“What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Dwight Eisenhower
The Yoruba’s have a proverb that expresses a similar sentiment. It goes thus:
“Kekere ni abere nkere. Ki nse gbi gbe mi fun adiye.”
Translation: “Don’t be fooled by the smallness of the needle. It cannot be swallowed by a chicken!”
That’s why I LOVE the David-vs-Goliath philosophy advocated by Virgin founder, Richard Branson. It’s also why I LOVE Strive Masiyawa’s true life story of winning an unlikely battle against his country’s government, when they tried to stop him from launching his telecom company.
Aaaand…it’s ALSO WHY I never fear going in a direction that my HEART leads me, even when I’m told I will have to confront “bigger” or “more powerful” or “more popular” or “more successful” people.
Several years ago, I paid about 3 targeted visits to the Lagos, Ikeja office of fairly well known real estate company (with branches in major cities across Nigeria).
NB: This was when I still used to do lots of pavement pounding.
I was offering to develop a Web Marketing System for them. Each time I went there however, I never got to see the CEO. Instead it was the secretary/PA, who gently hinted me that some IT companies had sent “teams” with bulky proposals, to do presentations to the MD and key officers.
She wondered how I, coming as an individual (not even wearing a tie) thought I stood a chance.
Don’t get me wrong. She did not exactly say it…but she insinuated it as we chatted. I always confidently smiled and told her I was sure if I got a few minutes with someone in a decision making position, even if s/he was NOT the MD, that they would want to hear more from me.
Note that all this while they already have a website, but it was not doing them any real service, and had not been updated for over 3 years.
The problem was the guy who built it for them was no longer on good terms with the MD, and had reportedly even stopped taking their calls.
As we talked on my 3rd visit, I challenged the lady to get anyone she knew was most senior amongst the staff present, to speak with me. I said to her: “Tell him I said I DO NOT build websites. Instead I make websites do the work they are meant for, which is to generate sales leads and enquiries.”
She stopped when I said that. I think it was also the way I said it, while looking directly as her, smiling all the while, that got her.
She told me to give her a minute and walked into the large hall to the other end, where a bespectacled gentleman in tie was seated in a corner (In this company, they had spaces with desks. No closed doors, except for the MD’s).
As they spoke, she pointed in my direction and they spoke a little more. Then she walked back to me and said (not her exact words):
“Please go and speak with that man. He is the closest to the MD and is actually the one that liaises with all those companies that have been coming to offer us this solution. If he sees value in what you say, I can assure you the MD will want to meet you.“
Less than 30 minutes later, I and the gentleman were chatting like old friends…
Among other things he told me what struck him as soon as I started speaking was the fact that he could UNDERSTAND what I was saying, without being an IT person. According to him, all the other people – the teams – who had visited had come with beautifully packaged presentation folders, in colour, filled with detailed notes, and lots of technical terminologies.
Since he and the MD were not very IT savvy, they often hoped the in-person meetings would give them an opportunity to better understand what the offers really meant. What the solution offered entailed. The tangible value it would add either by helping them sell more, or saving them money, or both.
Unfortunately, most times those IT experts came down and still used a lot of the IT jargon without really breaking it down in lay man’s terms.
They failed to realize they were not communicating what they could do well enough for their prospective client to confidently decide to choose them!
He said that was what made me different:
“You apparently know the IT jargon too, but you take the pains to speak about what you do in simple language that a non-technical person can understand!” he added.
I got an appointment to come in an meet the MD the very next day.
And that meeting went so well, that less than 48 hours later I’d cashed a cheque for 100% advance payment to reinvent their online presence based on my proposal to develop for them a Web Marketing System.
It might interest you to know that my fee was actually higher than that offered by most of the others being considered by the estate agency. Indeed, the MD would later ask me – after we’d agreed on working together – if I knew how many “big” companies has made them offers.
I told him I’d been informed, and that my experiences and achievements had proven over the years that SIZE does not equate to COMPETENCE. I went on to give him a practical analogy (that I have used with success for years) to show him that NOT choosing me would be a mistake.
After hearing me say what I said, I could see from his body language that he was ready…
The rest as they say is history.
As you can see from this story, it’s YOU who can really determine how others see you. Even when they have preconceived ideas or biases against choosing you, it is up to YOU – it will ALWAYS be up to YOU – to influence how they see you to what YOU WANT. Doing that however starts with first believing unflinchingly in yourself and your ability to deliver what you promise.
Then you have to LEARN how to communicate the value you offer in a manner that will make most who need what you offer find it hard to resist you. That’s what I did with that MD and his team.
It’s what I do with most people who buy from me today, and that even though I no longer do door to door marketing or sales of ANY of my products or services.
Today, people come to me via my Web Marketing System, and after a few interactions they make payment and I deliver the promised solution.. That’s how well this works. You can adopt a similar approach. If you need help, let me know.
In case you wonder what exactly I said to the real estate company’s MD to make him choose me over the bigger providers who had previously approached him, click here to contact me.
You see, what to say, and how to say it, in order to CONVINCE people to PAY YOU MONEY for what you offer, is a crucial skill every business owner who wishes to market, negotiate and sell successfully needs to LEARN.
I can show you how to do same. Get in touch and I’ll respond by telling you exactly what I said to the MD of that company to win him over the way I did.
Final Words: NEVER discount yourself on account of what you think you lack, be it in size, possession etc
Not even if you lack money, connections or power…
Never ever think you do NOT have what it takes to get what you want – in business or life – from ANYONE.
I say this because so MANY MANY people with (seemingly NOTHING of advantage) have achieved greatness despite going up against others who had so much more than them.
How do I know? I’ve read about them!
Several years back, one would have needed to buy books to reach such true stories about such great achievers.
However, today, the web makes it possible to read all you want about such people for next to nothing. I therefore urge you NOT to waste that opportunity: Go online and use Google to find those stories start reading today, to get the INSPIRATION you need to go out there and succeed!