Have you ever wondered what is Nigeria’s reputation in the world? What do people know about Nigeria in Russia? In Portugal? And in Mexico?
Nigeria. Actually, for Russia Nigeria is a little ambiguous. At first, it sounds tempting. Because it’s always warm there. There are palm trees, the ocean, exotics, everything is different there. Nigeria is all about beautiful women in colorful dresses and with gleaming white smiles, open faces of men, endless savannah, caressing sun, giraffes, zebras, terrific nature. Basically, it’s another world. Nigeria is out-competing Bollywood in terms of the quality and quantity of movies produced. I’m smiling while thinking about Nigeria. It’s all different there. And it’s extremely attractive.
On the other hand, Nigeria stands for oil and diamonds, corruption, diseases, poverty, crime, terrorist groups, kidnapping, assassinations, civil wars, religious fanaticism, and religious wars. Diseases, malaria, AIDS, one woman gives birth to five kids on average. Nigeria is the world’s laundry, all the dirty money in the world is laundered in this country.
It’s a country of such contrasts, isn’t it?
There’s something else about Nigeria that occurred just a couple of years ago. This information causes joy and inspires. Nigeria is developing, it has great potential in the world’s community and is now one of the most promising developing markets at the moment.
That’s what we know about Nigeria. Three different descriptions of the same country. Likely, each of them is true to a certain extent. Some things might be exaggerated, some things are pure fiction. Nevertheless, that’s what we know.
That’s why clients are usually quite wary of working in Nigeria. At the beginning of the negotiations, they listen, captivated, to our stories about Nigeria, about how we work there, what wins and results we have. But in the end, no more than 5% of the clients start working there, which means that we earn 95% less money than we could. This is the statistics.
Who are our clients? Mostly, they are CPA companies (shopping on TV or online). The companies that make a “quick buck”. These companies understand that there’s a high demand for their products in Nigeria, that the customers are ready for novelties they’ve never heard of before. All the goods are quite interesting. Although they might not be perfect, they perform their declared functions well. These companies come to Nigeria to understand how they can make money in this country. As time passes, the client understands whether it is profitable or not to operate in Nigeria. If it is profitable, the programs to increase the trade volume starts, new products are imported, the coverage area expands.
That is why you shouldn’t deceive yourself thinking that working with us you will be delivering diamonds and iPhones. You will be working with ordinary goods and ordinary customers. However, a lot will depend on you: whether a client continues working in the country; will the customers buy the products you deliver to them; will you earn more money this month than you did the last one.
Do you think you cannot influence such important issues? – You can. In fact, it’s only you who have an impact on them. I’ll explain that.
Let’s say a woman saw an advertisement for a weight-loss cream. She understood she needed it. She ordered it. A call-center operator got in touch with her, she named some delivery address, and now she is waiting for her delivery. At this moment, the call-center operator gives the order to us, and you can see in our software that the new order has arrived.
That’s where the most important thing begins. The quicker you reach out to this woman, the less is the chance that she changes her mind. Because it was an emotion-based and impulse buy. Maybe in the morning, she felt like she gained weight and needs to get rid of a couple of kilos. And in that instant, she saw the advertising. But the cream costs money, and usually, the price is rather high. The more time passes, the higher the chance that she decides against buying it. The faster she receives her cream, the higher the chance she buys it.
We have a professional term “buyout”. If the customer buys the product he or she has ordered, it means “buyout” = successfully delivered order. If the customer doesn’t buy the product, it means the “buyout” doesn’t take place. Our agent is paid for each delivered order. Thus, our agents are the most important people in the company. It is they who influence the development of our company, the development of our clients, the development of their country, and the changes in their country’s reputation. It is our agents who have an impact on how much money they bring home to their families.
It may sound a bit snobbish, but every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, together we are not only delivering the orders but also changing the way certain companies and consequently countries view Nigeria in a positive sense.
You are not just delivering products. You are delivering a new Nigeria to the world.