Outreach on WhatsApp: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Ignored

Hello and welcome to the show. Apologies for the noise in the background because today I am out and about. Now today I want us to just run through some more thoughts about what not to do when trying to do out outreach on WhatsApp. Now some of you might say again, are we doing another WhatsApp episode? And yes, we are doing another WhatsApp episode, and it's because I keep coming across examples about how not to do WhatsApp outreach.

And I'm well aware that some of you listening to the show right now are trying to do these very same tactics or trying out these very same strategies. So I'm going to make as many of these episodes as possible just to make sure that you guys figure out that there's a more effective way to go about using WhatsApp to do your business runs. Now the problem is the things I'm proposing will take more work, but I'm hoping that eventually some of you are going to come over to my end.

I just realized that because it's easy for us to craft a message on WhatsApp and broadcast it to 2000 people at once does not mean we should be doing that. Because I prefer, and I think it's a much more common sense thing to do that instead of crafting these messages and sending it out to 2003 thousand people at once, and maybe we only get one client. Even if we end up getting one client because of the way things are going these days, I think it's doubtful that anybody is getting business from these things.

So instead of sending the messages to 2000 people, pissing off 99% of them, and only doing business with one, I think it's better to do things the right way. The ways that I propose and other people propose that involve a lot more work. And maybe at the end of the day, who knows, maybe we'll reach out to 20 people and then we end up doing business with four. I really think it's better to do things that way. We end up pissing off a whole less number of people.

We maintain our deliverability. It's something I'm going to explain later on in the episode because people don't pay attention to these things because you're doing things that are sending messages to the marketplace and sending messages to the algorithms that people should not be paying attention to our messaging. You don't realise that all these things we're doing have the short term benefit of, OK, yes, I send a message to 4000 people,

but did you do business? No. Did they have negative consequences? Yes. So anyway, I'm going to keep on making these sorts of things. Now for those of you who this is the first time listening to your show, let's define sorry to the show. Let's define what outreach is. Now, outreach just means like it sounds, you are reaching out to people because you have an agenda you're trying to pursue and it's a normal part of doing business and it's required for anyone who wants to be successful in business because for most people, customers are not going to come and fall into your laps.

For most people, that is not going to happen. And whenever we say things like that, somebody wants to come up with this example about how somebody came up with something, created this and then people started rushing to him and or her and stuff like that. Yes. So these things happen. There are cases where occasionally somebody makes something and then the market rushes to you. But just know that for most of human experience that has not been the case that the market rushes to you.

So if you're listening to this show right now, just know that statistically speaking, chances are you will have to go out. You will have to do outreach, you will have to go and pursue the market. You will have to go and chase people down to do business with you. If you're one of those people that you invented your thing or you opened your office and then the market started rushing you, you know, we thank God for your life, you know, but that's just not how it happens for most people.

So that is what outreach means. Now, an example of outreach that I received recently. Sorry, one moment, let me open this message because I want to read it exactly as it is. So the message, what's that message? It said good day. I trust your day is going great. My name is XYZ. Of course, I've removed the name to protect the identity of the person. So my name is XYZ, I'm an IT consultant at Tech XYZ Africa. Of course I changed the name of the company, you know, to protect the guys, you know, to give the guys some anonymity.

We could even be a girl self. That's true. Anyway, to protect the identity of the guy or the girl. So good day. I trust your day is growing great. My name is XYZ, an IT consultant at Tech XYZ Africa. I'm inviting you and your loved ones to join our internship program designed to equip you with the most global in demand tech skills like data science, web development, cybersecurity, AI, machine learning, digital marketing, product design, UI,

UX, video production, networking, CCNA, mobile app development, cloud computing, AWS, music production and more. Our training comes with international certifications, international job opportunities, internship opportunities, Excuse me, free CV revamp, job interview preparation. Let me know which course you're interested in. Call or WhatsApp 090 XYZ to kick start your journey. Today. We have both online and physical classes.

Please don't keep this to yourself, share it with your friends and family. So that's it. That's the message. Now, problems with the outreach. If you've been listening to the show for any length of time, you already know #1 the message is too long. Most people are reading on their mobile phones. In fact, this is WhatsApp. So the average person is reading this thing on their phone. Now, for people like you and I who are trying to use WhatsApp for business, some of us might be opening it on what I think called WhatsApp desk, WhatsApp desktop, something, something.

So it shows up on your laptop or it shows up on your desktop. But most people like Mumsy. Now, for instance, my Mumsy, she's not a business person. My wife is not doing any business moves, at least not now. So Mumsy and my wife, they're reading this thing on their phone. You send this message to them and well, first of all, they don't know who you are. So it is block, delete, ignore. But just assuming that they're curious and they open it, how many times you want somebody to scroll through all these things and read the whole thing?

You really think when you send these kind of messages that people are reading everything. You guys should wake up. Let's be realistic here. Because you can broadcast 3000 people. This message doesn't mean you should. And if you must, there are more effective ways of going about this. I mean, for, for real, this guy actually thinks that people or, or this babe, they actually think that somebody's going to be scrolling and reading.

And because you don't have anything to do with your life, you don't have anything else better to do. The only reason why I'm reading it is because this is my thing. I am in sales. So whenever I receive outreach, I always check it like OK, what's new? What are people doing in the market? Is there a more effective way than what I'm doing? So that's the reason why I read these things. What if I was an everyday, average, ordinary person?

You think I would have read this thing anyway? So too long. People are reading on their phones. I always recommend to people, do you think that you want to send compose it first then send it to your phone. If on your phone you have to flip scroll, you know use your thumb and do scroll, scroll, scroll. If you have to do 3 times then forget The thing is too long. I don't. In fact I'm not even sure if the average person is even giving us 2 flicks not to talk of three.

I'll be surprised if the average person, like once the thing opens on the phone, they want to just look at that one screen and if they don't understand it, it is either delete, block, spam or, you know, ignore or whatever. So please, you're coming up with these messages. This thing is just too damn long. Use your brains here now. OK, sorry, that was unprofessional. Sorry, I shouldn't get so heated about these things. Anyway, so problems neck problem with the outreach.

If you're listening to the podcast, you already know the next thing. This is unsolicited. Unsolicited just means I don't know you, you don't know me. I know, send you, you know, send me. I didn't ask you. You didn't ask me. I'm just minding my business and this thing just shows up. That's what unsolicited means. So I haven't done anything that remotely gave the business owner the idea that I was interested. At least if I went to the guy's website and I put my phone number in somewhere, then the thing, you know, came, you know,

we could say, OK, yeah, at least I did something that warranted the guy reaching out like that or the baby reaching out. But I haven't done anything that gives them the reason why I was interested in their business or in tech. So truth of the matter is the guy just probably scalped my contact details from the Internet. You know, you just go, you know, we have business directories online, you know, so businesses in Abuja, enter PAP, you know, a list of 2000 businesses will come up, you know, just take their phone numbers, you know,

add to your WhatsApp and then just send message to all that kind of thing. Now, the problem on solicited messages like I've been saying is that if your messages are unsolicited, they're going to get ignored. Number one, that's why people like me because I don't want to damage anybody's business because look, they're trying to hustle me, I'm trying to hustle so I understand. But then the problem is we're dealing with everyday ordinary people like my wife, my mom,

your mom, your husband, your wife, your whoever. Ordinary people who are not in business, they're not just ignore. Eventually they get tired, they start to report, report as scam. They try to block, they try to spam. Some people even go as far as trying to blacklist the number. So when you're sending out on solicit messages, it's having the unintended side effect of making your messages even more undeliverable. And that's what I was hinting at at the beginning.

Think about it, you send this message to 3000 or 2000 people on WhatsApp just because you can. Let's say 50% of the people on WhatsApp who receive this OK, no 50 is high. OK, let's just say 20% of the people who receive this number. Now click on mark number as spam. You don't think WhatsApp is getting the message in Zuckerberg headquarters that oh, OK, there are lots of people in Nigeria who think that every single time a message comes from this number, that this number is spam.

You don't think Zuckerberg them are paying attention. And then later on, if your WhatsApp gets flagged or suspended, you know, you now wonder like now what did I do? Facebook is wicked. You know, Zuckerberg is wicked. Why are they blocking, blocking and why are they blacklisting some? This is the reason why. It's because of all these things that you're doing. If you send this in the 4000 people, 20,000 people will click on block.

So I 20% click on block, maybe 10% click on report as spam and then let's see what else I mean. But anyway, you get my point. It makes your messages more undeliverable in the future because the more messages you're now trying to send in the future, Facebook, Zuckerberg, them, they see that OK, this person has been flagged as a spam. Yes. Maybe we should block this account. Maybe we should flag this account or maybe we should do some place, some admin restrictions because there's some people that they place your number, some restrictions, you know, they limit the number of messages that you can send out.

So you've been having issues with your WhatsApp. This is where some of your issues are coming from because you wake up in January just because you can. January 1st you blast the message to 2000 people in your contact just because you can. Then February 1st you blast another one. February 14th, you blast another one, International Women's Day. In March, you blast another one. Then after International Women's Day, what comes next?

April Fools, you blast another one. After April Fools, there's what else? I think there's a Children's Day, you blast another one. So I'm like, after a while, people have just had enough. But then you've been messing up people's lines from January all the way through through to July. No surprises. Out of those 2000 people, some people who just people who are being kind like me will click on what's nothing called Archive.

We'll click on archive so we don't see the messages coming up from you, but the average everyday, ordinary person is going to block you, spam you or report you. And when that happens, Zuckerberg, them, WhatsApp people, them, they're getting old, you know, they're seeing everything. The algorithm is picking up on the fact that, oh, OK, this number spammer, let's make life difficult for these people. Anyway, another problem with the message apart from me being unsolicited, is that this guy is trying to say too many things in the message.

What exactly am I supposed to respond to in this message? There are several call to actions in the message. Sorry, one moment. Let me pull up the message again. OK, so the calls to action, there's select the course that you're interested in. Sorry, one moment. This my thing is hanging now. Wow, The devil is a liar. In the middle of recording my my tablet. Now they hang. OK, it's moving now. Yeah, like I said, the devil is a liar.

So the course action now. OK, select the course you're interested in. By the way, I never told the guy I had any problems. You're asking me to select the course I'm interested in. Another call to action share with my friends and my family. Why should I do that? Like, I don't know you. Then I should let him know which other benefits we're interested in, International certifications, job opportunities, internship, CV revamp, job interview, blah,

blah, blah. And then of course, remember when I was reading all the courses, all the things that the guy has available? In fact, this is a test right now. If you're listening to this podcast right now, and I bet you that 99.9% of you listening to this podcast now, you can't even tell me what it is that this guy offers. I mean, think about it. Do you even remember what it is that the guy offers? Think about it. Anyway, let's let's continue.

That itself is a problem with message. This is why I keep telling you people that if you're trying to preach to everyone, trying to sell everything, try to throw everything in like nothing is standing out. The guy threw everything in. And I bet you, you listening to the show right now, you can't tell me one thing that this person does. You cannot tell me anyway. So my typical recommendations for those of you listening to this show, you're not going to be surprised.

I usually say, look, this is what we need to do. The message, the message on itself is fine, is good. The problem is it's ineffective. I'll be ineffective, you know, for today. So break down the message into several outreach motions instead of just doing 1 message where you throw everything and you blanket in. Let's have the mindset that we're trying to engage people in a conversation and we're going to try and break this thing and into several smaller messages.

Then let's also start with the problem based opener and figure out if people are interested. It is when people are interested that you can now continue with the other aspects of the conversation. So good day, I trust your day is going great. In my own opinion, this part is unnecessary. Delete because you are an intrusion at this point. So don't pretend to be familiar, don't pretend to be concerned. So good day, I trust your day is going great.

All that is on is unnecessary. Start by letting the prospect know who you are and how you got their phone number and the reason why you're reaching out. That's just head straight into the whatever. So none of that finds funny pleasantries in the beginning of, you know, your day is going great. Your family members and loved ones like forget all that. You're an intrusion and they know you're an intrusion. You know you're an intrusion.

So let's go straight to the point. This is me. This how I got your phone number. This is why I'm reaching out. Then my name is XYZ. I'm an IT consultant at Tex XYZ Nigeria Delete because at this point, nobody cares who you are. You're an intrusion and like I said, you're taking up plenty space when you should just be getting straight to your point. Then next, I'm inviting you and your loved ones to join our internship program designed to equip you with the most global in demand tech skills like data science, web management,

cybersecurity, AI, machine learning, digital marketing, product design, UIUX, video production, networking, CCNA, mobile app development, cloud computing, AWS, music production and more. Like I say, man, like this, this is much, this is really, really much. Like what exactly do you do? How is the average person supposed to read this whole thing and get a clear sense of, oh, OK, this is how this is what you do. This is how you can solve my life.

In my own opinion, you could have taken any of these things and used it to have a problem based opener to start the conversation. Then the message continues. Our training programs come with international certification, international certifications, international job opportunities, internship opportunities, free CV revamp, join in sorry, job interview preparation. Now these, this part doesn't have to be in this message because these are things that you can emphasize after you are now having a conversation one-on-one with somebody where you have built rapport and where you have shown where you've been able to figure out that they're interested.

These are the things that you you stress to try and sweeten the deal is when somebody is interested, you can now start talking about, oh, by the way, if you go with us, we have certifications. We can help you hook up job opportunities and this and this and that and that. So this doesn't have to be in this message. Now this one is, you know, the when you're trying to sweeten the deal after you on the phone with somebody, after you build a relationship, then let me know which course you're interested in call or WhatsApp 090 blah,

blah blah at kick off your business journey today. Let's see. OK, OK, anyway, so basically, how would you write this message? I would just say first message, actually the one that you now broadcast to 2000 people should be good day. Use the person's name. So this this can't even be a broadcast because remember when we personalized messages, the chances of people opening the messages go up because at least the people think that, OK, we know something about them.

So first of all, I wouldn't even recommend that you do this in broadcast. And this is where some of you begin to quarrel with me because you'll be saying, what do you mean that I should be doing cut and paste, Cut and paste, Cut and paste, cut and paste for every single person. And the answer is yes, because the cut and paste is more work, but the cut and paste stands more chance of being read. Think about it. This message shipped my phone and the way that the thing started.

Sorry, hold on, where's my tablet? Let me scroll up again. One moment. This message is long. You can see the problem with this message I'm having to scroll to get to the top of my head. So good day, trust your day is going great. Now think about it, if the message started good day Tavishima or tavishima how you did, Even though it's a number I don't recognize, think about it, you know, I would at least open it and say, OK, who is sending me this message because at least it was personalized or customized.

So these are some of the things that you do. That make it easier for people to open the message and at least read small because the way that the guy just blasted it, everybody receiving it knows that it's a broadcast. But at least if you try and customize it, people that you send it to will assume that you're talking to them and that you're giving them personalized attention and that is meant for them. So copy and paste and then change copy and paste.

For the one that's supposed to come to me, put Tava Shima there, copy and paste. For the one that's supposed to go to Madam patients, copy and paste, put Madam patients in there. For the one that's supposed to go to Rafael Adebc, copy and paste and then put it there. Good day, Mr. Rafael. And that's why I recommend that you guys either get yourself a Bluetooth keyboard or do that thing of sync your WhatsApp to your computer or to your desktop.

So that copy and paste is a lot easier. So this is a whole lot more work, but trust me, it's more effective. But some of you are going to do the lazy thing of copy and paste. Send 4000 contacts. So the way I would craft this good day. Put the person's name. I got your number from XYZ business directory. Are you or any of your loved ones interested in acquiring tech skills Question mark send That is your first message.

Let me repeat. Good day. Put the person's name. I got your number from XYZ business directory. You or any of your loved ones interested in acquiring tech skills send. By the way, I don't I think that loved ones is unnecessary, but I'm trying to preserve as much of the original message as possible to show you how you know, like we can still run it using as many of his words. So that's your first message send now this was going to happen.

Some people are going to ignore and won't reply. That is not your problem. But The thing is a short message like this, some people will reply the first message that he crafted the long epistle. I can assure you 99.999999999% won't reply and you can see that this is the reason why I'm saying that is it better to broadcast to 4000 people and 99.99999% ignore or should we take this personalized approach and maybe on Monday we're only able to send 100 messages but out of the 100, you know, at least 15 replied.

Which one is better? You guys think about it. So I know if you or loved ones interested in acquiring tech skills, this message is short to go straight to the point, it's a problem. It's sort of like a problem based opener for the people that respond. We are now going to be able to engage in a conversation and it's in the conversation that we make the sale. So people stop assuming that a broadcast message is going to sell on your behalf.

Stop being lazy. Selling is something that we do when we're engaging and having a conversation with people one-on-one. So when we send these messages, the goal is not to send. And then hopefully they will now send us money. I mean, what, what, what planet do you think we're living on? They send a message. We will just send you money. Like, who are you? Maybe Oprah Winfrey can get away with stuff like that. You know, broadcast a message and say, OK, send your donation.

So and so. And then people love opera. Then they will send a message, but you're not there yet. The goal is we're trying to get somebody to engage in a conversation. So if you send that message, I got your number from this business directory. Are you interested in acquiring tech skills? The people who respond and say yes, or the people who respond and say tech skills? Like what kind of tech skills? You are now engaged in a conversation and in the conversation, the goal is to try and do qualification and discovery.

That just means ask questions about them. Ask questions about the opportunities that they're running after. Ask questions around the things that they're worried about. It is then that you will now know which of these other things that you can now mention. It is from there that you now know that, OK, this particular person, I should only talk about data science. This person, I should only pitch to him web development. This person is interested in cybersecurity.

Let me tell him about our cybersecurity courses. This person seems to like AI and machine learning. Let me now emphasize the AI course. This person is interested in digital marketing. Let me go ahead and talk digital market. I mean, can you see how it works? Now is when you engage in a conversation, you know what they're interested in. You now know which of your things that you're now going to start toasting them about that you're going to start preaching to them about what is whole thing of throwing everything into in everything into one message.

Data science, web development, cybersecurity, AI, machine learning, digital marketing, product design, video production, networking, mobile app development, cloud computing, music production. Man, it's too broad. You're trying to talk to everyone and when you talk to everyone, you're not resonating with anybody in particular. Send the first message, see who is interested from the people that are interested. Ask them certain questions.

What kind of tech skills do you have in mind? Oh, OK, it's not you, but it's your children. Your children are still in primary school. Oh, OK. You want your children to be much more competitive in the global workspace. So what kind of skills do you have in mind? Oh, OK. Well, yes, AI. Yes, AI is the future. Oh, yes. And OK, sure, no problem. We have some of those modules where we introduce children in primary school to AI and machine learning concepts in this and this and that and that.

Should I send you some material on that? Would you like to learn more? Let me send you a link to the website, let you see how this thing is supposed to continue as a conversation. And it's from there that you can't close the deal anyway. So remember we are now in conversation. So the conversation thrust #2 sorry about that. Some idiots are fighting outside. That's where this extra noise is coming from then anyway, as long as they don't start breaking bottle I think.

Anyway, where are we? Let me continue. So yeah, we're supposed to be in conversation now. So conversation from the thrust of conversation now is after you've done qualification and done discovery, you know who they are. You have already figured out what they're interested in, whether some people want to learn IT skills because, you know, just for personal reasons, they want to know what's up. Or some people want to learn all these skills because they think you can boost their business.

Or some people want to learn some of these skills because they think you can boost their career. It is then remember those things are called deal sweeteners. They can now start throwing in the deal sweeteners. You now start telling them that, oh, if you go with us, we have international certifications or if you go with us, we will expose you to international job opportunities. Or if you go with us, we have internal opportunities.

We can do your free CV revamp, you can do job interview, you know, so all these other things. So you can see why I said this shouldn't be a part of the first message. Now, if I continue like this, we'll go on and on and on. I've already done 30 minutes. Let me bring this to a close summary. What I'm trying to say is this. Because we can broadcast messages today, business owners are getting lazy and you're hoping that one broadcast message is going to get business for you.

Stop trying to do what is easy, but try and do what is the most effective way to get the deal done. What I'm recommending is going to be a lot more work, but is it worth the effort? In my opinion, the answer is yes, because you'll be able to convert at a greater deal. I mean, think about it. If you send 4000 messages and you close one deal, or you send 500 messages and you close 10 deals, which one converted more? For those of you who know math,

you know, go ahead and do the math. Which one has a greater conversion so you're converting more. You will also be able to convert at larger amounts because when you send messages like this and people opt in, typically they're not spending big box. Nobody spends big box on broadcast messages. But when you have a conversation with someone, that's the difference between somebody booking a 10,000 naira package with you and a 350,000 naira course for them and their family because you said them and their loved ones.

That is the difference. That is how you're going to be able to get somebody to actually, sorry, let me scroll up now where, where are all the things I found them? So let's say the person is an ordinary guy like me, but the person is interested in AI and machine learning. But then OK, no, no, let me see. OK, we said AI for the kids. OK, so that's how you get the person to maybe take a course on digital marketing for him.

And then for the children, maybe book a course for AI, machine learning, and then maybe for wifey. OK, my own wife right now, she's studying for CFA. So OK, let's say cybersecurity, OK, let's say cybersecurity so that she can make sure that her clients are paying attention to cybersecurity matters, you know, when they're transferring money and stuff like that. So that is the difference between somebody spending 10,000

naira with you and the person sending 300,400 thousand 500,000. This is the difference. So the longer way it's worth the effort, you'll be able to convert greater, you'll be able to convert at larger amounts. Most importantly, you'll be able to build trust and rapport with the person. Because remember what I keep stressing on this podcast, the goal here is not to collect 10,001 time or to collect 500,001 time. The goal is repeat business and referrals.

What does it profit me if I close a deal? Today somebody gave me 500 Ki go and pay my tithe and then I thank God, yes. But then that's the only money I get from the person. What does it profit me? The goal is the person spent 500K with me in January, Good. Maybe in September the person should drop 300K Good. Then next year maybe the person spends 100K in February and then maybe next year in September the person again spends maybe like 700 grand.

I mean that is the goal. Repeat business. People should buy now and keep coming back. That is the goal. You're not going to be getting repeat business and referrals off of this spamming tactics. You are not because there's no there's no relationship, there's no trust, there's no rapport. So please ignore all these easy tactics because they're easy and because we can do them doesn't mean that we should. The older way, the harder way actually is the better way for now.

There's a time for spamming and broadcasting and everything, but the time is not now. When we're beginning. The time is not now. If I should do a broadcast episode about when we should not worry about automation, The time for automating things is not in the beginning. It's not in the beginning. We should be paying attention to the fundamentals and doing the hard work. Anyway, it's 30 minutes. Let me overdo it. So if you'd like to connect with me for strategy session,

business audit, or you have questions you'd like me to answer, then the number to call or to WhatsApp is 08064662140, country code +234. If you're not Nigerian, then connect with me on LinkedIn. The name is Tavishima Aidi. I also have a YouTube channel with the same name. So thank you very much for your time and attention. Forgive me if I sounded heated or disrespectful at some points cause this is one of these things that just if you can't tell the thing really.

Anyway, I'll catch you guys tomorrow. Bye.