Why Your Business Can't Handle Foreign Clients Yet

Today on the podcast, we're going to look at when to start targeting American based and UK based customers. That's for those of you who are web developers. Again, for those of you who are web developers, you want to make an extra buck, you want to take advantage of dollars, pounds, euro instead of charging in naira. Today we're going to look at when to start targeting US based customers, UK based customers. Hello and welcome to the podcast.

My name is Tava Shima IED. I'm the host and I am making today's recording out and about. I'm at a non disclosed location, but yes, I'm in the car. So expect to hear some noise in the background, you know, people gossiping, people walking past, you know, things like that. You might hear some chickens because you know, I'm in central area and nowadays we have chickens and cows running all over the place. Now the goal of this podcast is not to tell you how cows and chickens have overrun Abuja, but rather we're here to talk about all things business related.

How do we solve business problems? How do we attract customers? How do we look for good clients, those sorts of things. So if that is your jam, then subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, Apple or any player of your choice. And if you'd love to connect, then you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on the 08064662140. So like I said, to know on the podcast when to start targeting US based customers, UK based customers, especially for those of you who are web developers.

Now, the background for this is I was having a conversation recently with someone who is a front and back end developer. Now, for those of you who've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that I hate that term. And this is the reason why lots of us say stuff that make us sound fancy and make us sound sophisticated. But from a sales and business development perspective, if you are using jargon when you're talking to customers, then you are limiting and hindering your ability to communicate.

And let's face it, for those of you who are web developers, let's be real, let's be real here. How many of our potential customers know what front and back end developer means now? I know what that means now because I tackled somebody about this because, you know, people listen to the podcast, people like the podcast, people reach out to me for business device. And one day I just had to ask someone that look, guy, this front end, back end, like what the hell does this thing mean?

And by the time the guy describes it, I was like, oh, so you design websites and you design apps. In other words, my mom said I starting a charity and she needs a website for the charity. That's something you can do, Yes. OK, me then, I'm a business person. I don't have a website, I don't have an app. I might be considering those things one day. So that is something you can do. The guy said yes. I gave like 3 or 4 examples.

The guy said yes and I said how do you really realistically think that by going around calling yourself a front end back end developer? How do you think my mom, she's supposed to know that you that you can do this thing for her? How am I supposed to know that you can do this thing for me? When customers are looking for you online, how many of them do you think are typing front and back end developer in Google when they're looking for you?

Don't you think somebody will just type in make our website in Abuja or website developer in Abuja? But anyway, you guys don't seem to be getting the message. So no problem. Go around, continue calling yourself front and back end developer. But for the rest of us listening to the podcast who are not in this space, just know that it doesn't help when you go around using all kinds of jargon that your potential customers do not understand.

So if you're selling to people in a highly technical who are technically minded or if you're selling to in house people, then yeah, sure, use all the terms that you want, right? So if you are a front end back end developer and you're trying to sell your services to other front end back end developers, then yes, go ahead and go ahead and put all the technical whatever front end back end developer, JavaScript certified this da, da, da, da, you know,

pour everything, no problem. You guys understand yourself, but the moment you want to turn around, I want to sell to the average everyday. Somebody use words that they understand, use words that people will search for, which is precisely the reason why my podcast is called Sales for the Nigerian business person. Because I know that if somebody is looking for a podcast in Spotify, they are not going to go and type business development.

They won't. I know they will type in sales, I know they will type in marketing, I know they will type in Nigerian. That is the reason why I gave my podcast the most boring title ever, precisely so that if somebody searches for it, they would find it. And that's the reason why they find me. So take a cue from that please. When you're talking to potential customers, no matter how sweet the jargon you know sounds, when you are customer facing, please dial back on the jargon.

When you're now talking to people in house, you can now use the jargon because I can go, I can go around calling myself a conversion rate optimization specialist. I can say that. And technically speaking, I'm correct to say I'm a convention conversion rate optimization specialist. But when I'm talking to people in the streets, well, I'm trying to get business for people and I go around calling myself a conversion rate optimization specialist.

How many people know I will say it. And the Irish Nigerian doesn't want to be rude or betrayed the ignorance. So they'll say, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, sounds interesting. Sounds interesting. Meanwhile, the guy doesn't know gang. He doesn't know what I just said. And I could be talking to someone who might need my services because they have a sales funnel, they have a sales process. Things ain't popping off, right? They're not getting customers.

People are not converting. He could be my customer, but I'm using words that he doesn't understand. So that is precisely the reason why I don't go around calling myself a conversion rate optimization specialist, even though that's what I do. I just use terms. I use words that everybody knows. I say sales and I say marketing. I say, is your sales not working? Is your marketing not working? Do you have problems with your side hustles?

I use words and I use terms that everybody knows. So do the same thing in your business. Now I know it doesn't look good on LinkedIn, but then one front and back end developer sent me a message. I finished one of the podcasts and he told me that the reason why lots of you do that is precisely because you're trying to market your skills in house. So for those of you who are marketing in house, sure, no problem. But for the rest of you who are looking for regular customers,

if I I think especially if you're going to be looking for UK based customer, US based customers, because let's be honest, then yeah, it's the West. But honestly, we in Nigeria, we know book more than them, right? It's a deadly little secret. But you know, for those who also had lived and worked abroad, go go and ask us. Honestly speaking, we know book pass them. So if it's going to be confusing for a Nigerian audience, I can assure you it's going to be even more confusing for auk based and US based audience.

So please use words, ignore jargon, use words that your potential customers will understand and ignore jargon except if you're making a technical sale. All right, sorry, forgive me for that rant because it's just something that's on my chest. And of course, this community, they never fail. Every day I will see front end, back end web developer, UX, Linux certified Python code developer, Panda 6 point O something something, something ISCJBL Google certified as new.

Just be pointing everything and you think your customer understands knows what that means. Anyway, I was like, so I was talking to a front end, back end developer and then the guy is looking for ways to better his business. So this strategy that the guy came up with, the guy said how far? What do you think? How about I target these foreigners now instead of charging in there because now no make sense. By the way, I agree with him now no make sense at all.

You know, I used to be patriotic on this matter and everything until one day I was talking to someone who was the BP or I think business, business provider, something any of these people in Nigeria who what they do is they aggregate talent and then sell those services abroad. It's sort of a way of offshoring work, busy offshoring. Yeah, I think that's what is called the offshoring. And they basically there are companies in America that need services like the services of a web developers and you know,

stuff like that. So this guy's business, the is it BPO or something like that? I can't remember the acronym. What they do is they vet that kind of talent here in Nigeria. Then those kind of people are there are the workforce, then they sell the services, they get the work from abroad and then the people here in Nigeria execute basically this sort of thing that this guy wants to do, this front end and back end developer, what he wants to do is sorry, what he wants to do.

But these people, they do it on, on an agency, on agency level. So one day we're just talking now the guy said about how like he was collecting, was it like $7000? And then for each person that he pays in Nigeria, he pays the person now $500 every month. And in my mind, I was going to say $500 a year criminal. But then by the time I did the calculation at the extra of the exchange rate at that time, I don't know what it is now.

At that time, the exchange rate was I think was close like 700 K that he was paying his Nigerian people. And it's like, oh, OK, you know what? That thing actually makes a lot of sense. You collect several $1000 from the American based company. You find talent here in Nigeria and then you're paying them $500 per month. That comes up to 700K per month. And those people are actually very, very happy to be collecting $500 because $500

equals to 700K. So I understand the whole mathematics. Naira no make sense. Dollars makes a lot of sense. So this front end and back end web developer is looking for ways to target foreigners. Take advantage of dollar, take advantage of euro, take advantage of hard currency, creepsy currency to make your life better. So I wanted to know what I thought and this was my advice to him. We exchanged a couple of messages and if I read all the back and forth, I'll bore you.

So let me just summarize and this is what I told my guy. I told him, look, focus on the Nigerian market first. Some of you be wondering, did you just see what I thought you said and I'll repeat it, You heard me correctly. Focus on the Nigerian market 1st. Focus on the local market first. The reason why I'm saying this is you need to perfect your business. You also need to perfect your sales processes by working with Nigerian clients first before you attempt to expand internationally.

Let me repeat it again before I explain, perfect your business here at home first and your sales processes here at home first before you attempt to expand to international markets. This is the reason why if you are a rubbish business person at home in Nigeria and a rubbish web developer at home in Nigeria, I can assure you, you'll be an even more rubbish business person and developer in the UK and in the USA. As much as we know book pass them.

Fortunately or fortunately, when it comes to standards, they employ higher standards than we do. So in the export space, because my brother and I, we tried exports, there's some stuff we get away with Nigeria here, like selling sesame. There's some current quality of sesame that we sell in the Nigeria market that you can't try it, You can't send it to America, you can't. So in Niger with a chopper, but to send to America, they will say what the hell is this?

They say no past quality standard. They will tell you the same thing with soy, soy soya beans. There's some soya beans that we move around Benue, Abuja, NASA, you know, no problem with a chopper. We use it for whatever it is want to use. But the moment you say you only export it to America and the UK, they will say, what the hell is this is the no past monster. They will tell you quality, no reach. So it's the same thing.

There are some websites and some things that we're doing here that we did manage with the raw farm. But you want to now expand to the American market, they'll say, what the hell is this? This thing, no past monster, this thing is useless. So I told him, focus on Niger affairs. Perfect every, every perfect. Your fulfillment, your skills are there on point. Test it out here, refine your skill here. Your sales process is on call.

The way you reach out to people, is it on point? The way you call people, is it on point? The way you respond to emails, it is easy on point. What's your process of actually like outreach everything you know, work on it here, push it up here, fix it up here. Then by the time you've had a bunch of Nigerian clients and clearly you can see that, OK, you know, you're not strong as in your legs are settled ahead. They cannot start looking at the, the international market.

So yeah, we should be looking at hard currency, creepsy currency, cool currency, heavy currency. Well, let's, let's, let's, let's say what's that word now? Let's stabilize first in Niger, then we can now start looking at international markets. And we're trying to do 2 things. We're trying to perfect the business itself and we're trying to perfect the sales process itself. Because a useless sales process in Nigeria is also going to be a useless sales process in America or in the UK.

And quite frankly, one of the reasons why some of us are suffering, my brothers and sisters, is because the sales process that we have, what we're trying, the sales process we have is useless. So trying to attract to get paid in hard currency, all I put it, all you're doing is you're just changing, you're just, you're just changing the environment. But the problem still persists. So focus on the local market 1st. Then next thing I tried to tell him is we need to prioritize effort.

OK, so I thought I had a phone call coming in. Now we need to prioritize effort over strategy. There's something I saw on the podcast and I'll repeat again when it comes to business growth, excuse me? In the early days, all your problems will be overcome by effort. I repeat, in the early days, all your problems will be overcome by effort. By the time you enter stage 2, all your problems will be overcome by scaling. By the time you get to stage 3,

all your problems will be overcome by strategy. So let me repeat, Stage 1, effort will solve all your problems. Therefore, just means work on the right stuff and work harder #2 scale. You've worked on the right things. You're not working hard enough. Get other people to join you in the work. Multiply your efforts. Either use human beings by building a team or use technology and scale your efforts. So that's what will help you to grow.

Excuse me? So it's only after you've done those first two effort and then scale, they can now start worrying about strategy, looking for how to arbitrage on hard currency. That's putting strategy first, but you know, was hope 1 opening strategy first. If stage 1 and stage 2, you never strong yet you feel me hope you feel what I'm trying to say. So effort, are you even sure you are working on the right things and working hard enough And have you perfected your standard operating procedures and your sales process?

Have you tied those things down first? That's just basic stage 1. Then stage 2, you now scale it small, get a team around you, involve technology. Have you put those backgrounds in place first before you now say you're looking for international market, you're now trying to do strategy. See, that's the problem with a lot of us. We're trying to do what trying to do strategy, strategy, strategize in stage 1, like calm down, you don't know anything yet to be strategizing.

Fix the fundamentals first. When you don't strong, when you can see the horizon where you're standing, well then you can now start saying, oh you know what, let us take advantage of arbitrage of international currency and charging dollars. Sounds good when you said all that strategy stuff is not for now is for future when your legs are strong. So effort first in the beginning, the answer is always effort, effort. FI know people who say work smarter, not work harder.

But what did they say? If I run into any of you, I give you backhand, stop saying that rubbish because there's no part of the world where somebody wakes up and says, you know what, I'm going to work hard. Well, let me work hard foolishly. That's just a useless American debate. This whole thing of work hard versus work smart is a useless American debate. There's nobody who wakes up and says, you know what, let me work hard, but let me work hard foolishly.

Nobody says that. So please kill that debate. All right, let me move on before I say something or annoy somebody. Then he also had some questions about AI. That is why I say, look, AI can be dangerous. He's talking about how he has used AI to develop scripts that are going to write the outreach and then the AI something he has quoted it to respond to the message. And guy, AI is good. And I talk on the podcast about how you should use AI, but AI is for scaling.

AI is not for fixing. If you have not determined the process, if you have not worked on the process, then you'll be scaling rubbish. AI and automation is effective when you already have a successful business model in place. If you don't have a successful business model in place, what are you AI ING? What are you automating? What are you scaling? What? My guy, your process is flawed. Using AI will only amplify your failures.

So relax, calm down. We need to fix some fundamental things first before we begin the AI. OK? You're using AI to write sales script and to automate outreach and everything. How do you know that our outreach works? Relax, try it out in Nigeria first. Try it out manual, be calling people manual, send e-mail manual, send WhatsApp message manual based on what is working and what is not working. You will now know that. OK, this one, let me automate.

Let me you know AI, let me AI the thing because at least I've shown that the thing works. So please. Yeah, it's good. But for a lot of us, we need to slow down, to calm down. We're trying to run before we can walk. We won't be Usain Bolt, but it's not like that. Walk first, make sure your cardio is on point. You know they go gym, build some leg muscle, you know, take part in some local tournament 1st and then eventually can try out for Olympics.

So relax, please. Let's calm down. AI is good, but just remember AI is used to scale something that already works. You can use AI to scale an already successful business if your sales process has flaws and if your business has flaws using AI, you only be opening your bum bum in the public and do not do that. You're amplifying your failure. Please don't do that. Yeah, you computer people, you front end back developers, you are the one that say garbage in,

garbage out. RB is the same thing. If you're using AI and you do garbaging, the one that will come out to be garbage out. So slow down, slow your roll. There's some things you need to fix first. So I guess you guys really understand this. I'm trying to say basically any hard currency is good and I want to any hard currency too. And people have been telling me, oh, boy, how far target the American market. I say, yeah, I will eventually.

But The thing is, what I do, the birth place of that industry is in America. So like my father used to say, my father used to say you can't be more Jay-Z than Jay-Z himself. That's what my old man used to say. And it's true, this whole sales trainer, conversion rate optimization, business development specialist, the birth place of this thing is in America. So you want me to go and compete with them on their own terms.

Now eventually I get there. My focus has always been, let me dominate Nigeria first. Anytime somebody says sales in Nigeria, they should call Tavish in my idea. Let me dominate Niger first. From there, the Ghanaians would be saying be like said our boy knows, you know, knows what's up. Ghanaians be calling me before you know it. South Africa, as we say, it's like there's one guy that I shop in West Africa. That guy Terry Schumer was his name and call that guy.

So it's from dominating Niger entering Canada before you know, it S Africans don't they call me small, small, small. That's how I get on the radar. And now, you know, enter like America. I'm not going to do that thing that this my guy, what's his name? What's your flavor? What's your flavor? Tell me, what's your flavor? What's his name again? Craig Craig David. Craig David was a big boy in the UK with What's Your Flavor and you know all that.

Whatever he decided, he wanted to go and enter the American market. You know, who are you? He went there. Now does anybody know Craig David? If I want to say Craig Davis, some of you are saying Craig who? So relax, we fix some things first. The boy should have been the guy should have become superstar in the UK first. Enjoy that fame that he was getting. Then with that, what's his flip? What's Your Flavor album? Should have dominated UK, you know, done a few international tours, you know, grow up first,

mature first, you know, So OK, I want to enter American market anyway. So Marisha, perfect your processes locally first. For you web developers or anybody who is targeting the American market, master your sales process here first, master your fulfillment process here first. Fulfillment is fulfillment just means that you have an order you take the order, you process the order you deliver then people are happy. So that's what fulfillment means.

So work on fulfillment first. All of that do it here at home. Once you have proven that you have a successful model in Niger first then applies and also looking for international clients, then you can take advantage of foreign exchange. So we'll all end this forex. Don't worry, we will charge in dollars all of us. I'm here with you, we will charge it But First things first, let us walk before we can run. Now let me tell you the sad thing, as I scroll up now and I

looked at all the messages, I saw something that yeah, this guy, we've actually chatted before in the past and we actually vetted some ideas about how he was going to do Instagram outreach for Nigerian business owners and how he was going to be doing 10, I think 10 targeted outreach every day. Meanwhile, the guy never apply him. He's now coming up with a new idea. Can you see what I keep saying on the podcast? Can you see what I think The problem is?

Lots of us are come up with fancy ideas, but in discipline in the kilos, we're not even discipline enough to to see anything through. And we think that the problem is with the idea. There was already a good idea in the past outreach to business owners on Instagram. We've come up with the script, we've come up with the approach, we've come up with everything. You did not apply. Now you're thinking of problems that you're not ending in dollars.

Your problem is this, that you're not ending Forex, your problems that you're not disciplined enough to see anything through. I keep saying on the podcast, good ideas are not the problem. Stop looking for good ideas. The idea that you have is already good enough. Execution is the thing that is killing us. You're not even executing on the ideas that you have. Calm down. Stop looking for good ideas. The idea that you have is good enough.

Even if it's not good enough, you won't even know because you're not even executing it. So from one idea to another idea to another idea. Anyway, I'm looking at the guy. No, no problem, I tried to be nice, so I answer as many questions as possible whenever I have time. So you know, I told the guy, no problem, send me the message. I'm in the middle of some client work now. I'll get back to you in like 2-3 days time. Just send me a reminder.

You know, I also had the guy, but you know, honestly, I know that six months from now the guy will ping me again. I will start a new chat. By the time I scroll up, I'll see that, oh man, this guy, we know the chat before. This is not the first time and I'll see that we're back at square 1 with a brand new idea. So we're in forex. Well, let's be strong in Nigeria 1st and then stop looking for fancy ideas. Ideas are not the problem with the idea that you already have,

execute on it. Put in effort, make sure you're working on the right things. When you're sure that you're working on the right thing now good. The next thing is let's try and scale this thing up a bit, build a team around you, get other people to sell and execute on your behalf or use technology and their skill. And when you've now reached that level, there's something on ground, there's processes, there's something, hey, we can now start looking for strategy of how we can capture dollars and how we can be earning $7000

every month. Because even though $7000 per month might be small money to them, by the time now do that calculation in Nigeria, you say several $1000, it will make sense. Anyway, let me wrap it up here. So that's it. And that's all. Remember, if you'd love to connect, you can call, send me a text message via WhatsApp message on 08064662140. Thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you next time. Same place in your headphones or in your speakers.

And please, if you do send me a message and we do talk about, you know, something and we agree on something. Can't go and execute first before you come back to me with another brand new revolutionary idea. Because to be honest, you know, if I catch that, OK, this person just likes idea, idea, idea. After a while, I'll just bone you. I'll start ignoring you when they don't worry. I've only ignored one person so far because the guy was an absolute twat guy.

No houses at all guy, no guesses. Anyway, let me leave it here so I'll catch you guys at the next episode.