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Hello and welcome to the show. Before we begin, the usual apologies because this is an out and about recording so expect the usual interruptions, people talking in the background, cars driving by and yes I am close to a few chickens so for those of you who had the chickens growing in the distance yesterday, I'm back in the same place and so maybe the chickens might decide to holler. And let's see, so before we get into the question for today, I'd like to shout out another podcast listener and her name is Kristiana or Laumi. I
hope I'm pronouncing your surname correctly. Now for the Kristiana, I hope I'm also pronouncing that correctly because my little sis is a Kristiana and she doesn't like it when people call her Kristina. So I know that that's a thing. So yeah so that's it, Kristiana or Laumi. She's a podcast listener who discovered the show in February. She's a content specialist, a project manager and also a published author. She connected with me on LinkedIn recently. I'm still getting to know her in the LinkedIn DMs but yeah that's it. So that's a podcast listener shout out for today. So thank you very much for those of you who take me up on the offer I make at the end of the show for folks to get in touch and have a chat. And I'm looking forward to meeting more of you podcast listeners. So today what I'm going to look at, what we are going to look at is how to build a successful sales machine for your business and yes that is taking a step back for those of you who have been listening to the show. You'll remember that before we went on that whole thing about promoting your fintech ideas in Nigeria, we had started the conversation on how to build a sales machine for your business but well it's no secret. I
tell you guys that I just have a bunch of questions. Some are organized on my phone, some are organized on my notebooks, scraps of paper here and there and so I just wake up and respond to the question for the day. And so in the midst of the mess I just lost this one on building a sales machine for your business so I didn't realize that we hadn't finished it. That was before I moved on to the fintech one. Maybe it's because recently the fintech folks were out in the news again. There were some boys, some guys rather. Okay let me say gentlemen because these are not youngish. Okay well younger than me but you get the gist. Another one of these startups that had recently failed. I
can't remember what it was called so the one in the news because they failed, the one able to raise funds but apart from that they were going to return $350 ,000 to their investors. So maybe because of topical things like this that's the reason why I got sidetracked and just hopped on that fintech episode real quick. So back to how to build a sales machine for your business. Now in the previous episode if you go back, if you're interested, scroll, you have to scroll down a bit because you have over 820
episodes of the podcast so far but you won't have to go past more than maybe two or three weeks. That's where we had done how you build a sales machine for your business and I had laid out in that podcast episode that you need three elements or rather we're going to look at it from three elements which is people, technology and processes and yes those of you who remember the old Zenith Bank advertisement.
Yeah exactly that was it Zenith Bank, people, processes, technology and those are the three elements that you need to build your sales machine. So we have already done the episode on frameworks and processes because you cannot build your sales machine and by the way I'm speaking exclusively about sales now so because there are lots of business functions, there's a marketing function in the business, there's a personal sales function in the business, accounting functions in the business,
management functions in the business so I'm not saying that this is the framework through which you have to look to address all of business problems. I'm talking uniquely about sales and let's bear that in mind. So where was I? Okay so we've done the episode about framework and processes because when it comes to improving your sales you cannot freestyle your way to sales success because you wake up on some days, you feel fly,
you feel confident and you be on point and then you wake up on some other days and you feel foggy and tired and lazy and then you're going to be less than par. So we need to come up with a framework or a process that we can wake up and follow every single day that helps us maintain a consistent level of production and most importantly when we have this kind of framework in place we can now teach other people who want to sell on our behalf whether it's your husband, your wife, your kids, for those of you who have children who are old enough or maybe your best friend just wants to come and help you for a few weeks, see how you can drum up some sales. There'll be something that you can show them or that you can tell them that this is how we look for customers, this is how we start the conversation, this is how we figure out needs, this is how we try and close,
this is how we get them to come and do business with us again in the future, this is how we get referrals. So process or framework is just essentially that part where there's something that you can refer to so that you can sell consistently over time and help people sell consistently over time, sorry and people can help you sell consistently over time themselves on your behalf. So remember I said if it's written down that is good it doesn't have to be written down especially for those of you who are starting off your business right now, it just has to be something that is very clear if it's written down that you can show someone,
if it is something that you've memorized that you can explain to people clearly and succinctly. So yeah that's it, so that was about the framework and processes part of the conversation. So what we left out at that previous episode was people and technology, so today we're going to go into people briefly. So now why are people a key element of building your sales machine? Why are people necessary? The reason why people are necessary is because in the beginning in the early days when we start off the hustle whether you're a wedding photographer, you sell chickens, you sell catfish or even if you want to start up a cashew manufacturing facility, in the early days it's going to be you running around,
it'll be you running to NAFDAQ, you talking to investors and you trying to sell your cashew nuts in bottles or in cans, it'll be you. The same thing as a wedding photographer, it'll be you in the beginning doing the wedding shows, talking to the brides, delivering the books, shooting the weddings and that's just how things start. But eventually over time some of us want to scale our efforts and some of us want to grow our businesses. It is not compulsory, there are some people who say look I just want to build a lifestyle business, I
don't want to be dangoty, I'm doing this hustle, this hustle is giving me like 10M every year, I'm good with this 10M, I can pay school fees, me and my wife are happy, so let's leave it like that. So you want to do that, it's totally fine, not everybody has to build a business behemoth. But for those of us who choose to scale or to grow our efforts eventually, we cannot do that without people. Introducing people into the mix, making business a team sport,
building your team, that is one way that we start scaling our efforts and grow our sales, and that is the reason why people are necessary, because we cannot achieve our business goals and visions alone, so we need people. Another reason why people are a very important part of the mix and we should pay attention to this is because when we start bringing people on board,
especially for those of you who listen to the episode where we spoke about frameworks and processes, when we start bringing people on board, it has some very very important and interesting after effects. One of them is in brand reinforcement or brand tarnishing or you know, well you get the point. When you start bringing people on board, if you get the wrong people on board, it's going to do very damaging things to your brand. If you get the right people on board, then it is going to help to reinforce your brand, so it's really important you know, not just how many people do you get on board, but the quality of people that you get on board. Then of course it also has interesting implications for the user experience, the customer experience, because you bring someone who is an absolute goat and you bring the person onto your team, and when I say goat in this case, I don't mean the greatest of all time,
I mean goat as in like the guy is a goat, like he's useless, so if you bring a goat onto your team right now, it's going to give a poor user experience for your customers. I think user experience would be more of like if you have apps and products and things like that, so give you a poor customer experience, so that's also another reason why people are absolutely necessary.
And I gave the example about some businesses that are husband and wife businesses. I've interacted with some of those people and I know that you have to, you know where yes it is one business, but then when you call, you're praying that look I hope it's the wife that answers the phone, because the wife is a human being, the husband is a total idiot, or it could be the other way around.
You call them, I'm hoping, please I hope it's the husband that picks up the phone, because the husband is on point and the wife is does some things that are less to be desired, can put it that way. So these are the reasons why people are necessary. Number one, they help to scale our efforts, and then number two, they have really solid implications about how we reinforce our brand, they could damage our brand, and they can either improve or hinder the customer experience. So now let us look at how we get the right people on board for the team. And I'm going to stress again that when I'm talking about this, I'm limiting it to a purely sales and business development perspective.
There is a business, sorry, there is a discipline around human resources, around hiring, around employee management, around personnel management, you know, there is a discipline for that. So I'll be telling you guys at the end of the episode, and I'm mentioning it now, that when you're done listening to this episode, you should also be listening to podcasts on human resources, hiring,
employee management, personnel management, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, in anticipation for the time when your business grows that big, and then you now have, you know, one or two salespeople, maybe a bookkeeper, maybe a receptionist. So when we start learning about those sorts of things as well, because they're absolutely important. The reason why I stress the whole thing about sales is because sales is the lifeblood of the business.
If there's no lifeblood, if there's no money, if there's no customer deal flow, then why are you hiring a receptionist? The receptionist will just sit down there and have nothing to do. You know, why are you hiring an accountant or a bookkeeper? The bookkeeper will be sitting down, but there's no numbers to crunch. So sales, most important, because it's the lifeblood, it's the life flow, but we have to learn about other things. So all the things I'm going to talk about now about getting the right people on board for your sales team is just limited to a sales and business development perspective. So please, nobody should reach out to me and say that,
you know, the things I spoke about were necessarily limiting because I've said it here, that it's limited to a particular perspective. So for salespeople, number one, traditionally, we don't hire for skills because skills are easy to teach. It is easy to teach someone to fill out a form. It is easy to teach someone to fill a machine, operate machinery. It is easy to teach someone how to learn about project features, you know, things like that. But I'm just trying to say that there are some things that are easy to teach.
One thing that is very hard to teach is attitude. For we salespeople, attitude has to be on point because sales is hard. It's not easy to wake up Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Okay, let's leave it at Friday. You shouldn't be working Saturday and Sunday. You should rest. Not just for religious reasons, but because if you do that whole Monday to Sunday thing, you burn out. You burn out. You're not effective. You're not effective. Sales windows. Sales windows, you have less money, you know, less money. You're going to be harassed when it comes to school fees or how you are going to take the family out on Easter or whatever. So Monday to Friday, rest Saturday and Sunday. At least ideally anyway. So it's hard to maintain that kind of steady workflow if you have a poor attitude.
So you wake up high on Monday, depressed on Tuesday, lackluster on Wednesday. It doesn't make for easy sales. So attitude is the hard part to teach. And so because of that traditionally from a sales and business perspective, the focus is on trying to hire people who have the right attitude in the first place. Because you can hire somebody who has the right attitude, but the person has poor skills and you can train up that person in the skill. For those of you who have little kids and have to take the children to the hospital, you know exactly what it is that I mean.
The idea is that you go to the hospital and you meet the wrong doctor. So this doctor knows your stuff, but this guy is rude or she's always on her phone or they don't answer questions or, you know, those of you who have little kids, you understand what this I'm talking about. Whenever kids are not feeling well, we're trying to get this thing done. And, you know, we're in front of a doctor who is competent, but he or she,
um, absolute idiot. And so, you know, you know, poor attitude or poor, poor bedside skills as bedside manners, they used to talking about. And then on the other hand, sometimes you meet the doctor and the doctor has the right attitude, but he might not know all the all the answers, but at least he's answering. He's polite. She is listening. She's engaging. And even if she doesn't know everything, she's able to say, okay, well, you know what, let me speak to this colleague and blah, blah,
blah. And we prefer dealing with those sorts of doctors because they have the right attitude. So it's the same for sales as well, not just for medicine. You can teach anybody the skills. So make sure you're hiring people who have the right attitude to begin with, because if you hire someone who is rude, someone who is ungrateful, someone who is pessimistic, then you're giving yourself a long jump. There was somebody who asked me a question in one of, um,
NASBAC when I said the WhatsApp group asked me, how about you get your staff to be more honest? And the answer is you can get your staff to be more honest. You hire honest people from the beginning. So, um, because somebody who wants to steal will find a way within whatever the parameters are to steal because, you know, why in a journal, we see it on the news, um, you know,
small businesses, people who steal, big businesses, people who steal. So the woman who sells egg on the corner, she has to worry about theft, dangling, he has to worry about theft and misappropriation in the businesses. So the solution is to make sure that you hire honest people in the first place. Of course, all the other business and company safeguards have to be there. But,
um, anyway, 15 minutes, let me move on. I think I've belabored the point. So hire for the right attitude in the first place, teach the skills later. That's how we do it in sales. Then, um, also hire people that are teachable and people that are adaptable. It is necessary for the sales profession because sales is not a profession like other professions. So let's go back to the doctor thing. For the doctor thing, it's,
it's kind of stable. You're a doctor, you treat children. Desire that going to be malaria or typhoid or decentry or throat infection or ear infection or skin abrasions, you know, so it's going to be the same thing in and out, in and out, in and out. For sales, on the other hand, people are different personalities are different context are different so even though there are, um,
groupings or certain themes around when you're interacting with people, you'll find that you can, you can be involved in, um, all kinds of, um, situations. So sales people need to be creative. They need to be adaptable. They also need to be teachable because, you know, remember back to the framework and processes thing. It's not just about selling. It's also about selling how you want your customers to be sold to. So there's a way that I
expect my clients to be, um, handled. And so when I start expanding and bring other people on board, it'll not just be a matter of I can sell. I have sold before I sold for dangling in the past. So maybe for dangling or for Hilton hotel or for, let's say you work at the filling station. So your boss at the filling station or your boss at Hilton hotel or your boss or your line manager in dangloty would have expected you to do things one way.
But now that you work for me, I expect you to do things another way that reflects my own values, that reflects the brand that we're trying to, the brand position that we're trying to put out there, things like that. So you need people who are flexible, you need people who are teachable, you need people who are adaptable. It's necessary for the sales profession. So you hire people who have that, um, that orientation,
let me put it that way. So summary what we said so far, hire for attitude. You can always teach the skills. Then hire people who are teachable and adaptable. It's going to be necessary for sales. Then one thing I want to stress because people worry too much about this. People are worried about the people on my team. Do I have too many extroverts? Do I have too many introverts?
Do I have too many Enneagram 5, Enneagram 4? Do I have too many cholery? Do I have too many phlegmatics? Do I have too many high D, low influence, um, you know, all the different, um, personality matrixes and grids and things that people come up with these days. So in my own opinion, do not worry too much about all these things. It's not about whether the person is choleric or sanguine or extroverted or in or introverted. Focus on whether the person has two core skills. Number one is understanding value.
Number two is communicating value. Understanding value is being able to listen to a customer that you're talking to or potential client to try and figure out what it is that they find value. The reason why this is important is because a lot of people come into sales thinking it's all about presentation and how, um, how well I can talk. So you come and say, bro, you need to buy these jeans because these jeans is the best. This was raining in the market right now. Did you see Kanye's fashion show for 2023? This is what Kanye West was wearing right now. All the Abuja big boys are wearing these jeans. Buy these jeans. Buy this wristwatch. Buy this car. Buy this whatever. That is communicating value. But now communicating value assumes that you know what the other person finds valuable in the first place. So you need to understand value first because that's what gives you all the ammunition, all the data that you need to now communicate value. So those are the terms in which you should be thinking. Does this person know how to understand value and does the person know how to communicate value? So if you find an introverted person who knows how to understand value and communicate value, you'll be fine. An extroverted person who knows how to understand value and who knows how to communicate value, you'll be fine. So it's not about extroversion or introversion. Can the person understand value?
Do they know how to slow down and to listen, to read the room, to read body gestures, to talk to people, to handle a conversation, to try and figure out what's going on and what people value and what they want? And then do they know how to make a case? Your personality is not tied into it. Your personality affects how you do this. Like my wife is much more animated than I am. When she talks, she uses her whole body, she uses her hands, like she's really animated. You know, for me, I sit down there, I'm like a stone,
I'm like a tree, like I'm listening, but yeah, I'm like a stone. My wife really, really animated. So there was a time when one of my friends was having man issues and she came talk to me and my wife and of course I listened, I was there like a stone and then I gave my pronouncement, the guy's an idiot, you should leave him. This is why XYZ, ABC, he's an idiot, dumped this guy. My wife on the other hand,
her approach was different, like what? You don't mean it. He did what? Come on, who does this? No, no, no, are you serious? No, no, no, he couldn't have done that. So you see that my wife is listening. I was also listening. We were just listening in different ways. I was sitting down like a stone and listening. My wife was listening in a much more active way, using probing questions, like what? He did that. Are you serious? No,
no, no, this thing could not have happened. Who does that? You know, so she's listening and the way that she's talking and asking questions and being proactive, it prompts more, more, what's the word? The other person feels much more listened to, empathized with and my friend, you know, started talking more and more about her man issues. Now, the longer short of the story is this, my wife's recommendation and my recommendation were absolutely the same. This guy's an idiot, he's a goat, leave him, he's a bastard. So the recommendation was the same. But because I didn't seem to be understanding value in a good way, my advice was not listened to. My wife on the other hand took her time, had all these conversations over the course of like two months.
Quite frankly, I thought it was a waste of time. Like I've already told her, this guy's a bastard, he's an idiot, just leave the guy, but she's still there. But at the end of the day, my wife's recommendations were followed because my friend felt like she was understood. So you can see how in personal relationships, in business relationships, this is how the whole thing works, understanding value,
communicating value. So if people can understand value and can communicate value, then regardless of their personality, they'll be fine. If you're dealing with someone who is animated, like my wife, she'll be fine. If you're dealing with someone like me, who is like a stone, you know, you'll be fine. So in personal issues, yes, I know, I probably don't listen well. When it comes to business, on the other hand, I listen,
I ask questions, I'm able to try and figure out what it is that is going on. So I can give firm recommendations about what it is that we do next. So don't worry about who is extroverted or introverted. Don't say that, oh, this young lady came here, but the way she was talking, she was all over the place, she was throwing her hands here and there, she looks too scattered. I
don't think she can sell. No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't be paying attention to how scattered she looks. You can always train her and rein her in, if at all, the scatteredness in quote is a problem. So long as she knows how to listen and to understand value and then turn around and then communicate value, then you're fine. And also don't say this guy sat down in front of us,
but he sat down like a brick. He has no personality. He can't sell for us. No, it's not about that. You can always, hmm, I'll let put it, so forgive me. Anyway, let me just, okay, let me go back to that. So yes, the guy sits down like a brick and you think, no, I don't want him selling for me. If he sits down like a brick and he doesn't talk much, maybe he only uses 20
words, 20 words in a minute or something. But if those words are well placed, able to drive the conversation, he's able to pull out what it is that the customer wants and he's able to succinctly, sorry, forgive me, express himself to communicate value, then it's going to be fine. So don't do that thing that Zenith Bank did when they started off in the beginning, because we're back then, I was in Lagos.
So I don't know if it was a national thing, it was just a Lagos thing. But in Zenith Bank, back in the early days, when they started, all their branches were full of beautiful, likable, personable, light -skinned young women. So don't fall into all those traps, that this is the kind of category of person that can sell very well. And these are the kinds of people who cannot sell. So yes, your sales team should be a mixture of light -skinned, tall, attractive,
personable women, but it's also okay to have short, fat, dark -skinned guys as your sales team as well. So it's a mix that you should be looking for. So it's not about extroversion, introversion, and all those other personality quebs. Can the person understand value? Can the person communicate value? That's why you should be paying attention to. So any personality type will do. The only personality type will not do, and this one actually is a problem, a psychological problem, is when you're dealing with,
what are they called? Kai, I can't remember what they're called. These people that don't have any concept of self -esteem from themselves. Like their self -esteem is derived from other people. Hi. Sorry, I can't remember what they're called anyway. But there's a class of people who have no concept of self -esteem. Their self -esteem is derived from other people. So they're constantly being obnoxious and or not,
because if they are triggering everybody and everybody's angry with them and they can always affect the environment, then what are they called again? Anyway, you get the picture. All those self -absorbed people. So if you're dealing with someone who is self -absorbed, if you're dealing with someone who is a sociopath, I think sociopaths are people who lack empathy. So sociopaths, psychopaths,
people who are self -obsessed, self -absorbed, all those na, they're not going to be good for sales. So those personality types definitely avoid them. And then, like I said, since we're talking about people, there is a discipline around these sorts of things. Human resource management, hiring, personal management, employee management, pay attention to those sorts of things as well. Those are the people you should listen to. This is not my area of focus or my area of specialty.
But I'm just telling you what traditionally we look out for when it comes to the sales side. Does this person have the right skills? If he or she, sorry, does this person have the right attitude? If he or she has the right attitude, get them on board. We can teach them about the product later. In this person, teachable and adaptable, get them on board. We can teach them about the product and everything later. Now,
nowhere about extroversion or introverted is the guy short, fat, black, and ugly and he has no personality. If he looks like he can understand value and he can communicate value, get him on board. You can teach him to smile better or maybe dress nicer or whatever later. So, is she tall, light -skinned, pretty, and sociable? It doesn't mean you have to get her on board because of all that. But try and figure out can she understand value and can she communicate value? If she is tall, light -skinned,
pretty, and personable but she can't understand value or she can't communicate value, then what is she there for? She's not going to do your business any good. In fact, I made a podcast episode about this many years ago when my wife, I was looking for a driving school for my wife and when I entered one place, the place looked legit as in the AC was tight, the office was fresh, the furniture was on point, the cars were clean. But then the person that they had in the office was a,
you know now, tall, attractive, curvy, light -skinned, fornair, everything. But she couldn't answer any of the questions. How much does it cost? How long is the training program? Do you guys help us to get driver's licenses when we're done at the end of the whole thing? She couldn't answer a single question. All she could do was to, let me take your name and your number, I'll speak to my boss and I'll get back to you. I'll speak to my boss and I'll get back to you. So having those kind of people in your establishment because they look the part but they can't, they're not helpful, it's not going to do anything for your business. You'll have a better of having someone who was the opposite of everything on that spectrum but the person could answer the question saying, oh welcome,
welcome to ABC, auto, something, something, something. How can I help you? Okay, who's the one that's learning how to drive? Is it you or is it madame? Oh okay madame, have you done some driving before? Okay, how many weeks? Why did you stop by the way? How come you don't drive in Abuja? Okay, no problem. What cars do you have? What's the usual routine like? Are you the one that is going to be handling dropping children off at school?
Okay, no problem. So there are different packages. This is the package that I'll recommend for you. An instructor is Kunle. Kunle is outside. You can have a chat with him. These are the cars that we have available. Package A will be so, so, so, so. If you want to learn with trailer, it will be X amount. If you want to learn with the Lexus, it will be this amount. If you want to learn with the Honda Civic, it will be this amount. You know, someone who can have that kind of conversation is much more helpful than having someone who looks the part or sounds the part but then is not helpful. Okay,
30 minutes. So let me wrap it up. So thanks for your time and attention. Connect with me on LinkedIn. The name is Tavashima Ayedeh. I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of my name from the link where I'm listening to this episode in case you want to search me out on other socials. And then my phone number is 080 -64662140. Contrary code is plus 234. For those of you who are not Nigerian, you can connect with me on WhatsApp,
Telegram, SMS, phone call. You send a WhatsApp. I'll respond tomorrow, latest. If you send a Telegram, I might get to you maybe next week. So thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.