Latest / Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint / Technical Skill is Just the Price of Admission: Why Creatives Must Master Sales and Marketing

Transcript

Technical Skill is Just the Price of Admission: Why Creatives Must Master Sales and Marketing · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Today on the podcast, I want us to look at why design skills are
• 0:05
  not enough to grow your business, or rather, design
• 0:08
  skills alone are not enough to grow your business.
• 0:12
  And the reason why we're looking at that today is because it's
• 0:16
  the opinion of Elizabeth David. And for those of you who've been
• 0:20
  listening to the podcast since I got a brand new logo, she is the
• 0:28
  head honcho. She's the chief behind Goshen
• 0:31
  Media. They're the ones who designed
• 0:34
  the new podcast art, the new LinkedIn banner for those of you
• 0:40
  who follow me on LinkedIn, the new YouTube banner and all that.
• 0:43
  So they're the ones who are responsible for all the good
• 0:46
  work that you guys can see right now on the podcast.
• 0:49
  You know, everything is looking nice, everything is looking
• 0:51
  clean, everything is looking polished, everything is looking
• 0:54
  refreshed. So Elizabeth is the one who's
• 0:57
  responsible for that. And I'm going to run through one
• 1:01
  of her LinkedIn posts where she spoke about us working together.
• 1:06
  And then we're going to tease out why design skills are not
• 1:10
  enough to build a profitable business or other design skills
• 1:15
  alone are not enough to build a profitable business.
• 1:18
  So welcome to the podcast. I'm your host, Tava Shima Ayede.
• 1:22
  If you'd love to connect with me, then call, send a text
• 1:25
  message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 1:32
  And if you love these sorts of things, how do you grow your
• 1:36
  business? You know, sales, marketing,
• 1:39
  branding, you know all these sorts of things.
• 1:41
  You're on different perspectives that you're not hearing from
• 1:43
  other Nigerian podcasts, then this podcast is your jam.
• 1:48
  So subscribe on spotifying YouTube, Apple or any player of
• 1:51
  your choice. And yeah, that's it.
• 1:54
  So let's go straight into it. So Elizabeth David today she put
• 2:00
  up a post saying that she started off as a designer,
• 2:04
  jumping from 1 design course to another, going from one
• 2:08
  mentorship to another, collecting different kinds of
• 2:11
  fonts, collecting mock ups, collecting different kinds of
• 2:14
  materials. But that eventually she realised
• 2:17
  that design skills were not enough to build a profitable
• 2:21
  business. Now let me repeat, these are
• 2:23
  Elizabeth's words. She started off buy one course,
• 2:27
  go to another course, go to another course, have one mentor,
• 2:31
  go to another mentor, collect fonts, collect mock ups, collect
• 2:35
  materials. But eventually she realized that
• 2:38
  design skills alone weren't enough.
• 2:41
  Now for those of you who have been listening to my podcast
• 2:44
  from the get go, you will know that the kind of mirrors my own
• 2:47
  journey, you know, into where we are today.
• 2:50
  So some experience in civil service, some experience in
• 2:53
  legal, some experience as a wedding photographer, then also
• 3:00
  in the export business with my brother.
• 3:03
  And eventually, especially in the photo and video space, you
• 3:08
  know, you go from camera to camera, from lens to lens, from
• 3:14
  tutorial to tutorial, from course to course, technique,
• 3:18
  technique, technique. Well, then eventually you have
• 3:22
  to work on one day and realise that Omar, there's not by
• 3:25
  technique alone. It's not by technique alone.
• 3:29
  There's something else that is missing.
• 3:32
  So Elizabeth said she realised that you need to understand the
• 3:36
  business side, especially when it relates to sales and
• 3:39
  marketing. And that is precisely the reason
• 3:41
  why I started this podcast, because back then as a wedding
• 3:46
  photographer, I realised that my brethren, where do I missing the
• 3:50
  way? It was not about buying camera
• 3:52
  on camera. It was not about buying lens.
• 3:56
  People who save up. You go to what's the school
• 4:00
  called again? There's in New York, I think
• 4:03
  it's in New York, like New York Academy of Art or something that
• 4:06
  has a photography department, you know, like boys who save up,
• 4:10
  you know, or go for. There was this wedding Expo that
• 4:14
  used to happen. It's in Los Angeles or
• 4:16
  something, I can't remember, you know, travel.
• 4:21
  And then you come back and you just expect that somehow
• 4:26
  automatically, your career as a photographer will just blow no.
• 4:32
  So while Elizabeth and the people in the branding
• 4:35
  department were collecting fonts and doing courses, you know, we
• 4:41
  photo people, video people, buying camera, watching YouTube
• 4:47
  videos, learning technique, technique.
• 4:50
  That is not what builds a business at the end of the day.
• 4:54
  It would be nice if that's how we used to work.
• 4:57
  And some people say that there was a time when it was like that
• 5:00
  in Niger. First of all, I disagree.
• 5:03
  But The thing is, even if that was the case, it was probably a
• 5:07
  matter of, you know, demand and supply.
• 5:09
  So like at some point there probably weren't too many
• 5:13
  correct photographers in Nigeria or correct brand design people.
• 5:21
  So yeah, maybe it's a matter of demand and supply.
• 5:24
  So once you're the best, your reputation will just spread.
• 5:28
  But now that's not the case. There has to be something else.
• 5:33
  Need to understand sales, need to understand marketing.
• 5:37
  It's not just about being the best.
• 5:39
  In fact, nowadays with the level of information that is out there
• 5:42
  being good, like good, good, good, it's just entry.
• 5:46
  It's just it's just jam one O 1. It's just entry, entry stakes
• 5:54
  with level of information that is out there in the world right
• 5:57
  now concerning photography and video and branding.
• 6:01
  You know, if you're entering the game and your skill is not tight
• 6:05
  and nothing for you. So nowadays being tight is just
• 6:08
  the price of admission, being good is the price of admission.
• 6:13
  From Elizabeth's point of view, now being knowing your craft as
• 6:18
  a brand and design person, that is just entry stakes.
• 6:22
  It just means you're now staying on the line, you're ready to
• 6:24
  race. But she said it.
• 6:29
  She realised that design skills alone were not enough to build a
• 6:33
  profitable business. If you're a baby lawyer like I
• 6:37
  was a couple of years ago, knowledge of the law alone is
• 6:41
  not enough to build a successful legal practice.
• 6:45
  You're an architect. You just graduated uni jobs.
• 6:49
  You finish your master's. That you graduated first class
• 6:53
  in your class is not enough to build a profitable business.
• 6:57
  Pick whatever endeavour it is. You go to Harvard, you go and
• 7:03
  study MSC finance, you come back.
• 7:05
  You want to set up your consulting outfit.
• 7:08
  The fact that you went to Harvard or that you graduated
• 7:10
  first class is not enough to build a successful consultancy
• 7:13
  practice. So just like Elizabeth learned
• 7:16
  and just like I learned that we need to know sales and marketing
• 7:21
  is the same way you 2 suppose wake up, especially if you're
• 7:25
  resting on the fact that you're smart or resting on the fact
• 7:29
  that you gas skills. No, that's not enough.
• 7:33
  It's not enough. So excuse me, my voice is a
• 7:37
  little tired today. This is a late night recording
• 7:40
  and I had a couple of conversations during the day.
• 7:45
  So that was how Elizabeth crossed my path.
• 7:49
  She was looking for good stuff on the Internet and that's how
• 7:55
  she found me. That's how she found the
• 7:56
  podcast, and that's how our relationship began.
• 7:59
  Oh, business relationship, by the way.
• 8:00
  You know, I'm happily married. So that's how it began.
• 8:06
  She found the podcast and then she started listening.
• 8:13
  Excuse me, Or rather, at first she found the podcast, but then
• 8:18
  the podcast art looked like crap.
• 8:20
  So she desired to fussy. But eventually they said they
• 8:23
  had listened. And when she listened, she was
• 8:25
  surprised to see that what she was hearing and then the designs
• 8:28
  that were there, you know, was not matching that the value she
• 8:31
  was getting from the podcast was really good.
• 8:34
  But at the podcast, art was crap, which is why eventually,
• 8:39
  after listening to a couple of episodes, she reached out and
• 8:42
  then, you know, the collaboration began.
• 8:45
  And now I have brand new stuff, brand new podcast, that new
• 8:51
  logo, new everything to reflect the packaging of what we have
• 8:56
  over here. So yes, design skills really,
• 8:59
  really important. But anyway, so yeah, that's how
• 9:02
  Elizabeth discovered me. She said that my podcast bridged
• 9:09
  that gap. The things that she needed to
• 9:11
  know as the brand designer, the non-technical skills, because
• 9:19
  you know, as a brand designer you're supposed to know colours,
• 9:23
  design themes, what else, you know, different stuff.
• 9:31
  But then there's some non-technical things that you
• 9:32
  need to learn. And she said she was getting
• 9:35
  that from the podcast. I bridged the gap.
• 9:39
  She also said that on my podcast right here.
• 9:42
  This podcast you're listening to that I was good at breaking down
• 9:47
  complex concepts into simple terms so that a designer like
• 9:53
  her can understand and apply to the business.
• 9:55
  And you know what, to be honest, you know, sometimes I wonder if
• 10:00
  maybe I'm not oversimplifying things.
• 10:04
  You know, once in a while I run into someone who says, and, you
• 10:06
  know, that definition you gave, you know, a bit limiting.
• 10:13
  Yeah, sometimes I do wonder somebody discovers the podcast,
• 10:16
  and then, you know, they hear the way I'm talking about stuff.
• 10:22
  You know, perhaps I might think I'm being too light or being too
• 10:26
  frivolous or I'm not preaching this gospel of sales and
• 10:31
  marketing with the seriousness that it deserves.
• 10:34
  But then when I come across comments like this, you know,
• 10:37
  from Elizabeth and those of you who reach out, I'm like, OK,
• 10:40
  yeah, I'm on the right track. So the podcast might not be
• 10:44
  sounding academically, you know, Jim, Jim, but the fact that
• 10:50
  people are listening and it's making sense and they can apply,
• 10:54
  Yeah, no problem. I'm on the right track.
• 10:58
  So yeah, that's what she said, that for her, I bridged the gap.
• 11:06
  So recently, like I told you guys, her agency and I, Goshen
• 11:13
  Media and me, we got to collaborate on rebranding this
• 11:21
  podcast, building nice visual identity.
• 11:28
  And for her, the idea she came up with was money as movement or
• 11:33
  knowledge in motion. That is kind of what designed
• 11:37
  informed the design that they made for the brand.
• 11:40
  You know, to be honest, you know, I'm not knowledgeable when
• 11:43
  it comes to these sorts of things.
• 11:45
  So to be frank, we had the conversation where she asked me
• 11:49
  the questions. I told her my expectations and
• 11:56
  my wife and my brother, they are much more all, I put it
• 11:59
  sophisticated when it comes to these things.
• 12:02
  So my was OK, no problem so long as I like the design.
• 12:04
  I check with wifey, Wifey is good, check with my brother,
• 12:07
  brother is good, then we're good to go.
• 12:11
  But yeah, but that was the idea that she had money as movement,
• 12:15
  knowledge in motion. And I agree.
• 12:22
  I agree. Money as movement, knowledge in
• 12:25
  motion. In fact, with the podcast,
• 12:26
  that's what I hope to achieve, that I put out knowledge.
• 12:31
  And whether you pay me or you don't pay me, you take this
• 12:34
  knowledge and you run with it. Put this knowledge in motion,
• 12:38
  apply. So with the design that she came
• 12:44
  up with for the podcast, she was trying to reflect how insights
• 12:52
  move, how they flow from conversation to application.
• 12:55
  You know, as in we're having conversation.
• 12:58
  I'm just talking, I'm trying to drop some insights and then you
• 13:00
  guys take it and then you apply it.
• 13:04
  You know that our knowledge will now it will now how will I say
• 13:08
  it now will now give you business momentum.
• 13:12
  You know, you listen, you apply one or two things.
• 13:15
  Now your business begins to pick up, begins to grow small, small,
• 13:21
  please. By the way, on this podcast, I
• 13:23
  do not promise 10X growth, though I don't promise, you
• 13:26
  know, triple your profits 10XI mean like, yeah, you will triple
• 13:29
  your profits eventually and you will 10X your profits
• 13:33
  eventually. But on the podcast, I'm hoping
• 13:35
  to inspire some simple behavioural change that you just
• 13:39
  change how you do one or two things or adopt one or two best
• 13:42
  practices. You make small growth and then
• 13:45
  the big changes come over time. So yeah, can you triple your
• 13:49
  business? Definitely.
• 13:51
  But I don't promise that kind of growth here overnight.
• 13:55
  So behaviour change, first we change the way that we do
• 13:59
  things, actually start applying one or two things, then add
• 14:04
  knowledge is in what is now going to give your business
• 14:11
  momentum, sales and marketing principles, is that going to
• 14:15
  give you forward motion in your business?
• 14:20
  So that was what you were trying to capture in the design
• 14:23
  basically, you know, logo, the colour palette, trying to
• 14:28
  capture some dynamic energy because in our own opinion,
• 14:33
  that's the value that she gets from the podcast, from listening
• 14:36
  to the podcast. It keeps you moving, keeps you
• 14:38
  learning, keeps you growing. That's what she was trying to
• 14:44
  embody, trying to capture with the designs.
• 14:47
  Now, like I said, I'm not really savvy when it comes to these
• 14:50
  sorts of things, but to be honest, I like it.
• 14:53
  I like the logo, I like the look, I like the feel, I like
• 14:56
  it. And a bunch of you have also
• 15:00
  checked it out. In fact, there's some people who
• 15:02
  already started sending me messages that why I found out
• 15:05
  I'm noticing a new look. So it was well received.
• 15:12
  So just in case you haven't noticed that there's been a
• 15:14
  change, look into your podcast player and see look at the new
• 15:20
  one. Let me know what you think.
• 15:22
  I like it and I hope you guys like it too.
• 15:29
  So anyway, was a fun collaboration.
• 15:35
  Glad that I've met and worked and interacted with Elizabeth.
• 15:41
  And by the way, this is what I mean when I say when people
• 15:45
  reach out to me, like I'm doing this for your business.
• 15:50
  And then some of you, when you reach out, it's only to take,
• 15:53
  take, take, take, take. So it's nice when people reach
• 15:56
  out and they're trying to give something for a change.
• 15:59
  It's really, really nice. So I'm glad that Elizabeth and
• 16:08
  I, you know, finally you spoke, finally hooked up, finally
• 16:11
  collaborated on this. And for those of you who listen
• 16:15
  to the podcast and who wish me well like Elizabeth did, she
• 16:20
  thinks she has skills that can help me to move my ministry
• 16:23
  forward as she reaches out. I really appreciate that.
• 16:26
  For those of you who also reach out in one or two ways to try
• 16:29
  and see how you can support the podcast, I really, really
• 16:31
  appreciate it. But if you're a creative
• 16:37
  listening to this, whether you're like Elizabeth coming
• 16:41
  from the branding side or whether you're like me coming
• 16:45
  from the photo side, whether you're like my brother coming
• 16:49
  from the video side or whichever side you're coming from, you
• 16:55
  need to understand. You need to understand for your
• 17:01
  business to grow, you need to understand the business side
• 17:05
  better, not the technical side. In fact, I think was it Mii
• 17:12
  can't remember. There was one video where
• 17:14
  somebody was talking, I can't remember, was MI or maybe was
• 17:19
  was this guy, this guy with the big head, Banky W Yeah, Banky W
• 17:25
  I can't remember who it was, but one of them was talking to
• 17:28
  somebody and the person said, look, he said The thing is
• 17:30
  called show business. It's not just the show, it's
• 17:37
  also the business. That's why it's called show
• 17:40
  business. Basically what the person was
• 17:43
  trying to say, whether was MI or whether was Banky W or whoever,
• 17:46
  the person was trying to say that look, there's two things.
• 17:48
  There's talent that is involved, then there's the business that
• 17:51
  is involved. So you learn the two.
• 17:54
  So if it was am I that was saying it, then what that means
• 17:57
  is you learn your flows as a rap artist, you learn your art, but
• 18:07
  then there's the business side as well.
• 18:10
  And that is why am I them, You know, Chocolate City, you know,
• 18:15
  grew to be fairly successful powerhouse in the music industry
• 18:19
  in Nigeria because they knew it was not just about the skills.
• 18:23
  It's not just about how well do you rap.
• 18:25
  There's also a business side as well.
• 18:29
  Or take this guy, what's his name Maven?
• 18:31
  What's his name? Don Jazzy, Don Jazzy.
• 18:36
  It's not just about the the art. There's a business side that
• 18:41
  goes into it. And that's the reason why Maven
• 18:44
  is a powerhouse in the industry today.
• 18:47
  Now it was Manky W that said it. It still follows because you
• 18:53
  know, bank EW is not just the singing.
• 18:55
  He also does the the acting thing as well.
• 18:59
  So it's not just you learn how to sing, you learn how to act.
• 19:02
  There's also a business side that goes with it as well.
• 19:06
  So if you're creative, you've been listening to this podcast
• 19:09
  or this is your first time discovering the podcast, just
• 19:14
  know you need to understand the business side better.
• 19:18
  Now, if you want to continue on this journey, I would be
• 19:22
  honoured to help you stay on this path and be, you know, walk
• 19:30
  this journey with you as you subscribe and as you listen
• 19:33
  every day or every other day or every week.
• 19:36
  I'll be honoured to help you walk this path.
• 19:40
  But I've said it time and time again, it doesn't have to be me.
• 19:44
  I'm not everybody's cup of tea. For some people I'm too blunt or
• 19:50
  for some people I'm too unserious, or for some people
• 19:52
  I'm too, you know, whatever. Although my podcasts, you know,
• 19:59
  take too long. So it doesn't have to be me.
• 20:04
  Or please find something. Some podcast, some YouTube
• 20:10
  channel, some book, some community, some something.
• 20:17
  I'll Start learning how to understand the business side
• 20:21
  better so that in 10/15/20 years when you see people like me and
• 20:27
  Elizabeth in front and we're making progress, you won't start
• 20:30
  beefing because that's one thing we creatives do very well.
• 20:36
  Photographers who say this guy's a scam, his photos are not nice.
• 20:42
  It's just packaging or it's just networking.
• 20:46
  There's one photographer in Abuja who graduated from
• 20:50
  Igbinidji. Yeah, finish from Igbinidji.
• 20:52
  I don't want to call his name but for those of you who have
• 20:54
  photography, you will know he's a big boy in the photography
• 20:57
  space in Niger, not just Abuja but Nigeria.
• 21:01
  And I hear people talking crap behind his back.
• 21:04
  They say the guy doesn't have skill, Lies.
• 21:06
  If we need young connection, that's what he's using to hammer
• 21:09
  too much beef. Why are you beefing?
• 21:12
  So you're a better photographer than him?
• 21:13
  You think you're a better photographer than him?
• 21:16
  OK, that's in your own pocket. The reason why he's blowing and
• 21:21
  the guy has been blowing for two decades now and you are not
• 21:24
  blowing is because he's good at sales and marketing.
• 21:31
  That's why. So creative.
• 21:35
  Let's stop this beef. There's a business side to it.
• 21:41
  Learn the business and you should be OK.
• 21:46
  So that's it. And that's all for today.
• 21:49
  Have a look at the new logo. I hope you guys like it.
• 21:54
  And if you're looking for a good designer to help you out on
• 21:57
  these sorts of things, I would recommend Elizabeth David and
• 22:01
  her team at Goshen Media anytime, any day, Especially
• 22:06
  since they conduct business in ways that I already recommend.
• 22:09
  Because when we're about to do the brand, the brand design, and
• 22:15
  she said we'd have to book a meeting so that we can discuss
• 22:19
  expectations, blah, blah, blah. Once she said that, I said, I am
• 22:23
  dealing with a professional now because too many design people
• 22:27
  say we design logo, we design this.
• 22:28
  They don't ask you any question. They just come back and they
• 22:30
  present 5 designs as they pick the one you like.
• 22:35
  So yeah, I recommend Elizabeth anytime, any day.
• 22:41
  So again, it's Gaussian media Goshen, like redeem Camp Goshen.
• 22:47
  Check them out on Instagram. You need our contact details,
• 22:52
  Just let me know and I will be sure to pass you on through to
• 22:56
  her or any of the rest of her colleagues.
• 22:59
  So thank you very much for listening.
• 23:01
  Remember, if you'd love to connect, you have any question,
• 23:04
  any query, any complaint, one or two things are not clear.
• 23:08
  You disagree with me on anything, reach out.
• 23:10
  That's the reason why I give my phone number at the beginning
• 23:13
  and at the end of every episode, again, the phone number is
• 23:17
  08064662140. You can call, you can send an
• 23:24
  SMS, you can send a WhatsApp message.
• 23:26
  It's all good. If you want to call, please
• 23:28
  don't call me at night. There's one idiot that called me
• 23:31
  at one, AMI said. Now wow, some people don't have
• 23:33
  sex. Please take dressing.
• 23:37
  We're Nigerians and in this part of the world is somehow total
• 23:41
  stranger. You'll just be calling at 1:00
• 23:44
  AM. You know, please take dressing.
• 23:48
  So that's it. Thanks for listening.
• 23:50
  I will catch you at some other time.
• 23:52
  And I know that this particular episode was not sales related,
• 23:55
  but don't worry, the next one, I'll make sure we're doing
• 23:58
  something hardcore sales. So I'll catch you next time.