Business Tips That Can Make You the Game Changer

Some months ago, I jokingly shared a story around a delicacy (buns) I liked so much on my personal Facebook page. Aside from the fact that I enjoyed the taste of the buns, the price was fair when compared with its richness.

It was my handiest delicacy especially during the Covid 19 lockdown. I hailed the woman who made that delicacy to high heavens. I encouraged friends to try it out especially as their breakfast.

But after sometime, my favorite buns became so scarce that I had to trek long distance looking for some to buy. I tried to reach the woman who prepared it to no avail. I was wondering why the woman would stop making available a delicacy that was already garnering more acceptability among consumers.

On enquiry I was told that the woman refused to teach her staff, including her family members how to prepare the buns. The recipe was her trade secret. She mixed the recipes indoors and brought it out for her workers to bake. That wasn’t a bad thing, but doesn’t mean there was no family member, or worker she could trust with that ‘secret’ recipe.

I understood the husband fell sick and she had to spent weeks in the hospital attending to him. Of course you know that the implication is that the business has to wait till she returns home to mix the recipe. Within that period of scarcity, I discovered other alternatives that still gave me a rich breakfast. Till this moment, she only prepares these buns periodically, possibly when family pressure (sick husband) eases up.

But guess what? I’ve long walked away into another good alternative. I guess many people like me too have resorted to eating other brands of buns.

That is the consequences of flying solo on shaky winds. She built wall instead of a team. That does not look like the way to keep your trade secret.

As an entrepreneur, the end in most cases is buried in an unknown sea. It is not mostly known. It is usually not clear. But don’t worry, all you need is to act like a sailor who knows that the sea is stormy and yet he never refrains from sailing.

Let me explain. The founder of Facebook never knew that what he started as a social platform to help friends stay in touch would grow to make him one of the richest people in the world. It was just a simple idea with little or no business and profit outlook at first. In fact, it was just a social interactive platform targeted at bringing friends together. But through constant strategizing, creative planning on how to make it a profit-oriented company, Facebook has become a billion-dollar venture today.

Just allow yourself first to fall in love with finding a solution. Once you go with this mindset of proffering solution to a problem, then working around it consistently may give you the breakthrough you need.

Don’t hurry to build empire. Just conceptualize an idea first. Your idea will build the empire.

Entrepreneurship doesn’t belong to the feeble-minded or people with fixed mindset. I have failed in different business attempts. I have been betrayed by those that shouldn’t have betrayed me. I have been messed up with so much that a business I sank good amount of money ended just the same day we launched. I didn’t get back a dime as return on investment or profit. The manager ran away at night with the materials and equipment I entrusted in his care same day we launched.

So, I know what it means to fail again and again. I know the heartache that goes with starting and running a business. I know the frustration. But an entrepreneur doesn’t fail. He only experiences setbacks. Those setbacks are what an entrepreneur learns from. This attitude of soaring amidst threatening wind is called having a progressive mindset. Every entrepreneur needs this mindset. Remember, failure is not the opposite of success. Failure means an indication that you have made a good attempt at succeeding.

Staying awake when others are sleeping; staying up late and waking up early to rejig plans; shuttling between your family, business and meeting clients, absorbing backlash and criticisms from customers, and countless other challenges are enough to make an entrepreneur go insane and get frustrated out of business. But that’s not the winners’ way.

In my research and interactions with successful entrepreneurs, all of them have one thing in common. They have so mastered certain arts that keep them positive, sane and strong amidst business turbulence and these are what I’m going to share with you.

• Successful entrepreneurs practice detachment:
  Detachment is not being indifference to what you do. But it is an art that helps you to work hard while at the same time accepting failures as a path to success. Successful entrepreneurs do not let challenges eat them up. They see their challenges as necessary evil and they see their success as a gift for being consistent and persistent.
• Successful entrepreneurs delegate functions and authorities.
  If you’re the kind of entrepreneur that believes that sharing your views, plans and strategies with team members and staff is tantamount to selling out your business secret, I can assure you that you will not live long enough to enjoy your labor. For heaven’s sake, delegate functions. Share ideas with staff and team members and receive same from them. Don’t carry the entire burden on your shoulders. It will kill you faster.
• Successful entrepreneurs engage in mind-enriching activities; healthy exercises and lifestyles:
  Yoga and simple meditation help you to be mentally alert, spiritually sound, morally grounded and physically agile. Among the benefits of yoga include stirring silent willpower that have perennially laid dormant in you, waking your creative consciousness, sharpening your intuitiveness and above all, seeing the world and everything with empathetic eyes. They play mind-enriching game s like Chess and read mind-enriching books.

Simple message: Master your mind, your thoughts and action and learn how to swim the tides as fun.

Mulling ideas from mentors, experts, family friends, creative friends in your circle helps you to gather more ideas. Have league of creative advisors. Don’t wear yourself out with the fear that your idea would be stolen. If you trust your clique, you have no fear discussing your ideas with them. No one is actually stealing your idea in most cases. This unfounded fear has denied many entrepreneurs creative and good advices. In sharing your ideas, tell people what you are doing or what you are about to do. Let the “how” to do it come from them.

Just yesterday, while I was checking up on friends on social media, I decided to say hello to my instructor. In fact I wanted to tell him how much his idea and supports have helped my work. He is one person that has passion in raising youngsters who will dominate the tech industry.

I shared my plans to start a TV program on entrepreneurship. I told him that his courses enriched the book I’m writing and the career I’m resorting to. He just left few lines of advice and encouragement. He suggested just one approach I could take to dominate business ideation/life-skill consultancy in my country and continent.

This piece of advice has become the bigger picture of what I’m doing and hope to do. This happened because I shared my ideas with someone I knew would give just the right advice.

As an entrepreneur, nothing creates better emotive connection between your business and your audience, including target customers than being socially responsible. Don’t just do well (by posting good returns on investment), do good as well. Beyond raking in profits, help to solve problem. Impact lives socially. Do it and you’ll have people becoming your brand ambassadors without you paying a dime. Give a bit of yourself, your product or services, a bit of your time and your reward will marvel you. It is like sowing a seed in time. During this lockdown, we added computer training services to our range of services. What did we do? We offered free one week computer training. People turned up. Few days afterwards, we began to see people coming in to patronize our services. This is the power of being socially responsible. It doesn’t matter what products or services you offer, let people feel your giving side. If you sell food, choose a special day and feed the destitute. If you have a massive grocery, donate some groceries (even those that would soon be off the shelf) to the needy within your immediate environment.

A particular shopping mall in Abuja decided to construct a community road. The residents were so pleased with that act of kindness that they passed a resolution that residents should shop from that mall. Today, despite other shopping malls springing up around that vicinity, that shopping mall has continued to do better than the others in terms of patronage.

Do you intend to stay in business and stay long and strong in that business? If your answer is YES, you must:

1. Be abreast with dynamism occurring in that sector. Stay well informed about your sector
2. You must not trivialize changes, competition, no matter how minute they appear at first
3. Always conduct industry research, SWOT (Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) on your your business and that of your competitors’.
4. Be close, at any time to your industry actors such as regulators, researchers, publications, association, opinion leaders, bloggers and editors etc. It helps you peep into the future and what is coming and this helps you to plan ahead of time
5. Use tools and analytics to identify, compare and contrast opinions and activities of competitors.. ..tools like GOOGLE TREND may help to identify the direction customers are going in terms of choices, trends etc.

As a small business owner, there are smart ways to shut your business and personality to a limelight without having to spend fortunes in promotion. One of the ways is to seek media audience with media influencers. Imagine appearing on stage as an entrepreneur and being interviewed by people like Oprah Winfrey or appearing on stage to talk about your line of business with other gurus in the field. This strategy works like magic. For instance, a friend initiated a project that he wanted to leverage to talk about Small and Medium Promotions. A mentor told him that the best way to shoot to limelight is to seek an interview with the big boys in the banking industry, trade industries, including successful entrepreneurs. When this happens, people will begin to place you in that class and your brand is rated as such.

I always advise, don’t float personal businesses to be managed by friends, family members or those close to you with the intention that the right thing will be done even when you’re not there. Believe me, such businesses end up badly with friends, family members. And when this happens, close pals will turn enemies and family members will turn wolves. Avoid any floating any business you’ll not personally be part of the everyday manager, and planner. Learn to separate businesses from sentiments of being close either as friends or family members. Only smart friends and family members who see through your eyes should be part of your business. Lest, keep them off if they have nothing to add to the growth of your business. It is not being insensitive, it is being smart.

Whatever your product or service is, always ensure that your customers seamlessly access them. If they’re technology-driven business, use the less complex technology. Don’t make your business a learning ground for customers. No one wants to waste his or her precious time figuring out how to navigate patronage of your services. From your call to action buttons to other options, use simple techniques and technologies.

Let me explain this. I used one of the most popular courier companies. But each time I went there, I spend more than one hour waiting to be attended to. The workers lack receptive attitude. They were too officious and as a credit-customer, I discovered that they give more attention to those that paid cash on the spot. Every staff seems to be more concerned with how many of cash-customers they would attend to. I complained to the management that I spent much time waiting to be attended to. I was simply told to look for a branch of the office that’s less busy and willing to hurry up attending to me. I felt offended. I saw this ‘we’ve arrived mentality”. I started exploring options. I discovered that another company can offer same service faster at less cost. I had discussion with the manager of the new courier company. He told me that one of the value added services they’re going to avail me was coming to my office to pick-up my mails. Surprisingly, my parcels arrive faster with this new company. They come to my office to pick these mails. Their despatchers in most cases simply breezed in to know if we had parcels and to say hello to us. We developed an emotive connection with them. Soon afterwards, the old courier company discovered that we were not coming again, they sent some management staff to lobby us back. They made new offers, including coming to pick our mails and giving us discounts and incentives. They said our organization is the second largest customer they had. On many occasions, we received their delegates from their head office coming to market us and to plead we return. It was late. They made business difficult for us and our closest option was to switch.

You have a product or a service you want the customers to patronize. How do you convince a potential customer that, of millions of products and services in the market, your product has some unique qualities that’s worth considering. It all boils down to Communication. Communicate effectively. Whether in face to face presentation, whether via online and offline, your words should be gripping enough to make a customer consider your product. Great Communication skill inspires and attract people. When people are spellbound by the power of your words, the next thing is emotional connection which in turn translate to consideration of your product or service

The first time I came across this advice from a business mentor, I remember laughing laudably enough that my colleagues thought I won a lottery. Believe me, the idea enthused me so much that I share it anywhere I go to discuss entrepreneurship. As an entrepreneur, avoid being caught in the web of business meetings unless that meeting will cause a cheque to be handed to you. Don’t go out for meetings that won’t bring in instant money. Reduce the frequency of meetings that won’t turn to good business opportunities. Don’t make your office a gathering spot for all kinds of business meetings unless you’re certain that meeting is going to increase the size of your business pockets. You just gotta be this selfish because nothing takes much time from your productive times than meetings. Again, no matter what the case is, opt for brief meetings even if it’s going to get you good money. Successful businesses are not all about COFFEE MEETINGS. It’s all about making good use of your time. Learn not to say YEAH to every meeting invitation. Even while in one, be straight to the point and make it brief. Accept invitations that can lead to conversions and good business opportunities, lest stay back home on that seat.

The first stage of entrepreneurship is to conceive a business idea. After that, an entrepreneur begins to work on actualization and commercialization of the idea. But idea is like a raw diamond that must be tested, tried and refined in a raging furnace. That is to say, idea that is not refined and tested could plunge the entrepreneur. You must subject your idea to these tests.

1. Is my idea valid and worth every fund I’m putting into it?
2. Do I have the necessary and prerequisite knowledge and skills to bring this idea to fruition?
3. Will my idea be profitable after I have invested time, money and all other resources?
4. Is my idea competitive? Can it stand out from the crowd and already saturated market?
5. How far can I sustain this idea to ensure that it remains in tune with emerging innovations and changes.
6. What are my business value propositions?

Whenever I’m asked the question, who an entrepreneur is, I always have this answer “An entrepreneur is an initiator, a strategist, a dreamer, a doer, an executioner, a human – compassionate, creative, witty, die-hard, resilient, prone to fall, willing to rise. He or she is that man, that woman who sees a vacuum that needs to be filled, a need that needs to be soothes, a desire that needs to be filled. An entrepreneur sees, tries, fails, cries, wakes, tries again, and sustains a vision till it comes to fruition. He or she initiates ideas, plans through the idea, make the move, gathers a team, lead a team, teach the team, learn from the team, shares with the team, grooms the team and celebrates with the team. He or she is an empire builder, a learner, a teacher, a mobilizer, a gatekeeper of a dynasty, a receiver of brutal backlash, a celebrator of success; an achiever, a builder, an encourager, a skilled marketer, a brilliant negotiator, a trailblazer, a trainer, a conscious planner, an opportunity grabber, a creator, a co-creator, a seeker, an advisor, a receptor, a processor, a balancer, a pitcher, a bargainer, a risk-taker, a determined and rugged investor, a success enthusiast, a money lover, a money-loser, a money-gainer, a failure hater, a success lover, a multiplier, a communicator, a goal-digger, a treasure-hunter, a philanthropist, a humanist, a problem solver.

What does promotion mean to you as an entrepreneur? Promotion should be targeting at raking in and activating new patronage while at the same time retaining old and existing patronizers. This promotion requires different layers and medium of communications. They must be done with the most incisive and gripping contents. Those contents must educate, enliven and entertain. Target new audience. Retarget old audience. And reengage inactive audience and customers. Use the right channels of communications. Leverage mostly the social media platforms. This is because they may be relatively cheaper than other traditional marketing platforms and options. Your communications strategies and channels have to be business oriented ones. Your contents must be consistent and incisive. Don’t leave any audience. Target all needed audience and reach them through the channels that are result-oriented. Target and retarget. Be consistent. Find your audience and make sure you are wherever they are.

Every entrepreneur needs to do these three things if you must become successful in your course.

1. Create A life mission and engrave it in your heart, in your actionable activities, and in all you do. Your life mission is the wee bell that should ring in your head any moment you wake up. You should be able to stir a consciousness that helps you drive at your life mission. Sleep it. Dream it. Act it and live by it. Your life mission is a road map to where you want to be and the height you want your business to reach.
2. Great attainable goals. The easiest in every human effort is to set goals. We set goals easily but seldom reach our goals. Most times we set emotion-laden goals. We set others’ goals Instead of our own goals. We want to be like others. We envy others and these push us to set goals. The moment the reality Dawn’s on us that those goals are not attainable, we fizzle out and the goals become like bubbles in the winds banquet. Goals are goals if they are SMART.
3. Look for a mentor: Mentoring is an indispensable part of entrepreneurship. Mentors help us nurture our ideas to fruition. They encourage us when our guys wane. They speak seed of life and succeed down our lives. They hold us by the hands and help us walk through all the rungs to the top. They’re living Messiahs. They teach us what we were never taught within the walls of the universities. They enrich our mind, businesses with their wealth of experience. Whatever you seek to do, please look for a sound mentor.

What’s your business value proposition? Your value proposition are your deliverables to your customers. It is that strong proposition that a customer remembers about you that is unique, gripping and commands loyalty. For a customer to leave countless other products to opt for your product or service, there must be a value you’re adding to the customers life that competitors are not adding. That brings us to the question, what is Business value proposition. It is collection of proposals and deliverables that hype is emotively connected to your brand or product. It is an embodiment of several factors and values you have over competitors. It is your value proposition that helps convert customers and make them loyal and brand ambassadors. Again, your value proposition is your strongest selling points. So as an entrepreneur, until you have identified your value proposition, project them convincingly, sales growth will remain far from you. Succinctly put, you’re not in business without value proposition.

Let me explain. Oak tree didn’t grow overnight to become the big tree we see. It was once a tiny seed that grew feebly with tender branches. Very frail, tender and tiny and could be threatened by the smallest winds. That tiny tree will someday grow into a static huge tree that cannot be hauled down by the strongest of all storms and winds. Having said that, as a budding Entrepreneur, do never allow yourself to be tempted into rushing to another line of business or industry, no matter how juicy it looks. Stay on what you are doing. Stay there, build it, nurture it till it becomes like an oak tree. Don’t rush into other lines of business when your regular business has not gained deep root. People and friends will approach you with juicy business plans/proposals and powerful viability studies of other business opportunities. Stay where you are. Don’t move.

Even if you need to diversify, stay on the same industry and explore other opportunities therein. Let me give you an instance.

My brother is a printer. A time came he planned to leave printing to trading on clothing. He felt there were too many other entrants into that line of business. It didn’t work out well. He was robbed of all his business capital during one of his trips to buy the clothing. He was frustrated out of his new line of business by armed robbers. He returned back to printing. Since much wasn’t coming because there are so many printers in town, he took a bold step and upped his game. He went into book publishing. He began to engage ghost writers who will write school books which he publishes. That made a lot of difference in his business. Rather than leaving the printing industry, he sought for other opportunities that exist in the industry.

If you own a food cafe, don’t be in a hurry to switch into shoe making industry. Instead you could explore other opportunities within the food industry. You could introduce a pure vegetarian line to cater for the needs of people with special dietary needs. You could as well begin to produce smoothies from organically grown fruits. This way, you’re still in the same food industry. Build your brand around the industry you’re versatile in.

I’d like to share this story. In my boyish days, Ben was my best mechanic. He was so good at his work. We went to the club together. Don’t forget Ben was my mechanic. How can one’s mechanic suddenly become his pal that they rocked together? Aside from being truthful, he knew the power of availing his customers value added services.
Imagine having a mechanic you almost share your car with. Imagine your mechanic telling you that he’ll use your car tomorrow to visit his girlfriend and you oblige him that request. Ben graduated from just being my mechanic to being my close bobby-let’s-go friend. That was how close we were. How did it all start. My car broke down one day along the expressway. I called Ben and told him that the car suddenly stopped and I didn’t know what to do. He immediately picked a cab and met me there. Not only that he met me, when he couldn’t figure out what the problem was, he simply told me to hand over the keys and go attend to my appointment. Ben made arrangement and towed the car to his workshop.
He fixed the car before I got there and gave it to car cleaners to give the car a thorough washing.

When I came to his workshop, I saw a neater car, thoroughly washed. He has towed it to his shop. He took the burden off my shoulder. When I asked for the bill, Ben only billed me for the services fixing the car. The towing and washing were value added services. He won me over and he remained my trusted mechanic until I left the shores of Nigeria. I referred people to him. I sang his praises. That’s the power of Value Added Services.

If you’re a mechanic, after fixing a car for your customer, get it washed. The person in most cases will gift you more than what you spend keeping his car clean. Whatever you do, think up ways to put smiles on your customers’ faces.

Let me explain. Last week my partner and I visited one of the most patriotic parliamentarians. He has always stood out among others as a promoter of intellectualism and creativity among the youths. From his house, we drove straight to his private office. We discussed politics, economy and moral dimensions of leadership. He was perhaps disappointed when I categorically told him that till I join my ancestors, I don’t have plans to join active politics. He asked how I hope to contribute my quota towards national development. “Well, I can serve my nation and humanity at any level without holding elective position”.
Midway, he stepped out. I told my partner I was going to redirect the course of the next discussions when he comes back. Such audacity, in a country where you don’t dare speak when a ‘bigman is speaking’. You only sit like zombie and answer Yes Sir to whatever bigmen say. That is not humility. It is simply wasting good opportunity to market ideals and ideas. I won’t be that humble as not to engage him in discussion that could lead to good Opportunities. If he accepts my position, he can sponsor a bill that will better the lots of upcoming and existing entrepreneurs. It’s a win win thing.

Frankly, on his return to his seat, I dived into a whole new theme. Empowerment, entrepreneurship and how SME could be leveraged upon to rejig the economy. I spoke authoritatively on the vast opportunities that lay untapped in Nigeria and Africa. My dear parliamentarian immediately became an accidental discipline of SME promotion and skilled based education as a catalyst for national growth and development. Now, new opportunities are in the offing. Humility doesn’t not exist with an entrepreneur. Only opportunity exists. Kill humility that won’t lead to opportunities.

For some of us, our sole purpose of seeking to become entrepreneurs is just to raise quick money and travel for holidays to distant shores, and have as much fun as we want to have. That’s great. We all enjoy the bliss-filled side of life. Why not, we all like to sit by the seashores of roaring seas in the Bahamas or in Colombo. But can I shock you? Entrepreneurs are among people who rarely think about fun. This is not to say they don’t make out time for it. They rarely do. Not because they don’t like to catch a glimpse of heaven on earth, but they’re constantly busy thinking up new ideas, working out new phases and staying up late planning, and re-planning.

Sometimes I hold the opinion that we should stop congratulating entrepreneurs who have recorded some feats in their line of endeavors. We should just sympathize with them. That feat took a toll on them…
That said, entrepreneurship is about obstacles and more obstacles. Challenges and pressures are always knocking at their doorsteps. Every entrepreneur needs to master the arts of overcoming Obstacles. Business obstacles. Government obstacles. Staff obstacles. Operational obstacles and financial obstacles.

Therefore, it is necessary that you always take stock of real and perceived obstacles. You should prepare your mind on how to mitigate the effect of obstacles because they MUST come. They must challenge your resolve as an entrepreneur. But the greatest antidote to obstacles as an entrepreneur is to adopt positive and progressive mindset. I’ll treat this later.

Yes, whatever product or service you’re offering, you just have to know that your customers are all in the social media. Meet them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, etc. It is funny to hear people say, “social media and internet is time consuming. I’d better use my time in creating products and offering services than spending it on social media”. Believe it, you’re hurrying your business to extinction with that mentality. All the businesses, all the contacts, all the target audience, all the customers are waiting for you on the social media. Meet them there. The social behaviors of buyers are changing. Competition is becoming stiffer by the day. There are pool of information on the internet today that guide the buyer and influences his decision and choices. There are factors that are shaping the interest of buyers. How will you survive in business if you are not surfing out these stuff? You’ll sail rudderless down the deep. Social media marketing is an integral part of your business. If you’re busy that you can’t spend time on social media, engage a Social Media Marketer or influencer who creates the needed awareness for your products or services; who initiates engagements and creates sales for you. No matter what products or services you offer, you need social media to sell, engage, create awareness and garner followers. A mechanic needs a strong presence on social media. A Yoga instructor needs strong social media presence. A tailor, a chef, a cleaner, a house fumigator, just everyone in business needs strong social media presence.

Make maximum use of all the social media platforms.

Taking loan at the nurturing stage of your business is dangerous. Good enough, banks are reluctant to fund businesses that are at their incubation level. Banks and venture capitals may lean towards a fallback (collateral) from you. Don’t stake your personal property as collateral for a business that has not been grounded. Banks are friends of successful people. Except for your deposits, banks would not want to open their doors to businesses that only approach them for loans. They only want to be there when you have broken all the barriers and become successful. If possible start small with the little you have. Borrow from friends and family members. Don’t borrow from bank in the name of loan. Go for grants. Go for partnership where necessary. Search out for investors who are willing to stake their funds for the business. Bank loans are usually only necessary when you intend to consolidate or expand. Loans are not necessarily at the trial stage of your business. Above all, become more financially responsible. Track your expenses daily. Control your expenditures even when more money begins to hit your purse. Plough back. Research, upscale and build a brand that lasts.

One of my favorite songs is Rod Stewart’s “First cut is the deepest”. As a budding Entrepreneur, that song makes more meaning to me now. In whatever you’re offering as service or product, ensure you leave an indelible impression in the hearts of whoever that patronizes you at your first offer. Don’t always believe in second chance to impress your customers. Let me explain. If you’re in the business of selling food and I had a meal I didn’t like from your restaurant and that was my first time of eating from your restaurant, there’s every possibility I will never eat from your restaurant again. My conclusion will be “they make bad food there”. But if your food tasted nice the first day I ate from your restaurant, I’ll believe good food is a norm in your restaurant. Even if you added much salt on a second visit, I can easily conclude that it was a mistake from one of your chefs. I will stand by you.

That’s how important the “First Impression” is. In business proposals, let the very first paragraph catch the attention. If it is advert, let the first sentence capture the mind of your target audience. If it is a business discussion with a would-be customer or investor, make good use of your first “thirty seconds to one minute”. If you’re talking to a large audience, start with strong impression. Get them off their feet first, after which your BLUNDER IS ALLOWED. Don’t hide the juice at the bottom and expect people to dig it up. You’re burying your business by so doing. A sage once said “Cut deep and wide”. Today, I say CUT DEEP AND WIDE.

Do you know how to win and keep loyal customers? Create emotive connection with them. Peep into their hearts and go a little above just being official. Stay in touch with your customers. Ring them up from time to time. Attend their social functions such as birthdays and other anniversaries. Give them occasional and special discounts. Host them occasionally. Reward them. Above all stay in touch. How do you feel after your technician fixed your house AC and calls you after some days to ask if the AC is working well? You simply feel he cares. You simply believe that he’s such a nice guy who wants your best. That’s the power of Emotive connection. Look for everything that makes a customer stick by your products or services. Loyal customers are brand ambassadors who don’t care for monetary rewards.

Relationship with your customers is paramount in your business. Study shows 62% of your customers leave because they’re poorly treated or their complaints poorly handled. Amazon thrives on good customer service. There are other companies too that make their customer relationship their strongest selling point. Let me share this with you. In the small business I run, an SOS was sent to me by my staff who has run into a problem with a customer. He was finding it difficult to convince a customer to sit and wait for a transfer she has done to drop in the account. The customer was sick and was rushing to the hospital. The bank has made deduction from the customers account, but we have not received alert. Because of previous experiences, we tell customers that prefer to do transfers that we can only deal if we receive alert. When I arrived our business center, I didn’t bother to hear from my staff. I just didn’t want to hear about the rules we have set. I needed the satisfaction of the customer. It was in that lockdown period (don’t worry, we too are in the essential services sector). The customer needed to rush to the hospital. What did I do? I asked the customer what we could do to soothe her condition. She wasn’t willing to wait till the money drops. I did something. I returned her full pay and told her to first go for her treatment. She was surprised. She promised to get back to us after taking care of herself. Our money and her money were all in her hands. I let her go to the bewilderment of my staff. My staff was like “she may never return back with our money”. I said, whether she returns on not, we’ll still be in business. About 8 days afterwards, she returned. We didn’t get the alert after 7 days. The transfer she did bounced back to her account. She apologized and returned back our money. She was healthier now. Till date, she’s one of our best customers. We didn’t emphasis on money. We showed empathy and that built a trust. Don’t think you have to have a special customer service department to have your customers buy from you. No. Train every of your staff on the art of good customer relations. From the person at the door who opens the door to let the customers in, to the receptionist, every one of your staff should be trained on sound customers Service. Simply put, do not allow a customer leave if his or her complaint has not been satisfactorily handled. Until he or she wears a new smile and feels satisfied, don’t let him walk away from that door. The tendency is that he or she may never return no matter how indispensable you count your products or services.

In business, be a shepherd and not a herder. A shepherd stays with his flock in times of danger. A herder flees his flock and seeks a safe zone for his dear life. Let me explain. Some years ago, I bought a bottle of Tahitian Noni (Formor Tahitian Noni) and it was expressly written boldly on the bottle “satisfaction or full money back”. Wow, that was a huge attraction. What readily struck my mind was “for a company to sound this sure, their product must be very effective”. I went for it. I bought more bottles and true to their guarantee, the product worked like magic. Two things worked here. The Guarantee from the company and my mindset. Your mindset towards a product has a way it affects the effectiveness of that product. The mind is powerful. As an entrepreneur, always give your customers guarantee. If you’re selling a book to them, let them know you’re willing to refund them full money if the book didn’t interest them. Once you said that, whether the book is great or not, it leaves an impression in their mind… It must be an interesting, powerful book. Give them guarantees. It builds trust. It braces credibility. More than most of those who bought from you on guarantees never returned for refunds. At worse, they may ask for better alternative. Use guarantee as a bait. But be wise about it.

You’re in business not for yourself but for those who have need of what you’re offering. If your products and services are not targeted at soothing the needs of your customers and clients, you’re simply not in business. Experts have always told us to listen to your customers. Go with what they say, what they want and what they need. Remember, as an entrepreneur, it is not about you, it’s about your customers and clients’ needs. Don’t offer what you have. Offer what they need. Stay where they are.

Your post-meeting activities and follow-up with clients leave a huge impression about the kind of entrepreneur you are and how business-conscious you are. What you could do after every meeting and appointment gives your clients an insight into what to expect from you. Your post-meeting activities can help you win the loyalty of your customers. It is as important as what you have done before and during the meeting. While some of us sit back in our comfort zone after meetings with our customers, or associates, hoping that our phone will soon ring with that message “approved, “we’re game”, “we’ll buy from you”. These tips will help you after your meetings with prospective customers to further prove to them that you are a goal-getter and a practical entrepreneur.
Do these during and after the interview:
a) Ask your prospective customer when and how you might follow up on them
b) As for business cards
c) Write down other things you could say as a follow up to your earlier discussion
d) Write or text a “Thank you” note to your prospective customers and explain a few other things you may have omitted during the meeting. Reiterate your desire and capability to add value to their needs if they choose to patronize you.

These few are winning ways of goal-getters. Actions like these give the employer the impression that you are a goal-getter.

What do I mean? Food is a “need”, but lottery is a want. We can’t live without food but we can live all our lives without playing lottery. But a makeshift lottery center will be busier than a well-furnished restaurant. That’s my point. The millennial have no needs. They only have wants. Cash in.

opportunities, weaknesses and threats. Do same for your competitors. From time to time, take stock of your competitors’ activities to know where their strengths, and weaknesses. When you understand their strength, take your business on a path that would dwarf their strength. When you uncover their weaknesses, cash in right away and create your own opportunity from their weakness. But be smart about it.
Things you should always check around your competitors:
* Check their brand presence
* Check their packaging
* Run social media checks on them to know where they are
* Check why consumers prefer their products
* Check what competitors are not doing right
* Dig up what could be a threat to their existence and avoid that pitfall
* Check for untapped market and opportunities

In business, any identified weakness that you didn’t correct and any identified opportunity you didn’t cash in on could become threat to your business existence.

Your competitors are not your enemies. They are your propellers. They wake you up from your sluggish slumber. They stir your feet to the race. Staying ahead of them in business is an art, possibly greater than many other business arts. SWOT helps you to know what you need about your competitors and what you need to do stay afloat.

1. a) Know the activities of your competitors
2. b) Carry periodic SWOT of your competitors’ product or services with your team. Identify where they’re strong and try to go a step further ahead of them. Identify their weak points and cash in. 
3. c) Ensure you have a better product or service
4. d) Have smarter Marketing strategy
5. e) Have an efficient customer service
6. f) Simplify your way of dealing with your customers. Ease of doing business is a plus for you. If your customers are mostly online, use very simple technology that

Until a budding entrepreneur understands that business empires are not built overnight, his zeal and passion will wear out and fizzle out as fast as bubbles burst in the winds.

Successful business starts first by igniting a passion to solve a problem. Just identify a problem from your immediate environment and then stir a passion to solve that problem. Don’t look for a foreign problem to solve. Look for problems within you and your immediate environment to solve. The man behind Facebook never targeted the billions of Facebook users across the world when he set out to build Facebook. He just had in mind friends within his immediate environment (his college pals). He started with handy friends and today, Facebook has become something more than a platform that caters for the social needs of college friends.

Experts say that it takes between 3 to 5years consistent effort to build a business empire that will last and stand the test of time.  Believe me, it may be more. These years are mostly years of trial and errors. Yes of losses and lessons that come with losses .

Have you wondered why in preparing a feasibility study, you make provision for 3 years losses? You assume that your first three years will be losses and lessons.

In reality, NO to an entrepreneur doesn’t connote rejection. It’s simply a challenge that he has to up his game, rejig his strategy or upgrade his services. So when customers, clients and business partners say NO, they don’t necessarily mean your offer is rejected. They meant to say, rejig your offer and come up better. We are ready for you the moment you are ready for us. That is the meaning of “NO” to an entrepreneur with growth mindset.

Fear to an entrepreneur is a propeller that takes him to his height. It is natural to fear what tomorrow holds, what may befall your business or what may follow your efforts at the new business you want to delve into. Failure is not the opposite of success but a reminder that you have tried and need to do better.

Courage is the greatest attribute of every successful entrepreneur. Do not counsel with your fear, council with your courage and resilience. Successful entrepreneurs council with their courage and not with their fears.

Study shows 62% of your customers leave because they’re poorly treated or their complaints poorly handled. Do you wonder why companies like Amazon keeps soaring? Amazon thrives on good customer service. There are other companies too that make their customer relationship their strongest selling point. Let me share this with you. In the small business I run, an SOS was sent to me by my staff who has run into a problem with a customer. He was finding it difficult to convince a customer to sit and wait for a transfer she has done to drop in the account. The customer was sick and was rushing to the hospital. The bank has made deduction from the customer’s account, but we have not received a credit alert in our company’s account. Internet banking can be a challenge in developing countries. Because of previous experiences, we tell customers that prefer to do debit cards that we can only deal if we receive credit alert. When I arrived our business center, I didn’t bother to hear from my staff. I just didn’t want to hear about the rules we have set. I needed the satisfaction of the customer. It was in that lockdown period (don’t worry, we too are in the essential services sector). The customer needed to rush to the hospital. What did I do? I asked the customer what we could do to soothe her condition. She wasn’t willing to wait till the money drops. I did something surprising to my staff. I returned her full pay and told her to first go for her treatment. She was surprised. She promised to get back to us after taking care of herself. Our money and her money were all in her hands. I let her go to the bewilderment of my staff. My staff was like “she may never return back with our money”. I said, whether she returns on not, we’ll still be in business.

About 8 days afterwards, she returned. We didn’t get the alert. The transfer she did bounced back to her account. She apologized and returned back our money. She was healthier now. Till date, she’s one of our best customers. We didn’t emphasis on money. We showed empathy and that built a trust.

Don’t think you have to have a special customer service department to have your customers buy from you. No. Train every staff on the art of good customer relations. From the person at the door who lets the customers in, to the receptionist, every one of your staff should be trained on sound customers service and relations.

Simply put, do not allow a customer leave if his or her complaint has not been satisfactorily handled. Until he or she wears a new smile and feels satisfied, don’t let him walk away from that door. The tendency is that he or she may never return no matter how indispensable you count your products or services.

A banker friend once told me that he was going to bend the rules for my sake. But he would never break the rules. Because of recent bad loans the bank has recorded, a circular was sent to all the bank managers to consider halting extending loans. I had a business project that I needed fund for. My friend has known me awhile. I have banked with his branch for decades. Trust has been built. He knew we have a philosophy that borders on integrity and trust in our company. When he looked at my loan proposal, and after adding one and two, he knew extending the loan was not bad despite the bank’s recent directive. He extended the loan to our company. Every successful entrepreneur has had to reach a point where he or she has to make decisions that may require bending the rules to get result. If you must bend the rule, please go ahead. But be sure it is a worthwhile course. Never break the rule.

Until you know who your potential customers are, you will never be able to reach out to them. Success in business starts with knowing who your potential customers are. After ascertaining who they are, you have to draw up a persona about them, considering their demographics and psychographics. Knowing the demographics and psychographics of your customers help you to know how to target them rightly and achieve results. It is like a sailor who sets sailing with his compass handy. When you have drawn up your customers’ personas, the next you do is to know where they are; the preferences in terms of where they are, what they do and why they do what they do. For you to be successful in this, you have to be where your customers are. Be in the group they are. Be part of the institution they represent. You’re only in business if you are in the same place your customers are.

Stop proposing sales and more sales. It is damn not right. Sales comes when relationship has been built. For a start, target relationships first, then sales would naturally follow. . SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ARE PRIMARILY FOR RELATIONSHIP-BUILDING AND SECONDARILY TO SELL. START WITH RELATIONSHIP BUILDING FIRST.

As an entrepreneur, what do social media mean to you? First, your choice of social media platforms is determined by where your audience and personas are. That is why you need to first and foremost identify who your customers/personas are. After you have done that, the next is to find the social media platforms of their choice. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter and Linkedin are known popular business-oriented platforms. Therefore you need strong presence wherever your audience are. After you have found your customers on social media platforms, do not begin to propose sales. You may succeed in selling, but you may not build relationships that lead to loyalty. Therefore, experts believe that you should leverage social media platforms first and foremost to build relationships with your target audience. Relationships lead to sales and more sales. Nay, relationship leads to loyalty.
Therefore start off on building relationships. Then, sales will seamlessly come through.

If you must thrive in business and remain in business, do never consider using price-cuts as a way to compete with other businesses in your line of business. It can kill your business overnight. You can use discounts and other forms of promotion, but do not create the impression you are cutting price because you want your competitors out of the way. Let me share this with you. Some years back, I had gone into price-war with competitors. I was operating a sand quarry. In order to attract more patronage to my site, I reduced the price I was selling per ton. Within the first few weeks, my site was too busy that I had to hire more pay-loader to serve the teeming customers. When other competitors heard about what I have done, they did something smarter than me. They did not reduce price. They went ahead with a promo. If you pay for 4 trips of sand, the 5th would be given to you free of charge. What they did was far much smarter than what I did. What happened? All the customers switched to the site of my competitors. I hardly sell enough to cover cost of diesel, machines and staff. I was literally out of business. What I forgot was that most of my competitors were well grounded. They had their own pay-loaders and bulldozers while I was hiring. They could stand any form of competition. I closed shop for months when I could not pay my bills any more. I was out-competed. I was naïve.