I had read this article trying to understand what it means to work in sales. But it would be incomplete without seeing it from a Nigerian experience. So, I spoke with Sunday David Asipa, a sales guru (even if he doesn’t accept that accolade) and Business Development Associate in Lagos.
Fresh out of University, years back, Asipa had interned as a sales and marketing officer in a bank before Youth Service called. In June this year, he resigned from his previous role as a Special Sales Analyst in a travel loan firm to take on his current job as a Business Development Associate where handles sales, simultaneously working as a travel consultant.
For this edition of On These Corporate Streets, we get a sneak peek into Sales. Asipa runs us through major highlights of his job, work challenges, and biggest wins as a salesperson in Nigeria.
(Unrelated, but you should also read the story this Nigerian Millennial Event Compere who hosted an event in Rwanda this year, and is aiming for more global opportunities)
I.
I am a Business Development Associate in a tech firm where we recruit and train tech talents and people looking to transition into tech. On the side, I’m a travel consultant and I provide consulting and advisory services to people who are looking to relocate via work or study route. Basically, what I do at these two places is sales; I sell services and push to convert leads into sales. As a business development associate, I am saddled with the responsibility of increasing the overall goals in business, marketing, awareness, and generating sales leads.
II.
Major highlights of a typical workday for me include hosting webinars, writing newsletters, composing and sending cold emails, and making outbound calls for sales pitches.
I host webinars for people looking to transition to tech or start their careers and want to do tech. From there, I get to generate a subscriber list, email them about opportunities, build upon what the webinar started, and follow up with them. Basically, the goal is to get them to register in our academy where they are signed up for courses.
I also do cold emails to corporate organizations and make outbound calls for sales pitches.
III.
Tech is not a fast-moving consumer good, so convincing people who are not literate about tech and the opportunities it offers is really a challenge. I also work with a lot of student communities and having a lot of leads and not converting them into sales is quite a challenge. It can be really daunting to make your first sale after all the efforts put into making a pitch and curating newsletters. However, I use consistency and awareness to register it in the minds -like, I’m all over the place and they just can’t avoid me.
Another challenge is having to meet your targets and KPIs. At my place of work, I do not have a target, but if I do not make sales for a period of time, it’s only wise that the company will look elsewhere for someone to do it
IV.
Prior to my biggest deal, there’s been a low attendance to some of our events and I needed to secure a new audience with buying power. I got it done, and I got about eight paying clients. Trust me, that was a win for me; going from seemingly non-existent paying clients to eight paying clients!
In my previous job as a special sales analyst selling education and travel loan, one of my biggest sales was selling about 140 million education and travel credit facility. It was a huge one because I had clients of 30, and 40, back to back. But I had been making lots of cold calls before then.
V.
I won’t call myself a sales superstar just yet, but one secret for me is being aware of the constantly evolving market trends, and consistency; consistency in pitching to your clients the benefits they enjoy. Most times, they are not interested in you or what you are selling, but what is in it for them. Use their concerns or fear to sell to them!
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There’s more to explore On These Corporate Streets!
Do you find your job or career path interesting or challenging? I would like to stop by your junction and spend a day with you. Send me a mail @ Ayodeji Falaye and walk me through what it means to be in your industry.