Self-Devpt. Nuggets™

This writeup is based on updated/revised excerpts from an article I originally wrote (on 30th November 2006), as a service provider when I was still based in Lagos-Nigeria.As such, not all the ideas I offer here, may be applicable to you or your environment.

NB: I relocated to Benin Republic on 1st April 2013, and now earn 80% of my income via sales of my farm support products and services ; my information products, as well as my freelance writing service – most of which happen online. But I still get physically hired by clients in my new location, and in Nigeria e.g. developing Web Marketing Systems, custom Excel Software etc.

There are typically two types of customers/clients:

Individuals (including sole proprietors) and Businesses/Groups/Organisations.

I prefer the former, because they can often make the final buying decision. So there’s less waiting to be done, and less opportunities for the human politics that can crop up (for instance, in a corporate decision making process) to kick-in.

When leaving my car at home to look for clients(while still in Lagos), I often aimed to find individuals fitting the above description.

My objective was always to engage them in sales conversations (often initiated via cold calls on phone/in person), that I expect to result in appointments.

I would then follow up on a later date (at which time going in the car could become a possibility).

Here are four(4) specific benefits I believe can be derived from working this way:

Benefit 1: You Can Be More Focussed/Efficient.

Having to take the bus (some countries/places have trams, subway trains, ferries etc), forced me to plan ahead more carefully.

For instance, I would think through the best routes to take to reach MORE prospects who fit my target audience profile.

That helped me make the most productive use of my time while out marketing.

By the time I returned home, my diary entries usually showed a good number of appointments to be followed up with some of the prospects I met.

Benefit 2: You Can Discover Less Obvious Opportunities.

When driving, you have to keep your eyes on the road, and concentrate more, compared to when you’re walking or not driving e.g. you’re sitting in a bus.

Not being behind the wheel of a car made it possible for me to read MORE of what was written on posters, billboards, company sign posts etc.

I was also better able to think about what I saw/read – and potential “selling opportunities” would sometimes occur to me as a result. Some of them actually resulted in unexpected sales of my products and/or services.

You see, it’s unlikely that you will always find your prospects through business directories and websites:

Sometimes you’ll just have to pay attention to the people, in your environment as you move around!

Benefit 3: You Can Pursue Potential Opportunities Quickly/Easily

When you’re not the one driving (or when you’re on foot), very rarely will you have to worry about anyone running into you from behind, if/when you suddenly decide to make an unscheduled stop to speak to a prospect.

When I’m in a bus for instance, all I need to do is tell the driver I’ll be getting down at the next stop.

In contrast, when driving in Lagos, finding a place to park/stop can be a nightmare depending on where you are.

As a result I have had, in the past, to give up checking out what looked like a potential opportunity. This was because I drove round looking for parking space in a location on the Lagos Island without success.

Anyone who has lived/worked in Lagos will know what I mean!

Benefits 2 and 3 (above) of course imply you will need to hone your cold calling skills. Especially your intro or elevator speech. This will help you make the most of the opportunities mentioned, when you eventually come face to face with your prospect.

Benefit 4: You Are Immune To Holdups & LESS Susceptible To Near-Misses/Mishaps.

If you have ever had to drive when physically or mentally exhausted, you will know it’s one sure way to get into trouble. For instance, you may inadvertently jump traffic lights, or nearly (absentmindedly) run into another person’s car…or worse hit a pedestrian!

I always dreaded driving on Lagos roads. The terrible holdups/traffic jams often drained me so badly, that I sometimes get to the prospect’s place feeling tired even though I hadn’t started my work!

But whenever I was in a bus stuck in traffic, I could simply get down, get on a bike and go on to my planned destination.

I guess I could also have taken this option if I was driving my car, but two issues would have arisen:

(a). How to find a place to park the car till I got back

(b). How to ensure the car did not get tampered with or “removed'(e.g. towed away…which happens a lot in Lagos!) before I returned.

Dumping The Car In Order To Do A Good Job – AFTER I Found A Willing Client (True Story)

In late 2006 , while still in Lagos, I had the opportunity (?), due to a problem with my car, to go by bus – daily – to a client’s premises for over a month (I was provided a PC and office to work from). I built an Exel-VB driven Hotel Records Management application, which they used for over 5 years.

To my surprise, I got all that work done with LESS stress/effort, compared to when I had insisted on going by car.

You see, the location of the client’s premises was such that you had to drive past it on the opposite side of the highway. The you’d go further by probably over two kilometres, before making a U-turn and then driving back down to enter the client hotel’s car park!

Now, depending on where you are approaching this hotel from, you might have to pay toll gate fees to get there. And that happens each time you follow that route.

I considered that a needless, annoying, and avoidable expense.

Add to that, the fact that on each run, when coming or going, you quite often would have to endure agonizingly long delays in hold ups. Most of which are caused by very naughty driving. The whole thing takes its toll on you before you even get to start work!

Contrast the experience I had when I chose to go there without taking my car.

I would take a bus from across where I lived, and within five to ten minutes, would arrive at the first stop midway to my destination.

Within another 5 minutes, except for some days when it could take a while to get another bus, I would arrive the hotel – feeling almost as fresh/rested as I was when I left home!

Summary: Sometimes It May Be Smarter to Go Without Your (Pretty) Car!

Going by all that I have said above, one thing is clear.

Every now and then, while in Lagos, I found it sometimes made smarter business sense not to go out in my car.

Especially when I had to go to a place(s) I knew I could reach more effectively, by taking local transportation.

“Hire a taxi” you said?

Incidentally, when one hires a taxi cab in Lagos, a problem like fatigue from driving may be removed. However, that of getting stuck in traffic could still occur.

And if you got stuck in a traffic jam, in a hired taxi, getting down to continue on bike or foot might not be an easy option to settle for.

Not many people would be excited about leaving a EXPENSIVE Lagos cab they hired EMPTY, with their money in the cab driver’s pocket! :-))

In the end, it’s best to carefully weigh the pros and cons. And if it works for you, go with a taxi!

So what about you? Would you leave YOUR car at home, if you knew going without it could make you more productive?

PS: It’s Different in Benin Republic!

I return to Cotonou in a few days (I arrived last week Friday, to conduct a short MS Excel-based questionnaire survey of farm industry stakeholders. It’s partly to obtain information for the international research paper I’m writing on using ICT for Feed Formulation).

Although I don’t use a car here, moving around is much easier for me in Benin Republic.

For one thing I now do mostly online work – so I get to avoid whatever ruch hours there are.

Another reason is that transportation here is significantly less expensive than it is in Lagos. It is also much less stressful as well!

Rarely will you run into holdups – talk less of traffic jams. Certainly nothing at all like what happens daily in a place like Lagos. So even if you drive a car, you’re likely to have no major issues getting to your destinations.

You can therefore actually work smarter with time.

So with or without a car, one is still able to move around and achieve useful productivity!