Understanding Nigerian Business Culture: A Guide to Effective Sales Pitches

Hello and welcome to the show. Today is an out and about recording, so expect to hear the usual interruptions outside. Now today we're going to look at mastering the art of the Nigerian pitch. The reason why we're looking at that today is because the people who have legitimate questions about whether there is a uniquely Nigerian way to sell. Now before we begin, let us define what the pitch is and as usual, I'm going to use a very loose working man working woman definition.

And remember, the reason why I keep using all these simple definitions is not because they are the best, but because I want you guys to be able to remember what it is that we discussed. Because if you can remember it, you will do it. If you have to refer to some podcast or your notes or something before you do it, then you are not going to practice all the things that we preach about here. So that's why I keep using these simple definitions.

So a pitch basically is a proposal or a presentation or that part of the conversation. Why you where you start trying to tell the person This is why you should buy. Or for those of you who are more, you know, flashy, you know, that's where you start talking about how this my product or your service is going to change your situation, is going to elevate your profile, is going to move you to the promised land, is going to do this, is going to do that, you know.

So for those of you who like promising, this is the stage where you promise. So if you're promising, if you're proposing, if you're making a presentation, if you're saying This is why you should buy, whether you're doing it over the phone, whether you're doing it over a PowerPoint presentation, whether you're in the person's house or the person is in your office, if you're not stage of the conversation, then effectively you are giving a pitch.

Now before we go into the Nigerian considerations that we have to take on board, because there are some people who believe that, you know, Nigerians are a unique bunch. So there's, you know, there's a whole host of things that you have to take into consideration if you're trying to sell to Nigerians. So anyway, we'll get into that later on in the podcast. So for those of you who are not Nigerians listening to the episode thinking of moving to Nigeria or starting up business here, then just hang in there.

We'll get to it eventually, whether there any considerations that you have to make for a Nigerian audience. So before we get into that, let's look into the structure of a pitch. Yeah, steps that you have to go through basically during the pitch or before you make the pitch. So First off, you have to ask yourself if you're dealing with a human being who is interested. Because if there is no interest, then you're not going to make a successful sales pitch.

So let's go back to the people who like to promise, like Omar, if you get this, my product, if you get this, my service, like it will change your life. You know, you will never be the same again, you know, blah blah, blah. For instance, all these people who come, you know, you're chilling outside. Let's say you're chilling outside an office. You're waiting for your friend to come so you guys can go drinking or something.

I happen to be a big dude, you know, like me, 'cause I'm fairly large, I'm almost six, 130 kilograms. So these people walk up to me all the time and like Bros, and then they start healing me, and then they start trying to sell me potions that this one will remove waist pain and it will cure erectile dysfunction. And if I handle my girlfriend, she would be impressed and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So before you start trying to sell your your, your products and you know it's the same whether you're selling these sorts of products that are supposed to cure waist pain and improve sexual performance.

So it's the same whether you're selling those kinds of products or you're selling DSTV or you're trying to sell what else Travel services, because people are trying to Japan and things like that. Stop assuming that people are interested or rather, first of all check if they're interested before you start making the pitch. It happens all the time, whether I'm outside a friend's office or whether I'm just minding my business in LinkedIn.

And then somebody hits me up and they're trying to sell me on the benefits of why I should jackpot or why I should go to this university or that university and how it's going to improve my career prospects. Oh, by the way, jackpot, For those of you who are not Nigerian, listening to the show is a phenomenon of Nigerian migration. So lots of Nigerians are cutting out right now to Western countries in particular. Well, actually Nigerians are cutting out to all you know,

manner of countries, so Middle East, Asian countries. But when you say jackpot, you mean usually we're talking about those who are moving to Western countries, western climes, so Canada, America, United Kingdom, those sorts of places. So all of you guys get the gist of what it is that I'm trying to say. So before you start making promises that or more, if you buy this thing, you know your girlfriend will be impressed.

Her life will never be the same. Or if you go to this university, your career prospects are going to shoot up by 200% or whatever. Be sure that the person is interested in the 1st place and those are the those are the dynamics at play, whether it's a face to face thing or whether you're trying to sell to someone over on LinkedIn. So for those of you who are taking advantage of the Jaguar phenomenon and trying to sell your products, whether it's the schools abroad, you know, things like that.

Be sure that the person is interested first of all before you send that block of text. And then you start trying to pitch on why the person should use your agency to go to his university so that career prospects go through the roof by 200%. Why not ask? You can send a simple message asking, well, first of all, introduce yourself. Have a conversation, Follow the person. Ask the person what kind of career prospects that they're trying to pursue in Niger and whether they think their lack of a foreign degree is a problem.

After you have done all this small chat and back and forth and you now know that their lack of a foreign degree might be a problem, I mean they perceive it to be a problem, then you can go into your sales pitch. Until then, with you just going on LinkedIn, sending your messages all over the space, you're pretty much just spamming everyone. So first thing to do before you pitch, be sure that you're talking to a human being who is interested.

Then after you confirm that they're interested, you want to be sure that the there's a that they have a problem, a pain or a vision or a need. Now the reason why we need to find out this is because sometimes people are interested because they are curious. So I might be interested in this, your sexual performance product. I might be interested just purely from a from a what's that word? From a scientific point of view,

I might be wondering, do these local remedies even work? Not that I have a problem. I mean, might not be that I have a problem I'm trying to solve. Now for the person who is just merely curious. Your chances for going the sale, sorry for closing the sale have gone down because this person is just curious. It's not like they have a need. And it's the same thing. Back to the whole jackpot thing. You hit somebody up in their LinkedIn inbox.

You're trying to take advantage of jackpot phenomenon. You want to sell your travel, your travel and migration package or your education advisory services so that people can, you know, get admitted into Harvard or whatever so that when they come back it will improve their prospects for career advancement. So if somebody is mainly curious, then OK, let's say you hit me up and it looks like I'm interested, but I'm merely curious.

Maybe it's just that I'm curious, like, how does this thing work? Not that I want to leave the country or that I want to send my children out of the country. I might just be curious. So if you're dealing with someone who is merely curious, then your chances for a successful sales pitch go down. Now, in case you guys haven't figured it out, the reason why we have to walk through these things first is because there's no point in going through the day making fifty sales pitches if the chances of any of them closing are low.

You're better off going through the day making four or five sales speeches if it is possible for you to close business out of one or two. Let me repeat, it is not the number of pitches that you're throwing out. If you're throwing out 50 pitches a day or a week, but then the chances of you closing even one is low, that's a problem. But if you're having four sales speeches a day or four sales speeches a week, but you have a chance of closing two of them,

then that is a much better situation to be in. Especially since if you're able to come up with an effective sales pitch. I mean, let's consider those ratios talking to 50 people, you only close one, you talk to four people, you close two, then you can now scale. You now know that if you get in front of more people and you're closing half of them, then your chances for going business, doing business with these people, go up and up and up.

So it's not about the number of pitches, it's about the quality of the pitches. And this is the thought process that we have to go through to make sure that everything works. Now, by the way, hope you guys see how this works, whether you're in Nigeria, whether you are in Uganda, whether you're in Canada or whether you are in Australia. So it's the same thought process. But of course, as we go later on in podcast, you see how some of these things have to be done in a contextually, in a culturally contextual manner.

Let me just put it that way. So are they interested then? Do they have a problem? Do they have a pain? Do they have a vision? Do they have a need? The reason why I'm using all these problems, all these words, is because depending on the context you're in or what you sell, sometimes people have a problem. So you woke up to somebody and you say, oh, Bros, because the guy is a big guy. I say, oh Bros, if you take this thing, it will solve your back pain.

If you buy this thing, your wife will never let you go. So if somebody has erectile dysfunction and he's a relatively young man, just like I am, that might be a severe problem and that person might be willing to spend good money to solve the problem. So that is the reason why some of these drugs, so upwards of, you know, 13K bottle, 25K bottle. I once saw some group on Instagram where they had this a jug. I can't remember how many pills,

but it was, I think it was 250 something KA bottle. So this is somebody who is dealing with a problem. I mean there are some people, you know, like much older gentlemen who think, look, I'm over and done with this stage of my life, so I can't get it up, what's the big deal? So for them it's not a problem, But for the young man who thinks he has a problem, he's willing to spend 5K13K all the way up to 250 something K to solve the problem.

There are some other things, on the other hand, where people don't have a problem per SE, but they have a vision that they are looking towards. So for those of us who started off in the wedding photography space, in the event space, it's more vision LED. It's not problem LED. I want my wedding to be glamorous. I want my wedding to look like one in town. I want my wedding to be talk of the town. I want my photos to be exquisite you know so that one, it is a vision that they're looking towards.

So but that's why you should be looking out for if you're trying to sell the product or service that is problem or pain LED then try and figure out do they have this pain That's where you can key in if you're one of those things where it's kind of vision LED. So if you're selling personal development, for instance, OK, no personal development that is part pain, part vision. Oh yeah, because for someone to buy your personal development coaching product, the person has to be dissatisfied with where they are today.

So that's a problem. And then the person has a vision of where they're going towards, so that one is part pain, part problem. So you get the gist. Erectile dysfunction, that is pain problem, wedding photography, event planning, that is vision. And then if you're selling coaching services, personal development, that is part pain, that is part vision, because they're upset that they can't pay school fees now and they want their life to be at the stage where they can pay school fees and also travel abroad for holidays without batting an eyelid.

Now the next stage, can they afford my product or my service? You have to be able to figure that out. Because if you're talking to someone who is interested, who has the pain or the problem, but they can't afford it, they're wasting your time. So back to the erectile dysfunctional medicine. You meet the Bros who's waiting outside the office. He has the problem. He confides me that man, you know, yeah, so since my weight got up to 130, my BP has been 160 over.

You know something? I've not been able to get it up. My relationship is in shambles, blah blah, blah, blah, blah. But then the person can't afford your product. Let's say what you have is your, hey, let's say one of those guys who is selling 256 K, you know, per bottle, but this guy is thinking more like 2K5, you know, 2500. You know, there's no meeting point here because the gap is wide. If you have a 5K product, but the guy was thinking 2K5, you know there's there's room.

You can haggle back and forth, you can price, You can get somebody who was thinking 2500. You can eventually get the person to pay 3000 maybe 4:00, but you can go from 2005 to 256,000 naira. So it's important to have those money conversations before we start going into the sales pitch. Now let's leave the sexual, the erectile, dysfunctional thing and let's go back to the jackpot thing. So jackpot services, yes, people are trying to leave Nigeria.

Yes. But if what you are doing is you're consulting for Western universities, you know, for Harvard, for what's that school in Massachusetts? Is it is it Boston University? I can't remember but you catch my drift. If those are the schools you're consulting for and for the person to pay school fees and Jackman leave the country, the person has to cough up by let's say 25,000,000. Then you need to have those money, money expectations, those money conversations upfront,

because you might be talking to someone who wants to Jack back, the person wants to leave the country by any means necessary but they can't afford to cough out 25,000,000 now maybe to go to a university in Malaysia for instance, or to relocate to Malaysia or something. Maybe on that, you know the person might only have to spend three or four meal, but you need to have that conversation because it is hard to move someone from three or 4 million up to 25 or 30 million.

So you guys need to have that conversation before you start making a pitch for why they should use your travel agency for the holiday or why they should use your educational advisory services so that you can get them placed in foreign universities and things like that. So yes, there's a JACPA need, but JACPA is as wide as OK No, JACPA is western climbs especially, but there's a need. There's a desire for people to emigrate and to leave the country, but there's a wide variety between Middle East,

Malaysia and then all the way up to Canada. Then you have to be clear that your product or service can help them because the person might be interested. There's a problem or a need looks like they can afford it. But in your heart of hearts, you know that if you sell this person this thing, it is not going to work. So back to the erectile dysfunction bit. So there's a problem. He needs your whatever, the guy, he's flush with cash so he can pay, you know, the 256 K But in your heart of hearts, you know that your product is not going to work where people already have blood pressure complications.

And yeah, you know, that actually is a thing, 'cause I heard, I don't know, but I heard that if you, like, use Viagra and you have some heart conditions, you know, you might send yourself to an early grave. And in fact, there's a former Nigerian head of state who well, well, that's the one on the street and that's how the guy checked out that he pops on Viagra and invited 2 ladies over to the house. And from there he went to meet his reward.

And yeah, that's how he got into heaven basically. So yeah, so you know in your heart of hearts where your products or your service can help, if you know that this drug is not going to work because of blood pressure complications, then don't sell the person the medication. The reason why this is important is this. If the person use spends all that money for a product or a service doesn't get the desired result, that is bad PR for you.

And Nigerians don't like being scammed. Well, of course you will say that no is bad. Beware, you should have done your own research. But as far as Nigerian is concerned, like man, you scammed me. I believe he is going to tell people that you scammed them and we don't want that kind of PR, that kind of buzz going about our business. So if your product or service is not going to be able to help, then, you know, don't do it.

The same thing with the jackpot, whatever. If this guy is thinking that if I go and I take this Harvard degree and I'm back in the country with seven years, I should be able to enter into corporate Niger. Or maybe in your heart of hearts, you know right now that corporate Niger isn't prioritizing degrees from this part of the world or that part of the world. You know, don't just by all means just do whatever it is you need to do to make a sale.

You know there could be a blowback in the future. So it is only after you've done all this work is the person interested. Is there a problem paying a vision, a need? Can the person afford? Is it clear that my product for service can help? That you can go ahead and make the sale speech and start making all those promises of ah Bros, if you take this thing, Ah that lie, your wife will be surprised. She will never leave you.

Any babe that you touch will be in love with you forever. Blah blah blah and all those sorts of things. So these are the steps you have to go through before you start making your sales pitch. Now, are there any Nigerian considerations that we have to take on board? The answer is yes, because these structures and principles and frameworks that we're discussing are universal. But everything has to be culturally nuanced in Nigeria.

It will depend according to the geopolitical zones or just think in terms of large cultural swaths of Nigeria. So basically I'm just trying to say that you're chilling in Lagos, in Illorin, Ogun, you know around that area things might be a bit different if you are chilling in Benway State plateau. And it's also a little bit different if you're around that Beni area. And things also might be a little bit different if you're chilling up towards Taraba,

might be different if you're hanging around that circuit to Axis. So you should be thinking in those mind frames. That's how you think about it. And this is the reason why #1 respectful communications. Nigerians are big on respect. It doesn't matter the culture, whether it's Thief or Hausa, Ibu, Yoruba, Ibibo, Delta, in Gas, Fulani, it doesn't matter. Nigerians are big on respect, so you have to know how to pay respect in the culturally appropriate way.

Nigerians are big on respect and courtesy. How you show that respect will be different according to where you are. So in some parts of the country respect will be ranked and then you bow. In some parts of Nigeria it will be you bow onto your hand touches the floor or you bow flat. By the way, I'm talking about guys for girls. Respect might be a bow depending on where you are or a curtsy or if it's a much more corporate.

And well, these things even transfer in corporate environment because there are some people who enter into the corporate environment. But let's say you're going to go and meet the orca of an NNPC or something and he's a Northern gentleman, Northern gentleman. There's not a place to enter the office and they say so, so, so, so rank. I did it and then you copy your hand and then you bow. So these things apply as well. I've been using situations where you're talking to someone who is older or relatively higher status.

I'm not trying to say you're low status or you're rubbish, I'm just. How do I put it? I am just trying to look for some objective way of describing the whole thing. So because in Nigeria these dynamics matter. Who are you talking to, man or woman? Is the person older or younger? Is the person a big boy, big girl? Are you guys on the same level? Is the person your junior? You know, all these things come into play. But anyway, we should respect everybody that will come across.

But respect and communication, it's communicated differently depending on the geopolitical zone, depending on the culture, you know, all those sorts of things. Now, because respect is a big thing, it doesn't mean that we can't be casual and informal. You can just take a cue from your host, the person that you're talking to. When you have built a certain level of rapport or commonality, the person will let you know in the way they talk and in their body language when it is the appropriate time to switch.

So you take your cue from them. That is the whole situation where let's say you're entering to you're a guy, you're entering to the madam's office, you say good morning, ma, blah, blah, blah. You're still standing. And after I watch, it's like, ah, my son, don't worry, come and sit down. And then she motions for you to sit on the couch next to her, you know, So you pay attention to all these sorts of cues. That's how you know when you start softening approaches or being more casual or being much more informal, but it is not you to initiate it.

Take a cue from your host. If you're using an inside man to get into a corporation or something like that. If your inside man enters, or your inside woman enters inside the office and they're standing and they're being formal, then stand and be formal. If your inside person comes in, does the greeting and then relax a little bit, well, basically you can't go wrong by looking at your host or looking at the person who is trying to set you up for this business opportunity.

Now another thing about doing business in Nigeria or rather and Nigerian pitches and sales conversations and things like that. Nigerians, we have hierarchical structures and that has also crept into business. So it's this whole thing of, you know, Americans and UK people. So just call me Bob, you know, just call me Bob. That doesn't work here. If you're trying to the guy's office and the person says that, oh, I am Mr. Mr. Gambo Sanusi,

you will call him Mr. You can't just say Gambo. How you doing? Like now hierarchical structures work here. If there's a point where Mr. Gambo says you can call him Gambi or or or or G boy or whatever, he will tell you when. But we have hierarchical structures here. So you just assume that whatever hierarchical structures you beat apply. And also because of that you should always be prepared to talk to another decision maker,

another or guy at the top, because there's hierarchy here. So you're talking to somebody in maybe the person is AGM or whatever. But if the GM has to answer to a board or or to some other person help in the in the hierarchy, then we should be prepared to have other conversations as well. And that is why I talk about multi threading a lot. Multi threading is you're trying to talk to somebody. In all I put it, you're trying to talk to somebody in the company or or whatever.

You can't just have only one contact, you need multiple contacts. If I do something that I became aware of back in my day as a wedding photographer, sometimes if you're talking only to the bride you've miss Rd. you should be talking to bride and groom. That will give you a sense of how things are going. There are some cultures where even though you're talking to the bride, it is the groom's family that is going to pay for everything.

So in that case you should be talking to the bride and to the groom. But then it also won't hurt if you have the groom's mom's phone number and you're keeping her updated once in a while. So that's what multi threading is. You're not just talking to one person and assuming that this deal will close. So it applies in some personal situations and it applies a lot in business context over here. So the hierarchies always be trying to figure out you know who is the next guy, who is the guy at the top and be trying to talk to those people accordingly or try and get feelers on what is important to them.

So multi threading, yes. And then also what's this thing called account based marketing, yes. So if philosophy or account based marketing that would work a lot here in Nigeria. Account based marketing basically is where you're trying to sell into an organization but you need support from your your marketing team back in your company. So they prepare collateral for you whether it's slides or or Flyers or whatever that you can send ahead of time to different people within the organization to kind of soften up things before you get there.

So that's account based marketing. So that sort of thing works over here where there's there's a miraculous structure. So multi threading account based marketing and that's also why in Nigeria or excuse me, we have a culture of drive by greetings. So you happen to be in this part of the city and you know that you have one or two prospects you've been working on. You know, you just go in there like, hey, what's up His buyer around.

So buyer is in. So OK, no problem. Let me just holler buyer real quick and say, bro, why are you there now? I was in the neighborhood I just, I should agree to No, nothing. I was just passing by. So I know Allah as passes on. So I'll call you next week, OK? Yeah, later. And then you leave. So drive by Greetings the thing in Niger, precisely because of these, the kind of hierarchies and relationships that that we need to build.

Then when it comes to negotiating in Nigeria, negotiations are assumed. It's just the default assumption, although here we don't call it negotiation, we call it pricing. So pricing, how, how would I define pricing in Nigeria? It's called pricing, but OK. I think in the UK or in America they will call it yeah hagging, yes. So by Nigeria we call it pricing. You guys outside of Nigeria, you guys maybe call it haggling and I hear that Egyptians are that way as well that you know if you want to buy something in Egypt,

it's just assumed that you guys got the price anyhow like you call your own price, the person will call his own price, people meet in the middle and you know stuff like that. So in Nigeria sticker price is not the default assumption. So know that we are going into your sales pitches, then marketing materials, something to consider. You know, should you guys have it in multiple languages, different translations, so that if you're going to, I mean, you know, just depends.

Sure it's not something I'm recommending, but I'm saying it's a thought. In yesterday's episode I spoke about how for the telecoms MTN it is a lot Airtel, how that is a big part of their strategy. If they're pushing into this part of the country, then the billboards have the appropriate language, the things that translated into appropriate languages. Even when our kids were little and we used to buy different kinds of milk, there are some milk people like what's the name of this company, this brand.

It's a Nestle product, but you open the milk and there's a pamphlet inside the milk in I think like 5 different languages. There's English. There's outside of Ibodos, Yoruba, what else? I can't remember. Two was like 5 or 6 languages anyway about how to use the milk. So maybe that might something you guys might consider. If you have a big enough business, I guess then OK. On marketing, yes, visuals. So there are different philosophies on this.

There's some people who want to use visuals that resonate. So you want to use pictures of people that look and sound local. So in your videos, in your audio, in your whatever, in the Billboard, you're trying to use people that look like they're fitting, that look like they're Nigerians. So that's one philosophy. There is another philosophy, unfortunately, that is more aspirational, for instance, like the more expensive schools that we have in Nigeria look.

So it's no secret. So I'm just going to come back and say it anyway. So in a lot of those big aspirational schools, you know, they put lots of white foreign kids, you know, and their billboards because they're trying to be aspirational. So I guess in some countries it might be faux power for you to do that sort of thing. But in Nigeria I'm not recommending you do that. I'm just saying it's a valid philosophy. Some people will say, look,

we're Nigerians, use only black people that look Nigerians dressed in Nigerian garb and there's some people that will say look, we are Nigerians. Nigerians like to aspire so only use white light skinned people in the in the adverts. So I'm not recommending one over the other. So let's see. OK, 30 minutes. Let me bring this to a close. Timelines. Yeah, there's this thing about African time. So I'm not going to lie. You know, we're not always punctual.

However, I have noticed that in Nigeria, if you are punctual, it makes a good impression if you're that guy or you're that girl that when people say the meeting is 2:00 PM, you're there by 1:50. It makes a strong impression and it helps to build your credibility. And I think it's something that has helped me in the corporate photography space. I think it's just something that kind of made me stand out because, like, I remember my early days of dealing with the British Council.

I used to find it frustrating. The program is supposed to start by 10. They will tell me the program starts at 8. I would now show up at 7:30 and they'll be like, oh, oh, you're here. And I'll be like, yes, I'm here. You said the program was supposed to start by 8 and I didn't want to be late and I will say, oh, sorry, you know, actually the program is going to start by 10. County director will be here at 9:35, you know, blah blah blah and this and that.

But you know, now people don't always tell the truth. So we give the vendors different time and blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I was on today game, but I stuck you through. I showed up whenever they said I should. And right now I have a good relationship with most of the teams that I work with. So now they tell me the actual time, so they can tell me confidently that hey, be there for 10. The program starts by 10 because they know I'm not going to be late then they will now go and tell the other vendors, you know, now start playing games with other vendors.

That whole thing of the program starts at 10, but tell all the vendors that it starts at 8:00 because you expect them to be an hour late and blah blah blah and all that jazz. So if you keep the timelines on your punctual here, it will be a very, very, very good impression. Except if you're playing politics. I don't know if politicians value that whole being punctual thing, but in the business space it will create a good impression for you Then I think that's a pretty much we've already gone over the non verbal aspects of communication.

How? That depends on, you know, the culture. So for some cultures you're going to be differential, the bow, the nod or maybe the squat in some northern places, especially if you're greeting a title. Damn individual then this whole thing of direct yes direct eye contact. Let me warn you guys, this whole thing of direct eye contact in the Western context makes a lot of sense. Direct eye contact means you're confident. There are some cultures in Nigeria where direct eye contact is confrontational.

So because business book say direct eye contract contact, it doesn't always mean that you should. This is one of those culturally sensitive things. That's what I'm trying to say. So in the UK, yes, director eye contact walking to the office and I say Bob, nice to meet you, you stretched your hand. In Nigeria, Bob, director contact, nice to meet you might put you in trouble. Depending on the context. It might be you come inside and say ah Alaji gamble Ranka Diddy you, you know do the bow thing and then you extend your hand.

There are some cultures where it is not you that will extend your hand. The person who is older and of higher status will extend his or her hand first and then you now lean into the handshake. So the whole firm handshake, director, eye contact, please. Because Harvard Business Review says so doesn't mean that is what applies in Nigeria. It depends that depending on the culture. So if you're foreigner, you're trying to sell in here and ask your contact person, you can't go wrong with that.

They're the ones that will give you the appropriate advice. So regardless of how things work in your country, give me your own country. Looking down means insecurity. If your person says look, when you come here, you bow down, you greet, and then you put your eye on to the ground until you are called upon. It is not lack of confidence or whatever, it's just different aspects of nonverbal communication. Let me just put it that way.

Nonverbal communication depends on the context. So I will said a lot that's all for today folks. But the summary is that an out of the Nigerian pitch. Yes, in a sense. But before you get into the pitch are they interested? Do they have a problem? Can they afford the product? Will my products service help Then go ahead make the pitch. But in making the pitch remember lots of stuff culturally nuanced then also take in mind the business hierarchy.

Am I pitching to the right person? Because you are pitching to somebody but the passengers operations manager. But at the end of the day, it's actually GM that's going to sign the check. Then prepare your mind that you pitch to operations manager. When operations manager is impressed, he will hook you up with GMD group managing director. Then you preach, sorry I didn't say I say preach. You will now pitch to GMD as well.

Then when you have the conversation, remember that over here sticker price is not really the culture. So you guys will price groundnuts. You know, you price up and down. You start off by saying it's going to be 8 mil and they will say 8 mil. What? And then you guys surprise, you jump back or forth and then you end up at 6.3 or whatever. So expect that. Yeah, so that's pretty much. So connect with me on WhatsApp. The phone number is 08064662140.

The country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian, then also connect with me on socials, especially LinkedIn where I spend most of my time. My name is Tavishima Ayede. I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of my name and my e-mail address from the link We are currently listening to this episode. Thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next recording.