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Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishima Ayede. I saw sales and marketing challenges and I'm making today's recording outside church because my kids are at catechism classes. Now. The point of this podcast is not to tell you about my church or my kids. We're here for all matters business education. So please spread the word so that friends and family members in Nigeria and abroad can benefit from the questions that we tackle.
They can do that by subscribing on Spotify, YouTube, Apple or any player of their choice. And if you'd love to connect, you can call SMS or WhatsApp me on 080646621400. Yeah, by the way, it's raining outside. Just, you know, in case the extra noise case, it sounds extra noisy today. So today on the podcast, I want us to look at how to sell in urban areas, how that's different from trying to sell in rural areas. Again, I repeat the question for today, how to sell in urban areas versus selling in rural areas.
And I don't think that's a question that we've tackled before. I'm sorry, one moment. Let me just wind up the windows because this rain is getting real heavy. OK, Sorry about that. I have wound up the windows and hopefully I should be OK by any this the first time for everything. This is the first time I've had to record in the rain. So hopefully the audio is going to be good enough because I've never had to do a retake before.
So anyway, let's get straight into it. So how to sell in the urban area versus selling in the rural areas? How are they different? Now I'm going to go back and restate one principle that I keep talking about all of the time. Whenever you're faced with these sorts of questions. How do you sell in America? How do you sell in Nigeria? How do you sell in the village? How do you sell in Swahili land? How do you sell in South Africa?
How do you sell in the North Pole? How do you sell in? I mean, whatever question it is, the guiding principles that we're going to use will always be the same. Let me repeat, we're human beings. So long as human beings are the same and so long as you know, we keep on, I'll put it sales is a system. It just means that there are different parts that work together, but they work together generally in the same sort of way.
That's the reason why you can have economic principles, for instance, which will kind of guess that if you do this in America, it might work this way. If you do this in Nigeria, it might work the other way is because we're human beings and what might be complex, but you can get some rough and ready simple principles that guide human behaviour. So in a sense, selling in town, selling in village, selling in America, selling in Nigeria, in a sense, it will all be the same.
However, there will be some contextual differences that means you will emphasize some things over another or that you will do one thing before you do another. So the order might change and the emphasis might change, but the principles will always remain the same. So I always like to take you from that level. So the best way to think about different selling situations is to think about the level of complexity involved in the sale or the level of simplicity that is involved in the sale.
Let me repeat, whether you're thinking about how to sell in America, in Nigeria, in Cuba, in South Africa, in Abuja, in the Villa, in Yobe, in Bauchi, in Cross River, we have to think about the level of complexity first or the level of simplicity before we look into other things. Oh, sorry, hold on, a phone call is coming in. Let me just have a look. OK, Sorry about that. Just had to mute. I'll call the fellow. I'll call the fellow back.
OK, where was I? So we have to think about the level of complexity or the simplicity first. That is what is going to guide how it is that we're going to sell. Now, the level of complexity or simplicity. Sorry, 1 moment. OK, sorry about that. The fellow called again. OK, I guess I have to make this a short episode so I can get back to him. So no one is going to determine the level of complexity. How complex is this situation or how simple is this situation #1
is going to be the number of parties that are involved? Are you trying to sell to only one person? Are you trying to sell to five people or are you trying to sell to 10 people? This matters because you're trying to sell to one person. It's easy If you're trying to sell to husband and wife together, it gets a little harder. If you're trying to sell to a brother and sister team and the brother and sister have to come up with their uncles or their aunties, it gets a little bit more more complex.
So I hope you see where I'm heading with this. The more parties that you have, the more complex the sale is becoming. So we have to look at how complex is this situation. So that's why I hope you guys can see that it's not a matter of am I in Township or am I in village, That will now determine how I will sell. So whether you're in Township or whether you're in village or whether you're in Washington, DC, start thinking first.
Complexity, simplicity, how many parties are involved in this sale? Those are the things that will now determine how you start moving forward. Small, small, small, small. If it's one person, you arrange yourself one way. If it is husband and wife, you arrange yourself another way. If there are 12 people that are involved in taking the decision. And yes, that situation can arise because think about it for land deals here, if you want to sell, buy or sell land in, let's say, my part of the my part of the country, Benoit State, you know, of course, you do all the normal and necessary things.
But it's not unusual that the person that you're talking to might have to discuss with his brothers and sisters first. Maybe there are six of them. The person you're talking with is the oldest child. Before he would sell the land, he would talk to his brothers or sisters. Let's say they are 6. And then they might decide that, you know what, let's comes up with four or five of our uncles and aunties. You can see that, you know, one piece of land.
We're already talking about the involving like 11-12 parties. So these things happen. So the number of parties involved. Then we also have to think about the subject matter. How simple is the subject matter and how complex is the subject matter? For the purpose of today's podcast, every time we hear complex or simple, it just means how many moving parts are there. Some things have very little moving parts. So it's not, it's not a big problem selling bread.
Bread is not a problem because bread only has one moving part. Bread is meant to be eaten. That's all you take it, you put in your mouth. It's very simple. There's no complexity there. A car on the other hand, now that's some level of complexity. Yes, the car is meant to move you from here to there, but it has a steering system, it has a fuel system, it has an electrical system, it has a hydraulic system and at every single point in those systems something could go wrong.
So somebody who is going to buy a car is considering all these things. Is it brand new? Is it from the factory? Is it accidental? Is it Sweden second hand? You know, all these sorts of things. Or is it Niger fairly used because they're trying to gauge the level of complexity. How old is this car? Who used it? How well has it been used? How badly has it been used? Because it is a fairly complex process and things can go wrong at every single step of the stage.
So we should be looking at the subject matter. Is it simple or is it complex? So I hope you guys are beginning to see it's not a matter of am I in village or am I in Township, That should determine. Then we also have to look at the cost or the price, cheap things, and it's not hard to sell whether you're in the village or in the Township. So selling bread in the village or selling bread in Township is relatively easy.
Selling Okada in Township and selling Okada in the village. When I saw Okada, I mean you know, commercial motorbikes, well, you can see things are getting a little complex here, but arguably maybe the price sensitivity of people in Township will be different from the price sensitivity of people in the village. You know, people in the village will be much more price sensitive. So that's what you should be looking at. Then we also should be looking at the sales cycle.
Sales cycle just means traditionally how long does it take to sell XYZ. So for bread sales cycle for bread is sharp seconds and most maybe minutes somebody walks into the store, they see all the bread that you have there and they say, how much is this one? This one is a 2/5 per loaf. How much is this one? This one is 1/2 per loaf. It's OK. This one that is 1/2 give me 3 loaves and then they go. You can see that the sales cycle is straight to the point.
Then there are some other things that the sales cycle is protracted like let's go back to the car thing. Somebody will hit you up on Instagram and say, do you have Honda Civic 2000 and 2025 model? You say, yes, I have Do you have it in blue color? Do you have some some something How much is the price? You, you know, you chat and it was OK, where's your car lot? We tell them to say, OK, I'm coming, I'll come and see you on Monday.
Maybe they don't show up on Monday, the show on Wednesday. You guys talk a bit and they say I'm coming, let me think about it. They leave. One week has passed. Next week they come back with their wife. They look at the car again, maybe they test drive it and they say, you know what, let me come with my mechanic. They leave. Week 2 has passed to come up with a mechanic. Mechanic will look at it as well. Mechanic might drive it up and down, you know, come back hurdle about some warranty, Something,
something, something, something, you know, they leave, maybe they will come back. Week 4 has passed. So before you know it, now selling a car. Now the sales cycle for selling a car could be, you know, one month, maybe a month and a half, you know, I don't know, I'm not in the car space. But you can see that everything has its own sales cycle and that will determine how you pace yourself and how you follow up. So if it is for the sale of bread that the sale cycle is a few seconds or a few minutes,
you can follow up with people, shop, shop. You can tell somebody that, look, Bros, this thing is not rocket science. It's just bread. Now, if you want to buy bread, you know, pick one and pay. If you don't want to buy bread, please just move. People are standing at the back, let them come and buy. So you can be that brush when it comes to selling bread. But if it comes to the sale of car, on the other hand, you know, you can't just be close marking people anyhow because it's a fairly complex thing and traditionally normally the thing has its own long sales cycle.
Then of course, you also have to look at the level of risk or the level level of perceived risk. Perceived risk just means the level of risk that the person feels is involved in this thing and then the level of actual risk, like back to the bread thing. I mean, you know, there's no risk involved in the bread. Now, of course bread is bread, they'll bite, they'll eat it. But therefore the car, the person will be thinking, OK,
this thing is a Niger fairly used. That means if you would have received some rough treatment, the car sounds OK, the braking system sounds OK, but we don't know about the fuel system or maybe the electrical. You know, they'll be thinking about all kinds of things because perceived risk is high that if I carry 14 M and give this person and carry this car and then tomorrow we hit the road and then the sump drops out of the car.
For instance, you know, they won't give me my money back. I now have to take the money to fix the sample and you know, of course buyer beware, like you examine the car you came with the mechanic. So you know you bought it, you bought it. So these are all the things that are going through it. So before you start asking yourself how do I sell in village, how do I sell in Township, how do I sell in city, how do I sell in Europe, how do I sell in South Africa?
Be thinking about the level of complexity or the level of simplicity that is involved. How many people am I going to be talking to? Is the subject matter simple or complex? Am I dealing with something cheap or am I dealing with something expensive? Am I dealing with something luxury? What's the sales cycle like? And then what is the level of risk that is involved? So these are the things that you look at first first, first,
before you start talking about culture, before you start talking about context, before you start talking about interpersonal relationships, inter religious relationships or intercultural dynamics. You look at these principles first, first. Now, This is why, because the more complex something is, you have to be consultative in your sales approach. Let me repeat, the more complex something is, you have to be consultative.
Pretend to be a doctor. Whenever I say consultative on this podcast, I mean just pretend that you are a doctor because when you walk into a doctor's consulting room, the doctor does not say, OK, welcome young man. What we're going to do is we're going to take malaria and we're going to take malaria medicine. And then tomorrow you come for surgery and then we'll cut off your testicles. No, the doctor doesn't say that. The doctor will ask you some questions 1st and you will go into family history and everything.
And the doctor might say, OK, you know what, we will give you malaria medicine now and paracetamol for the pain. But ultimately what you have is cancer of the lower region. So we have to cut off your testicles. Now you can see that the recommendation is the same. Panadol plus malaria medicine plus they castrate you. But the consultative way, you have more faith in the doctor, OK, that this doctor knows what he's thinking because he asked me some questions.
You even want to go and do second opinion first because nobody would take castration that likely. At least no man will take castration that likely. OK. So when I say be consultative, I mean just pretend that you're a doctor. It doesn't matter what you do. Even if you're a Carpenter, you can't pretend to be a doctor or Madam. I want a carpet or a Carpenter. Yes, Ma, Come. Come to the house. OK. What am I? OK, Ma, what do you want to do?
I want to do a table. You don't just say OK table. That is 150 K. You ask questions. OK, Madam, the table you want us to make, is it center table or dining table or dressing table for your room? It is dressing table. OK. No problem, Madam. No, Vex, I bet. Can I go and see the space inside the room where you're going to put the table? You'll help me come up with some designs and, you know, some things like that. OK, no problem.
To send somebody to go and tidy up the room. Then you go inside and then you have a look. So, Madam, where do you want the table to be? Do you want it to be next to this window or do you want it to be here? She said I wanted to be here. Oh, Madam, actually, it would have been best if The thing is next to the window because this electrical lighting doesn't look too good. But if it's next to the window, you'll be able to see your face well.
You'll be able to apply your makeup well. Very nice and very cool. It's OK. No problem. OK, So based on the space that I'm seeing. OK. What else are you going to put on this thing? We'll have one drawer. One drawer before makeup. OK, Madam, let me see your makeup bag. Let me see your makeup. Whatever. We'll put makeup. We'll put what else? Toiletry. We'll put, you know, every, every. She will describe everything that she wants to put inside.
It is then you'll not be able to give a quote. No, Madam, based on what you've said for the table that will be here, these are the dimensions. If I went to pull drawer, based on what I'm looking at, we'll have to put like 5-6 drawer. So based on that, everything now this thing is going to cost 150K for this table. You can see that in either case, the recommendation is the same. It is still 150K. But the second way where you pretend to be a doctor, when you try to be consultative, you can see that you are giving some more, I'll put it, give some some credence to the process.
It makes you much more believable when you go the consultative route when you pretend to be a doctor. So every time I say consultative, I mean pretend to be a doctor. So the more complex the sales process is, pretend that you're a doctor. Just carry it as if you're a medical doctor. If there's more than one party, if it is a complex subject matter, if The thing is expensive, if it has a long sales cycle and people feel as if, man, if I drop money and this thing doesn't work out, you know, voila, yard.
Then pretend that you're a doctor. The more simple something is just go straight to the point. So my favorite example, a goosey. If you're daily darling woman can't tell you that. Look boss, are you buying this thing or not? If you want to buy, I've told you that One Cup of goosey is 3/5 how many cups do you want? If you're not buying, please leave. Let somebody come out open market. The reason why they can't be that straight to the point is because it is a very simple sales scenario.
So the more complex it is, be consultative, pretend you're a doctor, the more simple the sales scenario is. Be straight to the point. I don't beat about the Bush. You know who has time to waste? Now with that in mind, we can now start discussing some of the differences between urban and rural settings, the difference between city and Township, the difference between selling in Abuja central area and maybe selling in Maraba or warehouse or yeah, OK, no Maraba and yeah,
that's still Township. I'll be how will I put it now, difference between selling in in Victoria Island versus selling in Ikorodu. I know that Ikorodu is still Township, but I mean, I hope you guys get what it is I'm trying to say. So now start looking at some of those differences. But remember, the overriding principle first of all would be how simple is the situation? How simple or how complex is this selling situation?
Then let's see. Oh, sorry, the rain didn't turn out to be as hot as I thought. Sorry, one moment. Let me just wind down the window. I'll be back. OK, I'm back. I just had to wind down the windows because was getting hot in the car. The rain didn't rain didn't fall like I thought it was going to fall. So where were we? So now that we've looked at the principle, which is how simple or how complex, when I would start looking at differences between urban and rural settings.
So First off, income, we'll have to look at that or purchasing behavior. By the way, as we're talking about these things, I hope you realize that we're just making some simple assumptions. So I'm as I'm just assuming because it's possible that somebody who is in the village can be, you know, a guaranteed odogo, as in the guy has like box like plenty of money. But then the person who is staying in the village. So a person who is staying in Township can be broke as hell because yes, these things happen.
You know, like back when I schooled in Iffair, there are lots of people who have country villas in Iffair. They build, you know, because ordinarily you say Iffair is a small town or some parts of Ilay fair. You will say it's village, village setting, but somebody who is a certified big boy, you know, somebody who has lived in America, was worked with WHO, UNICEF, you know, all these things, you know, and you know, they come back to retire and then they build a nice Chateau or build a nice, you know,
whatever it is, you call it holiday residence, you know. So now one is still is rural setting. Abbey is village setting. But in that case, the person has bar, the person has serious bar. So you can see that why I say it's not a matter of, you know, urban versus rural. We have to be thinking of some things on a small, small level, figure out the principles first. So I'm making some assumptions here. So ordinarily now urban areas and rural settings, there's a difference in income, there's a difference in purchasing behavior or disposable income.
You know, those are trying to say that all things being equal, normally people in Township, they have more money. Now people in the village, please, when I talk like this, I am not trying to say that people in the village are not are less than or not equal to people in Township. I'm not trying to say that people in village are lesser than or lower status or so. Please do not quote me out of context whenever I talk about these things.
I'm just trying to talk about socio economic realities. It is what it is. I'm not saying that people in Township are better than people in the village. Please, nobody should misquote me. So on the normal level, people who live in city center have more money to waste than people who live at home in the village. So because of that, because of that, now when you're dealing with urban people at the price conscious in a way, but not in a very drastic way like somebody in town can be thinking that the difference between something that cost 2005 and the thing that cost 2008, for somebody in the in the Township, that's not a problem. 2000 and five, 2008,
yeah, it's not really, it's not really a big deal. So let me just take the offer to it. Maybe because it tastes better or it smells better. But for somebody who is in the village, the difference between 2005 and 2008 is a big deal. Most likely they will pick the 1425 because the person in the village is thinking or more which one is most affordable or which one will meet my basic needs. And because of that, surprisingly, village people are very brand conscious.
So in town you can introduce a new brand of soap and this and this and that and that. And you know, a Township person, that's OK, let me try this, your new soap. But in the village, no, that's not the case. If in that village they've been using or more for the last three generations and always all they know, you best believe that if they go to the market, all they will buy is Omo. Because money is gas. They don't have money to waste.
They don't want to F up and buy a brand of soap and at the end of the day, the soap will not now come and be washing as good as what they're used to. So surprisingly village people can be brand conscious, loyal because money is gas. They're just trying to meet their basic needs so they will stick to the brand that they know, which is the reason why when people are launching new soap, new butter, new whatever, you launch it in Township first.
You launch it in the city first. Let the thing gain some currency there. Let the thing be around for a while, you know, build some notoriety before the thing can now start spreading to villages. Small, small, small then. OK, so that's one of the differences now in income or yeah, in income purchasing behaviour, how people buy disposable income. Then they also have some preferences in in the urban sector, urban centers in Township.
People don't mind modern retail and diverse options. You know much is the whole thing about soap. I say soap, soap, soap and biscuit and all what not. You know, you walk in there and you know, it's crazy. Like you walk into a place like Grand Square, you go to the to the detergent section, you can walk to like 25 different kinds of soap. I mean, for me, The thing is overwhelming. Like I just want to wash clothes. I mean, so many brands.
It's overwhelming. But that's what you do in urban setting. Kill them with options. Try and make things as convenient as possible. Do you have foreign goods? Show it. Try and be aspirational, you know. So put one more there, no problem. But next to all more you also put what are these foreign brands now? OK, Ariel is not foreign anymore because we have Ariel. Let's see what else and but you understand what I mean. So you put one more there, you put Ariel there, then the washing up liquid for France,
you put it there. The one from Belgium, put it there, the one from America, put it there. Just keep them with options, let them choose. That's what you do in the Township. But then when it comes to rural areas, it's all about essentials, essential goods, essential services. So in the rural areas, you put Omo and you put what? Again? There'll be Omo, there'll be geek, Geek is beach. And once again, as in straight to the .23 brands, straight to the point.
Let them come in, see price, buy and then leave. Then in urban centres, the marketing strategies are different. You can do for urban centres, you can do digital first influencer campaigns. You can try and use social trends to sort of social trends, yes, social media trends in your marketing and advertising, you know, things like that. But then when it comes to rural areas, your marketing strategies are going to be built around affordability, reliability, you know, affordability, you know,
is this thing cost effective reliability, this thing that you're going to buy, will it get the job done? Is it going to break down? Is it going to work? You know, things like that. Then of course, you focus on traditional driven media. That's one thing I found really, really interesting. That's back when I was in uni university, there was a session I was organized by, I think back then they used to be called Equinet, I think was Equinet wireless.
And so the session where the person was in charge of their marketing was talking about how the broke into Northern Nigeria. So not equinet 9 mobile, yes, 9 mobile I heard so how they broke into northern Nigeria. And I'm surprised to hear the organ of marketing talking about how for them, radio was a key tool for penetrating the North. And I was shocked. I said radio. I mean, now things are much more, much more modern, you know.
But you know, back then, that's the thing about modernity. Whenever you're living in a time, you think you're living in the modern ages. So even back then, no, as a young university, somebody, Abby, wasn't in secondary school. No, no, more like university. I was thinking, how can somebody say that you're launching a product and you're using radio in this day and age? And the guy broke it down for us. You know, they did the normal campaigns that you needed to do.
Social media was not really a thing then, you know, Yes, there was Facebook, you know, so they did all the other stuff. But they had a problem cracking the North was not until somebody on the team said, look, we're trying to crack the North. And, you know, radio is a big thing in the North. They say, Are you sure? They say yes. And so they tried it and then they cracked it. They cracked the code because up north, lots of people still listen on radio.
And when the guy put it like that, I was like, OK, kind of makes sense because, you know, for cultural reasons, I don't know, maybe you're about people don't carry radio up and down. But I heard stories about my grandfather and how he used to listen to the radio early in the morning. And then, you know, how some people have this thing of what's it called, you know, this Voice of Nigeria, this Voice of Nigeria, this Voice of Africa,
BBC and all these other radio programs that transmits and in the House of language and then things like that. So there are lots of people that do the radio thing. And so radio advertising was one way that they used to break into the northern market. And I thought, wow, interesting. Interesting. So there's still a space for traditional, traditional media. And by the way, that's the reason why I'm doing this experiment with my own radio show.
So don't forget, at the end of a year, I'll come and let you guys know that. OK, I've been doing this radio thing for a year. This is how it panned out. You know, this is what has been good or this is what has been bad. So what was I? Yeah, I lost my train of thought anyway, so I was talking about marketing strategies now for urban and then rural areas. But when it comes to rural areas, your marketing has to be community driven.
You know, you have to try and, excuse me, you have to try and achieve a certain level of trust then. So these are sorts of things that we're trying to juggle. So in other words, if you're in a rural setting, right, don't just think, OK, these are villagers. Let me just come in here and bamboozle them. Now that's that's not good. If you're in the village setting, ask yourself, is this simple or complex? If it is simple, then go ahead,
bamboozle them. But by the way, I really do not advocate for those kinds of things. You should respect our customers all the time and we should deal with people as if they're human beings. This is not a good idea to go out, right people, just because you feel as if, you know, you're a fine boy, you're a sharp girl, or you're educated and you know, they are plebeians, you know, they are low class or whatever. Social history people will respect.
But if it's a simple sales scenario, then yes, you can go get straight to the point and, you know, just get in, get out. But if it is complex, even if you're in the village setting, you have to ask yourselves, how many parties are we dealing here? What is the subject matter? How long is this sales cycle going to be? You know, stuff like that. So if you're dealing with complex parties, don't rush. If you're sorry, if you're dealing with multiple parties,
don't rush. Slow things down. Figure out the figure out the DMU, that's decision making unit, how people come into decisions. Like I've told you this whole thing of buying land, that is why buying land, this land issue causes problem in Lagos and those areas. And then also in, you know, some areas where we still have some, you know, traditional values, you know, Ben Ray, NASAR, Teraba all decide this why land can cause serious problem.
You will go there, the person will say this is my land. You will agree you transfer money. After you transfer, by the time you come and lay block, people will now show up and say we are sons of the soil. The problem is not that the guy was shady. Maybe the guy was shady. But The thing is you did not do the research. You did not try and figure out the decision making unit. You did not try and figure out the number of parties to the deal.
It is your problem. It is your fault. You didn't ask some questions now, OK, yes, I like the land, the everything. I can see the sea of old blah, blah, blah. But Bros, you know, normally you know where Nigerians now. So when these kind of things are about to happen, you know, you know, normally they inform family head or inform this or that that that. I mean, so like, has that been done or is that your boost culture? Is that how you do things in this part of the world?
As in you ask, ask yourself, You said OK, we've done, we're going to go and meet the Yes, we've spoken with the family head. All is good. Everything or whatnot, you know, you also stylishly, you know, try and be wise now it's OK. Oh, no problem. No problem. I'll transfer the money on Wednesday. But you know what? I'm coming into town again on Monday. When I come, just take me, let me go and greet Baba. I just want to go and tell him thank you.
This is part of your investigation. You're trying to shine your eyes. You're trying to see what's up. This one level of a buyer, you know, so try and figure out the number of parties once is a village something. Then if this is a complex something, you have to be consultative, pretend to be a doctor, you have to be educational. You have to let these people know exactly what it is they're they're buying. Some of you saying I'm over dramatizing this thing, but I'm not because you will know that I
have done some work with people in the alternative energy space, in the solar space. And surprisingly for me, surprisingly, because I would have thought, you know, massive solar projects will start in the city. But surprisingly there are some companies that are breaking into rural areas, especially rural areas that are built around certain industries. Like let's say for instance, around that kind of Bini area, you know, maybe where people do a heavy into palm oil and then things like that.
You know, solar companies are going into their place and saying, you know what, we can power up this whole village. We can create a so, so, so, so megawatts, you know, something, something power station that will generate so, so, so MW for this factory and then we'll be able to connect the rest of the village with agreed. And you know, blah, blah, blah. So all these things are going on. So you have complex products that are being sold in the rural setting.
It happens. Don't say that because they're villagers. There's no market for solar. Like I said, you and myself are surprised because you have all these companies. Sun is this sun king? I be solar king or something. You know, they're they're doing big things in the in the rural areas anyway. What was that? So subject matter. So you have to be educational. So because it's solar and you know, villagers might not understand, even educated people self, it takes us a while before we understand what's going on.
You know, you're talking about solar panels, you're talking about kilowatts, you're talking about photo vacuities and this and this and that and that. So even for we educated people, it's quite a bit. So even for the in the village, you know, you have to break things down. When you go to go and see Oba to discuss with Oba why this thing might be good for the community, you have to break it down. You have to make presentation to council of elders.
I say council of elders. What do you call it? The ruling council or the elders, You know, break it down. I pretend you're a doctor. Go and educate people. And then the sales cycle for complex things will take long. So don't rush. Don't assume that you will come into the village January 1st and then you sell them on the plan for solar by January 15th and then you go back to the city. No, no, no, no, no, no. They're going to take your time.
This is a complex something lots of people are going to have to decide. It's not just all bad that will decide because the installation, the thing that you will install the whatever it is that useful that people you know make all these your big, big machines. It has to be on somebody's land now or on communal land in all these things will happen now. The person's land that you are going to colonize to put the machinery on the person will need to be compensated like discussions will have to will have to happen now.
So one note of warning though, Township, small time Township and village setting, they're being on trust. If you try and come and bamboozle your way in one community, you will burn your credibility. Seriously. You will not become persona non grata in the other communities. Persona non grata just means do not give this guy access. Do not allow this guy to come. Do not allow this babe to come. If you go and you sell in the first community, you just use muzzle, you bamboozle them.
You, you know, you get the deal done. You're feeling like you want something. Maybe you want something. But the other villages, they're now aware. They've now heard your name because everybody know about how Tavishima went to village A. This is what they did. And people in village A are crying. The word will spread fast. By the time you get to village B, your reputation has started preceding you. Small, small. So I really don't think it's worth it.
Don't burn your credibility when it comes to these sorts of thing. Positive word of mouth really, really helps when we come to, especially when we're dealing with, well, let's say provincial towns, rural settings, you know, things like that. So OK, 36 minutes. Let me see. OK, let me wrap this up quickly. So let's see some other random thoughts. I made notes of some things. So OK, of course, we already discussed product and pricing.
So in the urban areas that you bring out your premium product show, be diverse, be aspirational, show them everything. This is from Sweden, this is from Germany, this is from Mogadishu, this is from, as you just put it all there, show everything, every, every, every, every. And then also you can do bundles in urban areas and try and put people in loyalty programs because you're trying to maximize customer lifetime value.
In other words, you're trying to make sure that somebody who buy today, buy next month, buy in six months, keep buying over and over and over again. But there's a limit to how much your loyalty program will work in the village because apart from essential things that they need like Omo and soap that they keep buying over and over again, OK, school uniform for the kids, foods to eat, what else? All those sorts of things,
there's very little chance that they're going to be locked into any kind of loyalty program. So those of us who stay in the city, sure, no problem. You know, we'll buy Netflix and we'll continue to do Netflix and roll it over and roll it over and roll it over. You know, because we have disposable income in the village. Maybe somebody might save up and do Netflix for like one month and you know, enjoy himself. And after that he now terminates the Netflix subscription because it's not a it's not an essential something.
So these are some of the things that we talk about. So, so many things to consider. So if you're in the urban area, yeah, be aspirational, show them everything, give them plenty of choice. If you're in the village setting, you know, show them what's affordable or what's essential and make sure that these things that are local, sorry, relevant to to their locality. So, you know, I'm not saying you can't sell flat screen TV's in the village because yes, you run into an Adoco who has retarded the Village and you can sell the flat screen TV.
But generally, you know, all these big multi what are they called? Again, these TV's that connect to the Internet, smart TV's I have so multimedia smart TV, modern flat screen this that that that that chances are you're not going to be able to sell a lot of that in the Village. Then let's see what else what else? What else? I already spoke about marketing, how you have to do lots of digital and social media in with your selling in urban areas in Township, in the big city, then let's see.
OK, but the selling in the village community based events, those ones really, really, really move. You know, you guys sponsor like back when Mumsy worked with one of the telecommunications outfits, I will say which one in particular that was one of the strategies that they used to break into a certain part of the country. They were sponsoring this communications telecommunications company. When I say telecom, I mean you know like MTN, Glue, you know all these things.
So this particular telecom was sponsoring things like Village New York festivals, refurbishing school, school classrooms, school complexes, you know, because it's from doing small, small things like this, you know, you sponsor New York festival, you do it like 2-3 years straight. By the time you say you want to now put tower in the community, they will say, OK, these people have been nice to us, they will listen to you.
You cannot put up your tower there. And then rejuvenation school classrooms, you know, things like that. So. All that reputation management, community based marketing, sponsorships, word of mouth, you know these things matter a lot. When you're talking about village ship and all these small small towns, then OK, one thing I haven't mentioned are payment options. So when it comes to the urban areas or city, give them a wide range of options.
Pay by card, pay by POS, do mobile money, you know, like Momo, for instance, MTN Momo, I put it back to MTN. So that's why I've heard of Momo. I haven't used this SHA, but I've seen the app. So MTN Momo transfer, you know, all kinds of things. And then even them online payment gateways, you know, make sure that you can receive payment on your website. Make sure there's a seamless online experience when it comes to payment.
But as all for the city, for city boys and city girls. Now when we come to village, on the other hand, please keep it mainly cash. Collect your cash for very obvious reasons. If you go and buy something from any of my uncles in the village, it's not as if they're trying to swap you. It's just that you know, things happen. You're going for village meeting. Today is a market day. Or maybe you have to go and do something on the farm.
And then of course, light. In my own part of of the world, light is useless. As in useless as in since I've been going to Popsy's village since I was an embryo up until now, I have only seen NEPA light once in villa. That's how bad it is. I've only seen it once any other time while doing something in the village. We have to budget for generator. But you know, it depends. My wife's village on the other hand, oh boy, I was shocked.
The first time we went there, I saw Tad Rd. I see. Is this somebody's village you say? Yes, this village. I told my wife that you people do not know what village is. This is not village. You will have Tad Rd. you will have running water. Everywhere I was looking, I could see DSTVI said this is not village, that this is Township. Now, OK, maybe when your boy, your father was a young boy, maybe it was a village. But now this is not village again, this is Township.
So anyway, let's just say this village and this village, so that kind of place. Now if you go and sell to my uncle, you know, yeah, he will. Especially we sell on credit. It's not that he's trying to cheat you, it's just that the phone is dead. The phone is dead. So he has gone to the market, You came. So he has gone to farm. You came, you didn't meet him, you didn't meet him. It's not he's trying to swab you. The phone is not working.
So mainly cash when you're in these sorts of places, then let's see, I know you know what we can keep on going and on and on and on and on. But bottom bottom line is this, remember that don't be thinking modern versus traditional, be thinking simple versus complex. Then when you now decide whether it is simple or is complex, the rest will now fall into place. If it is complex but it's in the villa, pretend you're a doctor and try and interact with these people like how doctors will interact in a traditional setting.
So ask around, do some research because a lot depends on your product, on your service, your industry, the culture, the context. But ask around the other people that have been selling in this community before you. Just ask around and get some opinions and you should be fine as long as you're thinking of things from a principled point of view. And then please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, especially since in Niger, you know, we respect money above all things when we're trying to sell in this community is letting us just assume that, OK, these people are useless.
You know, they no go school. You know, they're higher or open. So because of that, we don't respect them. Please, let's, let's, let's respect everybody and especially for those of us Nigerians, listen to this podcast. You know, some of you might not accept, but you know that the reason why where you are today, for most of us, it is not something that you achieved by yourself. Sometimes it's just luck. Like I did not determine who my father was and I did not determine who my mother was.
Honestly, it was luck. I look at some of my cousins, I look at myself and the difference honestly is just pure luck. I was born to a father who's his father decided to educate him and I was born to a mother that her own father and mother decided to educate her. That's just the difference. And then I ended up being a Township baby. That's one of my cousins that are village babies are to be honest, the difference between us.
That is just the difference. They just happened to be born to a father and a mother who are on the village level. I happened to be born to a mother and the father who are on the Township level and who appreciated education and some of the final things of life. So between me and my cousins, that is just some of the biggest things that marked our trajectory. So please, it's not as if we're better than these people like it, especially Niger of today,
2025. You know, it's just, it is what it is. Sometimes it's just down to that simple look, of course, if you're born as a village boy, it doesn't mean you can't improve yourself. Because my mom and my dad, yes, they received education. But of course, you know, they grew up in the village. So was not just the fact that their parents had to educate them and also because they had some ambition and some hostile on their own.
So yes, our village people can increase their lot with some ambition, with some education, they can increase their lot. But I'm just trying to say is let us respect them because to be honest, any small mistake that could have been us, we could have been the ones born in the village and been there and then the Township people now be looking at us as if we are nothing, as if we are useless. So let's respect everybody, please, as we go about selling.
So that's it. And that's all for today. Remember, if you'd love to connect, you can call, you can SMS, you can WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Thank you for your time and attention. I'll catch you next time. Same place in your headphones or in your speakers.