From Architecture Student to Entrepreneur: A Case Study

Hello and welcome. Today's broadcast episode is going to be a listener shout out and then we're going to explore a few themes around the reality of business growth and learning. What else? OK, achieving scale, navigating the student market and education. That's for those of you who are trying to build businesses and you're still in school. Then we're going to talk a bit about market strategy. Yeah, market strategy, local versus international.

And then we're also going to look at sales strategy and why sometimes we should focus on targeting rather than pitching. Now some of you are going to say, wow, that's a lot. Yes, it is. It is a lot. And that's because whenever people reach out to me from the podcast, you know, we chat back and forth and a couple of issues, a couple of issues come out. So this is just how and everyday normal conversation is with me. Now if you'd like to connect with me just like Sam did,

that's the name of the person who reached out, the person who I have this WhatsApp chat with. Then you can connect with me by calling, sending me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. Now, if you're interested in a 15 minute sale audit, you can WhatsApp me on the same number, 0806466 2140 or you can join my WhatsApp channel for updates every once in a while. So listener, shout out, first of all, shout out to Sam and his business is Vision World Hub.

He's into academic research. And for those of you who have been listening for a while, no, it's not the same guy. There has been another person who was a client who was also in academic research, but he is based in Quara, I think. Yeah, he's based in Quara. So it's not the same guy. This is a different person. So Sam, from Vision World Hub, thank you very much for listening to the podcast. Now. Thank you very much for reaching out.

I took the liberty of using a real name because I assumed that, you know, you wouldn't mind anyway, I didn't use your surname. So I guess, I guess we're covered. So Sam sent me a message on WhatsApp or several messages, and one of them in particular caught my fancy. And that's the reason why I'm making today's podcast episode. So he says he had, OK, no, I caught this message midway. Anyway, he admitted that he listens to me and he has he subscribes to the podcast and he's been following other people listening to other things, but no method is never enough.

And so that's the reason why he's also subscribing to my own podcast. Then he mentioned that he's been learning to implement the things that I talk about over here. He also mentioned that his business is not yet on a big scale. We spoke a bit about how he currently the the market he focuses on is the student market because he's a student of architecture in Benin. Then let's see what else. OK, then spoke a bit about, you know, building customers locally and then internationally.

And he said he needs to learn more about how to pitch himself and to scale better. Then he said that my podcast has been instrumental. And thank you very much, Sam, for the very kind words. And Sam, if you're listening to today's episode, Please remember to share the podcast with other people who might find it instrumental as well. So during the chat, I responded and of course, because I was glad and flattered to hear the nice thing he had to say,

although I told him that I don't think he has a pitching problem, that I think he has a targeting problem. Some of you might wonder what's the difference? What's a pitch, what's it, what's targeting? Don't worry, we'll get to that. But summary, the idea behind this whole thing, targeting versus pitching, is sometimes our business problems go away when we start talking to the right people. Sometimes you're talking to the wrong crowd.

So it's not a matter of you need to fix something, you need to refine something. You just need to stop looking at the people they are currently talking to because these people that you're trying to chase, you know, they're the wrong crowd. It's not going to work. It ain't going to happen. So that's just one thing that I wanted to get him to understand and that is the main reason why I'm making today's podcast episode.

So let's explore some major ideas from this exchange between Sam and I. So now this whole thing of no method is ever enough. Now, Sam is absolutely correct. Excuse me, Sam is 100% correct. Sorry about that. So yes, there is no silver bullet. It is something I keep saying on the podcast over and over again. There's no silver bullet. So anybody who has found this podcast, for instance, thinking that I'm a prophet and I'm going to say something which is a divine ray of truth and will solve all your problems, I'm sorry, you're going to be disappointed.

So there is no silver bullet in business. The best we can do is to just keep looking for different frameworks and different methodologies for growing businesses. Now, no matter the frameworks or the methodologies that you find, even though they seem disparate, even though they seem separate, The thing is for a particular context or for particular personality or for particular industry or challenge, you will find a bunch of things that work together.

And so you now have to become skilled. You now have to become adept at figuring out what to apply and when what you're going to weave together a certain number of tools that work for you in your own particular situation, in your own particular context. So yeah, Sam is correct. There's no silver bullet. And if there's anybody who came here looking for a silver bullet, I'm very, very sorry. So this podcast is going to be useful to learn how to sell well, especially when we are talking about personal selling,

which is contexts, relationships, situations where you are interacting with someone one-on-one, sending an e-mail to somebody one-on-one, making a phone call one-on-one, going to visit someone and you are face to face, you know, these sorts of situations. So having a conversation with one person and that person is important enough that you want to build profitable and pivotal relationships with. So if you're looking for that sort of thing, then yes, I'll help you.

But my podcast is not sufficient. It's not. So you should also be looking for podcasts on business management because eventually you're going to have a team and people beyond you. So you will have to learn management. So start looking for podcasts on business management. You have to look for podcasts on finance. It's absolutely important because people reach out for me from time to time. And after we talk, I say, look,

your problem is a finance problem. It's not a sales problem and I'm not a specialist in sales, sorry, in finance. So I can help you. So start looking for podcasts in finance, but of course you know, relative to where you are right now. So if you are self-employed and you're looking for podcasts on finance where they start talking about special purpose vehicles and you know, things like that, like, you know, that's too much.

It's, it's beyond you. So look for podcasts and money podcasts for non podcasts that are relevant to your own stage. Then you also need podcasts in people that resource management podcasts and negotiation, you know, different things like that. So just like some broaden your horizons, look for a whole bunch of stuff, but you know, make sure that my own podcast is always top five. Make sure because sales is the lifeblood of business.

If you don't have sales, then there's no point in pursuing the other stuff. So if your sales are poor, then what are you doing listening to business management about? Like, if your sales are poor, there's no business to manage. The same thing with negotiations. If your sales are poor, which one they negotiate? There's nobody to negotiate. It's just you in your office every day or every week. Maybe once every two months you get a customer.

But which kind? Like which kind of negotiation they do, having one customer every month, that's not enough to say you're practicing negotiation skills. So always keep my own podcast, top five, but you will always have to look for other stuff. Then he said his business is not on a big scale yet. And I agree with him. But you know, when Nigel Boies say that business is not a big scale, sometimes I get the impression that they mean something else.

So that's why I keep talking about scale and what scale means Now. Scale just means that you're growing a business beyond your personal efforts and beyond your constraints. The reason why I'm pointing this out is because when most Niger boys say that they want to scale, what they mean is they want to hammer, they want to blow, they want to get billions. So getting billions does not necessarily mean you have scaled. Let me explain.

So scaling just means I'm growing beyond me. So right now I'm consulting, but I'm a one man show. So God forbid if I drop dead right now, everything comes to an end. So my business has no scale because everything starts and everything ends with me. That is why I keep telling people that, look, don't even call me a businessman. I am not a businessman. I am self-employed. There's a difference. Because if let's say I'm eating a Cara now and I'm rushing the a Cara real fast and I don't have water with me and maybe I don't know, something happens and I

get scared and then I choke and then I die. You know, that's it, that's the end, nothing else, because I do not have scale. Scale is when your business grows beyond your personal efforts and beyond your constraints. So if you are alive and well, the business will grow. If you are no more, the business will grow. If you take a break, the business will grow. Whatever it is you're doing, the business will grow. Excuse me, because it does not depend on the EU.

So some of you may get tired when I'm making all these distinctions, but it's not, I'm not just being theoretical, it's very practical. A lot of us are not business people, yes, to big up ourselves. When you go home, your auntie says, oh, So what do you do? Say I'm a businessman? You can't tell her that to show off. But really you're not a businessman. You're self-employed because you don't have skill. Everything so rests on you.

So to scale in the real sense, what is required is you need people, you need teams, because of course you got to delegate to other people. Then you need systems, or you need frameworks, or you need standard operating procedures. They're all the same systems. Frameworks just means the guidelines, the instructions, the toolkit that you will use to train other people. So in the beginning, when it's just you doing the research and the writing, no problem.

But eventually you had two, 3-4 people to now write under you or to now do research under you or to now sell under you. And I'm talking to you, Sam. So the documents, the processes, the systems that you will use to train these new writers, this is how you research your topic, this is how you create the synopsis, this is how you do draft chapter. This is how you write a conclusion. This is how you see all of that that will cause systems or frameworks.

Then you also have some people who will be selling on your behalf, assuming that those writers are not the ones who sell. So the thing that you will use to now train those people who are selling on your behalf, we only sell to the student community. This is how we approach students. This is how we start the conversation with them. This is how we figure out what they need. This is how we argue that we can deliver them value.

So the thing that you will use to trim them, those are the systems, the frameworks, the standard operating procedures. So you need them to scale because scaling involves people and teams, and you can't just get a team, put them in the office and say, Oh yeah, start work. It's not like that you have to train them. So everything that you use to train them, the frameworks, all of that, make sure that they're down in writing, down in writing on your Google Calendar, down in writing on a folder in the file,

in a cabinet, you know, somewhere so that people can refer to it so that they can be trained on and so they can get all the answers to all the problems that they're facing in the business. Then to skill, you also need technology. Technology, just to, I'll put you now to multiply your efforts and put it that way. So those are the things that are required for scaling. You need people, you need teams, then you also need systems and frameworks.

Then after that you need technology. So just like that bank, Zenith Bank, you know, they used to say back in the day, now Zenith Bank people process technology. So that's what you need to scale. Now when it comes to scaling, be patient. Rome was not built in a day. So just be patient. Don't expect that you can scale overnight. But the reason why I'm talking about the scale thing is just in case there's another guy like Sam who's in Benin or somebody else who's in Lagos who thinks that scale means you make a billionaire.

That's not what scaling means. Because you can have a billionaire but no scale at all in any of your business ideas. So if you have a business, a billionaire right now, but your business, your billionaire now the result of a horseshoe, you know, you're the also you're a sharp guy on the move. You know, 1-2, three, you don't collect. You know, if that's where your billion has come from, you don't have scale because the moment you can't be moving sharp,

sharp, sharp. Like if you marry and you go for honeymoon, the honeymoon is sweet. You stay on honeymoon for maybe like four or five months that for five months, no money is coming in because you're not moving again. So the fact that I have a billionaire does not mean you scale, but we should be aiming for both. We should aim to have that billionaire. We should also aim to scale. Then Sam also says that he's currently in school, he's studying architecture.

I think that's really, really impressive. That's being in school and trying to build a business. In fact, this is my guy with her Ekenga software factory. That's IKSFI mentioned them in the previous episode. If you just listen, you know what that's about. There's also one of the reasons why I messed with the guy because I really dig, you know, people who are in school and you know, then they also they want to come up.

I dig it. I really, really dig it. So for those of you who are like Sam and the founder of IKSF, you can get Software Factory who is still in school. It's how do I put it now? It's tough, really tough. Especially those of you who are on the course of first class, you want to graduate first class. You know, like my guy at IKEA SF. OK Sam, I didn't ask you about graduating first class, but it's worth it. Try and graduate first class.

So for those of you who are on the course, almost worth it. It's hard, but it's worth it because you are building transferable real world skills. You're in school, but you're also doing something that relates to the real world. Are you talking to people in How to Explain Itself? Look, trying to grow a business will force you to get some skills that work in the real world. So like say Sam, for instance. Sam is talking about how he's struggling to attract the ideal client when Sam leaves school because he studied architecture.

In fact, it is perfect because Sam, you study architecture of me. I studied law, so you are my brother. Some of you say what does law have to do with architecture? This is what law has to do with architecture. Now there are other industries that when you go and finish school, you know, career part nonde, everything is aligned. If you study medicine, it is assumed that you will work in a hospital and government hospitals are there.

You know, you just blend accordingly. But now when you study law, when you study architecture, it is kind of implied that you will fend for yourself. Some of you might not understand, but if you're in law, you understand what I mean. If you're an architecture, you understand what I mean. You know your teachers, when they're teaching you, they don't teach you as if when you finish, you go and do government work or you finish, you know, this ministry work or something.

They're teaching you as if when you graduate from architecture or when you graduate from law that you sort yourself out. So perfect. Sam is studying architecture. Now, assuming this research thing doesn't work out and Sam finishes with first class architecture and he goes for masters. You know, let's say he goes for masters, you know, New York School of Architecture or something, something the guy come back. What will be the first challenge attracting ideal clients.

Now somebody like him who has gone through the trouble while he was in university to attract ideal clients when he was doing research business, Can you see how somebody like him, you know, will fear too much? So we are scared because, you know, I've done it before now for Sam and other people who are in school, they've they've done it. So it's just, you know how I put it, same challenge, just different neighborhood, you know, same hustle.

That's that's how it is. So it's good. So keep it up, Sam. And those of you who are in school, this is the lady who reached out to me from OAU. Sorry, I can't remember your name because it's been a while since we spoke. But you know, you know, it's you. At the time she reached out to me, she was in second, second year, second level OAUI went to I graduated from OAU. So I was really nice to, to hear one of my juniors listening to the podcast.

She's in the perfume business. Yeah, perfume business. Although me, I was kind of short as like perfume from law to perfume from where to where. But anyway was a good conversation. So for all my peeps, Sam doing research that my OU babe doing perfume who again these ladies from Ibadan, I think they finished nursing or something, I can't remember. It's been a while. You know, shout out to all of you. It's tough, will continue.

So those ladies who are in Ibadan doing nursing, I think was nursing their own business was catering. Yeah. And then one of them got transferred to Kano. So she was even worried like this one that they're sending me to Kano. How will I continue? You know, so but continue is worth it. You are building real world skills. You're getting rid of the fear of failing. You are learning how to hustle. So continue or please be also be focused on school.

All right, so if you can graduate first class, please graduate first class. Some people say first class. We will talk about that in another episode. If you can graduate the first class, we'll talk about that in another episode. Now, one more thing, all of you that are in school and they also, I don't know if it's a generational thing, but like you don't have, you know, no boyfriend, no girlfriend, like what's going on?

Like I don't understand. I don't get it. What happened? Who decided overnight so that romance is no longer a good thing? You see, look, it's good that we graduate first class and it's good that we have also. All right, so it's good that we get first class and I will make that money. What about romance now? What is going on with you people? I understand that relationships are hard. And you know, in the media all we hear about is marriages that are suffering and, you know,

husband and wife that are stabbing themselves and marriages breaking up and everything. But come on now. Male and female, complimentary is a spice of life. So as you're hustling and as you're trying to graduate, make time for romance. A big. And marriage is a necessity. All these boys are running away. They know I'm married. I don't understand. So. OK, Joshua, I'll call you by name, but I won't call you by company. But Joshua, even yourself.

OK, You may find out. Yeah. You don't have. Babe. Come on now. It's not proper. It's not proper. Make time for romance. So Sam, you too, if you don't have babe, go and get a beep. And the ladies who are nursing, well, although there are members of this church, Kumu is church. And in kumu is church, you can't have boyfriend. But if you're singing kumu, OK, well, let me not lead anybody else straight. But Shah, romance is essential.

I say romance. I didn't, I'm not saying anyway, let me just leave it there. So Sam also says that his market is a student market. Yeah, some people are afraid of it, but it has its advantages #1 is seasonal. So if school is out of session, then there's a problem. But having gone through Above My Wallet university and then also gone in through University of Aberdeen, looking at things from the real estate perspective, I

started seeing that, oh, like there's some advantages. There's some advantages because in OU all the people, the landlords, you know, people who bought houses or built houses around campus, like steady, you'll always have tenants always. Then you collect your money upfront for the whole year because it's not like, oh, you bought system where you're renting month to month, you know, so you pay the whole year. So, and even when I was in OU,

there was one guy who I think put together something, I can't remember if you put together something or maybe like somebody built it and got him to manage it. But I saw that was not was not bad. So if you have a student market, yeah, it's seasonal, but it's not bad. And The thing is, as long as that university exists, you will be able to count on that market and you'll be able to plan on your peaks and trolls peaks are just when business is doing good.

So money they come and then trust is just when, you know, everybody has gone home, so there's no money. So like people who used to sell food on the campuses, aha. So those people who who had restaurants and things like that where everybody's around, especially in the beginning of the time when everybody has money, business is booming. And during holiday, you know, everywhere it goes quiet. So I'm dealing with student market.

It's not that bad, seasonal. But yeah, you can plan. And quite frankly, for real estate, I think the thing makes sense because I noticed that in University of Aberdeen, the first year the school will give you accommodation because it is in Aberdeen was the same thing as in UNILAG and OAU. So I think in OAU when I was there, I think student population was about 20, I think maybe 22,000 or something like that. But of course not enough space.

So some people will get a location on campus, the rest of you won't search yourself out in town or you squat. So in the University of Aberdeen was was the same thing too. Rooms are limited by in Aberdeen, there's no squatting. You know, able people know they catch you squatting or more you're your own. They evict you and just squatter too. So no squatting. But of course you know Nigeria now once in a while, you know your guy will come and crash maybe like one week before he moves, you know, that kind of thing.

So I was like, gosh, I've lost my train of thought. Anyway, student market is not necessarily a bad market. Now, there's something that people used to say that students don't have money. So when I was in school, that is something that I heard and it's something I believed. But now that I've grown up a bit, I've seen that look, it's not so it's not so sure because OK, Sam, Sam is in Benin, OK, studying architecture. I also have another client who is in Benin, but this guy in school in Benin, he just decided to settle down there and his business is, he is into mobile and computer accessories and then gaming accessories and things like that.

And so I asked him like when I was consulting for him, I need to know who his ideal customer audience is, his customer avatar. Because you need to know who your ideal audience is before you start running up and down, you know, coming up with advertising campaigns or coming up with marketing campaigns and things like that. You need to know exactly who it is you're running after at the 1st place. So, so this guy said that students were his main customers and I said our students how?

Because you know what I was told when I was in school is that students don't have money. So never sell to students. That's what I heard. But then this guy is making bank, serious bank. If I has opened a new location in Abuja right now as we are talking and he said that his students are his his main clients. I say how He says well, it doesn't know, but you know, students, you know you guys to form you have to package. And so students actually buy devices from hundreds of thousands of naira.

So the brand new iPhone comes out. Who are the people that are going to be buying them? Students, other babes they want to impress or boys wear 1 impress and so they're buying for babes butcher Students, PS-5, PS, DS, PS dot Sony PlayStation, this Microsoft Xbox that anyone we drop who's going to buy it? Students because I want to form and everything so I will open up my eyes, you know, somehow. Students, if you think it's important they find the money,

if it's some sort of device or whatever that they think looks cool, like TV's for instance, like the last time I was in ground square and I saw this TV, flat screen TV, I can't remember the make, but this was flat, like flatter than the phone. The TV was mad. And I think it was like 3 point 3.6 M, something like that. Yeah. So there's some students that have that. That's what they have entered their house. That's what that's what you see there.

So somehow they they find the money. By the way, I'm not saying you should make students steal. So I guess the lesson here is not to say that students don't have money, but rather we should, if you are in the student market, try and figure out what it is that students are willing to pay money on and then sell that. And yes, for those of you who are curious, yes it is true, students don't buy books. So if you want to open up a bookstore on a campus, you're wasting your time.

And the good news is it seems to be universal. In Nigeria, students don't buy books. In the UK, students don't buy books. So I guess the lesson is if you want to sell to students, look for what it is that they want to buy. If it is textbook you're selling or more, you're problem, serious problem. So yeah, look for students want to sell. I guess that's a lesson for everybody, no matter the business that you're involved in, don't sell what you think is moving.

Look for the thing that is actually moving in the market and then sell that thing. Then on finding the right customers locally and internationally. Yeah. So I told him, yeah, that's the focus. But my own advice is master the local game first before you go international because too many people try to go international prematurely. And that's one problem that one of my OK, she was not a client, but she did some work for me,

some brand new work for me. That was the problem that they were facing. They were trying to go international prematurely. You're trying to go international prematurely. You're trying to target international clients in America and in the US. Meanwhile, your sales motion, you haven't perfected this in Nigeria yet. How do you talk to customers? You don't know, You haven't figured it out where you want to learn how to sell to foreigners.

OK, Who is your ideal audience where you're supposed to be targeting? You don't know. You haven't figured it out on the local audience yet, but they're going to be spending a lot of money trying to target international audiences online. I'm paying heavy, heavy, heavy money to Facebook to advertise to these people. So look, we mean well when we say we want to conquer the international market. We mean very, very well. But we need to just calm down,

figure out the local market first. Then the things that we learn will help us to become much more effective, much more efficient when we start targeting international markets. And then apart from that, when you master your craft first in Niger, you know that you deliver credible services, Then of course, you know that you can deliver services everywhere. If you haven't mastered your craft here in Niger, and then you want to start trying to sell your branding services abroad,

your Research Services abroad, but then you're struggling. You know, you'll be telling yourself, Oh, no racism. No, it's not really narracism. It's possible that you haven't really learned your craft as you never let work finish. Are you starting his communication barrier? It could be, but maybe it's just that you never let work finish. And so when you're dealing with people abroad, you are not as good as you think. So master your craft.

But for those of you who do research and academic work like Sam, Oh yes, international people pay much better. So especially like Nigerians in diaspora, because like one of my clients, another guy, this one is based in Quara. Yeah, this guy is in Quara and he's also in the in the research business was making good money because you know what it is now when somebody in America, for instance, you will agree and you say, well, I write my project for me and then the guy wires you $2000.

You know to them $2000 might not be BBB, but by the time you receive $2000 here, that's in the, you know, teen entire millions. So it's good money. So for those of you who do research, I understand that after a while you say, look, I'm done. No more OAU, no more UNILAC, no more Uni made, no more University of Abuja, no more Noun National Open University will now be looking for people in Harvard and or what not to to be our clients.

So I understand, but just know that there's some ethical issues involved. So my client Inquirer, he's getting out of the business precisely because of those issues because it's good money. But then after a while he started feeling somehow like this thing that people are giving me their project and I'm the one writing the project for them, you know, the team day one time. So because of that, he's trying to leave the business.

Some of you will be asking me who ethics don't help. Look, I'm not going to go into that, but I'm just letting you know that there's some ethical issues involved in this business. So if you want to be involved just I'll put it anyway. I've mentioned that the ethical issues involved. Let me just leave it like that. Then finally, Sam was talking about how he needs to learn how to pitch better. And this is the main thing that I wanted him to to stomach to learn.

And this is the main thing that I'm hoping some of you will get. If you didn't learn anything from anything that I've been saying so far, I hope you will get something from this one. Learning how to pitch better is never the problem. I will say it again, learning how to pitch better is never, never the problem because pitching is guesswork. Sales pitch. Now you meet somebody, you say, oh boy, buy my something. Now is the best, is the finest,

is the brightest, is the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That is never the problem. Never. Because pitching is guesswork. Whenever you are in a sales pitch, you are guessing. It is guesswork. So if you want to improve your pitch, essentially you're trying to learn how to guess better or you're trying to be more eloquent in your guesswork, and that is not the problem. The problem actually is qualification and discovery. Qualification and discovery just means you figure out who is this person, what do they need, what are they trying to achieve, what problems are they running away from?

You know, things like that. If you can get to the heart of what it is that people actually need, then you can start making effective presentations. Effective presentations begin with listening better and with knowing the audience. Let me give you an example. You guys remember the time when I think that was last year that kids were going back to school, then wifey saw this thing on Instagram. You know, something, something sales, something, something,

whatever, whatever. And we went there. But I should have known it was a trap from the beginning because I don't like buying clothes. And you know, if I have money, I'll use the money and do all that stuff already. Buy clothes. So my wife says I have the fashion sense of a Ghanaian school teacher. Sorry, those of you who are Ghanaian school teachers. My wife said it. Mumsy laughed. Mumsy agreed. And one of my good friends in business, he agreed as well.

So I don't know how Ghanaian school teachers dress, but apparently I dress like 1. So where was I, Where was I? So I should have known I was a trap. So we went there now and we bought the things I was supposed to buy. We bought the shoes for the kids and we bought, I think water bottles for the kids. And what do we buy again? You know, the normal, normal stuff. Then as we were going out, my wife now said, Madam, you get jeans.

And that's why I just realized she set me up. My wife lured me out there so she can buy jeans for me by force, by fire, because she has been saying go and buy jeans, Go and buy jeans. This one you have, you've been wearing it for so long that if you take it and you just dust it, that it is mud that will start coming out of the jeans. And I kept telling my wife, I'm OK, I'm good with these jeans. It's fine. OK. Does it look dirty?

I'll wash it. There's no problem. But man, I was too late. She don't set me up. There's no I couldn't run. I was there. Say my name, you get jeans. And then my name was busy outside. So my name told her husband who was inside about the jeans. Next thing my husband started saying ah Bros see this one now Wrangler jeans something something something blah blah blah USA this this this that that that that that. You see what Oga was doing is called a sales pitch.

There are two people in the store. My wife said Madam you get jeans. The Madam was busy with customer outside so she signaled her husband. And then the husband just looked at me. For some reason he thought Wrangler jeans now the one we sued this guy. So the guy started Wrangler jeans, blah, blah, blah, high quality USA, you know, on and on and on and on and on and on. Trying to sell Wrangler jeans. That is a pitch. The person that you're talking to, does he like jeans?

You don't know. OK, he likes jeans. Is he a Wrangler person you don't know? Is he a Calvin Klein person you don't know? Is he a Christian dual person you don't know? Is he a blue jeans kind of person you don't know? Is he a red jeans kind of person you don't know? Is he a white jeans kind of person you don't know? But in your store, the one that looks like he can fit this guy because I'm on the big side happens to be a Wrangler Jean.

So therefore any guy that come into this store that is asking for Jean, so long as it looks like you can fit him, I will pitch. You must buy. You must buy rank lighting, USA, high quality, blah blah blah blah blah blah. That is pitching. Learning how to pitch better is not the problem. Learning how to guess better is not the problem. Or learning how to pitch with Fournier is not your problem. Learning how to figure out what the person needs is the problem.

Say boss, you define Jing. I said no, be mule. Now my wife, I'm by force. By force. Then from there he will know whether he should focus on me or you should focus on Madam. If he's focusing on Madam, which is my wife, it's not a matter of Madam. OK, so you want to upgrade Roger? How do we want to upgrade him? What's the plan? And then hear what my wife would have to say. Based on what my wife says, he will know what kind of recommendations to make.

He will ask me one of two questions. Based on that question, you now know whether. OK, now for this particular guy, even though Madam said jeans for this particular guy, because of how in the squeezing face or because of the things he has said, we're better off giving this guy chinos. That is the difference. And that is why lots of you are struggling in sales. You will are learning how to pitch, to pitch, to pitch guesswork.

You just be guessing by me. I'm the greatest, I'm the fastest, I'm the brightest, I'm the newest, I'm the best. UK fairly used America, this da da da da Sweden second hand. Do you know if they even care about these things? Ask the person, figure out what they want, then tailor your proposal or tailor your presentation accordingly. Listen to people, know your audience. That is what will make a difference. So Sam, I didn't tell you this,

you know, in a text message, but I'm saying it here on the podcast. I'm hoping you're listening and I'm also saying it for the benefit of other people who I hope are listening well. Pitching will not solve your problem. Qualification and discovery will. Learning who is in front of you will solve your problems. Learning what they care about will solve your problems. That is what will allow you to make an effective recommendation, a recommendation that will make sense.

So if you're like that Olga, and you'll be having problem selling your jeans. The problem with selling your jeans is you've been launching straight into a pitch. Figure out who the person is first. If you don't have what they want, you can do the Niger thing of oh, OK, I don't have it, but my guy in shop B3 has it. You take him there as a hand him over to the guy in B3. You just give that signal, you know, raise your eyebrow, you know, so that the guy will understand that.

OK, you know what, you settle you 10% or something. Sometimes that's the right thing to do. So get better at learning what it is that people actually want, people actually need. Then the thing I mentioned about targeting is this. Sometimes you're struggling, but sometimes it's because you're talking to people. You're talking to the wrong people. Wrong people just mean people who are not really interested. The person is not really interested.

Your chances for closing anything meaningful is low. You're talking to people who are not really interested. You're talking to people who have no need. You're talking to people who have no money. You're talking to people who have no urgency or no compelling reason to take action soon. So if you sell Research Services and you're struggling with selling your Research Services, perhaps you're in a place where people are not really interested.

Now maybe people in Uni Ben Studios like in OAU, because in OAU we did Jack, we did read. Well, at least back then, I don't know about now. So if you're trying to sell Research Services in the school, like who are you? You're wasting your time. Who patronize you? Nobody will patronize you because every, you know, we, they read. But if you want to sell your paper, writing services are not taught in uni like in uni like they are not serious.

They like to party, they like to play, they like to form and go there. You will sell your research writing services, your paper writing services, you know, write exam for people, write jam for people, write everything because you need like they want to play. By the way, my wife went to UNILAC, so it's OK. I can abuse people from UNILAC because you know, we're family. So sometimes you're struggling because where you are, these people are not interested.

You think this is a good idea, You're pitching it, you're saying it, but you're in an environment where people just can't be bothered or they have no need. If you're sending your academic writing services in a place where the average CGP is, I don't know, 4.2 or something or more will be hard because already you know Nene Jack on their own, they're sufficient on their own, like you'll be hard, No interest, no need. Sometimes it is no money.

You want to sell your research writing services, You want to sell your paper writing services, you want to sell your whatever. But you do not want to take this job for anything less than 650 K. Some people say 650K. You know what? I'm better off writing it by myself. I carry and getting extra and trying again rather than carrying the 650K and giving it to somebody when there's no guarantee that if I give them the 660 K that I will pass.

Please, I am not advocating that any of you should be engaging in, you know, illegal, unethical. You see this, I say that these are some of the ethical issues involved, which is why my client inquire is bailing because for him it's like he has had enough that he's made some money, but he thinks sky by conscience, I beg is too much so his own way out. So sometimes people have no money, sometimes they have no sense of urgency.

You might be trying to sell your services, but most of the people, maybe plenty of them already have extra. So as far as they're concerned, like already have extra. My GPA has already suffered. I'm coming back again next year. Like, what's the rush? Let me just relax. I'll be back next year. No urgency, no compelling reasons to take action soon. So sometimes you are talking to the wrong people. Sometimes when you start talking to new people or the right kind of people, the problem is solved.

Oh dear, 45 minutes. OK, let me bring it to a close. The example that I like to give, although there are lots of factors involved, is this very podcast. When I started off this podcast, some of you who have discovered the show and I've started from the beginning is something that you guys mentioned. And I'm terribly sorry. I did not mean to deceive any of you at all. I didn't mean to deceive any of you. But honestly speaking, in the beginning, when I started, this was because a friend of mine was a wedding planner, said Tavishima, you're good at sales,

come and train my girls. And that's how I started. And I thought it was something that every single wedding planner, every single event planner, every single wedding photographer, every single video person, every single cake person, I thought it was a gospel that they needed to hear. So that is why if you discover the first podcast episodes, maybe like the first, I don't know, 203 hundred. That is the reason why I was talking only to photo people,

video people, wedding planners, because I thought it was a gospel that they needed to hear. But we came clear at the end of the day that I was I was talking to a wall. It could is a message that they need to hear. Yes, because there are lots of photographers and graphic design artists and people like that who are suffering and I think oh is the economy or as village people, they don't know is that it's because they're bad at selling and they don't have a sales process.

Maybe the problem was I was not good enough then in talking about these sorts of things as I am now. But clearly the people I was talking to and even me, my, the person talking there was dissonance was not blending, it was not correlating. So after I figured out that lots of people who reach out to me just like Sam did were people who were not in the event space, I decided to open it up and started talking to Nigerians in general.

And once I started talking to Nigerian business people in general, guess what happened? The podcast grew. I wasted a long time talking to the wrong people. I was still saying the same thing. All I just did was instead of looking doing, you know, looking straight and talking, I just did about 10. I started talking to somebody else, ma'am, that's it. And then started picking up. So sometimes you're struggling in your business not because you don't know how to pitch, it's because you don't know how to figure out what it is that people want, what it is that they need.

And so you can't tell your presentation accordingly. And then sometimes is that you are talking to the wrong people. Once you try a new crowd, I had these people, it's not working. You try a new crowd like, oh, OK, I guess that was a problem. But anyway, there are lots of things that are involved. So you'd have to sit down with a specialist or have to do lots of research to figure out which of these parts are the problem.

Is your messaging the problem? Are you saying things the right way? Is your targeting the problem? Are you going after the right people? Is the problem with your cells, with your, your sales process, your selling framework? You don't have a way to figure out what people want, what they need, and then how to make an effective proposal. So yeah, you have to sit down and look at, but don't always just assume that I need to learn how to pitch.

And please my brothers and sisters, Nigerians, let's stop being fascinated by pitching. I don't know when this thing became popular in Nigeria, but nowadays everybody wants to pitch. You want to have the perfect sales pitch, you want to have the just relax. The pitch is not always the problem. So applying these principles can be tricky. So if you need me to look at your particular circumstances, just call me, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140.

You're interested in the 15 minutes here. Lord, did you want me to look at some of your business processes? WhatsApp me on the same number, 08064662140. So that's it. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you all at the next episode.