Don't Be Annoying: Better Ways to Follow Up

Today I want us to look at a very common scenario that most Nigerian business people, most Nigerian self-employed people, most Nigerian salespeople or marketers face when they go about trying to do their job every single day. And that is situations where you call a prospect and then the prospect doesn't answer. So I repeat today we're going to look at what to do when you call the prospect and he or she doesn't pick up the call.

Now, for those of you who are discovering the podcast brand new, let's define terms a little bit. The prospect is just anybody who might be interested in your product or might be interested in your service. So at some point in trying to grow your business or if you've been hired to be a salesperson yourself on behalf of a company, at some point you just have to be on that very common sense general path of, OK, I've started work or OK, I've started the business.

Who who in this local government, who in this whatever, like who could be possibly interested in my product or service. So in the beginning he's going to look like a shotgun approach and then later on you're going to narrow down. But eventually we have to start at that stage where we talk about when we're talking to prospects who might be interested. In fact, there are some sales trainers or some consultants who prefer to say suspect at this stage because you're just looking who'll be suspect,

Who'll be suspect? OK, this guy and a suspect, let me try him. OK, she looks like a suspect. Let me try her. But the journey starts at that stage, a prospect. Then eventually we're able to get an introduction or we're able to get some phone numbers. You know, we have a contact and we try reaching out to those people. Now that process as a whole in sales is called prospecting. Who might be interested in my product or service?

Who is the suspect? OK, no problem. Can I get some contact details I have. Now how can I reach out to that person? Did I get a phone number? Did I get an address? Did I get a physical location? Do I have to go and talk to somebody? You know, whatever. So that whole process is what we call prospecting. Now it's just normal that when you're able to find the phone number and you call, it's just normal that lots of times people are not going to pick up.

And it depends on your industry and who you're calling and things like that. But the first question I want us to tackle is whether it's a bad thing, whether it's something you ought to be discouraged about because it happens. One of my coaching clients, OK, well, she's not really my coaching client. It is her Olga who is my client. But the Olga has paid me to train the sales team. And so yesterday she had an interesting day where she called 9 contacts and then 6 did not even be called.

And because of that, she was feeling a little bit mellow. So that's the first question we're going to look at. Is this such a bad thing that for today your target was nine people, you bossed them, only three answered, 6 didn't even send you nothing. Is this such a bad thing? Actually, it is perfectly normal and it's not something that you should get depressed about or upset about. It's perfectly normal. Just put yourself in the other person's shoes.

People have busy lives nowadays. Everybody, they hustle and everybody has something that is on their mind. Everybody has other priorities. And then apart from that, you know that you listening to the podcast right now and then me, you know, you know that, you know, for us, you know, this is how we get Our Daily Bread. We pick up the phone, we call people, we run to people's offices, we attend networking sessions, you know, we go for meetings.

So now, so we, they also, both the people are different. There are some people who don't want to talk to strangers. Strange number, they don't answer. For instance, my wife, my wife is in paid employment. If this is a strange number I don't recognize, I'm not calling. I'm not calling back. I'm not answering. If the person to the you know, boss, she might tell me, hey babe, please let me check this number because I have true caller on my phone and then I'll check.

She now say, oh, is uncle so, so and so then she'll call uncle back. Oh, is chief so, so and so then she will call chief back. But her she's not picking up strange numbers. Same thing with my mom. My mom is retired. If my mom sees a strange number, she's not answering. Yeah, well, if it's important, it will get to me. She know the answer. So people like you and I, because we're the hustle for Our Daily Bread or self-employed or were in business for us, we think it's a perfectly normal expectation that OK, you see a strange number, you just speak.

But no, no, be like that for me. I kill what I eat. So if I see a strange number could be a customer, I will answer. Oh, OK, this one is not a customer. It's village people. OK, no problem. Let me block, you know, but me, I'll pick up any call. You Ma, you're a salesperson, you're a business owner. Any strange number you answer. But for the rest of Nigeria, no be so. So it's perfectly normal that people don't pick your call.

They have busy lives, they have other priorities and because of security reasons, you know, personal space, blah, blah, blah. I don't like talking to strangers. I don't harassment, you know all those excuses. It's perfectly normal that people are not going to pick your call. Then you should also know that sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down. So for this lady in particular, since when she started her job, everything was going smooth,

smooth, smooth, smooth. You know, call 10 people, 91 answer, you know, that kind of thing. That's how every day was just going. So for her, I was also shocked like kilo day, like what's happening? Nobody's answering, nobody's answering, nobody's answering. If I one person even called to call her and say hello, but it's actually entering into the person just got the for the the call. Yeah. In fact, I think tomorrow we'll do a podcast episode on that,

what to do when, you know, you'd also market. And then you call and they say, hello, who is this? The minute you start, they just got the call. So I think we'll look at that tomorrow. So, but it's perfectly normal. And then there's ups and there's down, you know, so sometimes it just happens. It's just the randomness that's in the game of sales and marketing. So perfectly normal. So bottom line, what I'm trying to say is do not be depressed.

That you called 20 people yesterday and 18 of them did not answer, do not be depressed. So how do we get past this? There are lots of ways to look at it. But today I want to look at one way in particular. You bought somebody, didn't answer. The mistake that most Nigerian business people or salespeople make is they say, OK, no problem, I'll try again. So you call today. Let's say your number ends in 556, you call today to get an answer, You call tomorrow the answer, you call next tomorrow.

He didn't answer but the person has been seeing 556556556 every single day. Don't you think at some point this person will be thinking, homo this person an irritant? You don't think so, you're becoming an irritant. What you need to do is to stop blowing on people's phone, stop the incessant calling. You call people, don't answer. Next best practice. I tell this to every single person that I coach, I train while I consult with.

Drop a message, send a text message, send a WhatsApp message. I would have said send a text message or a WhatsApp message. But to be honest, for me, I send both because I don't really know, you know, is this person an SMS person? Is this person a WhatsApp person? I have no idea. So I send both where the person responds, that is where I continue the conversation. So I send a text message and I send a WhatsApp message. It's the same message, you know,

just copy and paste If they respond on WhatsApp or will and good conversation continue? If they respond on SMS or will and good conversation continue but drop a text message. Now, the purpose of the text message is this number one, it's going to warm up. This lead is going to warm up this interaction because before now you reaching out, you've been, this thing is perfectly like it's totally, 100% cold. It's a cold call.

Now, a cold call is just a situation where you're trying to reach out to someone, you're trying to call the person, you're trying to enter their office, you're trying to book a meeting, you're trying to do whatever. But The thing is, you guys have no prior context, no prior history. You don't know them, they don't know you. Nothing. Gomos, That is a cold call. And of course people get nervous around that, that, that sort of thing.

That's the reason why, let's say your number ends in 556. That's the reason why, Olga, that you're trying to call you today, you'll just see 556 tomorrow, 556, next tomorrow, 556. We start thinking, who's this irritant? Who is this bloody irritant? Because now cold call, he doesn't know who you are. You're just showing up at 556, you self, honestly speaking, OK, you've done some research, but you can't really say you know who he is.

There's no prior context. There's no prior relationship. This is a cold call. Anything that you can do to warm up this situation, to warm up, this context will be good. Warm up just means, how do I put it? Any extra, How do I put it now? Any extra information, any extra context that you can lend who warm up the whole thing? OK, like back to the example now with my wife, somebody calls her 556, ignore, 556, ignore 556,

reject. Eventually she will come home. She'll say, babe, this number has been trying to call me. Please help me check on Truecaller. By the time we check on Truecaller, she sees that oh, it is Uncle, Uncle Hennatur. She's like, oh, Uncle Hennatur. You see extra context, extra information. The situation has now been warmed up. So in the text message that we're going to drop, we're going to try and warm up the lead. We're going to try and introduce some extra content so that our message is valuable.

And then the point of the text message is we're trying to move higher up in priority. Because remember, people have busy lives. They're doing all kind of things. Let's say you're trying to sell to someone like my wife. She has work hassles and then she's coming home and then she has her husband and kids. So you know other hassles. So in her mind now you know some teens day priority. You total stranger 556. You're not priority.

But if you drop a text message that warms things up and shows why this might be a priority, she can say, babe, wait, first help me give the children carry. I'm coming. I have to return this call. So we get past this whole thing of people didn't pick up our call by dropping a message. It's one of these things that should be obvious, but for some reason people don't seem to get it. And it's a gospel that I still keep preaching day after day after day.

Somebody will say, I've been trying to reach chief here. Natural. No problem. How many times did you call him last week? Five times. OK, let me see the messages that you said you sent. I didn't send a message. And I'm like, seriously? You bossed Chief five times last week. He didn't answer. You didn't send a single message. How is he supposed to know who is trying to reach him? What is this thing about whether it is important, whether it is worth his time?

How is he supposed to know anyway? I know I'm sounding like a broken record on this, but I can't overstate it and I'm going to say it again, especially if you're catching this podcast for the very first time. I want to drop this thing into your head. You try they not be call. Next step immediate is to drop a message. In fact, for me, the reflex is so strong that when I call, you know how you call the dial tone, you call popo, popo popo.

By the time you think don't enter 5-6 pull, in my mind, I'm already crafting the the text message that I'm sending. No, I'm serious. I dialed the number between 3:00 to 4:00. You know, Popo, in my mind, I'm already crafting the message. I won't cut. I'll let the thing ring out. By the time the thing cuts on its own, I drop the message instanta instantly. So there's some people that by the time they try calling me back, that is when I'm just about to send the message.

As in that's how quick my process is. PO PO PO PO. The thing rang out, send message immediately. By the time they're calling back, it's a matter of oh, I already sent you a message. Well, I didn't see it, you know, conversation just continue just like that. So you should be reflex for you. They didn't answer the thing rang out, drop a message. Even if they caught the call on you, drop a message, the process is still the same.

Or drop in the message to warm up. This interaction gave some extra context, give some extra information. Hopefully we can move up in priority. That is the scope. So just like yesterday, let's come up with a case study. So the case study for today is we're going to pretend that we have someone whose name is Tunde Bakery, by the way, not the pastor. But you know, I just came up with the name Sharp. So 2 Day Bakery but not the pastor.

That's for those of you who are Christians. And let's say that Two Day Bakery is a Lagos based fintech consultant. Let's say he's someone who used to work for KPMG. Some of you say how would somebody who works in KPMG resign? Say look, see here, I understand, but honestly, these people resign all the time. There's a friend of mine whose sister used to work in Washington, DC, I can't remember whether it was World Bank or something like that.

She resigned. I came back home that she wants to start bakery. My mind, I'm thinking Baker. What? But anyway, the thing seems to be going on, OK. But yeah, people resign for all kinds of reasons. And then in my wife's office, there was someone who actually used to be with KPMG, but because he wanted the chance to work in a government, he wanted to be exposed to government regulatory sector, you know, he resigned, although by the time,

you know, internal politics, you know, do harm 1 two things. The guy ran back. So he's he's back with KPMG now. So, yeah, people actually do resign those sorts of companies because they have other all I say other ambitions that that they want to that they want to pursue. So let's pretend now that Tony Bakery used to work with KPMG and because of his experience in KPMG working in finance, you know, being a consultant and all that, he has an idea, a brilliant idea, you know, for an app or for processes or for whatever that can help banks improve cross-border payments.

You know, when they transfer money to, you know, Gambia or Ghana or the UK or Afghanistan or Australia or whatever, you know, now everything get protocols and, you know, protocols and tech standards and, you know, things like that, you know, just to make sure that payments are secure. So let's say, yeah, that's the world that Tunde Bakery again, not the pastor, that's the world that he's coming from. So now let's pretend that Tunde is trying to secure a multi million naira contract with one of these banks, you know, big,

big banks, you know, access Zenith, Stambick, IBTCGTB, you know, one of those banks, top tier banks. And the whole scope is, you know, hire me and with my knowledge base or with my app or with my whatever, I will help you to overhaul cross-border payment security. So that would be the scope. Now, let's say that Tunde is trying to reach the orga at the top, and the orga's name is Haruna, or as you would like to say, Haruno.

So I'm sorry about that. The call was coming in, but then I'll call the person later. So yeah. By the way, I record this podcast using my phone, so from time to time, you know, these interruptions happen. So where was I now? So I lost my train of thought. OK, so let's say that today is trying to reach a Haruna. And Haruna is the CIO, that's the chief information officer. He's trying to reach the CIA, the CIO chief information officer of the bank.

And let's say the bank has been in the news recently. And of course, these things happen. For those of you who were in the country, you know, in Niger during, during what was I think called now lockdown. Yeah, lockdown. That was COVID, Yeah, during COVID time, because I think it was during COVID that the banks are trying to do, are trying to increase online transactions, you know, and then the, the currency, the sorry, not the current, the CBN governor at the time was talking about cashless,

cashless society and wanted to be doing everything cashless, cashless, man, that time was rough, really rough. So anyway, there are lots of banks that were in use that time because transaction just, they fail anyhow. Transaction just they fail up and down, you know, we go to Para, we go to veg should call customer service, go on Twitter, go on rant, go on days, go on dad like that time was rough anyway. So whenever these sorts of things happen that banks are having these sorts of issues,

you know, sometimes national dailies pick it up, you know, Guardian this day, you know, business day, stuff like that. They write about these sorts of things. So because of that, today he's trying to reach Haruna, the chief information officer, you know, just give a phone call, secure a meeting, you know, just, you know, Shah, get inside the bank, you understand? So Karuna, I say Haruna tone bakery will now call Haruna Popo Popo, this thing will ring down our pick.

Maybe next tomorrow you try again. Popo Popo secretary will answer. I say, oh, he's in a meeting, I'll let you know he called or something like that or, you know, whatever Shah, but in that way guy not to go through. So what next? Remember what I said in the beginning? That isn't really a bad thing. They are trying to call the Olga at the top and Olga know the answer. OK, Now Lagos corporate world, everybody, they're busy.

Everybody get their own priority in that world. It was like my wife, like I said, you know, she, she, she's in bad employment. I'm not in that world, you know, a million things pulling for their attention and for them, silence is just not personal. It's not personal at all. They not answer your call. It's not a matter of oh, we don't read you. No, it's not personal. They don't even know you. It's just that look or more.

I have 5 files on my desk where I never touch, you know, So I suppose clear one or two of these things before I do anything else. So it's normal. It's nothing personal. Yoga does not know you. So if you are today backer in this situation, just remind yourself that look ain't none personal, nothing personal at all at all, at all at all. Everybody has busy lives. The guy is the CIO Chief of formation officer. He is a big boy within the bank.

First of all, there's all this traffic, the commute, you know, to enter Leki. So the guy, you know, since 4:00 AM, the guy don't wake up, don't bath, he's been on the road. Then once you enter the bank, you know, back-to-back meeting, board meeting these days, one thing, one thing, one thing, you know, all these kind of things now. So it's just normal. So don't take it personal. Guy has other priorities at work. Then like I said, you know,

security issues and all whatnot, you know, Yahoo, Yahoo boys are on the rise. Then also on solicited marketing calls ahead. This thing is also making our job very difficult just be minding your business. You see a number you answer the person is trying to sell you something is even the robot calls those are the ones that are annoying me the most. I just answer, I say hello, the thing will now start its build, say thank you for talking to you.

So, so, so and so did you know that in Nigeria something blah, blah, blah, blah. I say, what the hell is this automated call in Niger? Any. So these are the reasons why people are not answering their calls. So in this kind of world, whether in Lagos or Abuja or Port Accord or Kano, when your call is an unscheduled call, people are seeing you as an intrusion. Who is this guy? They're not seeing you as an opportunity like, oh, thank you very much for calling my phone.

No, this year as an intrusion. So like I said, first thing we need to do, first thing to the bakery needs to do is stop blowing up her owner's phone. Stop blowing up his phone. Send a message. Send a WhatsApp message or an SMS. Or if you want to be like me, send both. You send it as WhatsApp first because WhatsApp is conversational. Let down 1 land first, you know, since the conversational channel might give the person a chance to, you know, respond.

You might even be chatting there, you know, so it's not a problem. But that WhatsApp send the 1st as you send it. You now copy and then paste. Now send the SMS too. Then the structure of your message is going to be the message framework that I keep saying over and over on the podcast. But because I know that some of you are newbies listening to the podcast just today, let's go through that. So the structure of the message is going to be greeting,

intention, question, proposal, and then close. By the way, this framework is not original to me. I can't remember if I heard it first from Grant Cardone or if I heard it first from Brian Tracy. I can't remember. But I'm just letting you know, like I did not invent this thing. I met it and I'm continuing with it. And The thing is such a useful tool, and I will continue to talk about it. I will sing his praises. So for meetings, for phone calls, for emails, for whatever,

this is just one general framework that I just fall into one general pattern. So I'm trying to call somebody, you know, Popo, Popo, Popo didn't answer. In my mind, I'm already structuring it like that. Greetings, intentions, question, proposal, and then close. Oh, by the way, applying all these principles can be tricky. So if you need me to look into your own particular circumstances with your own business or if you sell on behalf of someone else, that's not a problem.

You can call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. And yeah, let's see if I can help you find some solutions. Now, if you're interested in a 15 minute sales audit or you want me to look at some of your business processes or your internal frameworks, that's not a problem. You can call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on the same number, 08064662140. But if you're afraid of talking to strangers and you just want to join my WhatsApp channel,

that's not a problem. WhatsApp me on the same number if you don't have any issues, you just want to reach out and say what's up. You just want to say hi. And I appreciate it when you guys do. It really makes my day when somebody says, I discovered the podcast, I can't believe this thing is here. I really like the value. You deserve five stars, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're my favorite dish. You're my favorite that that thing really makes my day.

And then plus I can use it to boast, you know, to my wife. I say, babe, see, can you see this message? People rate me on the outside and they don't mind me. So this is not about my marital affairs. Sorry. I didn't mean marital affairs. Like I don't have affairs. I'm a loyal husband. I'm not committing affair anywhere. So where was I anyway? So that's the general framework. Greetings, Intentions, question, proposal, clues.

Greetings. Because you suppose heal the guy or the girl, the lady, whatever it is you're talking to. Intentions. People need to know who is this person? Why are you buzzing my phone? It is there that they will know whether you are a priority or not then. Oh, OK. Well, questions in this case might not apply, might not apply. Whenever I'm talking to people face to face, the question stage is where I learn some more about them, about their problems,

about the, the vision that they are trying to attain, you know, so that from there I can drop a proposal. Proposal is just where we say, OK, this is what we should do next or this is how we should move forward. And then from there, close. close just means you get people to commit, put something on the calendar, take a next clear step. So that's just general framework, greetings, intentions, questions, proposal and then close.

So in this case now this is the kind of text message that I would send, assuming I was to the bakery, I would say good afternoon Sir, so I know good afternoon Sir. I would use the guy's, you know, full name, you know 'cause just to show that like I know you. So good afternoon. Good afternoon Mr. Harona. OK, I didn't think of his surname anyway, let me just continue. So good afternoon Mr. Harona. This is Tunde Bakery and now put in bracket XKPMG.

You know, because the guy supposed to know that you know me self, you know, like how do I put it? I know you understand what I'm saying. So good afternoon Sir, this is Tony Bakery. XKPMGI tried calling earlier to discuss the payment lag issues that you and your team faced last week Tuesday. It was as it was written about in the Disney newspaper. I'll give you a call again tomorrow at 9:00 AM to discuss this issue. If this time doesn't work for you, please let me know when you will be available to talk.

Then Proop send. I will send that first on WhatsApp. As soon as I'm done, I'll copy and paste it and then send it in SMS so you can see. Nothing complicated, nothing too hard, nothing too long, straight to the point, appropriate greeting. Good afternoon Mr. Aruna. Personalize it. Let the guy know that you know how I put it. Any personalization greetings. The next is intention. The intention part is where if you want you say who you are and why you're calling, it's very,

very important. That is what will help people determine whether you are priority or not. So intention, this is Tony Bakery Tri called earlier to discuss payment like issues that your bank faced last week Tuesday I saw it in news. So that's intention, then proposal because because I can't really do question because I'm not in a conversation proposal. That's next step. I'll give you a ring tomorrow, 9:00 AM to discuss this.

If this time doesn't work for you, please let me know when you'll be available to talk. But leave them like that. We can't really close because we're not in a conversation yet. But you can see how this simple framework works, whether it's a live conversation or you know, a text message or an e-mail or whatever. You just take the stages as appropriate and then apply to your situation. Again, greeting, intention, question, proposal, close.

Don't worry, if you're driving, you can write this down. No biggie. I create show notes. So I'll try and make sure that it's in the show notes so you can see it there. So to access the show notes, whatever podcast player you're listening to, if you some of them say info, some of them say details, some of them say description, some of them say more. So if you have that tab info, description more, you know, you just click on that and the show notes will be there.

So you send that as a message. So the goal here is we're trying to elevate ourselves as a priority. In this case, we've mentioned a specific pinpoint, which is the payment issues that they faced last week Tuesday, because you know that that's the kind of thing that a CIO like you really, really Pepe, the CIO became a big issue. Now, this is also another reason why on the podcast I talk about data enrichment. Now, data enrichment is just when you try to get some extra information, some extra context on the person, on the contact,

on the prospect that you are trying to reach out to. The more information that you have, the easier and the sweeter the call is going to be and the more ideas that you have for how to navigate this conversation. So back to this lady who I'm currently coaching that we spoke yesterday. She called one client. It didn't go too well. You know, I know what? No size. OK, you know what? Who's the next person you want to call?

She gave me the number and I said, should I call? I say calm down. No, not yet. We suppose do data enrichment. You remember I said Oh yes, yes, yes, I remember. I said good. So now let's work through the process. By the way, when I'm talking about data enrichment, I only use free tools. The reason why I use free tools is because I don't like people saying I don't have money. So I talk about tools that are free currently on your phone and easy to use.

So I said, right, give me that phone number. We took it. We put it in Truecaller. From Truecaller, a name came up. The name matched the name that we had on the paper. We say good, at least we know that the name is the name. Then we took that name and we pasted it in Google. And then lo and behold, this salesperson sells solar. Lo and behold, we saw a plethora of information, plenty info. We saw the guy's name. We saw the guy's business, we saw the guy's business location,

we saw what it what it is that they are involved in because it's one of those small shops grills and you know something something about. So as we saw the information in her mind, wheels started turning because she is a salesperson who sells solar. Before the call, you already know that the person runs this kind joint. If you do small research again using Google Gemini, you will have a sense of which kind machines the guy, the power for that kind joint.

Do you not think it will make the call sweeter if you catch this guy on the phone? You feel me? The questions I'll be asking will be pertinent to be relevant because no big guesswork. Again, you now know that this is the person I'm calling. This is what he is that he's involved in. But of course I told her, you know, we no suppose assume so we'll start off the conversation saying, you know, you responded to the ad. That's the reason why we're calling.

Is this private or residential? That's why. So I say private means the same thing. Is this a residential or business? If the guys say no business, good. All this extra information that we don't gather will come in handy who help us to funnel this call to guide this conversation. All people are feeling me, especially if you delete you, you just discover this podcast brand new. Hope you're following hope you're coping. If you're not coping, if you still don't understand you want me to break some things down,

that's not a problem. Connect with me, call me, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140 and don't worry. I talk to strangers because now money I define. I don't know where my daily bread is coming from. So anybody who buzz, I peek. If it's village people, I block. If it's potential money, I continue. If you want us to have a sales audit, that's not a problem. Just call me, send me a text message or WhatsApp message 08064662140.

Or if you're shy, you just want to join the WhatsApp channel while you're trying to pluck up courage because some people are shy. See, Why are you shy? Why are you shy? Shyness, not the airport shyness, not the help at all. So don't be shy, but just in case you are no problem, join my WhatsApp channel, be seeing the updates. One day when you pick up courage, you know you can call, or if you're too afraid, you can send a text message or WhatsApp message.

That's not a problem. So for this lady that I'm coaching now, data enrichment, before we call the guy, we have already known the whole setup. You can see now that if you just have a phone number to call 080, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and a name Chukudi, it is hard to make that call. If the person if one answer, how will you direct that call? But then if you do small data enrichment and you know, OK, this is Chukudi, this is all background this or something,

you can make this thing a very valuable call. In fact, in the example that I chose of today Bakery, calling somebody after they had payment issues that was written about in the press, you'd be surprised how much you can discover by just doing a simple search, maybe using Google Gemini. In fact, that's one of the reasons why I'm going ahead with the scenario, because there's another planet of mine. What they do is they sell ad tech and software, advertising software that is supposed to be more effective than Google and Meta.

Yeah, Google and Meta advertising and TikTok advertising and during one of our coaching sessions, that is all we did basically with this phone number. Is it correct? Let's just be sure. True color. OK, the team blend. You correlate. OK, no problem. Search is personal on Google. OK, Yeah. The the not only is the name OK, the office is OK. Yes, this is currently what the lady currently does. Then, just for the sake of it,

search in Google Gemini to see what their priorities might be relating to advertising and customer acquisition. Google Gemini started giving us specific apps that the bank had and possible challenges that they might be having. Small search, 3 minutes, 5 minutes just before you call somebody. If they don't answer, we send a message. But if they answer because you have done data enrichment, because you've done some small background search before you call options day.

And then apart from that, even for you on a psychological front, confidence day. So these things are important. So data enrichment, just, you know, simple searches, true color, Google Gemini SHA GPT, you know, small, small searches using all these online, you know, AI tools, simple things like that. Who is this person? What are their possible priorities? You know, how does it relate to your software? How does it relate to your idea?

How does it relate to your this, your, you know, whatever all these small, small searches gather some extra information so that if the person peak by the time you handle that call, you're not just a stranger like you know, you will sound like an expert. You understand you didn't move up in priority. If they don't answer, you drop a text message. The quality of this text message that you drop because let's face it, other people in your space who are trying to sell similar products or services are not doing these things.

Your message will stand out. You're clearly the expert. Your message is dropping a reason for the call. Hopefully it will move us up in priority. I'm saying hopefully because not everything is guaranteed. Nothing in this life is guaranteed nothing. So the result we are hoping for is that we call today, let's say your number ends in 665. We call today Haruna see 665. Later on, Haruna see WhatsApp message. Haruna see text message ending in 665.

The text message kind of makes sense, but I don't have no reply because it's normal. The hope is in two or three days when we call them back, the guy got recognized, 6650, she'll be another guy. May you answer or even if he doesn't recognize, but he manages to answer and say, oh, he will remember the text message. That is our hope and our prayer. And it does work because this client of mine, they're trying to reach out to somebody in Echo Bank, OK, I won't say who exactly in Echo Bank anyway.

And we ran the same process. We took the number, true colour, OK, everything matches. We got the information from Apollo. That's also another data enrichment tool. Then from there, small Gemini search customer. I use Gemini for everything because it's free and it's already on my phone and then it's part of the Google suite. So if anything ever happens to my phone, my phone gets stolen. My children throw it down the balcony, they flush my phone down the toilet.

I just go and buy a brand new phone. By the time I log in one time, my Google ID, everything is there, my history, everything is there. I just continue. Life was normal of course after I knocked my children on the head. So did a search, saw some specific priorities on specific apps. Buzz the guy that's one who buzz because I was trying to lead by example. I buzzed the guy in no answer. I drop message and then we continue with the meeting.

By the time we finish the meeting 303045 minutes later when I had the call, I checked my phone. Lo and behold the yoga from Echo bank in reply. Now we didn't enter into the account within closer. Need you. That's why I say remember nothing is guaranteed but in reply strange number in no peak drop message in reply we try our lock between no click. But remember what Brian Tracy says. Brian Tracy talks about I'm increasing the probabilities,

increasing the odds in your favor. That is just what it's about, trying to increase the odds in my favor. If I'm not dropping text message, nobody's picking, nobody's replying are the odds in my favor. But if I'm dropping text message and a couple more people at least begin their reply, am I not putting the odds in my favor? Please just know that nothing works for 100%. So do not be discouraged that let's say yesterday you called nine people, 6 did not answer.

OK, next tomorrow you call those nine people the same 6 did not answer. This time you drop message. If you drop message out of six, only two reply. Do not feel discouraged. It's better than nothing. You never know, maybe the push up, let's continue, let's keep moving it. You never know, Small small. Like Brian Tracy says. We're just trying to put the odds in our favour, but the result we're looking for is that hopefully it still won't click.

Our girl recognize us from before, Hopefully. But just know that nothing works all the time. Sorry if I'm stressing this thing. The reason why I'm stressing this thing is because there's another plant of mine in the branding space. They do brand strategy, that's ideation and then also execution. You know, when I was talking to them, I was talking to major confidence self and I think I over I think I over motivated them.

Let me just put it that way. And so do I ready like all more will take over the world. We are on fire, you know, that kind of attitude. And then within one week of all the moves that they made, they didn't secure any single meeting. That's our depression setting. I now had to become a psychologist to say to now start talking to the young ladies, My dear, no Vex was my own fault. I didn't give you realistic expectations.

So that's the reason why I'm giving expectations now, just in case there's anybody who's listening. By the time they finish this broadcast, we're on fire. We'll take over the world, blah, blah, blah, unstoppable. You know, you'll be on the move and then drop message. Nobody reply. So, you know, don't be depressed. Not everything works. Nothing works all the time. Then another thing concerning expectations or the right way to look at this thing, we should be multi modal whenever we're trying to reach into trying to sell to people or trying to sell into accounts.

If you're on the situation of Tunde Bakery or you're trying to sell into a Nigerian bank, you should be multi modal. Multi modal just means you are using different forms of communication, different forms of communication. So you can't call today nobody answers, then tomorrow phone call, next tomorrow phone call, phone call, phone call phone. If phone call is not working or you suppose switch them up, try text message, try WhatsApp message, try e-mail, try going to the office, try you know try or try look for personal introduction, more time model,

different modes. We can't stay stuck on the same thing. I had to cancel one of my clients based on that she's a correct bit. But every time she resend e-mail, you know how to tell that You know I get it, you love emails. But so far this e-mail nobody did respond. You know when are you going to pick up the phone now can't just be doing e-mail, e-mail, e-mail, e-mail, e-mail, e-mail do not respond. OK, no problem I'll pick the phone.

Now let's pick up the phone. Let's try so multi model. There are different other ways to communicate with people then multi threading. Multi threading just means you're trying to sell into an account. You should not just be talking to one person. That's also another mistake that most people make. I've had to caution all my clients on that before that OK, you're trying to reach this person is one of those seems to be going through no problem.

We go run this process like that. But then again, within that organization, who else have we been trying? We can just be trying one person. You never know where this thing is going to click. So you try that is multi threatening. So for today bakery now again, not the pastor in this case. In our scenario, the person who is now a consultant and is trying to help banks, you know, with cross-border payment issues, you know, with his business idea or with his app or with his whatever.

Who else should he be trying? If you're trying Haruna, as you would like to say Haroon, or if they boss Haroon or Haroon or they pick or Haroon or not they respond, then will you just stop there? Have you tried the head of digital banking? Try that person. Head of products, try that person. Of course, we're looking for people who might be related to the problem that we're trying to solve. Chief Risk Officer, try that person.

Head of cybersecurity, try that person. Head of strategy, OK, head of strategy, that might be a stretch. You know, you never know. Try that person. CFO, chief final, OK, no CFO that might be a stretch. When we you, you, you hear what I'm saying? If they have head of infrastructure, try that person because cross-border payments, if is an infrastructure issue, you know, websites, payment protocol, all those things. Head of IT, head of operations,

try that person. Then again, this is Nigeria. If you can't reach Orga PA Encore executive assistant, personal assistant try that person. You can get an introduction at all You ask around. Oh, I don't know this person, but I know his Pennsylvania is good. Collect PA's phone number and then try try multimodal different modes then multi threaten different option, different people. How are you going to get different ideas?

Well, what you will do is Google or Google Gemini or your favorite AI tool or LinkedIn or OK, well, Apollo is paid, so let me not talk about that one. So let's just stay with Google Gemini and let's stay with LinkedIn. If you try Herono within no click, yeah, you can trust Google, who is the chief risk officer of Social Bank. The name will pop up will be private info. OK, at least now we have a name. We can start planning who is the head of infrastructure for Social Bank.

It will come up. No be Google. OK, we have another name. OK, we have some ideas. We can keep trying. We can keep moving. Now that you have your name. OK, LinkedIn. You open LinkedIn, you search the personal profile, say connection request. Now you never know. Press my answer. OK, no problem. At least now we're connected. We never know. We do push up. Small, small. Or you might even do LinkedIn. See the person's detail.

You send connection requests. By the time the person accepts, you now see that you have some connections in common. Oh, well. And good. Is that not the opportunity for introduction that we're looking for? You call the person who is your contact and say, hey, bro, Abe, I saw that, you know, Chief Dan Landy, the one we work for, Zenith Bank. I say, ah, not my guy. Now say Abe. Hey, gotta try another account. Abe, introduce me.

That's a good setup. Also one of the reasons why I say if you're a professional salesperson or a business owner, you suppose they're on LinkedIn because it's a social media where the focus is business development, personal development, career development. Now people know they respond for LinkedIn to quick, quick, quick because, you know, LinkedIn is not like Instagram where people come every day and things like that. But it's, it's better than nothing.

So that's how you get more data. That's how you get more ideas. That's how you get more contacts. Anyway, we've been talking for about one hour. So let me bring it to a close somewhere. What I'm just trying to say is you call people, they don't pick, don't worry, don't give up. There are other avenues. One of them is leave a message. The point of leaving a message is we're trying to warm things up or trying to move up in priority.

Then remember that in our approach, we should be multimodal. If you they send e-mail, e-mail, e-mail, e-mail, nobody's picking up. Pick up the phone if you did call, call, call, call, call. Nobody's answering. OK send text message, send WhatsApp, send e-mail or you know where the office is. Try your lock. Now enter the building. What's the worst that can happen? Try then multi threatening. OK, you did try call Haruno.

Haruno. Not a big no problem. Who else is in this bank that I can call? Then Apart from that, make sure that you have other contacts on your prospecting list. What I'm just trying to say is make sure you have options. If you only try to talk to one bank and if you only have one person on your list, then you'll be desperate. You'll be like, I must call her ruler by force, by fire. But if it's that there are five, six banks, you're trying to break into each of those banks,

you have four or five people that you're trying to target and it's OK. You know, you won't be pressured. You try her or not today, you know, answer no problem. Tomorrow we move. Tomorrow we'll move to the next bank or the next person on the list, you know, options. It gives us some security. No desperation because when somebody picked the call and you now sound like a desperate salesperson. No, you, you shoot yourself in the foot, they answer the phone call.

You now sound like a beggar or you now sound like a regular any day anyhow. Anyhow, salesperson, you sound like A55K salesperson. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. So that's another reason why we need a healthy prospecting list. You know, options, you know, so won't be too, you know, they call it what people call it Commission breath. They'll say from the smell in your mouth, they'll say, ah, this one is desperate. So you won't have Commission breath anyway.

So that's all for today. And if you've got value from today's episode and you'd love to connect with me, then call me, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. You want a sale audit? You want me to look at some of your processes? Call me. Send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on the same number 08064662140. If you're shy, no problem. Just hit me up on the same number and I'll hook you up on my WhatsApp channel.

Maybe one day you block up the courage and then you reach out if you want to say hi. You know, you just want greets and that's not a problem too. I like it. So yeah, that's it. Yeah. So let me let you guys be off and I'll catch you some other time.