The Art of the DM: Selling Smarter, Not Harder

Hello and welcome to the show. My name is Tava Shima Ayede, and I solve sales and marketing challenges. I'm making today's podcast episode in my house, just chilling here. So expect to hear some interruptions in the background. The goal of this podcast is business education. So please spread the word, let your friends and family members know, especially people in Nigeria and abroad so that they can benefit from the questions that we tackle.

They can subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, Apple or any player of their choice. And if you listening right now have any sales and marketing questions, bring them to me. You can call, you can SMS or WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Now today on the show, OK, I'll put this now today only show, we're going to look at how not to sell your services on social media DMS. For those of you who don't know, DM just means direct messages.

So we're going to be covering Instagram, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, you know, any social media where you can slide into somebody's DM and send them a message directly to try and sell your products or your services. So let's look at 1 sample outreach. It was a message to me. I can't remember when I received this one, but I just talked to you on my phone. I was like, well, sure, I'll come here and make a podcast episode. Use that as a case study.

I'm not going to read the whole message as I usually do. I would just skim it. So this message doesn't have to be a long 1. So was a message to me and the message was, well, the fellow got in touch. Sorry, the lady got in touch and she was promising to grow my podcast using 100% organic strategies. Funny thing is, what she was now proposing actually was not even organic strategies. But let's continue. So excuse me. So she reached out to me.

She promised to grow my podcast by using 100% organic strategies. And she even came up with specific milestones that she was going to hit, and these were 25,000 monthly downloads. That's what she was promising. Then she was also promising 125 star ratings. Oh, by the way, if you're listening to this podcast, you've been listening for a while, you've never rated this show. Can you go and rate this show? Like what are you doing?

Rate this show? It helps. Then she also promised to give to give 10,000 new subscribers and 50 written reviews. So she got in touch. She said she was going to grow my podcast using 100% organic strategies. She was going to guarantee me guarantee 25,000 monthly downloads, 125 star ratings and then 10,000 new subscribers, also 50 written reviews. So the way that she was going to achieve this was by running social media advertising campaigns and also by running Google and Bing promotions.

Now you can see that how I put it, it's not really a fault, OK? I guess it's a fault for the promotion. Because The thing is, if you are going to try and sell someone something, at least you should show that you have the knowledge, you have the skill set. How I put it, OK, let me just put it this way. When the baby reached out to me, she said she was going to grow the podcast organically, but then she said the way she's going to do it is by doing social media advertising and Google promotions.

Now, by the very definition, if you're going to use advertising campaigns, then what you are doing is not organic social media growth. Organic social media growth just means normal personal dynamics that occur online. You put out something, somebody likes it, somebody reads it, somebody shares it, somebody comments, you know, just the normal dynamics. The moment you try to push something, to promote something, to advertise something, what you're doing is no longer organic social media growth.

So what I am doing on the podcast is already organic social media growth. Some of you see it, some of you like it, some of you shared to your friends, some of you share it in your WhatsApp groups. Well, by the way, for those of you who promote the podcast that way, I really, really appreciate it because I was just chilling one day and then somebody hits me up and person is like, Hey, what's up? How far how you been? I'm like, I'm good, I'm good.

A person says, Oh guys, as if you don't arrival, I say arrive, how is your podcast now? I say, what do you mean? He said, I was chilling in my WhatsApp group and then somebody shared this link and I was like, Oh, I know this guy. And you know, anyway, so it was nice to see that there are people who you see the podcast, you like it, you don't even reach out to me. You don't say what's up, but you're already promoting the podcast.

I really, really appreciate that. So that is what people mean when they say organic growth Aspire. You didn't pay anybody to do something. You didn't push for something to happen. You didn't try and promote something, you didn't try and skew something one way or another. That is what organic social media growth is. So you have organic on one end and then you have paid on the other hand. So the moment somebody says that they are paying for something is no longer organic.

So it's like the babe, she's promising one thing and she doesn't even understand the field because she's using the wrong terms. And that is a no, no, that's not good. So yourself, before you send out any outreach, better be sure that you at least understand what's going on. Because if somebody, it just doesn't look well for somebody who is promising social media growth and this and this and that and that, and the person doesn't even know the terms, the proper terms, the proper categories, you know, things like that, it doesn't make you look good, even if truly, truly,

truly you can deliver those results. So and so that's it. She was going to help achieve help me achieve all that using social media advertising campaigns and then Google and Bing promotions. Now she also threw in there some other benefits that she was going to have 24/7 customer support and have a refund policy and all that. Sorry 1 moment. OK, sorry about that. I had to pause the recording because my kids came in and I

give them an assignment. So they were just let me know that they were done with the homework. So I was saying, so this babe, she also promised that she was going to give me 24/7 customer, 24/7 customer support and refund policy. And I thought that was really, really interesting because I've not seen any of these social media people say you don't have a refund policy. Like you pay me, you know, 400K. If you don't see results, give me, you know, you take your money back.

So I thought that was really, really interesting. So OK, now let's critique this outreach that I have received. Remember, this person reached out promising to grow my podcast using 100% organic strategies to achieve 25,000 monthly downloads, 125 star ratings, 10,000 new subscribers, 50 written reviews through social media advertising campaigns, Google and Bing promotions. They were also offering 24/7 customer support.

That means even if I need something done 1:00 AM, she will answer the phone and then also a refund policy. So let's now try and focus on what she did right now. First off, I always clap hand for anybody who does outreach because outreach is essential for business growth. But some people treat it as if it's optional. There's some people who decide I'm only going to sleep on Instagram, I'm only going to sleep on Twitter, I'm only going to sleep on a website, and that's the only way that I'm going to move my business.

Now, at some point, the online thing can take off, but there's no business that does not start with outreach. Some of you want to shout at me and say what about Amazon? Amazon, perfect case. But in the beginning, how does Amazon begin? Amazon begins because this guy has a nice idea. He has to go and create the website. He has to go and raise funds. In the very process of raising funds. What is my guy Bezos doing? He's driving to somebody's office.

He's picking up the phone, He's going to somebody's house. He's going to somebody's office to go and say Otumba, how far I have this idea for this website, blah, blah, blah. I think this is all we can build. I just need a couple of millions or two more. If you can drop like 10 M dollars, I'll appreciate it. What do you call that? That is outreach. He's going to go and raise funds from other people. That is outreach. Then you now go on start talking to other people who are going to build a website.

I'll be using your house and people who build website will come and meet you. No, you have to go and talk to developers, interview them, you know, website people. What else? Server space, Storage space, as in you, you see what I'm saying? To get Amazon off the ground, there was plenty of outreach that had to be done in the beginning. And then the first set of people who will host on the site. You think you just throw up a site and then people come.

You also have to do some kind of small, small outreach, talk to one or two distributors, you know, stuff like that. Now, eventually Bezos, Amazon, them, they would start advertising on Google and they would become the biggest advertiser on Google for a very long while. And yes, the online thing will now take off. What you can see. That doesn't matter which business you call. If I test me, give me any business, I'll be able to point exactly and tell you that, look,

at this very stage, this is where outreach was. So lots of us, we need to wake up and start assuming that outreach is optional. Outreach is not optional. I'm not saying you have to do outreach from the first day of business until the very end. Even if you want to build some web online conglomerate something, something, something, you will still have to do some kind outreach at some stage of the business. So people who send out these kinds of messages and stuff like that are clap for you because at least you know they supposed to outreach.

And I'm telling you, listening to the podcast right now, in case you're one of these people, I want to build on online empire digital nomad lifestyle. Something something, something. Please stop deceiving yourself. You will have to do outreach at some point. If this thing is going to succeed, then let's see what else. OK, Also have to clap hand for her because she had very clear statements about her value. In fact, she was even using demonstrable statements of value.

She was not saying grow it grow as insurance is very specific. She said 25 K monthly downloads, 125 star ratings, 10,000 new subscribers, 50 written reviews. These are things that can be quantified so she's really proud of her stuff she knows she can deliver, although left to me shower when people start talking like this, you know so so so so thousands of downloads and I'm like or more is bots. This baby is going to sell me bots.

So just kill my kill my podcast because at least now, even though my podcast is on a small level, at least I know that you people listening you listening to the podcast right now. I know you're real. I know you're not a bot because I get the messages. You guys reach out to me on WhatsApp. You guys reach out to me on LinkedIn. So yes, the downloads are not much since I started up to now, we're still at 30. I think it's 3333, thirty, 4000

downloads. So, you know, it's not big, but at least I know you guys are real and I value that rather than someone promising certain, you know, thousands of downloads and all that. You're not sure which one is human being, which one is bot activity and stuff like that. So where was I? So, yeah, so that's the good thing that she did. Clear value statements. Very, very clear. And that power is good. So that she's doing outreach to promote her business.

We give her top Marks and that she's giving very clear statements about the value she can provide. We give her top marks. Now, what are the things that she did wrong? For those of you who've been listening to the podcast by the length of time, you already know the first thing I'm going to say. The message was too long. The only reason why I read the message message from beginning to end is because I want to use it as a case study over here.

Any other person, any other person did not read it. Remember what I keep telling you guys, take the message. Some of you work on your laptop, take the message, send it to your phone, open it on your phone screen. If you have to flick more than twice to read the message, your message is too long. Most people are consuming on the phone. When I was reading out this whole thing, clearly you can see that her message was multiple flicks, too many flicks.

In fact, for me, I prefer that whatever outreach you're doing, the person should just be able to open it on the phone and not flick at all. Everything should just contain inside one screen. Let them see it and digest and understand. I know whether they're interested or not, whether they're going forward or not. So the message was too long. So if you're going to do outreach, you want to slide into somebody's DM on Instagram or WhatsApp or LinkedIn on Twitter,

keep the messages short. Then one problem she made and one reason why I wanted to make today's podcast episode was she made too many assumptions. A lot of us who are trying to do outreach using people, sliding into people's DM on WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, whatever, we assume that the people already want what we have for sale. That is a big assumption. You need to test that assumption because how I put it, there's lots of talk about how this kind of outreach is ineffective because you send out a million messages and maybe only 20

people respond. The problem is not with the method per SE, but the problem is with you because you are assuming and you're not targeting, right? And you're not testing your assumptions. You're sending a million messages to people who are never interested in the first place, and that is the problem. So let's look at the assumptions that she brought to her message. Number one, she assumed that I want to grow my podcast.

Yes, I do, but there are lots of podcasters who are perfectly happy with the way the podcast is at the moment. It's not every single body who wants to grow the podcast. Then she also assumed that I want organic growth, even though for her, her understanding of organic growth is not correct. But you can see those are two key things. She assumed I want to grow my podcast and that I want organic growth. It is an assumption.

When you're reaching out to someone who is a podcaster the first time and you're selling these sorts of services, you should be confirming do they want to grow their podcast? Because not everybody does. Some people have small podcasts and they like it. Some people deliberately want to keep it small. Then there are some people who want to grow their podcasts but who don't want to do organic, they want to do paid. So if you're offering organic growth services, even though what she's really offering is not organic growth services.

But The thing is, if truly, truly offering organic growth services and you're sending your message to people who are looking for paid and AD placed growth opportunities, you can see how you will be wasting your time and lots of people will not be answering. So don't assume when you reach out to people you should ask. Another problem was that this message was talking at me, was not having a conversation with me. Excuse me, I've been pointing out time and time again on the podcast that you should think of sales as a conversation.

It is only when you are engaged in a conversation with someone that you have a chance to actually convince somebody or to build rapport with somebody or to get to figure out who they are or what they want or things like that. It's only when there's back and forth, it's only when there's an exchange that you can get some, you know, get these dynamics going. So stop doing outreach and stop talking at people. At no point did she expect me to respond.

It was a matter of good morning. This is what I do. This is why I'm the best. If you're interested, click on this link. That crap doesn't work. Well, it works, but you're not going to get the kind of results that you're looking for. So what she should have done was she should have kept this thing conversational and the first thing was to have confirmed whether I was even interested and then built You should have built up a cadence of multiple messages moving me along in the sales relationship or in the business conversation.

So the first message should have been something should have been simple. Hi, are you the host of blah, blah, blah? Am I chatting with Avishi? My idea, the host of this dot dot dot dot podcast question mark send. That's all Because remember, I'm talking about assumptions. Sometimes you get the e-mail addresses wrong, sometimes I receive messages and this message clearly was not for me. So the person will respond, yes I am.

How can I help now? Can you see you are getting some conversation going? I say A, you say BI, say C, you say D. That is how you get this thing going. You build rapport, you build a relationship, you pull someone in. You're looking for an opportunity to start a conversation. So message 1. Hi, are you are you tarvishing my area? Host of that other podcast sent person says yes, how can I help? Now a little bit of flattery.

It's not bad, not because you must slaughter everybody, but The thing is, when you start talking about the other person, you give the other person the impression that your outreach is tailored to them and is relevant to them. It gets people reading, gets people listening. It gets people consuming. So next, your message. Oh, I love your podcast, especially episodes. So, so and so. And I like the fact that I've seen you grow from this, this,

this to that, that that. Then she will now ask the question, Are you currently looking for more ways to grow your podcast? Question mark, send. Some people will ignore. Don't worry. For the people that respond, you can see you are now engaging in the conversation. You now know that OK, this person truly, truly, they want to grow their podcast and you continue the conversation from there. You want to grow your podcast?

Oh, OK. What kind of growth are you looking for? Are you looking for new segments? Are you looking for new numbers? Are you looking for downloads? Are you looking for, you know, what are you trying to optimize around growth? What are your business goals? You ask all these questions first. It is when you now get all the information, you now give your pitch and now say OK, I promise you 25,000 monthly downloads. Like what if the person you're sending this message to already has like 250 monthly 1000

downloads? You can see that your messages are no value. Some of you will say how, but trust me, they're Nigerians who are putting up those numbers. Like my friend Randy who runs the Young God podcast, he got the also called ZD platform by the listed from Spotify. By the time they de platform him, Rodney had done 30 million in downloads and I repeat 30 million in downloads. So for somebody like Rodney now receiving this thing 25,000

monthly downloads, you know is is down is not his problem. So some way we should stop making assumptions, try and engage in conversations with people when we're sliding to their DM, figure out who it is we're talking to, figure out what their problem is. We'll now know what it is that we're going to pitch. So for someone like Rodney, who's already doing 30 million downloads, the conversation you're having with him will be different.

He's clearly not looking for another 25,000 monthly downloads. He's probably trying to optimize for something else. And by the way, that's also one of the assumptions that too many, all these people make. They reach out to me, they want me to grow my podcast. They assume that I want to increase downloads. For me, the key metric is not downloads. For me, the key metric is how many coaching engagements and how many speaking engagements am I getting from the podcast.

That is why I've never really bothered about how large the podcast grows because for me, I'm trying to track on a monthly how many coaching engagements am I getting? How many consulting engagements am I getting? How many speaking engagements am I getting? That is what I use to track the growth of the podcast. But because none of these people ever ask, they will never know. And that's the reason why I will never click on the link and I'll never call them back because their sales pitch is relevant to me.

A lot of you are making that same mistake. You're sending sales pitches out to people and it is irrelevant to them. That's why they will never click. They will never call. They will never buy and it will never be relevant to them because you're trying to talk at them. You're not trying to engage them in a conversation and figure out who is this person that I'm talking to? What are they trying to do? How are they trying to grow?

What is the vision that they're chasing? Based on this info I've now collected, I now know the kind of effective sales pitch to now make for their business. So all these things are important and that's the reason why I'm making today's podcast episode. If you're sliding into people's DMS and you think or more this DM thing is not working, the problem is not the DM strategy. The problem is you. You are not doing the DM

strategy right. So listen to this podcast episode again. Apart from that, there's ChatGPT, there's Google. You can go and research ways to make your outreach more effective, but please stop trying to talk at people. Get the mindset that you're going to have a sequence of messages and that you're trying to draw someone into a conversation where you figure out what they need or where they're planning to. You know, where they're where they're planning to go to or how they're planning to grow or whatever what the problem is, it is only then that you can make an effective proposal.

You didn't know who you're talking to before. You can make a powerful sales pitch. Stop assuming that you know what the person already wants. So that's all for today, folks. Remember, if you have sales and marketing questions, bring them to me. You can call, you can SMS, you can WhatsApp me on 08064662140. Yeah, that's it. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you at the next episode.