Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Selling Smart in a Tough Market: Nigeria's Business Landscape

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Selling Smart in a Tough Market: Nigeria's Business Landscape · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the show. Today we're going to be looking
• 0:04
  at understanding the Nigerian business landscape.
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  That's because of questions that I've received in the past about
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  how we can understand the unique challenges and opportunities for
• 0:14
  local businesses in Nigeria. Now as of the date of this
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  recording in 2024, the way the landscape looks at looks like
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  rather or rather the things I'd like to emphasise about the
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  business landscape today is we have a high cost push, inflation
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  and then of course we have high energy costs because of the the
• 0:35
  increase in fuel prices. Now the implications for this
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  are quite straightforward. That's for those of us who are
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  self-employed or who are business people.
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  The living conditions obviously require more because it costs a
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  whole lot more to buy stuff, drive around, you know, stuff
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  like that. And then of course, from a
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  business perspective, the cost of running the business is now
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  higher. That's because we're a couple of
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  you. You need to fuel your
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  generators. Of course there's fuel for the
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  car. What else?
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  Rent for office spaces and private accommodations have gone
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  up. That's for those people who
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  choose to convert a room in their house for office use.
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  And generally factors of production have gone up.
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  So for those of you who buy stuff in the common market to
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  run your business, like let's say you're a Catra, you know,
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  the cost of a goosey, for instance, keeps going up and up
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  and up. So for today, I bought a cup of
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  a cup of a goosey at 1600 Naira. And I hear from my wife that
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  back in the good old days, you could buy stuff like that for
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  200 naira, 300 naira A cup. So if you're a caterer in the
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  city of Abuja and you started off your business running at 200
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  naira a cup for a cup of Ygosi, and now it's currently 1600
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  naira, then of course you see that the factors of production
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  have gone up. And of course it comes with all
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  kinds of attendant business problems.
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  Now the solution is this. Some people will say the
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  solution is overturned the government.
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  Some people will say the solution is voting Peter Obi.
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  Some people will say the solution is people rise up,
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  there should be a revolution. Other people will say the
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  solution is what else, argue for price controls.
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  And then some people say the solution is a reversal of the,
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  the government's stance on the fuel subsidy.
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  The fuel subsidy removal or. Yeah, well anyway, some people
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  argue has the fuel subsidy actually been removed?
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  Now The thing is all of those, yeah, I guess they are possible
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  alternatives. But The thing is for someone who
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  is self-employed or a business person in Nigeria right now,
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  these are things that are not within our control.
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  So we cannot affect or affect the revolution.
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  We can bring in Peter Obi, if you think that's the solution to
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  the problem. We also cannot ensure that price
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  controls come into effect because, you know, we're not
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  policy makers. Let's see, what else?
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  What other solutions did I put on?
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  OK, a revolution? Yeah.
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  Then there's no way that we can affect the revolution.
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  And besides, there is that naughty issue that once you have
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  a legitimate government in place, whether you like it or
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  not, and you're advocating a revolution, what you're
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  advocating for is something, actually something treasonous.
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  And of course, treason carries the death penalty.
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  So if you're a family man like me, I don't know if you actually
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  should be advocating the treason solution right now.
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  So The thing is, all these options that people advocate
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  right now, no matter how reasonable they are, are not
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  things that are within the personal control of you and I,
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  individual business owners and self-employed people.
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  So the only solution that is within reach, that is practical,
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  that we can do by ourselves cost effectively actually is to sell
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  more. Because if you sell more you're
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  going to be able to get more revenue to offset the business
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  problems. If you sell more, you're going
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  to be able to get more money to offset business production
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  costs. If you sell more, you're going
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  to be able to get more money to improve your quality of life.
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  I'm sure you guys see the correlation that the only thing
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  that we can do self-employed people, business owners,
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  entrepreneurs, mumpreneurs, dadpreneurs, solopreneurs,
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  whatever it is you want to call yourself.
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  That is the only practical option that we have available
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  and that is to sell more. Now some people are going to say
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  how can you sell more in this environment because everybody
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  else, your potential customers and clients are facing the same
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  things. They are also having their
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  living cost go up, their their cost of running their businesses
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  go up. They're also subject to high
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  rent, high energy cost, high cost, push, inflation, blah,
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  blah, blah, blah, blah. So can you sell more in terms of
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  getting them to buy more or can you sell more in terms of
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  raising your prices because that's also, well, it's not
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  raising the prices for some people it's not an alternative.
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  It actually is something that you have to do.
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  That's the reason why the cost of Igusi has gone up from 203
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  hundred and now it's 1006 is because for the person who gets,
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  who has to procure the Igusi, cost of fuel has gone up.
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  Yeah, the farmers have raised their own wages.
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  Of course, there's some value add, you know, taking cleaning,
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  processing, things like that. So all these costs have to be
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  borne by someone and of course it's not going to be borne by
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  the business owner. And so that's the reason why the
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  cost of a Gucci has gone up. So.
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  Oh, sorry, not a Gucci. I made a mistake.
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  Or boner. Yes, it's the cost of 1 cup or
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  boner. So there are some businesses
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  where actually selling more is not just the option, but selling
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  more in terms of increasing your prices actually is a necessity,
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  something you have to do, you have to do that or you go out of
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  business. So the question can you sell
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  more in terms of getting people to buy more or raising your
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  prices, The answer is it depends because some businesses are seen
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  as non essential. So when the cost of things go
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  up, some businesses fade and that's something I've been
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  hearing from my friends who are involved in the alternative
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  energy space. So it looks like when people are
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  in the grind, so when people are in the bind, rather they cut
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  down on some expenses like solar and inverter and things that are
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  nature. So things get rough, dollar
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  exchange goes up, the cost of batteries balloon.
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  In fact, right now it's going to cost about 800 grand to replace
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  my batteries if we need to replace the batteries right now
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  for my own inverter. So it looks like when people are
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  in that kind of a pinch, then the demand for these sorts of
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  things go down. So if you're that kind of
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  business and that's indeed the case, then well, I don't know.
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  Well, I feel sorry for you. But who knows, we might be able
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  to sit down and do some thinking, some strategizing, and
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  be able to find a way out of the whole Quagmire.
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  Maybe consider business financing.
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  Maybe some banks for instance might be opening, might be open
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  to partnering with you to provide financing on some of
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  these things. So yes, two batteries, 800
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  grand. But maybe they might be banking
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  products where people can finance it through their banks.
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  Maybe partner through partner with let's say Axis Bank for
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  instance. And if the person is a salary
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  and then Axis Bank is taking 50K out of their salary for the
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  next, OK, 50K for 800, How much is that?
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  And then you get the whole point, taking 50K every month
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  until the whole thing is settled.
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  So financing, that might be an option.
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  Then there are other businesses. But there's one thing that I've
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  noticed though, you know, the government comes in, there's a
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  change in the subsidy thing. The macroeconomic factors seem
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  to get worse, but it looks like people still get married.
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  Weddings are still lavish. People still buy iPhones, People
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  still buy the Samsung phones, including that flip one that a
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  point cost 900 grand. People still buy cars, at least
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  in Abuja anyway. I still see supercars all over
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  the place and they seem to be all these vanity purchases that
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  are still happening. So The thing is, yes things
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  might be getting tired but it looks like people are still
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  spending money and they are business owners that have found
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  ways to move their merchandise. Even people who sell things that
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  are non essentials like weddings, phones, cars, the
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  purchases still seem to be happening.
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  So can you sell more? I guess this has to be done by a
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  case by case basis, but these are the sorts of questions that
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  you have to ask yourself as a self-employed person and as a
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  business owner in Nigeria currently in 2024.
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  So what is required is you need to be deliberate and proactive.
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  You need to learn how to sell, you need to prospect daily.
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  I keep listening to the show because those are the sorts of
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  things that we talk about. So thanks for your time and
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  attention. I'm your host Havishima Ayedee.
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  You can connect. Please connect with me on
• 8:55
  LinkedIn. You get the spelling of my name
• 8:57
  from the link. We're currently listening to
• 8:59
  this episode. Also, connect with me on
• 9:01
  WhatsApp. Phone number is 08064662140.
• 9:06
  The country code is +234 for those of you who are not
• 9:09
  Nigerian. Thanks for your time and
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  attention. I'll catch you guys at the next
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  episode.