Why Nobody Cares About Your Company History (Yet)

Most Nigerian business people or sales people run into trouble when they are creating content that is supposed to be used online to generate interest or to generate awareness or when they're creating collateral. You know, Flyers, PDFs or whatever that you're supposed to send to a potential customer, a potential client that is supposed to get them interested to book a meeting. The common mistake that lots of us make over here in Nigeria is we assume that the proposal, we assume that the material, we assume that the flyer, the whatever it is that we're going to send is all about us.

The reason why I'm making today's broadcast episode is because recently I signed in on a meeting with a client of mine and they were designing the collateral. And so I had to tell them to take an upside down approach of the whole thing because typically what they were designing, I mean, what they were designing was the the typical Nigerian thing, which was the PDF, you know, the PDF was, you know, founder history, company expertise, company history, company values, blah,

blah, blah. And then at the bottom of the document was this is how we can help. Let me repeat, the document that was going to be sent out to a potential customer, to a potential client started off with this is our founder history, this is our company founding history, this is our expertise, this is our value, this is our blah, blah, blah. And then at the end, this is how we can help. Now when I said take an upside down approach, what I meant was this, most businesses in Nigeria would be better off taking this kind of pyramid and then or what would I say now taking this kind of a communication flow and then turning it on its head.

You start off the document by saying this is how we can help businesses just like yours and then you try and instantiate that. And then if you must, then go into founder history, company expertise, company values and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and then call to action, ask for the meeting. Now the reason why I'm saying that most Nigerian businesses would be better off flipping this thing on his head is in the beginning, you don't have the kind of social cache that you think it has.

So this is what I mean, let's say I'm selling for Dangote. Everybody knows Dangote in Nigeria. I can afford to show up and say this is my company profile, this is our founder history, this is our expertise, these are our values, these are blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then lend with end with. This is how we can help. I mean, I'm carrying the force of the Dangote brand behind me in this scenario. So of course, people will listen.

But in the beginning, you don't have that cache yet. Nobody knows who you are yet, and because of that, nobody cares who you are yet. So for you to show up and say this is me, Chukudi and Sons. This is how I founded the company. This is why I founded the company. The company has been in existence for 15 years. This is our board of directors, this is our blah, blah, blah. And our company is founded on values of integrity and this and this and that and that.

And this is how our company helps people. In your own situation, you're just going to lose people in the first couple of pages. Most people, I'm not going to read that. So flip it on its head. You start with a problem statement. This is the problem that people in your industry face. Then you move to a solution statement. This is how these solutions ought to be solved, or this is how we solve these kinds of solutions, sorry, solve these kinds of problems for customers,

for clients, for people like you. Then you can go in through this is who we are, this is our history, blah, blah, blah. And then the call to action can now be, are you open for a meeting on Friday or are you open for a phone call? That is a much more convincing way to start the thing. And you increase your chances that the person is actually going to read the thing because you're starting off with a problem statement, a problem that they have.

You move quickly into the solution statement, a solution that they are looking for. Then maybe then you know, the company, blah, blah, blah. In fact, to be honest, I quite frankly always leave out the whole thing of the company and founding history and all those sorts of things. For those of you who have interacted with me personally, you, you catch the gist of what I'm saying. For those of you who've done business with me, till today,

you still do not know my company name. And if you do, it's because the time came to make payment and you saw the account details. That's if I gave you the company account details. So a lot of you still don't know my company name, a lot of you don't know my company history. A lot of you don't know company values. A lot of you don't know why the whole thing was founded. You know absolutely none of that because you had a problem, which is why you found me.

When we hopped on the phone call or when we got on the meeting, I went straight to the problem or did my best to try and figure out what the problems are. And then from there, we moved into what are the possible solutions? What are the approaches that we can use to solve your problems? And I skipped the whole point of this is who we are or this is who I am or This is why I'm important. And from there, I move straight to call to action, whether it's scheduling another meeting or it's you making the transfer to get this thing started or whether it's you giving me access by giving numbers, phone numbers for other people in your company so that I can, you know,

have meetings with them to do need analysis even further. So I know that lots of people are not going to be as gangster as I am in quote and just throughout that whole founder history, company history, values, expertise and all of that, honestly speaking, I think you can do without that. But if you still shall want to say something about your company, not in the beginning please, because at this point nobody cares when you have the social cache, then yes, by all means lead with it.

So if I'm going to be selling, selling on behalf of Dangote, I will start with that. Then I'm from Dangote Group of Companies and the person I'm talking to sit up. We say Dangote wants to do business with me. If I'm selling on behalf of Tony alum, Tony alum use companies, what's it called? Householdings, in fact, I won't even say householdings, I will say that I'm here representing Tony Illumelu's group of companies. That's what I will say because most people don't know a householdings but most Nigerians know Tony Illumelu.

So I will start off like that and then the person will sit forward and say Uncle Tony wants to do business with me. So when you have the cache, when you have the reputation, when you have the what we call it, use it. But until then, you're better off flipping the script. Start with the problem statement, move into a solution statement. Then you can now talk about who you are. Always end with a call to action, please. Because if you don't put a call to action, what the person is going to say is, oh, thank you very much.

Wonderful presentation, brilliant flyer. OK, thank you. Let me think about it and I'll get back to you. And that is what we are trying to avoid. Let me get back to you. Let me talk to my wife. Let me talk to head of accounting, let me talk to my pastor, let me talk to my brother, let me talk to my board. Let me. That is what we're trying to avoid because once he enters that whole, let me get back to you, send an e-mail to my secretary to follow up.

From there to ghosting is a very short walk. And of course, once you enter ghosting Wala, how are you going to revive the whole situation? It's a problem. So applying these principles can be tricky, but if you need me to look at your own particular circumstances, then connect with me, call me, send me a text message or send me a WhatsApp message on 08064662140. If you're interested, I'm offering a 15 minute sale audit.

I can look at your business processes, just WhatsApp me on the same number 08064662140. Or you can join my WhatsApp channel by sending me a WhatsApp message on the same number and we will get you started. So please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying your founder history is not important. It's important to talk about yourself. It's important to talk about your company expertise. It's important to talk about your board.

It's important to talk about how you're founded on the values of integrity and honesty and everything. It's important to talk about all those things. But the point in your PDF, the point in your proposal, the point in your slide deck, the point in your whatever that says, this is how we can help you. All those sections, don't bury them at the back. Bring those sections to the front. Don't worry, you have some creative people on your team.

They will be able to bring that section from the back to the front and they'll be able to rewrite, rewrite everything. And it will still blend. But please, all those paragraphs, all those figures, all those numbers, all those pictures, all those audio, all those videos, all those whatever that answered the question. This is how we can help you move all that part to the front for the purposes of sales. Move all of that to the front because actually that is what the person who you're going to see, the potential customer, the potential client, that is exactly the thing that they're looking for.

So if you're creating advertising content principle is the same problem statement, first solution statement before this is who we are and blah, blah, blah. If you're eating brand content, OK, the rules are slightly different when it comes to branded content because the whole point of branded content is just, you know, make them and see us, you know, want people to see us, want people to let them. Let's register the presence.

So that's a good of branded content. But even though you're doing branded content, a lot of you talk about the problems and the solutions and everything. OK, good. If you're going to do branded content and there's going to be that whole talk of the problem and the solution, please don't start with our company was founded in 1940, whatever or our company was founded in 2021 by so, so, so who returned from Harvard and something,

something, something, something, something. If it's a fintech or some financial thing you're working on, you're better off starting your content, even if it's branded content, by saying lots of Nigerians have problems with managing their financing. And that is because there is no central place or there is no app where they can look at to track their expenses to see exactly where they spend their money. And so because of that,

Nigerians are not able to budget. Nigerians are not able to schedule, Nigerians are not able to plan. We are so, so, so and so Nigeria's first whatever, whatever that plugs into your banking app and allows you to analyze your figures for the last four weeks, six weeks, 2 days, 24 hours, blah, blah, blah. So you can have a picture of how much money it is that you are spending on essentials, on frivolities, on this and on that.

With this, we are hoping to make financial planning, budgeting, editing, whatever accessible to the average Nigerian audience. There you now end. We are so, so, so and so. We are so, so, so and so, you know, company founded by Tumisha and so, so, so and so who graduated from Harvard and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then you now put your call to action. You end it. So that's the proper way.

So that's it for today. If you've gotten value from today's episode, remember, you can't connect with me. Just call me, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on 0806466 2140. Are you interested in a 15 minute sale audit or you want me to look at some of your business processes? WhatsApp me on the same number 08064662140. If you'd like to join my WhatsApp channel or you just want to say hello, then just WhatsApp me on the same number and we'll take it from there.

So thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you at the next episode.