Ferdinand M. Ibezim

We are at Fidelity Bank PLC from today, August 24, through August 28, for another cohort of our flagship Mastering the Act of Selling Programme.

This time, we have 60 vibrant, energetic and bright minds being groomed to contribute meaningfully to the next level of this great bank.

Five days of learning, practice, conversations and, hopefully, a few uncomfortable questions about how selling should really be done.

Let the learning begin.

Ferdinand M. Ibezim
Sales Excellence |Value Creation |Market Leadership.

Before You Ask for Referrals

Many years ago, I met a gentleman who was very well connected.

As a young salesman, I did not waste time to ask him for referrals. Why should I? I had targets to meet and here was a man who appeared to know everybody worth knowing.

After a little conversation, I went for the jugular.

“Sir, perhaps you could introduce me to some people who may need our services. I am a great sales consultant."

He smiled and politely moved the conversation elsewhere.

I left without one introduction.

At the time, I probably thought the man was not helpful. With the benefit of experience, however, I now know that I was the problem.

I was asking him to give me access to relationships he had spent years building when I had given him absolutely no reason to trust me with them.

When someone refers you, they are not merely giving you a name or telephone number. They are lending you something far more valuable. They are staking their reputation.

If you mess up, your referrer may be the one receiving the phone call:

“Ferdinand, na you introduce this your person to me o!” 😂

So, before you ask for referrals, do some work.

Understand the person. Understand their business and network. Find the areas of mutual interest. Demonstrate competence. Create value. Build trust.

Don't be in a hurry to harvest where you have not planted.

Sometimes, the best referral is the one you don't even have to ask for. The person simply brings it on.

“Ferdinand, there is someone I think you should meet.”

You have earned it.

As you begin another sales week, before asking anyone to open their network to you, ask yourself one question.

Have I earned the right to be introduced?

Have a rewarding week.

Ferdinand M. Ibezim
Sales Excellence |Value Creation |Market Leadership.

FIND OUT WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE

I was listening to the audio version of the Bible as I was doing my 60 minutes walk before getting ready for Church, when I heard:

“Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:10.

I should do what?

Find out what is acceptable.

Growing up, we somehow understood this thing.

You didn't enter every home and behave the same way.

There were homes where you could walk in and shout your friend's name from the sitting room.

Try it in another home and you might discover that your friend was not the only person being raised in that house. 😆

You observed. You adjusted.

Unfortunately, these days we are very quick to say:

"But I didn't do anything wrong."

Maybe.

But is that the only question?

What is acceptable in this environment?

What is acceptable in this relationship?

What is acceptable in this culture?

What is acceptable in this organisation?

I don't think adjusting to the expectations of an environment necessarily means pretending to be who you are not.

Sometimes, it is simply respect.

Paul didn't say, "Decide what should be acceptable."

He said, find out.

There is wisdom in that.

Before we insist on "This is just how I am," perhaps we should occasionally find out how things are done where we have found ourselves.

It may save us plenty explanation later. 😆

Happy Sunday, my people.

Ferdinand M. Ibezim
Sales Excellence |Value Creation |Market Leadership.

ANOTHER SET OF FUTURE LEADERS TAKES FLIGHT

Cohort 21 of the UBA Graduate Management Accelerated Programme (GMAP) has graduated! 👏🏾

After months of rigorous classroom learning, practical exposure and development, these young professionals are stepping into the next phase of their careers.

I was privileged to contribute to their journey by facilitating sessions on Marketing, Sales, Networking and Relationship Management.

I must commend the leadership and management of UBA Group for continuing to invest deliberately in building its leadership pipeline. Institutions that consistently develop people are also investing in their own future.

Special commendation also goes to The UBA Academy for the work that goes into developing and preparing these young professionals for the responsibilities ahead.

To the graduands, congratulations! 🎓

As you begin this new chapter, four things I would encourage you to remember:

1. Never stop learning.
Graduation is not the end of learning. In many ways, na now school start. 😆

2. Build relationships before you need them.
Your competence may open doors, but strong relationships will help you navigate many of the rooms you enter.

3. Protect your reputation.
Be known for competence, integrity, reliability and professionalism. Your name will often arrive before you do.

4. Focus on creating value.
Don't become obsessed with titles and promotions. Solve problems, deliver results and make yourself useful. Growth has a way of following value.

Congratulations once again to UBA GMAP Cohort 21.

The certificate is important.

What you do with the opportunity it represents is even more important.

Go and make us proud! 👏🏾🎓

Ferdinand M. Ibezim
Sales Excellence |Value Creation |Market Leadership.

HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT THE HOW?

Most salespeople know their revenue goals.

They know their annual sales target.

Some even know the figure so well that it follows them into their dreams. 😆

And as they year draws closer to the end, everyone is reminding them of the figures when they wake up.

Don’t go back to bed. Don't cast and bind. Don't call it forth.

Ask for insight.

Have you figured out the HOW?

A target is a destination. It is not a road map.

If your target is ₦920 million for the year, saying “I will work hard” is not a sales plan.

Break it down.

What does that mean monthly?
What must happen weekly?
What must you do every single day?

How many new prospects must enter your pipeline?

How many calls, meetings and presentations do you need?

How many proposals must go out?

How many existing customers must you deepen?

How many referrals should you ask for?

What conversion rate do you need?

And very importantly, where exactly will the business come from?

Many salespeople spend too much time staring at the target and too little time designing the activities that will produce it.

₦920 million can look frightening.

But when translated into customers, opportunities, conversations, meetings, proposals and daily actions, it begins to look like work that can actually be done.

Your target tells you WHERE you are going.

Your sales plan should tell you HOW you will get there.

So, as we gradually approach the final quarter of the year, please allow:

“How much more do I need to sell?” to rest small.

Kneel down and invoke:

“Have I figured out exactly how I am going to sell it?”

Hope is good. But understanding is more profitable.

How?

Ferdinand M. Ibezim
Sales Excellence |Value Creation |Market Leadership.

WHAT DO YOU ALREADY HAVE THAT CAN HELP YOU HIT YOUR SALES TARGET?

We are approaching the last quarter of the year.

And somewhere, a salesperson is already preparing the annual defence.

“The economy was difficult.”

“Customers were not buying.”

“Competition was intense.”

“Dollar was misbehaving.”

“My village people…”

😂😂😂

Before you start preparing your own defence, let me share a question I ask participants during sales planning:

What could facilitate the achievement of your sales target?

In simple English:

What do you already have going for you that you can deliberately exploit?

Salespeople are usually very good at identifying what is working against them.

Ask, “What could stop you from meeting your target?”

My brother, you may need extra flipcharts.

But ask, “What do you have going for you?”

Silence.

Yet, there is almost always something.

You may be good-looking.

Yes, I said it. 😆

If God invested substantially in the packaging, don't waste the investment. Just remember that good looks may open the door; competence must keep you inside.

You may communicate well.

You may be naturally likeable.

You may live among plenty prospects.

You may worship in a church with 5,000 members.

You may belong to a club, alumni group, professional association or WhatsApp community filled with prospects.

You may have thousands of LinkedIn connections you have never meaningfully engaged.

Your old classmates may now be CEOs and business owners.

Even your spouse may know somebody who knows somebody.

And please don't underestimate somebody who knows somebody. Nigeria runs significantly on somebody knowing somebody. 😂

Now look at your company.

Strong brand? Good reputation? Excellent service? Technology? Existing customers? Successful projects? Customers who can refer you? Executives who can open doors?

Look at your offering.

Does it save money? Make money? Reduce risk? Save time? Offer convenience? Is your price competitive? Is your quality better?

Those are sales assets.

Then look at your environment.

Are new businesses springing up?

Are regulations creating new needs?

Is technology opening new markets?

Are demographic changes creating opportunities?

Has a competitor disappointed customers?

Sometimes what we call a difficult environment contains opportunities hiding inside the difficulty.

So, as we approach the final quarter, don't only ask:

“What could prevent me from meeting my target?”

Ask:

“What do I have going for me?”

Then ask the more important question:

“How can I deliberately convert these advantages into sales activity?”

Because attending a church with 5,000 people is not a sales strategy.

Having 4,000 LinkedIn connections is not a sales strategy.

Knowing wealthy people is not a sales strategy.

An advantage only becomes commercially useful when you deliberately leverage it.

The year is not over.

Ferdinand M. Ibezim
Sales Excellence |Value Creation |Market Leadership.

WITHOUT FUEL, YOU WILL PUSH

I don't know if this still happens these days, but growing up, pushing a car was almost part of the driving experience. 😆

Sometimes the car refused to start.

Sometimes the battery needs a strike on the head.

And sometimes, somebody simply forgot that a car does not run on faith.

Fuel finished.

That was when everybody inside the car suddenly became useful.

"Oya, come down. Let's push."

Even the person who had been enjoying the front seat like a Commissioner had to come down and contribute his quota. 😂

The interesting thing was that there might be absolutely nothing wrong with the car.

Engine okay.

Battery okay.

Tyres okay.

Driver ready.

But without fuel, nobody was going anywhere.

I was thinking about this recently and it occurred to me that this is exactly what happens to many salespeople.

We spend a lot of time improving the vehicle.

Product knowledge.

Presentation skills.

Negotiation.

Objection handling.

Closing techniques.

CRM.

Certifications.

All very important.

But where is the fuel?

For a salesperson, the fuel is a healthy flow of qualified opportunities.

And that fuel does not manufacture itself.

You have to prospect.

You have to network.

You have to ask for referrals.

You have to develop relationships.

You have to explore ecosystems.

You have to keep starting new conversations.

Otherwise, one day you will arrive at work with all your selling skills intact and discover that there is nobody meaningful to sell to.

That is when pushing starts. 😆

You begin calling that prospect who told you three months ago that they were not ready.

"Good morning, Sir. Just checking in..."

Two days later:

"Sir, trust your week is going well..."

By Friday:

"Happy weekend in advance, Sir." 😂

The problem may not be follow-up.

Fuel don finish.

And it is not only salespeople.

Businesses need fuel.

A business can have a beautiful office, great products and brilliant people, but if new customers and opportunities stop coming, sooner or later, it will push.

Careers need fuel too.

Learning. Relationships. Visibility. Relevance. New capabilities.

Even relationships need fuel.

You cannot ignore somebody for four years and suddenly appear:

"My brother, long time! How is the family?"

The experienced person already knows that paragraph two is bringing a request. 😆

Everything that must keep moving needs fuel.

Perhaps our mistake is that we spend so much time maintaining the machine that we forget to check the tank.

So, especially if you are in sales, take a look at your pipeline today.

Not the names of everybody you have ever spoken to.

I mean qualified opportunities that are actually moving.

If you closed or lost everything currently in your pipeline today, what would you be working on next month?

If the answer is "Hmmm..."

My brother, my sister...

Find filling station.

Without fuel, you will push.

Ferdinand M. Ibezim
Sales Excellence |Value Creation |Market Leadership.

YOUR SALES PIPELINE IS NOT A LIST OF PEOPLE YOU ARE TALKING TO 😄

Let me look for small trouble this Monday. Because it will play out in many meetings today.

“How many opportunities are you working on?”

“About 27, sir.”

Wonderful.

“Which ones are likely to close?”

“Ehm… quite a number.”

“Which ones?”

“Well, I spoke with Mr A last week. Madam B said I should call her. Mr C is travelling. Mrs D said she will discuss with her husband. Mr E has been reading my WhatsApp messages…”

My brother, you don’t have a pipeline.

You have a contact list with emotions. 😂

A sales pipeline is not simply a list of people you are talking to.

It is a MANAGED FLOW OF QUALIFIED OPPORTUNITIES MOVING TOWARDS AN OUTCOME.

Four words.

MANAGED.

You know what is happening with every opportunity. There is a next action, a date and some deliberate follow-up.

“I will check on him sometime next week.”

Which week, please? 😄

QUALIFIED.

Not everybody who smiles at your presentation belongs in your pipeline.

Do they have a real need?

Can they afford what you are selling?

Are you talking to someone who can influence or make the decision?

Is there a realistic reason they could buy?

If the answers are mostly “I’m not sure,” that opportunity may still be a suspect wearing prospect's clothes. 😂

MOVEMENT.

This is where many pipelines go to sleep.

A healthy opportunity should be moving.

Conversation → Discovery → Proposal → Negotiation → Decision.

If someone has been at “proposal sent” since Easter and Christmas is approaching, please check whether that opportunity is still breathing. 😄

Activity is not movement.

Ten calls do not necessarily mean progress.

Twenty WhatsApp messages do not mean progress.

A good meeting does not mean progress.

Something must change.

And finally,

OUTCOME.

Every opportunity must eventually go somewhere.

Won.

Lost.

Deferred.

Disqualified.

But please, don’t keep dead opportunities inside your pipeline because you need emotional support when management asks for your numbers. 😂

A bloated pipeline can be more dangerous than a small pipeline because it gives you a false sense of security.

So, as you begin this week, go beyond,

“How many prospects am I talking to?”

To

“What exactly is moving?”

YOUR MONDAY MORNING ASSIGNMENT

Open your sales pipeline.

Pick your 10 biggest opportunities and ask four questions:

1. Is this opportunity genuinely qualified?
2. What am I actively doing to manage it?
3. What evidence do I have that it is moving?
4. What is the likely outcome, and by when?

Remove the ones that are there only because you are afraid your pipeline will look lonely. 😂

A smaller pipeline of genuine, moving opportunities is far more valuable than a cemetery of 100 “prospects.”

If you know a salesperson or sales leader whose pipeline needs small deliverance this Monday morning, please share this with them. 😄

Ferdinand M. Ibezim
Sales Excellence |Value Creation |Market Leadership.

WHO DO MEN SAY I AM?

I was reading my Bible this morning and came across a passage I have read many times. But you know how it is with the Bible. Sometimes you read a familiar passage and one little thing you had never really paid attention to suddenly jumps at you.

Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”

Why would Jesus ask that question?

By this time, He had become quite a public figure. People had heard Him teach. They had seen the miracles. Some had been healed by Him. Crowds followed Him from place to place. There were those who loved Him, those who were curious about Him and, of course, those who could not stand Him.

In other words, people were talking.

And Jesus wanted to know what they were saying.

His disciples told Him.

Some said John the Baptist. Others said Elijah. Some thought He was Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

Now, imagine some of us asking our team what people are saying about us and getting an answer we don't like. 😄

“Who said that?”

“When did he say it?”

“Was it Chinedu?”

“I have always known that boy has a problem with authority.”😂

But that wasn't the point of the question. Jesus listened.

Then He went further: “But who do you say that I am?”

That second question interested me even more because these were the people who worked closely with Him. They travelled with Him. They saw Him away from the crowds. They experienced the public Jesus and the private Jesus.

And that is where the leadership lesson came home to me.

Many of us who lead people spend a considerable amount of time assessing others. We appraise them. We correct them. We set KPIs. We even have colourful performance dashboards to show them their sins. 😄

But how often do we ask them to assess us?

Who do the people I lead say I am?

What is it like to work with me?

Can people disagree with me without first checking whether their CV is updated? 😄

There can sometimes be a very wide gap between the leader we think we are and the leader people actually experience.

We may call ourselves demanding. They may call us impossible.

We may think we are decisive. They may have another adjective for it.

We may say we have empowered our people when, in reality, we have simply abandoned them to figure things out themselves.

That is why good leaders must occasionally go looking for the truth about themselves.

Resist the temptation to explain every criticism away.

And when the evidence suggests it, reevaluate yourself and make adjustments.

Your title can tell you your position.

Your office can tell you your status.

Your results can tell you how the business is performing.

But sometimes, only the people you lead can tell you what it feels like to be led by you.

Perhaps this Sunday, every leader should borrow one question from Jesus:

“Who do men say I am?”

And when they tell you, please don't ask for the name of the person who said it. 😄

Ferdinand M. Ibezim
Sales Excellence |Value Creation |Market Leadership.

Osun State!

The people!!!

The mountains can move!!!!