatsApp message or you connect with me on on
• 20:57
  LinkedIn, because I don't always see, I don't always.
• 21:01
  I don't check the comments everyday and put it that way.
• 21:03
  But for WhatsApp and for LinkedIn, at least everyday I
• 21:09
  check in the inbox. So that's it.
• 21:10
  Thank you very much for your time and attention.
• 21:12
  I'll catch you guys at the next episode.