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Today on the podcast, we are going to be looking at how sales skills can help you boost your career. Again, today on the podcast, we're going to be looking at how listening to this podcast can help you build your career. Assuming you've been listening to this thing for a while, whether you want to start the business or not, you're not quite sure you're still a career person. You're still in 95-B. You're wondering, should I keep listening to this thing today?
Hopefully we'll be able to come up with some reasons why you should keep listening even though you haven't started your business or even though you're not sure when, whether, how or why you should start a business. Now today's recording are making it at home. It's a late night recording, so I expect to hear some noise in the background, especially if my wife decides to come out from the room to see why is this young man talking to himself again at this late period at night.
So if you have those kinds of interactions, that is, I say interactions, I mean distractions. So forgive me, I'm a little slow. It's been a long day. My in laws just left the house today. So, you know, it's been a nice, interesting two weeks because my father-in-law turned 70. So I was in town and we're celebrating. And yeah, it's been fun. It's been fun. Just a little tired right now. Anyway, these are some of the beautiful things to look forward to.
So we thank God for life and opportunities to grow in love with members of our family. And I know that those of you who've been listening to the podcast, you guys have been praying for me in return. I'm praying for those of you as well, those of you who have my own personal well-being at heart. And also my prayer also goes out for you guys listening to the podcast as well that in your own personal family situations that you guys will also experience growth, experience, progress,
experience, love, good health and good tidings. So yeah, this podcast is not to talk about my family situation. We actually talk about things business here. And especially when I started this podcast, excuse me, about like five years ago, I also had a, an emphasis on the career because it is a core tenet of mine doing this podcast that sales skills also carry over into business skills. Sorry, sales skills also carry over into career development and other forms of personal development as well.
So if these are the sorts of things that you are interested in, then this podcast is your jam. So stay tuned here, stay subscribed, stay locked in on Apple, on Spotify, on Stitch app, on YouTube, on wherever it is that you're listening to this podcast. And if you'd love to connect with me, then you can call or send me a text message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140. Now, like I said today, now how sales skills can help you boost your career.
Obviously, the reason why we're doing this is because people think sales skills is for business only. And that's not true because I'm currently talking to some folks and you know, I like to keep it simple and casual during trainings. So I like to sometimes throw in some personal element. So I've been telling some of the young bloods on the training that look, these things I'm telling you it can help you to sort out your family situation.
I said, how far child are you dating anybody child saying no. I said, why? Give me his reasons. And I said, look, you know, you still have to go and look for a babe. Now these things that we talk about here can help you find a babe. Say Joseph, are you dating anybody? You say no. I say why give me his reasons. I say no problem. Well, still, you got to go and find yourself a babe. And this is how these things we talk about can help you find babe.
I say a man say yes, Sir. Are you dating anybody? You're saying no. I say this is the reason why two weeks from now I want to hear that you've asked the girl out. Do you hear me say yes, Sir? Of course, women are not left out as well. That's why I say joy say Sir, say, do you have a boyfriend? You say no. The things that I'm teaching you here can help you sort yourself out. So I want to hear in another one month that you found somebody who is worthy.
So yes, these things can help you not just to make money, can help you improve your career, can also help you improve your love life, your relationship status. So these things are important. So scale skills are not just good for business only. Sales skills can work in any context where you're trying to build relationships, where you're trying to build alliances, where you're trying to build coalitions around certain agendas, whether the agendas are personal as per I
want marry or corporate, I want to get promoted. I repeat, sales skills will come in handy if you are trying to in any particular context build a relationship, build an alliance, build a coalition around any agenda, whether that agenda is I want to marry or I want to become Orga. So whether in the workplace, whether in the church, whether in the mosque, whether politics, whether village meeting or you're a youth copper, you want to advance yourself amongst your clique.
You don't like the current ZLCIBZZC or whatever they call them. You don't want to also become coordinator. These things can help you. Now, what kind of skills are you going to learn from listening to podcasts like mine? You're going to learn things related to networking, conversations, persuasion, consensus building, you know, all these sorts of things. And this is the reason why I should keep on listening, not just to me, but to anybody who seems to be in the same ministry when we're talking about these sorts of things, making money,
growing your profits, you know, shall just be listening. You don't have a business yet. Don't no, don't worry. There's a reason why you feel led to listen to this kind of content. You know, I was shocked when I found out that some people who listen to these things business, they're not get, are you going to start a business? You know, they're not sure. But no, there's a reason why the Holy Spirit has LED you here. Just stay here, hang here.
Don't worry, it will make sense. Life, life makes sense. When we're looking, we're looking backwards. So looking forward now you can't see the way, but five years from now, you look backwards and say, ah, that's the reason why. OK, so now let's look for an example of how these things could have helped someone build their career. Now let me talk about a driver because I want to show you that this thing can or could I work for a driver.
Then how much more so can it help you Who is a knowledge worker? Because I'm assuming that if you're listening to this podcast, you don't have a business, you're not sure which business to start. Chances are you are some sort of knowledge worker. Knowledge worker just means you to use your brain. So a driver, let's call him Harold, this is not his real name. I'm just using Harold because the guy's name also starts with an H And to be honest, as I
started recording his podcast, I was wondering which name will I use? And for the life of me, I can't think of another name that starts with H apart from that guy's real name. So I just said, OK, let me just use Harold even though Nigerians going to be a Harold. So the reason why I'm not using the guy's real name is because he actually is a call in a caller on my radio show that is the business booster show on Radio Maria 91.3 FM for the guy they're calling from time to time.
So let me protect his. I was an anonymity and then protect his. Let me give you some anonymity because anybody where they listen to Radio Maria and they're listening to this place, the moment they hear this, they will say, ah, yeah. So now that guy. So let me just protect him. So recently now Harold applied for a job opportunity. Remember, he's a driver and he was turned down and the guys give me gigs. I said Harold, like what happened now?
And Harold said, well, your guy said that anybody who is not 45 years old cannot drive for him. I repeat, Harold went to go and apply for driver job and then he didn't get it. And so I said Harold waiting up for now. He said your guy talks here. I never reached 45. And I said how is that a problem? The guy said that anybody who is not 45 year old cannot drive for him. Now guess what Harold's response was? Harold said OK and Harold left the premises.
I repeat, he went for a job interview. Everything seems to be going on OK until it became clear that Harold was not 45 years old. And then Harold said OK and left the premises. So he talked to me about it later since he calls you on the radio show, You know, I told him that. Well, you know, I'll pray for him, you know, for greater employment opportunities. But I'd like to give him some advice. Bob, I don't know, I can't explain it because Harold is kind of like, shall I say, semi semi literate.
So to be honest, I'm not sure how much I can explain or pass across to him. Anyway, let me just move on. Sure. But basically I wanted to tell him some things, but I just thought, OK, maybe I can't. So that's why I'm making, you know, this podcast. So hopefully if there's another Harold who is listening, you know, you will hear. But definitely if you're a knowledge worker, you definitely have been in this situation where you went for an interview or you are talking with some of your guys because you're thinking of promotion.
And then they put one stumbling block in your way and you said OK, and then you walked away. So when Harold told me this thing now, I was not thinking, Harold, how old is Harold now? Because you know, as a as I see the guy and I'm thinking at least Harold is like 40 now. So I asked how old he was and he said that he don't pass 40, but never age 45. To my mind, I'm thinking it's not a big jump. Now the gap between 41, let's say Harold is 41 and 45 is what he's in all four years.
So I asked Harold now. So why 45? Harold said he doesn't know and of course, since he didn't ask any questions, we wouldn't know. But if you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you will remember, excuse me, that when it comes to closing a sale, I keep talking about how the kind of questions that you ask are important, especially when somebody give you small stumbling block. You're too expensive. It's not a matter of the reasons you give is the questions that you ask that you now know what to say next or in personal relationships, the babes say I
can't date you because I want to graduate first class. It's not about the excuses that you give. It's about the questions that you ask. Then you will now know your next move. Excuse me if somebody says you are too expensive and you start trying to justify your price, but you haven't figured out that this person has a poor, has poor expectations about what realistic prices are, you're just wasting your time. Or if the person has received a cheaper quote from someone, but you don't ask any questions to realize that your quote and the other person's quote are not quite the same, you'll be wasting your time and trying to drop your price and causing frustration.
Like for my clients who are in the solar space, OK, well, let's say for my clients, well, I see my clients, the engagement has ended. But you know, we still talk from time to time. Sometimes somebody says no, be solar. Somebody else gave me a quote for 8.2. Why is your own 10.5? You now start trying to jump around and reduce price. But if you have some questions, you realise that you, you're saying 10.5 because you, you have certain kinds of brands or you're using certain kinds of materials or you're building in certain kinds of protections.
Meanwhile, the other people that are offering 8.2 are not. So when it comes to sales, one good discipline you learn here that applies when it comes to Korea is this whole thing of asking questions. Somebody does not just give you stumbling block and they now just fooled like when I was a young man. Well I'm still young when I was a younger man back in my stupid days when I like 1 babe. I said let me shoot my shot and she said she wants to graduate first class and I said OK.
She gave me small stumbling block. I accepted the stumbling block. We had this conversation on Thursday. Are you listening? We had this conversation on a Thursday. By Sunday morning she showed up with her boyfriend. I was weak. I repeat. She told me Thursday night that she can't date me because she wants to graduate first class. I will be a distraction. I say no problem. Small stumbling block. I fumble. I recuse myself.
Sunday morning she showed up with a brand new boyfriend because me. I didn't ask question. I didn't say, oh, oh, that's wonderful. Nice to know that you want to graduate first class. I'll do anything I can to support you. But you know, how is my hanging around here? How is that a distraction with you getting first class? I didn't ask any single kind of question. I could have asked anything. How can I support you having first class?
How is me hanging around being a distraction? Oh, what's your current GPA right now? Well, tell me, what are your plans for achieving first class? You know, I didn't ask any question. I just recused myself from asking questions. We could have found out that maybe truly, truly, truly, maybe the problem was my mouth, this smell and she didn't know how to tell me. And then I would have been able to take dress in her. Oh, it's in my mouth.
OK. The problem is this, every day after faculty, yeah, I go and eat fufu because from faculty I want to go to the gym, so I eat fufu. So I eat fufu and then I go to the gym and then from there I just bath and come here. But I didn't brush my teeth. No problem. I'll be brushing my teeth before I come here and they don't mind me. That's a ridiculous example, but I'm just trying to say that any kind of question, any kind of question.
So the same thing also when it comes to your job environment, any kind of question, interview, any question, any question. So in the job environment, most people don't ask questions. Harold didn't ask question the last time you went for an interview or to talk to your guy to say that you suppose become HOD right now. He didn't ask any questions. HOD is just head of department. So asking questions are skill sets that we are taught to use when you're in sales and these can help you in your career.
So career people listen to the podcast, learn to start asking questions. Now, in this case, Harold could see and is the reason why I say sometimes because when people say education is a scam, look, it's not a scam. It gives you a certain level of sophistication in this environment. It gives you a certain level of self respect, certain level of self worth. It gives you some kind carriage. And it's a pity that so people who lack some kind basic education in this part of the world, you know, people can just bamboozle them anyhow, you know,
but also small education. Who knows, maybe if it was HND, Harold might have been able to ask a question. Harold might have been able to see some blank. Well, OK, Sir, no problem. As you say, I never reached 45. No problem. But Sir, I hope you don't mind me asking because right now, Sir, as we have established, I'm ready. 41 year old. The difference between 41 and 45 not too big. So Sir, what's the problem, Sir? Is it that 45?
Because you've noticed that anybody that is not up to 45, usually the person know, they mature and they hear what they have to say. Because maturity might be it. Because I've heard some people say things like that, like, oh, my driver can never be a young man. I've heard that before. We can ask again, a size, a matter of security because boys were not reached 45. You know, usually they are riffraffs. They hang around by gang.
Because I've also heard that before. This is just me guessing, or you could have asked. Now, size it because anybody with no reach 45 might not be somebody who is reliable. Now, this is my own guess. That guy saying anybody who is not up to 45 cannot drive me. I suspect he's talking about these sorts of things because I don't have a driver. But these are things I have heard other people say. You know, the guy is OK, you know, he's educated, blah, blah,
blah, but he seems immature and all these sorts of things. Now, if Harold had asked these kinds of questions, it's not a guarantee you, it's not a guarantee. And by the way, if you try out these kind of tactics, it's not a guarantee that you will improve your career. But remember that sales is all about probabilities. So over time we shift certain kinds of things in our favour. If you have 10 conversations with your guy in the office,
don't expect that you will close the deal or you get him to move on all of the 10 issues. But The thing is, if before Olga, no they move on anything, but now you'd be getting him to move on 2 out of 10 issues is progress. Before it was 0. Now he's moving on 2 is progress as you get better, he might be moving on three, moving on 4, maybe moving on five. But then there's no such thing as perfection in business. So you can get Olga to move on 10 is not possible.
He's not OK. Well any aspect career. Well, it is possible that OGA can move on 10 maybe then you guys have become, you know 5 and 6 when it comes to sales. It's not possible. You can't talk to 10 people and then close the deal with 10. You can't. So if Harold and ask these kinds of questions and the OGA had answered and it was any one of these things, maturity, security, reliability, Harold has the perfect response because like I said, he calls in on the show.
So me and him with a yam once in a while. Harold has been driving for 15 years and he has references. I repeat, Harold has been driving for 15 years and he has references. Sorry, he's been driving for longer than that, but he has references for the last 15. That is something, how many drivers do you know that have references that they can say, oh, I know my previous orga, this is my orga's number. You can call him and your guy will tell you that everything is on the level.
That is no problem. So he has references for 15 years. Then Harold Hart has also been certified by the Nigerian police. I repeat, Harold has been certified by the Nigerian police and they've put him through tactics in evasive driving and things like that because Harold spent a very long time. In fact, those are some of his references, driving for the Nigerian police, especially driving vans for the CBN and all these people that move big, big money.
And from there, he worked for a couple of banks as well. Then if it was a matter of, you know, security conscious, clearly Harold has some connections with the police. He's part of the police network. He's somebody who has been given training on evasive driving. These people are security conscious. And I've seen first hand because one of my aunties, a former driver, was a political doubt. He's still a good member of the family today, as in, you know,
we've kind of like adopted him as a member of the family. But let me not use his real name. Let's just say HPHP is a tout. He's a real tout. But man, that guy is he's very conscious. Like when we're on the move, he sees one of two things and you know, give you some advice. You take dressing and then later on you see that, oh, he was correct that way. He said, don't pass that side. There was a good reason why. Or when he said this guy is shifty, there was a good reason why.
So it's actually, it's a good thing when you know, you have some of these people around who are just like, they're always, their head is always on a swivel. They always know, like, what's going on. So Harold, I think could be one of those people. See, but The thing is, from what I've said so far, there are lots of avenues. There are lots of ways, excuse me, that Harold could have taken the conversation. But Harold did not ask.
He didn't ask any questions. They give him a small obstacle. You're not here 45. Harold is clearly over 40. And he just said OK and left. Your guest says you don't think you can handle the responsibility, That's why you're not going to be promoted to HOD. You say OK and then you leave. You don't ask any questions. OK, Sir. Yep. I'm glad that you give me that kind of feedback and I'm open to improving. But Sir, before I leave, well, I
hope you don't mind if I ask you a few specifics just so I know how to, you know, improve my performance and, you know, so like, maybe I can take a crack at it next year. Of course, a guy will say yes because the pressure is down, you know, ask him. No, Sir. By the way, the last time during our last appraisal, you gave me 4.9 out of five on this, this, this, this and this. You gave me the lowest appraisal on that. Can I ask why this was the case?
A guy will talk some more and you have some more questions. You ask and you ask. Eventually you can get to the point of, oh, but Sir, if I've been capable on this disease, this, and I'm the one who has been holding down the department, running the department these last eight months since we've been looking for a permanent HOD, I'm the one that is interim HOD. To be honest, Sir, if I've been holding down the job at the 4.9
level up on this point up until this point, I'm sure, Sir, that there's another reason that there might be another reason that you don't feel comfortable. Let me know about why I can't become the permanent HOD. Don't worry, Sir, Why mature here? We're adults. You can level with me, but it's only from asking questions that you know how to move the conversation. So I'm not a pro when it comes to navigating office politics.
But The thing is, if you don't ask the questions, you won't know how to manoeuvre. So like in the solar example, if you don't ask the questions, you won't know whether you should educate this person or what the realistic price is. You won't know whether you should educate this person or what the best brands are available in the market. With Harold, since he didn't ask the question, he didn't know which part of his experience to play up.
Is it his 15 year reference, his certification from the Nigerian police in evasive driving, driving bullion vans for banks or his police connections? Because he didn't ask questions, he didn't know what to play up. Now this is something like I said that in sales we're taught to do a lot of and this will translate well to your career. So if your guy says you're not dealing with XYZ on this particular agenda until he says,
let's say you want to table something and say look, we are not answering this thing. We are not tabling this thing until third quarter of 2027. Let's say you've gone to meet yoga, you want to put something for it. And that's why he said, he said look on to Q 3/20/27. Do everyone bring that thing up or currently in 2025, most people just say OK and then they will leave it. But you can ask ooga, no Vex, just so we understand better,
what is this milestone or what is this important thing? Like what's really important about next quarter on the important about Q 3/20/27? Now some Nigerian bosses might say, you know, shut up, getaway, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you know, maybe you need to think about whether you should remain in this kind of job. But some people will explain to you what their assumptions are. If he explains his rationale, if he explains the assumptions and you now see the bigger picture,
who knows, you might be able to argue for a compromise and not have to wait until 2027 before you get whatever it is that you need in the office approved. So if you're not in business yet, keep listening to the podcast and think of ways to apply it to your career. Apply it to your office. Apply it to your church because, well, some churches are political. Apply it to your mosque. Thank you all. There's no politics in the mosque, but man, there's some serious networking.
I was looking at my social media today and I saw Saruky Mota as he's going for Friday Jumat as Guyeta Borges de Elam. Anyhow, people just seeking his hand, shaking his hand. Cycle Motor is the car dealer that I spoke about I think maybe last week. Anyway, just go and check the social media. You see what I mean? Cycle Motor, SARKIN, you know, cycling chief of the Motor MOTA. So he's the king of cars basically. That's how he starts himself.
So as he entered, our guy shows the hillam. Everybody is shaking his hand. I say hi, sorry, Kim Mota. I say honestly, yes, it's true. It is true. Mosque is for networking, Central mosque. Maybe I should call myself Alhaji and start rolling with Muslims. Anyway, where was I? Sorry, forgive me, I'm just tired. My brain is just going all over the place this morning, this evening. So somewhere, if you're not in business, no problem, keep listening to the podcast and I
think of ways to apply this thing. That's where I was. I had so church, mosque, village politics, local government chairman, social club. You want to move up in the Koi club for those of you based in Lagos, you want to move up in your clique, You want to move up in your group of friends. But like I said, even if you're looking for a husband or looking for a wife, pay attention. These things will help you listen, but don't just listen.
Apply. And when you apply and you make some progress, especially those of you who are looking for, you know, your significant other looking for a spouse. If it works and you get married and you're happy, please do not name your first son after me. If you do your husband will start getting some ideas and we don't want anybody's husband to get any weird ideas so just apply. Any progress you make let me know. Personal life let me know.
Business let me know. Career, let me know. If you try something and they think fumbled, let me know. If you ask the babe some questions and they say tell you slap let me know. Let's debrief let's see where he went wrong. If you ask your girl questions and the guy shout at you, say get out of my office, let me know. Let's debrief. If I've said something you don't quite understand or you disagree and you want to iron out the disagreement or the understanding before you apply,
let me know. That's the reason why I leave my phone number at the beginning and at the end of every single episode. But like I keep saying, you reach out to me. Don't ask me for money. I'm looking for money myself. As I've said in times past, Dan Gote is still a fine money and if Dan Gote with all his billions is still looking for money, who am I? I suppose also. So don't reach out to me and ask me money, ask me for money.
I'm looking for more money myself which is why I make this podcast. Don't come and collect my coins if reaching out to me. Genuine question please. And let's cut straight to the chase. A little bit of background is OK, is necessary. But if you give me your family history from 1981, you know, till date, and then you leave some generic question like, oh, what should I do next? What kind of businesses should I explore? The honest answer is, you know,
I have no idea. There's too much mental work, It's too big. But if you say something specific like OK, I was born in 1981, it's the situation of my father. My father was also in the painting business. I'm starting off in the painting business. Pop Scissor should take over. He wants it to go this angle. I've been thinking this kind of angle. What possible avenues do you think we can explore for the company? That one perfect.
It's fairly specific. We can offer a couple of ideas and, you know, hopefully I can give you some direction that will help you, you know, steer the company in the direction that you want to move it forward. And it's been 30 minutes. So let me stop before I start busy earning on the mic. So that's it and that's all. If you'd love to connect, remember the phone number is 08064662140. Thank you very much for your time and attention.
Remember to keep on listening, keep on applying and stay subscribed. I will catch you some other time.