Stop Waiting for Business and Start Getting Clients with DMs

Hello and welcome. My name is Tavishima Ayede. I'm the host of the podcast that I'm making today's recording at home and of course the kids are around so there will be some noise in the background. If you would love to connect, then you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. Today on the podcast, we are going to be sharing some adventures in outreach and then also lessons that you can learn from this kind of activities.

Let's put it another way. We're going to look at how to look for customers, or rather we're going to look at one person's experience and how she has been looking for customers for her business, looking for clients in her business and the lessons learned. So that's it. We're going to be sharing from one person's experience. Now, before we delve into it, I'd like to apologise for the for yesterday's episode in case some of you found it a little bit unprofessional.

But you know, what can I say? I'm human, you know. So sometimes I see some stuff on social media and you know, me too. I think what they vexed me. So that's why I made yesterday's episode. But anyway, I promise not to vent too much in the future. I'll keep it professional from now on. Well, as professional as I can keep it. So yeah, today's episode, business forecasts. And let me give you the background First off, now you guys know, especially those of you who've been listening to the podcast for a while, that I have this community member who runs a podcast productions office.

So they do podcast recording, podcast scheduling, you know, stuff like that. And of course, that's how we met because you know, I'm, I'm a consultant, sales consulting, sales training, business development consulting. She also, she's a consultant, of course, you know, podcasting, production, media, you know, all that sort of things. And we both run podcasts as a way to promote our business. So that's how we met. So she's been wanting to take more proactive measures to grow the business, you know, because lots of things that we do to build our businesses, you know,

lots of people running around in Nigeria saying I'm an entrepreneur, entrepreneur. A lot of us are just being very reactive aspire, we do one or two things, push it out into the Internet and we're praying that OK, something we click and then progress will just go and fall back on us. Not lots of us are trying to do something like I wake up every day and I will step out. I will reach out into the universe that some of you like to say, reach out into the world and try and go and harvest market to go and pluck market to go and toast somebody to go and pull somebody towards me.

So lots of people are being reactive and she just was tired of being reactive in business and she wanted to be more proactive about it. And that's how the conversations started. So instead of just posting on LinkedIn, posting on social media, waiting for people to approach you because that approach works. It's just that it takes a lot of time, which is why when I hear people saying content marketing, content marketing, the first thing I say is look, look, look,

do you need money now, now, now. And if they say of course I need money now, I say, look, their content marketing is not for you because content marketing or any other idea like I'll be posting on Instagram, I'll be posting on LinkedIn and all of a sudden customers will be finding me. It does not work in the short term. I repeat, content marketing to say you will be posting on social media or you'll be interviewed on TV stations or whatever.

You know, any of these other softcore approaches, they do not work. If you need money now, now, now, If you need money now, then you need to take much more proactive measures. You should take more control over these sorts of things, which is why I should say, let her try something proactive because it's the easiest way and the quickest way to increase the amount of income that you have. You cannot double or triple the amount of posting you're doing on Instagram and then that will triple your income.

It doesn't work that way, but you can double the amount of outreach that you do and it might end up tripling your income. So I'm not saying everybody should do it. I'm not saying that. Let us be aware. Let us know from the start that content marketing, social media posting in all these sorts of things will not bring you money. Quick, quick, quick. You will not give you money now, now, now. So you got money now. Now be proactive.

So she came up with a plan and she was going to approach 200 people and send them direct messages in WhatsApp over 14 days. Now, of course, I didn't ask. I was the significance of 200 because in my own opinion, quite frankly, it doesn't matter. The thing is, in the beginning, we're starting off, we don't even know what our capabilities are. So to be honest, any targets that we set that is better than what we're doing, quite frankly,

is fine. So if somebody says I'm going to be sending one DM every day for the next one month, if this is the kind of person who normally sends like one DM in two weeks, then actually that's better than nothing. So for me, I don't get bogged down by the numbers. So there's no special significance to 200 at all. So what do you want to say? I'll block one month and reach 200 people, or block one month and reach 500, or block one month and reach 1006.

You know, just make sure it's, it's a realistic number. Because if it's all realistic, you give yourself BP. So if somebody will say, you know what, we're heading into a new year, January 27, new things, new beginning that month of January or one that month of general talk to 600 people. I'll say calm down, calm down, calm down. How many people do you talk to now? Say, now I talk to like two or three people a week. And I'll say, you really think it's realistic that you go from talking to two or three people a week to talking to 600 people a month?

I'll say, calm down. Let's do the math 600 people a month, that means what? That means that's 150 people per week, 150 people per week. Divide 150 by 5, that means 30. So you go to talking to two or three people per week to now talking to 30 people per week. Are you sure you're up to it? So any number you pick is fine. Just make sure it is realistic. Realistic. And of course, 200 people, 14 days, they'll be messaging.

It's all right. Now it can't work. So at the end of it, this is what happened. She got one signed contract and then she got one very impressed client. So this my community member now, she was now doing some introspection. She was now thinking 200 people, 14 days, two clients or more. Was this worth the effort? And then she was now thinking, if I had to talk to 200 people and I got 2 clients, does that mean if I want 10 clients, I

have to talk to 4000 people? Is that the way forward? Is that feasible? Is it realistic? So those are the sort of things that we're going to be looking at today. Now before we go on, let's do some small definitions because like I said, we're doing adventures in outreach. What does outreach mean? Outreach means like it sounds. Outreach means you are going out. You're trying to do something by going out into the world to go and catch your market.

You're trying to be a Fisher of men and women. You want to go out and fish for them. That is outreach. It's a different business philosophy nowadays. We'll describe it as outbound or inbound. Inbound business philosophies mean we are trying to make yourself look attractive, make yourself look nice, make your business look sweet so that people would pursue you. That is inbound. Let me stay where I am in my office in the cool of the AC and let people be pursuing me.

That's inbound. Then outbound is let me find a way to go out into the world. I know my customer is there. I know my market is out there somewhere. Let me go and grab them and shake them by the neck and say buy my product. So that's the difference between outbound and inbound. One, you're chasing after people. The other way you're making people to chase after you. Which one is better? I don't engage in these kinds of debates that this is better than that.

The thing is, every single business over the course of his lifetime, we'll have to do both. At some stage you will do outbound and other stages you do inbound. Like take for instance all the big brands that we know. That's people in my set. We know Nike, we know Coca-Cola. In the beginning, Coca-Cola, the guy who started Coca-Cola used to carry his bottle, used to go from one pharmacy to another, buy my product, buy my product,

buy my product. What is that called? That is called Outbound. So Coca-Cola, the biggest brand in the world. But how did it start? It started from somebody carrying bottle, going from one shop to another shop, buy my product, buy my product, buy my product. Now let's take Nike in my generation, you know that's what we know. Everybody wears Nike, you know, just do it. That's from our generation. I don't know which shoe is raining these days.

So my generation, everybody knows Nike. But how do you feel Night start was the same thing doing like all these boys in Abuja do. You open the boot, you throw all the shoes inside. He will now drive to stadium, open it and he'll be telling people, Bros, Bros fine shoe here, fine shoe here, Bros tennis shoe. We get a football shoe, we get a running shoe, we get, you know, that's what I feel nice used to do. So those of you who are hustling markets in Abuja, you know, you open your trunk, you sell your clothes.

When you see a mark, when you see what are they called task force, When you see task force, you just threw everything inside your car, you now turbo, you speed, don't worry, it's OK. I'm not saying you should break the law. I'm just saying that you know, everybody has a beginning and some of the people that you respect, that's how they started to. So if you don't believe me, what I read, is it shoe dogs or something like that?

I think it's shoe dogs that the Nike story. So that's what the guy is to do, to put everything inside the boot, drive to stadium, open up and then begin the horseshoe market. So that's what I mean by every single business at some stage will have to do both. There'll be a stage where you will do outbound, you go to Porsche people and there's a stage where you will now be doing inbound that them would rush you. So I don't engage in debates of inbound, outbound, which one is better In my own opinion,

everybody will have to do both over the course of your business lifetime. So my own opinion, just consciously do both. So that's what outreach means. Then let's break things down. So she said 200 people over 14 days. Some of you will say 200 people, it's not too much work. Let's think about it, 200 people, 14 days. Bring on your calculator, do the math. You see that that is average 15 people per day. So you can see that it doesn't seem that big anymore. 15 people per day is doable now.

It is especially doable because what we're talking about is we're talking about WhatsApp messaging. Remember, we're not talking about 15 phone calls. If it's 15 phone calls a day or more, not all go hard. If it's your first time, 15 phone calls a day will be hard because nobody has dropped call on you before. Nobody has ignored you before. Nobody has blocked you before, Nobody has been rude to you before. So the first time you say let me just do 15 calls per day, it will be hard.

But we're talking about WhatsApp. So it's easy because when you're trying to send messages on WhatsApp outreach message, nobody copy and paste is copy, paste, edit, send. So that one is not a problem at all. So to be sending 15 messages per day, copy, paste, edit, send, you can do it. In fact, in my own opinion, you can send 15 messages in one hour if you are slow. Assume you already have the numbers you want to be reaching out to.

You can send 15 messages in one hour if you are slow. So yes, to say that you reach 200 people in 14 days is not bad. Just do the math, it's easy. So that is starting the conversation now, of course, continuing the conversation. If you send 15 messages and 10 people reply and you're not chatting with 10 people, continue those conversations will take a bit longer. But what I'm trying to say is the initial part of sending that 15, you know who had so long as we are talking about WhatsApp messages, it is phone calls.

That's a different case altogether. So give yourself 45 minutes, one hour if you're slow, but you'll finish it and make it a day. Make it part of your your normal everyday routine. So wake up in the morning, go and bath, drop the kids in school. If you don't have kids, I don't know, eat breakfast, you know, have your prayer time or call out into the universe or whatever it is you want to do. You can even watch one or two Netflix films, you know, OK,

maybe 1 Netflix film from 8:00 to 10:00. But then 10:00, Oh yeah, start sending your messages work. Don't start. 10:00 start sending your messages before a level. You finish sending your messages and then you can start doing the rest of things for your day. But one thing I want to impress on all of you is because when she was writing about this thing on LinkedIn, from the response that I saw, most people, most people are thinking is big now it is good, especially if you've not been doing anything.

But please don't be scared. It is not as hard as it looks at all. If it was 15 phone calls every day, that is harder emotionally and it requires a longer time commitment. OK, so this is just 15 messages per day. So don't be afraid. The numbers look big, 200 looks big, but the time commitment that is required is going to be small. And then another thing is this, the results of all these, your activity are going to get better with time.

So you do 200 people now you only close two deals. You know, don't worry. Sounds discouraging. But The thing is, you get better with time. You learn how to open the conversation better. You learn how to figure out people's needs better. You learn how to make convincing proposals better. You learn how to negotiate better. You learn how to close the deal better. So over time it gets better. So don't be scared that you see somebody writing on LinkedIn that is spoke to 200 people but they only got to clients.

Results get better at the time. Now this is also another benefit that people don't realize when they assess this kind of thing when you're in a small space like this lady is because podcasting in Nigeria actually is a very small space. All of us, we know ourselves, you know, Abuja podcasters, we know ourselves. Lagos podcasters, OK, I don't know them personally, but you know, I've been, hence our names. So, you know, like we know ourselves.

It's a small space. If she continues with this kind of activity after three months, to be honest, she would have spoken to everybody in the industry. Remember, 200 people in 14 days. That means at the end of the month, she has spoken to 400 people. Abby, 200 them what? Yeah, that's 400 people. Then after three months, that is like 1200 people. OK, OK, you know what? Instead of OK, instead of saying after three months she knows everybody, let's say more like 8

months. By time she's been using more like 8 months, everybody in Nigeria would know her name because we're only talking about podcasting. Remember? Then these kind of things also help because when everybody knows your name, it now captures mental space or mind space in other people. And so it makes future business conversations easier because everybody has heard your name. And it's something that I experienced when I started off in the wedding business.

In the beginning, I used to call wedding planners, wedding planners, wedding planners. I didn't have enough outreach that was aimed at brides. But after a while, I got discouraged and stopped. But I noticed one thing that I'll be with a bride and I'll say, so excuse me, I'll be with the bride I'll be discussing. I'll say, oh, who's your wedding planner? They'll say so, so and so. I'm like, oh, OK, you've never heard of her before.

Let me have her number. Let me just call her up and say what's up. And then I'll call the wedding planner and I'll say, oh, so you are hidden. I've heard about you before. So it happens. You just continue. People hear your name. When people say, oh, I've heard your name before. The conversation that follows is a lot more smooth. So don't give up on these things. There's some benefits that you will get in the future that you cannot see now.

And trust me, you're doing this kind of outreach. There will be benefits in the future. People will know your name. You want to know why people will know your name because your competition is not going to do what it is that you are doing. It's just that this is a very unsexy way of growing business Anyway. So now let's move on to your other questions. So 200 people, 14 days, only two clients was always worth the effort.

And the answer is it depends, really depends. I'm not going to say good, I'm not going to say bad because it depends. Because when we're trying to do outreach, the first thing that we have to do is to establish a baseline for our performance. Baseline just means what are you capable of? You know, like Banky W Song, what are you capable of? So that's the first thing, what are you capable of? We need to establish a baseline.

So in the beginning we can't be too quick. We can't say it's good, we can't say it's bad because first thing is baseline. If we say we're going to run, compete in the Olympics, you know, the first thing that your teacher will do is say, well, you know that we need to establish your baseline. So it's like that. It is the baseline that will tell you how much work you need to do. So whether we know whether is good or not, we can't say.

We need to establish the baseline for performance and the baseline will tell us how much work we have to do. Now let's do some small math please. I studied law, I didn't study math. So whenever I do all these rough mathematics, in case I get it wrong, you know, you guys should not laugh at me too much. But The thing is, I made-up for my failures in mathematics. I went to go and marry a very brilliant woman who is good in math.

She's a lawyer too, but she's good in math. Investment management, that is a thing. Mutual funds, that is a thing. Collective investment schemes, that is a thing. She's studying CFA now she can open balance sheet and look at this and this and this and say, oh, this ratio is off. So I have cured for my excuse me, so I have cured my inadequacies. I went to go and marry a woman who knows math. So I didn't pass math, but I

married a woman who knows math. So as problem solved, at least now when my children say they can come to me for anything physics, I will explain it. Chemistry, I will explain it mathematics. Go and meet your mother. So that's one thing we need to consider when you're looking at marriage, you know marriage, you cure for your deficiency. It helps. Sorry, where was I? I lost track. So now let's do the math. So 2 customers out of 200, that means our conversion rate is 1%,

if I'm correct. However, when we're talking about these things, you know, emailing campaigns, outreach campaigns, blah, blah, blah, it's hard to come up with a figure because of course, you know, there's different industries, different cultures, things like that. But it looks as if there's this figure that seems to be between 0 and 3%, that seems to be average. So the first time you're trying, you'll be somewhere between zero and three.

For those of you who are not convinced, just keep listening. You will see that miraculously, every single time we are appraising somebody who's just coming new into the space, you will see that the results usually fall between zero and three. So it's just, I don't know, one of these universal rules or whatever. So e-mail campaign, if it's the first time you're doing it, trying to get money from your e-mail list, you know, you will find that your conversions is usually between zero and three.

So it's just one of those things. And then what she she did was she did 1% conversion rate. So you can see that you know, it's, it's in there, it's not 0, but it's not 3 when it's in there. So now we know that her baseline is what her baseline is 1%. She's converting at 1%. So what we need to do now in the future is we need to improve conversions. Conversions is we need to improve the number of people who take the next step.

That is what a conversion is. Someone takes the next step, that is a conversion. So remember back in my event days, I would go to the wedding fair and my goal was let me try and talk to as many people as possible. Of all the people that I talked to, I'll try and collect phone number. People who give me phone number, that is conversion. That's the first step. So let's say I go there and on the floor there are 200 brides.

If I also also also and I'm able to talk to 150 and over that 150, eighty of them give me phone number that is conversion. I spoke to 15080, gave me phone number that is a conversion. Then for the 80, they gave me a phone number. Well, of course, you know, bright affair. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, I'll be tired, you know, I'll sleep, you know, watching. Tuesday I'll start calling. So for the 80 that I call, I'll try and get a couple of them to either come to my studio or me.

I'll go and see them in their office so that we can talk some more. Let's out of that 8060, pick all 20 ghost at me. The ones that pick all that is conversion out of that sixty, I'm trying to get them to come to the studio or I will go to their own place. Out of that, 60, let's say 3030 of them saying let me think about it, 30 I agree immediately. That is a conversion. I spoke to 6030. People say let's woke up, let's meet.

That's a conversion of the 30 that we meet. Eventually I send over a proposal to look at. So let's say I send out 30 proposals and then let's say 15 ghosts and then 15 say the proposal is a bit on the high side, we need to talk about it. So that means I'm negotiating with 15. So I sent 30 proposal, I'm negotiating with 15. That is conversion. Then for the 15 that I'm talking to, let me see is of the 15 that I'm talking to, let's say God has been good and then thirteen of them make deposit.

That is conversion. So you can see that that is how business is closed in small steps, small, small conversions, micro steps, one step, 2 step, three-step, four step. That's how you close business. The problem is lots of you think business is closed big. Like you call somebody, you say what's up, you say some fancy things, they'll be convinced and then they'll transfer 1.5 to your account just like that. No, no, no, no, no.

See that it works the whole thing of you get somewhere to transfer big money one time, it works well, that's called one time close. It's just that it's hard. The easier thing is to do things small, small, small, one step, 2 step, three-step, four step until you close. So when you have done, when you've reached out to 200 people and gotten to customers, the next thing we need to work on is conversions. It is not stop the outreach.

Because the way she was talking, I was like, what's wrong with this baby? Is she thinking or stopping? So I'd quickly motivate her like babe, no, no, no, no, no, no, be like that. You're making progress. It seems daunting, but you're making progress. You're on the right track. Continue hanging there. Don't give up now. So we could do one. The next step is conversions. We're working on our conversions. So please, if you tried it before, you spoke to 200, you only got 2 customers and then you stopped.

No, you make mistake, make AU turn and try again. So the goal is we're trying to increase our conversions. If you're able to increase your conversions step by step by step, that final number of people who pay you will go up. Let's go back to my example. 250 brides are only able to speak to 150 next time around, 250 brides. If I'm able to talk to 230, the odds are going up. So let's go back. I only spoke to 150 out of the 150, I only got 80 to drop phone number.

Let's go back next time out of 150, if I'm able to get 126 to drop phone number, you can see that my odds are going up. So you can see step by step by step, if the conversions are better, the number at the end will be better. So it has the goal is to work on the conversions. And I repeat, do not stop because you are afraid that no more this thing is hard. 200 people, only two customers. So don't stop, especially if we're talking about something as simple as WhatsApp messaging.

It does not get easier than this. Don't stop after the first time WhatsApp messaging, inbox, DM, e-mail. Look, this is the easiest form of outreach. Any other method that you use will will require more work. Networking to build your consulting business is work. Phone calls to build your consulting business is work. Flyers handing out Flyers is work. Guest appearing on other people's podcasts, placing advertisements on other people's shows, that's for someone in her own situation.

All of that is hard, hard, hard work. This campaign, remember, we're talking about WhatsApp is easy. So this is your first time doing it. Don't stop working conversions. Now I've already defined conversions because the conversion is the amount of people who take the next reasonable step. Like I said, most people assume that people does buy immediately. That is not how it works. So for your industry, for your product, for your service, you need to map out your sales process into small, small stages.

So for me, I'm acting to first of all, pay my fee and go for the, what's it called for the wedding fair. So if I didn't have money borrow from my wife, I'm going to buy space. That's number one then #2 make sure I look good, smell nice, rub perfume, be appropriate. And then come up with a plan. Where am I going to put my table? At the beginning of the hall, the middle of the hall, the end of the hall? How will I be going to pull people for a chat?

You know, things like that. Because I have to talk to many people and then put them to my table. And from my table, I need to collect phone number. And for a phone number I need to book appointment. Then from appointment I need to do presentation. From presentation, I need to send a proposal. From proposal I need to negotiate. From negotiate I need to close. So I broke it into small, small, small steps. And that's how I was working it.

So for your own business, sit down, do some thinking. If you're tired, use ChatGPT or use Google Gemini. You can break down your process into small, small steps. So that's how it works. So like in her own case, reach out to 200 people. First thing is figure out who's interested in broadcasting. You're wondering how 20 people are interested, No problem, that's one conversion. Then figure out out of those 120 who has plans on starting a podcast or who has already started the podcast?

Let's settle down. 12080 have already started a podcast or they are planning no problem out of that eighty you now speak to those you dig deeper out of those 80 who feels as if producing a podcast is a nightmare or who wants to explore outsourcing. Then from there you've narrowed it down to 20. You know so it's like that step by step by step. Each step is called a conversion. And remember, if you get better at taking people, getting people to take the next step, you will get better at getting at closing the deal.

So the next big question is with a 1% conversion rate, does that mean she has to talk to 2000 people next? Because remember what she did was 200 people as she's thinking of trying to 10X her results, she wants to get 10 times that. Because you know, I understand, you know, if you only have two, there are some kind of businesses where if you only have two customers a month, man, that would be rough. So I understand. So she needs to get more.

In fact, we all need to get more. So what was I? So she wants to 10X the results. Now she wants to get 10 times the results. So does that mean that she needs to talk to 2000 people next? The answer is no. And that is why we work on conversion skills now. We're trying to increase the skills that she has and that you have when it comes to talking to people because the small, skillful UI handling these conversations, excuse me, Over time, the number of people you have to talk to will go down.

If you talk to 200 people and you're close to customers, but then your conventional skills become so good over time that you talk to 200 people and from there you're able to get 80 customers. You can see that some months you can even relax and say, you know what, I'm tired. Let me only talk to 100 people and you will still be getting more business than you did in the beginning because you have gotten more skillful over time in handling conversations and improving your conversions.

So actually, the more time you spend, the number of people that you talk to will actually go down. So don't be afraid that you have to talk to 200 and then over time increase to 300, then to 400, then to 600, then to 800, then to 1005. No, no, no, no, no. It's not like that. As you're getting better, the number of people you have to talk to will go down. Then I already mentioned that when you're doing this kind of outreach, it has network effects.

People begin to know you, people begin to know your name. And like I said, when everybody knows your name, it is easier to start some kind conversations in the future. Also, another thing I forgot to mention at the beginning is the normal dynamic is if you get, if you're truly good at what it is that you do, after a while you start getting some referrals. And the more referrals that you have, also the less number of people that you have to talk to.

And by the way, referrals are easier to close because referrals lend on other people's credibility. So let's say you are looking for customers. You talk to me, you and me are friends and I say, Oh, my best friend, busy, she's doing this, she's doing this, she's doing this. Let me give you BC's phone number. Let me hook you guys up. BC will assume that because me, I'm a correct guy, you are a correct guy or a correct babe as well.

So that's what we mean when we say that referrals lend on the credibility of other people so they're easier to close. But summary, what I'm trying to say is that because you started talking to 200 people, now to get to customers, don't be afraid that you have to double their number of people that you're talking to to increase business over time, the number of people that you have to talk to will be going down. We'll be going down, we'll be going down.

Then finally, she said she was grateful for the lessons that she has learned along the way. She hasn't said what those lessons are she wants to tell people later on, but she was very, very grateful that she learned lots of lessons. And yes, we should always remember that when we tried some of these activities, apart from the naira and Kobo benefit that we get when we get the customers, there are some other benefits that are good to us that we should celebrate.

So while we're waiting for her to say what she learned, these are a couple of things that I want to let you people know, especially female entrepreneurs, because she's a female. And whether you like it or not, looks as if female entrepreneurs, at least in this part of the world, you know, in the SME space, just starting, looks like they have a couple of hang ups. So let's just go straight into it. The number one benefit of talking to 200 people for 14

days is you will learn that you can't do it. And this is not a game for boys only. For some reason, people assume that, you know, when you wake up and say I will dominate my day, you know, I will conquer, I will talk to 200 people. You know, I Will Survive, I will thrive out. You know, for some reason people assume that all that kind of Greg, right, Just for boys only girls, you can Greg right too, you can. For me. That's the main reason why I

think more women should engage in this kind of business building activity. Just so you know that you can do it. Remember the first time I gave somebody this kind of assignment, I can't remember exactly what it was, but I told her that, look, we're going to get a sense of your unique value proposition the more people that we spoke to and sorry, forgive me a taboo on the air that you speak to. I said, OK, no problem. He said I will give myself this weekend, Friday, Saturday,

Sunday. She said I will load my phone, let me buy a 15K credit, I'll load my phone and then I'll call everybody. I can't remember how many people that she had as customers at that point, maybe like 50 or so. I said 15 K is even too much self. She's saying no problem, let me just I don't have to give myself excuse. I said I had no problem. So she loaded her phone 15K. She started calling and just like I thought by the time she had spoken to like around 15 of them, she called me back.

She said, oh I've been seeing some themes. There are some people I love doing business with and there's some people I hate doing business with. Well, first of all, she was surprised that she could do it. She didn't think she could. I'm too shy. I'm too this, I'm too that. But that's the first thing first. First was like, I'm surprised I didn't know I had it in me. So please, sisters, join us in the Gragrara because you have it in you.

It's required and it's a transferable skill. Later on, you might want to be general overseer in church, you might want to run for politics, you might want promotion in your department, in the office. All these things, talking to people, all these things that come in handy. So please, my sisters, join us in the Gragra. You can do it not for boys only then. Just like this lady who loaded 15K to call these people after like 1215 people, she said.

I'm seeing some themes that some people I enjoy working with and there's some people that are idiots. I don't think I'm going to call the idiots again. And I said, ah, my sister, thank you. I'm glad you realized it. And I'm not the one who has to tell you because she said she even called what has his name? But I remember when I did some work with him three years ago, it was terrible then. And as I was talking with him now, I realized that he's still terrible now.

And I was not asking myself, why should I be doing business with guys like this? These are the things that I say when I when I say qualitative benefits. As you can see, it can't be quantity, you can't see it on a sheet of paper, quantity in form of statistics. But qualitative, you will feel one way or your spirit will say something to you. You're feeling the quality of something. These things are important because they give you directions.

Let me be moving here. Let me not move here. So please my sisters, join us. You can do it. You'll get some quality detective data, you'll get some quality insight from talking to people #2 another reason why I should do it is when you do these things, my sisters, you realize that nobody will kill you. There's no harm. I keep telling people the worst that will happen is that somebody will shout at you. That's the worst.

Unlucky for me, I got shouted at early, so I got it over with. But honestly, that's the worst that will happen though. Somebody might shout at you, but they won't kill you. Sorry. Sorry for all that noise. My boys are just running around. So nobody will kill you. So, sisters, please join us. Nobody will kill you. The risk is not as big as you think. You don't want to be rejected now, but it's not that big. You'll be rejected a couple of times.

You realize that, you know ain't none personal. And then you go ahead and do what you want to do. And there's no woman that you love, that you respect, that you admire, that has not dealt with rejection. Is it Margaret Thatcher? I'm sure women receive rejection, die. It's easy to be Prime Minister. Is it more abudu? That's Ebony life woman. I don't know her story, but I know that it definitely did not come on the platter of gold.

I'm sure they reject and die. Is your prime Winfrey? Is it Kim Kardashian? Is it call any woman? Is your kanji Wella any woman? Is it Madam Due process? Any woman? That NAFTA woman, I can't remember her name. What's her name again? I can't remember any woman. The risks are not OK. Well, for knock that woman, somebody shot at her. So let me remove knock that woman from the from from the list. They tried to snipe her, they tried to shoot her in the head by anyway where you know, hound is different because it's enough that so she's doing she's trying to kill, she's trying to put drug violence in prison.

So down is different. So let's remove that enough that woman, but join us. Nobody is going to kill you. Then another reason why I say women should join us in this kind of activity is because especially nowadays where everybody is trying to do stuff on social media, for this kind of business activity, you don't have to look pretty at all. Because I noticed that my sisters, my cousins, my, you know, few people around me, they worry too much like, oh, I can't make LinkedIn videos.

My hair is like this. I have no makeup, you know, blah, blah, blah. I don't have clean shirts, you know, never took light. I did not iron, you know, blah, you know, all these kind of things. But for this kind of thing, is it not making a phone call? Or sending direct message. Nobody can see you and nobody cares what you look like. You can do this one consistently every day. 200 people in 14 days. That's 15 messages every day.

You can send 15 messages every day without brushing your teeth. Your mouth can be smelling. You can send a message, your mouth can be smelling. Your eye can have that thing that looks like mocha in it. You can still make the phone call. This one is a lot easier trying to make videos on Instagram and on LinkedIn and all whatnot, you know, am I pretty enough? Oh, I have a pimple on my head. I'm not going to shoot today.

My eyeliner has finished. I'm not going to shoot today. I'm not in the mood to do hair makeup. I'm not going to shoot today. For this one, you don't have to look pretty at all. You don't need to feel objectified. You don't need to feel like anybody's judging you on your on your looks. Excuse me? You don't have to worry about whether you're pretty or whether you're a tiny rapper. It does not matter. You can be growing your business steady by sending your 15 DMS

every day or by making your 5 or your six or your two phone calls every day. Well, of course, yes, when you're aware for the physical meeting, you don't have to wear about hair makeup, but you know, at least that stress has been reduced. Well, I guess the biggest lesson I want to pass across is this, especially since some people are overreacting about that 200. It's only direct messages. It's only so it's not hard work.

Don't let the numbers scare you. Now, I said something about conversions. How do you work on your conversions? That depends. There are plenty of factors. It depends on who you are, are you brand new, was the industry, things like that. But First off, when we were trying to improve our conversions, want to make sure that we refine our target audience. Refining the target audience just means are we chasing the right people?

Are you targeting the right people? Because there's no amount of talking to the wrong kind of people. Please pay attention. There's no amount of talking to the wrong kind of people that would give you the right kind of clients. It does not happen. If you're talking to the wrong group of people, you will not get the right clients for them. So at the beginning, we have to make sure that we refine the target list. So that's a conversation that I'll have to have with her or some order she has to have with herself.

OK. I wanted to target 200 contacts. Those 200 contacts, who are they? Was your only friends and family? Well, your friends and family don't have a need for your podcasting services. Then of course, conversion will be low. So she needs to look at what her ideal client profile is. Does she have a way for targeting people in different industries, talking to startups who maybe think podcasting will help, financial advisors, you know, life coaches, people like that who want to start podcasts.

She also needs to be clear about what kind of problems she's solving for them. Because some people will say, I create podcasts about no, you're not. It's not that you create podcasts. What you're doing is you're solving the problem. And what you do is that you're helping people. How will I put it? OK, let me continue. Let me just be thinking about it. What shall you get the point? We need to make sure that we're targeting the right people.

If we're targeting the right people, then the chances that we will get lots of customers at the end goes up. Then we also need to excuse me, what else? OK, message messaging and then cadence messaging is what are we saying. We also have to work on what what we are saying. If you're saying all the wrong things, if your sales game is weak, then of course you won't be able to convert. And then cadence, cadence is the is the flow and I put it number of times that you reach out to people.

How often do you reach out to people? So we need to work on that. So First off, you know, I advise everybody personalization. If you're sending this thing, don't send generic messages. Don't send. Hi everyone to whom it may concern. Good morning all. Now that one is too generic you're talking to nobody. So try and make it personalized, which is why I said copy and paste. Then edit that part where you said hi everyone, just remove everyone and then put the person's name.

Hi, Chuku Ebuka, Ebuka is the kind of person that you normally say. You normally call him Big Head because you guys went to school. You know, copy and paste, remove hi everyone, and then you just put Big Head question mark and then continue. Chuku Ebuka will feel as if you're talking to him directly, meanwhile what you did is copy paste, edit. So the more personalisation the better. Then also if you can start with the personal reference.

So hello person's name. I saw your post on LinkedIn and I was really impressed. I think a podcast will be a good way for you to explore these ideas. Have you thought about that? You can see messaging is targeted, it's kind of making sense and it's kind of moving straight to the point reference to other people's work. Yes. Oh, I listened to your interview on so so so and so podcast and your insights on this and this topic.

I think it was fantastic. Have you thought about starting your own podcast? You can say that that's a very personalized something very, very relevant. Then your value proposition, your USP, you valid proposition or USP, it just means why do people do business with you? So yeah, this is what I was trying to say. So don't just say I do podcast production. No, no, no, no, no, no, that's not good. So instead of saying we produce podcasts, you can say something like we help thought leaders like you to build authority and attract new clients without worrying about technical details.

You see, the other one is more outcome oriented. If you say I do podcast production, you know, that's like, OK, that's all. But then you say we help thought leaders like you, you're toasting the person, you're a thought leader. We help thought leaders like you attract new clients and grow your revenue. You see, you're showing the result. Oh, podcast equals more listeners equals more money without worrying about the technical details.

So that's how you talk about these sorts of things. So that's what I was trying to say earlier when I meant when I was talking about messaging. So your value proposition, it has to be compelling. Then of course, if you have social proof when you're reaching out to people, it helps. I helped social, so start their podcast recently, helped this person grow their podcast by 30% in three months. Is that something you're interested in?

You know, that's social proof. The idea behind social proof is, you know, I got you. I can do this. We did it for NECA, we did it for Chukwudi. Chances are we can do it for you too. That's the idea. Then of course, we should always be adding calls to action in our messaging and try and move things the next step. That's what we call an advancement or move things the next step, that is called an advancement. So you chat and then, you know,

would you like to explore how podcasts could be good for your business? Your 15 minute conversation will be OK. So are you free next week Monday I can call you 10 AM. How does that work? So you're trying to move this thing forward step by step. But the problem is lots of us are sending these messages. I want to put in any call to action. You send a message, you know, but my name is establishing my day. Podcasting, production services,

the best, the brightest, blah, blah, blah, blah. If you'd love to work with us, call us now, then, you know, send OK, that 1 is OK because at least you said if you want to work with us, call us now. But you just send it like that. And you think that that message is going to do all the work. So take it step by step by step, walk on your conversions, try and build advancements through the whole process and then put a simple call to action there.

Then let's see what else. OK, follow up. I'm afraid to say follow through. I've explained it before, so I'm not going to say that again. So the way you follow through on something and your natural process. So this is what we mean by cadence. That's the number of messages that you are sending. So don't just send one message and give up. Excuse me, That's also another mistake that some people make. You only send one message,

People don't really respond and then you're discouraged. So you plan this your campaign, you send message one on day one and then you wait and see. Some people respond, message 2. For those people who did not respond, send a message following up. As we like to see in Niger, although sales professionals will say following through. So send a message now, give them another two or three days. Some people respond, some people won't respond.

They now send message 3. Sending them a helpful resource that helps keep you top of mind and people will respond and people will not respond. That's not a problem. Message 4 send it again in between 12 and 15 days now will now be break up message like you know, Oh, Chukudi, we've been trying to talk to you about sources or so I'm assuming you're not interested or is it that priorities have changed? Question mark. There's one person who I've been training her own scope is she likes to add a softener.

So I've been trying to reach you, blah, blah, blah. Are you still interested or her priorities changed? Either way, I'm not going to be calling you except if you initiate conversation again. Look forward to hearing from you. Some people respond, some people will not respond. But either way, you have gained emotional closure. That's why I thought we would send a breakup message. It's just for emotional closure. You send it and take them off your list.

So you can see now that the messaging that we're sending, even though it is 200 people in 14 days, we still have to come a plan, come up with a plan. Are the one message. What's it going to look like for the people that ignore? What is the message 2 going to look like for people that ignore? What will message 3 look like for people that ignore? What message 4 look like for people that ignore? What will the breakup message be?

We need to plan this thing out. That is why it's helpful to use the note taking functions in your phone. So of course, you'll be surprised. I use Google Keep. The reason why I use Google for everything is just because if my phone is stolen, I just want to buy another Android phone, sign in on Google and then prep. Everything that I have for my old phone is there. Because I used to use Apple products more or more. To migrate Apple Apple stuff to Android was too much of A

hassle. So as far as I'm concerned now, Android phone all the way through. So use these note taking apps on your phone and plan everything so that we just, you know, copy, paste, edit, copy, paste, edit, send. So let me check my notes. Let me see if there's anything else that I'm missing, missing. I say misery. Oh, well, maybe I should start editing this podcast and removing stuff. OK, I have valuable resources. Now. Another mistake that people make is they don't they don't think about value add ways of staying in touch with people.

You don't always have to send a message to someone and say how far all those how far messages, they're annoying and they don't add anything. Sometimes you can send a message that says, oh, I remember the conversation that we had two weeks ago. I came across this useful resource and I'm sharing it with you today because I hope is going to be able to give you some value, you know, around the podcasting ideas that we discussed.

That is a nice way of staying in touch instead of sending somebody a message saying I sent you a proposal last week. How far I was thinking about you, I came across this resource. I think it might be helpful. Send at least you send something this week, another three or four days, you can now reach out again. So I also drop a list of stuff that can be valuable resources that she can send it. Messaging. So #1 is a blog post.

Of course, of course, this person I'm talking about, she has a blog and she has a LinkedIn handle where she talks about podcasting so she can have a link to her blog post 5 mistakes to avoid when starting a podcast or all those videos that she's been putting up on LinkedIn. Why your business needs a podcast or you know, resources like how a podcast can help your business make more money. So for someone like her, having all these things, you know, on your website, on your Instagram,

it will be easy to find on Instagram because for LinkedIn, once you paste it, you know The thing is gone. But at least you can pick that link and send to somebody's a useful resource. And then of course, we should remember to track our metrics. Metrics just means you're tracking the numbers. How are you doing? But now remember, we now know that 2 out of 200, that is our baseline 1%. So we'll now be checking. Also, we'll check response rates.

How many people responded or do you would have responded? How many of it was good? We measure how many people said no. We measure how many people say F off. We measure yeah, a few people say F off. Unfortunately, it's just one of those things. But nobody will kill you, you won't die. All the people that responded positive, yes. How many of them booked a meeting? Good. But we would have booked meeting. How many people showed up?

Because it's not everybody that will say, yes, I'll meet with you that will show up and people showed up. For the people that showed up, how many of how many of those did we have? Discovery call, That's what we find out, people's needs for the ones that we had discovery call, how many people you know, you understand, next step, next step, next step, next step. And then of course, always remember to be asking for feedback during the process.

So for those people who say no politely, for people who say F off, just leave those ones. They're rude. So you can't do without them. But if somebody politely says, no, you can't ask for feedback, I say, oh, truthfully, I understand that it's not really a priority right now. But you know, bro, I really would appreciate just, you know, even though you're not going to be my client, I really would help like it if, you know, you help me move my ministry forward.

So is there anything from my proposal or anything in this conversation that I did that I could have done better? Anything that was off? This is not the time to defend yourself. Now that you have released Chukudi from the bottom of Be My Client, he's going to speak freely. Now that he speaks freely, the only thing you're going to do is you will say thank you and you will write down the thing that he says you're not going to say.

And Chukudi, how can you say that? But this is not the time to be defensive. You only do 2 things. You will say thank you and you will write down everything that Chukudi says. Whatever Chukudi says, you will take it and you put it back into your process to optimize and make your process better. That's how it works. Whoa, OK, this is a one hour episode. I haven't done that in a while. OK, so let me wrap up here now. Basically what I've been trying to say in this podcast.

This is my own opinion. If you've not tried this before, what have you got to lose? Think about it. You have absolutely nothing to lose. Especially my sisters, my cousins, my friend preneurs, my mom preneurs, all of you listening to this podcast, if you haven't tried this before, you really have nothing to lose. Nothing. You have a lot to gain, but nothing to lose. There's possible money and there's possible clients at the end of this process.

Even if there's no money and clients at the end of this process, there's plenty of self growth that is going to come at the end of this process that will help you to leverage into your future political career, into your future office career, into your future, whatever it is that you want to do. There's only personal growth at the end of this thing. So please join us if you haven't done this before. So that's all for today.

Remember, if you'd love to connect, you can call, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140. Thank you for your time and attention. I'll catch you next time. Same place in your headphones or in your speakers.