Motivating Your Sales Team with the Right Compensation

Hello and welcome to the show today. The question that we're going to tackle is how to create a motivating sales compensation plan. The reason why we're tackling this, it's obvious because salespeople are handled or paid differently in most organizations and it's a very difficult job. So the question always is, how do you motivate people to get up and do what it is that they're supposed to do, to do what it is that you want them to do?

So this episode is going to be for those of you who have employees, you know, 234567 a hundred. You know, it depends. So, well, First off, it doesn't matter whether you're a small start up or if you have hundreds of employees. Yeah, in a sense it does. You'll find that the principles are the same. Like I said on the podcast, the principles are the same, but then the order of applying, it's what we attach priority to and how we execute is going to be different depending on whether you have 3 employees or whether you have 300.

Now, in the interest of time, I have done previous podcast episodes on these sorts of things, the options that are available to you when it comes to motivating your sales team. So I'd recommend that after listening to this episode, if this is your first time listening to the podcast you use, go to YouTube so you can search within the podcast and then just hit my name and then hit sales team or hit my name, put motivation or my name and then put compensation, you know,

those sorts of things. And then you'll find podcast episodes where I have discussed these sorts of things so you can get the fuller context of the whole conversation. Now, traditionally, sales people's motivation, you know, how do we deal with all that? Traditionally this has been done by variable compensation. So you have an organization, everybody collects fixed salary, MD collects fixed salary, salary, CEO fixed salary.

Who else? The cleaner fixed salary. But then when it comes to the salespeople, because the assumption is, and I'm one of those people who's behind it now, those of us who are in sales, we are more money, money motivated than other people in the in the population. So we care about a couple of things that, you know, independence, being able to set your own schedule, yeah, money compensation, you know, you work hard, you should be able to get some something good in return.

And so because of that, traditionally sales people have been compensated in a variable sense. Now all that means is you get a base and then you get an upside of performance. Although there are some industries where it's 100% Commission. For those of you who've been listening to the podcast for the last 2-3 days, you remember the episode where I say where I spoke about my conversation that I had with the head of corporate communications for the Abuja Property Development, Abuja Property Development Company.

Yes. And how they market the projects that property developments by attaching marketing units to a specific site. And those marketing units are made-up of, made-up of basically just made-up of agents who work 100% Commission. So yes, there are some of those industries where people are 100% Commission. So go out, bring as much business as you can. I'm not giving you a salary, but whatever you bring back, you take 10% or whatever.

So those are the options. 100% Commission. I am not going to talk about that now, although I'll point out one thing. There are some of us who hear 100% Commission. I think, man, that is harsh. Like that is really, really crude. But The thing is you already live the 100% Commission lifestyle. Most of you listening to this podcast episode, you just don't realize it because once I was talking about how 100% Commission is harsh and then somebody pointed out like, dude,

what are you doing? Are, you know, 100% Commission? And then I was like, Oh yeah, that's true. If I don't bring in anything, I don't eat because I'm self-employed. So yeah, variable 100% Commission sounds harsh, but The thing is, a bunch of you listening to this podcast, you don't know it, but you actually are on the 100% Commission lifestyle. So you better realize that I'm better up your game because you know, you don't bring in anything you don't eat.

If you have a girlfriend, you have those uncomfortable conversations and if you have a wife you have those uncomfortable conversations. If you have children you will definitely have those uncomfortable conversations that I want to go on skate. No, you're not going to skate. Why, why, why, why, why I want to go on skate. No, you're not going to go on skate. At the back of your mind you're thinking OK, if I go to the skating rink, one child is 4 Ki have four children.

If I take them to the skating rink 4 * 4, that is 16K16 K only on skating. By the time we get there they want Fanta after Fanta, they want chips, they want biscuits blah blah blah blah. So basically if we go to the skating rink now, I can end up spending just like 30 K just like that. So yeah, most of you already on now 100% Commission lifestyle. So just realize it that let's step our game up so that we can stop having uncomfortable conversations with our wives and with our children's and with our husbands and with everybody else.

You know, like village association meeting December is coming up. Your contribution is supposed to be so, so so we haven't heard from your branch of the family, you know. Yeah, all those conversations are going to start coming up soon. Now, that went September and, you know, before you know it, October, November, December. So where was I? Yeah. So traditionally variable compensation, some people 100% Commission. Other people will say, look,

every month I'm going to be giving you 50K. But then if you perform like this, we add something. If you perform like that, you add something. That is the whole idea behind variable compensation. Take the small money, start now. You know, use it to fill your car, buy good clothes, brush your teeth, you know, buy soap. But then you perform well. I had this. You perform well. I had this. Yeah. So that's it. Well, there are some modern sales teams, and I find this really, really weird.

I've had to coach. I had to work for one client who had a sales team that was on salary alone. And I'm submit I'm probably kind of weird. We started having those conversations about how we could introduce a viable element. So this salary alone thing, it's a modern phenomenon. So it's something that I'm waiting to hear more about and to see studies on how that impacts business performance. Now, of course, in Niger, you know, we don't study anything.

So we have to wait until the good folks in America and in the UK and in Canada and all these places, you know, when the professors in you know, all those schools, them, them, you know, like Harvard Business School and everything when they start publishing their results, you know, to say we made the study of the top. So, so companies who moved away from variable compensation to fixed compensation salary. This is how it affected performance is how it affected profits.

So hopefully in a couple of years we should have some academic research to show us whether this thing is true, that sales people perform better the more money you give them, the more viable compensation you have, or whether if you just pay everybody a fixed salary, it doesn't matter, profits will still go on the same. But from my uneducated standpoint, because you know, I'm not an academic when it comes to business matters, I

really would be surprised if this whole thing of pay everybody a fixed salary and tell them to go and sell, I'm surprised if it's actually moves the business forward. So, oh, by the way, if any of you guys are interested in these sorts of things and you have any research, then please hit me up my contact details at the end of the show. Let me see whatever resources that you have. I'd like to pay attention to it, get educated and then come and share the results with people over here on the broadcast.

So yes, I mentioned how motivating your team, salary, blah, blah, blah, all of this is important. And I mentioned how sometimes it's different depending on whether you're a small startup, whether you have two or three people or whether you have 200 or 2000, how it's different. And this is going to be one of the differences. If you're a small startups, you need to know your employee motivations so that when you're talking to these people month after month, you know the one-on-one thing that good managers are supposed to do and good business owners are supposed to do.

If you didn't know know that now you should be having one-on-one conversations with all your employees. Even if you're not going to do it for everybody, you definitely need to be having that conversation with salespeople because know how know how you will acquire with your salespeople. That is just is, is definite because you're putting money into this thing. You expect to see some returns that times when they'll perform well, that times when they'll perform badly.

So you're not going to be quarreling with your accountant. You're not going to be quarreling with the person who handles your tax. But best believe you're sales people. You quarrel, you know, once in a while, every other month. So it's not a good idea that the only time you sit down with your sales staff, it's you're welcome to come and do quarrel. Why you're not doing your work? Why is your quota like this? Why is your whatever.

So we need to have good cadences, you know, meetings that will have more people, whether it's every Monday or every other Monday or every first Monday of the of the month. It doesn't have to be a Monday by the way, just pick whatever your fancy is. It's just that while I was in the insurance world briefly, it was a Monday. And I noticed that for other companies, it seems to be a Monday thing. So there's that Monday meeting.

But then the other organizations I know who make it a Friday thing. But you need to get to know your employee. Employees get to know their their motivations so that when you're having all these conversations around financial performance, compensation, salary, blah, blah, blah, you can tie it into concrete terms of what these people's goals are. So if you know that somebody is, let's say maybe they grew up rough, everybody went for masters.

They they didn't go for masters. They've decided that their children must go for masters. You can weave in those sorts of things into the, into the conversations like, OK, oh, how is Kuli? How is Kemi that Kuli and Kemi being the children, how are they doing? OK, secondary school. That means you're now getting ready for, let's see, what is it called again? Is it GMAT Abby, GMAT or GCS ES or whatever? So ready for GMAT, ready for GCS

ES. I hope you're ready. You know, these things are expensive, blah, blah, blah. Some small chat and you know, and then you of course, tie that into their performance at the company. OK, look, we're doing good based on what we did last year, this is how much we made. But if you're able to perform at so, so, so and so we should be able to match the salary with this, this and this. And Omar, you should make your life a whole lot easier so that next year when cooling and Chemi, when they give you the bill that, OK, this is the school you want, you know,

whether the school is Malaysia or whether the school is Canada or whether the school is America, you should be able to perform. So we you should be having those conversations, get to know your employees. That is possible when you have a two or three man or woman sales team, when you know 2000 people, I mean 2000 people in your company, I mean, how you doing? So hopefully your sales manager will be having those kinds of conversations on the small,

small level. But you need to get to know your people. You need to know what's up, what's going on in their lives. Sometimes it's just simple headache issues or heartbreak issues or personal issues or whatever and somebody's going through a funk and you can talk through talk some people through some some stuff because you know, things can be things can be rough. You know, the country is not soft right now. So people are going through stuff.

So even if it's a simple thing, not doing the one-on-one like how far like I notice you've been somehow your face is not bright like what's going on. You know, you have some simple conversations on the one-on-one, not on the business level. Now you help talk people through some challenges, you know, 'cause you can't relate as a human, you know, these sorts of things help, you know, they feel seen, they feel heard. For those who are extremely money motivated or have very direct money goes, you guys can have that conversation and see how it's tied to company performance.

But you're, if you're a small startup, basically what I'm trying to say is get to know your employee. You guys should be vibing, you guys should be talking. And once a month I really think is not enough. Just pick a day of the week, you know, every Monday, whatever it is. There's that general thing where the sales people sit down, you sit down, you guys have a chat. These are the numbers. This is where we're heading. You talk some personal development, you do some motivation, bring, you know,

jazz everybody up. But then you have a small team. Try and do that one-on-one thing. You really need to know what's going on and then also helps you to have much more effective conversations when things go bad, because if all you do is when things are bad, you now show up and you quarrel. You know, you begin the rake, you shout up and down that sort of thing. There's a limit to how much coaching or personal influence you can have on these sorts of people.

But if you guys have been meeting on one-on-one, you've been talking, you've been yawning, you have some some kind of personal relationship. Don't overdo it because you know you're not their friend, you're their boss and you know this Niger. Now we don't take talking back. Very likely in this part of the world, like I'm paying your salary, I say A, you say B. Like on top what? So that kind of thing. By the way, establish some sort of relationship.

You will be able to have sales, personal development conversations and all those sorts of things. So let's move on beyond that. That's for those of you who have 23456 employees. Get to know your people. So let's have some words now on bonuses and other incentives and how that affects morale motivation. Because I've spoken about salary structure, you know, 100% Commission or not, and then variable compensation. That's a base, the, you know,

some monthly stipend or something then plus plus a percentage just to reward you. But there are some other things in between and that is where bonuses and incentives come in. So there are short term bonuses traditionally that people use, you know, based on how you perform monthly or quarterly or yearly. So OK, let me go back to the insurance thing. So like with in the insurance, that's, that's typically how it's done.

So you're meeting your quota and everything. But if you're performing at a certain level quarterly, there's some things you'll be getting yearly at the end of the year where they fly everybody to Lagos, especially the top performance or fly to Abuja or wherever your headquarters is. There will also be some bonuses as well. Then let's see, OK, There are also long term incentives, like really, really long term incentives.

But that is for big organizations where they say, OK, you know what, we've been very good in Port Harcourt. We now want to enter this Abuja market. You know, Abuja, that's where all the ministers are, the politicians. So there's money that we now have to enter Abuja market. You now start giving people long term incentives like OK, if we enter Abuja in the next one year or two years, if we're able to acquire this number of clients or to corner this part of the city or to do this or to do this real but really long term stuff,

then this is what we're going to do. You know, you'll be given this as a salary or you'll be given, I don't know, official car or whatever, but this is long term stuff. So all these bonuses and all these sorts of things, they can. OK, one more thing, team bonuses. Now, this is not something I have seen working in Nigeria, but it's stuff that I have heard a lot about. So I'm confessing now, I have not seen mine eyes, have not seen team bonuses in Nigeria,

but I have heard that they do this in the UK and in America. And this is where basically the goal is on the team. So if all of us, all of you know, you fall as a team, you will hit this then, you know, 250K go and share among yourself, that sort of thing. Yeah. If any of you have worked in organisations in Nigeria where they used teen bonuses as part of the motivation framework, please let me know. Reach out to me. My contact details will be at the end of the show.

I'd like to hear what scheme your company used and what your experience was. So also I can go and share with other people listening to the show because in Niger, typically it's it's every man for himself. So yeah, we all come, we all have the sales meeting. You try and motivate everybody, but then every man for himself, you finish the meeting. You know, Shade will go and sell how she wants to sell. Kundi will go and sell how he wants to sell.

Abdul Kadir will go and sell how he wants to sell. If Abdul Kadir and Kemi think that they can collaborate on some things and improve their chances, you know, but that's more like an inside thing amongst them. But let's see how if it's possible or what Nigerian companies have done on team bonuses then even though salespeople are supposed to be money motivated, I am very money motivated. I'm glad I know myself as I need the money.

But money is not just the only part of the equation. So people are also motivated by recognition. So sometimes a quiet conversation where you pull somebody and say, you know, Abdul Kadir, good job. That deal that you brought, like Omar, we were or in a tight spot, nothing that you brought that deal that you brought not for him. Nice one, nice one, nice one. He's going to keep the company going for a while. And while you saved us, you're a treasurer, correct guy.

The simple conversation like that is enough to motivate some people. Although my wife says, you know, to hell recognition, give me the money. So that's what my wife says, although to be honest, I think she's a recognition person herself because wife is very cerebral and like most professional women, they have a personal or professional stake, you know, and how it is that they perform. So the whole thing of, you know, you're capable, you're intelligence, you're driven, you have done a good job, you have saved the department.

Things go a long way like that to those those sorts of individuals and those sorts of women. So let's remember recognition, so publicly acknowledge people when they perform well. So publicly, you know, that works. But like I said, calling somebody outside for a chat to say, you know, my guy, you saved us. That's that also works. Then in the West, you know, America, USA, there's trips and prices like, OK, you've done well.

Take this card, you know, or take this trip, travel here, travel here, go on by this, go on by that. I haven't heard of Nigerian companies doing that. So if you've worked with a company while you were in the sales role and this is how they motivated you guys, you know, maybe like you did well and they say, correct, you and your wife take this flight. We should go and enjoy in Ubudu cattle ranch, that sort of thing. If you receive those sorts of things, reach out to me.

Contact details at the end of the show so I can come back here make a follow up episode to say that yeah, these are the ways that Nigerian companies are motivating their their staff. So tips and prizes. I'm going to do some work with a custom bag manufacturing in Abuja on October 1st. They're doing like a staff retreat. So I guess it could be one of these things so it's a staff retreat and training. I'm going to come and talk to them about the, you know, team cohesion and how every, every single, how everybody's work,

every, every departments work in the business creates a healthier business, a much more profitable business as a whole. So that'll be the whole point of the talk. But then, you know, of course there'll be plenty of shops, plenty of relaxation. The office is going to be closed that day. It's not going to be any work. So I guess we can say it's that sort of thing, even though no prices are going to be given out and even though it's not going to be a trip because everybody will be out of the office, but.

It's not a trip. So yeah, those sorts of things are there. Then you can also motivate your sales staff by investing in their professional development. So invest in their training. And to be honest, I'm not sure if Nigerian employees value this because, you know, currently we have hyperinflation right now. So there's some people who will be like, look, just give me the money. I know this for, OK, I was going to say I know this for a fact,

but let me not say I know this for a fact. This is like my own guess from the outside looking in. So it looks like in the civil service professional development works well, but that is because The thing is tied to Ester code. You know, you will go and do professional development something, something, something, OK, the training is in Lagos, so we'll pay you, you know, go and book hotel, go and this go and that. And then the person will try and see how they can save some money on the whole thing.

And then if it's foreign training, you know, even better, they'll collect the money in hard dollars and they will try and see how much they can save when they go for these sorts of things. So professional development schemes, civil service, Yeah, it seems to motivate them a lot. Although I hear from the outside that, you know, they've now turned it into a sort of how they put it that is not tied to performance, but basically like people that you want to, you want to settle your guys.

And that's what you do, you know, but doesn't it's not really tied to how people perform anyway. So those are just some thoughts around this whole thing about professional development, but I think you should be investing in the training and development opportunities for your staff. And this is the reason why while your staff are with you, if they're not trained up, they're not going to do a good job. Your business is going to suffer.

There is that fear that if you train them up, they're going to leave. Well, you have some bad news for you, dear business owner. And The thing is, everybody leaves. Well, not everybody, but most people leave. So whether you train them or not, they're going to leave. So I think you might as well just train them so that they can be the most effective that they are right now. But then again, you know the kind of people that you have.

And that's the reason why I say that when it comes to hiring salespeople, we don't look at CV. We first of all have people who hear word. Somebody who used to hear word is the person that can take advantage of professional development opportunities. Somebody who does not hear word, who thinks that they already know what's up and and who thinks you can't tell them anything. It doesn't matter how many trainers you bring in, The thing is not going to shift gang as in nothing will happen.

So let's make sure that we're hiring the right people from the gecko and let's see what else Professional development. OK, I didn't consider the sales cycle and how complex that the product is. So traditionally when you have people dealing with a short sales cycle, then just make this thing purely based Commission. So if you deals that can close shop, shop, shop, shop, you know, close on a daily or close on a weekly, just leave this thing 100% Commission will be a whole lot simpler to do it that way.

But therefore long sales cycles, then it now makes sense to combine the base plus Commission. So for those of us who tried selling insurance and financial products, you know, that's the reason why it's base plus Commission because you don't want to talk to somebody on Monday and then close the deal on Friday, get them to buy insurance. So most likely you talk to the person, you know, week 1 and maybe in week 12 something happens.

But you understand that between week 1 and week 12, this guy that is doing the selling or this babe that is doing the selling, you know, she needs to fuel her car, brush her teeth, make hair, you know, buy food, all these sorts of things. So that's why in that space, it's base plus something. So it is base. The 5050 K every month or the hundred 100K every month is not supposed to improve your life. It's just to make sure that you get to work, your clothes are clean, you brush your teeth, you don't die of hunger.

Then the rest is up to you. If you do well, the money will go up. If you do Poly, you stay where you are with that base. If you don't bring anything for three months, manager and I'll call you and say, look man, we're paying 5050 K every month for the last four months, you haven't brought in a single or something. So boy, how far shape up or get out. So the sales cycle, the length of the sales cycle and then and how complex the product is determines, also determines whether you're going to do 100%

Commission or this whole base base salary or base money or stipend, you know, plus incentive to perform. Then one thing that I want to restate that I've put said in all the episodes that I want to stay again, just in case it's your first time listening to the podcast and you're a business owner and you're thinking about these sorts of things when it comes to reviewing and adjusting the plan because everybody will review and adjust because you know, you're not good.

You don't know what's going to happen. So you have a plan that seems to work for now. Then the president comes in and makes an announcement, fuel prices triple and I guess the plan doesn't work anymore. So you have to review that plan because when you do that, cost of business goes up. You might not be able to increase the price immediately. So the big, big money you are paying your people before, I guess you might not be able to pay them again.

So if before what you are giving them was above every one M, you give them 20% and then president comes in, makes his policy change, it will not be harsh because you can't really increase your prices, double or triple your prices. So sad to say, but this is 1 area where the business will now try and save costs, you know, so, So if you have to review or adjust the plan, do this sparingly because some people just just be reviewing anyhow.

Because I've heard of some companies where you review it in January, then in March you're reviewing, then in June you're reviewing. I mean, before the years of reviews, like four or five times. Nothing really messes with sales people because sales is hard. And if somebody's working now and he's used to this 20 percent, 20%, the guy's counting on that 20%. The baby's counting on this 20%. Like, you know, she needs to pay her rent.

She's counting on that 20%. So if the time comes and she's expecting to see that, check for 20%. But what entered her account was 9% or 12%. It affects it affects motivation and people's ability to perform. So don't just be flip flopping and be changing the thing anyhow, also let people know what's up. Give them a heads up. So, you know, president comes in, makes the announcement. You know, you give people a heads up at the Monday meeting,

like, OK, we're here, blah, blah, blah. You guys heard what happened. We'll have to increase our prices. We'll not be able to triple it. But I'm suspecting that, you know, we have to make some changes in the future. I might have to look at those compensation again. But let's just use this next like one month, two months. Let's see how the numbers pan out. You've had that meeting, you've told them so in February when you now come to say, OK, you know what, this 20%, I can't be giving you guys this 20% anymore and I'll be giving you guys 8%

or something. You've given people time. It's not a surprise. You don't look like a thief or a non serious person and you've created an atmosphere where you guys start having those difficult conversations so that if somebody says, if somebody wants to say I can't deal, you know, you guys will be able to end your relationship on an amicable basis. So give people a heads up that the conversation structure is about to change and always try and explain, explain the changes not just from the point of view of the business, but from the point of view of the people, the sales team as well.

So there are some companies during COVID, for instance, where they had to have that conversation. Like, look, I know I've been paying you guys on X percent, but this is what is happening. Excuse me, this is what is happening. Because of COVID, profit has gone down. I can't keep all of you on Salario. So if we're going to keep everybody, then you know, the base, the base might have to drop. After all, we're working from home now.

So let's just drop the base by this amount and you know, you have that conversation basically. So from business point of view, this is what we're seeing. Then also from their own point of view, because some people also value job security. So it's a, it is a legitimate conversation to have that. Look, if I'm going to keep paying people with this 2020%, I'm not going to be able to keep all of you. So here's the reason why I'm making these changes.

But summary what I've been saying on the podcast and I'm repeating again, pay people when you promise to pay them and then pay them as you promised to pay them. Don't be changing from month to month and from quarter to quarter. So whatever you said, if you said 19th of every month, pay them 19th of every month. If there's going to be a problem and you can't make 19th of every month, don't tell them on the 17th. It really messes with sales people's motivation.

You let them know as soon as you think you have a problem. Now look, you know what I know normally it's 19th, 19th more more this month it will be like 23rd, 25th. Have that conversation. Let's see what else. OK, so for those of you who are new to the show, maybe you haven't gotten a sense of what it is that we're talking about. Let me just give an example. So you could hire a salesperson and part of the conversation will be like, look, your base salary that we're giving you is five M every year.

So that means monthly is, you know, you work out however five M every year. How much the monthly is however, well when we give you 5% on all sales, so your size 5M per year, but if in a year you bring in 20 M in sales, then you know, do the math 5% on that 20 M, you know, prorated on a monthly basis, that's how much the guy or the people we collecting and you also tell them and on top of that we have quarterly bonus. So, so we'll be meeting every 3,

three months, you know, so we will meet in January, we'll meet in April, we'll meet in whatever. Then you might get 10% of your base salary if you exceed this number of things. So if you get this number of clients or you get this number of deals, they will now give you 10% or that your base salary that's of the five M. And then remember how we're talking about bonuses and things like that, OK, that's quarterly bonus. Then you know, some people might even add annual bonuses, OK, at the end of the year if you exceed so, so, so and so, we'll also not give you 20% on top.

So you see how that's basically the kind of thing that we've been talking about over here. So when it comes to people who work in accounting department or marketing department, their salary is their salary. If what you told them was 5 M, then they're collecting 5M full stop, nothing more. But then for the sales people, you see how there's some ginger like, OK, I'm collecting 5 now 5 is not is not sweet because times are hard.

But if I do well, I'll give extra 10% on all that. And then this quarterly thing, if I'm able to kill it between January and February, that means I'll be able to collect another 10% on MI5M. And you now see how sales teams start planning around these sorts of things, you know. So how can I hit it hard this time? How can I do it like this? How can I exceed this? How can I exceed that? So that's the whole game basically about how we keep sales team sales people motivated.

An additional tip, keep it simple, keep it easy to understand because many things can be hard. I'm not a math person and I would like when I was with insurance company, I was, it was overwhelming the amount of math that you have to know to know how much you're going to be paid. You know, this percentage of this and have this on this and this will be berated by this. And I'm like, like, I just want to sell like, why are we like,

what's with the marker and then the board? And then you write the formula and I'm like, I beg. It's much. So keep it simple. Let people be able to understand. Don't, don't I know for you accounting people and tax people and everything, yes, you will have to keep things very, very precise, but just keep it simple for the sales people to understand. Then communicate it clearly, communicate it regularly. Make sure everybody understands the plan and how it works.

So at that first Monday meeting, explain. In February. At the next Monday meeting, explain. In March, explain. I know after a while it might look as if you're over explaining what really is important. People really need to know how they are paid. What's the formula? When everything. So repeat it every now and then. Make sure it's a simple formula then. OK. Competition. Yeah, I forgot competition. Sometimes it also depends you're entering the space, how much is the competition paying other people and how sometimes that is also a factor if you want to make sure that you're not overpaying people or sometimes if you want to steal talent because like, well, my mom worked for Globe Global com.

That was the thing that I didn't know the the fellow who owns globe. That was something he used to do very well. So if everybody is paying so, so, so amount, but he wants to attract a particular person, like this person is talented. Maybe the person works from MTN or something, you know, the offer would be this is what they used to pay you. We're now matching this and we're adding plus this. And that's how he would end up getting people to work for his competition.

And so I work for him and the other businesses who do that sort of thing. So if they're paying sales people in all other places 1010 K as base, you know, you can enter into the market and say, OK, base with my own company is going to be 20 K. And the idea is that you should be able to get sales people who work for the competition to rush and then come and start selling for you. So if any of these things that I've spoken about so far sound overwhelming for you, the business owner, yes, it can be overwhelming.

So that is the reason why I should be talking to someone with sales management expertise. It also is the reason why I keep saying that to build a successful business, it is a team effort. You can't run everything by yourself. There's some things you know, there's some things that you're good at. You don't know everything. You're not good at everything. So we need a team. So start getting ready. If you're not at this stage yet,

start getting ready. Eventually you're going to need somebody in your corner who has some sort of management expertise, general management expertise or sales management expertise. So that's it for today. Connect with me on LinkedIn. The name to look for is Tabishima Ayede. I'm the host of the show The spelling of my name. You can get it from the link where you're listening to this episode. So highlight, copy, paste it in LinkedIn.

You see my handsome face. Just connect and we can have a chat and also connect with me on WhatsApp. The phone number is 08064662140. The country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian. And don't fret if I don't respond to you within an hour or two. You know things can get kind of busy but last last 48 hours. I respond to everybody. So thanks for the time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.