Talking to strangers in a business context or a networking session can be scary because we’re worried about what to say, and we’re worried about being rejected or snubbed. The solution to the problem is to realize that it’s not all about you! Focus on the right kind of questions to ask to get the other person talking, and realize that even when you have been “rejected” it not personal. They are only saying NO to your value proposition.

Having been in the podcasting game for over a year now and close to 200 episodes, I get the question a lot from enthusiasts who think podcasting is fun and they’d like to get in on the action. The podcasting “how” isn’t as much important as the the “why” and “who”. Figure out who you’re talking to, what you have to say, why your point of view is unique, and the rest of the podcasting journey should be (relatively) easy!

It’s not just hustle and muscle, rest and recuperation is part of the deal as well. For high performance disciplines like sports and the military, they know that it’s not just about time spent on the field, but time spent in rest and rejuvenation that makes the ultimate sportsman and the ultimate soldier. As salespeople and business owners we are in a high performance scenario... so the same principle applies to us as well.

Whenever we have agreed to key terms and important obligations between us and our clients, it pays to have it repeated multiple times over the course of the engagement. We cannot trust that if we say it once, then the client has heard and will remember. Every one leads busy lives... including our clients.

It’s not the client’s fault if they don’t have proper expectations about the delivery of your product or service. This is something you should have laid out in conversations multiple times. We can’t just put it in a contract or proviso document and hope that they’ll read it. We have to be proactive about this and take full responsibility for setting expectations upfront about what the experience of working with us will be, as well as the delivery times we hope to meet.

Sometimes you’re unavailable because of personal commitments or difficulties you can’t work your way around. It’s enough to simply say you can’t make “so and so time” because of prior commitments that you have. No need to go into details! Life gets difficult for everyone. Spare your clients the details.

It’s okay to be a “know it all” so long as you are open to situations where you get to be the student and learn things. Humility and grace may be good personal qualities to have, but eventually they’ll parlay well into business and other high stakes situations.

It is a cardinal tennent of growing your business to be trustworthy and reliable. This is only possible when people feel that you will meet your commitments. Even when there are circumstances beyond your control that make meeting your promises difficult, you have to find professional ways to stay in touch, service the relationship and redress the situation.

Name dropping is a handy skill to establish your competence and credibility. However it can backfire if not done right and make you seem off putting, proud and haughty. Name drop with finesse using storytelling conversational techniques, and always ask questions to be sure who you’re talking to, so you know which names to drop. It’s not every high profile name that is going to impress everyone.

Sometimes we have significant heath challenges on the job. We need to find professional ways of communicating this and rescheduling our commitments when we’re under the weather. This affects how our potential clients perceive us, and whether they’d be comfortable referring us in the future.

Up selling doesn’t have to be unethical if we have our client’s satisfaction and their goals in mind. The trick is to be “other” focused, not tack on too many items, and to be sure that the up-sell is related to the chief item that they have come to you for.

The key to having folks come back with friends, family and associates is to be sure that our services were “on point” in the first place and helped them achieve their goals and desired outcomes. This is not just good business practice for people in the start up and software space, but it is surprisingly employed by roadside mechanics as well!

Sometimes we’re quick to say YES or NO to an offer before we have all the details. The idea behind qualification is simply to ask all the relevant questions so we can assess if we can help the prospective client, and if this opportunity is worth our while or not.

Success in the big brother show or any other endeavor isn’t guaranteed unless we put some sales and promotional muscle behind us. This is another example of why the gospel we preach on the podcast will be evergreen and ever relevant.

Emails and SMS are easier to start conversations with because they don’t come with a sense of personal rejection if you get ignored. Being rebutted over the phone has a certain sting to it! However we should opt for the phone when we can for more effective and personable communications. A simple outline should do the trick for those of you wondering “what do I say?”

Having a healthy sales pipeline means that you can take time off for the holidays securely and guilt free because you have a certain level of predictability with your business and it’s cash flows. Learn to sell well so that you can pamper yourself and your family. If you don’t, you’ll be like the rest of us who have to take jobs even over the new year and holiday period!

Regardless of our goals to have the perfect “lifestyle business” or build the dream behemoth of a business with all the systems, infrastructure and buildings ...it’ll have to be built on an alter of market “traction” which can only happen when sales and marketing efforts are a huge preoccupation of our time. No sales, no vitality, and no dreams!

This question should be the cornerstone of any sales or marketing drive. If you don’t know who you are aiming for, then you’ll go looking in the wrong places either physically or online. You’ll also be using the wrong kind of bait to lure them in, and you won’t have a good idea of who to invest time with!

Even though business people are supposed to be “money motivated”, you’ll find that many of us are interested in charitable causes and social impact schemes to make society better off. The transferrable skills we learn around sales, selling, and marketing can come in handy in making sure that we have thriving NGOs and that our social causes never run out of steam.

Sales and marketing activity yields results. Work ethic is important in getting us the results that we seek. There’s no arbitrary debate about working hard vs. working smart because ideally you should do both!

Lifestyle titles are useful for motivating us in the day to day grind of running a business. These terms might not be useful however if the come with connotations that limit our horizon and our picture and hopes for the future.

Money provides fuel for business systems, infrastructure and expansion. Your sources of capital can either be sales, bootstrapping, or borrowed money. Which ever option you go for, you’ll need an adequate questioning and conversation framework to achieve your goals.

Until you increase your sales, you cannot achieve your business or your personal goals. Dreams of business expansion and personal stuff such as holidays, school fees, entertainment, and housing are directly tied to the amount of sales that you bring in. Sales isn’t sleaze! It’s a necessary business function.

It’s not of primary importance if you are the Chief Executive Officer or the Customer Experience Officer. What matters especially in the early days is that nothing happens in the business unless a sale is made. Your primary responsibility is making sales, or hiring the person who can bring in the sales for you.

When socializing and networking, it helps to have useful questioning frameworks to get the conversation rolling. If you’re worried about what you should say, networking is going to be nerve wracking. If you have the right questions or primers, networking will be a breeze!

Worrying about what to say at social functions can be very crippling when you are trying to network. Instead of focusing on yourself, think about questions to ask that will help you sort out who is in the room? Who should spend more time with later? How you can add value to them? And who can be of value to you in the future? If you focus on questions, instead of what to say, networking can be less daunting.

Networking shouldn’t seem so daunting. The reason why we should “paddy” up every now and then? No one is an island! We need shared information and experiences to make us better. We’re all connected a la “6 degrees of separation”. We have to know each other to add value to others... and “give and take” only occurs if you’re in the room in the first place!

It is a bad idea to rely on written communication exclusively when we’re dealing with complex topics, or when things have gone wrong with the client and we’re in “damage control” mode and trying to resolve the dispute. Using text only will get you into more hot water.

The government of the day isn’t to blame for your current situation with your finances and prospects. Yes they are important when it comes to determining macro economic issues, but ultimately the reason why your business is suffering has to rest with you and not Buhari or Biden.

Listening involves more than just sitting still and being quiet. Some active steps have to be employed like avoiding distractions, asking questions to check for understanding, and not interrupting the client when she’s talking.

Listening is useful in biulding relationships, understanding others, and demonstrating empathy... Of course listening is also important because it will help us gather the information we need to close the deal and make some money! Don’t tell your clients I said that!!

Typographical errors, grammatical errors, brevity, having a clear purpose and providing information sources? Little things that make an impact with our clients especially when we’re going text based!

Non verbal aspects of communication including body language, tone, inflection, and gestures are more important in the communications process than you think! To be effective in engaging with our customers, we have to pay attention to these subtleties.

For communications with our clients and potential customers to be effective, we should focus on how useful our communications efforts were. Did it get the desired result? It is only feedback that will determine if the goal was met.

This episode looks behind the process of decoding the message that you send to your potential customers. We look at the different listeners filters, biases, expectations, perspectives, and different cultural outlook that come with the process of trying to communicate with your clients.

Don’t worry about the results. Stick to the process.

Encoding your message and the best channel to use!

Communicating with high intent

Common perspectives in communications

Follow up after the event as well!

Listen first! What do they need?

Lateness and dressing again?

Why bother with being professional?

Case management methodology

Communicate clearly to be professional!

Questions will help bring about the solution!

Professionalism - Dress and Punctuality!

Professionalization of the Nigerian Wedding &Event Industry