Ancestral Chains vs. Sales Systems: Why Your Business Growth Depends on Your Process, Not Your Past

Hello and welcome to the show. Today I'd like us to talk about how lacking a sales process is killing your business. Apologies, because this is definitely going to be a noisy episode. I'm sure you can't tell by the echo, and that's because, you know, holidays back home in Michael D, My house is full, cousins, kids, everyone. So the only place I can find to record is in the WC. So yeah, when someone has to go, definitely we're going to be interrupted.

So just letting you know ahead of time. So like I said, today we're going to be looking at how lacking a sales process is killing your business. Because lots of we old country folks, you know, Old Town Nigeria people, you know, from certain parts of the country, we have this belief that sometimes you're trying to get ahead in life, you're trying to do something with your life. You get yourself an education, you get your kids an education,

you try and invest in the business, you know, things like that. But then we believe that the ill intentions or the evil stares or the malice or the bad will of people back at home can drag us down. So it's not unusual for you to travel home around these times, you know, Christmas, Easter, that sort of thing, and then hear about so business has not been able to prosper because of, you know, people in the village and that sort of thing.

So it's a central tenet of mine in making this podcast just to let you guys know that some of the things that are actually killing our businesses are easy things that we can address ourselves. And we don't necessarily have to go all spiritual, by the way, the spiritual element is important. So I'm not saying that your uncle who hated your father who is still stuck in the village, can try to jazz you and that might have an effect on you and your businesses.

I'm not trying to say that can happen. I'm just trying to say that before we even get to the point of your angry uncle who didn't like your father or your mother who is stuck in the village and who wants to jazz you, before we even get there, there are some fundamental things that you can sort out in your own business that can help you to thrive. And anyway, your crazy uncle in the village who doesn't like you and your mom, we can get to that later.

But for now, there's some other things that are bringing down your business that we can attend to. And these are some of the things that I want to share today. If you'd love to connect with me, then give me a call or send me a WhatsApp message. The number is 08064662140. The country code is lost 234 for those of you who are not Nigerian. Also, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. That's the only social presence that I have now, the name to look for establishing my Agadi.

So how lacking a sales process is killing your business. And it's not necessarily that angry uncle or that angry auntie who didn't like your mumsy or who didn't like your grandfather's second wife or you know, whatever. These are how the people who are bringing your business down. And this is one scenario that we're going to explore. So if you've been listening for the last one week, you know that I'm in Makwadi currently.

That's the capital of Benwell state for the Christmas. So just chilling with grandpa and getting a hack out with family members and, you know, stuff like that. Now in this part of the world, you know, Benway, Plateau, Nassarua and Taraba, you know, we have modern cities, but we still have some old, some old ways of doing things. And one of that is this whole thing of, you know, it's Christmas time. And so people are just walking around, you know, going from here to here.

Looking forward to Devoir. So you know, when some people say trick or treat, it's not the Nigerian culture. I just say, look, trick or treat is the Nigerian culture. It's just that we don't do Halloween, but the trick or the treating, we do it around Christmas and around Easter you're just moving from one house to another. So neighbours come around, family members come around, children in the neighbourhood, everybody comes around.

It's nice and it's quaint and it's fun because back in Abuja we don't do these things. You know, in Abuja, Christmas is, you know, like everybody's on their own. You're there, you're at your house, you feast on your own. I'm here in my house, I feast on my own. My kids don't walk over to your house. Your kids don't walk over to my own house. So we're chilling now everybody's feasting. And then the neighbor comes in and we start gisting.

The neighbor is from, she's Isha. She's the same tribe as my wife, but then she married a thief man. So, you know, for me it's the other way around. You know, I am thief. And then I married a lady who is a Isha. So that's kind of like the connection. And we happen to be neighbours. We both have two boys and our kids are also roughly the same age. So yeah. Anyway, so lots of points that we can that we get along on. So of course, her and my wife get along very well.

So anyway, we're just there. We're just Justine. And it turns out that she also has a Google Chrome book because that's what we have for my kids, Google Chrome. And she's been trying to install the MSM suite on it as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, you know, all those things. And so she took her computer to a business centre in BSUBSU is Benway State University. It's one of those old ish universities. It's not as old as Abu Zaria,

it's not as old as or Bafamiwala University is not as old as University of Ibadan. And all those old, old, old schools, you know, 19, fifties, 1960s, but it's an old university. Anyway, so she went over to BSU to try and get these things installed on it. And there's a guy there who does cracked software and he figured it's something that he could install. How will I put it now? I'm trying to define cracked software. Well, first of all, I'm not sure what they call it nowadays, but back when I was in university,

that's what we used to call it. Then crack software. So if you want software, you don't have money to buy the original thing. And then let's face it, back in those days, the only way to get the original thing would be to wait until someone was travelling to UK or travelling to America, then you give them money, then they buy from you, then they bring the CD back. So the only way to get these things was you just go and get crack software.

So if you're in Lagos, you'll go to Computer Village that's around Ekeja on that bridge. So back then used to be Ekeja on that bridge, but since I don't live in Ekeja now, I'm not sure where Computer village is anymore. And then Computer village in Abuja is Computer Village. Abuja is it's more like area, should I say zone 3, maybe zone 3, zone one, zone 3. Anyway, so you go to Computer Village, then you just get someone to give you pirated software and they give you a crack key so you can now run it on your computer.

So there's this guy in BSUV, say he can't do it. So no problem, she left the computer with the guy. Don't worry, you'll get to the point of the story eventually. Anyway, so the guy could not install it. And of course since she couldn't install it, she didn't pay and so the guy lost business revenue. So in this case, an individual like this who clearly has no sales process, as we go on, you will see how I know that he doesn't have a sales process.

You can see how an individual like this who doesn't have a sales process can go through a year 2024 entering into 2025 and he's losing business left or right. And he's thinking is the people in the village, they are unhappy because of what my mother said in 1970, this or because of what my father did in 1950, this or because of the treaty that my grandfather entered into with somebody in, you know, 18 O one or whatever.

But in this case, for small business people, people who are running small and medium enterprises or nano businesses or micro businesses, the main problem is you don't have a sales process. And that is what is killing your business because this is what actually happened between my neighbour and between this person who runs the small business. She picked up the phone and she hollered the guy, hey, I heard about you from so can you install XYZ?

And the guy said yes. Then she responded, how much? And then the guy said ABC amount. And then she handed over the computer. Then the guy couldn't do the job. And of course, there's no need for payment. For some of you, this is the extent of your sales process. Somebody will call you and say can you do this or are you available for XYZ date? And you will say yes. The person will now say how much. You will now quote your price.

You guys will argue back and forth. You will negotiate and then you will go ahead and try and deliver. If you deliver, excuse me, If you deliver, I deliver halfway good and they're unhappy. You know, you guys will quarrel back and forth which I eventually settle on something, but for most of you, when you say you have a sales process, that is what you have. This is not a sales process by the way. This is just called order taking.

Order taking is when somebody shows up on an establishment, the person tells you exactly what it is that they want and you try to give them exactly what they want. There is no sale that is involved there. That one is just order taking and we'll talk about some of that more in the future. Now, what is the sales process? What this guy should be doing and what you should be doing listening to this show right now is you should have a sales process.

The sales process is that framework that you have. If it's in your head, make sure you write it down. The reason why I should write it down is so you can show it to your wife. If your wife runs the business centre with you. Also that you can share with your cousins or your kids if your cousins or kids help you run the business centre as well. Or you can share with your employees who happen to sell for you. A business process or a business framework that rests in your head is not helping anybody.

It has to be down on paper or down in a computer, or down on your phone, or down somewhere that you can easily share with other people. So a sales process is just the framework that helps you figure out some key things. Number one, you're trying to figure out who is our ideal customer #2 you're trying to figure out what problem is this person facing? What vision do they have? What problem are they trying to solve? Because no matter the business you do, people either have a problem, a vision, they either have something they run away from or something that they're heading to.

Then you also need to try and figure out whether you have the inventory or the skill set to be able to solve these people's problems. You also need a framework to effectively communicate the value to make a presentation or to make a proposal or to explore alternatives. So far, with all things I'm saying, have you noticed that this is lacking in the process that most of you think you have a sales process? Then you also need to have a way to get them to take action.

After that, you also need to be able to figure out if they were happy with the results. Then you try and figure out if you can get them to come back for repeat business or those of services that they can buy from you, other products or you try and get some referrals for them. And of course, excuse me, like I keep saying over and over again, we take feedback from the process and then we start the whole thing all over again.

So this essentially is what a sales framework is. Who is this customer that we're talking to? What problem do they have? What problem are they trying to solve? Can we solve this problem? Do we have the products, the services, the tools to solve it? How are we going to make an effective proposal or presentation? How are we going to get them to take action? How are we going to figure out if they're happy? How are we going to figure and get them to buy some more?

How are we going to get them to refers to other people? How do we start the process all over again? So like I said, for that guy in BSU, Beno State University and for most business owners listening to the show right now, they don't have any sales framework. All they're doing is order taking. And this is what order taking is. Order taking is you greet the person and you smile. Then you ask for the order. They ask for the order.

Then you give them exactly what it is that they ask for. I repeat, most of you, what you're doing is order taking. Exactly what happens in a restaurant or in Mr. Biggs or in what's this one called again, Mama, Mama. Something I can't remember or Jevnik, so excuse me. So that's exactly what happens. You show up, the person will greet you good morning Sir and they will smile and you not ask the person do you have fufu? They'll say yes.

You not tell the person give me 14 wraps. I said OK, no problem Sir, do you want that 14 wraps with a Gucci soup or with this soup you'll tell them OK I want a Gucci soup, give me 5 pieces of goat meat and give me one Fanta and they'll say OK Sir, no problem. Then they will go and they will bring you their order. And yes I have eaten that before but that was back when I was in university. I can't eat like that now. If I try that now, I would die.

But, yeah, back when I was younger, eating 1416 wraps of fufu, Yeah, that was no problem. That's when I was a man and I was still, you know, in charge. So what was I? So that is what they're taking. Somebody shows up, greeting, smile, watch your order and give it to them. But this is how you should be conducting businesses. Let's leave people who run restaurants. So for my friend, this is how the conversation should have happened.

For this neighbor back here in Makudin, it should have been more like, oh, good morning, Ma. And then she asks, can you install Microsoft Suite? Of course you answer, sure, Ma, we can do that. Then you now ask a question. What do you need it for or what job do you do, or is it for the children or what problem are you trying to solve with Microsoft Word? Then you keep quiet and you listen. This is what we call discovery questions in sales.

The whole point of discovery questions is we're trying to get the rationale for the problem or the reason behind the vision. That is what determines the course of action we're going to take neck next and the kind of proposals that we can pursue. In the first case, the lady says can you install Microsoft suite? You said yes, how much? You told her you know 10K, you are not able to do it. You didn't collect 10K. But if you had asked discovery questions and you tried to figure out what the problem was,

you would have known if you could make alternative proposals and if you could sell another service. This is the main reason why lots of businesses are suffering in this part of the world. So yes, your wicked uncle in the village who is angry with your father because your father did something in 1976, yes, that beef is there. And yes, if the guy wants to mud you, if he could legitimately, he will mud you and your lineage.

But before we get to that, there are some basic things that you're not doing in your business and that's why the business is not moving. You do not ask questions, you do not have a sales process, You're not asking discovery questions. Because of that, the range of services, the range of solutions, the range of proposals you can make are limited. Now, if you had asked these questions because I asked her these questions when she bought the computer, because I have to ask all these questions now,

because me too, I thought I could install it. When I ask these questions, this is what I discovered. My neighbour here in Makudi is a PhD candidate in literature, so she's working on her doctoral thesis. She is also a fiction writer. Then she needs to be able to write on the second hand computer because the computer was given to her by another family member and she was not familiar with the computer. Let me repeat, I asked these questions, and if this guy asked the questions, she would have discovered that she's a PhD

candidate in literature who is also a fiction writer. She needs to be able to write on the second hand computer that she's not familiar with. Now, because I asked all those questions, I was able to solve a problem. And that problem did not involved Microsoft Suite. Because when I saw that this computer was a Chromebook, I told her, sorry, you cannot install Microsoft Suite on this computer, it just won't work. And she said, Oh yeah, she already tried.

But because I had asked all these questions and I knew what problem she was trying to solve, I was able to come up with another proposal and help her solve the problem. I told her this computer has Google Suite on it, so you don't need Microsoft Suite. Google Suite has its own native tools that would allow you to do a couple of things on this computer. We can install Google Docs, we can install Google Sheets, and we can install Google Presentations.

Google Docs will allow you to write. Google Sheets will allow you to do Excel Sheets, you know, numbers and all stuff like that. Google Presentation will allow you to do PowerPoint. Will that be OK for you? And she said, ah, if you could do that, that would be fantastic. It would solve my problem. So I said no problem, let me have a look at this computer. Let us install this thing as you open the computer. Now we saw that this thing was already preinstalled on the computer.

It was already there. So I just had to show her that. OK, for those of you who are Microsoft people, this is the first time you're trying Google. This is how it is. Click here to open. If you want new document, click here. If you want template, click here. If you want to do this, click here. If you want to do that, click here. In fact, do you have Google phone, Android phone? Yes, bring your Android phone. Let us sync the two of them together so that whatever you do here, you will always be able to access on your phone.

So you say, oh, you can do that. Yeah, fantastic. We can do that. So bring it, let's charge it up. Let's get everything done. And then that was the solution that we did. Of course, she also wanted me to what was the word format the system, you know, erase everything that was on it because she got it from, from her, from her sister who lives in the, the USA. So format the whole system. So it's all up to her. And then we sorted it out and she was very happy.

In fact, before she left, the thing started syncing on her phone. She already saw documents that she had been working on on the computer. Everything was already there and she was very happy. Problem solved. The fellow who runs the business in BSU that she first went to meet, if the person had asked her all these questions and figured out the problem that she was trying to solve, because most of you, somebody would just come and say can you install Microsoft Suite?

You will assume that that's the problem installing Microsoft Suite. The problem is not Microsoft Suite. The problem is something else that they are trying to achieve. If you ask and you try to figure out what the problem is, if the Microsoft Suite angle does not work, you will now know what other proposal to make. You will now have another service to sell. This guy could have asked all the questions. He could have done all this and could have charged my neighbour 5K or maybe 10K by just providing all these services.

Microsoft Suite, Sorry MA is not going to work. But is it about writing and is it about collating your research? No problem. There are some softwares that we can install that will do the next that will be able to do this and say, oh Madam, it is even installed here already. OK Madam, sit down. Let me give you a 5 minute tutorial to show you how this thing is done. This is how you do it. To make things even easier, we can hook it up so it's part of your Google profile, your Android profile, so you can access it from the cloud all the time.

Now, if you sit down with an author or a PhD candidate who is just trying to write and make sure that everything's accessible all the time, tell me that this person won't find this service you have provided valuable if you do this kind of thing. I try somebody 5 to thank you. It's not a problem. OK, then I'll go back and further say thank you. You didn't really install anything, blah, blah, blah. But bottom line, what I'm trying to say is that person would not,

would not leave your store without paying something, no matter how small. You would have gotten something back for your time and gotten something back for your effort if you had the sales process. So remember, like I said, once they couldn't solve the problem, she took her computer and then she left because he didn't have the sales process and because he didn't go through this, he didn't ask her questions. Like, oh, Madame, in that your faculty of literature.

So what faculty is it now? PhD literature faculty. OK. Humanitarian. Yeah, that would be humanity. Humanities, yes. So you can ask again, like, oh, Madam, do you know anyone in that humanities faculty that is trying to deal with a similar problem like this? You ask. She might say yes, she might say no. If she says no, no problem. But The thing is, if she says yes and you're able to get one or two numbers, that is also avenues for possible business that you can do in the future.

That is why they should be a part of your sales process. Asking all these questions from trying to solve one person's problem, you're able to get a referral. Those are more possibilities for business. And these are people who warm up to you because you were sent to them by a trusted source. So, ma'am, do you know anybody else who's faced with this kind of problem? OK, Can I have their contacts or I'd appreciate if you can refer me.

You know, however it is. That sounds good to you. Then you collect the contact details and then you follow up. Of course, you also call her back later on and then ask, oh, is everything working OK? This person did not collect her contact details. Can I see the reason why we need to have a sales framework where we have thought through all these scenarios? When we meet customers, how do we engage with them? What problems do they have?

How should we carry out the conversation? How do we make a proposal? How do we close the business? After we close the business, how do you make sure they're happy? If they're happy, how do you make sure that they send more people to come and do business our way? If you have a simple sales process, you write it down. Teach your wife, teach your kids, teach your boyfriend, teach your employees. These are the things that move your business forward.

And your angry uncle in the village can look, God is in control of anything, so there's a limit to what your angry uncle in the village can do. If your angry uncle in the village wants to mod you and your lineage, but God says no, then nothing will happen. But I'm not trying to say your angry uncle can't do something. So yes, if your grandmother says look that old man in the village, be afraid of him. Please be wise and stay clear from said angry uncle or angry auntie.

Where was I? OK, so I've lost my train of thought anyway. But bottom line is if you have a sales process or a sales framework, you're going to be able to solve people's problems instead of just taking orders. You're also going to have a framework for getting more customers. Now, this is one key difference between order taking and having a selling framework and why I tell everybody, stop doing order taking. When you have order taking,

you're going to end up with negative results over time. Remember, order taking is somebody comes, you greet the person and you smile, then they ask for an order, then you give them exactly what it is that they want. This is where you're going to get negative results because when you have order taking, you are dealing with low hanging fruits. Low hanging fruit just means the easy sale that you can close. But unfortunately there's something called customer attrition.

Customer attrition just means customers die or customers move or consumer trends change and they no longer like what it is that you offer, so you start losing customers. If you all you do is order taking, your business is going to start going down, down, down, down, down. There's no way for your business to go up. But if you have a sales process and a sales framework, it is automatically geared to getting you more customers because you're not just trying to meet their order.

You're trying to solve a problem in the best way possible and you're trying to get repeat business and referrals. So if you're listening to the show, you don't have a sales framework. Listen to this podcast episode again, Listen to other episodes that I've created around this thing called sales framework, or pick up your phone and get on ChatGPT or Google Gemini and try and see how you can create your own selling framework now.

It will make a massive difference in your business. Well, The thing is, it's not going to make a massive difference immediately. If you create your sales process today, it doesn't mean you become a millionaire next month. But over time you'll start seeing that if five people enter your shop, maybe you end up doing something with three of them instead of before. 5 people enter your shop, you only deal business. You only do business with one.

And if it is increasing, increasing, 5 people enter, you do business with 310 people enter, you do business with six. Over time, you'll start seeing the difference in your pocket. I need your bank account. So the main reason why lots of businesses in this part of the world are suffering has very little to do with your angry uncle in the village. But please stay away from your angry uncle in the village and also try and find out from your father what did he do that is making that man so angry and what does he me not smile is for one.

Then also comes up with your pastor. But after you're done with all that, you need to sit down and come up with a selling framework for your business and that is going to be able to move things forward. So that's it. Remember, if you'd love to connect with me, the phone number is 08064662140. Country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian, that's my WhatsApp number. Then connect with me on LinkedIn. That's the only social.

So I have the name to look for establishing my Agadi. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys on the next episode and I hope there's somebody listening to this episode right now who is beginning to worry less about that wicked man in the village and about that wicked woman in the village. Yeah, we should pay attention to them and we should bind and cast them. But we should also come up with the selling framework for our business.

And let's do what we can to move our hustle forward from here. We can't keep staying where we are in Enugu, in Port Harcourt, in Abuja, in the UK, in Canada and be worried about what some other person is thinking thousands of kilometers away back in the village. You can't keep living like this. Come up with your selling framework, move your business forward, say your prayers, bind and cast. Everything will be OK. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.