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Hello and welcome to the High Table, the Oracle's Chamber. This is the inner sanctuary, the conclave of elders, where we talk about sales and marketing, money tactics, strategy, business growth, and solving business problems. Today I want us to talk some more about qualification. For those of you who are new to the podcast, qualification just means the process when we're trying to build a relationship or when we're interacting with potential customers, potential clients, potential stakeholders.
And then we have a process or we have a framework for trying to decide upon which people, which interactions, which messages, which calls, which meetings are worth spending time on because not everybody is worth spending time on. Now everybody has equal dignity as a child of God, and we're supposed to respect everybody. But now money would be fine. So because of that, it makes sense to prioritize the calls, the meetings, the interactions,
the DMS so that we spend time with the people where we have the likeness, the all I say now, the highest likelihood of closing a deal, the highest likelihood of making some money. So that is what we're going to be talking about today. How do you qualify people? How do you decide which interactions with messages, which calls, which meetings, which, which waka, which, whatever is worth spending time on because we don't like dealing with time wasters.
However this is the problem because lots of Nigerian business people, lots of Nigerian business owners, lots of Nigerian salespeople who sell on behalf of someone else because they don't have a process for dealing with these sorts of things. People just do how I put it. You just use got feel or you just do anyhow. Anyhow, you know, somebody sends you Adm and the DM just looks one kind. You just send the person back your price list, a price list that you already, you know,
prepackaged. I propose I really pick up it. You just send it like that with the attitude of any, if they're interested, they will call me back and then they'll follow up. So for a lot of people, that is how you are deciding that this is the important person to deal with. You don't have a process for interacting with people. You don't have a process for figuring out who is this person that is calling me? Who is this person that is D
Ming me? What do they want? The thing is just that if somebody enters your DM, you will now send them price list. If they're serious, they will call you back. Then that's how you know that you're dealing with a serious person. That's not a bad approach, but that approach only works when you're dealing with low hanging fruit, when you're dealing with people who are already motivated and who already desperately want what you need or Shah, they've decided that they want to work with you.
Those are the people that you're going to work with. So if that's your approach, people enter into your DM, you just throw down price list. You're leaving a lot of money on the table. So you need to come up with a process of qualification. You need to come up with a framework for how am I going to interact with these people? How am I going to respond to these messages? How am I going to respond to these calls? How am I going to respond to these meeting requests so that I
can filter through and determine these ones are worth my time. Let me pay attention to them. These ones are not worth my time. Let me disregard them. But Please remember that we respect everyone, OK? Every human being has inherent dignity. It's just that now money will define. So we have to prioritize people. They have the highest likelihood that at the end of the day, some good money went to our accounts. At the end of the day, we'll hear ping him, but still respect everyone.
Now before we get to the meet of the matter, if you'd love to connect with me, you can call me, send me a text message or send me a WhatsApp message on 0806466 2140. If you're interested in the 15 minutes, he'll audit WhatsApp me on the same number 08064662140. Or you can join my WhatsApp channel, just send me a message on the same number and we'll get you started. Now today to discuss this, since I've already made a prior podcast episode, you know, from a theoretical perspective, today I said let me come up with a case study.
And today's case study is a fictional case study. So if this company sounds like yours, it's just a coincidence. If the name sounds like yours, it is just a coincidence. Although I went to school with a lady, for me, very brilliant young lady, I thought she was going to end up in marketing or branding or something like that. But I think she studied international jurisprudence and she's currently in America right now. I can't remember who she works with.
But anyway, you know, she has taken the intellectual, the intellectual path and put it like that. And so she's an international jurist. Jurisprudence just means legal philosophy. My first background is in law. So in a sense, you could say that the case study today, the lady for me that I'm talking about today is who I thought my classmate for me was going to become. So for me, if you're listening and you went to school with a chap named Tave, you went to school in over you.
Yep, this character is loosely based off of you, but everything else is purely fictional. So this is a fictional case study. Now, some of you say, what's with all these fictional case studies? The whole point of the fictional case studies is it's a story and it's made-up. I'm trying to illustrate some principles. I'm just trying to put some concrete circumstances on ground. And of course, not every single case study that I come up with on the podcast is made-up.
But don't just work with me here. But anyway, this is the reason why I give my phone number at the beginning and at the end of every single episode. If you think the case study doesn't make sense, call me. Send me a text message or a WhatsApp message. If there's something in the case study that doesn't quite hit you right, call me. Send me a text message or a WhatsApp message. If the case study seems to make sense with you and you want to know how you can apply these principles in your business,
please call me. Send me a text message. Send me a WhatsApp message. That's why every single episode I say it 08064662140 now. Let's get straight to it now, Fumi, now she's in the Nigerian branding space, but she's not just an anyhow anyhow branding person. She's not just someone who designs logos. Unfortunately, most Nigerian branding people, their job is just logo. Honestly, don't say that. They are brand specialists at the end of the day now just logo you're paying for.
So let's say for me, I take them. I say for me, for me has taken a different approach. She doesn't just design logos, but she's looking for dying brands that businesses that have existed before, that have had some customers before, people already know them, but maybe the brand is kind of on the decline. And so for me spiel, is that OK, hire me, we'll take this, your business that is stagnating, we go boost them, we'll give them life.
Now this approach obviously is a smart one because a lot of you people in the branding space, all of you people are targeting people who are just starting out brand new. They'll be complaining that Nigerians don't value brand. You're targeting people who are starting off brand new. Somebody who's starting off brand new, does the person have all the millions that you're charging? They don't. So perhaps, perhaps this is just a guess.
So perhaps those of you in the branding space in Niger, perhaps people should be taking this kind of approach. If you look for a business that has already been in existence, but they're kind of stagnating and you're selling a branding refresh or something, you know, it's a business that's already there. They're already used to this whole cycle of making money and spending money. Perhaps it might be easier to collect millions from those people than to try and collect millions from people that are just starting.
It's just a thought For those of you in the branding space. It's a thought. So let's say that that is Fumi's approach. Now let's say Fumi has been doing OK. You know, business is OK, but could be better, you know, now. And then now she's at the stage where her DM is always full, Instagram DM full, LinkedIn DM full, e-mail inbox full. But she's tired because you open the message, look through messages, blah, blah, blah.
And it just looks as if, man, people here are just wasting her time. And these are people who can't afford her. I look, it's normal. Like I give my phone number at the beginning, at the end of every episode. And yeah, quite frankly, 80% of the people who reach out to me cannot afford me. So that is just normal. That's just how business is. If things were different and you know 80% of the people who reach out to you could afford, you would all be billionaires.
Well, let's have the right expectation, right? A lot of the people who are going to reach out to you, you know, it would not be a good fit or they can't afford you or they're not ready to take action now, or priorities are different. It's just a normal something. So we should not get discouraged because you open up your DMS, you open up your WhatsApp messages, you open up, you know, you take phone calls and it looks as if lots of people can afford you.
Don't get discouraged. It's just a part of the business. That's just how life is. That's just our businesses. Most of the people who come across your path are just walking through the just curious. Look, you never know. But don't get offended by these things and don't lose hope. So let's say now this is for me state of mind. Like what's the point? Open Instagram DMS, time wasters, open my e-mail, time wasters. Everybody does to waste my time so fuming will now come up with this idea which most Nigerian business owners do, which is if the message looks unprofessional, what she'll do is she'll just send them PDF
price lists with our prices there. You know premium package 15,000, this package 10,000 so I say 1000 millions. Premium package 15,000,000 standard package you know 10 million, this package 5 million. The whole idea is by the time she send the price list, by time somebody sees 50 million, they'll say hey, and then they'll just evaporate to disappear. So there's only people who have 50 million that will call her again.
This is not a bad approach at all. It's not a bad approach. This whole thing of create your price list, send it to them, the jokers will see it and run away. It's not a bad approach, but like I said, you're only going to be dealing with low hanging fruit. There's still value to be had. So let's say for me now, one day you're just minding her business and then a WhatsApp message just comes in. You just say hello. She will see the profile picture.
See, that is a small boy. You just say hello. Now, ordinarily for most people, and I've done this myself in the past, using this kind of message, the person looks like a small boy. The person looks like a small girl. They just say hello. You just signal. I'm ashamed to admit it, but yes, I've done it before. But The thing is, that person that you're ignoring, how do you know that a person is indeed a small boy? There's somebody that I was engaging with.
That other person was quite young. By the time we chatted some more. It actually was her daughter's picture that she put up there. Hope you hope you feel me. I saw a picture of a small girl. Conversation started like persons and small girls, and no problem, man. Following the yarn as we were yawning, it's like, oh, actually he's a very senior woman. She now put her daughter's picture as the DPA. Lot of us are just blanking people like, oh, this one is unserious.
This one is unprofessional. But you didn't know, You didn't have a process for interacting with people. You didn't have a process for screening people, you didn't have a process for filtering so that you can genuinely get down to the cocoa like who is a senior man? Who is a senior woman? Who is a correct person I should be talking to? And then who are the small boys, the small girls, the time wasters, the worker pass.
Let me just send them. Now. Let's pretend that Fermi I say Fermi sorry, forgive me for me because my class were a couple of Fermi used to. I went to a Bafemi at all university, the greatest university on the African continent, indeed the globe. Well, he's while I was there was a very good school. I don't know about now. So let's say Fumi now has been listening to my podcast. And then Fumi remembers that. OK, this guy Tara Shimani has been talking about one or two things.
Let me try this guy. Let me see if this advice works. So Fumi receives a message. Profile picture looks like he's a small boy. Person is even typing like a small boy, you know, No capital, no nothing. Person just types. Hello, Ma. I saw your work. I saw your work with the old textile meal. I want you to build a brand. How much do you charge? Question mark. And of course, you know, I suspect the world over this is how it is.
But in Nigeria, this is definitely how it happens. Hello. Are you available? How much do you charge? The first message. That's how it is. Hello, do you deliver to Sokoto? How much do you charge? Some people just be like hello, how much do you charge? That's all. No other background then to save ourselves from our take, what a lot of us to do. Like I said this, we don't send them price list option A 15,000,000 option B, 10 million option C5, sorry, the other way around option C Abby and you get the point.
We don't send them price list 15,000,010 million 5 million if that's just will continue. So this is the kind of message that normally for me will just delete a lot of you delete some of you will just send price list because the picture looks like a small boy. No company name, no introduction, no nothing, just hello, how to build a brand, how much you charge. It is easy to assume that this person is a student or let's say low budget somebody.
The guy the also, you know, small boy, well, like I said, for me, has been listening to my podcast. So she remembers one or two things. And of course, what I advise everybody to do in this sort of situation is to engage, engage with the person. I recommend you pick up the phone because when you pick up the phone and you call honestly, within the first 2-3 minutes, you'll know for sure whether this is a small word or whether this is an opportunity worth pursuing.
Sorry for those of you who are non not Nigerians, I guess you might misunderstand, might not understand. When I say small boy, oh boy, all I put it OK. I guess the best way I can explain when Nigerians say somebody's a small boy would just mean that it's not just that the person is young in age or small in stature. It just means that the person is OK. There's this English expression where you say somebody's a person or straw, meaning that the person is not how I put it,
person. Let's just say the person not a solid prospect to be talking to. Let me just put it that way. Yes. So small boy, you know somebody not worth talking to now, no good prospects are going to come from this. So when we say small boy, we're not talking about how young the person is or how small the person is. So for me remembers that I recommend you pick up the phone. So what she does is she will send the guy a quick message saying, oh, thanks for reaching out, this is for me.
I have 5 minutes before my next meeting. Are you OK? Let's just have a quick phone call and talk you through. And let's say the guy says yeah, Sharma. And then she calls. Then from the process of talking to the guy, she'll now realize that this small boy actually is a 2626 year old boy. And maybe he's the child of a northern industrialist. And let's say the family business, let's say it's a, it's a, it's a beverage factory.
Maybe they produce a kuno geta or you know, yogurt with what do you call this thing fura yogurt and fura kuno geta and then the different kind of kuno and all these things. Because you know, there's some family businesses like this in the North where this is what they do, or northern businesses that what do you call these things now? Meals where they produce a Millet and things, you know, where they make, you know, like Amala and all these things that you turn, turn, turn, turn, you know, some of these businesses around in this part of the world.
So let's just say it's that kind of situation. So it's a 26 year old boy, you know, the guy got the guy. Don't do as that. He has come back. And then Popsy is saying, Oh yeah, it's your turn. Some of you say, Tavishma, you're making things up. Yeah, yeah, I made this one up. But honestly, these things happen. When I was in Kano, one of our biggest clients in the office that was I was working under someone. The all I just know is that this guy, Lebanese guy, the guy had plenty of money.
Plenty, plenty, plenty, plenty of money. So when they asked my Oga that this chairman within the do self and then my guardian blink, he just said bathroom slippers and nylon. I said Sir and he said yes, bathroom sleepers and nylon. Didn't you hear me? I said, Sir, all this money that he's been giving us because back then anytime we had to do something for the for the guy, my guys to charge him 7,000,007 million 7.5. So anytime we go and see the guy 7,000,007.5.
And I was just wondering, since I came to this office in Kano, we've been to this guy's office like 5-6 times. Every single time 7,000,007.57 million 7.5. So I was curious. So I say, Sir, all this money, he said yes, bathroom sleepers are nylon. And I said how? He said, look, when your bathroom sleepers spoils, do you fix it? I said no. He said what do you do? I said I buy another one. I said that's it. The same thing with nylon bag.
So all these Lebanese people who are here in Kano who are producing bathroom sleepers and nylon, their business model is they are collecting 11 naira, 55 naira, 10/10 naira on each item, but they're collecting it from, you know, 10 million people or 20 million people or whatever. That was the first time I saw a different way of making money because growing up, because my mom was a marketing executive, I was used to like you're going out, you did Porsche market, you define hustle.
And then what you're doing is you're collecting 1,000,000 millions on top one, one person. And then of course, you know, I went to law school. And so that's kind of like the profit model from us for lawyers. We collect 75 million from one person, 100 million from another person, you know, 3 million from another person. And then that's how we keep the lights on, you know, big, big money. From small people. So it's when I went to Kano and also the, oh, the Nigerians who do things the other way, they're collecting 11 naira from each customer, but then that one one,
they're collecting it from 10 million people. So that's how the game works. So that's how I realized that oh OK, there's a different way to making money Then I had gone for my master's yet I was going to apply for my master's next. Then this guy in Kano, this is our client, his own son had finished was a Harvard or something. The guy was now going to come back to Niger to now take over this business. So yes, it's a made-up thing,
but it happens. There are 263628 year old boys and girls who are finishing from Harvard, finishing from Oxford, finishing from London School of Economics, finishing from University of Hull, finishing from University of Hull is 1 in Australia finishing from these schools and they're coming back to take over the family businesses. So even though I've made this thing up, it is happening. The same thing with the gig. God is Good motors.
I always like God is good motors but then after a while I noticed that they stopped calling themselves God is Good motors. They rebranded next was gig. Then they had some brand new vehicles and everything and say ah now wow that was happening now. Then my wife told me now oh the guy saw came back and took over at the company. I say really? She said yes. I went online and I checked out. Oh it was true. So when the pop C started the business he called it God is Good Motors.
You know like any devout evil man would do. And he ran his business well and of course paid for his children to go and study abroad. The boy went abroad and learnt one or two things about business, one or two things about logistics, Came back, rebranded the company. The company is now GIGGIG Logistics. No longer God is good boss, company is now GIG Logistics. Excuse me. So even though this scenario is made-up, trust me, these things happen, They happen a lot.
So this scenario is realistic. So for me now realizes that she actually is talking to one of these I just got back boys and the popsy is saying that look, I'm old, I'm tired. So my son, here's the key of the factory over to you. And the boy wants to start with a brand overhaul now because he be small boy that's young in age. That's the reason why he's informal just because he's Gen. Z. So he doesn't really know. He doesn't really know, you know, business tradition,
business, you understand, he doesn't know business packaging yet. So it's not that the guy was broke. It's just that he be small boy. But the money day and this is a worthwhile opportunity. You will never know that if you just look and say now small boy delete or now small boy, you know, same price list. Of course you'll keep the ice list and digest it. But The thing is, anybody that shows him some modicum of respect and has the conversation with him, I know what not.
I mean, at the end of the day, who do you think you will go with? The people that he actually had a conversation with? So you have no idea of knowing whether this is a small boy. Let me fashion him. This is a small girl. This is work up as you know, this is cherry where they let me just leave this whole thing. You will not know until you engage. So you need to come up with the process for how it is. They're going to engage in people.
I say engaging, engage with people, even me. That's happened to me last year. Somebody reached out. Obviously he's a small boy. But by the time we had the conversation and we didn't end up working together by the time we had the conversation, yeah, he's a small boy. But the family business has been around for a while. They sell tires and they sell tires for, not tires for normal cars, tires for, you know, heavy duty machinery, you know,
tractors, oil tankers, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, that's, that's family business. The young boy has come back after his studies and as far as he's concerned, Pop C, you know, they do like there are one or two things Pop C can improve. So therefore, the young boy wants to improve on one or two things. So we didn't end up working together. But honestly speaking, some of you just disregard small boy, small girl, but you don't know who it is you're disregarding.
You don't know. That's why you need to come up with the process. Now, let's say for me also remembered that on this podcast, I talk about having money conversations early and money conversations often. I repeat, have money conversations early and have money conversations often. It's not the same thing as sending somebody a price list, Sending somebody the price list to scare away time wasters. It's a good idea. It's a good idea, but it is better to actually talk to someone or chat with someone and then fill them out, throw some figures and fill them out.
So instead of for me sending over a price list or working on a formal proposal, let's say for me use the technique that I propose, which is you come up with a range or somebody like for me has to say as well, typically for a factory level rebrand turn around, our consulting packages are usually between 25,000,000 to 15,000,000. Is that something within the range of what you budgeted for this product? Sorry for this project.
You just put it out like that. That's what I mean when I say I give a range. You just tell the person that, oh, OK, Based on what we've spoken about so far, it's looking like we could fall between here and between here. How does that sound before? Like between here, between there? Is that something you're comfortable investing in at the moment? It looks like you can fall in between this and fall in between that. Does either of these scenarios look like like they're realistic for you at this moment?
You ask and you hear the answer. The body language will now tell you who you're dealing with. Some people say 50 million in this economy. Did I tell you my father is a governor? That's why you now say, OK, this one is a small boy and then you free him. Some people say 25,000,015 million. The lower, the lower range of 15, is that negotiable? The person that is talking like that, the lower range of 15 is not negotiable.
You know the OK, this or more may I follow on the young because maybe do not have 15, but can we land at 13? Can we land at 12, maybe 10? That's why I say don't just throw out price list through our proposal. Talk to this person, put the figure out there. The way they shake, the way they move their body language, whether the base in their voice will reduce or not. You will now know that OK, I know who I'm dealing with.
So from talking to this small boy now and getting more details and throwing out the range, if the guy doesn't flinch, she now knows that OK, correct, let's continue. If the guy flinches, she now is OK to literally he's a small boy. But either way, for me, remembers what I say, which is we should always be a helpful resource. We should not be a snob. Don't be a snob should be a helpful resource. So if this person truly, truly is a small boy, but because for me have for me has been in business for a while.
Let's say for me has you know, proteges, you know, people that have passed through her and maybe those ones that are starting off. It's not a bad idea for me to just say, OK, you know what the your current budget is way below what is that we have in mind. You know, however, I have a couple of people who pass through me that trusted hands. You can have a conversation with them. I can vouch to them. I trust them. They're going to take good care of you.
Pass this thing on to your petition. You're going to be building a valuable referral network. Because The thing is, when you have people that pass through you once in a while, you send us all these small, small jobs. They are very loyal, very, very loyal. That my cousin that I spoke about last year who became son last year, he's been very, very loyal to his Oga because he passed through another son, another senior advocate of Nigeria.
And when he was leaving, he went to go and approach. He didn't do almost Juno as the witches. You just disappeared. When I told his Ogata Ogar, thank you very much. I appreciate everything. I'm starting off on my own and everything and the Ogar gave him, I can't remember how many volumes of books that started his law library. That's how we started. So he's been very, very loyal to that his Ogar very, very loyal because his Ogar said, oh, no problem, you're starting off.
Take these books uses 1 and start your library. So later on when my cousin got involved in some electoral matter cases, so I can't remember, it was election sharp, but he got involved in something and you know, he needed some star power. You understand because as he's a young lawyer, he called up his OGA and of course his OGA came willingly. So you see how these things have benefits. This thing is too small for you. But I know some of my, my boys are passed through me.
Let me hand it over to them. The same way when your boys, your juniors, your protegees, when something comes that The thing is big and they need help, do not call you and say, boss, I beg. You know, we need you on this one. And then of course, you have a court. That's how this thing works. This is what we call referral network. That's how they call referral. We they refer back and forth. It comes to me, this thing is too small.
I refer it down, it comes to them. It seems a bit big. We need help. We will refer it up as our works. So the next time Homey is in the office and then another small boy just says hello, no problem, she will engage. She finds out there is only two 100K that the person has. And of course Homey is not willing to do anything that less than 15,000,000. The same scope is the same. Yeah, I'd love to help, but currently what we do is for medium to large scale firms, but I have a formal protege.
They're really, really excellent dealing with startups. So this is her contact detail. Her name is Nika. Call Nika and tell her that Madam Fumi said you should, you should call to take good care of you. So if you take that approach, you now find that, you know, at the end of the month, at the end of the quarter, you'll be closing some big, big deals from people that you thought were small boys. You will also find that there are some people who you thought were correct, big boys, big girls, mature people.
You thought they were mature people. But then by the time you talk to them in a few minutes, you see that this one is nothing. You know, you now refer it to somebody else, you give it to some of your juniors. But what I'm trying to say is every single business you need to come up with a framework for how you're going to sort through these things. You can't just be using guess work. Now, OK, the DP is a small boy. The message only said hello,
this one, let me just send them price list and leave them. So come with a process for qualification in your business. Qualification just means you're engaging with people and you're trying to figure out who is a valuable prospect here, who is worth having a conversation with? Do they have a want? They have a need? What kind of budget do they have? Come up with a process, whether it's going to be a spoken process where you pick up the phone or a written process where you'd be typing into your keypad or typing into your DMS or whatever, but shall come up with the process.
So this whole thing of treating every lead, every inquiry with respect is not just a matter of being nice. It also is business strategy for long term scaling. But shall make sure you have a process so you can start sorting out these interactions from the start instead of doing guesswork because I'm telling you, guess what can lead people astray. I remember one guy who reached out. I didn't want to answer him because to be honest, I'm sorry.
You, I know some of you might be offended, but you know, whenever you're watching Nigerian movies and there's a houseboy in the film and the houseboy is from, you know, Rivers or Cross Rivers, you know that side of the country and you know that they usually give the houseboy that particular name, the particular name. It's not me, it's Nigerian movie makers that do that. The guy reached out to me and I swear the guy's name was, it was a very houseboy name.
I was like, now, wow, if this is not the houseboy's name, then what is it? By the time I called the guy, he's a very mature fellow, very, very mature fellow. Good business. But meanwhile, first time the name show up as, ah, isn't this the houseboy in so, so, so and so? Meanwhile, I'm not sure fellow. So we need to come up with a, we come up with a process for sorting through and having these sorts of interactions. So applying these principles can be tricky.
So if you need me to look at your particular circumstances, it's not a problem. Call me, Send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. If you're interested in a sale audit or you want me to look at some of your business processes, just call me. Send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. Or if you're shy, you don't want to talk to me, that's not a problem. Join my WhatsApp channel. Stay up to date on things I'm working on when podcast episodes drop and then things like that.
And when you're brave enough, we can talk later. So that's it. And that's all for today. Oh, by the way, apologies. You know, if I did some ethnic tropes, you know, today on the show, but you know now manager. So you know, that's how we are. If we don't abuse ourselves like this, you know, abuse this tribe, abuse that tribe. You know, it's just it's just it's just normal. No vex. It's just just want to do things. Don't take it to heart, you know, because me, I'm thief and I'm used to it.
People say, Oh, you're TV, you're that tribe, that they do. I get that thing all the time. So I have to educate people that hey, stop it, that thing is rubbish, it's not real. And anyway, it's just one of those things. So if you felt offended by any of this, I beg Novix. I was trying to offend you. All right, so I'll catch you on at the next episode.