Bunmi Alofoje

Before you complain that customers are not buying, check what your business is teaching them about buying from you.

Let’s be honest.

Some of us want customers who pay immediately, never ask too many questions, don’t negotiate and always come back. 😂

But have we made buying from us easy?

Imagine a customer wants to order from you.

Your price list is outdated.

The delivery fee is nowhere to be found.

They ask a question, and you reply six hours later.

They finally decide to buy, but they don’t know what to do next.

Then tomorrow, you post:

“Customers are not supporting small businesses!”

My dear, let’s talk. 😂❤️

Sometimes, the customer is genuinely not ready to buy. But sometimes, our own process is making the decision harder than it needs to be.

So tonight, take five minutes to examine your business.

Can a new customer understand what you sell?

Can they find your prices or know how to request a quote?

Do they know how to place an order?

Do you respond to enquiries promptly?

Do you follow up professionally?

And after payment, do they know what happens next?

You don’t have to fix everything tonight.

Pick one thing that could make buying from you easier, and improve it.

Because business growth isn’t only about convincing more people to buy.

It’s also about removing the unnecessary obstacles between a customer’s interest and their decision to pay.

Before you blame the market tomorrow, audit the experience you’re giving your customers today.

Now tell me: if you were a stranger visiting your business tonight, what is the first thing you would improve? ❤️

Nigerian business owners, who else has sent an account number and started waiting for an alert that never came? 😂😭

Customer: “How much is this dress?”

You: “₦25,000.”

Customer: “Okay, I want it.”

You: “Alright, ma. Here are the account details.”

Customer: “Okay.”

You: Starts calculating delivery money in your head. 😂

Five minutes pass.

You check your bank app.

Nothing.

You check again.

Still nothing.

You open WhatsApp to see if the customer is online.

Online. 😂😭

You even see them viewing your status.

But that ₦25,000? Nowhere to be found!

And before you know it, you’re asking yourself:

“Why would you ask for my account number if you weren’t ready to pay?”

My dear business owner, I understand. 😂

But let’s look at this from another angle.

Asking for your account details doesn’t always mean a customer has made a final decision to buy.

They may genuinely want the product but still be thinking about the price.

They may be comparing you with another seller.

They may have remembered another expense.

They may have questions they haven’t asked.

Or they may simply have changed their mind.

The problem is that you don’t know which one it is just by looking at your bank balance. 😂

So what should you do?

Don’t insult them in your mind and then post, “Some people are not ready for business!” on your status. 😭😂

Instead, follow up politely when appropriate.

Try:

“Hello, just checking in to see if you’d still like to proceed with your order. I’m happy to clarify anything you need to know.”

Simple.

No pressure. No begging. No unnecessary drama.

And please, don’t count the money before the alert enters. That money is still in the realm of imagination! 😂

Here’s the business lesson, though.

If customers repeatedly disappear after receiving your account details, investigate the pattern.

Are they reacting to the total cost? Is delivery too expensive? Are they unsure about your credibility? Is your ordering process confusing?

Don’t just count how many people ask to buy. Track how many actually complete the purchase.

Because “I want it” is encouraging.

But “Payment received” is what your business can actually record as a sale.

Now tell me the truth, business owners…

Have you ever spent imaginary money from a customer who never paid? 😂😭

If I checked your WhatsApp today, how much money would I find you losing?

Imagine someone asks for the price of a dress.

You reply. They ask for another colour. You send pictures. They say, “Let me get back to you.”

Then another message comes in. Someone sends proof of payment. Another customer wants a delivery update.

Before you know it, that first customer is buried under dozens of conversations.

Three days later, you’re complaining that sales are slow.

But have you checked what happened to the people who were already interested?

How many enquiries did you receive last week? How many people asked for prices? How many actually paid? How many never heard from you again?

Before spending more money on ads, I’d investigate that.

If your business is already attracting interested people but you have no system for managing those conversations, more enquiries could create even more confusion.

Here’s where I’d start:

* Label WhatsApp conversations by their stage.
* Record serious enquiries and pending orders.
* Follow up with interested customers who haven’t purchased.
* Track payments and delivery updates.
* Set aside time to respond to messages.

You don’t need expensive software to start. A simple system is better than relying entirely on memory.

Your WhatsApp isn’t just where customers chat with you. It’s where sales are won, lost and followed up.

Today’s assignment: Review your recent conversations. Find five people who showed genuine interest but never completed their purchase. Where appropriate, follow up professionally.

You may learn more from those five conversations than from creating another five posts today.

— Bunmi Alofoje
Brand Growth Strategist | Growth Architect

YOUR CUSTOMER HAS PAID. DON’T GO SILENT NOW.

Let me tell you something I’ve noticed about the way businesses handle sales.

Before payment, the messages come quickly.

“Hello, welcome to our page!”

“Thank you for your interest.”

“Please let us know when you’ve made payment.”

Then the customer pays.

And suddenly, silence.

No confirmation. No information about delivery. No explanation of what happens next.

The customer is left wondering:

Did they receive my payment?

When will my order arrive?

Do I need to do anything else?

And sometimes, they have to message you repeatedly just to get basic information.

Please, let’s do better.

When a customer pays you, that shouldn’t be the end of your communication. It should be the beginning of the next stage of their experience.

Confirm the payment.

Explain the next step.

Give realistic delivery or completion timelines.

Keep your promises.

If there’s a delay, communicate before the customer has to chase you.

And after the order is completed, follow up where appropriate.

Why does this matter?

Because customers don’t judge your business only by what they bought. They also remember how you treated them throughout the process.

A beautiful Instagram page may attract them.

A good offer may convince them.

A convenient payment process may help them complete the purchase.

But the experience after payment influences how confident they feel about choosing you again.

And if you want repeat customers, referrals and a reputation people can trust, you cannot afford to ignore that part of the journey.

Don’t just build a process that helps people pay you. Build one that makes them glad they did.

That’s how you turn a transaction into a customer relationship.

Business owners, what happens immediately after a customer pays you? Have you created a clear process, or are you handling everything manually?

Sometimes, the way you ask people to pay you can make buying from you unnecessarily difficult.

Let me explain.

Imagine you’re selling a product for ₦25,000.

A customer is interested. You’ve answered their questions, they’ve agreed to buy, and then you send this message:

“Please transfer ₦25,000 to this account…”

They have to copy the account number, switch apps, open their banking app, type the details, return to your chat and send a screenshot.

It’s not the end of the world. People do it every day.

But now imagine that the customer is buying from several businesses and comparing how easy each one makes the process.

One business sends account details. Another sends a payment link that takes the customer straight to checkout.

Which experience requires less effort?

This is why I pay attention to the little things that happen between “I’m interested” and “I’ve paid.”

Is your payment process clear?

Can customers pay without asking you for extra information?

Do they know exactly how much to pay?

Do they know what happens after payment?

Can they complete the purchase without unnecessary back-and-forth?

You don’t always need a sophisticated website to improve this experience.

Depending on what you sell, a payment link, a simple checkout page or a clear ordering process may be enough to get started.

Of course, payment links don’t automatically guarantee more sales. Your offer, pricing, customer trust and payment options still matter.

But why make a customer work harder than necessary to give you their money?

Make buying from your business as straightforward as possible.

Sometimes, improving your sales process starts with removing one unnecessary step.

When your customer is ready to pay, how easy have you made it for them?

You don’t need a ₦1.5M website. You need one page that sells.

As a business owner, be honest with yourself for a second.

How many times this week have you typed your account number?

How many times have you replied “DM for price”?

How many customers said “let me get back to you” and disappeared after you sent your details?

How many hours did you spend waiting for screenshots, checking your bank app, and confirming “yes, I’ve received it”?

That’s not running a business. That’s running a customer service desk with no help 😅

Here’s what I want you to know: you can fix most of this yourself. Today. With one simple page.

I’m talking about a landing page. One page that tells people what you sell, why it’s worth it, how much it costs, and lets them pay. No back-and-forth.

All your page needs:
→ A headline that says what you sell and who it’s for
→ A real, clear photo of your product
→ 3–5 points on how it helps them
→ 2–3 reviews from real customers
→ Your price and one “Buy Now” button

That’s it.

Now when someone asks “how much?”, you don’t type a long message. You send a link. They read, they pay, you get notified.

Imagine waking up to “You’ve received a payment” instead of 15 unread “How much?” messages.

That’s the difference between being busy and being in business.

As a business owner, you don’t need to look big. You need to be easy to buy from.

Would you build one this weekend? 👇

I WOULD USE AI TO AUDIT MY BUSINESS BEFORE I SPEND MORE MONEY ON MARKETING.

Here’s something I would actually do.

If I felt like my business wasn’t getting enough attention, I wouldn’t immediately tell AI:

“Give me 30 content ideas.”

That’s probably one of the least useful things you can ask it.

I’d give it information about my business first.

I’d tell it:

What I sell.

Who I sell to.

Where I’m located.

My website.

My social media pages.

My current offers.

The kind of customers I’m trying to attract.

Then I’d ask:

“If you were a potential customer discovering this business for the first time, what information would you still need before trusting me enough to enquire?”

That’s a much better question.

Then I’d go further.

I’d ask:

“What could make this business difficult to discover online?”

“What information is missing?”

“What would make a customer choose a competitor instead?”

“What questions would a potential customer probably search before buying this?”

And now AI isn’t just writing captions for me.

It’s helping me look at my business from outside my own head.

But here’s the important part:

I wouldn’t automatically believe everything it tells me.

I’d use the answers as hypotheses.

Then I’d check them.

Search.

Look at my analytics.

Look at customer questions.

Look at reviews.

Look at competitors.

Talk to actual customers.

Because AI can help you see possibilities.

It cannot replace evidence.

And that’s how I want business owners to use AI.

Not:

“AI, run my business.”

But:

“AI, help me investigate my business so I can make a better decision.”

That’s a completely different level of AI use.

And if your business is struggling to be found, don’t just ask AI to create more content.

Ask it to help you understand why.

Before you spend more money trying to get people to notice your business, take a closer look at how easily they can actually find you.

Go and search for your business like a potential customer would. 👀
What do you see?

Let me say something that might sound strange coming from someone who uses AI a lot.

Please learn AI.

Learn how to write better prompts.
Learn how to research with it.
Learn how to analyse information.
Learn how to create content faster.
Learn how to automate repetitive work.

But please don’t get to the point where you cannot think without opening ChatGPT.

Because there’s a difference between:

“AI helps me do this faster.”

and

“I don’t know how to do this unless AI does it for me.”

Those are not the same thing.

If you are a business owner and AI writes every caption for you, do you still know your customer’s language?

If AI creates every strategy for you, can you still diagnose a business problem?

If AI gives you every idea, can you still come up with an idea when the tool isn’t available?

If AI writes every email, proposal and piece of content, can you still communicate your own thinking clearly?

That’s where I think we need to be careful.

AI should increase your capability, not replace it.

For example, don’t just ask AI:

“Write me a marketing strategy.”

Ask:

“Here is my business. Here are my numbers. Here is what I’ve tried. Help me identify the biggest bottleneck. Show me three possible explanations and tell me what information I need to verify before making a decision.”

Now you’re still thinking.

You’re using AI as a thinking partner, not handing it your brain.

And sometimes, after AI gives you an answer, do something very simple:

Question it.

Why did you recommend this?

What assumptions are you making?

What could be wrong?

What information would change your recommendation?

What should I verify independently?

That is AI literacy.

Not just knowing which button to press.

It’s knowing when to use AI, how to use it, when to question it and when to put it down.

Because the goal isn’t to become the person who knows how to use AI for everything.

The goal is to become the person who knows what AI should and should NOT do for them.

And honestly?

That’s a much more valuable skill

Be honest: are you using AI, or is AI using you? 😅👇

They wanted to buy. Paying you was just too stressful.

Let me paint the picture 😅

Customer: "I want to order."
You: "Okay, send ₦15,000 to this account."
Customer: "Is delivery included?"
You: replies 3 hours later
Customer sends money. Then sends screenshot. Then waits.
"Did you receive it?"
"Let me check."
Two days later: "Please when is my order coming?"

That customer might buy once. They won't buy twice.

Getting paid isn't just about collecting money. It's about making it easy, clear and safe for people to give you money.

Here's what that looks like:
→ Your full price, including delivery, stated upfront
→ A payment link or simple checkout, not just an account number in DMs
→ An instant confirmation once payment lands
→ A clear timeline: "You'll receive it in 2–3 days"
→ A receipt or order summary, even a simple one

Every confusing step between "I want it" and "I've paid" is a chance for the customer to change their mind.

Remove the friction, and you'll be surprised how many "I'll get back to you" turn into "I've paid."

Be honest: how do your customers currently pay you? 👇