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Today's podcast episode is going to be one of those listener questions and we're going to tackle a couple of things related to whether you should write proposals to boost your business, whether you should write proposals, how to write proposals, when to write proposals, what should going to proposals, you know, things like that. So this is the first part, but they're going to be future ones to come maybe sometime next week.
But I figured, let me just get some preliminary thoughts down on the podcast, you know, regarding these sorts of things. So, oh, before we continue, if these are the kind of things you like to listen to, should you be writing proposals to boost your business or how do you write a defective proposal? Who are the people that you should be targeting with your proposals? Then this podcast is your jam. So subscribe on Spotify, iTunes,
Apple, you know, wherever it is that you like listening to podcasts. I'm your host, Tava Shima Ayede, and if you'd love to connect with me, you can call, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140. This podcast episode is going to be a noisy one because I am currently at the NAF Valley Estate. I'm just chilling, waiting for someone. So I said, now that I have some free time, let me just answer this question sharp Sharp,
because this question actually just came in. Check my WhatsApp and this question just came in. Now the question is from Innocent. Innocent is helping his dad in the tyre business. One, as we say, tyre, you know, like car tyre, that kind of thing. And this is innocence question. I'm quoting Innocent now. In one of your episodes, you mentioned that before pitching or presenting, it is important to listen first. I wanted to ask, does that mean my plan to go in, introduce what we offer and explain how we can help might not be the right approach?
So that is, in a sense, question. So basically since he joined Pop C in the business, what the guy has been doing is he has been cooking up proposals to send to companies to say buy our attire. That's what he's been trying to do now because Innocent is a correct guy and he wants to help Popsy's business to blow. He wants to help the family business to grow. Innocent has been trying to develop himself by looking for podcasts to listen to.
And of course, your boy found a very, very useful all I say resource in my podcast and has been listening. Then there were some episodes he listened to that shook his conscience. The podcast episodes where I spoke about how instead of just going everywhere, dropping proposal left, right and center, saying I'm the best, I'm the brightest, I'm the this, I'm the that the right approach to do is to go and listen to somebody first, engage the person in conversation first, figure out what it is that they're actually looking for first.
That will now inform the content of your proposal that you now go and drop later on in the office, because this is Nigel. Let's get real. Especially for those of you who do government contracts. People write proposals every day, boys. Anybody reading those proposals, we want to increase the chances that the proposal will get read. So in order for this thing to get read, your chances actually go up when you're actually going to the office, engage with somebody and the person has 5 or 6 concrete questions and the proposal you're coming up with can answer some of those questions.
These are the things you do that increase the chances that your proposal is going to be read because people can smell standard template pro proposals in Miley way. This one is see this one. Nobody say ChatGPT or anything even before ChatGPT already on the Internet or you just go and check Microsoft Word templates. You know, you just Google template documents, you will find template proposals. So even before ChatGPT, you know, boys don't deal as in template, proposal template,
proposal template up and down. Now proposal template is not bad. Take the proposal template, edit it, you know, blah, blah, blah. But the best thing to do actually is talk to somebody first, get the meat of what their concerns are. Then you can now go and look for templates and then you edit those things into the template. So that one is better because standard templates when people open it, they we can just tell you just open it, repage one,
read page 2 and then just put it down and say, you know what, I'll get back to this thing some other time. Because our potential customers, they have work to do. Really they have work to do. They're trying to, you know, build their career. They're trying to build their businesses, you know, trying to get on with life. You can how come and drop A50 page proposal and you honestly think they will sit down and read this whole thing from beginning to end?
Don't deceive yourself. So that's in a sense question. Is it important? OK, I said it's important to listen first. So does that mean that this plan is wrong that to be going in and to be dropping proposal, Does that mean he's a bad idea? Does that mean he should stop it? We'll answer that question shortly. Well, before we do that, a few things that I have to note. First of all, like I said, innocent, by the way, innocent.
I hope you're not like, you know, that or that innocent, you know, our brother, those of us from Ben Estate, you know that innocent now, the one who is big, the one in the music sphere, you know, the one that likes woman, the one that's always moving up and down, the one that has recently left his wife and married. So, so, so and so, so innocent. I hope you're not like that innocent. And don't be running up and down. Just be, you know, become where you are, become where you are innocent.
If you're married, you know, just trust that God has located you in the right place. So be there and be happy with the wife of your youth. There's no need to be, no need to be running up and down. So I hope you're not that kind of innocent. So innocent. Now innocent wants to help his dad and build the tire business. And my guy, this is fantastic. This is the reason why it's a fantastic idea. See, I'm saying this because there are lots of people who say now I want to go and do my own thing.
I want to be my own man. I want to be my own man. You don't understand By myself. Yeah, he's good. You stand by yourself. No problem. But The thing is, if Mumsy or Popsy has already put one asset on ground, first of all, inject yourself into that system because you're going to acquire transferable skills that will help you in your own future hustle. Let me repeat, I want to be my own man. I want to be my own man. Sure, yes, be your own man.
But The thing is, if Popsy has built something or if Mumsy has built something, inject yourself into that thing first. See how you can boost that thing. See how you can grow that thing. You will learn some skills. This is free all. I put it like free learning, subsidized learning that you're getting so that when you're now ready to do your own thing, you'll be coming in on a higher level than if you're coming into your own business fresh.
You're a complete jam bite. Believe me, it's a win win. You help obviously grow the business. You help once you grow the business, they are grateful. Eventually you will have that conversation where you tell her, look, Momsy, I want to be my own man, Popsy, I want to do my own thing, you know, But you know, do I Everly be grateful? And then you would have learned some skills. These are the kind of skills that you can learn when you're working in Popsy's business or Momsy's business.
You will learn sales and marketing. Meanwhile, Popsy is still giving you salary or he's still feeding you. He's still paying for fuel. You're still living in Popsy's house. You gain a free education, man, free, free education, subsidized education. You will learn sales and marketing. So popsy style business. You can see proposal writing proposal up and down, entering one office, entering another office, entering box up and down, driving up and down.
It looks like hustle now. It looks like stress now. But ten years or five years down the line, when you start your own thing, you see how all of these things have given you a I've given you a leg up. You're made to be starting from zero. You you'll be starting from level 30 something because you have done a few things. You've already learned some sales and marketing. You know your mates will be afraid to enter Zenith Bank and talk to the MD.
You you won't have that problem because from early you don't the, you know, last with MD already. You've already been going for those meetings. So for you it's not a thing at all. You learn sales and marketing. You will also learn the administrative side of business. That's one of some of us are learning now report writing. I hate as in I hate report report writing, ID test report writing. So for those of you who are learning some things you pop sees business, one sees business, all these administrative things you already learning is small,
small, small learning the tricks. How do you do it? Which one do I know? Like which one do I get around it? As in when you're starting the business, your own business, you now know which ones to outsource from the beginning because you've already been learning administrative tasks. You also learn how to manage the team and other employees because for popsuit have been paying school fees. I know that this type of business is is you know, is already already have some traction ready has some traction.
If not, you wouldn't have been paying your school fees. So there's already teams in place, there's already processes in place. You're going to Start learning how to manage this thing, especially as orgasm. If you say that, you know, I want to learn the how the accounting department works, you know there's not going to be a problem. You're not a stranger. He will say sure, no problem. He will sit you down and show you the books.
You guys will talk because you're his son or for those of you who are women, you know, you're his daughter who teach you. You want to learn negotiation skills because you follow Pop C outside, you'll be hearing him talk to clients. You know, after some time he will tell you like, look, you know what, I'm tired. You can handle this one. Go and do it on your own. You have to start negotiating by yourself. You're going to learn how to deal with vendors and suppliers because you guys don't manufacture the tires you have to buy.
You know, once in a while, pops, you will be busy and pops, you will say this one, it's not a big thing. It's not complicated. You can handle this one on your own. You will learn, you'll learn how to deal with other stakeholders. So please, those of you who are in this situation, Popsy has a business, Momsy has a business. It's not a matter of I want to be my own, you would be your own man. See the truth or man is they can't even stop you from being your own man because even they force you to to take over this business.
Eventually Momsy or Popsy will die. Now is the truth how they die what I stopped you from now moving on. So anyhow, anyhow you will move, don't worry. But use this opportunity for free learnings. One of my big aunties, Auntie Rachel, turned 60 yesterday, who had the party yesterday and you know, one of my kids and that that was fun. Mom, she was there too and my wife was there. I made it an absolute fool of myself as when I was having fun,
the food was on point, the alcohol was on point, the wine was flowing. I told my son he could have a sip. He tasted. He said that this thing is sour. I said no worry my boy, when you grow up you understand the as anything is sour. Now when you grow up you know this thing will taste like nectar in your mouth. Don't worry. It was karaoke was singing. I was shouting like a bastard, as in I had a very good time and my son even joined me to sing karaoke.
We sang Heal the world, you know is it heal the world I be No, we are the world ahead. We are the world. Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper and a couple of other people, me and my boys. But my wife was shy, shy. She danced, but she didn't join us and do karaoke. So it was fun, was fun, was fun. How did I get here? The MC, The MC was now telling people, because there were some people there that were close to 100. So he was talking to generation by generation.
There's some people that were close to 100. There was nobody there close to 90. There was somebody there who was 82. So he was going down, down, down, down, down. Then by the time he got to 20, he said something. He said, look, that those of you who are 20, he said that take it from me that all of you now you carry shoulder, you're angry mumsy, angry popsy. You want to leave the house, you want to order. He told them.
He said stay put. Now you go outside is not as friendly as you think. That economy is not smiling, He told them. Stay put. Enjoy free house rent, enjoy free food. Stay put. Yeah, that's how I got here. So please, if Popsy has a business, you want to be home man, Yes. But enter Popsy's business for now and learn a couple of things and then stay put for a while. Enjoy free house rent, enjoy free food, enjoy free fuel while you're learning these things.
Excuse me, so that when you're ready to step out and build your own conglomerate, you'd have been cooked up, you'd have learnt, learned a couple of things. So summary, what I'm saying is it's a good idea to get involved in your parents businesses. It is low costs, it's not costing you anything and it is risk free. To you, there's no risk because if you mess up with your POPSY, that would drop the busy. So to you actually there's there's no risk.
The words that happens, your father will shout at you and say how could you have done that? But you're his son, he will forgive you. If you're a girl, you're his daughter, he will forgive you. But the risk is not on top of your head. So it is low cost is low risk, safe risk, low risk. So go and acquire some business acumen before you become a full adult before you leave the house. So those of you who are children of family owned businesses, stop all this emotional drama that you will get into.
I want to be my own man Popsy forcing me, Momsy forcing me. Some, some, some, some some. Now just think of it as just think of it as a jam like you write jam by you entering university is just one of those stages. Just think of it like jam by university. Get involved for a few years. Later on, you'll be able to leave because let's face it, by the time you're 30 something, 40 something, they can't pin you down now. They can't.
By the time you marry and leave the house, like who? Who will force you to do what? And also because there are some cultures that have realized that this is the way forward. The Indians. This is why the Indians are blowing past us, because it is their standard template. Great grandfather starts a business, the thing makes some progress. His children get involved, they blow it up. The next generation get involved. They blew it even larger and before you know it, there's a generation, there's a business that is five generations family owned and you know,
multimillionaire left, right, left, right as everywhere you look, multimillionaire money now water money everywhere. The Indians have realized the way forward and it's time that we Nigerians wake up to wake up. Popsy started something. Blow that thing up. Blow it up is the family that will enjoy. It's like a blueprint now for Indian businesses. If you don't believe me, check. So I don't know about too many of them now, but when I was a boy, there was, I think it's a Tata, Tata Industries, TATAI
can't remember all the things that they're involved in. I think I used to see some of their trucks when I was small. That's when I first heard of the family. It's the same thing. Great pop, great grandpopsy started something. The children, you know, increase, the next generation increase, increase, increase. Then before you know it, I think through intermarriage, the marriage into another family dies like that. And then before, you know, a Tata family, everywhere you look, millionaires, one family,
how many millionaires when I get that's how the thing starts. So Nigerians, wake up young boys, young girls, you'll be your own person. But let's blow up what moms and pops already has. Now back to the main question Innocent asks. Excuse me, let me quote you as I wanted to ask. Does that mean my plan to go in and introduce what we offer and explain how we can help might not be the right approach? The answer is no, it depends.
It's not as if it's the wrong approach, but it depends. Now, if you're going in with an already baked proposal and you want to tell people I'm the greatest, I'm the best, this is how I can help you, blah, blah, blah. The thing is, are you making assumptions that you can help or do you have data that your assumptions or that your arguments, whether your case studies or that your whatever are correct? Because remember, when I say listen to people, I'm not saying listen to people for listening circle primarily.
I say listen to people to build rapport because when you listen to folks, they feel like they're being listened to and then want to do business with you. So that's the main thing. But then the second thing also is so that you have the correct information to make the right proposal and to give an accurate price quote. So there are situations when if you already have the right data, then yeah, sure, no problem. Just walk in and drop the proposal on their desk because you already know them, you already know this industry, you already know this, whatever, and you know that your data is correct.
Now, what kind of data are we talking about? What I just mean is, excuse me, are there people that you have listened to in the past? Are there people that you've had conversations with in the past? Are there studies or research that you've done in the past that you've carried out? Have you spoken to a ton of people before or gone through a ton of data in the past so that you can just get into a business and cut straight to the chase and then start talking business with them?
When you have that kind of data, that kind of perspective before you. Yeah, you can do it. It's another approach to sales. I don't talk about it a lot because young men in particular, those of us who feel like, you know, there's some young, there's some of us that just born proud. So those of us who are born proud, we can go and mess up with this approach. It's called the Challenger sale. So that's the approach to challenger sale.
You already know this industry, you've already been in this industry, you've been interacting. So you like, you already know what's up. So you can go into an office and just give it to demonstrate, bam, let's challenge yourself. So in this approach, you start conversations with prospects based on the insights that you've gotten from your experience in the past. So you're coming in and you're saying, oh, based on my experience in the past, you know this is this da da, da, da, da da.
Do you guys have the same problem? They say, OK, well, yeah, actually we have that problem. You see, now you're moving the conversation forward. So you're not necessarily listening per SE and fishing for information, but you are going there with with your own mind already made-up and telling them that look, this is this, am I correct or not? And they say, actually you're correct. And then you now start guiding the conversation then.
So I don't talk about the challengers here because like I said, those are was boys, especially those was who are full of ourselves. We can go and mess up big time then go and mess up big time on this thing. So let's give an example of how someone like Innocent would use the challenger sale. Since Popsy has been in the entire business for a while, Let me just guess Innocent. Now Popsy has been doing this for like 20 years.
And let me just guess that you just finished uni because you know me and Innocent, we haven't really spoken yet. Let me just guess that you know, you just finished uni and you know you've been moonlighting in the business laser like for the last 10 years. So you've already picked up a couple of things. So with that innocent, what you'll be doing is you go into a business. First of all, make sure you're talking to the right person or make sure you're talking to the right person.
I repeat, because there are too many of us who write proposals and then we go and drop it with the wrong person. If you drop proposal with head of human resources, but the person who is supposed to read the proposal actually is a. Head of accounting, you're making your job a whole lot easy, the paper a whole lot worse because the paper is on the wrong desk. So make sure you're talking to the make sure you're at the right desk.
So the first thing when you enter the establishment is not to start big in your chest and you know, say, ah, challenger. So challenger. So, you know, come in pompous. No, calm down first. Find the right person. Hello, good morning, ma'am. You know, please, who's responsible for maintenance? I'll be who's responsible for inventory, or can I speak to the stock manager or can I speak to the person responsible for fleet management?
You know, that kind of thing. You know, I'm not in the tire world, so I don't know. But that is your first approach when you enter the building. We're talking to the right person. If it is the person in charge of fleet management who handles when they buy tires for the trucks or by the way, the tires that he sells is for, you know, big, big, big, big, big machines, you know, trucks and things like that. By the way, I'm glad that those of you in the trucking industry and construction industry are finally discovering my podcasts.
I really would love to work with you guys. So yeah, I'm glad that you're here. So let's talk some more OE trucker people. So innocent. That's the first thing. Am I even talking to the right person when I enter that establishment? Because if you're talking to the person who is in charge of inventory, but then actually it's the person who is in charge of fleet management that makes the decision, then your proposal is on the wrong table and you're giving yourself a high jump.
So make sure you're talking to the right person so that your proposal, when you drop it, it will be on the right table. Then challenge yourself, since Popsy has been in the business 20 years, you've been shadowing him for like 10 years. You already know what's up. So you already know what these are people like, so you can go in with a problem statement. And that's the first thing that I asked innocent. So I asked him, Now look innocent.
I'm assuming that even though you're talking tire, tire, tire, actually this is what you're selling. You're selling less downtime because when a truck breaks down, it's not as if, you know, for those of us who drive normal cars, if you're tire boss, now what? You just locate a vulcanizer, 10 minutes, you'll be on your way. All these bigwig machines. You know, it's not like that when one breaks down. Actually, it's a nightmare.
And it's not as if you can just push it down the road to a vulcanizer. So making sure that people have correct tires for their trucks, for their tractors, for their whatever tractor head, you know, whatever it is, no more you will have selling less downtime. You buy good tires, this thing will last you long time. Instead of this rubbish where you believe me, me and my brother, we face this thing because we used to export a charcoal.
You put somebody on the road, they told you it's going to be two days. Then you call them on day and a half, You say what happened on the side, the lorry broke down, he broke down. How they say 2 tires packed up. Say where are you people when so so and so village? When are you going to move? And we don't know. We have sent to sources and so are waiting for a tire. That thing can really, really like mess up your day. So you budgeted for two days for the thing to get to port and now he's looking as if the shipment will take one week.
And then since it's charcoal will be told you that as the lorry is waiting on the road for two or three days, rain will now pour and then soak up your shipment and then now starting yourself like man, I'm left up, I'm totally left up the whole consignment, I'm screwed. So even though you're selling tyres, asked innocent, you guys are actually selling less downtime, is that correct? You say correct. You'll be also selling lower operational costs because when somebody gets brand new tyres and you last, the tyres last a certain, you know, 2-3 years or whatever.
Let me just put it this way, there are some Nigerian businesses that you will actually suffering because you don't like buying brand new all the time or you don't like buying best quality all the time. So you buy it one that uses more than anything you now bossed and then you buy again. If you will now bust, buy again if you will now bust. And he just realized that this money that I spent buying 5 patch patch versions, I should have just bought 1 and should have been over and done with.
So I asked you, no sense. So you guys are actually selling lower operational costs, is that correct? He said yes. Then I also pointed out you guys are also selling improved safety, am I correct? And he said yes. Now the reason why I know that is because I'm from Ben Estate, grew up in Abuja, later on Lagos. So you know, over the years now we always travel home. You know, you leave Abuja and travel down to Benue State, you leave Lagos, you travel down to Benue State and by the time you hit NASA, we see it all the time, all the time.
Tire busts, Disney skids, you now go and jam. This guy jammed that one before you know it fire all over the place. Or when I saw it as a child, this one really pain me because back then I actually like to drink Fanta and Coke and I saw a whole lorry, a whole lorry and all the crates of Phantom Coke were just broken in the gutter by the road. Just because one time I bust both, then the lorry tripped and then the load because of the waiting banners, everything just so crash.
That's how Phantom Coke just wasted. I remember as a child thinking to myself, Oh my Lord, look at all this wasted goodness on the road. So yes, those of you who sell tyres for tractors, lorry, truck heads, truck bed, everything you will actually selling improved safety. Now the reason why I went through this exercise with innocent is this now lots of you who are selling stuff and you really don't know your unique value proposition.
The unique value proposition is why do people buy from you? You need to know your unique value proposition because that's the thing you're actually selling. If you go and tell somebody I buy tyres, come and buy the the XYZ 5000 is the newest model. In your mind you think it's tires that you're selling. Go and buy XYZ 5000 in US model. No, you are selling a result. You are selling a benefit. You should be emphasizing the benefit.
You should be having value laden conversations. So whatever business it is that you're involved in, you need to know your unique value proposition. What am I selling? Why are people buying from me? If you sell tires, people are not buying tires from you. People are buying less downtime from you. People are buying improved safety and people are buying lower operational costs. By the way, I ask innocent because I need to be sure that I'm not making stuff up.
Innocent said I'm correct. OK, so cool. So now I can say no one confidently. So now the challenge of sale now, now that you know your unique value proposition and you have some insight and you bust into the organization, that's the first thing problem statement. So morning, Sir. People in your situation, typically when they look at tyres, what they're trying to do is they're trying to lower operational costs, you know, is that correct?
See, that's why it's the challenge and say, oh, you're coming in bold, you're coming in hot, you're coming in very, very direct. And This is why you have to be experienced because if you come in with big chest and you mess this thing up, you end up looking at your fool. So, you know, the idea is good, but make sure you have some experience first on business argument before you try all this. Very sorry. Don't. Sorry about the noise in the background back.
There's one idiot here who's driving a Benz. I think it's like an SLK something but it's purple and it's an AMG and you know, Abuja boys like to be now. So the guy was just raving the engine. He's trying to show to all of us that he has money and he's driving a race car. The guy's a Buster. Too much money in this town. Where was I? Yeah. So you come in with a problem statement and then you ask the guy, am I correct? If the guy answers yes, then you now start going in with your insights.
You can now tell them, OK, look, with the research we have or with the experience that me and Popsy have over the last 20 years that we have been running this business, our past customers have shown us that XYZ kind of tires, even though this one is more expensive, it actually increases your replacement cycle on your vehicles by one year or by two years. So yes, Sir, this particular model, it costs 20% more. But The thing is when you fix it on your vehicles, you'll find that you can use this tire for four years instead of using it for two years.
And then you're not worrying about replacing it. Then when you're coming in hot with insight, you have the insight because you and Pop C have been doing this business or you have done the research or your customers have been telling you so you can see confident with your full chest. There's no need for you to be asking too much question up and down because you know you already have the experience. So you know where you're going.
You're going to land this plane. But please, those of you who are fresh in business, that's the reason why I don't talk about Challenger Sale. I beg, especially boys, especially boys. I'm begging you, just relax. Eventually we'll get to this stage. But the thing with the Challengers Sale is it requires you to have plenty of experience first. So now if innocent Popsy wants to come in and do Challenger Sale is a different thing.
Somebody has been selling tires 25 years, 30 years, you know, he can call straight to the chase and not be asking questions up and down because he already knows what'sapp. He has already dealt with 10/20/30 forty 5100 companies like your own. So he can come in and call straight to the chase. When you're new, humble yourself 1st and be asking questions. See, that's the reason why I'm saying that innocence approach of writing proposal and dropping proposal.
That's the reason why I'm saying it's not it's not as if he's wrong go it depends. So you tell him based on experience with our last previous set of customers, you know this and this and this actually are the best options. You know, before you today, if you go like this, it will help you to, you know, you reduce your replacement cycle. Or if you go like this, instead of having 50 trucks have accidents over the last year,
you know you'll be able to reduce the number of accidents that you guys have, you know that kind of thing. But it's because you have the experience and because of that and because you have the insights, then this is the key, you know, ask them, would you like to see how we innocent and sons can help you save ABC amount in the future as well or reduce your number of incidents, you know, accidents by 70%. You know as well, that's the kicker.
If they say yes, OK, no problem, then you can whip out your presentation, whip out your proposal without, you know, your whatever, whatever. So that's how it works. Although I would still prefer that at that stage, if they say yes, you still not ask them more small questions about their business so that you know the facts and the figures and the timelines and everything. You will get it from their own business and you will build your proposal around that.
So let me repeat again. Should you start doing this approach now? The answer is only if you have plenty of experience or plenty of research or plenty of data. If you don't, please go in, be humble, and then ask questions. Always remember, make sure we're talking to the right person because some people will say I got some connects. I have connects, I have connects. Oh, who are you connected to? OK, you're connected to chairman's daughter.
You know, that is good. But chairman's daughter has no actual say in the business. So that connects. What does it mean? So go in, make sure you're talking to the right person. If you undertake this approach, make sure you have the experience, the research, the data to back it up if you don't have the experience or the confidence. Because if Popsy has been selling tasks for 30 years, he can pull this off. If you're just brand new, let's say you never shadowed him before, it's only now you're shadowing him.
This is your first time. Then go in and take the slow approach, ask questions, then build proposals based on that. Now here are a few things that you need to know. Innocent. And I'm talking to anybody else who is selling something like tires. Last week I was talking to Abdul who is from show trucks and he sells truck heads, tractor heads. This is one thing you need to note. Anytime people like you in particular are talking to a potential customer, this person already has a supplier.
Just know it. It is a given. It is rare that there's a company that does logistics and they have 10/20/50 trucks or cars. It is rare that you are the first tire person. They have always spoke there, they're talking to. So if you're going there, just know, no, I'm telling you this for free. Just know they already have a supplier. Bear that in mind. So the game that you're trying to do actually is you're not trying to make a sale, not just trying to make a sale, you're actually trying to unseat an incumbent.
There's somebody that they are already working with. So your game is twofold. You're not only trying to sell yourself, you're trying to unseat somebody who is already there. In other words, I'm trying to say innocent. Just know that your job is harder than most people. For somebody who is selling Ankara, you know, it's not say people have an entire plug that they are loyal to. So your own is you're going there and you're just trying to sell yourself.
Now that job is a lot easier. But if you're going in and somebody has already made himself comfortable within that family, within that account, within that business, just know you are trying to unseat somebody. Like for the clients who currently work with me right now, let's say you also sell sales consulting services and you're trying to sell to them. You're not just trying to sell yourself, you're also trying to unseat me.
But anyway, we'll talk about that in another podcast episode, but I just need you to know those of you are in all these high value things. It just occurred to me because I didn't mention it to Abdul, just know you are trying to unseat somebody. It's two things, sell yourself, unseat somebody. Well, you know, it's the nature of the game. It's just what it is. And by the way, when you enter, rest assured people will be trying to sell into the company.
They will also trying to be on seat you. It just is what it is. Then have the right expectations. I think I mentioned it, but let me just stress it one more time. Innocent. If you submit 10 proposals, only close one deal. Do not be upset, do not be discouraged because nothing works 100% of the time. Since you're new to this, all these first sort of proposal you're writing, let's say you're writing 20 as you submit them,
just know that what you're doing is you're just trying to establish a baseline. That's all. You're just trying to establish a baseline. Do you understand their business situations? Are my proposals any good? Are they convincing? Do I have people skills are not to talk to? You're just trying to establish a baseline. Once you establish the baseline, OK, then the job now becomes how do we get better at conversions? Conversion just means how do we,
how do we improve the results that we sent 20 proposals and we close one deal. That's what happened last time. No problem. This month, let's say we can send 20 proposals and close two deals over time. How can I go from 2:00 to 3:00, from 3 to 5, from 5 to 7, from 7 to 10, from 11:50? Oh, by the way, there's nobody who does 100%. I'm just letting you know now because some of you have unhealthy expectations. You know, you're coming out of university.
You're used to scoring 100% all the time on your tests. This is real life. In real life, there's no 100% pass mark. None. So yeah, that's it. So don't be discouraged if you submit 20 and you only close one. It's OK. At least now you know your baseline that if I submit 20, I can close one. The goal will now be OK, how do I submit 20 and I close two or close three. We can do that by targeting the right people, which is why I'm saying innocent.
When you enter the organization, the first thing is you try and figure out am I talking to the right person? So make sure you're talking to the right people, targeting the right people, targeting the right companies, then make sure that you are having the right conversations with them and getting people to take the next step. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, then after this, listen to the next no to the older episode, the episode before this, I made it about securing advancements and moving conversations forward,
you know, one step at a time. So listen to that, you know, to get more detail about that dynamic. So that's it, innocent and innocent. I'm assuming that you're going to be listening to this episode. Remember I told you, send me a reminder on Monday. So I'll have a look at your proposal, the actual proposal that you want to set, and then we'll take the conversation from there. Oh, and by the way, in case you haven't figured it out,
innocent, yes, when I'm done looking at your proposal, I'm going to talk about it over here on on the podcast. So if you want to reach out to me, any other person, but you don't have people knowing your business, then you better let me know at the beginning. Because if you don't tell me, don't talk about my business, you know, I will be talking about you. The best thing I'll do is I won't mention your surname. I will mention the name of your company and I will mention your location so that, you know, if there's any effort, people won't know that it's you in particular.
Yeah. So that's it. So thank you very much for listening and if you'd love to connect, you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. So thanks for your time and attention. Or remember to subscribe to Spotify, YouTube, Apple, because we have over 1200 resources at the bottom of this feed that you're looking at right now. So listen, apply, let me know what works. Let me know where you're having any troubles.
And who knows, I could be talking about your own business next. So that's it. Everyone have a wonderful What's the days off? What is today? Because I partied yesterday. So. OK, Saturday. Yeah. So enjoy you guys. Have a wonderful weekend.