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How do sales skills help with unearthing VALUE in the mind of the potential investor?

To understand this, we have to first know what "value" is.

Value is the answer to the question, "what's in it for me?" or "what will this do for me?".

The value of the apple watch isn't that it tells time.

Why should I buy an apple watch? What will it do for me? The answers are multiple...

"it'll make me cool"
"it'll give me a sophisticated sense of style"
"it'll synch nicely with all my other apple tech"
"it'll help me stay on top of my notifications"
"it'll help me stay in shape by synching with Nike Fit and the health app"

...and loads of other reasons.

The "answers" and the "reasons" are what we call "value".

Another thing to note is that "value" isn't determined by YOU, but by the recipient.

The value of the apple watch to Apple Corps might be something else... more access to customer data, more avenues for integration, etc... but clearly the people who buy apple watches do so for OTHER reasons apart from the ones that Apple Corp has.

Now back to the question of your potential investor!

What is valuable to them?

It is whatever THEY say is important to them and not what YOU think is valuable to them!

Before they hand over money to you, they'd like to know the answer to the question, "what's in it for me?" and "what will this do for me?".

This is where sales skills come in handy.

Sales and selling skills, and a person well versed in the art of interpersonal relationships will be able to give you the answer to the question.

How does a sales professional arrive at the answer? We'll examine that in another post.

How are sales skills tied to raising capital from investors?

If you're a sales professional it sounds fairly obvious, but for the average Joe taking his first steps to raise funds for his grand start-up idea, it's not easy to make the connection.

If we're going to understand the link between the two, we have to first understand what the terms are.

Capital is money that you need to plough into an idea to make it a going business concern.

In this scenario, the capital we're looking for is already in someone's pockets... or bank account depending on how you look at it.

The capital lies in the grip of our potential investors!

Sales is the art of exchanging value for money.

If I give you something valuable, you'll be appreciative and give me money in return.

Therein lies the nexus between sales and fundraising from investors... the question of value!

In the early days of the start-up you have an idea and not much else to show for it.

They (potential investors) have the money and don't see what's valuable in your idea.

Sales skills makes the connection between your idea and how value can be generated for everyone.

If the investor sees value, you'll see the money!

So now that we know that VALUE precedes CAPITAL in the fundraising economy, how exactly does SALES lead to the unearthing of VALUE in the mind of the potential investor?

We shall examine that in another post!

Capital is the lifeblood of the business because "capital" is the money we need to invest in business infrastructure and business activities.

Without capital we can’t start the business, and without capital we can’t grow the business.

We need capital for inventory, raw materials, spare parts, machines, marketing, advertising, paying salaries, paying taxes, hiring consultants, fuel for the generator, packaging costs, transportation costs, and a whole host of other things that have to be paid for before we can have a viable business.

If you are a service based business or a consultant you still need capital too!

The wedding photographer has to buy the camera, batteries, lighting accessories, website hosting, “recharge card” for talking to clients, and money for data amongst other things.

The computer coder or developer has to buy a computer, pay for coding software, antivirus, software crack codes, external storage, and off course they need to buy a UPS because we can’t rely on Nigerian utility companies to provide power 24/7.

The wedding florist has to buy flowers, nursery beds, and those special types of fridges where she can store clients bouquets before delivery on the wedding day or special occasion.

It doesn’t matter our business niche, we all need the almighty capital.

Because capital is so pivotal, you have a whole host of business commentators saying that the REAL reason why most businesses fail is a lack of capital.

Is that the case? Or is a lack of capital merely a symptom of the disease?

A lack of money to be invested is NOT the real reason why a business dies.

The real reason is because the promoters of the business lack a skill set required to attract capital in the first place!

Of course capital has to be retained and utilized effectively but that is a story for another day.

For now let us examine how "lack of capital" isn't the real problem, but a "lack of sales skills" is the major reason why people go out of business.

Capital is essential for businesses, and sales skills are a prerequisite for attracting capital.

This is our first premise.

Why and how is this so?

Because your source of capital in the early days is going to come from two major sources.

You can get capital from your customers, or you can get capital from investors.

Your savings are also another important source of capital, but let's ignore that for now and focus on the other two.

In the days that follow, we are going to explore how sales skills are tied to raising capital from your customers, and raising capital from your investors.

What do we do know when we know for sure that we are talking the wrong "potential customer"?

With all we have discussed so far, we only have two real options.

We can either refer to someone else, or politely decline the rest of the conversation.

If you are in a conversation with someone who doesn't need your product or service, and you have neither the skill set nor inventory to help them achieve their goals, then you are definitely talking to the wrong person.

It might also be that you guys are in synch with everything else EXCEPT money, then there's also really no reason to keep on having the conversation.

No amount of talking to a bad potential customer is going to turn that person into a lead for good business.

The traditional term for "potential customer" in sales and marketing circles is also known as a "prospect".

No amount of talking will turn a bad prospect into a good business lead.

Politely declining the conversation doesn't have to be anything difficult.

The principle is the same... use simple conversational and questioning techniques.

"Mr so and so, it looks like you want ABC to help out with XYZ, but none of those scenarios are covered by my packages. I don't see any reason why we should continue with this conversation do you? I don't see a way how I can help you here. Let me know if your circumstances change and I wish you all the best my brother! Thanks for reaching out. Have a wonderful day!"

This general approach would be fine... use the exact words that fit the context, your personality, and the level of rapport that you built up with the prospect.

Ideally it would be nice to be a helpful resource to everyone we come in contact with... that's just good networking and a nice to way to pile up good business karma.

Even when we can't help them out, it would be a good idea to refer to someone else who can.

If you want to refer them to someone else and then take a percentage of earnings on commission, then that's an option to you too.

Just be sure that when you refer to your friend or associate, be VERY CLEAR that you are expecting “something” in return.

But this is not an option you HAVE to explore.

Some people feel "icky" asking commissions or kickbacks from people that they send business to.

Because it would be a good idea to be helpful, it would be great if you have personal and professional contacts with other business people who are in fields similar to yours who can help out.

Let’s assume you are a professional painter.

If after talking to the customer, it seems that wooden veneers would be the best option for what they have in mind, then it would be absolutely magic if you have a few phone numbers of people who deal in wooden veneers, acrylics, and those other kinds of materials.

If it turns out to be a pleasant and helpful experience for everyone, the potential customer might remember you or refer some business to you for people who actually need nothing but paint.

If someone comes to you and it looks like acrylics or veneers are the ideal solution for them, don't try to sell them paint because that it all you offer.

If you do that you will end up with an unhappy customer in the future. Unhappy customers don't refer business. In fact some unhappy customers will slander your reputation.

If you sell them your paint you will also come across as unprofessional in the future.

Someone will definitely point it out to the customer some day that a true professional should have known that veneer would work better than paint.

If you sell paint and painting services, no amount of talking will turn that customer into a good customer for you.

What they need is veneer and acrylics for their walls.

Either politely decline the conversation and their business, or refer them to someone else who provides veneers and who you know will do a good job for them.

Who is the wrong type of potential customer to be having a conversation with?

The answer should be obvious, but a lot of us loose sight of that when having conversations face to face, or chatting in the inbox when someone reaches out with an enquiry.

The wrong person potential customer to speak with is the person who has no direct need or want, or who has no authority over how your product or service is going to be used after the purchase.

For instance if you're a wedding photographer, it's doubtful if you should be negotiating with the bride's sister or her best friend.

Neither of them are the ones getting married, neither of them have the authority to pay your fees, and neither of them have a say in how your photography skills will be exercised on the day of the wedding.

Because they don't have the need in a personal capacity, and because they don't have the authority to engage your services, these are the wrong kinds of potential clients to be spending time with.

There are some times however when a bride genuinely delegates some things to her best friend or her sister to sort out for her.

What do we do in these cases?

We still have to engage with simple conversational techniques to figure out what's going on? Who are we talking to? What is the need? and how can we get the buy in and approval of the final or end user?

So if you are the wedding photographer or other service provider where someone claims they have the authority to speak on behalf of another person, this is the thought process to follow.

In sales and selling practice, this process is called “qualification”.

It is important because it is going to save you a lot of heartache in the future.

There is no point pricing and negotiating with someone today if they don't have the authority to say YES tomorrow.

You'll never know if you're speaking to the right person unless you ask the right questions.

"Good morning, how can I help?"
"What date do you have in mind?"
"What else do you have planned?"
"Would that be for you or someone else?"
"I'm curious, why did they send you instead of calling in themselves?"
"If we are able to reach an agreement today would you be able to make a deposit?"
“Have they transferred the deposit to you already?”

Any number of these kinds of questions should be able to get you to the root of whether you are speaking to the right person.

If you get any questionable answers to these sorts of questions, you ought to consider that you might be speaking to the wrong kind of “potential client”.

The reason why this kind of person is a wrong client to be speaking with is because they never were a potential client to begin with! It was never going to work from the start!

If you don't believe me, ask the wedding photographer who spent 3 weeks negotiating with the sister of the bride only to have the bride say at the end of the day, "I don't like this style of wedding photography. Let’s look for someone else please!".

It never was a deal from day one. You just didn't know it then!

You should always be “qualifying” every step of the way to be sure you are speaking to the right person.

Let’s examine this scenario...

Sometimes someone sends you a DM or an email to find out how much you charge for XYZ and you guys have a fabulous conversation.

It seems like you are talking to the right person and that they have a problem they need fixed immediately and you both agree that your product or service can solve the problem.

Sometimes it’s not that the customer has a problem per se, but they are buying your product or service to help them achieve some future perfect vision.

This is what happens when someone reaches out to you buy some Asoebi or Asooke fabric.

They don’t have a problem, they just want to be decked out to the nines at the next wedding or society event they will be attending next month.

But then you guys start talking about the money and you are in shock!

You might have packages and offerings ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 depending on the features and extra services that they want, but somehow the potential customer thinks that 2,500 to 5,000 is a more realistic rate.

Yes there are those situations where the potential customer has ridiculous expectations for how much it costs to procure your product or service!

Now we recognise that the potential customers aren't mind readers and ordinarily they should have no idea about how much anything costs before they have a conversation with you.

However the going rate for a can of paint (back to our paint seller scenario) in the market could be between 4,500 and 6,500 per gallon.

Sometimes the potential customer comes in with a low bid of 2500 per gallon! In this case they obviously haven't done any research and have no idea of what the reasonable market rates should be to begin with.

This is what we should be trying to call out when we come across potential customers who don't have reasonable or realistic expectations on price.

As usual, sales conversations are to be handled using simple conversational questions to keep things informal, less threatening, and to move things along.

Any number of question could work in this case...

"Wow! 2,500 per gallon? Did an actual seller in the market give you that quote? What was he offering you for that 2,500?"

The aim of this approach here is to get a sense of what value is being delivered for that price and making a case for why yours is different, more valuable, and more suitable for getting them the results that they're looking for.

If the 2,500 quote is for a cheap European emulsion which cannot withstand the Nigerian rainy season, then that's something you want to point out.

If the price quote was given by an actual seller in the market, but the quote is 5 years old, then you can use this as an opportunity to re-educate the customer on how the market has changed and what the current price and product ranges are in the market today.

Some people like to take the route of calling the potential customer's bluff and build upon the inadequacies of the bid they already have.

Another simple question in this case would do...

"If someone has already offered you 2,500 that's 1,500 cheaper than what I'm offering. Why haven't you taken up the cheaper offer? Why are you still having this conversation with me?"

The goal here is similar. They obviously haven't taken the 2,500 deal because they're unsure, maybe they think it's too good to be true, maybe they have some more questions, or maybe they think you're the more consummate professional so they're holding on you for a price match.

If you can get the conversation rolling, you should be able to tease out the issues and address them.

There are others who like to close the loop immediately when they are dealing with people who have unrealistic price expectations.

This is not a bad idea also because it means you get rid of "unserious" people and spend your time and emotions looking for "serious people" who are ready to do business.

In this case the idea is also to be simple, conversational, and questioning...

"I'm sorry madam but we cannot match that price. If they are professional painters and you can vouch for their work, I suggest you go with them. So is there anything else I can help you with today?"

No matter the option you decide to go with, there's no need to be snarky or upset.

The goal is always the same when people hit you up in the inbox.

You have to try and figure out who you're talking to, how serious they are, the nature of the problem or opportunity, how soon they are ready to take action, and whether you guys have the same expectations around money, delivery, timing, and other things that come along with a business relationship.

What do you do when someone hits you up in your inbox, and after that they say that your price is too high?

Ordinarily when someone hits you up in your inbox and asks for a price, you should try to qualify and run discovery on who the customer is, and what their needs are.

If this is your first time here and you don’t know what qualification or discovery means, then read the two prior posts and you'll get a better sense of that.

Understandably some potential customers are going to be nervous about being drawn into a conversation and they just want the price.

It’s not uncommon for someone to ask straight out for the price and nothing else!

What is the best way to proceed under these circumstances?

One ways is for you to respond, “before I give you a price I need to have a better idea of what it is that you want. To do that I’ll have to ask you some more questions, do I have your permission to go ahead?”

You don’t have to use these exact words.

You can use your own verbiage and other kinds of words or slang that you are comfortable with. The most important thing is to use language that is authentic to you and that is appropriate given the context between you and the customer.

Another option to use when the customer is pressing hard for a price is to give a range within which it might fall.

After that you go ahead to ask permission so that you can have a detailed conversation to narrow it down to a specific price. Obviously in this case you won’t be able to give an exact price until you know exactly what it is that the customer needs, in what quantity, and for what purpose that it is intended to be used.

Back to the paint case study that we introduced at beginning of the post.

How much it would cost will depend upon the kind of paint, the colour, the size of the building to be painted, the number of painters or manual labour that will be required to complete the job, and a couple of other factors.

I am not a professional painter but I assume that these are some of the factors they will want to know before giving a price.

Before they get this information they might give a price that is too low, or unrealistically high. Either way it would cause them to lose the bid, or to undercut their profits right from the very beginning.

It wouldn’t be out of place in this case to say something like... “It could cost anything between 6000 to 8000 Naira per gallon depending on the specs of the job. I’ll have to ask you some more questions.”

Either of these approaches will give you some flexibility.

This is because it will give you time to get all the information you need for an accurate quote, also it puts out some pricing information that will let the potential customer “self-select” himself into the deal, or opt out of the conversation entirely.

If the price range of 6,000 Naira or 8,000 Naira is way above his budget , he will say so and try to end the conversation there. It might seem like a loss to you at that moment in time, but he’s actually doing you a favour.

If you are that far apart on price, it is best to end the conversation now.

So how do we handle situations where the price expectations of the potential customer is “ridiculous” and well below what a reasonable cost for your product or service should be?

We will examine those scenarios in the next post!

What do you do when you have a potential customer in the inbox?

You have to try and engage them in some conversations to figure out if they're interested or merely curious. You also want to figure out if they have a problem that your product or service can solve. Plus you want to be sure that there's a reasonable hope that they'll be taking action any time soon (there’s no point in talking price and negotiations now only to find out that they were never going to buy).

Apart from these, there's the all important issue of making sure you guys have the same expectations around price, delivery, and other obligations that go with entering into a business marriage with someone.

This whole process of asking questions and having a conversation is called "qualification" and "discovery".

They are essential to the sales process especially before you start talking price and negotiations.

If someone sends you a DM or email saying, "I would like 250 buckets of blue paint. How much do you charge for that?" it would be a mistake to give a quote only to find out you were talking to the secretary and they cannot issue a purchase order.

You could have spent time sending 10 emails back and forth only to see that they are curious but were probably not going to buy now anyway.

It would also be a mistake to negotiate to the end and collect a deposit only to find that they want a shade of blue that you don't have, that needs to be imported from Spain, and also a special kind of emulsion that is water resistant and repels heat and sunlight.

Now that you have collected the money from them, this becomes an interesting kind of a difficult conversation you need to have.

These are the reasons why you "qualify" and "discover" before you start talking price, negotiations, and delivery.

If you want to understand fully what these terms mean, check the posts prior to this one for more details. That has been the focus of all the content we've been putting out this last week.

What happens when you get into these conversations and you discover that the person IS the right person to talk to, but they have unrealistic expectation around price?

Somewhere in the midst of the chat, you have been able to figure out that you are speaking to the procurement manager (NOT the secretary) and you have confirmed the shade of blue and the other technical specs required for the building and the paint.

Everything seems to be going on fine with the email exchange or the phone conversation until you hit a snag with price!

What if this procurement manager says that their budget was between 1500 - 2500 per gallon but the cheapest you can do is 4200 per gallon?

What do you do now? How do you handle this from a traditional sales perspective?

More on this at the next post!

Previously we've examined what can happen when you go through your inbox to sort out customer enquiries.

We have also established that this is a good regular practice because when we fail to do this, some enquiries fall through the cracks and that bit of business ends up going to someone else.

To keep things simple we've identified a few categories that people can fall into depending on how interested they are, and the level of need that they have for your product or service.

Today we're going to look into what these categories are, and the next appropriate steps that you should be taking with them.

The best and juiciest category we have identified are those people who are "qualified" because they're the right person to talk to and the right person to negotiate with.

They might have a problem that your product or service can solve, and they might also have a sense of urgency because they need the product or service right now!

With these people, the next step is obvious!

You have to ask more questions about the nature of the problem or what they are trying to achieve and that will give you a sense of which of your products, packages, or features will be great for them.

Once you have all this information, you'll be ready to make a "presentation", "sales pitch", "proposal" or whatever conversation you have in your business which welcomes the potential customer to buy from you.

It doesn't have to be fancy, it can be something as simple as...

"Okay madam Lola, if I've understood you correctly, what you need is XYZ by October 15th because you're trying to achieve ABC. You also don't want DEF because that has no effect on the scope of your project. If that is the case, we should be considering either the silver package or the bronze package that I presented to you yesterday. Which of them are you leaning towards and why?"

This is an invitation to choose between two options you've shown them at a prior meeting... and it will also give you feedback about why this is the best option for the potential client.

After this, it's not too big of a step to ask them for a deposit to get the ball rolling.

If all this seems to be too simple and clean, then you're absolutely right!

The messy stuff is what we addressed in the prior posts... where we went through possible questions and talking points to figure out who is interested, why they are curious, their time frame for results, and what they could possibly be looking for.

Once you have done those prior stages appropriately, then getting them to "seal the deal" isn't that difficult.

If you would like to see what those prior stages are, read the older posts and you'll be caught up to date.

Now what about situations that are less then ideal?

What about potential customers in your inbox who are the right person to talk to, but they have unrealistic expectations about how much your product and service ought to cost, or other things required to engage you for your services?

We will tackle that in the next post.

Now that we know what qualification and discovery are and why they're important, the next step is to figure out the next causes of action to take when we're dealing with potential customers who aren't qualified for us to be having business conversations with.

If you're catching this thread for the first time and unsure of what all this means, scroll back two or three days and you'll get the preamble and be filled in on all the ideas we've discussed so far.

When you run through discovery and qualification with a potential customer, you're going to get any number of possible alternatives.

The customer might be qualified because they're the right person to talk to and the right person to negotiate with. They might have a problem that your product or service can solve, and they might also have a sense of urgency because they need the product or service right now!

The is the best possible outcome we could be hoping for because they are a prime candidate to do business with. Unfortunately not everyone falls into this bucket right away.

If they did, we’ll all be billionaires by now.

Another possibility could be that they are the right person to talk to, but they have unrealistic expectations around how much your product and service ought to cost, or other things required to engage you for your services.

They also could be the right person to talk to, you guys might be in agreement on price, but it doesn't seem like they have any pressing need to move ahead and start taking decisions on the problem RIGHT NOW.

What is the next step to do once you have sorted out potential customers into some very clear categories? What is the next step for when you have sorted your enquiries from the most interested and likely to take action, to the least interested and poorly motivated to move ahead?

These and more will be tackled in the next post.

What do you do when you get a message in the inbox saying, "do you sell men's shoes and how much?" or "hi I'm interested in XYZ, how much does it cost to do it for 250 people by October 6th?"

If you've been following the thread for the last two days, you now know that your next step should be to ask qualifying and discovery questions.

The goal of these questions is to figure out who this potential customer is, how you can help, whether you are speaking to the right person, if you guys have the same expectations around product and service delivery, and also to be sure that this person thinks they have a problem worth spending money on to fix today.

If you want more details on what "qualification" and "discovery" is, then scroll back two or three posts and you'll be caught up to date.

With these scenarios above, some basic qualifying questions will be around the individual.

You will want to ask to be sure if he's buying the shoes for himself or for some other person. How old is he? What does he need the shoes for? What are his colour and style preferences? Does he like to wear shoes often? How come he is reaching out for shoes now?

You need the answer to questions like these before you can start negotiating and giving price quotes.

Nike shoes don't cost the same as Oxfords and Brogues. Oxfords made in Asaba won't cost the same as Oxfords imported from Denmark.

If he is not particularly fond of shoes and he is only buying them to fulfil all righteousness (because every man needs to have shoes) then perhaps even talking about shoes styles like Oxfords and Brogues is going into too much of a "long thing" with this guy.

On the other hand if he is a middle aged exec who wants "a correct shoe" because of a business meeting he has to attend next week, then the range of shoes you will discuss (and the price) get's narrowed down considerably.

These are the reasons and the implications for why you should go straight to "qualification" and "discovery" when potential customers hit you up in your inbox.

What about the second scenario? What kind of questions should we be asking? What kinds of information should we be looking for?

We will continue with that tomorrow!

In the two days prior we have established a few things with the earlier posts.

One is that we should respond to messages and customer enquiries as quickly as possible. If we don't do this we are leaving money on the table because it leaves room for our potential customers and clients to take their business elsewhere.

Two is that when we receive messages from total strangers, what we are supposed to do is "qualify" and do "discovery".

These are the acts of carrying out conversations with them to figure out if they're the right person to be talking to or negotiating with.

We also want to be sure that we have the skill set or the inventory to solve the problem that they have asked about.

Those later requirements in particular is what we call "discovery".

In other words we have to discover what the situation is, and we have to be sure that the potential client thinks the situation is worth the hassle of the time and money required to book us for the job.

Why is it important to ask "discovery" questions? Because if we don't have the skill set or the inventory at hand, then there's no need to have the conversation.

If the potential customer wants to buy boys shoes in size 8, but I only stock men's shoes in size 14, then I can't help him at all.

The right thing to do in this case after asking discovery questions is to either refer him to someone else (some people do this and ask for a commission) or politely decline the conversation altogether.

In this case, what are the kinds of discovery questions we can ask when someone hits us up in our inbox?

We will continue with the discussion tomorrow!

Yesterday we explored how most of us can grow our profits by simply responding in a timely manner to phone calls, text messages, direct messages, emails, Facebook messenger enquiries, and whichever other medium your potential customers choose to reach out to you.

If you accept this premise, the challenge then becomes looking for ways to sort through your inbox and to sort through the enquiries so that you are only dealing with "serious" and "interested" customers.

There in lies the quandary!

How do we do this?

The traditional way of referring to this "sorting" activity in sales is called "discovery and qualification".

Just in case you have any difficulty in remembering the terms, remember that the goal of "discovery and qualification" is to DISCOVER who among these people has the kind of problem you can solve, and who is QUALIFIED enough for us to treat as a serious person to talk to.

You want to be sure you are talking to the right person, that they have a problem you can solve, and that you people have the same expectations when it comes to money, delivery, and other obligations that will come with the business relationship.

Back to our example from yesterday! You have received a message in your inbox which reads...

"hi I'm interested in XYZ, how much does it cost to do it for 250 people by October 6th?"

Where do we go from here? How do we perform "discovery and qualification" on this kind of message?

More on that tomorrow.

Most of us look for killer ways to grow the business but sometimes the most obvious saviours are right in front of us.

Number one saviour is to respond to messages in a timely manner.

Return your DMs, emails, and phone calls as soon as you can.

Respond promptly to all enquiries because there might business opportunities sitting in your inbox.

Time will kill those enquiries!

The longer you wait, the longer the chances for some unseen thing to pour sand in your garri.

The longer the chances that they find something else, the longer the chances for any number of things to happen.

It doesn’t mean everything you find in your LinkedIn direct messages will end up being good and profitable business! But you'll never know until you start ploughing through and coming up with a system for sorting.

Respond to the messages and start “qualifying” and filtering through to mine the gold.

If you don't, you'll come back in 2 weeks to find the message that most of us have seen before, "hi I'm interested in XYZ, how much does it cost to do it for 250 people by October 6th?".

You'll never know now if that couldve been a good deal for you because you only saw the message on October 12th.

Let's assume we saw this message on time and are gearing up to respond, how do we go about it and what does "qualifying" mean?

More on that tomorrow.

I once heard someone say that a copywriter or a content producer should be among the first marketing hires that an early start-up should make.

That used to be advice that wouldn't apply in a Nigerian context in the past, but these days everyone and their uncle and aunt has a start-up idea.

We might as well delve into this for the benefit of the next Nigerian Zuckerberg.

Or maybe Bezos... but I hear that Putin has more money than them... not that I'm recommending you...

I digress!

It's really good if you're already thinking of who to hire to handle marketing functions for your business idea!

This is because most folks assume that you should be hiring the best tech people you can find to code your “thing”.

Whether you guys are thinking of software, or if you want to manufacture a product, or build a business around a service, eventually you have to answer the question, "who is going to help us sell this thing?"

Ideally it would be nice if either you or your technical founder get dirty with sales and marketing, but assuming you want to outsource or employ to solve for that skill set, should your first hire be a copywriter or content producer?

Maybe not!

Copywriting and content production are great for "one to many" communications like advertising, thought leadership, direct marketing campaigns, etc.

Unfortunately most of your activities in the early days will be around "one to one" communications like chasing investors for money, toasting other stakeholders to partner with you guys, and handling one to one conversations with potential customers, signups, handling client and user relations, etc.

Most copywriters can't help you here because their real skill is behind the keyboard.

They are good at writing "copy" and words that convert.

When people "convert" and pick up the phone to call, or they reach out to set a meeting or demo your product, the content guy or girl usually doesn't have the skill to make them "convert" further into a paid user or an investor.

Because someone saw something compelling online and came into the store, it doesn’t mean they will walk out having bought something.

For this you need someone who has either handled some selling and business development functions in the past, or someone who is madly interested in these sort of things.

When you are face to face with someone, getting them to "convert" and put money in your bank account is a different game altogether!

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to hire the content writer first!

Just remember that after people indicate interest from seeing good copy and excellent material online, you need someone else who has the skill and enjoys the challenges of getting people to become paying customers and investors who vote with their wallet.

COPY is good! But COPY without SALES is a leaky bucket. If you don't plug the leaks, you guys and girls could slip and fall.

Don't give your start-up a concussion.

A lot of the ideas around "work - life balance" have some interesting assumptions in mind.

One of those assumptions is that "work" and "life" are opposed to each other. Because of this opposition, it only makes sense to do things "50/50" so that neither side looses out too badly.

Is this the case? Is life opposed to work? and can we indeed do things fifty - fifty?

Life and work aren't opposed to each other. They are things done by a concrete whole person in pursuance of some other long term value or goals.

So long as we have a coherent vision around what's important, then "work" and "life" should work together without much of the tension that most of us feel.

So if the big thing for you is to build a sustainable family business and teach your children about financial literacy and giving them the "keys of the kingdom" so that they go far in life, then your "work" becomes a tool and a ministry for a lot more.

In this case it would make sense to hustle hard so that when you're home in the evenings you can have lots of interesting conversations with the children over what adventures it takes to conquer the world.

When the kids are age appropriate, it wouldn't be out of synch to have them come along when you're visiting a client at the office or at home.

Back in the analogue days, some fathers would have the kids come over to help with filing papers on the weekends. That is facilitating parent and kid bonding time.

My father used to take me on building sites as a kid and it's only now I'm beginning to grasp all those things he'd drone on about project management, the building's actual foundations, and how those are suitable metaphors for addressing real life challenges.

I also got to spend time in my mother's office and saw a snap shot of what it's like to build an agency, manage client relations, manage staff, and the creative process around marketing communications.

Balancing "desk time" and "home time" can be a challenge, but if you're clear on what work and life are about to you, you can use "work" as a tool to facilitate the "big stuff".

The mistake some of us make is that work is ONLY about making money and not connected to my "real life" in any way.

If we learn to think in terms of doing the right things at the right time, and trying to figure out what the larger priorities are, then "work" becomes an important part of solving the equation.

It's like those “born again” types who hold that evangelization is the summit of human existence. For them "work" doesn't take them away from God because the office is the place where they get to share God's knowledge and love.

The rest of us don't like them because they are party poopers. At least they have less of the "work life balance" hang-up than we do.

You can do everything you want, just not at the same time. And you can figure out which junk to cut out if you know what’s important.

Be focused on what the BIG priorities are and with some creative thinking you can find ways to make "work" work for your "real life".

If you have a coercive boss and work in really toxic environments, then that's something you have to work out with your therapist, the HR department, and lots of frank conversations with your spouse.

If you're in that kind of trap, then my advice is no good for you.

In any case I suspect that it's not a case of "work life balance" per say... we're now looking into the realm of abusive and exploitative power relations in the office. That's a much bigger problem then "50/50", and I doubt that "70/30" would make you any happier anyway if you still had to come into that environment everyday.

In older posts we've spoken about how "zoom fatigue" can happen not just because you are having too many online meetings, but because the meetings you DO have don't have clear agendas beforehand.

Another reason why you and the team are burned out on zoom meetings, WhatsApp video calls, or skype sessions is because clear action points and responsibilities haven't been set up from the last meeting or at this current one.

What this means now is that any future meetings will become a mess.

Future meetings will become unruly and unfocused because meetings will be convened to "follow up" on items that should have already been done by someone else.

Subsequent online meetings like this should be for everyone to come online, listen to a summary from the responsible party and then come up with clear action plans that have to be resolved BEFORE the next meeting.

This is the right way to move things along with online meetings without feeling like you are running in place.

If you haven’t come to terms with the suggestions above, then a final bitter pill you have to swallow is this... video is here to stay as a means of facilitating interactions with our potential customers, clients, employees, investors, and the world at large.

No matter how we complain about burn out, the world is going to keep moving on.

We have to take responsibility for determining healthy and proactive terms for use for this new technology instead of complaining about how we are being overrun, commoditized, and disempowered.

This new world is here to stay and you can't do much about that.

The responsibility for how you are going to move forward rests with you because we cannot wish zoom and other video technology solutions away.

If you can't get accommodated to this idea, then maybe it's time to give yourself a break from professions that require too much screen time.

Your child could be a millionaire one day right?

Definitely!

There are some of us who take it as a responsibility to teach the young ones the rubrics of building sustainable, viable, and long term businesses.

For some of us in Africa and Asia, these have been the vehicles for the empowerment of families and the expansion of opportunities for the whole clan.

So yes your child could be a millionaire one day, and it's not a bad idea to start talking to them about money, business, focus, drive and ambition.

It's because of thoughts like this that from time to time we see advertised programs like "teach your child to be rich" and "build your child's brand".

These are not problematic in themselves, but they skew the conversation towards the “artefacts” of wealth and not the “fundamentals”.

Teaching your child the creation and flow of “value” which is what drives commercial exchange should be the focus.

Getting rich is what happens when we learn how to create and transfer value. Other things are involved as well! But this is not a bad way to start the conversation.

Instilling a desire to be rich and teaching the tactics (saving, investing, arbitrage, etc.) without breaking down “value exchange” might come up short.

While it is a good thing to make our children aware of their brands, trying to craft one without tying it to some fundamentals around a business, hobby, career interest, or some form of competencies is a recipe for disaster. This is more so in an age where it's possible to become famous just for being famous.

Instead of getting your child to "focus on her brand", why not taker her to work, let her observe some client meetings and negotiations, let her see how mummy and daddy run the business on a day to day... somewhere in the midst of all this, a brand will evolve organically.

The desire to be rich is good and a keen focus on a brand will be a killer combo for our kids, but let's remember to teach the mechanics of how things begin.

We acquire some capital because we find ways to create or sell something valuable for more that then cost of producing it.

After a while we learn to scale our efforts and increase our surplus.

We take that surplus and invest in other ventures to grow our yield... and it's in the midst of these dynamics that the desire to be rich and the focus on a brand come to fruition.

Let's teach our kids to not only think the part and look the part, but to DO the part as well.

And let's remember to keep these conversations fun!

These can be really "heady" things for a child sometimes.

Having sales conversations with clients and potential customers can be a really difficult job.

They say all kinds of things and sometimes we don’t know for sure what is the truth and when they are lying.

Sometimes it looks like they want our products and services, it looks like there’s a definite need for it, they seem interested, but then again it sounds like they are coming up with all manner of excuses to stop themselves from buying!

What the #$%&! is going on here?

The older guys in the business used to tell me things like “don’t mind them... go hard and collect your money!”, “these people are unserious, they don’t know what they want”, and “buyers are liars... time wasters”.

Is it true that all the complaints they come up with at the end of the day are not valid?

That’s possible! Because none of us are mind readers.

Should we take our potential customers at face value? Or is there a way to find out who is serious and who is just coming up with bovine faeces?

Yes there is a way!

Every time the customer comes up with a complaint, we have to find a way of validating that complaint or concern before we know what to do about it.

The customer might say, “it makes sense but let me talk to my wife about it first... give me two weeks and I’ll get back to you”.

As always we should be agreeable so it wouldn’t be out of place to respond, “I agree with you bro! I don’t make these kind of huge purchases without talking to madam first”.

Both of you might laugh over that and build some rapport as young men on the grind who respect their wives and like to “take them along”.

After that you start asking questions and get more details about their concerns, because if you don’t know it, you can’t address it.

You could say, “by the way I’m curious, if wifey was here what wouldn’t she like about this deal?”

You guys might enter into a conversation about his wife’s concerns on how household items tie in with the overall style choice of the house.

Maybe they are currently working on some other projects as a family and so they want to see how it would affect their budget?

Or maybe you’ll discover that he is going to buy it anyway, but he just wants to “toast” his wife first so it doesn’t come as a surprise.

Whatever the reason, you now have practical intel that you can use to move the sale forward.

This is really helpful because if you had said, “no problem sir, call me when you are ready” ...anything could have happened in the two week period.

In the first scenario you could respond by asking questions about the decor she has already chosen for the house.

With this new information you can then share options you have in store that might match that.

You then move things along by calling madam on the spot to book an appointment to come in tomorrow herself and explore the other options available.

It doesn’t mean that they will buy at the end of the day, but so far money doesn’t look like a problem and at least this way you are keeping things within your control.

For the second option, if it looks like they’re definitely going ahead with the purchase, then it’s a matter of letting them know that you have financing available or that you accept flexible payment terms.

You could also move things along by calling madam on the spot to see if they can come in on Wednesday to agree to a payment plan.

In the final example, it’s clear that Oga is going to buy but he wants to smooth things over with the Queen first.

In that case you could propose that he pays 10% now so that you hold the item in store for him for the next two weeks while he is handling domestic affairs.

If he makes a commitment now, then the chances are that he will be back to finalize things when he promised.

Either way these examples show that you don’t have to be a mind reader to know if the customer is lying or not.

You just have to be good at asking questions. The answers you get will determine the next course of action.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, to be good at sales you don’t have to get good at “reading people”.

You just have to get better at asking questions.

Some of us take the game to social media when looking for potential customers.

This makes a lot of sense because traditionally if we wanted to go about growing our businesses, we’d have to look for more people to talk to.

The more people we can find who would love to have conversations with us, the greater our chances of finding someone who actually needs our products or services.

This doesn’t mean that everyone we talk to will buy!

But our chances for business success go up when we do more than just sitting down and waiting for the market to come to us.

This first step in the sales or business development process is traditionally called PROSPECTING.

Prospecting is the art of looking for new people to talk to. Prospecting is the art of looking for PROSPECTIVE customers.

A “prospective customer” is another way of saying a “potential customer”. These are two expressions that mean the same thing.

Now that we have the opportunity to take our message and our presence out to thousands of people using the internet, it’s a good idea to do so WHEN WE CAN.

But is the internet and social media a good prospecting avenue for ALL kinds of businesses?

Probably not!

Financial services companies have compliance issues around social media use and so they can’t use the internet the same way the rest of us do.

Lawyers aren’t allowed to advertise whether online or offline so don’t expect to receive any Instagram or Twitter DMs from a law firm anytime soon!

No firm is going to run a TikTok advertisement either! Even if they did, would you hire a lawyer you found on TikTok?

Although I have received connection requests from lawyers on LinkedIn who tried to sell me on some of their services!

That’s a possibility!

The avenues are almost endless and a lot of creativity will be required on our part to see how we can use this brave new world of the internet and information technology to grow our businesses.

We have no choice but to be up for the challenge because very few people will come and find us in our living rooms or in our offices.

Whatever industry you are in, try to figure out how you can use the internet as a prospecting playground.

Be sure to speak to your lawyer or ethics committee if you’re in legal or financial services... before you start running any marketing activities over the internet.

You wouldn’t want to start business conversations in ways that are unethical or unprofessional... but don’t assume that the door is closed to you preppy folks.

There might be no room for you on TikTok, but LinkedIn, email, and content marketing strategies are things you could try!

When we were younger and in the throes of love, it was a common question to ask and wonder, “why don’t they like me?”, “why did they say NO to going out with me?”

If you are a teenager reading this, I’d like to inform you that the battle and the angst never ends!

Because eventually we get married, start a family, start a business, and then the question now becomes, “why won’t they do business with me?”, and “how did I fail to close that deal?”.

Unrequited love is a fact of life!

We will always struggle with unconsummated relationships until the day we die!

There could be several reasons why your heart throb decided to date someone else, however those reasons may be legion and they are beyond the scope of this post.

Fortunately the reasons why people fail to do business with us is much easier to answer!

There are very few reasons that we can discern and that we can fix so that sealing the deal with someone else becomes a lot easier.

The main reason why people fail to “go out with us” in business is because we never ask!

We invest a lot of time and effort into getting the expertise, setting up the website, looking credible, working on our brand messaging, advertising to clients, securing the meeting with potential customers, making the presentation, and the end of it all what do we do?

We do nothing!

Because of that, the potential customer rightly says, “thank you very much for your wonderful presentation. You have given me a lot to think about. Let me think about it and get back to you.”

As you leave the meeting venue you give yourself a pat on the back because you had a “wonderful meeting” full of smiles and laughter.

But two weeks later and things start feeling a little complicated! You aren’t sure if they’re interested or not! You don’t know where you guys stand anymore!

In situations like these, the reason why you failed to close the deal is because YOU DIDN’T MAKE AN EFFORT!

Making a presentation isn’t enough to close the deal in itself.

You have to ASK FOR THE RELATIONSHIP, you have to ask for their business!

If you make the presentation, and it was wonderful, and they gave you a standing ovation, most people will give some variation of “thanks but let me think about it”. The average person is decision averse and will delay making a decision for as long as reasonably possible.

If you make the presentation however, and after your standing ovation you ask, “is there anything I’ve failed to address? So if we are in agreement on XYZ the next step is the payment of a deposit for the amount of ABC, how soon would you like to go ahead?” then now there’s a specific question on the table that the potential customer has to answer to right now!

If the customer says YES then congratulations! You are in business together!

If they say NO then all you have to do is ask further questions to be sure your understanding of their problem, their context or their goals was correct.

Most likely you failed to address something, or maybe they aren’t confident about something in your sales pitch.

If you ask questions about that now, then you’ll have all the information you need to bring the sales conversation back on track.

A simple approach like this would suffice, “I thought ABC was important to you and that if we could achieve XYZ then we would be good to go! So what did I miss out on here?”

From their response you might get that your understanding was correct, but they don’t think YOU have the skill set to deliver on the promises of XYZ.

In that case you have a credibility and a competence problem and there are a few options for trying to remedy that.

Either way, until you ask for the marriage and give a specific question that they either have to say YES or NO to, they will most likely want to think about it and you’ll be left wondering what happened to all the fire in the relationship.

For most people the answer to the question is very obvious.

Why did you fail to close the deal?

Because you never asked!

Why is it important to know if you are involved in a simple sales situation or in a complex sales situation?

Because it has implications for how you set the price and how you negotiate!

Let’s look at simple sales situations.

If you are the seller in these types of situations, price is pretty much set by prevailing demand and supply and other macroeconomic factors.

If you are a seller in these type of situations, then the price is the price and you can’t negotiate much with the buyer on these things.

The more you give concessions on the price, the more you are hurting your already slim profit margins.

So if demand and supply, and exchange rates, and insecurity, and rising transportation costs, and rising inflation means that now meat goes for #2,000 Naira per kilo... then that is what you sell your meat for!

If the buyer wants to haggle for lower than that, then you have the liberty and the power to let them walk on to another seller.

These are commodity type situations so pretty much every other seller in the market will hover around the same price.

If you want to haggle with the customer, you might take off #50 or maybe #100 per kilo, but eventually you’ll have to tell them to take it or leave it.

When you’re in a simple sales situation, you keep things simple.

This is because in simple sales situations, neither you the seller nor the buyer is concerned about long term relationships. There is also no complexity around the subject matter. The number of individuals who are key to the decision process are low. These are also low stakes scenarios.

Keep things simple and don’t make it fancy.

How do you deal with imposter syndrome while networking? Or any other personal hang ups you have when meeting new people?

There a few questions involved here.

One is built around your personal competence and credibility.

Do you have the skill sets you claim to have? Do you have the knowledge base to justify your job title? And are your self aware enough to know if you are who you claim to be?

Those are questions that can be properly answered by occupational therapists, mental health professionals, and coaches... so I can’t do justice to them here.

All I know is sales.

Is there anything that sales theory can contribute to the conversation?

Sure!

From traditional sales theory we know that “competence” and “confidence” is built not from KNOWING or ASPIRING only, but from DOING as well.

It’s not just about what you know, how you feel, or what you’re trying to project. It’s also about what you have executed on in the past.

So in sales it’s not a question of “faking it till you make it”, it’s a question of whether you have actual experience of dealing with the customer’s situation at hand, and the use case scenarios that you guys are talking about.

So if you are networking or talking to a customer, and you have dealt with the kinds of situations you guys are talking about, then that’s fine.

You won’t come off as an impostor.

So long as you keep the conversations around WHAT YOU HAVE ACTUALLY DONE, then you’ll be fine.

If the person in the networking session is talking about Polo and horse racing, but you’re from a less sophisticated background, the chances are the sports you were exposed to as a child were football, tennis or badminton.

Don’t pretend to know about horses!

You can build the conversation around the level of grit, determination, and focused practice that is required to be good at your sport.

That will be your common ground.

Their family might be rich enough to buy horses and travel to Nassarawa Polo grounds or IBB golf course in Abuja during the holidays for tournaments.

If you only played in the annual Lagos state inter secondary school tournaments, then that is your common ground and the topic of the conversation.

You BOTH have a history of competitive sports!

If you are talking with a potential customers who wants solar panels installed over their fish farm in the Niger Delta, but you have only done installations over physical structures ON LAND, then you will come across as an impostor eventually!

This is because you don’t actually have the experience you’re putting yourself out to have.

The customer will think you are a fraud or a fake because of that blank stare from you once he starts going into details about the depth of the water, the level of marsh, or the kind of underwater cabling that will be needed to reach the inverter batteries.

Off course we know that you’re not a fraud in this case! Because we know that you have done solar and inverter work before, but ONLY on land. Don’t fake it till you make it when it comes to installations over the water.

If the current scope of work is outside your expertise, admit it and refer the business to someone else.

Or accept the job and bring in a team with the right track record to execute the job.

However be sure to consult with the latter team BEFORE you issue a price quote!

If you don’t do that, you might give a price that will have you running at a loss eventually.

As a general rule, these are how sales theory applies to these kinds of situations.

Apart from that, if you are still worried about WHO YOU ACTUALLY ARE, and how this matches with your personal brand, your positioning, and HOW YOU WANT TO BE PERCEIVED, then you should be speaking to another kind of specialist.

Aside from that, it’s not as big of a problem in selling or networking as most people think it is.

From a philosophical perspective, to know thyself is good.

It is only when we know who we are, what our true north is, and the unique experiences we bring to the world, that we can function effectively as members of society.

The same is also true in business.

When we know who we are, our value proposition and the unique benefits we bring to the marketplace, then we’ll have a good starting sense of how to go about engaging customers and other stakeholders in the market.

However, while it is good to know thyself in life and business, to know thy customers is even better!

To know thyself is good, and to know thy buyer is even better.

Why is it important to know your buyer?

Because it is only then that you can speak to them in terms that they understand.

It’s only when you know your buyers that you can figure out how your product or service will best be able to serve them.

When you know your buyers and customers, they feel listened to, acknowledged, and empathized with. That is what brings them back for repeat business, and to refer other people to you as well.

Knowing yourself is good because it gives you an idea of where you want to play in the marketplace.

Knowing your customer is better because that is what will make sure you go FAR and WELL into the marketplace with your customers.

Knowing your customers is something you do by having simple conversations with them on a regular basis.

How do we carry on those conversations?

We will explore that as the subject of another post!

Should you always be in a “closing” mind-set?
A lot of people say NO, because it is too abrasive, and aggressive.
My opinion on the other hand is, that we should.
Not only is it appropriate to always be closing, but if you say to the contrary, it’s because you don’t know what the term “closing” means in the first place.
We have to first understand what the “always closing” mind-set involves to begin with.
Always be closing doesn’t mean that you ask everybody you meet every day to buy from you.
“Always be closing” means you should always be advancing the conversation and the business relationship towards the next appropriate step.
The “next appropriate step” is always just a minor step in a long chain of events that leads to an actual sale being consummated.
When you meet someone for the first time, the “next step” is to see if they’re interested in your product or service.
If they are interested, the “next step” is to see if they will take a meeting to discuss some proposals or to listen to your presentation.
After the proposal and the presentation, the “next step” might be for them to indicate which solution or features they like.
After that the next step could be a payment or deposit to get the business relationship up and going.
“Always be closing” doesn’t mean trying to get money from everyone the first time you meet them.
That idea of closing is unrealistic and stressful.

Traditionally we hear in sales that we should always be closing.
The idea is that unless you’re a “closer” you won’t be really good at bringing in profits for your business and gaining advancements on whatever you’re working on at the office.
Unfortunately most folks don’t tell us what closing is, and so we’re now left with a plethora of view points as to how one should “always be closing in business”.
Should you always be in a “closing” mindset?
And what is “closing” anyway?
In simple terms, closing is getting someone to CLEARLY UNDERSTAND AND DO “the next step” ...whatever that may be!
So if you are trying to sell a potential customer something, and if they like what they see, then “closing” can mean them making a transfer for a deposit.
If Oga Chukwudi says you should come to the house and talk to Madam Nneka before they buy, then “closing” means both of you agreeing to a time, date, and specific location for that “meeting” or “presentation”.
If you look at it this way, then “closing” is essential to you being effective at work, growing your bottom line for the business, and delivering value to the client.
If it looks like they’re happy with what’s in front of them, then it’s okay to ask the question to “close” the deal...
“Are you happy with that?”
“Will there be anything else? Is there anything else you’d like to add to your order?”
“To confirm your order, the next step is a deposit for the amount of XYZ, would that be cash, POS, or transfer?”
It doesn’t have to be in exactly those same words, but you do have to say something to move things along.
It is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL that you come up with a framework for “closing” and moving clients, customers, and colleagues on to that “very important next step”.
Until you do that, you’ll be in the habit of rounding up that crucial conversation with “why don’t you think about it and get back to me?”
The problem with that approach is that Oga Chukwudi might leaves you to “think about it” just as you said and then life happens! He starts thinking about something, or someone else, and your business proposition doesn’t seem that important anymore.
So YES we should always be closing because if we aren’t getting people to take “the next step”, we will never get to the point where they take “the final step”.

Talking to strangers in a business context or a networking session can be scary because we’re worried about what to say, and we’re worried about being rejected or snubbed.



Maybe that hasn't occured to you yet as the reason why you're tongue tied in these situations, but for most people it doesn't get more basic than that.



So how do we get out of these situations? Or how do we plough through?



The solution to the problem is to realize that it’s not all about you!



The reason why you are being stymied right now is because your focus, your fears and apprehensions are all around YOU and what YOU ought to do next.



Instead of focusing on what to say, how to appear, or how you will be assessed, focus on the right kind of questions to ask to get the other person talking.



The first time you meet a total stranger whom you hope to do business with in the future, the goal should be to find out some more about this person and what the mutual opportunities are for the future.



You won't get any of this information if you spend most of the time running your mouth!



If you find ways to get this other person (potential customer, stakeholder, investor, etc) talking, then the chances are that you'll get some insight into who this person is, and what possible cards the future holds for you doing business together.



Apart from finding ways to get the other person talking, you ought to realize that even when you have been “rejected” it not personal.



They are only saying NO to your value proposition.



If someone rejects or rebuffs you in a networking session or a sales conversation or negotiation, they aren't rejecting you PERSONALLY, they are saying that the BUSINESS PROPOSITION at hand is of little value to them.



The rejection is hardly personal.



There might be times when YOU DEFINITELY ARE BEING REJECTED, but those are the rare circumstances where you have personal defects like being obnoxious, poor personal hygiene, inappropriate fashion sense, etc.



If that is the case, then you have a lot of work to do... but outside of those rare situations, don't take it personal.



Engage freely and confidently because even when you are rejected, it's never about you.

You need to unplug. If you're experiencing zoom fatigue.

That is something I’ve heard someone say recently in response to the idea that, having to be on Zoom most of the time for meetings is getting folks burned out and really tired.

Even though it IS possible that you can spend too much time in front of a screen, it’s also possible that the reason why you’re tired is because most of the meetings have been unproductive and unfocused.

When meetings are productive AND focused AND most of them occur within regular work hours and expectations, then it’s just simply part of the job that can be lived with and planned for.

So let’s ignore the fact that some of the zoom meetings we’re attending are scheduled outside of regular working hours.

That’s a separate issue.

How do you solve the problem of Zoom meetings being unfocused?

You prepare an agenda ahead of time! The problem is most people are okay with a vague agenda like “let’s meet at 1pm to see how far with the fundraising committee”.

The agenda should be more clearer like 1. Collation of ticket proceeds 2. Defaulters from last week - plan of attack 3. Vendor payments for the building project - authorize payments 4. Fundraising targets set for the next quarter.

A specific agenda like this can be worked through fairly rigorously and in good time if the chairperson for the meeting is disciplined.

Short agendas are good because it will be easy to maintain energy and focus around a few key issues. Twenty items on the agenda for the discussion will have everyone tired even before the meeting has begun!

What is the best way to make sure that our zoom meetings are productive?

We have to decide on the follow through items and actions AT THIS CURRENT MEETING instead of coming back next week to “follow up” on who was supposed to get done with what.

In other words, if at the last meeting the board agreed that vendor payments should be authorized, then it should also be mandated clearly at this current meeting WHO is supposed to make WHICH payments by WHAT day of the week and WHAT kinds of proof or processes they should come with at the next meeting.

If you do things this way, then you avoid those awkward parts of the zoom meeting where people start to talk over each other saying “Chukwudi should have been the one responsible for XYZ”, or “I didn’t effect ABC because I was waiting on Kemi to do XYZ”.

People underestimate the amount of time that is wasted with the “back and forth” and blame trading and responsibility shifting that goes on during zoom meetings.

If you make sure that your business zoom meetings are handled this way, you shouldn’t feel as burned out because your meetings will be short, straight to the point, and effective.

These principles also apply if the meeting is over Google Hangouts, WhatsApp video, Skype, or whatever platform you guys decide to use.

If you keep things unfocused and unproductive, you’ll get tired of the other options as well...even if the meetings return to being “live” and “in person”.

It's understandable that there are loads of people who come across material like this and say, "what does all this talk of selling have to do with me?"



People in the civil service and not for profit sectors understandably think this has nothing to do with them.



In fact the average public servant doesn't worry about selling skills until they are past retirement age at 65 and they retire home to start up a fishery or poultry farm.



So sales skills! Customer service! What does this have to do with the rest of us who aren't self employed, entrepreneurial, or business owners?



Let's start with the "not for profit" sector.



This the typical line of thought I get when talking to guys and girls in the NGO space.



But to see the truth of how relevant sales skills are to the objects of a charity, we have to look at a few real life examples.



A charitable organization I did some work with in the past has aims to...



“Provide vocational skills, access to market and financial inclusion opportunities for women...”



The phrase “access to market” in this case shows that the finished goods made by the charity and it's wards have to reach the market a la “end consumers” somehow.



If your charity is built around teaching indigent women crafts and trades, then you're not going to be of much use to them if none of these wonderful things don't "gain access to the market".



If there's no access to the market, there's no financial empowerment for the women, and we cannot even begin to start the conversation around financial inclusion.



Financial inclusion assumes that we're talking of people being bankable, no matter how paltry their income is.



Doesn’t all this involve selling? What else does gaining "access to the market" mean? How will the goods produced get to the market if they are not "sold" to directly to the end user, or through middlemen?



This NGOs mission statement shows that they work with stakeholders that involve not just the market and women, but also government regulatory agencies concerned with issues around financial inclusion.



So obviously stakeholder management is a key concern of theirs.



Stakeholder management involves a number of skills around presentations, persuasion, and effective communications. These are necessary to move the agenda froward with these partner institutions.



These are skills that are not only involved in selling, but these same skills can also be greatly enhanced by the very art of taking sales training seriously.



Sales and selling is obviously something that people in the NGO space do.



Even if they didn't (because they don't want to be considered as sales professionals), they would all greatly benefit from sales training when it comes to stakeholder management, fund raising, and "access to market" for those institutions that have market facing goals and effects.



We can spin this conversation anyway we want, but at the end of the day it’s obvious that both “big business” or "not for profit" businesses could be better off with more training in sales related matters.



If “sales” sounds tacky for your NGO, then start calling it the fancy new term everyone uses this days.



It’s called “fund development”.

I have been running a business podcast now for close to three years, and it has been the entry point for lots of interesting conversations with listeners and admirers.

So far it has been over 450 episodes and I still have questions and outlines to be addressed for another 450 episodes more.

So if things turn out well, I should still be doing this for a very long time to come!

Because podcasting sounds like a blast and lots of fun, I get questions from a lot from enthusiasts who would like to get in on the action.

The number one question I get is, “how do I start a podcast, and what equipment do I need?“

Unfortunately the podcasting “how” isn’t as important as the the “why” and “who”.

Before you start a podcast you have to figure out who you’re talking to, what you have to say, why your point of view is unique, etc.

Having a clear answer to these questions is what guarantees a certain level of longevity.

How do you monetize a podcast and how does that lead to business growth?

Those are other questions I’m not equipped to deal with.

Besides, my podcasting journey has been one of establishing credibility with potential clients and for that I’m happy with the outcomes.

Either way, pay more attention to WHAT you have to say, WHO needs to hear it, and WHY it needs to be said and you’ll have no problem creating a long lasting podcast.

Starting a podcast is the easy part.

Everyone starts a podcast now and then.

Maintaining the podcast is the hard bit.

Most people run out of things to say before they even hit episode 20.

Will the podcast help your sales? I can’t promise you that in the short term...

But start it right with the messaging and the rest of the podcasting journey should be relatively easy!

One of my associates once told me years ago...

“Go on! Make sure you enter them well! We need to get this money!”

This is the Nigerian equivalent of saying...

“Go hard and direct with them. We have to close this deal because we need the money!”

Just in case you aren’t sure, let me repeat, these are the actual words and the actual intent behind what another event industry professional told me while we were “working” a potential client together.

The reason why she said this to me was because even though we were both pursuing the bride, I was the “inside man” on the team because I had built a special relationship with the couple.

Is this kind of thinking valid?

Should we “go hard” on potential clients?

Should we be using “pressure” when trying to “seal the deal” with prospective clients?

It depends!

It is not always a good idea to apply pressure, or to be excessively forceful when it comes to persuading potential customers to buy from us.

This is because it can lead to situations where our customers think they have ended up with products or services that are unsuitable... or they have ended up with products or services that they didn’t even want anyway.

If the pressure doesn’t scare them off, they may be left with BUYERS REMORSE or BUYERS REGRET.

These are situations where they are either upset with THEMSELVES for making the wrong choice, or upset with YOU for getting them to buy the “wrong” thing.

In other words, if pressure doesn’t kill the deal now, it might leads to reduced chances for future businesses for us.

If we pressurize people into a sale, the chances are we aren’t going to get repeat business or referrals from those people because they will have ill will and bad feelings towards us.

Typically people with those feelings might not want to face the chance of dealing with us again!

So think about it!

Pressure might get you to some money now, but is it worth the hassle of losing money in the future?

In most areas of life, we run away from rejections and people would say that makes perfectly good sense.

No one likes being personally rejected because it implies there’s something wrong WITH you, your thought processes, and the results that you bring the team at the office, or your clients and potential customers.

So in other words, rejection for the average person is a bad thing and is to be avoided all the time.

But are there circumstances where rejection can be a good thing?

Fore sure!

Rejections are a good thing when it comes to handling sales and marketing conversations... but maybe not in interpersonal relationships.

In fact not only should rejection be accepted as a good thing in sales and marketing, it should be actively embraced and leaned into because of the multiple benefits that come from it.

For now let’s define “rejections” as situations where you are being rebuffed by the client or a potential customer.

These are situations where a potential customer, investor, business partner, or other stakeholder says NO to the proposition you have on the table.

This might feel bad, but it is a sign of good things to come!

If you ask all the right questions, rejections can quickly point to the fact that you are talking to the wrong person... you are making a proposition or a presentation that is ill suited to the person you’re currently talking to.

The “wrong person” to talk to is someone who doesn’t need your product or service, who doesn’t want it, or they cannot afford to pay.

In this case rejection is good because it means you should stop talking to this guy or girl PROMPTLY and look for someone else better to talk to.

If she says she can only afford 25K for shoes and the cheapest you have is 150K per pair, then no amount of talk is going to move her up the difference of 125K.

Rejection can also be a sign that the client is interested, but they have a few concerns that are unclear to them concerning your product, service, or your proposition.

If you ask the right questions, you’ll find that sometimes when the client says “let me think about it” it could mean either... 1. Let me talk to my boss about it 2. I’m not sure the value here is justified, or 3. I don’t trust that you’re competent enough to do what you’ve described.

If you don’t ask the right questions, you’ll never know!

Think of rejections as opportunities to stop wasting time by talking to the “wrong people”.

Also think of rejections as signposts in the client conversation to find out where they may have some issues or doubts with you, or the product or service.

Lean into rejection today so that you know when to move on, and to get a better sense of who your ideal target audience should be.

Also if you encounter rejection, it could be a sign that the potential customer hasn’t understood something correctly... or is unsure about some part of your offering.

Lean into the rejection by asking questions to get to the root of why they are saying NO.

If the NO is because of a misunderstanding, then you’ll be able to clear it up and might move on to a fruitful business relationship.

If the NO is because of something substantial and non negotiable, now you know for sure what the best use case scenarios of your product or service are, and you know for sure who you SHOULDN’T be talking to for sure.

Lean into rejection today, because it will lead to warm embraced tomorrow.