Category: Nigeria

All I do is cook…for the culture

African cuisine is so broad and is one of the best globally, with so many techniques and flavors in its cooking process. The world knows about Jollof Rice, but many other unique, delicious, and hearty dishes exist. There is the need to let the world know, enjoy, and access these dishes, but how do we go about that if there isn’t any recognizable brand with a convenient and consistent product?

A conversation with Tobi Smith, founder of AllIDoIsCook.

1. Briefly describe your background and how you got started.

I was born in Nigeria, attended secondary school in Akure, Ondo State, and got an accounting degree from Babcock University. While studying for my ICAN exams in Nigeria, I found comfort in cooking for my family and friends, started watching more food shows, and decided to take up a summer job in Texas working in two food companies – Panda Express and Dairy Queen. Those experiences made me decide to pursue a degree in Hospitality Management at the University of North Texas. 

Three weeks into settling in Denton, I started craving Nigerian food, and I realized Walmart, Target, and Kroger did not have any items on their shelves that had African flavor in them. I tried the closest Nigerian restaurant to me, and after a 40-minute drive and bad customer service, it was one of the worst experiences I had with Nigerian food. I decided to start a blog to teach people how to make Nigerian food, and from this blog and my posts on Twitter, many people booked me to cater for their house parties. Word spread, and I got to be known as “the guy that posts nice food photos and recipes.” 

My friends started asking me to cook them meals. It got to a point where a friend of mine took a flight from Oklahoma to pick up some food from me, and I knew we had to figure out a way to get food to people conveniently, which gave birth to AllIDoIsCook. 

I started AllIDoIsCook with catering, and this morphed to include shipping these meals all over the USA. All of this was going on as I worked on my M.Sc. I took four classes, wrote research papers, worked with my major professor on his research, mentored students, cooked for multiple events on the weekends, and took time off school to ship boxes on Mondays. I could only ship on Mondays with the workload, which saved me from having to replace orders due to spoilage as delivery companies primarily work on business days. It has been fun seeing people adopting that model. 

After my M.Sc, I worked at Winstar Resort and Casino in every department to understand the hospitality business on such a massive scale. I worked the front desk, pushed bell carts, did room service, worked as a barista, worked as a supervisor, pool boy. Whatever job you could think of in a Hospitality company, I did it. 

After that experience, I decided to go back to school to do a Ph.D. in data science to understand how the hospitality industry could use data collected from customers to give a better experience.  I loved being in school, researching, and teaching marketing, but I enjoyed cooking.  I was determined to 100% drop everything, focus on working on AllIDoIsCook, and do it to the best of my abilities because I felt compelled to do African cuisine and do it right/better than what was available on the market.

 At that point, I called my parents and told them I was dropping out of school to focus on the food business 100%. A huge worry for my parents was me being able to afford my bills, After hours of talking, showing them revenue projections, and the like, they agreed to support me, and I dived. That is one decision I am forever grateful I took. 

Fast-forward to 2021, AllIDoIsCook is one of the most recognized brands exposing the world to African flavors by delivering gourmet food products to doorsteps and most recently getting in grocery aisles. 

2. Flashback and then fast forward to the present; what has surprised you the most about your journey thus far?

Honestly – how big of a problem we are solving. When we started in 2016, it was just a food blog that stemmed from not finding Nigerian/African cuisine conveniently. I live in Texas, the one state in the USA with the most Nigerians (probably), and you mean I had to drive 40 minutes to get to a Nigerian restaurant, and no grocery store had Jollof rice at least? 

Fast forward to 2021, with over 8000 boxes shipped and over 4000+ customers. It is sometimes mind-blowing to realize we have not even scratched the surface. When you look at it this way – there are over 700,000 Nigerian immigrants in the USA alone, and these are Nigerians that participated in the last census. Then we think about the Nigerian Americans, the Americans who are married to Nigerians, the Black American population who want to rediscover their roots and experience the cuisine of Africa, and the millions of individuals in other demographics that want to try African cuisine.  There is also a substantial ever-growing Nigerian population in Canada and the United Kingdom! We have reached only 4,000 of these people just with word of mouth. Then you realize so many people have this problem, and we are glad that we have at least started somewhere with making sure anyone anywhere can get access to Nigerian cuisine. 

3. Why is the cause you pursue or the problem you are solving the most important for this generation? 

For us at AllIDoIsCook, there are many reasons. With the increased immigration of Africans to the West, the world becoming a global village, and people getting busier, there is the need to preserve and promote African cuisine so that future generations can have something to hold on to proudly. Educating the world about our heritage is necessary to be done that will have lasting effects on generations to come. 

African cuisine is so broad and is one of the best globally, with so many techniques and flavors in its cooking process. The world knows about Jollof Rice, but many other unique, delicious, and hearty dishes exist. There is the need to let the world know, enjoy, and access these dishes, but how do we go about that if there isn’t any recognizable brand with a convenient and consistent product? 

A good example I use is this: A Nigerian in the USA would need to spend 10-12 minutes explaining to another demographic what any other dish aside from Jollof Rice is. 

We have lived both at home and abroad. Being outside of our home countries can get lonely, and one crucial aspect of African culture is the food. Having a meal that feels like home is honestly therapy sometimes, and we firmly believe we should do it properly. 

4. Reflect on all of the necessary sacrifices and trade-offs you’ve had to make to get to where you are today. Which of these would you say was the most pivotal and why?

Man. I’d say every single one of these sacrifices was pivotal. I have learned that life is a collection of many events that shape you/prepare you for a series of events. No sacrifice is an island, literally. There are a few that I remember at the top of my mind. 

Dropping out of my Ph.D. and hauling all my belongings to Houston was one of the most significant sacrifices. I was leaving an almost guaranteed path to becoming a tenure track faculty member for something with no salary in view. This sacrifice was pivotal because it was “all in, all chips on the table,” there was no safety net, which helped my cofounder and I focus squarely on getting AllIDoIsCook to where it is. 

Another is making the sacrifice of reinvesting into the startup. With a bootstrapped business, We have had the opportunity to grow the company to a point where it is rapidly ready to scale with a fantastic track record. 

5. What is the best piece of actionable advice you’ve received that continues to be a source of inspiration in good times and challenging times?

There are so many phrases I tell myself a lot. There are two that stand out – “keep going” and “be better every day.” These phrases just make sense when I hear them. 

“Keep going and be better every day” –  things are going to get super hard, discouraging, tiring, and you will feel like giving up A LOT. During that time, it is essential to take a break, rest, recenter and recover. It is crucial to be honest with oneself in entrepreneurship – during your break, evaluate everything at intervals. “Be better every day” – this is huge for me. Being better every day ensures that I set my goals, focus on them, learn from my mistakes, and learn more. This helps you grow as a person. 

Using Technology to Save the Igbo Language

Nkọwa okwu is completely free and offers more than 8,000+ Igbo words, 2,000 Igbo example sentences, 1,000+ audio recordings, supports 17 dialects, and renders Nsibidi script above all words. Nkọwa okwu started as a dictionary because it’s tough to find high-quality, advanced, robust, Oxford-styled, Igbo-English dictionaries outside Nigeria.

My interview with Ijemma Onwuzulike, Software Engineer & Founder of Nkọwa okwu | Twitter: @nkowaokwu

Ozii: What/Who got you interested in building technology and how has the journey been so far?

Ijemma: Ever since I was young, I’ve been interested in how technology works. I was fascinated by how digital clocks could tell time, how microwaves could create heat, and even how magnets could distort colors on CRT TVs. But I specifically became more interested in programming during middle school and high school when two things happened: 1. I learned that my Mom programmed for her job (and has always been my biggest role model), and 2. I wanted to build my website. So most of my school memories were of me showing my websites to my friends and family. It started as a hobby to see what I could learn, and I remember being genuinely excited every time I learned a new HTML tag or a JavaScript function.

By the time I was a senior in high school, I knew that I wanted to study computer science in college, but I didn’t know what computer science was and how to use it after college. Sure, I learned to program, and I was good at it, but I didn’t know what “engineers at Google” did for their day-to-day. I knew I would learn a lot at college, so I stuck with the major. It wasn’t until my first college course where I realized that I was a minority, not just because I’m a woman but also because I’m black. The sense of excitement and comfort I found while creating websites in high school quickly faded and transformed into imposter syndrome, where I felt like I wasn’t good enough or I didn’t belong. That mindset affected me for the first half of my college experience because I wasn’t excelling in all of my classes compared to when I was in high school.

The silver lining came when I realized that I wasn’t alone. Many women, especially black women, had a similar experience as me during college. So during the second half of my college experience, I made it a point to be more intentional about my work and the people and students I wanted to guide and mentor. I wanted to see more people like me doing what I do at my school. By the time I graduated, I had got more women in the DALI Lab, which was my on-campus job that teaches students relevant skills

Ozii: What’s your theory on why the Igbo language is at risk of becoming extinct? What is the data telling us and what firsthand experience, if any, supports what the data is telling us? 

Ijemma: My theory is factors like colonization, tribalism, and other elements that have no place within Igbo culture or heritage have pushed Igbo as a language to the side. English is Nigeria’s official language and the common denominator language across Nigeria for communication. This reality makes it more difficult for young Igbos to see the need to actively speak Igbo as their primary language outside of academic settings since English is the de facto language within many business transactions, government organizations, and even within many homes. In my opinion, when jobs and paid opportunities are primarily looking for fluent English speakers and skilled English writers, it makes sense to obtain the skills necessary for attractive opportunities. Also, the global state of the world is Western – entertainment, sports, education, art, etc., is increasingly Western-influenced.

UNESCO projected that Igbo would become extinct by 2025, an outdated 2012 projection that has proven to be incorrect. But a more realistic forecast that I framed my work around is that Igbo will become extinct by the end of the century. This is because generations are not effectively passing down the language. I can personally attest to that as an Igbo-American. As a kid, my parents didn’t want my sisters and me to be confused while learning two languages, so we weren’t taught Igbo. Even other Igbo kids I grew up around had a similar experience. This is such a large pattern that’s affecting young Igbos – if we decided to start a family, our children’s chances of knowing Igbo are significantly lower.

Ozii: Tell us about your platform and how it is solving this problem.

Ijemma: I started Nkọwa okwu to push back on the projection that Igbo will become extinct so that the language exists and thrives in a modern world. I genuinely believe in the Internet’s fair and open educational materials, so currently, Nkọwa okwu is completely free and offers more than 8,000+ Igbo words, 2,000 Igbo example sentences, 1,000+ audio recordings, supports 17 dialects, and renders Nsibidi script above all words. Nkọwa okwu started as a dictionary because it’s tough to find high-quality, advanced, robust, Oxford-styled, Igbo-English dictionaries outside Nigeria.

To further address the language learning crisis, we’re creating Nkọwa okwu Learning to allow students to enroll in high-quality Igbo courses at fair prices. At the same time, our instructors get paid for the Igbo courses they put on our platform. In addition, many of our community members struggle to learn Igbo in their free time, so having a platform like Nkọwa okwu Learning can dramatically ease the way we learn online. On top of that, the platform will incentivize Igbo instructors to create more Igbo content that can help others learn.

Ozii: What is the next major milestone for your platform?

Ijemma: Our next milestone is to release Nkọwa okwu Learning by the start of 2022. Releasing this platform will finally give young Igbo people the opportunity to learn Igbo online at their own pace. We currently have a small team consisting of software engineers, product designers, and a lexicographer/audio recorder working to build out the platform and the course content. Once we get closer to release, we want to find a growth marketing manager to help start marketing the platform across social media. This timeline means that we want to start being more active on social media channels like Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to attract our target market. At the same time, we also want to continue recruiting Nigerian university professors to start creating courses on the platform and start making money.

We’re also looking for investors and funding to hire committed employees to ensure that we keep our momentum moving forward. Visitors to our website can also donate by clicking on the ‘Support Us’ button.

Ozii: What’s the one piece of actionable advice you’ve received that continues to be a source of inspiration in good times and challenging times? 

Ijemma: One of the best pieces of actionable advice I’ve ever received was to share my work with others. I was so worried about whether or not people wanted to see what I was working on, so much so that I would end up waiting until my work was “worth sharing” for others to see it. But what I’ve learned along the way is that people want to see you succeed, and they’re excited to see you make progress on your project, whatever that progress could mean. Once I took the advice of sharing my work often to heart, I realized that I wasn’t just publicly making progress, but I was also meeting so many unique and talented people who wanted to help me make more progress. That’s why we’ve been able to grow our volunteer community to 80+ members.




A B2B Account Executive Review of “An Elegant Puzzle”

Engineering management acts as an intricate puzzle attempting different pieces to find a solution. Management can be viewed similarly implementing frameworks to help solve challenges leaders face. B2B Sales Professionals can accelerate time to credibility if they understand the state of the engineering leader’s team.

“Engineering management isn’t inherently a bureaucratic, mystical, or mediocre profession,” said Will Larson, responding to my question asking what he believes is the main takeaway from his book, An Elegant Puzzle. He continued, “it’s a delightful series of puzzles, and there are better and worse answers to each puzzle.”

In reflecting on his response and digesting his book’s content, I asked myself, what if there are better ways to anticipate the challenges engineering leaders are tackling?

Let’s take a step back.

A few months ago, I was scrolling through my LinkedIn feed and came across a post by an engineering executive who I admire recommending engineering leaders to read “An Elegant Puzzle.”

When I perused through the book synopsis, it didn’t seem like a book I’d enjoy, but I decided to give it a read hoping to learn something new. The book tackles the various challenges of engineering management and “balances structured principles and human-centric thinking to help any leader create more effective and rewarding organizations for engineers to thrive in.“

Will Larson draws from his experience at Digg, Uber, and Stripe in writing this book. He is currently the CTO of Calm, the #1 app for meditation and sleep, where he continues to apply and refine the principles discussed in his book.

After reading the book, I reached out to Will and asked him:

“If there is one main takeaway from An Elegant Puzzle that you want to make sure people reflect on after reading it, what would it be?“

Photo by Olav Ahrens Røtne on Unsplash

His response was:

Engineering management isn’t inherently a bureaucratic, mystical, or mediocre profession. It’s a delightful series of puzzles, and there are better and worse answers to each puzzle. I challenge folks to spend a bit more time thinking about the critical decisions they make–organizational changes, promotions, assigning key projects, etc.–and look for a better way.

Interestingly, if you remove the word “Engineering” in the first sentence of Will’s response and start with “Management,” the core message stays intact. The reason being management in any profession has one thing in common – people. Just as a puzzle has individual pieces, individuals make a group of people.

Although pieces of a puzzle may have similar dimensions, placing a piece in the wrong spot would lead to the wrong answer. To correctly solve a puzzle, you’d need to set individual parts in the right area.

Whether you’re a people manager or individual contributor, this book has something for you.

As an individual contributor, I read the book through the lens of a Business to Business (B2B) Account Executive, and in doing so, one key concept inspired me to think differently on how I connect with engineering leaders.

Engineering leaders have a repository of frameworks to tackle process and people challenges.

Photo by Alex wong on Unsplash

The challenges engineering leaders face are similar to an extent, so frameworks are a common theme in this book. Will offers various frameworks that allow him to shorten the time it takes to arrive at a viable solution.

For example, one of the frameworks that resonated with me as a B2B account executive selling to engineering leaders is how to help these leaders build teams that are continuously innovating.

Will breaks down the four states of engineering teams framework:

  1. A team is falling behind if each week their backlog is longer than it was the week before. Typically, people are working extremely hard but not making much progress, morale is low, and users of the application are vocally dissatisfied.
  2. A team is treading water if they can get their critical work done but cannot pay down technical debt or begin major new projects.
  3. A team is repaying debt when they can start paying down technical debt and are beginning to benefit from the debt repayment snowball.
  4. A team is innovating when their technical debt is sustainably low, morale is high, and most work is satisfying new user needs.
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

As a B2B account executive looking to advise engineering leaders, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. The advise I offer an engineering leader whose team is falling behind will be different than an engineering leader whose team is repaying debt.

Will offers a framework for engineering leaders responsible for fixing each state of the team described above:

  1. To fix a team falling behind, hire new people and increase capacity.
  2. To fix a team treading water, consolidate team efforts to finish more things, and reduce concurrent work until able to begin repaying debt.
  3. To fix a team repaying debt, add time to pay the debt.
  4. To maintain a team innovating, add slack in your team’s schedule so that the team can build quality into their work.

The four states of a team and how to fix each state framework are an invitation to step into an engineering leader’s mind and anticipate the outcomes he or she is seeking.

Also, the framework elevates our conversation’s content because it guides my curiosity to areas that are most relevant for engineering leaders. This means I can build authentic credibility and be viewed as a true partner rather than someone just trying to make a sale.

The Clock on the Wall. Photo by Ozisco

Below are the actions steps I plan to take. I invite you to experiment with me.

  1. Ask an engineering leader in your next meeting: “How would you describe the state of your team over the past 6 – 12months?“
  1. Listen for keywords that could point towards a team that is either falling behind, treading water, repaying debt, or innovating. 
  1. Validate your hypothesis and understanding of the current state of the team by asking follow-up questions.
  1. Explain how your solution can bridge the gap between the current and ideal state of the team.
The Bridge – 14’4. Photo by Ozisco

Thank you for reading.

Godspeed selling. 




Are you an extension of your customer’s team?

Account and territory changes often happen. Business leaders want salespeople that can speak their language and challenge them to be great.

Account and territory changes often happen, especially around this time of the year. While its important to ensure a smooth transition, I’ve also found it useful to be intentional about understanding what made the relationship flourish.

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

A couple of years ago, while transitioning one of my top accounts to a new account team, I emailed my executive contact informing him of the news. In the note, I thanked him for a great partnership over the years and asked if we could stay in touch.

He could have replied with one or two words like most busy executives do.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he took his time to pen a thoughtful reply. In the note, he was full of gratitude for all the milestones we reached together. He ended his message by saying, “Thanks for being an extension of my team.”

In a follow-up telephone conversation, he made a comment that stood out to me:

“You and your team spoke our language.”

As an immigrant from Nigeria, one of the small joys I experience is meeting a fellow Nigerian that speaks Igbo. Our fake American accents immediately vanish from our lips as we hail each other.

Seeing us from afar, you’d think we grew up in the same household. What makes it easy to open up to each other is the shared dialect weaving an invisible chord between us.

Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

The same feeling is evident among business leaders when they meet sales professionals who understand their business so well that it seems like they both speak the same language. They become more forthcoming with their challenges, aspirations, and objectives because the salesperson can empathize with their view of the world and is equipped with the depth of knowledge to be a true partner.

Learning to speak a customer’s language isn’t a one-time event like cramming the night before a big exam. Instead, it’s a continuous, round-the-clock process.

Some of my go-to resources are the company’s website, press releases, industry publications, earnings transcripts, annual statements, letters to shareholders, interviews (print and digital), social media posts, news articles, user conferences, conference & keynote presentations, competitor’s press releases, analyst reports, LinkedIn profiles, YouTube channel, google alerts, research papers, books, business publications, experts within your company…it’s nonstop.

An additional resource to learn how to speak a customer’s language is by speaking directly to my customer’s customer. I also enjoy reading product and software reviews. If you sell to software companies, a great resource is G2 reviews.

Photo by Ozii Obiyo

Executives also want humble yet bold salespeople who will tell them when they are heading in the wrong direction. My executive contact shared that whenever his department was having a problem, it felt natural to reach out to my team.

He didn’t expect us always to have the answers, but he valued our ability to ask the right questions and infuse a refreshing outlook that would eventually get them unstuck.

The ability to ask relevant questions comes from years of exposure to various customer challenges and solutions. This constant exposure creates an arsenal of decision-making and problem-solving frameworks.

Forward-thinking business leaders crave this knowledge from salespeople, and smart salespeople proactively share this knowledge with business leaders.

Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

An example of all these coming together was when I wore my customer’s branded T-shirt while traveling from Seattle to San Francisco for a meeting. While at the airport, my customer’s client approached me and struck up a conversation. This individual shared some constructive feedback on my customer’s product and suggested a few feature requests to address his company’s specific requirements.

In my meeting later that day, I kicked it off by saying,

“I had a conversation with one of your clients who offered a few ideas on how to make things easier for him….” 

This led to a productive and collaborative meeting.  

In 2021, I hope you make it a goal to be an extension of your customer’s team by learning to speak their language and hailing them to success.

Photo by Matthew Brodeur on Unsplash

Action steps:

#1 — Invest the time required for a smooth account transition and be intentional about finding out the true temperature of each executive relationship. Not only would this help jumpstart the new account team, it’ll also be learning to take to a new account and territory.

#2 — Learn to speak your customer’s language by taking small steps everyday. It can be as easy as setting up Google alerts for specific keywords related to the company, industry, executive team, and competitors. Reviewing these alerts at least twice a week will keep you updated on relevant news about your customer.

#3 — Ask for your customer’s branded T-shirt and wear it with pride.

Godspeed selling!

Lawyer Turned Entrepreneur Recommends These Three Business Development Skills

The consistent practice of active listening, goal setting, and daily routine execution are the business development skills needed to create success for your clients and yourself.

Two years ago, Chuki Obiyo, a graduate of Northwestern Law School, launched Chuki Law. This premier consulting firm creates concepts, strategies, and techniques to help lawyers at all levels sell more effectively. According to Chuki, lawyers help clients create value, protect rights, and promote justice. For lawyers to effectively achieve this, they have to sell advice. Selling advice effectively requires treating business development as a discipline. Drawing from his consultation with his clients, we explore the core business development skills he is advising his clients to develop during this quasi quarantine period and even post this period. The skills he recommends are active listening, goal setting, and daily routine execution. As you read, focus on how the skills and case studies are transferable in your field and industry. 

Active listening, where the objective is empathy. 

One of the strategies to get to an optimal state of empathy is to ask questions. With each question, additional data is surfaced, leading to a deeper understanding of the other person’s feelings and motivators. The following example illustrates the importance of mastering this skill: 

Chuki engaged with a small law firm that received a request for proposal (RFP) from a dream prospect. After some preliminary research, this law firm discovered larger firms and other more experienced practitioners were also competing for the same business. Historically, this small law firm lost similar RFP’s and questioned whether to submit a response. The firm envisaged a mindset of “we never win these, so why bother,” concluding it wasn’t worth the time and effort. 

To help reshape the law firm’s frame of reference, Chuki conducted a brainstorming exercise centered around generating questions only the dream prospect could answer. The goal was to come up with questions free of assumptions and seek a deep understanding of the prospect’s motivators. Next, the small law firm prioritized the list of questions and requested a meeting. In the appointment, his client went through the list of questions, not as leading questions, but to listen actively as the prospect breaks down the answer to each question. In reviewing notes after the meeting, what jumped out to them was illuminating. The prospect wasn’t so interested in the law firm’s size that would win this work. It was most interested in seeking a firm with a particular subject matter expertise. This information came to light due to the law firm’s ability to ask the right questions, listen, and seek understanding. As you can imagine, the small law firm emphasized its top-tier subject matter expertise in the RFP submitted. 

The small law firm ended up winning the RFP. A few weeks after advancing the relationship, the firm had a feedback loop with the prospect and solicited some commentary on why they won. The happy client shared that the firm was selected because they felt heard. In summary, the small law firm emanated empathy by actively listening which led to winning over a prospect that became one of its top billing clients. 

Goal setting, where the objective is authenticity. 

One of the strategies to attain authenticity is to put pen to paper and write—the process of writing things down forces a clarity of thought and commitment. The example below illustrates this skill in action: 

An attorney at a law firm had spent eight-plus years as an associate and was now eager to become a partner. After about seven years, attorneys are usually put on a path to become a partner in that firm. This attorney had multiple internal meetings and learned he was not on the way to becoming a partner, not even in the next three to four years. 

He received the harsh truth that his business development was non-existent. He countered by pointing to all the great work he was doing for the firm’s existing clients but discovered new client origination mattered more to the firm. 

Chuki worked with this attorney to write down goals around professional and business development. By asking simple questions such as: Can you expand your LinkedIn connections from X to 2X? After you get those connections, can we set a goal to reach out to two of those connections a week? And if they accept a meeting, how can we shape the conversation to deliver value and begin a sales conversation? 

By writing these goals down, this attorney could clarify what he needed to do, how he needed to do it, and when he needed to do it. He has identified potential new business through his efforts and positioned himself as a burgeoning rainmaker. The simple act of writing goals down has changed his narrative and opened the door for more advanced conversations to become a partner at the firm. He has also built a healthy pipeline of opportunities that is giving him visibility amongst the senior partners at the law firm. 

Daily routine execution, where the objective is accountability.

Success is in our daily routine, and lawyers are no strangers to a regimen. Lawyers review contracts, draft briefs and analyze memos. The recommended strategy is breaking down goals into daily activities and applying the same appreciation for routine to ensure sustained success. The example below provides additional context: 

Chuki engaged with a black female attorney dealing with recent struggles to progress some of her professional and business development goals. This attorney had experienced success early and would consider herself a good business developer. However, lately, she felt she was a hamster on a wheel, moving but going nowhere.

The first activity Chuki suggested was to do a time spend analysis to understand where she was spending her time. They found that in the past, she relied on massive speaking engagements to uncover new business. However, with the pandemic, these opportunities had fizzled out. 

They brainstormed activities she could do consistently related to business development. She settled on blocking out 30 minutes every Friday to send a “Have a nice weekend” email to a prospective client and existing client. The response she received from this email campaign was inspiring, so she decided to make it a daily activity at the end of her day. By being selective of the existing and prospective client, she is much more thoughtful and contextual for the email recipient. The results have reinvigorated her, expanded her network, and kickstarted conversations to become a general counsel for a corporation. 

Bonus: Promote certainty, where the objective is reliability. 

Living in a pandemic environment, people are looking for opportunities to add some level of certainty into their day. 

One example is relationship certainty. Several decision-makers are not in a hurry to change their current vendors or partners. However, this shouldn’t mean the incumbent should be complacent. If there are activities you’ve done or completed within a defined timeline, stick to that timeline. If there are reports you’ve provided in the past, keep providing these reports consistently. 

Another example is cost certainty since this period may not be a good time to raise prices as numerous industries are still recovering. Executives are looking to cut costs so they can be more efficient and lean. Partnering with clients to find opportunities to reduce costs could be a significant advantage as the client’s business picks back up. 

Promoting certainty paves the way to achieve reliability with clients. When clients can count on you, you can count on them giving their business to you.

In summary, the consistent practice of active listening, goal setting, daily routine execution, and promoting certainty are mechanisms anyone could apply in their field or industry. Often, what separates ordinary from extraordinary is the “extra” we put into doing the everyday things. 

Godspeed selling!

PS: You can connect with Chuki on LinkedIn and subscribe to his LinkedIn page for regular business development tips. 

My moment of emotional unintelligence

A few minutes before meeting with executives of a major corporation, my heart raced uncontrollably. At the moment, I couldn’t tell what provoked the feeling, but it did cause me to have subpar performance. In the debrief with my sales leader after the meeting, I concluded I was nervous, so we discussed strategies to calm the nerves. Reflecting on that meeting, I now realize I wasn’t nervous; I was intimidated by the executives’ titles and accomplishments. This aha moment came to me while reading Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success: Connect with Customers and Get Results. I misidentified the emotion I was feeling at that time and spent hours working to improve the wrong thing. This misstep was my moment of emotional unintelligence. 

The most successful sales leaders I know exude so much emotional intelligence it almost seems effortless. One of the many reasons these leaders are so good is their ability to identify the right emotions they feel and process it accordingly. Reading Colleen’s book and supporting research, the reality is that emotional intelligence is like any skill; it takes practice and repetition to become proficient. Colleen defines Emotional Intelligence (EI) as “the ability to recognize your emotions and to correctly identify the emotion you’re feeling and know why you’re feeling it. It’s the skill of understanding what trigger or event is causing the emotion and the impact of that emotion on yourself and others; and then adjusting your emotional response to the trigger or event to achieve the best outcomes.” 

She goes on to share three action steps for improving emotional intelligence:

  • Schedule Downtime: The key to downtime is creating space for yourself and becoming more self-aware. According to Colleen, downtime allows you to ask yourself thoughtful questions to gain clarity on your sales behavior and outcomes. One of the ways I’ve put this into practice is scheduling time on my calendar to think. At first, it seemed like a strange concept to schedule time to think. However, having this time has inspired me to generate creative ideas to impact clients and colleagues positively. It has also allowed me to work on my mental health and refine my goals and aspirations. Also, by putting this time on the calendar, I treat it like any other important client meeting by showing up prepared. Being prepared means showing up with thought-provoking questions and adding a few from the book below: 
    1. What was the reason for my reaction to the prospect or customer? 
    2. What would have been a better response during the sales meeting?
    3. What did I do well, and how do I repeat that behavior?
  • Create Technology-free Zones – Salespeople are naturally attached to smartphones to quickly respond to emails, slack messages, texts, telegrams, WhatsApp, facetime, and phone calls from clients. While it’s essential to be available to your customers promptly, it is just as crucial to make time to be available for YOU. This action step reminds me of an article I wrote about self-care. In the article, I described how prioritizing self-care helped me be a better customer advocate and a team player.  
  • Name the Specific Emotion – This action hits home for me because it is about naming the specific emotion and understanding WHY the emotion is present. By correctly diagnosing the feeling, one can build the right infrastructure to channel and process the emotion. Earlier in the article, I described misidentifying the emotion I felt during my meeting with those executives. The reason why I felt intimidated was simply a lack of experience. My experience over the years nurturing executive relationships has enabled me to become less intimidated. Although the feeling may show up unexpectedly, I’ve learned to correctly identify it and take the necessary steps to control and channel it. When it’s all said and done, executives are people.

I am humbled by the journey I’ve been on so far and look forward to turning my emotional unintelligence into many more learning moments.

Cheers to selling!

Are you playing soccer or lacrosse?

(Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

A few weeks ago I had a virtual chat with my mentor, a CEO of a software company in Silicon Valley. Our discussion focused on competing in a complex enterprise sales cycle. After describing the challenges I was facing, he reflected and asked a simple question: Are you playing soccer or lacrosse?

Interesting.

My exposure to lacrosse is limited to its appearance on ESPN SportsCenter: Top Ten Plays. It wasn’t a sport I went out of my way to watch. And if I were to, I’d have to learn the history, techniques, and rules of the game.

My mentor could see my thoughts drifting, so he rephrased the question:

Are you trying to get your customer to buy in the way you sell, or are you trying to get your customer to buy in the way your competitors sell? In other words, are you playing soccer, or are you playing lacrosse?

My mentor and I both share a passion for soccer, as we both grew up playing and watching it religiously. He knew the analogy would resonate.

The point he was making was although the customer may be intrigued by lacrosse, it didn’t mean they wanted to play it. It could be that my competitor introduced prospects to lacrosse because they got tired of losing at soccer. By playing along or trying to get the customer to buy in the way my competitors sell, I was expending valuable resources instead of investing in my soccer game. If I continued to go down this path, it’d be a severe case of self-deceit because it’s playing a game where the opponent sets all the rules, so I was bound to lose. I had to make a change.




After some deep self-reflection, I worked with my team to refine my approach and strategy. Here are some of the steps I’m taking:

  1. Dedicating additional time to deeply understand my customer’s business outcomes by scouring through financial statements, interviews, press releases, social media, investor decks, etc.
  2. Developing a point of view from the perspective of achieving each business outcome.
  3. Validating and refining that point of view by speaking with key stakeholders within my customer’s organization, from the executive to the executive assistant.
  4. Crowdsourcing feedback and the best ideas from experts within my organization to further refine the strategy.
  5. Applying critical thinking and asking tough questions to earn trust and mutual respect in every interaction.
  6. Proactively sharing ideas to solve business challenges even if there are no complete solutions to offer…yet.

These steps are netting positive results and rekindling the customer’s passion for soccer. The customer is fortifying their defense in preparation to mount a counter attack and score some business goals.

On a side note, Real Madrid, if you’re reading this, I’m patiently waiting for that invitation to try out or a free ticket 🙂 Thanks!

Happy selling!

Stay #CustomerObsessed

What are you going to do differently?

It is inspiring to see the country come together and reflect on the challenges facing the black community and the pervasiveness of racial injustice.

We all have lives outside of work; however, as we are stuck working from home because of the pandemic, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate life at work and life outside of work.

Now more than ever, it is crucial to speak up against injustices in our communities and our places of work even when our voice is trembling. Our collective voices can and does make a difference.

I’ve had a few colleagues at work reach out to ask how I am doing, which I’ve appreciated. My response continues to be: What are you going to do differently in light of all this?

We all know the extent of what we can do differently; I hope it’s not to remain silent and wish this all goes away so we can get back to business as usual.

#BlackLivesMatter

3 ideas to sell better while social distancing

I have been working from home since late February, which means I have had to adjust my way of selling while social distancing and observing the shelter in place order in Seattle. Below are three ideas that have worked for me as I adapt to the new normal of working from home and unable to visit clients face to face. If there are other methods or strategies you’re applying to generate positive results, please share them with me.

1/ Sell with empathy. We are in the midst of social distancing, not empathy distancing. Almost every salesperson, including me, likes to think they connect better with potential clients face to face instead of virtual. The reality is that how we show up is usually consistent regardless of the communication channel. Also, it is times like these where there is uncertainty and crisis that reveals our true self. Now more than ever, investing the time to master social and emotional skills will benefit our customers, employers, and most importantly, ourselves. According to a study by McKinsey Global Institute, one of the fastest-growing skills that employers will demand by 2030 is social and emotional skills. They define “social and emotional” skills as “soft skills,” which include: advanced communication and negotiation, empathy, the ability to learn continuously, to manage others, and to be adaptable.

So what does it mean to sell with empathy?

Selling with empathy for me means walking a mile in someone else’s shoes even if the shoes do not fit. Having empathy is not just the ability to understand the feelings of the other person; it also involves sharing the feelings. Selling with empathy is also about having compassion for these executives navigating these complex challenges. These executives are responding to this crisis with improvisations as there are no playbooks, so be patient and compassionate. Your goal should be to make a genuine connection not just a sale.  

This article by Colleen Stanley, President and Chief Selling Officer at SalesLeadership, Inc., offers practical advice on how to sell with empathy. You can also get her book, Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success.

2/ Find opportunities to help your potential client execute ideas faster. If you’re in enterprise sales, you’re probably familiar with the concept of Time To Market (TTM). It means the length of time it takes from a product being conceived until it’s available for sale. The companies that can bring the best products to market the fastest often gain the lion share of the market segment. As executives and decision-makers meet internally to explore ideas of how to navigate the challenges that this pandemic is having on their businesses, they will seek partners to help them not just go from idea to revenue, but idea to survival in the shortest time possible. Once you have developed a deep understanding of your potential client’s challenges (because you’ve mastered selling with empathy :)), you will be able to provide a valid and refreshing point of view of why you’re the right partner to execute the ideas.




3/ Insert humor. We all know the saying that laughter is the best medicine. As our potential clients deal with the pressures of today and uncertainties of tomorrow, a good laugh could be the highlight of their day. You don’t have to be a stand up comedian with a special on Netflix to make people laugh. You do need some creativity though. For example, I wore a t-shirt with my client’s logo during a video conference meeting. During my introduction, I shared that although my employer pays me, the company I really work for is my client, hence the t-shirt I was wearing. They all had a good laugh. Mission accomplished.

“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing.”—Michael Pritchard

Bonus: When it comes to staying connected, meet your customers where they are. One of my customers said their preferred method of staying connected is through Telegram, so I downloaded the app. Another said text📱 messages, so we became texting buddies. Another said Slack, so I joined their channel. Another said phone calls☎ , the other said email📧 , and her colleague said fax machine📠. Just kidding about the last one, no one uses fax machines anymore; but if they did, I’ll get a fax machine.😁 This concept of meeting your customers where they are would hold true even after things get back to normal. My recommendation is to discover your customer or potential client’s preferred method of staying connected and adapt to it.

PSA: During this pandemic, let’s all follow the recommendations of medical professionals and do our part to flatten the curve. Also, keep doctors❤ , nurses❤ , and first responders❤ in your prayers.

Happy selling, and be safe. 

Amazon Web Services is hiring sales professionals. If interested, find job postings here and send me a note. Happy to refer and coach you through the process.