Sharma: Business Success Depends on Appropriate Use of Language, Communication Techniques

The Program Director, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Mr. Rajiv Sharma, in this interview with Raheem Akingbolu speaks about the importance of the concept in business, leadership and how it integrated into digital marketing. Excerpts:   

Can you please explain what neuro-linguistic programming is all about?

The best way to explain the concept is to break it down for proper understanding. Neuro is the way you think while Linguistics is the way you speak.  Now, programming is the way you behave. If you look at these words and process their meanings, you will then understand that success and results actually depend on three things; the way you think, the way you speak, and the way you behave.  If you have to achieve any success with anything in life, big or small,  you have to make sure that your thinking should be of growth mindset. Your thinking should not be fixed. Then you must know that language is also very important. This is so because nobody will go into your head and see how you think. People you interact with can only evaluate you based on what you tell them and what you speak. It’s this that will demonstrate how you are thinking.

So, that’s where language is important. And in this language, you would be wondering that some companies make a lot of money and become very rich, while some fail and become poor because they lack the nitty-gritty of  these basic things. The difference between a successful company and the failed one could be in the choice of language because their languages are peculiar to companies, depending on their operations.

In fact, the question about how this is applied to business is an everyday question and my response is the same. Neuro linguistics applies to all spheres. It applies to teaching, it applies to coaching, it applies to leadership, it applies to sales, it applies to customer service and it applies to human resources.

Now let’s narrow it down, what are the key components of NLP?

As I shared with you, the first component of NLP is your senses. How many senses do you have? You have five senses. What are the senses and what are they for? The way you see, your looks, the way you hear, the way you speak, the way you smell, the way you taste. Nobody has actually taught us how to use these senses. Was there any school where they taught you what to see, how to see? And what you will see will be different from what she will see and what he will see. For instance, what Dangote can see as an investor, other people cannot see it. But in neuro linguistic programming, the first element is to sharpen your senses. You will be able to see beyond the obvious. You will be able to hear what is not being said. You will be able to enjoy. You will be able to see how that gentleman or lady is feeling. But how many people actually can see their own behaviour?  Majority of people are not even conscious, mindful of where their hands are. People are not mindful of what they are doing at any point in time. So, these are the things about NLP. It makes you more mindful and it creates and raises your consciousness of performing things.

You are a digital marketing expert, how does NLP fit into digital marketing?

Absolutely. One thing I would share in this regard is that we live in a digital world today. In understanding the digital part, we will have to understand the second component of NLP which is hinged on digitisation. For instance, the way a reporter is recording is digital, the way we are looking at social media is digital and so, everything is digital today. We cannot think of our life without digital media. No, we cannot. Whether we like it or we don’t like it, we are living in the digital world. Now what we are concerned with is how we can use neuro linguistic programming to get better results in the digital world. That is where we are playing a very important role as a digital agency.

Let me share this with you. Digital age and digital marketing is all about how you are communicating your message to other people. Yes, every post, every message you see on the digital platforms is actually connecting with the people.  It’s about using the language. It’s going to impact somebody’s mind. And it’s going to impact his or her behaviour. It goes back to anything. If I craft a message which is going to appeal to your mind, you will pause there, and you will watch that message once or twice. And you will think about it. That is the first impact.

What is the second impact or third impact as the case may be?

I’m going there. But like I said, the first impact is; you have to craft your digital message in such a manner that it should impact the human mind. It should impact and connect with someone. For example, I was talking about money, right? You can use a lot of money. You can create a lot of money with NLP if you are using it correctly.  That is possible because when people hear money, they immediately stop doing something and pay more attention. Because it goes to somebody’s subconscious mind. It appeals to somebody’s subconscious mind. Similarly, there are certain words which are very important. And neuro linguistic programming teaches you how to use those words effectively to communicate better, to relate better, to create a rapport with another person. It is one element of digital marketing. The second element of digital marketing is about creating reach. And that reach is because you want to have more reach for your organisation.

That reach is the customer reach that we want to have. And we can actually create a reach of 7 billion people. And that is what digital marketing allows you to achieve. The post you write here in Nigeria can be seen in China by somebody, it can be seen in India by somebody and can be seen in the US by another set of people.

So, there are no boundaries. Whatever you are thinking, you can actually express it. It helps you expand your reach. The technology we use for digital media in NLP is called RACE: R stands for Reach; A stands for Action; C stands for Conversion, and E stands for Engagement.

Can you please shed more light on RACE?

Let’s look at this scenario; you want to expand your reach and you want the customers you are reaching to take some actions.

For example, if somebody is looking at your newspaper and he doesn’t spend money on your newspaper, nothing has happened. So, he has to take action. Then once you have taken the action. The C part of RACE is Conversion. He actually took action; he bought that newspaper. Conversion means when he actually became the customer of your company. He became the customer of your brand. And then last, E- engagement. Now you continually have to engage that customer. Otherwise, he will not stay with you, he will go to another newspaper. So, this RACE methodology, we use for digital media very well, which is again an outcome of neuro linguistic programming approach.

You have to make sure they take action, you have to make sure that they convert into your customers, and you continually engage their mind, you engage their language, and you engage their behaviour. This is how NLP is integrated into digital marketing as well.  

How can the government and businesses leverage NLP to grow the Nigerian economy?

We were the first ones in Nigeria and we asked one question, which we have been able to address. One of the benefits of that critical examination is today’s digitization of Nigerian banks.  Think of those banks in Nigeria, that’s where we started from. We deployed jobs for them. They were the first to enjoy the solution; they were the first companies we deployed for.

You have been in Nigeria for a long time, where do you hope to see NLP in this country in the next 10 years?

Let me tell you something, people around the globe are the same; they are not different. Colour of the skin does not change the colour of the blood. And when you mix the colour of the blood from one and second and third people, it is still the same colour.  you can’t even differentiate which is Chinese blood or which is Indian blood or which is Nigerian blood.

 The way the grass grows here, it is exactly the same way it grows in India. You put the seed, you water it and then it grows. The gravitational force, the way it applies here in Nigeria is the same way it applies in China, India and the US. Globe is one earth; one race, but we as humans have created boundaries. We have created these countries and forgive me for saying we have even divided over days into Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, but all these are alike.

For our convenience, we call it Sunday or today I’m going to church but it is exactly the same with Monday, some people don’t like Mondays.

But we can definitely improve, we have to think about two or three things.  China and India were exactly in the same place where Nigeria is today years back, but they have progressed and Nigeria is stuck. That’s the problem but I still feel that somebody is going to shake this all up and people will rise.

I would ask you, the same Nigerian can’t perform in Nigeria, but he goes to the US and he starts performing, why?  Is it the environment? I want to give you an example, we’re over 200 million people. If we all start throwing water bottles on the road, this place will become dirty, the responsibility is not with the cleaners, it is with every citizen that we should not litter around, we should not make our country look dirty. If you look at Japanese, their concept is so good. If they drink water and the bottles are thrown in the stadium, they will clean the stadium before they leave. They won’t be talking about the cleaners.  Even if you have 10 million cleaners, they can’t clean if over 200 million people start littering around.

So, our responsibility is to create awareness and education. I can’t give you anything, you can’t give anything but you can only educate yourself, I can only educate myself. I can build myself only, build myself, you can only build yourself, there is nothing else you can do for the world.  Can you do anything for your company?  Can you do even one thing for your company? The only thing you can do is you can improve yourself, when you improve yourself, when you build yourself, your company benefits.

How, when and where did you start neuro-linguistic programming?

I started my career in 1990 in an auto company. Ordinarily, I never wanted to be in sales at that point in time. If you go and ask any young professional if he or she wants to start selling door to door? they’ll say “no, I don’t want to be in sales”, so was I.  I never wanted to be in sales. But a lot of the time, the realities of the world hit you hard, you’re looking for a job of your taste and you don’t get it and then you pick up whatever comes your way; so that is what happened with me. I think that’s how I got into sales. I got into sales with the company and the job was to sell cars. So, I took that job as an ad-hoc job.  That’s what happens  to you when you get a job that’s not your taste. So, I didn’t make any sales for six months and then the company decided to sack me and that was when my eyes were open to the realities of life. So, I went to my manager and told him; sir, I really need this job, if you sack me, I will be without a job and I’ve been really trying hard to get a job. 

He told me, yes you need a job, but I don’t need people with this kind of attitude. He told me we don’t need people who are highly qualified and educated, we need people who can do the real job, and I said okay give me a chance.   And he said, okay if you perform well this month, we’ll continue with you and that year I was the best salesperson in the same company.

So, I really learned in the beginning of my career that; if you change your thinking, you can actually change your career; you can do anything in the world that you want.  

 Today, I am rated among the best sales trainers in the world, number six by Best Global Trainers which is a research company. That means I was destined to start a career like that and I was supposed to come here all the way. Today I coach people that don’t fight with the universe. Universe has a plan for you. You know you have a plan for yourself. But wherever the universe has put you, wherever you are, master your game very well.  And when you master it, there is a bigger plan than your plan, which is the universe’s plan.  So, that really changed the way I saw things. And then after that, there was no going back.  There was no looking back. And I got promotions and promotions and promotions because my mindset changed. 

So, in 2013 I invented a model called the MARK model. M stands for Mindset, A stands for Action, R stands for Repetition, K stands for Knowledge. 

You may be having a great mindset, but if you don’t take action, nothing is going to happen. If you keep thinking, oh, great things are going to happen and you keep lying on the bed and you don’t do anything, nothing is going to change around you. You have to get out of your comfort zone. You have to get out of your bed and then you have to start taking proactive actions. And those actions are going to either take you towards your goal or will either take you away from your goals. Whatever actions you take are either moving you towards that vision that you want to achieve or they are taking you away from that vision that you want to be. 

A lot of people want to create wealth. A lot of people want to make money. How many people are taking good actions, proactive actions towards creating that wealth for themselves? Or are they busy just scrolling on social media, watching Instagram and Facebook? Or are they taking some actions to create that wealth for themselves? Once you identify that you are taking some proactive actions, one action will not get you that result that you want. You need to repeat those actions again and again and again. And when you repeat, you attain mastery, self-mastery.

And that self-mastery will be the new evolution of knowledge for you. You are going to achieve new knowledge out of that. And when you come out with new knowledge, the world respects you. 

As I came out with the MARK model, the world appreciates you. The world says that’s something we can try.  Today there are more than 200,000 professionals across the globe, those who are practicing the MARK model. That is mindset to action to repetition to knowledge. And this is changing the results they get. This is transforming their life to the next level. So, I can go on and on and on and on.   

In all, I think I have trained and coached more than 700,000 people in 45 countries in the art of neuro-linguistic programming. And I traveled well because I love to educate people. I love to help economies and countries build businesses. I help companies to uplift their service, to uplift their sales and leadership so that they can perform better.