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NB: This newsletter is published every Monday. Point your browser to www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets to read at least ONE new post added to my SD Nuggets blog on a different category from Tuesday till Saturday (sometimes even Sundays) in line with this publishing schedule

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IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS newsletter is published online on the “reincarnated” version of my Self-Development (SD) Nuggets blog. I continue to put finishing touches to the content. If you encounter ANY bad/dead links, and you can spare the time, email them to me via tayo at tksola dot com. Thanks in advance

No. 158: To Achieve Sustainable Selling Success, NEVER Stop Marketing!

In late 2007, I had a setback when I broke a fundamental rule which I’ve summed up as:

“Never stop marketing. Not even when business is so good that you’re over booked!”

Ignoring this is often what causes the feast-famine cycle many people pass through! In this issue of my newsletter, I use a true personal story to explain why this is so, and what you can do.

When I made that mistake in late 2007, things got so bad I could not fuel my car…

For up to 3 weeks, I left my car parked in front of a public secondary school (where it had run out of fuel) off the major road leading to the popular Berger roundabout in Lagos.

Each day I walked past it at 5.00a.m to 5.30a.m, on my way to Ikeja – which was 1 hour away on foot (I did not have money to pay for local transportation either).

To help you put the above in perspective, I should mention that I’d started the year doing fairly well, and with no reason to imagine that things would not get better.

I mention this to warn you that “good times” have to be “nurtured” by you, to ensure they last.

In my case, I completed various custom Excel-VB software development projects during the year. And things had been looking really good.

But I had not learnt enough to NOT make the mistake of NOT marketing while working.

So, when I went through a prolonged period without winning new work, I got into trouble with my cash flow.

I was sorely tested during this period. But I dug deep and forced myself to re-read Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.

It’s amazing how suffering brings great clarity to the human mind, The things you read and feel, and SEE, offer much deeper meanings and insights.

This is why “fasting”, and meditating can be very beneficial when done right.

One day, I visited a business centre in the Opebi area of Ikeja to make photocopies.

I noticed they were having problems accurately computing total sales and expenses for the past week, using detailed records kept in notebooks used by the employees.

They had no formal book keeping system in place, so they were using a large calculator. The problem was it got very confusing and they kept mixing things up as customers came and went.

After a while I got involved and studied the records while trying to help them decide on the best way to go about it.

However, in my mind an idea was already forming. I saw the PC on their table, and knew it had a copy of MS Excel on it.

But I knew from interacting with the owner, that asking them to use MS Excel to solve the problem themselves was unlikely to work, and possibly lead to major errors.

So, I quietly resolved to build a little app for them to use.

48 hours later, I’d finished the first version of what I called Excel-VB driven”Business Centre Cash Inflow & Outflow Tracker” (click here to request details of it, including screenshots and Youtube video demonstrations).

Ironically, when I went back and showed the app to the business centre owner, she indicated no interest. This was despite the low price I offered her i.e. N1, 500.

It is instructive to note here, that earlier in the year, before the setback, I’d completed a N100K project earlier to build a “Hotel Records Management System (HRMS)”.

It worked via the hotel’s intranet (internal network) allowing different departments to access the modules relevant to them.

Compared to that hotel app, however, I had already done the work to build the BCCT app, and I knew MANY others would find the app useful. That was what informed my low pricing.

As a result, when the business centre owner declined, I simply went out to market it to others.

Sales did not happen immediately…but eventually they did!

It took me time to perfect my sales (elevator) speech. And I also had to learn how to profile those most likely to buy, and how to win their confidence.

I copied the app on to multiple branded auto run CDROMs I created. Then I walked from office to office from morning till evening, taking breaks when I could.

In the evenings, getting back home often involved walking for 1.5 hours from Ikeja to my place in the Ojodu area. However, since I was cash strapped, I decided to visit business centres in the Ogba area, closer home, so I could walk for about 45 minutes to get home.

This led me to discover shortcuts and side streets, which if I’d been driving I would never have noticed.

Later on, when my car was back on the road, I made good use of my new knowledge of those side streets to avoid major holds up and get to my destinations with minimal delays.

In Lagos, that can be a valuable ability!

To cut the long story short, the struggle I went through in late November 2007 helped me develop my street smart marketing aptitude.

I emerged better equipped to get people to buy from me – within minutes of our meeting.

One Example: I vividly recall the lady owner of a Travel and Tours company in a plaza at Ogba-Ikeja, saying (as she signed my receipt):

“Mr. Tayo. You are really a good salesman. I can’t believe I’ve agreed to pay for this software now, and then let you come back to install it tomorrow!”

In truth, I never imagined she would agree either!

You see, TRUST is one thing very hard to find between people transacting business in Nigeria – it’s “pay and get the product or service instantly”. Few will accept to let you come back the next day to give them what they pay for. Especially when you are an individual they do not know!

The lady CEO had watched my demonstration on the CD, and said she was interested in the app. But because she had an appointment at the airport, she suggested I come back the next day so she could pay, and I could install the app and teach her to use it.

However, my – now – keenly honed selling instincts made me counter-propose that she pay and have me come in first thing the next day to do the installation and training:

“That way, you will be sure that you’ve tied it down at this special price I’m giving you” I said.

And what was the price?

It was a mere N2, 500 – for a 650KB workbook app!

(NB: Today, the latest version sells for N5, 000, and is about 6MB in size, with superior enhancements – like my trademark automated modeless floating data entry form – to make it Excel-novice proof. It’s come a LONG way. Tomorrow, I’ll publish a blog offering it for sale to interested persons. Click here to request details!).

Using my painful 2007 experience, I hit the ground running with my marketing in 2008…and it paid off!

Starting in January 2008, an old client hospital called me in to build a Cash Office Payments Manager, for use in tracking indebtedness of patients.

My much improved negotiation skills and gut level instincts helped me win a profitable payment for the project, which I wrapped up in 48 hours!

2 months later, I won a new client, who paid me to build a Hotel Restaurants and Bar Manager application for her popular neighbourhood hotel.

3 weeks after finishing that project, I used my pavement pounding skills to sell the app to a much larger hotel (well known for events by musical celebrities) in the Ikeja area.

By the middle of the year, the MD of a cookies manufacturing company called me based on a referral by his cousin (the manager of a professional photography studio) who had purchased my “cheap” N2, 500 BCCT app.

I would go on to execute multiple highly profitable projects for that company i.e. marketing my “cheap” app opened doors to high paying projects with large clients companies!

Final Words: Spending is unavoidable. If you do not keep getting money in, you will most definitely continue spending. That means you WILL eventually run out of cash!

That’s what happened to me – more than once. I’m wiser now.

But I first had to learn the hard lesson, to NEVER stop marketing while I had a job in hand.

Today, those who follow my work know that I continue using multiple channels, to promote my products and services to my target audiences.

Even when I had multiple projects in hand about a month ago, in Cotonou, I NEVER stopped my various marketing activities. And this has continued to generate multiple quality sales leads, some of which have resulted in sales of my products, and profitable clients for my services.

As I type this, I’m in Lagos-Nigeria, approaching the end of a Web Marketing Systems development project for an Ota-Ogun state based NGO.

Few months back, in June (2014) they’d invited me to give a paid Web Marketing Coaching talk to members of their media unit. Then last month, they’d paid to have me develop the WMS.

Apart from a referral by a relative who is a member of the board, and requested I meet with the CEO in Lagos. their decision to hire me was based mainly on marketing resources I supplied: before we met, and which I left AFTER giving my talk.

Even after I leave, my marketing resources continue to “speak” to them on my behalf.

A good example was an auto run CDOM based slideshow version of the talk I gave them, along with 3 MP3 audio versions of a 3 part article on Web Marketing published on my website.

And since I practice what I preach online, ANYTIME they visit my website or blog, those I market my work to will encounter new and often useful content.

Here’s what Burt Dubin said in one of his business marketing articles for experts-who-speak, that he mentors across the world:

“You are a marketer first, and an expert second.” – Burt Dubin

That’s powerful wisdom that has helped countless experts find more consistent marketing success. If you remember and act on it, you will achieve similar results!

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