Don't Ignore the "Small Boy": How to Turn Every Lead into a Future Client

Hello and welcome to the podcast. Today, what we're going to look at is how to talk to people who you're having a conversation with right now. You're having a business conversation with a person right now, and it's clear that this person is currently not a good customer for you, not a good potential client, not a good referee, not a good referral, not a good anything for you at the moment. What do you do now the typical Nigeria thing when somebody calls you and you know we behave in Nigeria now, let's say the person is a small boy and because the guy now small boy,

you know get money. So the typical Nigeria thing to do is you say Oh no, we don't handle, we don't do that kind of business here, blah, blah, blah. You just cut the phone and you leave the guy hanging. Now I understand why most of you would handle the conversation like that is because some of you are paying for advertising leads and when you pay for advertising leads, you are expecting good juicy contacts to come through on the other end.

You expect that if you're paying for advertising from Facebook, then the people that are going to call you will be people who are serious and people who have money. Even if you're not paying for leads, you know, you're paying for shop rent, you're paying for office space, you're paying for all kinds of things. So it is your hope, it is your prayer, and it's your expectation that when people walk through the door or when they slide into your DM or however it is that they meet you, you're hoping, you are trusting that this person is interested, this person has money and they're ready to go.

So it doesn't help when you're just chilling, somebody reaches out to you and then just anyhow, anyhow, person workout past person, person, you know, the guy doesn't have money or the babe doesn't have money somehow. But now this is the proper thing to do. By the way, I keep on saying on the podcast, and I'm going to continue to insist that we all are children of God, mainly this image and in his likeness. And so because of that, we should respect everybody.

All right, excuse me, but I recognize that we're in the business of making money, not money would they find also because of that, we're looking for, you know, a certain kind of person, but it doesn't mean that we should not disrespect everybody who comes our way. So for this, I'm using a live case study. It's minding my Business Today, dealing with some issues for clients. And then a message came in on my WhatsApp DM, Pimpim.

That's why I checked, the person just responded, the person just wrote hello. So of course, I replied back, I said good morning, how can I help? That was my reply. By the way, for those of you who are in business, you know the way we use WhatsApp, it's like it's accepted Nigerian culture for you to just send a message to someone saying hello. But The thing is, if you don't have this number stored, if there's no previous contact,

then you people don't really don't know each other. So just sending a message to someone saying hello, it's not a pretty good way to start the conversation. If you're going to reach into someone's DM like that, just send a message and then go straight into your intent or maybe do the Nigerian thing, The other Nigerian thing, which is, you know, send a message, identify yourself, and then say the reason why you're reaching out.

So in this case, the fellow should have said hello. I want to buy generators for my business. How much does it cost? That's the better way of starting off the message. But anyway, send a message saying hello. I responded, good morning. How can I help? And then the guy replied back good morning, I want to buy a generator for my business or inverter. How much down payment? So once I saw this message, I wasn't going to continue chatting because remember, I

talk about the communications hierarchy, that some forms of communicating are much more efficient or much more effective than others. And whenever somebody reaches out to you, you don't really know anything about this person. You don't know the quality of the lead. So unless you engage, you will not know whether this is a lead worth pursuing, a contact worth prioritizing or not. So my typical thing is when people come in like this and then we get to money, I don't type out money conversations.

I call the person and we head straight into the matter. So I call the guy. By the way, for those of you who are listening to the podcast for the first time, I'm a former lawyer, now turn the business consultant. I am not in the business of selling generators and I am not in the business of selling solar and inverter equipment. However, I have clients in this space. And so there have been times where I have called on behalf of my clients.

I have called from time to time to, you know, sort out things. And of course, whenever I call on behalf of my clients, I just pretend that I'm a part of the company. So I'm not surprised that there are some people in Nigeria who have started seeing my number come up. You know, you're looking for solar and then my name, my number comes up and it's associated with the company. I'm actually not associated with the company.

Just in case you ever searched for me and you saw my my name next to a certain company. That company, they're just my clients and I come in once in a while to train that sales team if they have any issues. For me, it's a lot easier sometimes to call the customer direct and then talk to the customer, try and figure out what the problem is. And then you know, me and the sales team, we can now start trying to rebuild and address the issue from there.

But I don't sell generator equipment. You know, I'm a sales coach, I'm a business development consultant. And if you would like to get in touch with me, you can call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. If you want to look at any part of your sales process, your business process, you call me the same number 08064662140 or you can just send me a message so you can be on my WhatsApp channel. In case you're shy and you don't want to talk, that's not a problem.

Send me a message on the same number and then I'll hook you up. So I just wanted to establish that I don't sell generators. I don't sell inverters, just in case there are a couple of you who need the product and you reach out to me. You know, it's I'm not the one who's in that line of business. But of course, you know, if you reach out to me, I say, hey, you say you have clients in this space, you know, yeah, I'll give you their phone number so you can have a chat with them.

But anyway, so I decided to call the guy because I don't know if this is a quality lead. I have to call the guy first. If it turned out it was a quality lead, I'd have now called off my client and say hey bro, you know what, somebody buzzed me. These are the details, you know, take on both shoe if the team click where I'm in my 10%. So I called up the guy and we had a brief chat. So I asked him what line of business is he in?

But before I called him, I could see based on his WhatsApp business profile, that they fix and repair broken phones. Remember what I spoke about a couple of podcast episodes ago, data enrichment. Before you call somebody data enrichment, you need to have a sense of what kind of business that they're involved in. That is what is going to give you an idea about the proposal that you're going to make, about the packages that you will discuss, about the prices that you're going to discuss, about the recommendations you're going to make.

So it gives you a sense, so I've already seen that this guy is into fixing broken phones. So, you know, I, I could tell that, you know, you understand that it might not be too pure, might not be too sweet, you get. But at least I had an idea of what, what it is that we might have to discuss. So I called the mum and then I said, Oh yeah, I just, I just got your, I just got your message. What line of business do you do?

So a lot of you when somebody reaches out and the person says, do you have generator or inverter? How much you will now send the person back Price list. That is a colossal mistake. Why are you sending somebody a price list when you don't even know who this person is? Do you know if this is a genuine you know, you know this is a good lead. Do you know if this is a sweet lead? Do you know if this person is broke? Do you know if they're done with it?

You have no idea. Engage first, feel this person out. Know who you're talking to and then you'll be able to make a recommendation. By the way, when somebody says how much, don't just send price list. When you send a price list with 20 options on it, you don't know that you're confusing most people engaging a conversation with someone. Figure out what they want. By the time you know what they want, you'll now be able to say,

oh, OK, you know what? Option A option B, option C send them two, three options. From there, it's easier to narrow down the conversation rather than somebody saying generator how much inverter, how much you now send them price list of generator with 50 options there. How is somebody supposed to decide some of you? This is the reason why you're struggling in your business. So stop this bad habit. Somebody reaches out to you.

I want to buy generator for my business. I want to buy inverter for my business. Pick up the phone and holler at somebody. Call this guy, call this babe. Now if they don't like to talk, they'll respond. They'll say busy now message please no problem, continue to message. But the scope is who am I even talking to? What do they even need? From there I go give her a recommendation. Simple. Then the conversation will start to move.

So I asked him, what line of business are you in? I just assumed, you know, some people answer, I say, oh, I'm in the social and so business, but actually I want to buy from my house. You see, I've gotten some extra information. They want solar, the one generator, they want it for the house. Then we'll switch conversation accordingly. Oh, for your house. Oh, OK, cool. How many bedrooms? How many TV, how many days? You know, all these other questions I will follow.

But I'm engaging the person. So my hunch was correct. I said, what line of business do you do? And so, yeah, they fixed his phones and he's thinking of expanding so that he can add a charging business to his to the current business, a place where people can come and be charging phone. The guy wants to now expand so you can see now I have the context. Somebody has reached out to me, excuse me, he wants to buy generator or inverter.

How much? That's his question. I didn't reach out to my client and say, oh boy, pass in deal and then hand them over. I didn't reach out to my clients. I say, oh boy, how far? When I get price list and then send out, I didn't do that. I engage the person first to try and figure out the quality of the person that we're dealing with. Is this person interested? Do they have a problem? Do they have money? Are they ready to take action?

Now? I need to know all these things before I take action. And so do you. You need to know this in your business. I repeat again, if you're one of these people who somebody slides into your DM, they say how far you get, generator, how much and then you send price list. Stop it now. What you're doing is wrong and that's the reason why your business is not growing. Sending somebody price list with 20 options, ten options.

You confuse somebody, conversation will start. Then when the time comes to follow up, you will not be buzzing the person like why are you buzzing them? What conversation did you have before? You're doing a follow up call to follow up on what to follow up how? What conversation are you trying to continue? So engage somebody in conversation first. Some of you say, but that is work. Of course it is work. What else are we going to do with our time?

We are self-employed or we've decided to be entrepreneurs. This is the nature of the job. Don't complain. Some people cope by buying a Bluetooth keyboard. That is what I do so I can type quickly. Some people learn how to do voice. You know this voice tapping thing, Learn it. There's some people who take their phone and they hook up their WhatsApp to what's called WhatsApp Desktop so that they can type quicker. The other people who have, I

don't even know how they do itself, but my client even does it. You take your line and then somehow you're able to put two or three people on the same business line so that even if you're not available to respond, you know your assistant can respond or something like that. Either way, there are options and this is the job, so let's not complain. Let's get to it. OK, so I've now figured out that he wants a generator or that he wants inverter.

I've now figured out what he needs it for. He needs it for charging business. Now can you now see that talking about big, big systems or sending him price list that has 5.6 kva, 10 kva. Can you see that all of that is completely unnecessary for somebody who just wants a system that can charge forms. Can you see that already in your mind? You already know the kind of money you can start discussing with the person. But remember, especially since we've been discussing at this last week, excuse me, how to go into what quality of person is this?

Does the guy have money? Because some people don't sound right. Some people don't look right. But by the time you enter their bank account, you see now money be these. So don't assume based on how fresh somebody sounds or not. In fact, one client that I worked with earlier in the year was into audio production. The guy admitted he's into audio production for authors. By the time the potential client picked up the phone, in his mind was like I this one was sweet.

The person did not sound. You understand me, You know how we are in Niger. The person did not sound like he had money, but that was the cheapest, sorry, not cheapest. That was the quickest deal he did for all of last year. The persons are there anyhow, anyhow, but by the time they got to money and he told the person that the budget for what they have discussed was $4000, the person said account details, please. The guy is shocked and these things happen in business.

All right, you look at somebody, the person, no package. Well, person no dress well, the person doesn't sound well, but then be surprised that that's the person that has money. So it's not based on how this person sounds. You have some more questions to try and narrow down on. What kind of quality of person am I dealing with? So I went straight into money conversation and this is the reason why I say bring up money conversations early and bring them up often.

Let me repeat again for those of you who didn't hear me or maybe you're not understanding, I'll repeat it and then we'll slow it down. Bring up money conversations early and bring them up often. When I say bring up money conversations early, what I mean is this. Some of you won't have the money conversation now. You continue to send the person price list and you go to follow up. Go to follow up in three weeks time. The person will tell you you're too expensive.

You have wasted three weeks of your life. I repeat, you have wasted three weeks of your life. Bring up the money conversation early and find out now that the person can't afford you so that you can move on and be looking for other people who can afford you. You hear me? Remember what I said, Everybody is worthy of respect. So don't talk down on anybody because you know, he's a small boy. Don't talk down on small boys.

You know, respect everybody. But you know, it's just nature of the game, you know, Now money will be fine. It's a business we're looking for. So if somebody's not a hot lead right now, we will de prioritize them and prioritize other people. So it's not a matter of disrespect. So I had the money conversation. I told together, OK, look for what it is that you are describing. It looks like you're better off buying. I better pass my neighbor.

I better pass my neighbor. Those are small, small, small gents. I first discovered them when I was going for well, I've always known that they exist, but it's not until I was serving in Kano because that's what we had in Coppers Lodge and man, those things are resilient. I would like those things are resilient. You fill up the tank and then you run it. The thing will run for maybe like 10 hours or something. So that's how we used to cope because in the village where I

was in Rano local government in Kano, we only saw NEPA there once and even now one time now flash, then flash room. Well, actually they tried the light was there for like maybe like two or three hours, but spending a whole year in a village, you only see light for like 3 hours. So to us you felt like now flash then flash. So I better pass my neighbor. So I told the guy straight up that look, based on what we've discussed so far, it looks like you're better off doing a better pass my neighbor, because if you must buy solar, even if it's a small solar, based on what we discussed will be like a 1.5 KVA

and that 1.5 KVA now, you know, cost you anything between like that carrying 3 to 4 million. Do you have like 4 M now for this kind of project? I asked him. You say people handle the money conversation. My own preferred technique is that you give a range, then you throw the range back to the person. Based on the feedback, you now know which who you're dealing with. Some people say 3 to 4 million. Oh, the price has even come down.

You now know that. OK, this person has been doing research before. Some people say 3 to 4 million. I didn't think you'll be that expensive. OK, we now know the quality of person we're dealing with. Some people will say 3 to 4 million because you think I'm an armed robber. That kind of person who responds like that, you now know the quality of the person that you're dealing with. But either way, you get a range. The range has not committed you to anything, but you throw that range out.

In this case, I said 3 to 4 million. It allows the conversation to continue so that you can now discuss and then you can now come up with three proposals later on and say, OK, based on what we've discussed there, if you go with this brand, it will be 3.4. If you go with this brand, it will be 3.6. If you go with this brand, it will be 4.2. But either way, you can see that it is it's close, it's within the range. So the range gives you the freedom to continue the conversation.

So that's one reason why I say just use this range technique, the other techniques. But remember, I'm trying to prioritize people right now who like, like you're brand new, you don't even have any any knowledge. So I'm just using some simple techniques. This simple range thing will help. So range and then feedback. So that's why I told the guy it's OK that based on what we've discussed is as if you should buy a better pass my neighbor.

Because if not solar, even if it's 1.5 KV, it will be anything between 3:00 and 4 million. Do you have 4M to invest in this kind of thing? The guys say, ah, no, no gear, 4M. Yeah, said it. Now you can see that I know the quality of person I'm dealing with. When I say quality here, please let nobody misunderstand me. I'm not saying quality in the sense of, you know, dealing with a qualified buyer, somebody who has a want, who has a need, who can afford and who is getting ready to take action soon.

I'm not saying that people who have money are better than people who don't have money. Please hold your ears and hear me correctly. I'm not saying that because this guy and a small boy, therefore he's not a quality person. I'm just looking at it purely from a sales perspective. All right, I'm sure he's a decent fellow. So the guys, I don't care for him. I said OK, no problem. So I told him in that case, I better pass my neighbor, I think is the way to go.

And I asked him where are you based? The guy said in Ibadan. I said OK, where exactly in Ibadan? So that I will just tell you some places where you can go and look for a better pass. My neighbor and then he told me that he's in Ring Rd. I said OK, no problem in WhatsApp I'm going to send you some information so that you check one or two people on Ring Rd. to see if you can buy that system for you. He said, ah, thank you very much boss.

I appreciate. I said no Walhalla and then we end call. Very simple. The person called I was now trying to figure out who am I talking to and this is a quality lead. If I knew I had the quality lead, my options would have been. Pass him along to my client and I say, boss, if this guy, why are you 40 M, you must put my 10% inside there, you know? So ascertain the guy. Sorry, Abby. Yeah, talk to the person. Ascertain who it is you're dealing with.

Then you know the options. Now, I knew that this was not a qualified customer. Now, qualified customer is based on what it is you're looking for. Now, if I was in the business of selling generators, OK, I maybe I could have continued the conversation and see how I can get some money from him for I better pass my neighbor. But the problem is me, I'm in Abuja, the guys in the bad door. So since still you know what makes sense as in by the time you put delivery money and or whatnot.

Anyway, let's continue. So, so now that I know I was not dealing with a qualified contact, a qualified lead, a qualified, a good quality potential customer, the next thing to do actually is to send the person along, refer him to somewhere else where he can get his needs met. The reason why you want to do this is because you want to be a helpful resource. You want to be respectful and you want to be the kind of person who takes good care of people who come across your way,

whether they can give you money today or not. And the reason why we do that is this Small boys of yesterday can become big boys of tomorrow. I repeat, small boys of yesterday or small girls of yesterday can become big boys. Big girls of tomorrow Wouldn't be a bad idea if let's say 100 small boys or 100 smile small girls pass through you. This year. Won't be a bad idea if you know 2 years from now when they are. Big boys won't be a bad idea if you know 5 or 6 of them come back and buy for you from you just because you're the only one that treated them like a human being.

So this is the scope. Also, if you can't take care of a person and you send the person someplace else, the person is taking care of you know, you're being, you're being a valuable resource. You're being a valuable resource to the other person. Because remember my client, let's say this was a good deal, 4050 million naira kind of deal. I sent it to him and the thing closed. You think my client will be happy or not? You'll be happy because that's an extra 40 M that he did not have to chase.

So even for my client who is in solar, you know I'm being a valuable resource to him. Of course the guy will appreciate me. Send me my own my own cart. So after we ended the phone call, I just did a quick search. It didn't take time just quick search and I sent him a place. I just told him to go to Ogunpa market. Sorry forgive me. You know I know how to speak Yoruba so I'm assuming it's pronounced the Ogunpa generator Ogunpa market.

So the same to Ogunpa market. I even told him specific brands like LA Park like Lucian or Tiger because those are the more affordable brands. Then I also advised him that he should ask for 100% copper because some generators they use aluminum coil and aluminum coil used to spoil in Nigeria. Heat the heat I don't I don't I don't even know whether it's heat that causes it because I'm not an electrician. But just remember that you know,

in Kano we had a better pass my neighbor that's in our village in Rano local government. So that quite call you should spoil anyhow. Anyhow, anyhow, So I just told him that when you're going ask for 100% copper, copper because I've seen first hand what aluminium can do, right? You mean the middle of watching World Cup and then next thing generator or just that? What's the problem? Like Coy, you know, I start talking with the electrician how you fix coral, how you replace coral, you know, meanwhile the match is going and of course you sleep in heat at night.

So then I also sent him some estimated prices. So I told him I look for a better pass my neighbor you should hold like between 1:20 and 160 K that's less than one kva. Then for the medium that's 2.5 kva to 3.5 kva. Told him to hold 350 to maybe like around. I count 500K. Then for large generator order one key start. That's the one that I'm see bought. In fact that's what I knew we were arriving. That's a mumsy bought key start generator back when I was a teenager.

Instead of, you know, using your hand and drawing that you just use key. Just type it one time. The thing will now just be humming silently. So on that level, I told the guy that I showed like 150K and above, I'll just put in the options there. So that was the interaction. I had a conversation. I figured out the quality of person I was dealing with. It's not a good deal there for me. I tried to refer him to other places where he can get taken care of and the fellow was very,

very thankful. I said I know Allah, no problem, good luck now because this person is not a qualified customer or qualified potential client. This is not the kind of person that we're going to put into lead nurturing or you know, or relationship building or things like that because you know, the guy don't qualify well. But if you must, OK, no problem. Maybe he's the kind of person who'll be receiving emails from you every two months or every three months about generator maintenance, about the latest in solar technology, or, you know,

whatever shall like shall let the guys just receive e-mail, you know, But small boys of yesterday, small girls of yesterday, eventually, sometimes not always, they end up becoming big boys and not becoming big girls. So we treat everybody with respect. When people come in through our inbox, we're trying to figure out who it is that you're talking to. The easiest way to figure out who you're talking to is you have a quick phone conversation.

The reason why I was able to dispatch with this young man quick, quick, less than 5 minutes was because I picked up the phone. If we have been chatting back and forth, you know, you send message, they respond, you send message, they respond. This is a chat that you will be chatting back and forth for like 5 hours on top, something that you can't even recover good money from. So this is also another reason why I say pick up the phone.

When you pick up the phone is quick, quick, quick, straight to the point. You figure out who you're dealing with, whether it's a serious thing, and then you move accordingly. Then let's see what else? What else we discussed today again. So uh huh. Money conversations. Remember, please have money conversations. Do it early and do it often. Because I had the money conversation early, I was able to be done with this guy in less than 5 minutes and I moved on with my day.

If you leave the money conversation on to the last, what will happen is you'll be sending this person messages back and forth and you guys will be chatting for six hours over the course of the next three days. And then on the final day, the person will tell you that you're too expensive, or the person will start telling you that he found something cheaper or something, something, something. You take the responsibility, you take the initiative, you bring it up early.

If you're looking for a technique about how to have the money conversation, once you're able to figure out what the person might be looking for, give them a range, not an exact price. You say boss, you say Madam, you say chief, you say odogo, you say deaconess, you say Alhaji, you say alhaja. Based on what we're discussing, it looks like it can fall anywhere between 15,000,000 and 10 million. Do you have up to 15,000,000 to be able to start this project right now?

Then you keep quiet. Most people will respond and they will tell you based on what they hear, which what you hear, you know where to go. See the first time that I tried it out, I told the lady based on what we discussed so far, that was back in my event days, your coverage could be anything between 350,000 and 500,000. And the lady said and see I'm I'm quoting her. The lady said 500,000 sounds about right. I was shocked that she would say that because I was used to most people playing things close to their chest.

I was shocked that she would say that say yes, 500,000 sounds just about right. Now. When the lady responded like that, do you not think he gave me confidence that, OK, I'm talking to a better kind of somebody? Of course, these things don't always work right? So I was shocked that the first time I tried putting out a range that it worked and it gave me a sense of who they were. So that's why confidently I was like, OK, sure, no problem.

Cool. I'd like to come and discuss options. Is that I come to the office. Oh no, no, I work from home saying oh, Ala now should be now who say to I can come through tomorrow morning and say, Oh no, tomorrow morning is not good moms, you will not be around blah, blah, blah, Say how come? Oh is momsie is paying Abby, He said, of course, now momsie is paying. Am I the one who is working? You see from no conversation. Now I'm also getting some more information about what I'm dealing with 500K she says,

sounds about right. I now know that is mumsy that is going to pay so confidently. I can go to their house and have this meeting. I spend my own transport because I know that OK, this is the kind of person at the end of the day, 500 can come out if I do a good job. So money conversations, early money conversations often apart from that, when people call us the first thing, our goal is not send them price list or send them proposal or send them quotation.

The first point of call, please. The very first point of call is who am I talking to? This is a big boy or a small boy, big girl or a small girl. Odo go or middle class worker pass or just make an inquiry. Do they have a big problem or they don't have a big problem? OK, they have a big problem. Do they have budget for the problem or not? OK, they don't have budget for the problem. No problem. How can I refer them to someone else or still be a helpful resource and politely get them out of my way?

OK, they have budget, but you know, it's not something that I might be able to solve at the moment. OK, how can I refer this out to somebody else? I'll collect my 10% or my 5% or however it is. It works in your own industry. So that's the scope and this is how you deal with situations where you're talking to somebody and it's like the person is a small boy or the person is a small girl. This is how we deal with it. But don't assume that person is a small boy or a small girl based on how they sound.

Immediately you start the conversation, it's not based on how they sound. It's not based on how they look. You run through your qualification and discovery process, ask them the questions. The answer that will give you will tell you which kind of somebody you're dealing with. So that's it. All right, it's been 30 minutes, so let me bring this to a close. Thank you very much for your time and attention. Remember, if you'd love to connect with me, you can call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.

You want me to look at some of your sales problems? That's not a problem. 08064662140. If you're shy, no problem, you can stay on my WhatsApp channel and yeah, at least just get updates and see things that we talk about over there. So that's it for today. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you some other time.