Why Your Business Is Failing: Daniel Sarpong || Masterminds Podcast EP63

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Everyone is telling you to start a business. Nobody is telling you why most of them fail. The answer is two words — sales and marketing. And until you understand the difference between the two, and why one without the other is a dead end, you will keep building products nobody is buying.
 In this episode of the Masterminds Podcast, Richie Mensah sits down with Daniel Sarpong — sales strategist, author of The 12 Sales Secrets, and a professional who has worked across 30 countries and counting. Daniel breaks down the real difference between sales and marketing, why every human being is already a salesperson whether they know it or not, the 6 psychological principles that drive every purchase decision, and why passion without skill is just noise. If you run a business, work in one, or are trying to sell yourself in any area of life — this episode is your masterclass.

In this episode, you'll learn:
 The real difference between sales and marketing — and why confusing them is costing you
 Why every person is already a salesperson in their own life
 How to sell across different cultures without changing your core principles
 The 6 psychological principles behind every purchase: reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, likability and scarcity
 Why personal brand is now more powerful than corporate brand — and how to build yours
 Why giving value consistently is the most underrated sales strategy
 How to convert awareness into actual sales
 Why passion and skills are not the same — and which one actually builds a career

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

So many businesses are collapsing and failing and they don't know why. Two words sales and marketing.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

I always loved trade. I don't know where I learned it from, but even at the age of six in class one, I was selling in class. The truth is I didn't actually know that sales was a career path.

SPEAKER_06 0:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

So I invested in myself. Any book I could find, any YouTube video I could find at the University of YouTube, um, any contract I could find on sales, I was I was reading day and night. And in the fourth month, I achieved um full target.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

What led you to now starting to work with Tonator?

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Okay, before I went to Tonator, keep giving value every day, every time I achieved um full target and one of sign all of the biggest deals in that department organization.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

That's from zero to hundred.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

From zero to hundred. It taught me something that passion and skills are not the same.

SPEAKER_04 0:55

Before we jump into the conversation, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting and deciding to watch this episode. But now I have a favor subscribe to the channel. Subscribing to the channel helps me and the entire mastermind team to continue bringing you wonderful conversations and episodes that bring you closer to being the mastermind you deserve to be. So join the community. Now, everyone on the internet they keep saying, start a business, become your own boss, do this, do that. But there's one thing missing that a lot of business people don't understand yet, which is why so many businesses are collapsing and failing and they don't know why. Two words sales and marketing. And the biggest thing is the difference between sales and marketing. Now, I can't call myself an expert, so I had to bring an expert to help me discuss this. Daniel, welcome to Masterminds.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Thanks so much. Pleasure is mine.

SPEAKER_04 2:15

I love the outfit. You know, you're dressed for the job. You're showing me that yes. I need to go and change. Um I go get a suit. How are you doing, though?

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Oh, exceptionally great today. Uh has been an amazing week so far.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

Yeah. Are you enjoying being back in Ghana? You know, you've left us for the UK.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Oh, I've not left. I'm building, I'm building in Africa and for Africa.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

Oh, nice. Yeah, nice. I like that. Yeah. Let's start. Let's start from the beginning. Let's talk about you. I want to know um the mindset that started you on this journey, how you began before you got into sales and marketing.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Oh, my life before all of these. Yes. Um, so I think growing up, I was very curious. I was a very curious boy. Um, I am always asking questions: why this and why that? Why do we decide to do this? Why do we decide to do that? So I grew up in a family of five. Um, I have two siblings. I'm the third of uh of three siblings, uh, amazing family, a Christian family. Um our parents gave us an opportunity to you know explore and all that. But I think one thing I always realized, um, I always loved trade. I don't know where I learned it from, but even at the age of six in class one, I was selling in class.

SPEAKER_06 3:25

Hey, okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

And if I have to be honest, I sold or had a trade going on from class six till I finished university.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

Wow, what were you selling in class six?

SPEAKER_01 3:33

So in class six, funny story. So I had um this family member that used to sell food, fried rice and washi and stuff like that. So I used to just get some and go to school. And I realized that a couple of my colleagues, oh, where did you get this fried rice from? Where did you get it? I'm like, yeah, it's my auntie, but I can provide it for you. No, okay. Within three months, I was always going to school with two big policing bags of food, not just for students, but for teachers as well. That's nice.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

Interesting. Small boy wonder.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was always I was always doing that. GHS, I was selling product, drinks for people and all that. To uh senior high school and St. Augustine's College and then straight to uh the University of Ghana, where I owned a model agency. So I was recruiting models from the campus to marketing agencies for ads. So myself, I've been in a couple of ads like for Vodafone. Okay, I got uh art for people and students, you know, over colour and all of that. So my life I was basically always doing business. Nice.

SPEAKER_04 4:28

So you went from selling food to selling people's. Everything.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

No, like once I see an opportunity to me, I just go straight to it. Well, like once there's a demand for something and I can provide it, I just go straight to it. So that's how I've always done it.

SPEAKER_04 4:38

What led you to Tonaton, right? What led you to now starting to work with Tonaton?

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Okay, before I went to Tonaton, I I did my national service at a Swiss Digital Marketing Agency. Um, and I went straight into sales. So the truth is I didn't actually know that sales was a career path.

SPEAKER_06 4:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

So when I started my career, I realized that okay, I have to go out there to sell to B2B, basically. So I always had to come ready for the work. Richie, um, this is an interesting story. In my first month, I worked so hard, but um I got zero, no results. Wow. I worked so hard. I can boldly say that I had more calls and meetings as of that time than anybody in the team. I was new, so I had to perform. In the second month, I was able to work exceptionally much more better. And can you guess how much percentage maybe in the revenue I was able to do of my targets?

SPEAKER_04 5:28

Let me guess one percent.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Um, you did well, zero. Wow. In the third month, now I went bigger and harder, meeting more people and all that. So I think that was uh much better. Can you guess the percentage you think maybe I may have done?

SPEAKER_04 5:43

And when I'm tempted to say zero again.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Why would you say zero? Come on, trust me. Like have some faith in me. Okay, okay. 3%. 3%. Yeah, I'm a little above that. I actually did um zero.

SPEAKER_04 5:57

Okay, you tricked me.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

That is when I realized that hey, I'm working but not getting results. So I invested in myself. Any book I could find, any YouTube video I could find, the university of YouTube, um, any conference I could find on sales, I was I was reading day and night. And in the fourth month, I achieved um full target and one of the signed one of the biggest deals in that department organization.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

That's from zero to hundreds.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

From zero to hundred. It taught me something that passion and skills are not the same. Yeah, you can be extremely passionate about your business, your craft, whatever it is. If you don't have the skills, you work hard into nothing.

SPEAKER_05 6:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

So I worked with an organization, and in a year, in 12 months, I rose to be the corporate sales manager actually. Heading the entire department. That is when um Tonaton needed um someone to run their corporate art sales and all that. And interesting, I didn't apply for it. They reached out to me on LinkedIn and I communicated to the person, Janet at that time, she's an amazing friend now. That I'm not interested. So I went there, I had a discussion with them and all that. I thought I'm not interested, but I can recommend a couple of people. I recommended a couple of people, they interviewed them and all that. She got back to me, she was like, We've talked to many other people, but I don't know why. You are the one I want. So I thought about it, I prayed about it, I discussed it with my then boss. That's why you need good leaders. He didn't think, yeah, I mean, I'm working with you, I know you are one of the best, but he thought it's a big organization, you have that potential, I think it's good for you. And at that, I accepted that offer. And then I went into Tonaton as um head of corporate sales, handling partnerships, and all that. And I was just 23.

SPEAKER_04 7:39

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Wow, I was just 23. I've never said this anywhere before. At the age of 23, I was just 23. I looked my part always in suit. I had clients always asking me, Oh, how are your wife and children? I was saying, yeah, they are fine. I had to look that part because I was in that role, I was dealing with directors, MDs, top-level managers who were in their 40s, in their 50s, in your late 30s. I was just 23. So I had to play that part. So when I entered Tonaton, um, that that particular department, they had been running it for maybe five, six years, and it was never working. They had worked with like eight different people who had experience, and I was like, I will let this work.

SPEAKER_06 8:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

So in the first few couple of months, I began to study the market, try to understand everything. Totally changed everything the team was doing because I realized that if we keep doing the same thing, Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again, and it's getting different results. And in four months, we achieved uh the target for that department for the first time in over two years. And in 12 months, we did the highest uh revenue ever. And that was somewhere in 20 um maybe 2016, 2017. In 2018, with the help of my team, the entire organization turned out on for the first time made profit. That's we broke even. So people thought all these wealth on the tone was running from 2013, they were making profit. No, that's not how most startups work. So we made profit for the first time in October 2018 and then continue that journey until five years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:07

So if I can ask, what did you do differently? You said you changed everything, but what did you do? What did I do differently? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Now, this is where the question comes in. Um, most people focus on revenue alone. Revenue is a lagging indicator. I focused on the leading indicators.

SPEAKER_07 9:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Lagging indicators show up when every single thing has been done. But the leading indicators help you predict the future way before anybody can do that. So let's look at things like do we understand our clients? Do you understand the target audience? Who are the competitors? What is happening in the market? How many calls are we making each day? Sales is a numbers game. If you're calling just five to ten people every day and expect to make a difference, no. Can you sit down from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and call 100 people? That is how people get change. Sales is a numbers game. On average, if you reach out to let's say 100 people, possibly you may get only 10 meetings. And out of that 10, only two or three will show interest. So it's a numbers game. So if two or three are showing interest with 100 calls, then if I do thousand calls, I can get 20 to 30 showing interest. Basically, a numbers game. Yeah. So that's basically how um we went from there, build a team, change the systems and all that, trained the team as well. And Notona Ton wasn't a Ghanaian company, it's a Swedish investment. So we also collaborated with a lot of our our other sister companies in in Europe, in Asia, and then that actually helped us uh develop things into what it it became. Nice. So Sanshu said something, right? That strategy without tactics.

SPEAKER_04 10:43

I love that you read Art of War, one of my favorite books ever.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Yeah. Strategy without tactics is the slowest way to victory. But tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.

SPEAKER_04 10:58

I like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Let me break it down. If you have a strategy, like you know what you are trying to do in the long term and all that, but you have no tactics. It's like me trying to fly from Ghana to London. I have everything ready, but I have not booked any ticket. I don't even know which ticket to book. I don't know how much it's gonna cost. I don't know anything, but I just assume that something is gonna happen. So in the end, most people don't implement and they don't even have tactics, so nothing really happens.

SPEAKER_05 11:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Now the second one that says that tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. That's a very interesting one. So without one, most people are not necessarily lazy. Most people are just uh are lost. Put it that way. They are not lazy, they are just lost. But to be busy, right? To be busy and then lost, and to be lazy and lost, being busy and lost is more dangerous. Yes, because you think you're going somewhere, you think you're going somewhere, and you are using you are burning out your cash, you are burning out using your energy resources. At the end of the day, you don't get anywhere. So I let people always understand that if you have tactics with no direction, it will just help you get nowhere faster. Yeah. So it's always very important to know your strategy, understand whatever you are doing, and then have tactics, exact things we are going to do to help us get there.

SPEAKER_04 12:21

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SPEAKER_01 13:24

All right. That's that's one of the most important questions actually for this conversation. You know, sales and marketing. Marketing is very broad. People sell and then they call themselves marketing, right? Marketing is very broad. Number one, marketing considers the product that I'm selling.

SPEAKER_05 13:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

The product, everything about the packaging, is it fit for the customer? Everything about the product, designing the product is marketing. Another part of marketing is the people. Who is our audience, our target audience? And that is a whole in-depth course on its own. Or in-depth thing that you have to develop. The people is part of marketing. The place where are we going to sell it? Are we going to get a store? Are we going to get a shop? Uh, is it going to be online? How are we? Is it going to be on Amazon, eBay? Where is it going to be? All that is part of marketing.

SPEAKER_06 14:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

The price, how much are we going to sell it? Is it going to be five pounds, two pounds, 20 pounds, 100 CDs, 200 dollars. All that is part of marketing. And then lastly, the promotion. Promotion is where now advertising comes in. So advertising is actually a subset of promotion, which is a subset of marketing.

SPEAKER_06 14:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Now, when we advertise, we now look at the sales funnel.

SPEAKER_06 14:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

When we advertise, now the sales funnel is basically a funnel. And you know, as a funnel, it's always bigger at the top and then it becomes smaller at the bottom. Yeah. The top of the funnel is called awareness. So when we advertise everything we've done with marketing with the place that people, so we choose the right people to give uh promote it to and all that, the price and all that, the product. Now people become aware of it.

SPEAKER_05 15:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

For example, if someone asks you that they want to purchase something, right? Um, maybe I say, I want you, I need a new suite for a program tomorrow. All of a sudden, you have a friend, a place, or maybe somewhere you've never bought from. You just say, try this place and see. Yeah, that is. Because you are aware of it. You are aware of it. It's top of mind awareness. So all of a sudden, anytime someone wants to purchase something, three brands or three places or three products, at least three comes into mind and then they buy from there. So you want people to be aware so that anytime they have to make a decision, they purchase. After awareness now becomes interest.

SPEAKER_06 15:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

When you are aware, okay, that's interesting. Let me go to the store, let me check their website, let me call them and make enquiries. All those people are interested. So if, for example, 100,000 people are aware, maybe 50,000 will now be interested. So anyone that calls your office, calls your shop, texts you in your DM, your comments, listen, they have moved from awareness. These people are interested. Take them seriously. And then it now goes straight to consideration. They now want to think about it. Do I want to buy from here or here? Is the price good enough? Is the quality good enough? After consideration, then eventually they make a purchase. That's when now a sale has been made. Okay. But it doesn't even end there. It moves next to loyalty. Will they keep buying from you? Yeah. And then it moves next to advocacy. Will they refer other people to you? When they refer other people, it now comes back to the final game into awareness.

SPEAKER_04 16:28

Okay. So I have to ask this right off the bat. Yeah. What is the conversion rate from awareness to sales?

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Every industry is very different. Okay. Yeah. Every industry is, it depends on the industry and even the market. It's very, very different. But on average, um, the maybe the service, I'll use maybe myself as an example. The service um it can be awareness to sales, it can be less than 5%.

SPEAKER_06 16:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Because for awareness, especially if it's not a targeted awareness, then everyone is seeing it. If it's targeted, the percentage can increase. But if it's not a targeted awareness, then everybody is seeing it.

SPEAKER_04 17:13

So that means for the sales and marketing people out there, that means for every hundred people that I push something to, I should estimate no more than five of them coming to purchase.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

It depends on the context and the industry and all that. But on average, yeah. On average. Yeah, just aware. Awareness is I wanna just, you know, for example, everyone listening to me, if you go to um wherever you purchase your things, whether Amazon or uh wherever it is, you have a lot of things in your cart. You are aware and you are interested, yeah, but you are waiting for a certain time. So awareness has its own relevance or it has a lifetime relevance. Some people will be aware today, but will purchase in five years.

SPEAKER_04 17:54

Yeah, and I'm it's the same with everything. Like as we are on masterminds right now, there's somebody who's aware of this program. Say, oh, Richie started a podcast, yeah. I will watch it. Yeah, and it could be six months before they watch their first episode. Yeah, so that means only five percent of you are watching, and that means only five percent of you have subscribed, guys. Come on.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Let's say five to ten. Let's say five to ten.

SPEAKER_04 18:16

Come on, guys.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Awareness, awareness is uh if it's targeted awareness, it could always increase. If it's targeted awareness, okay. For example, you let's let's look at this awareness, for example. Yes, you go to a school with kids, yes, kids love ice cream, right? And you go and set up in front, and the prices, I mean, what they can do for it. They can all afford it. Then with that awareness, you can't get 50%. You can't get to so that's targeted awareness, but it's generic awareness where you just want people to know you exist. That's when the uh percentages drop. That's why most often, before anyone runs a campaign, they ask what's the objective. Sometimes the objective is just awareness. I'm not expecting any direct sales immediately. I just want people to know that I exist.

SPEAKER_04 18:59

So let me even ask that question. So, in which times do you think a business should be targeting just awareness versus direct sales?

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Most organizations have a budget for that every single month.

SPEAKER_06 19:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Because no matter what you do, still some people don't know you exist. Yeah. So what organizations do is that. And you can it can even be a small startup, even if it's$5 or$20,$20 you can have each month just for awareness. Like let people just know you exist, right? It's good. So they always, most organizations always do it. That's why you'd always see these big brands always having billboards. For example, some of these topic, I don't want to mention any brand name, but maybe top-level beverage, they still have billboards around, but everybody knows about them.

SPEAKER_04 19:44

I think everybody knows them. Why are they still advertising?

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Why is advertising? Because what they want now is not um to be aware they exist, so that they can have top of mind awareness. So that when you go to that shop and you see different bottles, yeah, and you are looking for one to choose, you remember that you just saw an ad. Yeah, and it looked cool. So let me just choose this one. Top of mind awareness.

SPEAKER_04 20:03

I mean, uh my my brother always used to say that because of certain ads at the World Cup, yeah, every time when he goes, he knows he's going to buy Coca-Cola. Yeah. Just because of the ads.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

And it happens to be sometimes I see an ad and I realize it looks chilled. Maybe let me just get one. Top of mind awareness. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:20

Let's look at this. So from Tonaton, what was next for you?

SPEAKER_01 20:23

So, you know, Tonaton was merged or acquired by GG Online Marketplace. And most people don't they don't still realize that it's still the same organization. But yeah, so um Tonaton is owed by the Soulside Um Limited, which is based in Sweden. And GG is owned by an organization in Ukraine. But Soul Side has most of its assets and organizations actually in Asia.

SPEAKER_06 20:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Most of the staff, actually, we had an office in Dubai, um, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India. Sweden was just like the headquarters.

SPEAKER_06 20:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

But Gigi Online Marketplace has their assets in Africa.

SPEAKER_06 20:59

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Kenya, I think Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, and all that. So it was a very strategic move for the investors, I believe, uh, based on subset of conversations that I had, that whilst all our assets are in Asia, why don't we just give our tomaton to GG? Make some good money out of it, and then focus on where we are doing exceptionally well. Okay. So work together. So I, I mean, the staff were the same, still the same company, but different names. Yeah. So I developed helped develop the three to five um year marketing strategy for the organization for um, and in about eight months, I realized that I wanted something more.

SPEAKER_06 21:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

All this while I had been a public speaker.

SPEAKER_06 21:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

All this while I had already released this book in 2021 in Dubai. But I realized that it was time. And I would say there was also a divine nudge. I just felt like God telling me that um it's time to move on. So after eight months of being with the organization, um, after I launched my second book, that's the Mind Game. I I quit cooperate after that because I was getting more opportunities in different places, but I couldn't take advantage of it. A lot of organizations wanted me to train them, I couldn't take advantage of it. I couldn't literally do fulfill the purpose like I wanted to. So I quit cooperate and then I went straight into what I was always doing, which was already paying me good already. Public speaking, trainer facilitation, a marketing agency, uh video production, and all of that. Right. I already had a couple of clients already, so it wasn't uh that difficult. And you know the funny thing? The second month after I quit to cooperate, I made almost um a year's salary in a month.

SPEAKER_04 22:42

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

So that's what gave me confidence to realize that okay, maybe this is the right direction.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

Interesting. Yeah, as you've mentioned your book, let's discuss it. The 12 sales secrets. Please explain the core concept of that.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Okay. So there are 500 companies called the Global 500 companies that are ranked by Fortune magazine every year. That's the entire world.

SPEAKER_04 23:07

SP 500. Global 500. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

SP 500 is more of investments. Yes. Yeah. So these Global 500 companies, I decided to research each one of them, and I realized that there was a sales secret, sales and marketing secret, running through all of them. Okay. And I looked at 12 of them, which were running through most of them, and I decided to put it in a book. So this is like a playbook and a case study. Okay. It's not a book you just read. That's my copy, right? Yeah, that's your copy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:35

Thank you very much. When you guys hear that Twitch is killing it in sales, you know the source. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

So I for so brands like Coca-Cola, LG, Emirates, Nestle. So I put exact case studies. Okay. This is what the organization did, this is the results they had, and this is how you can do it in your small business now.

SPEAKER_04 23:54

Okay. That's great. But you even go further because I've heard you talk about the fact that every person is a salesperson in their own life.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Yes, everyone is a salesperson. So the day you stop selling is actually the day you stop living.

SPEAKER_04 24:08

Okay, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Everyone sells. The babies sell when they tell their parents, when they cry and tell their parents that they want food. Yeah. That date you go for that lady, that guy, you sold yourself to that person. In fact, the discount you got at that shop or at that place was sales. Yeah. The job, any job you actually get, you sold yourself to get that job. And you how you are into business. So I'm sure you have realized that it's not necessarily people that do exceptionally well in televiews that are always the best.

SPEAKER_04 24:39

Yeah. It's the because they're able to those who sell themselves well may not be the ones who perform the best. Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

So that means that selling always makes you win. It may not make you last, but it will make you win. So that is actually so everybody sells. Let me let true story. So I have an amazing son, um, Aiden. And Aiden is about 18 months, so he can't necessarily talk or tell me exactly what he wants to have.

SPEAKER_06 25:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

So Aiden will be at the um at the hall screaming, realize that okay, maybe he wants to eat something. So because he can talk, he'd rather do something like um. Then I know it is food. He has sold an idea to me. I like it. And he has made me understand that to make me keep quiet, you better give me that food. Yeah. But I don't know what he wants to eat. And he's very, he's a little of a picky eater. So what I do is that I carry Aiden and I take him to the kitchen.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Whatever he I open the fridge, and then whatever he points, whatever he points, that I know that that is what he wants. Sometimes he'll taste that thing, look at my face, and scream again. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Or choose something until sometimes you just realize that this is exactly what he wanted to eat at this time. I give it to him, he finished, uh, he's done eating, he relaxes, he plays in his mind his business. He had to sell me that idea so that I can also have my peace of mind.

SPEAKER_04 25:52

You know, I think a group of people too who are salespeople but they don't know it, uh, especially leaders. Yeah. Do you get me? I think it's Brian Tracy, who I read, who was talking about the fact that, like a leader, a CEO, a board chairman, whatever it is, your first job is to sell your dream to your followers. Because if you are going to get people to join you in achieving something big, they must believe in your dream. So you have to sell it. Yeah. And then if you need funding for it, then you need to sell it to the investors.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Exactly. You're always selling.

SPEAKER_04 26:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Let me um add an interesting statistics. A Harvard research report established that 85% of career growth, yeah, it actually happens because of soft skills. And 15% is technical. Soft skills like influence, persuasion, empathy, and communication. That's one research.

SPEAKER_06 26:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Also, in Daniel Pink's book, right, To Sell as Human, he established that every career path or everyone who works, they always spend about 40% of their time in non-sales selling. That's they are selling a vision to someone, they are selling to an investor, they are selling to the person to come in early. Yeah. You are always selling. So that takes me to the four domains of selling, which I call the clap. Let me know this. The first one is your career.

SPEAKER_06 27:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

In your career, you are always selling your competence and your ability to deliver on the job.

SPEAKER_06 27:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Right. L represents leadership. As a leader, you are always selling your vision and your conviction. Okay. People that are following you, they are following you because they they believe in the vision and you were able to sell the vision to them. Yeah. A represents all relationships. Okay. All relationships. You are selling your character, you are selling the fact that maybe you are reliable, you can give value to the relationship. Because at the end of the day, a relationship is not where you get value from, it's where you can give value to. And then the last P is the personal brand. You are selling your story and you are selling your product and you are selling who you are. So everybody sells with a clap model.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

Interesting. Yeah. I just wish the L had been R so it had been crap model, but that's interesting. Let's let's talk about as you brought it up. Let's talk about personal brand. Yeah. You know, um, I personally feel the world has moved away from us needing to sell the corporate brand to selling the personal brand. Yeah. I think I don't know if it's over commercialization or whatever it is, but now people trust people more than they trust corporate bodies. But I think a lot of people haven't come to catch on to this yet. So many people don't understand that now they want to know you. They want to understand how do you think people can sell a personal brand effectively.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Okay. Even as we go into personal brands, so there are three types of brand. Okay. There's a product brand, there's a product, there's a corporate brand, there's a product brand, and then there's a personal brand. Okay. So a corporate brand is like, let's say, Coca-Cola. That's an entire corporation. But Coca-Cola has different brands. They have Sprite, they have Fanta, they have Coke. Each of them have their own target audience. Each of them have um their open brand and everything. That's a product brand. And then let's say the CEO of Coca-Cola will be the personal brand. Okay. Now the world has moved from corporate brands to personal brand.

SPEAKER_05 29:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

But if you want to see this in reality, check most organizations, their engagements across socials, and check the owner of the organization, their engagements across socials. That's if you've been active. Look at Elon Musk, look at all his companies, compare it with his own following. Look at Bill Gates, everything. Even you as a person, Richie. Like people follow you because they love that person, even though they love your the different brands that you have as well. The greatest commercial ad you put on a billboard can never measure with what my brother told me about your brand. So you'd hear many people say that I went to this bank and they did this to me or this happened and they delayed me. I'll believe that person more than the corporate brand. Because we believe that a corporate brand is trying to give a perspective they believe they want to communicate. But for personal brands or for individuals, we believe that they are real. People want to connect. So this is where the internet comes in. People want to connect. But how do I connect to just a logo? How do I connect? We want a human being. Even if it's just a corporate brand, it must have a human feel and touch to it. Okay. One of the brands I love their banter on social media is Ryan in Europe. So they are one of the, in fact, they're the cheapest brands. You can fly from London to Germany for 19 pounds.

SPEAKER_04 30:43

Really? Yeah. No.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Every day. Right. And they have this banter on social media. They are not trying to be premium. They create content like you paid 19 pounds and you expect water. They don't give you nothing. Right. They don't give you nothing. And so they expect people to think it's shitty. Right. So if something good happens, like there's a video of the airline landing so smoothly, then they said this pilot must be fired.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

You know, like if people can be paid 19 pounds and then you are giving them extra sheets, good landing. So it gives you a personal feel. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

A personal feel. It's not like a corporate, corporate thing like that. Yeah. So most organizations to have that feel of um persona. If they can have people in the organization, like some a couple of brands I uh manage in Ghana, for example. One of the things we've done is that periodically we go there, take different videos of individuals. We want to know who's the customer service, what's her name, who does she, what does she like? You know, yeah, these kinds of things make people feel personal. Oh, this is the marketing manager of this brand. Oh, that is basically what people are looking at now. It makes them trust them much more better than staying behind a corporate brand to communicate everything.

SPEAKER_04 31:58

Interesting. So now that means when we talk about personal brand for companies, it goes beyond even just the CEO or the bus. You need to build an entire team.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Yeah, everyone should be involved. Yeah. Then I'll see my friend in there. Oh, my friend works in there. All of a sudden, I connect with that brand as well.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

But some also feel like, you know, especially with the Ghana mindset, some feel like when they can put a face to it, then people will shy away from it. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_01 32:26

I wonder why people will shy away from it when people are looking to connect. We are beings of connection. We love to connect. We that's why we love communities. If someone likes something or someone is aligned with my pain, I feel attracted to that person. I want to be. We love communities. That's how human beings are.

SPEAKER_06 32:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

We are human, we are beings of connections. And we align with people that have the same values, that have been through the same process, people that we can, you know, connect with. So putting people in there from your organization, that is, when if it's allowed, it helps people identify. Okay, so the marketing manager is also a lady. If I'm someone into women's empowerment, that is what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_05 33:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

So I don't believe that um it makes people shy away or customers shy away from it. I personally don't believe that.

SPEAKER_04 33:13

Okay, okay. So now let's talk about. You've worked over a decade for 30 plus countries. Like, how are you able to work in different environments? You know, one thing about whether sales, markets, and all of these kind of things is there's a mindset, yeah. There's a way an industry works, there's a way like a demographic is so most people aren't able to be successful in different demographics. How are we able to do that in 30 different countries?

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Okay. So anytime I have an opportunity to train a group of people in any country at all, one thing I do is I do diagnosis. Okay, I get the leader or a group of people from that organization or from that country, and I engage them in a casual, professional and casual conversation just to understand how do they think, how do they work, um, what's the culture of this place like. Let me give you an example. If you're working with people from the Gulf, like Saudis, they value relationship better than the business. If you mess up the relationship, I don't care how much value you bring to me, I don't want to work with you. If you have a good relationship, they will bring you a lot of business. If you're working with, for example, Germans, it's data.

SPEAKER_06 34:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Bring the data, bring the spreadsheets, bring all of that. Right. For example, people like um Chinese. If, for example, you don't you don't smoke, you don't drink alcohol, and you work into a meeting with Chinese people, and then they offer you um they offer you not necessarily to drink, you just have to accept it. If you want to put it on the table, that's fine. If you don't accept it, it means that you can do business.

SPEAKER_06 34:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

So I had to learn all of these things by engaging with people from that context to understand their culture. And when you understand their culture, you know exactly how to work with them. You understand their challenges. You can't train someone without understanding their challenge.

SPEAKER_05 35:12

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

You can't solve a problem without understanding them. You don't understand. So I always do a diagnosis, and based on that diagnosis, I create a tailored, customized training or facilitation session for those groups of people. And it also helps me learn that wow, this is how these people actually work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:31

But my question, my follow-up question on that is if the problems change, yeah, do the principles to solving it change as well?

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Um, do you mean by if the problems?

SPEAKER_04 35:43

Yeah, so let's say the different cultures that you've encountered, yeah. You need to draw up a sales plan for each of them. The principle, does it change, or is it the same principle just applied in different ways?

SPEAKER_01 35:55

I believe it's the same principle. Okay. It's the same principle that is created based on the context of the situation. It's always the same principle.

SPEAKER_04 36:03

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:04

That's that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Yeah. For example, one principle is called um reciprocity.

SPEAKER_06 36:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

This uh Cialdini's uh Robert Cialdini's, I think, is uh six, five or six um persuasion techniques. Anytime someone does something for you, with or without strings attached, anytime someone does something for you, your mental psychology positions you to want to do something for the person. That is how it's true. So I always tell people position yourself in a way, be a giver. That's why I said networking is you or building relationships, it's about you being able to give value to relationships, not because you are doing it to get something back later, but once you do that, it always most of the greatest opportunities I've had all of life is because people I gave value to for free or supported, yeah, they recommended me in certain rooms. Invisible PR. Invisible PR.

SPEAKER_05 37:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

And that's how it happens. I can give a practical story. I think it's in one of my books. So um from 2017, 2018, 2019, I was an ambassador of an organization in Morocco called Hab Africa. Each year we do um a competition in Ghana, and the top three entrepreneurs that win, we fly them to Morocco, fully funded, everything, and then uh they go for another competition. If they win, I think they it was like$150,000 or something like that. How did this come to my table? Was I qualified? What happened? This goes back to 2015. I went for an event and I met this lady there. We talked casually. She was not even doing anything in this area, but I took her contact and I kept in touch. I gave her value one way or the other. And then a year later, she said, Oh, I've moved back from Ghana. Um, I'm in France right now, and I have these people, they're an NGO, they want to do something in Ghana. Is there anything that we can do? I was like, Um, I don't know, but let's see. So I planned my tour during that period. So because I was working corporate at that time, I usually plan like a month leave and I fly to do trainings and stuff like that. So that time I think I had something in the Netherlands, Poland, and then after that, I flew to France. They had they kept me for, they hosted me for about three days, and then we built great relationships. After that, nothing happened. But the relationship kept going. I kept reaching out to them, we talk, give value how if they need anything in Ghana, I'm available. Yeah, we have a friend coming to Ghana. Can you pick the person from the airport? I'll go pick the person from the airport. I kept the relationship going. And then somewhere in 2018 or 2019, they reached out. There's a Morocco event coming, they need um a partner in Ghana, uh, but they don't have funds for the person to organize the event. The other country started doing it one year ago, but you have only two weeks to organize an event, get entrepreneurs, get people to pitch and everything, and it's going to be all your own funds. You're not going to get anything from it. I was like, if it will benefit Ghanaians, why not? I organized an event in two weeks. When the ambassador, when the president came from Morocco to Ghana, he was shocked because people had one year and even couldn't do this. I put in the work. And after that, we um got three entrepreneurs, and then immediately I pushed my portfolio to him. I'm a sales trainer. This he was like, wow, let's have you in Morocco too.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

Opportunity, right? Met preparation. I already had everything prepared. And this was one of the biggest as of that time for me because these were top CEOs from Morocco and of a um a group of people like maybe three thousands of people, three thousand people, and I was the official sales trainer for all the entrepreneurs from all the different countries, and then the entire masterclass.

SPEAKER_04 39:39

This is how things work because you are given value over time without expecting anything.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

Just keep giving value.

SPEAKER_04 39:46

So then that does that mean that that also becomes a sales tactics? It is where the aim for everybody who's trying to sell, either themselves or the product or whatever it is, is to continuously give value.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

Continuously give value. Most people go to go and try to take money. I even if the client will not work with me, I ask myself, what can I do to give this client value? Yeah, can I connect them to someone and do they can do business together? What can I do? And that is why I always keep in touch with people because anytime an opportunity comes that I can't take advantage of. For example, if you go to my Instagram and my LinkedIn, I'm always posting training opportunities in New York, training opportunities in Dubai. I said now I have a training opportunity in Nigeria. The opportunities come to my table. I can sit on it and try to do everything on my own, or if I can't do it, I just tell the people no, I don't want to give it to anyone. But I just put it out there. Anybody that's interested, I take them through how I expect them to do because they're going to represent me.

SPEAKER_05 40:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

And then I give the opportunities out. And then all of a sudden, they are feel super appreciated. Because, for example, one person did something in is this San Diego about three months ago. Few days, she got some cool$2,000. So after that, they feel like, okay, there's something that possibly we can also do to help the gentleman. Yeah. Reciprocity. Reciprocity. Give value. Just keep give value to everyone, whether through your content, whether through, for example, you are giving so much value right now.

SPEAKER_04 41:11

You are owe me, you hear? Yeah. So much value.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

So if, for example, you are listening to this, I expect you to share this link right away to someone and let them benefit from it because this is free value. You would have paid a lot of money for this.

SPEAKER_04 41:22

And the person who's also sharing the link is also giving value to the next guy. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

So keep giving value because of you, someone's business or someone's life is going to be better. That person will remember you because it's through that video that something happened for me.

SPEAKER_04 41:34

One day they'll be standing on some platform saying the video could just send me to my business from 10,000, 100,000 in the month. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:43

Keep giving value every day, every time.

SPEAKER_04 41:46

Let's go back to the principles right now. This one is selfish because I want to learn sales from you and go and use it.

SPEAKER_00 41:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 41:53

Can you give me, let's say, five core principles that I can use to turn my business sales around? Okay. Let me take my pen and paper.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

All right. Number one. Should we look at the I'm wondering if we should look at the principles of sales itself or persuasion. So that persuasion actually cuts across everything.

SPEAKER_04 42:13

Let's look at persuasion. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

So let's look at Robert Cialdini's classics, right? He has six. The first one is reciprocity, which I just mentioned. Always give value. People will find a way to bring the value back to you.

SPEAKER_04 42:26

I hope you guys can read this in case I'm not spelling it correctly.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

The second one is commitment.

SPEAKER_04 42:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:32

Don't always try to get it big. Richie, if I make you commit to tasting this water, just tasting, you have committed to tasting it. Right? You have committed to tasting it. And that commitment tells your psychology that I have agreed to always taste it. So the next time, if I want you to drink it, you will easily commit to it. So let people always commit to small things.

SPEAKER_04 42:59

That's why you see to be doing samples and samples. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Immediately someone takes a sample, the person likes it. The person's psychology has accepted that this is something I want again. That's why I love these Nigerian soya people. If you come, you just taste it. Yeah. And then you have accepted that this is what I want to have.

SPEAKER_04 43:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

So that's the second principle, commitment. Don't always focus on big deals. There's a client, there's an organization I work with. Um, when we started, they wanted me to pay, they wanted to pay me something, it wasn't that much. I accepted it. Now they have committed to work with me. Yeah. And then in the contract, I made them understand that this will last for only three to six months. After that, you'd pay these rates. I just had to wait. Because they had committed, yeah, it makes sense to keep committing to the same thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 43:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

The third the third principle, which most people know but don't realize the power of is social proof.

SPEAKER_04 43:53

Okay. Testimonials.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

Yeah, social proof. Nobody wants to be a lab rat. Especially with their money. I don't know whether to work with you or not. In fact, it's more common in Europe and in the Western world than here. Nobody buys anything without checking trust pilot or Google Reviews. And that wave is coming to Africa, but most people are not taking it serious. So most organizations don't even have trust pilot, don't have Google reviews, or if they are setting Google reviews there, they don't care because our customers keep coming in. But all those businesses, I want you to take note. Anyone from the diaspora who come to Ghana, who purchase from you or buy from you or work with you is not going to be because of just your page. They will check your reviews.

SPEAKER_05 44:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

They will always check it. So social proof is very big. Um let your customers. One of the things that we often do, uh, London Lily training, is once we have a training with someone, before the person leaves, we have a QR code. Can you just give us a review and give it to us now? But before that, you have to also prime the person. This is something I won't talk about. But you have to prime people. We realized that people had great exceptional um experiences, let's say on a scale of let's say one to five. But if you don't prime them, they'll give you a four and they'll write a nice review.

SPEAKER_06 45:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

But then we ask them, I hope this service we gave you, you loved it, and they give us good recommendation and say you definitely make it a five, right? Like you definitely believe out of one to ten, one to five is a five, right? And they'll say yes. When they go back and they're doing it, they choose a five. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:29

Because they've accepted that, they've accepted it.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

Yeah, you can prime people before that as well. Yeah. So that's the third one. That is uh social proof. The fourth one is authority.

SPEAKER_06 45:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

Authority and credibility. Your credentials, your experience, your confidence, credibility, authority. Your credentials, that is why most people, their their credentials and their experience, they always put it out. But most people have a culture to hide. Listen, stop hiding your crown. True. It is not humility, it's low self-esteem. There's nothing wrong to blow your trumpet. Nobody will blow your trumpet for you.

SPEAKER_04 46:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

Nobody will blow your trumpet for you.

SPEAKER_04 46:16

This one there is like you've shaded me, because I don't like blowing my trumpets. I feel pierced.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

Like, let people know what you have done.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

Like, let if no one will give your flowers, give yourself your flowers because you did it through blood, you did it through sweat, you did it through pain, you did it through tears. So if nobody will see give me my flowers and my accolades, I'll remind myself every single day of what I have achieved, how far I have come. And for example, you have created global artists.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Like you're not somebody to be joked with. It's a gift.

SPEAKER_04 46:53

You're not someone to be joked with. Do you know who I am?

SPEAKER_00 46:56

Yeah, that's the question.

SPEAKER_01 46:57

So one of the things I always tell people is wake up every day and repeat yourself, I'm a big deal and I matter.

SPEAKER_03 47:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 47:03

That's that's what I always tell people. Yeah. So your authority and your credibility, once people, you know, your association, association and all that, it also forms part of your authority.

SPEAKER_04 47:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 47:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:14

Is there a fifth one coming?

SPEAKER_01 47:16

Yes, there is.

SPEAKER_04 47:17

Oh, I love it. You guys think you're watching masterminds, but I'm here getting a master class.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

Okay. I want to talk next about liking people. Okay. When there's a similarity between you and someone, when you like someone, when there's something, when someone is warm, when someone is confident, when someone is sincere, okay. It easily makes the person So like a likability. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 47:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 47:44

To make people like you. When people like you, they just come towards you and they put down their defenses. Everyone has defenses.

SPEAKER_04 47:53

Yeah. Our walls are always up.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Our walls are always up. When people like you, they bring down your defenses. Okay. All the time. So be warm, be nice, be lovely, smile. You'd go to a restaurant, you go to a hotel, and then a receptionist. Hello, hi.

SPEAKER_04 48:10

Yeah. Instantly, I enjoy the hotel. But when you go and one of my favorite places in Ghana, one of my favorite hotels in Ghana, it's got nothing to do with how nice the place is, or it's just that everybody was nice to me. Everybody. From the receptionist to the cleaner to the waiter, everybody was so nice that whenever I think about an enjoyable experience is the first thing that's the same.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Yeah. So that likability. Like when people just like you, and there's a way to make people like you. Okay. It goes straight to giving value.

SPEAKER_06 48:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 48:50

It goes straight to a research was done. I've forgotten exactly where I saw that. But waiters, right, were giving tips. Now, before they gave the tips, they gave the people mint.

SPEAKER_06 49:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 49:06

Or a toffee or something. That goes back to the reciprocity. Yeah. So reciprocity, it made the people like them, and their tips increased between 30 to 80%. Interesting. Like ability.

SPEAKER_04 49:20

You know, even let's even put aside mint. If I go to a uh restaurant, yeah, and the waiter helps recommend food for me, and I enjoyed the food, I feel indebted to the waiter.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

Reciprocity. Yeah. I didn't even make the food. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:35

But just because maybe I was going to have the fried chicken, and they're like, try the grilled chicken, it's really nice. Yeah. And actually it is nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

You just feel like I have to do something for this person. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Like the last one is scarcity.

SPEAKER_06 49:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

People adore things that are scarce. Okay. When something is too available, it's not respected. So, for example, if you go to Amazon or some of these platforms, they'll say the product has three remaining. Scarcity. Right.

SPEAKER_04 50:10

Or when in laptop, like they mean 3,000. Maybe you have 3,000. Right.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

Someone may be doing an event, a conference. It's only for 10 people.

SPEAKER_05 50:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

Scarcity. Anything that is scarce. I mean, you want to buy, let's say, a Rolex. You go there, you are interested, they'll tell you that uh you have to add yourself to a list.

SPEAKER_05 50:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:31

Scarcity. So scarcity, scarcity can be about a product, it can be about the brand, or it can be about a person. Okay. But when your presence is scarce, it is cherished much more. When you are everywhere at every time, too available, assets will be abused.

SPEAKER_04 50:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:52

So I have reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, likability, and scarcity.

SPEAKER_01 51:02

Yes. Before we even end our on this topic of persuasion, people mistake persuasion with manipulation. Persuasion is the same as manipulation. Manipulation changes what people do.

SPEAKER_06 51:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 51:17

Persuasion changes what people believe. Interesting. And if you're able to change what people believe, it will automatically change what it is. But manipulation strictly wants to just change what people do. Yeah. Without changing them.

SPEAKER_04 51:29

So persuasion is, you know, good. Manipulation?

SPEAKER_05 51:32

Yeah. Yeah.

unknown 51:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:34

Interesting. Hey guys, I'm about to become a sales guru. You will hear of me in this town. So when I'll be giving sales talks everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 51:43

But you've done so much sales. You are actually a sales guru.

SPEAKER_04 51:45

I am, man.

SPEAKER_00 51:46

Yes. All the artists you have sold to the world. I've started giving myself the flowers, though.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

Yeah. I'm a big man of global brand for yourself for a lot of artists out there. You are a global brand. I mean, you can even do a master class.

SPEAKER_04 52:02

Masterclass on sales, which you mentor. Okay. So now that you've left us, yes. You've left us Ghanaians. You've left us. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 52:13

I still have business here. Yeah. I still have business here.

SPEAKER_04 52:17

How can you help the Ghanaian or the African scene to become more adept when it comes to sales? I say this because I see a lot of businesses not understand that the one most important skill any business can have is sales. You know, I see people invest in setup. Yeah. They invest in the products, they invest in everything, and then they sit there and wait. Wait. But they don't understand if they just put a little effort into sales. How do we get, and I think it's not a Ghanaian culture. Yeah. Yeah. Except when you go to Macola and stuff. When you go to Makula, they understand sales, but how do we get every Ghanaian business owner or even just the employee, everybody to understand the importance of sales?

SPEAKER_01 53:07

I think the first thing I would say is that closed mouths never get fed. And sales is the bloodline of the organization. Sales is what brings in the money for us to do everything. So I'll tell every employee is not this is not for salespeople. Everyone, as long as you work in an organization, you are a salesperson in that organization. You may be in finance, you may be in HR. Tell your family about the business, tell your friends, tell your husband, tell people about it. So sales shouldn't be a role, sales should be a culture.

SPEAKER_04 53:36

I like that. Sales should be a culture.

SPEAKER_01 53:39

It's a culture. We all sell. One way or other, we all sell. Apart from that, like I started my career, I didn't go through any training. I had to develop myself.

SPEAKER_04 53:50

From the zero percent to the zero percent.

SPEAKER_01 53:52

Yes. Richie, I was getting depressed. When they pay me each month, I didn't even feel guilty. I feel very guilty.

SPEAKER_04 53:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:59

But you know, there's not everyone that feels feels like that.

SPEAKER_04 54:01

Some people are very cool.

SPEAKER_01 54:02

Yeah, some very cool. I had a sales, uh, a group of people, they were far from their job, so I don't I decided to take them to my organization so that at least give them a source of living, at least do some sales. And for over two or three months, they have not brought in any sales. The gentleman told the lady, oh, how the lady was working hard. Ah, and now how hosa.

SPEAKER_04 54:21

Wow. I think certain people are not a result of it.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

No, no, most people are not. Yeah, so they don't mind, they are just fine exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just cruising each month.

SPEAKER_01 54:33

I just I'll just take my salary and just continue. If nothing happens, it's fine. But that's that's the business's revenue that is just going. So if you are in sales, or even if you're not in sales, everyone is in sales. So develop yourself. It's the single most important skill that will transform your life. Single most influence, like ability. Let me give let me let me true story. Um, last year, oh, just about six, eight months ago, we hosted people from the parliament in Saudi Arabia and London. And I was basically their trainer. Amongst them was one of their royal princes. It was an honor for me, a big privilege. And I went through my pitch, everything on digital transformation and everything to help basically businesses in Saudi. After they were just mesmerized, not just by my experience, about how I related with them and all that, and I gave them a signed copy of the book. Okay, it's all sales, you have to sell yourself. Yeah, they sent me a message. They sent me a message anytime you ever decide to come to Saudi Arabia, just give us a parliament, we'll take you to the parliaments, there's a place, we'll take care of everything. It was not automatic. I had to sell myself and then make them realize that I'm ready to give value.

SPEAKER_04 55:52

What's the expression? Closed mouths don't eat. Yeah, they don't get fed.

SPEAKER_01 55:54

Yeah, closed mouths don't get fed. Yeah, closed mouths don't get fed. So develop yourself. Like, get this book, like 12 sales. You can get it on Amazon. If you are in Ghana, most of the Total Energy shops have it, and my team also has it. Like, just get it and read it. Because the truth is that when I'm writing books, I don't write it for people, I write it for myself. That's the best way to write. Yeah, but I'm trying to document something I can always get back to. Yeah. But I don't want to keep it on a drive and all that. So I just put it in the book and I also make it available for people to enjoy that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:25

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 56:26

And lastly, organizations should also invest in training for their staff.

SPEAKER_04 56:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 56:31

I was failing three months in my role because they just assumed I should know what to do. But the truth is, people don't know what to do. True. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:38

A lot of people are confused and they're just looking for someone to show them.

SPEAKER_01 56:42

They want help, they need a coach, they need support. Yeah. So like invest in sales training. Reach out to my office, reach out to me, or get a sales trainer close to you. Like invest in someone who doesn't just talk about it but has done it at the highest level. Yeah. And pay the person good money.

SPEAKER_04 57:01

Interesting. Yeah. Please, all my employees, he's coming to training. He's offering value to me. I'm taking the value by force. But honestly, Daniel, you have an amazing mind. You know, and a lot of people come sit here and we have a good conversation. But sometimes I'm worried when there's no practical takeaway for the person watching. What I enjoy about this conversation is not only do you know what you're about, you know how to articulate it for the person watching to be able to take something. And for me who's taking my notes right now, who's about to become a sales guru in all departments, I do want to say a very big thank you. But before I let you go, you have to do one thing for me.

SPEAKER_02 57:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 57:43

That's your camera right there. Yes. Look into the eyes of the person who's watching you. What mindset shifts can you drop that will help them become a great salesperson in their life?

SPEAKER_01 57:55

So, for that one person that is listening to me, I have talked a lot about sales, you have read about it, and I know you're going to develop yourself to become a great person in sales. But listen to this you have to implement every single thing. I wrote that in my book actually, in the beginning. I wrote that if you're not ready to implement it, don't read this book, you're wasting your time. So everything you have learned, put it to practice, see what works for you and what doesn't work for your industry. Because information without implementation is just expensive entertainment. So go out there and execute. And don't forget that life is pain and the path to progress is pain. So if you're going through that pain right now, just know you're progressing. See you at the top.

SPEAKER_04 58:43

I love that. That's my new mantra. The path to progress is pain. PPP.

SPEAKER_07 58:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:52

Daniel, thank you. Thank you again so much. I've really enjoyed this conversation. And I do hope that more people are going to reach out to you for you to share this knowledge and make people better in their businesses and be able to sell even in their love lives. Because I know some of you people, you need sales in your love lives. I've seen you try and it's not working. So thank you so much. And I hope by watching this, you've become you've come one step closer to being the mastermind that you deserve to be. Thank you for watching this episode. Now, the mastermind's dream is about building a community of people who have the right mindset and are ready to take their success into their own hands. So do me this wonderful favor. Subscribe and share with anybody out there who you believe you want to see have the right mindset to succeed so that together we can all become the masterminds we deserve to be.