There is no doubt that technology has come to stay. And more importantly, it has come to reshape and redefine the way we live. Technology has bridged the time, making what was seemingly impossible yesterday, possible today. It has still gone ahead to show us that anything we ever imagined can be achieved with time. Even the business side of our life is not left out. Technology has ushered in a new era of (business) economy i.e. technology driven (business) economy.
Technology is a direct expression and representation of human level of sophistication. The essence of technology is to simplify business activities (and life in general). ‘Simplicity’, a man once said, ‘is the highest form of sophistication’. And here's the vehicle to make that happen.
The business world is going through a 'blazing period', influenced by the present technological break-through. We have different names for it; to some it’s jet age, computer age, information age, digital age or even blue-tooth age. In the words of Peter F. Drucker, ‘The new technology embraces and feeds the entire array of human knowledge’.
In today’s business environment, the market tastes and wants are met faster by the use of technology. Technology has become the major enabling force in the business landscape, transforming business models, work styles, value nets, and opening up new markets for touching human lives in most unique and amazingly strange ways. Business leaders have their mind-eyes focused on emerging trends engineered by this advancement. Technology is the leading force defining these new, and often yet to be tapped opportunities.
In order to move your business from its present position to the centre-stage, you must be technology-compliant. If human beings in sectors like banking, hospitals, oil and gas can be replaced by micro-processors and technologically-induced machines – so could your business and mine, if we take this revolution for granted.
Every sector of the economy is catching the fever – telecommunication, transportation, and media, amongst others – all technologically aided. Virtually every industry has ‘software’. What about you? As a piece of advice, don’t try to do ‘manually’ what you can leverage on using technology. You may not have the technological know-how but let your thinking and approach to your work show that you are compliant after all.
Constantly reinvent yourself. Update your skills, whatever they are, remain relevant in your field. Each technological change introduces a paradigm-shift. Joel Barker, the author of ‘Future Edge’ taught, ‘When a paradigm shifts, everyone goes back to zero. Your past success means nothing’. The better an enterprise can foresee its total environment, the better it can prepare for the future through establishing strategies and supporting plans to take advantage of its capabilities in the light of the environment.
Every business needs to innovate, both its ‘software’ and its ‘hardware’. By software, I mean your mental equipment, and hard-wares, your visible equipments. This economic dispensation calls for your continuous self development to become indispensable (with or without any technological inventions). Don’t just be in business, be an innovative business talent that people you render services to can’t do without. And more so, to adopt means of express what you are thinking.
The fact still remains: no matter what we see in the world of business today, technological-revolution is still at it baby stage compared to what’s yet to come. (The techno-mania may not have an end). Technology is the change that has already happened; the change that is happening; and the change that will continue to happen. If anything would replace technology that is more technology; it’s the future in the now. And it is very advisable that none of us should joke with it.
On the other hand, technology should not be introduced for novelties; it must create a value. And must also be measured by what they contribute to the market and customer. In order words, technological innovation should be the creation of new value and new satisfaction for the end user- the customer.
Make a projection and take a journey into the future, three to five years from now. What are new opportunities that could likely emerge (in your industry) from technological developments? How are you; positioning yourself now? The wages of this technological change would pay you if you are well-aligned or a tragedy if you are not. This largely lies in your attitude - an attitude that is always ready to leverage on the know-how. What are you waiting for to be on track? It’s up to you to make your business happen!
Tony Ajah is a business growth strategies, and the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business growth and development.
www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk +234 8051403056
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Let's Talk about Branding
The subject of branding is a very serious and important issue as far as the present business climate is concerned. Every body talks about it (including me).I regard it as the soul of any budding establishment. Every organisation, whether great or small, has a brand, or best is a brand.
To put us in the right atmosphere, let’s briefly throw a light on what a brand is. A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly (written or unwritten) about a given venture. It‘s your best or worst product, service, and the identity or image you communicate to those who see you or do business with you. That is, the totality of your company and its business model.
For years, companies have devoted tremendous resources to branding. They know that well developed brands enlarge market share, attract and create customers’ loyalty. In a society of so many choices, being different could be the determining factor in the decision making and market behaviors, since it is in human nature to associate with the known object or thing relative to the unknown. Branding is about recognition (awareness), articulation, memorization, and preference. You may have heard this statement: in the sea of sameness brands must stand out.
A brand is a living thing. Originally, branding began as an outside thing – an exterior differentiation of a given ‘product- service’ from those in the market place. Today, things have changed. There is a shift from the external concentration to something entirely different. What worked well some time ago is now loosing their grip. That’s the nature of the world you and I live in. What actually is the true representation of a brand in the present business economy?
The Duality of Branding
There are obviously two faces of branding, which is more like a double-edged sword. We have the visible and the invisible brands. Visible brands are the often seen, the often heard, the often hyped and the often projected. It is the brand container. The invisible brands, on the other hand, are the salient part of the organisation. It’s often not seen like the former but strongly felt; it’s the brand content. While the visible brands attract, the invisible brands keep.
What is this invisible brand? Why is it so powerful and needed in today’s business place? The answer is very simple: it’s the heart of branding. This emphasizes on the soft attributes of a ‘product-service’ - Attributes such as convenience, comfort, trust warmth, companionship, beauty… Just mention all the good intangible qualities that tap into ones emotions. What else does a true brand represent?
True brand is an encounter, an impression that shapes people’s perception and attracts people’s respect for it. The essence is the imprint it plants on the minds of the market. It creates a kind of feeling, emotion, and develops an affinity to those who encounter what the enterprise has to offer.
Branding should be from the heart. Do you still remember the maxim? ‘The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart’. The heart of branding is the authentic brand that represents you in totality. Real brand is personal and answers the question of who you are. It’s about what is inside you and your organisation that is saleable to the public (your perceivers).
Building an intangible brand is about your frame of mind – a departure from the norm; the conventional service thing that is devoid of humanness. It’s not enough to say that a product works or that a service is superb. Does it leave you with an unbeatable memory? That’s what will guarantee you business future, even as the competition is becoming increasingly fierce in each passing day.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. General Motors once went into art, entertainment and mobile sculpture which coincidentally happen to provide ‘experience-ful’ transportation service. And they are still there, improving by day. Cars of the future will be sanctuaries and complete suite, with mood lightening and thrilling. (It’s already happening but that’s just the beginning).
We are starting to realize that whatever ‘product-service’ we use is who we are; our identity. And so, we are always selective looking for what goes beyond ‘quality’ to ‘extra-quality’. Be it in banking, buying something from a departmental store, patronizing a restaurant, or watching a particular TV station.
As an assignment, fashion great ideas to suit your ‘product-service’. Think of it in terms of story, adventure, and you’ll hit the essential nature of your reason for being. Let it provide something ‘extra’ to make it thrive in the new economy. A strong brand needs to create a story that sticks to almost every listening ear. This will strengthen the brand and give it a presence. Let people feel your brand, taste your brand, smell your brand, touch your brand, use your brand, talk your brand, and ultimately become devoted to your brand.
I have personally tried to know what makes a great brand. There might be more than one reason but one thing keeps reoccurring; outstanding brands are value-based. And the more value they add, to touching our humanness, the more money they make. Isn’t that interesting? They make every contact you have with them unforgettable, whether you buy their product or are engaged in their services. Here, you are delighted at turn of every event. Their ‘product-service’ goes beyond meeting needs to helping define who you are. They make you want more, and they are full of fun and wet every caller’s appetite. Some people may buy from a weak brand but they easily switch allegiance. But great brands have club members and fans who help promote them. What is value to you? Give it to your customers. I think it’s a right place to start.
Day by day, the value-added proposition of businesses becomes more and more intangible. Set your brand apart, cultivate the culture of intangibility. Let what you’ve got be ‘experience-creating’ brand. Intangible brand transforms your product and service into experience and solution. The feeling associated with using a particular brand is the fundamental basis for its value. This is the core of that brand; the fuel that keeps the flame aglow. This type of brand makes a company influential and increases her sphere of dominance.
One more thing before I close, a brand reflects and project integrity which clarifies one great thing: uniqueness. And that uniqueness makes a dramatic difference in the hands of its receivers with a powerful touch. The heart of brand is drawn from our inner being, and our emotion is one of it. I mean, authentic brand goes into the heart and comes from the heart (of the enterprise). Did you get that?
How can you make that dramatic difference that will stick with people? A difference that will eventually become your trade mark? Branding is more about meaning and not just marketing. It is internal and not external. It is about deep company uncompromising conviction that sets it apart from the rest. What is the heart of your own brand? Thrive on it. It’s up to you to make your brand happen!
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist whose ideas have helped businesses in Nigeria. He is the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business growth and development.
www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk +234 805 140 3056
To put us in the right atmosphere, let’s briefly throw a light on what a brand is. A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly (written or unwritten) about a given venture. It‘s your best or worst product, service, and the identity or image you communicate to those who see you or do business with you. That is, the totality of your company and its business model.
For years, companies have devoted tremendous resources to branding. They know that well developed brands enlarge market share, attract and create customers’ loyalty. In a society of so many choices, being different could be the determining factor in the decision making and market behaviors, since it is in human nature to associate with the known object or thing relative to the unknown. Branding is about recognition (awareness), articulation, memorization, and preference. You may have heard this statement: in the sea of sameness brands must stand out.
A brand is a living thing. Originally, branding began as an outside thing – an exterior differentiation of a given ‘product- service’ from those in the market place. Today, things have changed. There is a shift from the external concentration to something entirely different. What worked well some time ago is now loosing their grip. That’s the nature of the world you and I live in. What actually is the true representation of a brand in the present business economy?
The Duality of Branding
There are obviously two faces of branding, which is more like a double-edged sword. We have the visible and the invisible brands. Visible brands are the often seen, the often heard, the often hyped and the often projected. It is the brand container. The invisible brands, on the other hand, are the salient part of the organisation. It’s often not seen like the former but strongly felt; it’s the brand content. While the visible brands attract, the invisible brands keep.
What is this invisible brand? Why is it so powerful and needed in today’s business place? The answer is very simple: it’s the heart of branding. This emphasizes on the soft attributes of a ‘product-service’ - Attributes such as convenience, comfort, trust warmth, companionship, beauty… Just mention all the good intangible qualities that tap into ones emotions. What else does a true brand represent?
True brand is an encounter, an impression that shapes people’s perception and attracts people’s respect for it. The essence is the imprint it plants on the minds of the market. It creates a kind of feeling, emotion, and develops an affinity to those who encounter what the enterprise has to offer.
Branding should be from the heart. Do you still remember the maxim? ‘The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart’. The heart of branding is the authentic brand that represents you in totality. Real brand is personal and answers the question of who you are. It’s about what is inside you and your organisation that is saleable to the public (your perceivers).
Building an intangible brand is about your frame of mind – a departure from the norm; the conventional service thing that is devoid of humanness. It’s not enough to say that a product works or that a service is superb. Does it leave you with an unbeatable memory? That’s what will guarantee you business future, even as the competition is becoming increasingly fierce in each passing day.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. General Motors once went into art, entertainment and mobile sculpture which coincidentally happen to provide ‘experience-ful’ transportation service. And they are still there, improving by day. Cars of the future will be sanctuaries and complete suite, with mood lightening and thrilling. (It’s already happening but that’s just the beginning).
We are starting to realize that whatever ‘product-service’ we use is who we are; our identity. And so, we are always selective looking for what goes beyond ‘quality’ to ‘extra-quality’. Be it in banking, buying something from a departmental store, patronizing a restaurant, or watching a particular TV station.
As an assignment, fashion great ideas to suit your ‘product-service’. Think of it in terms of story, adventure, and you’ll hit the essential nature of your reason for being. Let it provide something ‘extra’ to make it thrive in the new economy. A strong brand needs to create a story that sticks to almost every listening ear. This will strengthen the brand and give it a presence. Let people feel your brand, taste your brand, smell your brand, touch your brand, use your brand, talk your brand, and ultimately become devoted to your brand.
I have personally tried to know what makes a great brand. There might be more than one reason but one thing keeps reoccurring; outstanding brands are value-based. And the more value they add, to touching our humanness, the more money they make. Isn’t that interesting? They make every contact you have with them unforgettable, whether you buy their product or are engaged in their services. Here, you are delighted at turn of every event. Their ‘product-service’ goes beyond meeting needs to helping define who you are. They make you want more, and they are full of fun and wet every caller’s appetite. Some people may buy from a weak brand but they easily switch allegiance. But great brands have club members and fans who help promote them. What is value to you? Give it to your customers. I think it’s a right place to start.
Day by day, the value-added proposition of businesses becomes more and more intangible. Set your brand apart, cultivate the culture of intangibility. Let what you’ve got be ‘experience-creating’ brand. Intangible brand transforms your product and service into experience and solution. The feeling associated with using a particular brand is the fundamental basis for its value. This is the core of that brand; the fuel that keeps the flame aglow. This type of brand makes a company influential and increases her sphere of dominance.
One more thing before I close, a brand reflects and project integrity which clarifies one great thing: uniqueness. And that uniqueness makes a dramatic difference in the hands of its receivers with a powerful touch. The heart of brand is drawn from our inner being, and our emotion is one of it. I mean, authentic brand goes into the heart and comes from the heart (of the enterprise). Did you get that?
How can you make that dramatic difference that will stick with people? A difference that will eventually become your trade mark? Branding is more about meaning and not just marketing. It is internal and not external. It is about deep company uncompromising conviction that sets it apart from the rest. What is the heart of your own brand? Thrive on it. It’s up to you to make your brand happen!
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist whose ideas have helped businesses in Nigeria. He is the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business growth and development.
www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk +234 805 140 3056
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Starting a Business without a Capital
Many of us have business ideas, or may have had business ideas. But one monster has kept staring us on the face, eventually leading to the abortion of our brilliant ideas. And that big monster is capital or money. I was once in that position until the light on the right thing to do came, and everything now is a story. That’s the knowledge I want share with you here. (Maybe it could be helpful).
Without any gainsaying, one can hardly start a business, let alone run it without fund. T. Harv Eker was right when he remarked that, ‘Any one who says money isn’t important doesn’t have any’. I see it as the lifeblood of any enterprise. Money indeed is power, whether in life or in business. But often times for most start-ups, the capitals is not forth coming, even when we may have made some calculated moves, or try to get assistance from financial institutions. (You may have found yourself in such situation).
What do we do then? Surrender our priceless ideas at the mercy of lack of capital? It gives me much concern whenever I see entrepreneurs struggle in business because of inadequate fund. And dozens have given up because of it.
Let’s look at the other side of the coin. Like a popular saying goes, you can use what you have to get what you want. You may not get started by the virtue of your wealth (capital), but you surely can by the wealth (capital) of your virtue. Did you get that? You can re-read it again.
The question now becomes: what are those wealth (capital) of your virtue that you can leverage on? Leveraging is the key to great wealth. We are going to take them one by one.
Use your Mental Capital
The capital of any institution or nation is literally the head of that institution or nation. That invariably means that the capital you need for your business is your head. (Simple logic, isn’t it?). So, the first capital we should talk about is your head; every other thing flows from there.
An American industrialist by name Harvey Firestone once taught, ‘Capital isn’t so important in business. Experience isn’t so important. You can get both these things. What are important are ideas. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn’t any limit to what you can do with your business and life.’ Very remarkable. It’s folly to doubt the man who has done. I want to here that good ideas reside in good heads. I want to believe that you already have a marketable idea.
If you have ideas and the knowledge of what to do with the ideas, you already have a business. Ignorance is the major barrier to starting a business. When you understand the main ingredients businesses are built, and follow through, building yours becomes much easier.
There are several definitions of wealth (as it were), and find two of them very interesting. ‘Wealth is a way of thinking and not a dollar amount in the bank. Money is not a thing but an idea created in the head’. Those were the words of Robert Kiyosaki. And Ayn Raud added, ‘Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think’. Both points to one direction: your mental capacity to think.
The process of building a business is first a mental process than a physical one. Entrepreneurship is the art of finding profitable solution to problems. And it now begins in your ability to find answer to the issue of your capital. That I think is the first proof of your possessing the right spirit to starting and running a business, and it is a very important hurdle to jump.
I formulated a business law known as the Law of Capital. It states that your most valuable asset, in terms of cash-flow is your physical and mental capacity, your earning ability. So, starting your business depends mostly on you than on any other thing. However, at the start of any business, finding a way of getting the cash-flowing is the most important thing. This launches us into another point.
Use your Reputation
The entrepreneur is the system to keep the money flowing in. And every business system succeeds or fails on trust on trust and not on cash. Having integrity and to be trusted are fundamental to securing assistance and support in starting a business. That’s worth millions of dollars.
Your reputation could be an asset or a liability, depending on the direction the pendulum swings. A good reputation is a credit facility. Before you seek for fund, ask yourself: am I person of character? That answers other financial questions. That could be why Brian Tracy taught, ‘Guard your integrity as a sacred thing. Your character and reputation are perhaps your most valuable assets in your career’. Trust and integrity are the very substance businesses are built on. If you don’t have them, you short-change yourself.
Use your Network
When you’ve got reputation, then use your network, your contact, or your connection. There is a saying that says: your network will determine your net-worth. My question now is, do you have the right network? If you are a man of character and still find it difficult to raise money from your circle of interactions, you are probably in the wrong company. My best advice is, change your network.
Poor network would always yield a poor net-worth, and vice versa. Nothing can be further from the truth.
Communicate Well your Idea
Having a strong network is not enough. You can be in the midst of right company and still die of dearth. You’ve got to know how to communicate your ideas. Cast it as a vision and create the right perception that would appeal to them, and also inspire them to action. You attract money faster when the person you want it from sees that your proposition (idea) is worth investing in.
It has been said that the secrets of riches and wealth are other people’s money (OPM), and other people’s time (OPT). But you have to prove that you have the necessary character, skill and experience to attract those investors, and also guarantee their investments. If not the response you’d receive would be very discouraging.
Everything you have done, especially the one you are doing now could make or mar your starting your business. I mean everything. So, be careful on the image you are projecting about yourself. Like Leke alder, a senior colleague said, ‘If you don’t have history, your idea is incredible, if not incredulous. Until time, performance and consistency prove otherwise’. And I want to add, if you have bad reputation be sure of spending more time looking for fund because no one would be willing to support you.
What are you waiting for? Engage all your wealth (capital) of virtue and get that business started. I will be having an intensive business development session on turning your ideas into wealth during recession. For details get my attention. It’s not so much about a great idea, but a great person who is well informed on how to give meaning to those ideas. Your ideas and business depend on nothing but you. It’s up to you to make them happen!
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist, and the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business growth and development.
www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk 08051403056
Without any gainsaying, one can hardly start a business, let alone run it without fund. T. Harv Eker was right when he remarked that, ‘Any one who says money isn’t important doesn’t have any’. I see it as the lifeblood of any enterprise. Money indeed is power, whether in life or in business. But often times for most start-ups, the capitals is not forth coming, even when we may have made some calculated moves, or try to get assistance from financial institutions. (You may have found yourself in such situation).
What do we do then? Surrender our priceless ideas at the mercy of lack of capital? It gives me much concern whenever I see entrepreneurs struggle in business because of inadequate fund. And dozens have given up because of it.
Let’s look at the other side of the coin. Like a popular saying goes, you can use what you have to get what you want. You may not get started by the virtue of your wealth (capital), but you surely can by the wealth (capital) of your virtue. Did you get that? You can re-read it again.
The question now becomes: what are those wealth (capital) of your virtue that you can leverage on? Leveraging is the key to great wealth. We are going to take them one by one.
Use your Mental Capital
The capital of any institution or nation is literally the head of that institution or nation. That invariably means that the capital you need for your business is your head. (Simple logic, isn’t it?). So, the first capital we should talk about is your head; every other thing flows from there.
An American industrialist by name Harvey Firestone once taught, ‘Capital isn’t so important in business. Experience isn’t so important. You can get both these things. What are important are ideas. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn’t any limit to what you can do with your business and life.’ Very remarkable. It’s folly to doubt the man who has done. I want to here that good ideas reside in good heads. I want to believe that you already have a marketable idea.
If you have ideas and the knowledge of what to do with the ideas, you already have a business. Ignorance is the major barrier to starting a business. When you understand the main ingredients businesses are built, and follow through, building yours becomes much easier.
There are several definitions of wealth (as it were), and find two of them very interesting. ‘Wealth is a way of thinking and not a dollar amount in the bank. Money is not a thing but an idea created in the head’. Those were the words of Robert Kiyosaki. And Ayn Raud added, ‘Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think’. Both points to one direction: your mental capacity to think.
The process of building a business is first a mental process than a physical one. Entrepreneurship is the art of finding profitable solution to problems. And it now begins in your ability to find answer to the issue of your capital. That I think is the first proof of your possessing the right spirit to starting and running a business, and it is a very important hurdle to jump.
I formulated a business law known as the Law of Capital. It states that your most valuable asset, in terms of cash-flow is your physical and mental capacity, your earning ability. So, starting your business depends mostly on you than on any other thing. However, at the start of any business, finding a way of getting the cash-flowing is the most important thing. This launches us into another point.
Use your Reputation
The entrepreneur is the system to keep the money flowing in. And every business system succeeds or fails on trust on trust and not on cash. Having integrity and to be trusted are fundamental to securing assistance and support in starting a business. That’s worth millions of dollars.
Your reputation could be an asset or a liability, depending on the direction the pendulum swings. A good reputation is a credit facility. Before you seek for fund, ask yourself: am I person of character? That answers other financial questions. That could be why Brian Tracy taught, ‘Guard your integrity as a sacred thing. Your character and reputation are perhaps your most valuable assets in your career’. Trust and integrity are the very substance businesses are built on. If you don’t have them, you short-change yourself.
Use your Network
When you’ve got reputation, then use your network, your contact, or your connection. There is a saying that says: your network will determine your net-worth. My question now is, do you have the right network? If you are a man of character and still find it difficult to raise money from your circle of interactions, you are probably in the wrong company. My best advice is, change your network.
Poor network would always yield a poor net-worth, and vice versa. Nothing can be further from the truth.
Communicate Well your Idea
Having a strong network is not enough. You can be in the midst of right company and still die of dearth. You’ve got to know how to communicate your ideas. Cast it as a vision and create the right perception that would appeal to them, and also inspire them to action. You attract money faster when the person you want it from sees that your proposition (idea) is worth investing in.
It has been said that the secrets of riches and wealth are other people’s money (OPM), and other people’s time (OPT). But you have to prove that you have the necessary character, skill and experience to attract those investors, and also guarantee their investments. If not the response you’d receive would be very discouraging.
Everything you have done, especially the one you are doing now could make or mar your starting your business. I mean everything. So, be careful on the image you are projecting about yourself. Like Leke alder, a senior colleague said, ‘If you don’t have history, your idea is incredible, if not incredulous. Until time, performance and consistency prove otherwise’. And I want to add, if you have bad reputation be sure of spending more time looking for fund because no one would be willing to support you.
What are you waiting for? Engage all your wealth (capital) of virtue and get that business started. I will be having an intensive business development session on turning your ideas into wealth during recession. For details get my attention. It’s not so much about a great idea, but a great person who is well informed on how to give meaning to those ideas. Your ideas and business depend on nothing but you. It’s up to you to make them happen!
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist, and the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business growth and development.
www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk 08051403056
Turning your Best Ideas into Best Businesses
Without any doubt, it’s the entrepreneur’s world. Statistics has it that 74% self made millionaires in America are entrepreneurs – people who started and built their own businesses. It’s on record that between 1996 and 2004, America has turned out an average of 550,000 entrepreneurs monthly! The awareness is gradually getting to this place very rapidly. The question I keep asking myself is this: do we have enough businesses yet? And the answer is no; entrepreneuring’ has just begun.
However, we still have one major challenge. It is on record that 80% of businesses go out of business the first year. And of those that remain, 80% of them will not be in business five years from now. This statistics is very alarming. Why do many people start businesses and fail to complete them? They had great spirit at first, which gradually began to wane when realities hit them. The answer is not far fetched.
Businesses are built on fact. Most blunders made by many start-ups are those of assumptions rather than facts. I have come to realize that the difference between a successful entrepreneur and an unsuccessful one is in what they know and do, and in how much value they place on the two.
It’s laughable that a lot of people venture into businesses armed with nothing but their raw ideas and they still expect to make it big. Ideas are not enough, after all everybody has an idea.
Don’t stop at idea – everything is execution under the right knowledge. Nothing could be so frustrating like having an idea that you don’t know how to express. That was why Thomas Edison taught that, ‘The value of a good idea is in using it.’ No idea is worth more than the structure that supports it. ‘It isn’t the quality of the ideas you have that will determine whether you make a success of them; it’s the qualities you bring into those ideas.’ So, advised Harvey Mackay. Those ‘qualities’ could chiefly be accessed via authentic fact that is based on current business realities.
Businesses mature in the same way that human beings do. And if you don’t have what supports their growth and development, they die, (all the ideas in this world not withstanding). Any business idea without a thought-out structure dies a natural death. A lot of Nigerians victims of this bitter experience; they have put millions of naira into their ideas and came out with nothing. If they had known better, the story would have been different.
An entrepreneur increases his chances of surviving and thriving if he puts a strong system behind his ideas. Usually, we suffer for what we do not know. Robert Kiyosaki was right when he quipped that, ‘It’s not the system that you know about that are the problem – it’s the system you are not aware of that cause you to crash.’
Knowledge is very critical for every business development. Every business is a system of inter-locking and inter-operating systems. The most important part of any enterprise is the system behind the business idea. If the system is weak, the business collapses but if the system is strong, the business flourishes.
Here’s Kiyosaki’s additional statement on this: ‘Many people have ideas that could make them rich beyond their wildest dreams. The problem is that most people have never been taught how to put a business structure inside their ideas and so many of their ideas never take shape or stand on their own.’ Isn’t that revealing? I can say with all authority that it does not take just a great idea build an enviable business as it would take a great person (mind) behind the idea. More businesses fail from inside-out. It’s not the idea that’s to blame but the pilot of the idea. To be successful in any endeavour, your business will require all of you – your time, energy, resources, and commitment.
We are blessed with so much business ideas. The irony is that many of these ideas lack substance. Yet, only a few people care to know or seek for professional help. Scores of those who have succeeded in business today were at one time struggling until they learnt the secret, some times from the experts. As they began to do what ought to be done, their story changed.
Growing a strong enterprise is not a function of quality of your ‘product-service’, or your ideas, or even the number of years you have spent in the pursuit. But largely at what rate you are moving, doing the right things. ‘The best proof,’ Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher remarked, ‘that something can be done is that someone else has done it.’ If you do what is required your business will grow. Any one who wants to enjoy the juicy fruit of business must give it his all.
Your business foundation must be very strong. And one of such foundational areas is in your business plan. A well worked out business plan is a requisite for thriving enterprise. If your business ideas are not convincing on paper, you could be driving at a terrible speed with your eyes closed. If you can’t commit to writing them down, you perhaps won’t commit yourself to following it through – if you won’t connect to paper, you won’t connect to reality. ‘The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it to happen.’ So said Lee Iacocca.
Wouldn’t you prefer to make your business blunders on paper? And save time, gain speed and direction. According to H. Stanley Judd, ‘A good plan is like a roadmap. It shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.’ For instance, you could assess your market opportunities on paper by doing what I called ‘business intelligent gathering’. It’s no longer the question of ideas but the marketability of those ideas. (The success and failure of any business is almost down to how well it’s marketed. Yours cannot be an exception).
When you do poorly on paper, the tendency of reproducing the same practically is there. If the need be, engage the services of experts as you start your business. Don’t rely on assumptions, rather consult. It cost you some money but you would gain it at the long run. Barry J. Gibbons once observed, ‘There are two groups of people confused by business today: those who are in it and those who aren’t.’ To avoid confusion of any sort, prepare for your business. Preparation is winning. Like a wise man once said, ‘The will to win is nothing without preparation’.
You are the only one playing your own game, and have yourself to bless or blame. You could be the next to start a business, why not get the necessary assistance on how to build a system before taking your chance. I will be having an intensive business development session on turning your ideas into wealth during recession. For details, get my attention. You can start you business and start very strong. It’s up to you to make your business happen!
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist. He is the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business development.
www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk 08051403056
However, we still have one major challenge. It is on record that 80% of businesses go out of business the first year. And of those that remain, 80% of them will not be in business five years from now. This statistics is very alarming. Why do many people start businesses and fail to complete them? They had great spirit at first, which gradually began to wane when realities hit them. The answer is not far fetched.
Businesses are built on fact. Most blunders made by many start-ups are those of assumptions rather than facts. I have come to realize that the difference between a successful entrepreneur and an unsuccessful one is in what they know and do, and in how much value they place on the two.
It’s laughable that a lot of people venture into businesses armed with nothing but their raw ideas and they still expect to make it big. Ideas are not enough, after all everybody has an idea.
Don’t stop at idea – everything is execution under the right knowledge. Nothing could be so frustrating like having an idea that you don’t know how to express. That was why Thomas Edison taught that, ‘The value of a good idea is in using it.’ No idea is worth more than the structure that supports it. ‘It isn’t the quality of the ideas you have that will determine whether you make a success of them; it’s the qualities you bring into those ideas.’ So, advised Harvey Mackay. Those ‘qualities’ could chiefly be accessed via authentic fact that is based on current business realities.
Businesses mature in the same way that human beings do. And if you don’t have what supports their growth and development, they die, (all the ideas in this world not withstanding). Any business idea without a thought-out structure dies a natural death. A lot of Nigerians victims of this bitter experience; they have put millions of naira into their ideas and came out with nothing. If they had known better, the story would have been different.
An entrepreneur increases his chances of surviving and thriving if he puts a strong system behind his ideas. Usually, we suffer for what we do not know. Robert Kiyosaki was right when he quipped that, ‘It’s not the system that you know about that are the problem – it’s the system you are not aware of that cause you to crash.’
Knowledge is very critical for every business development. Every business is a system of inter-locking and inter-operating systems. The most important part of any enterprise is the system behind the business idea. If the system is weak, the business collapses but if the system is strong, the business flourishes.
Here’s Kiyosaki’s additional statement on this: ‘Many people have ideas that could make them rich beyond their wildest dreams. The problem is that most people have never been taught how to put a business structure inside their ideas and so many of their ideas never take shape or stand on their own.’ Isn’t that revealing? I can say with all authority that it does not take just a great idea build an enviable business as it would take a great person (mind) behind the idea. More businesses fail from inside-out. It’s not the idea that’s to blame but the pilot of the idea. To be successful in any endeavour, your business will require all of you – your time, energy, resources, and commitment.
We are blessed with so much business ideas. The irony is that many of these ideas lack substance. Yet, only a few people care to know or seek for professional help. Scores of those who have succeeded in business today were at one time struggling until they learnt the secret, some times from the experts. As they began to do what ought to be done, their story changed.
Growing a strong enterprise is not a function of quality of your ‘product-service’, or your ideas, or even the number of years you have spent in the pursuit. But largely at what rate you are moving, doing the right things. ‘The best proof,’ Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher remarked, ‘that something can be done is that someone else has done it.’ If you do what is required your business will grow. Any one who wants to enjoy the juicy fruit of business must give it his all.
Your business foundation must be very strong. And one of such foundational areas is in your business plan. A well worked out business plan is a requisite for thriving enterprise. If your business ideas are not convincing on paper, you could be driving at a terrible speed with your eyes closed. If you can’t commit to writing them down, you perhaps won’t commit yourself to following it through – if you won’t connect to paper, you won’t connect to reality. ‘The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it to happen.’ So said Lee Iacocca.
Wouldn’t you prefer to make your business blunders on paper? And save time, gain speed and direction. According to H. Stanley Judd, ‘A good plan is like a roadmap. It shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.’ For instance, you could assess your market opportunities on paper by doing what I called ‘business intelligent gathering’. It’s no longer the question of ideas but the marketability of those ideas. (The success and failure of any business is almost down to how well it’s marketed. Yours cannot be an exception).
When you do poorly on paper, the tendency of reproducing the same practically is there. If the need be, engage the services of experts as you start your business. Don’t rely on assumptions, rather consult. It cost you some money but you would gain it at the long run. Barry J. Gibbons once observed, ‘There are two groups of people confused by business today: those who are in it and those who aren’t.’ To avoid confusion of any sort, prepare for your business. Preparation is winning. Like a wise man once said, ‘The will to win is nothing without preparation’.
You are the only one playing your own game, and have yourself to bless or blame. You could be the next to start a business, why not get the necessary assistance on how to build a system before taking your chance. I will be having an intensive business development session on turning your ideas into wealth during recession. For details, get my attention. You can start you business and start very strong. It’s up to you to make your business happen!
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist. He is the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business development.
www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk 08051403056
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Starting a New Business during Recession
The word ‘recession’ is no longer new or news to many of us, including those who have little or no knowledge of what it means. Experts and non-experts have one common language for the economic climate: it’s rough out there. Everybody knows that. What do we do then? Live at the mercy of recession?
Recession is part of life; we are not witnessing it for the first time, neither would it be the last. However, I see recession from a whole new vantage point. Like I said in my article on, Thriving in Business During Hard Times, things are not usually as bad as they seems. And that it can get so bad that there won’t be a way out.
There’s definitely the good side of recession if you think differently. The February edition of Harvard Business Review editorial reads: ‘Some winning companies have emerged in every past recession, and this one won’t be an exception’. That’s an indisputable fact.
Hard times are times of fresh business opportunities. In this period, new businesses would emerge. As with other human challenges, some people would respond proactively to the realities while some others won’t. Today’s challenging economic environment demands entrepreneurs who truly have the eagles’ eyes to see creeping opportunities.
There’s no perfect time to starting a business, and this depression should encourage rather than discourage you. Fred Deluca, an American entrepreneur taught, ‘No matter what business you are thinking of, you must get started at some point’. This might be that time you might be waiting for. See the present economic situation as a life time chance. Understand the opportunity and seize it without looking back. Inaction could be the riskiest response to the uncertainties of any economic crisis.
The purpose of business is to meet needs in a unique way, and then make money in the process. (Money flows in the direction of needs). Are there no fresh needs to be met now? Of course, there are. And more would arise. ‘Problems are where people live. When you mention a problem, you hit a nerve. It’s what they are thinking about. And if you can address their problem, they will realise you know something important about them’. Those were the words of Robert Middleton.
Look where others don’t people’s needs are business opportunities. Economic downturn does not eliminate human needs, nor does it stop business life completely. Whether recession or no recession, people still have needs to be addressed. A wise man once remarked, ‘Every problem is a business, and every business is someone’s solution to a problem’. You can meet specialised (recession) needs in a specialised (recession) way. Did you get that?
People are always happy to pay for any problem you solve for them. They wouldn’t mind borrowing, the prevailing circumstances not withstanding. Let me give you a hint: there would be need for fun and entertainment so as to relieve stress cause by the depression. Have you ever thought in that direction? Such businesses that opened in my area are having swell time, and I mean during recession. This is just the beginning.
If you have a good idea and the knowledge of what to do with the idea(s), you already have a business. Ignorance is the primary barrier to starting a business, whether in time of economic boom or meltdown. I know that you have wonderful ideas but question how to start. Your apprehension may have heightened now that there’s economic instability. But our ideas must find practical expression in the business world for they are worth giving meaning to. One thing should encourage you to get started - Primarily due to changes in technology, the risk of becoming a successful business owner has been greatly reduced.
What idea do you have now? And how can it meet the market needs? When your idea meets a need, business is born. You can start a new business as an extension of your present one (if you have one already), or an entirely new one. Be bold and step out of the cube even when you don’t feel like it. Business favours the bold.
Entrepreneurs are market-needs opportunists. But you’ve got to have the eyes. Closed eyes are closed opportunities – opportunity is in the eyes of the beholder. John Lubbock said, ‘What we see depends mainly on what we look for’. What do you see? Time for you, your business and family to go down because of the meltdown? Or time to go up and blaze the trail? I se
I learnt that when written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’, whether economic crisis or whatever, is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity. If your attitude is negative, you would see things negatively, and vice versa. You choose how the recession would affect you and also what you make out of it.
Another world of opportunity is here. Without proper understanding and alignment you may miss out big time. Being flexible is one of the keys you need to sail. So learn and relearn where necessary and unimaginable doors will be opened for you. Starting a new business could be the bail-out you need in the wake of dwindling savings and increasing expenses.
I will be having an intensive business session on turning your ideas into wealth during recession. For details get my attention. A wise man said, ‘There has to market need for what you do; you have to have the competency to meet the need; and you have to have the passion to fulfil it. So, look where these three things are, and you have a brilliant career’. What are you waiting for? It’s up to you to make that your idea happen!
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist, and the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business growth and development.
www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk 08051403056
Recession is part of life; we are not witnessing it for the first time, neither would it be the last. However, I see recession from a whole new vantage point. Like I said in my article on, Thriving in Business During Hard Times, things are not usually as bad as they seems. And that it can get so bad that there won’t be a way out.
There’s definitely the good side of recession if you think differently. The February edition of Harvard Business Review editorial reads: ‘Some winning companies have emerged in every past recession, and this one won’t be an exception’. That’s an indisputable fact.
Hard times are times of fresh business opportunities. In this period, new businesses would emerge. As with other human challenges, some people would respond proactively to the realities while some others won’t. Today’s challenging economic environment demands entrepreneurs who truly have the eagles’ eyes to see creeping opportunities.
There’s no perfect time to starting a business, and this depression should encourage rather than discourage you. Fred Deluca, an American entrepreneur taught, ‘No matter what business you are thinking of, you must get started at some point’. This might be that time you might be waiting for. See the present economic situation as a life time chance. Understand the opportunity and seize it without looking back. Inaction could be the riskiest response to the uncertainties of any economic crisis.
The purpose of business is to meet needs in a unique way, and then make money in the process. (Money flows in the direction of needs). Are there no fresh needs to be met now? Of course, there are. And more would arise. ‘Problems are where people live. When you mention a problem, you hit a nerve. It’s what they are thinking about. And if you can address their problem, they will realise you know something important about them’. Those were the words of Robert Middleton.
Look where others don’t people’s needs are business opportunities. Economic downturn does not eliminate human needs, nor does it stop business life completely. Whether recession or no recession, people still have needs to be addressed. A wise man once remarked, ‘Every problem is a business, and every business is someone’s solution to a problem’. You can meet specialised (recession) needs in a specialised (recession) way. Did you get that?
People are always happy to pay for any problem you solve for them. They wouldn’t mind borrowing, the prevailing circumstances not withstanding. Let me give you a hint: there would be need for fun and entertainment so as to relieve stress cause by the depression. Have you ever thought in that direction? Such businesses that opened in my area are having swell time, and I mean during recession. This is just the beginning.
If you have a good idea and the knowledge of what to do with the idea(s), you already have a business. Ignorance is the primary barrier to starting a business, whether in time of economic boom or meltdown. I know that you have wonderful ideas but question how to start. Your apprehension may have heightened now that there’s economic instability. But our ideas must find practical expression in the business world for they are worth giving meaning to. One thing should encourage you to get started - Primarily due to changes in technology, the risk of becoming a successful business owner has been greatly reduced.
What idea do you have now? And how can it meet the market needs? When your idea meets a need, business is born. You can start a new business as an extension of your present one (if you have one already), or an entirely new one. Be bold and step out of the cube even when you don’t feel like it. Business favours the bold.
Entrepreneurs are market-needs opportunists. But you’ve got to have the eyes. Closed eyes are closed opportunities – opportunity is in the eyes of the beholder. John Lubbock said, ‘What we see depends mainly on what we look for’. What do you see? Time for you, your business and family to go down because of the meltdown? Or time to go up and blaze the trail? I se
I learnt that when written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’, whether economic crisis or whatever, is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity. If your attitude is negative, you would see things negatively, and vice versa. You choose how the recession would affect you and also what you make out of it.
Another world of opportunity is here. Without proper understanding and alignment you may miss out big time. Being flexible is one of the keys you need to sail. So learn and relearn where necessary and unimaginable doors will be opened for you. Starting a new business could be the bail-out you need in the wake of dwindling savings and increasing expenses.
I will be having an intensive business session on turning your ideas into wealth during recession. For details get my attention. A wise man said, ‘There has to market need for what you do; you have to have the competency to meet the need; and you have to have the passion to fulfil it. So, look where these three things are, and you have a brilliant career’. What are you waiting for? It’s up to you to make that your idea happen!
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist, and the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business growth and development.
www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk 08051403056
Friday, March 13, 2009
THRIVING IN BUSINESS DURING HARD TIMES
I was on a short trip out of the country sometimes last year when the news of the global economic melt-down began to make sense to me. I saw as businesses there moved slowly that what they used to be (especially in my previous visits).
One question came to my mind: what would happen if this crisis eventually hit us directly here? Many businesses in Nigeria have been having it rough in good times. What would turn out if the situation becomes unfavourable? Try to imagine that.
Hard times are bound come, whether in life or in business. I have useful proves from history. The good news is that it’s seasonal, and not the end of the road. However, who you are and what you’ve got to face such times is very critical; it would determine what would become of you. ‘The problem’, someone said ‘is not the problem itself but the size of the mind confronting the problem’.
I’m not just talking about your surviving hard times but thriving and making a remarkable and sustainable growth as if nothing is happening. The question now is: what do you do to survive and thrive in the midst of economic crunch? Informed preparation before it bites harder would preserve your business and prevent it from going down.
Here is my advice which could possibly be helpful to you:
Maintain the Right attitude: Your attitude in difficult times is more important than any other thing. It sets the pace for what would happen while the period lasts. Things are not always as bad as they seems. And it can’t get so bad that there won’t be a way out. Most of the panic or fever we have is not real; they are speculation induced.
Hard times are times of fresh business opportunities. In this period, new businesses would emerge, but you must possess a positive attitude in order to see them. Closed eyes are closed opportunities. Remember, opportunity is in the eye of the beholder. People with right attitude would swim where as those with negative attitude would sink. In other words, if your attitude is negative, you see things negatively and if you attitude is positive, you see things positively.
Whenever things look bleak, always learn to display a sunny outlook towards the situation and watch what would happen; you’d be amazed. Charles Swindoll advised, ‘The most significant decision I make each day is my choice of an attitude. When my attitudes are right there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.’ I have personally gone through rough times in my business. One of the things that kept me going was my attitude.
Interestingly, your attitude is your choice – you choose how the situation would affect you, or not affect you. See the recession as a time that would usher in great things for your business, and then follow through your convictions. ‘The success and failure in business is caused more by the mental attitude even than by mental capacities.’ So, taught Walter Scott.
Reposition and Restructure Your System: Like I said earlier, another world of business opportunities is knocking on the door. Remaining where you are, and doing things the way you’ve always done them may be very costly. Joel Barker, the author of the book Future Edge remarked, ‘When a paradigm shifts, everyone goes back to zero. Your past success means nothing.’ There is a paradigm shift in the business arena, and it’s still shifting. Without proper alignment you trail behind.
One of the primary keys to remaining in business is flexibility. Flexibility is a good business virtue. You have to be flexible enough to respond appropriately to whatsoever change that may come your way. The business world after all, is a dynamic world. To enable you make the most of the emerging trend, you have to make necessary adjustments. This might demand your learning, unlearning, and relearning certain business skills. Do them so as to secure the future of your business.
Focusing on what really matter makes you produce the result that really counts. This time calls for your concentrating only on what you are very good at, and then pour yourself and resources into it. Give up whatsoever you struggle at before now, and focus on your core competencies. Eliminate the unnecessary to maximise resources.
This might require your doing an inventory analysis to know your true strength and weakness, and capitalise on where you have competitive advantage. Identify priorities and refocus your resources where they are going to give you gainful returns. ‘The most successful business man,’ Robert P. Vanderpool said, ‘is the man who holds the old just as long as it is good, and grabs the new just as soon as it is better’.
If a business is not reinventing itself and adapting to the times, it would die. In business, a permanent state of reinvention is good for you future growth. That something worked today does not guarantee the same tomorrow. In addition, you’d have to set up a creative atmosphere that would give room for development. This has been very helpful to me in my outfit.
Engage in People-Oriented Service: The basic aim of any business is to meet a need and make profit in the process. I don’t know of any other thing. Hard times don’t eliminate businesses completely (although some businesses may be suspended or even go into extinction in the process). But human needs are rather compounded than eliminated during economic depression. At a time like this, those who are not called into business might not survive it; things that would discourage you would abound but don’t give up.
You’ve got to redouble your effort to give your clients seamless services that truly meet their needs like no other. People will be too conscious of how and where they spend their money. If it’s not worth it they would hold back or go elsewhere. Everybody has a ‘product-service’; it’s what you do beyond the ‘product-service’ that makes all the difference in business.
There would certainly be need s for what you are offering but you have to improve in your approach to generate enough patronage. It might also necessitate your establishing a stronger relationship with your key buyers to retain their loyalty. Much out there are seeking for the attention of few buyers. Why not be the one they would love to do business with all the time, no matter the market situation?
Adopt New Strategies: The period of recession calls for re-strategising. Strategies have to accept new fundamentals. No business would ignore the realities of its environment and still win. Take another look at your business. Will the strategies you have now carry you through the rough road? If yes, congratulations but if no, you have to adopt fresh measures.
A lot in business depends on strategy. Each business day is a class room opportunity to relearn and rework. Business situations always create new realities that demands more from us. Victory here hinges on your ability to convert what’s on ground to your advantage. Develop a new strategic framework to understand you true position and the possible impact of the challenging times on your business, and then make critical changes. I called this the scoreboard-strategic approach. It doesn’t take just a strategy to win; it takes the scoreboard strategy – the strategy you adopt based on current truth. You can’t win without a strategy but you can lose with one except the scoreboard strategy. I see you winning, and winning big with it!
Integrate the G-Factor: Integrate the G-factor. G is for God. Yes God. The Almighty God is the God of business and He is interested in your running a thriving business, whether in good times, and in presumably hard times. In the domain of God, there is no recession. You can introduce the same in you enterprise and live in that domain. I am surely there.
If reputable business scholars and business schools cannot find an immediate answer to the tumbling global economy, I know God can. Check the history, any time there’s a problem beyond man, there’s usually a need for one that’s divine. Some call it divine intervention. And He never fails. God is the surest security your business needs now. I am saying this experientially. I won’t be truthful to myself if I don’t tell you my secret.
There’s always this still voice that whispers to our hearts whenever we are in a kind of business cross-road. (And that’s one aspect of it). The problem is that we are usually too busy to hear or listen. That voice has a message that you can’t find in any business book. Would you listen? It’s up to you to decide.
There is so much to talk about but with these you can restart your business on a better note. So go and take action. Don’t panic and be courageous even when what you expect is not what you are seeing, and a new world of business would open up to you. Feel free to get my attention if you need further assistance. It’s up to you to make your business happen.
Tony Ajah is a Business Growth Strategist, and the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business growth and development. www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk 08051403056
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Making Marketing Fun
There could be more volume of books and articles written on marketing or market related topics than on any other business issue that I know. Research has it that more money is ‘wasted’ in marketing than in any other human activity (outside government). Yet, it appears that the number one business challenge is in the market, or rather marketing.
Like I mentioned in my work on The Business of Marketing, businesses all over the world struggle because they simply haven’t found ways to generate constant streams of customers and keep them buying time after time. The success and failure of any business is entirely down to how the business is marketed; the sure business maker and breaker.
To many people, marketing is becoming harder as the competition is becoming fiercer each passing day. Not too many of us see marketing as glitzy; the rest see it as either complicated, a burden, a necessary evil, stressful, and sometimes mysterious. As a result, they feel shy or scared, and often time lack the confidence to market their ‘product-service’ to the targeted market. They are probably afraid of failure or rejection. But if you must remain in business, you must be in control of what goes on in the market, whether you feel like it or not. To succeed in business, you must attain some level of marketing mastery, either as an individual or as an organization.
Marketing is a natural aspect of your business, or rather what it should be. I have done a lot of work for enterprises and most of their worries tilt towards the market and marketing uncertainties. How can we demystify this marketing thing, and make this all important part of our business life fun?
Obviously, you don’t need a degree in marketing to be a skillful marketer. No. I have seen people with several marketing qualifications who are still in a big marketing mess. For this piece of writing to be very beneficial to you, you’ve got to discard every misconception and ill-feeling you previously harbour regarding marketing.
The marketing environment is dynamic. It’s good that we understand what works in today’s marketplace, and how best to tap into it. Many business executives may have employed almost all the marketing mix – They may have a good price for their wonderful ‘product-service’, known the right places to market it, done their promotion very well, and even played the politics but still miss the profit. I think that something must be wrong with the whole mix.
Marketing is everything you do to attract and keep customers in your business. And it is a combination of logic (and sometimes intuition), and connecting them to synchronize with emotion of the buyer. If the old marketing techniques don’t provide the desired result, it’s very imperative we try something new. We would be looking at two fundamental marketing ingredients that dozens tend to neglect during marketing exercise.
Understanding the Prospective Buyer
You shortchange yourself if you don’t know who you are marketing to. It’s usually difficult to relate to a person you barely understand in any way. A good understanding of who is buying helps you to build the exact platform to achieving your objective effortlessly. This comes naturally when you first establish rapport with him or her. Rapport is the link that connects you, your prospective buyer and your ‘product-service’. Whenever it’s in place, reaching on agreement becomes easier.
Marketing is not a blind game. And neither what you realize at the end of a long talk or demonstration, but the point you reach while you are busy connecting with the prospective buyer, bearing in mind his or her unique nature. Excellent marketers don’t have their eyes closed on the prospect; they focus on them, and how to get their product-service across effectively. Knowing who you are marketing to set the tone for the rest of the transaction. If you don’t know who is buying and why he is buying, and how you ‘product-service’ would benefit him, how would you sell? You would ultimately loose him and there would be no sell.
You would primarily need to determine your customers ‘make-up’. For instance, his personality and communication style, and then channel what you’ve got to meeting his true make-up. Resolving this earlier would give you access into his comfort zone- the zone where he opens his wallet for you happily. He now sees you as a friend who understands what he really wants. Your ability to move into your buyers ‘comfort zone’
sets a stage for a very positive working relationship even after the first sale. (Relationship is the anchor that holds every business, including marketing). When you fail to put up a relationship you miss bigger opportunities afterwards.
As people differ, so are the strategies for reaching them. As we are different, so are our needs, expectation and drive. To help you understand your buyer better, here is my advice: listen, observe and follow through. But it all begins in listening.
We fail to spot chances when we fail to listen. Closed ears are closed opportunities, and you end up making presentation to the wrong audience. And when you have the right buyer, you spend time talking about your ‘product-service’ features and not the benefit; I mean the ‘buyer’s benefit’. This is like majoring on the minor. Benefits strike a chord in the mind all the time. Always remember that, benefit, value and quality are all relative. You only sell customized benefit, that is, what benefit means to the buyer. So, listen, listen, listen. Listening makes marketing easier.
Position Your ‘Product-Service’
Your position is the place you occupy in the mind of your prospective buyer; it is how you are perceived by him or her. And it is perception driven. One significant thing that counts in marketing is the customer’s perception of your ‘product-service’. Your duty as a good marketer is to create the right perception. Marketing is a game of mental warfare; a battle of perception, and not of product or service. The rule of this game is manipulating those perceptions so as to appear as the best and also the most preferred. There are no best products, not even one. All that exist in the world are perceptions in the mind of the customer or prospect.
It’s very important to know the person you are marketing to, and more importantly how to position your ‘product-service’ to reaching him. It is your primary duty to construct a bridge that would make your marketing messages (spoken and unspoken) to get to, the receiver’s mind precisely. This is the whole idea of positioning. Precision is the key. If you miss it here, you may hardly regain it.
People have several reasons for buying. This is where you employ the knowledge you previously had about the buyer and then sell his benefit to him to her. While doing this, you should have one question in mind: how would I position this ‘product-service’ to meet the immediate needs of this prospective customer more then those of my competition? Answering this question earlier makes the rest of the work easier. Of course you are not the only one seeking the attention of the buyer.
To get your position right, you must have first defined it. I mean you must have take up a position that best suit you - your passion, uniqueness, specialty, and then drive that position to a conclusive end. If you fail to determine your position, you end up confusing yourself and your buyer, and what you get is rejection.
The bottom-line of marketing is to make a profitable sale. The sale is the ultimate marketing event – you are marketing to sell. It’s one long journey that transits at certain ends. (Let’s leave it for another day). So, understand the buyer, position your ‘product-service’, and enjoy the experience. But remain confident, be consistent, professional, and patient and maintain your excitement. And when you get your ‘product-service’ in the mind of your buyer, remain there.
There is much to say than the paper can contain. For a comprehensive marketing training programme for your team, feel free to get my attention. Marketing has just begun to be fun, and it’s up to you to make it happen!
Tony Ajah is a highly consulted Business Growth Strategist. He is the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business growth and development.
www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk 0805 140 3056
Like I mentioned in my work on The Business of Marketing, businesses all over the world struggle because they simply haven’t found ways to generate constant streams of customers and keep them buying time after time. The success and failure of any business is entirely down to how the business is marketed; the sure business maker and breaker.
To many people, marketing is becoming harder as the competition is becoming fiercer each passing day. Not too many of us see marketing as glitzy; the rest see it as either complicated, a burden, a necessary evil, stressful, and sometimes mysterious. As a result, they feel shy or scared, and often time lack the confidence to market their ‘product-service’ to the targeted market. They are probably afraid of failure or rejection. But if you must remain in business, you must be in control of what goes on in the market, whether you feel like it or not. To succeed in business, you must attain some level of marketing mastery, either as an individual or as an organization.
Marketing is a natural aspect of your business, or rather what it should be. I have done a lot of work for enterprises and most of their worries tilt towards the market and marketing uncertainties. How can we demystify this marketing thing, and make this all important part of our business life fun?
Obviously, you don’t need a degree in marketing to be a skillful marketer. No. I have seen people with several marketing qualifications who are still in a big marketing mess. For this piece of writing to be very beneficial to you, you’ve got to discard every misconception and ill-feeling you previously harbour regarding marketing.
The marketing environment is dynamic. It’s good that we understand what works in today’s marketplace, and how best to tap into it. Many business executives may have employed almost all the marketing mix – They may have a good price for their wonderful ‘product-service’, known the right places to market it, done their promotion very well, and even played the politics but still miss the profit. I think that something must be wrong with the whole mix.
Marketing is everything you do to attract and keep customers in your business. And it is a combination of logic (and sometimes intuition), and connecting them to synchronize with emotion of the buyer. If the old marketing techniques don’t provide the desired result, it’s very imperative we try something new. We would be looking at two fundamental marketing ingredients that dozens tend to neglect during marketing exercise.
Understanding the Prospective Buyer
You shortchange yourself if you don’t know who you are marketing to. It’s usually difficult to relate to a person you barely understand in any way. A good understanding of who is buying helps you to build the exact platform to achieving your objective effortlessly. This comes naturally when you first establish rapport with him or her. Rapport is the link that connects you, your prospective buyer and your ‘product-service’. Whenever it’s in place, reaching on agreement becomes easier.
Marketing is not a blind game. And neither what you realize at the end of a long talk or demonstration, but the point you reach while you are busy connecting with the prospective buyer, bearing in mind his or her unique nature. Excellent marketers don’t have their eyes closed on the prospect; they focus on them, and how to get their product-service across effectively. Knowing who you are marketing to set the tone for the rest of the transaction. If you don’t know who is buying and why he is buying, and how you ‘product-service’ would benefit him, how would you sell? You would ultimately loose him and there would be no sell.
You would primarily need to determine your customers ‘make-up’. For instance, his personality and communication style, and then channel what you’ve got to meeting his true make-up. Resolving this earlier would give you access into his comfort zone- the zone where he opens his wallet for you happily. He now sees you as a friend who understands what he really wants. Your ability to move into your buyers ‘comfort zone’
sets a stage for a very positive working relationship even after the first sale. (Relationship is the anchor that holds every business, including marketing). When you fail to put up a relationship you miss bigger opportunities afterwards.
As people differ, so are the strategies for reaching them. As we are different, so are our needs, expectation and drive. To help you understand your buyer better, here is my advice: listen, observe and follow through. But it all begins in listening.
We fail to spot chances when we fail to listen. Closed ears are closed opportunities, and you end up making presentation to the wrong audience. And when you have the right buyer, you spend time talking about your ‘product-service’ features and not the benefit; I mean the ‘buyer’s benefit’. This is like majoring on the minor. Benefits strike a chord in the mind all the time. Always remember that, benefit, value and quality are all relative. You only sell customized benefit, that is, what benefit means to the buyer. So, listen, listen, listen. Listening makes marketing easier.
Position Your ‘Product-Service’
Your position is the place you occupy in the mind of your prospective buyer; it is how you are perceived by him or her. And it is perception driven. One significant thing that counts in marketing is the customer’s perception of your ‘product-service’. Your duty as a good marketer is to create the right perception. Marketing is a game of mental warfare; a battle of perception, and not of product or service. The rule of this game is manipulating those perceptions so as to appear as the best and also the most preferred. There are no best products, not even one. All that exist in the world are perceptions in the mind of the customer or prospect.
It’s very important to know the person you are marketing to, and more importantly how to position your ‘product-service’ to reaching him. It is your primary duty to construct a bridge that would make your marketing messages (spoken and unspoken) to get to, the receiver’s mind precisely. This is the whole idea of positioning. Precision is the key. If you miss it here, you may hardly regain it.
People have several reasons for buying. This is where you employ the knowledge you previously had about the buyer and then sell his benefit to him to her. While doing this, you should have one question in mind: how would I position this ‘product-service’ to meet the immediate needs of this prospective customer more then those of my competition? Answering this question earlier makes the rest of the work easier. Of course you are not the only one seeking the attention of the buyer.
To get your position right, you must have first defined it. I mean you must have take up a position that best suit you - your passion, uniqueness, specialty, and then drive that position to a conclusive end. If you fail to determine your position, you end up confusing yourself and your buyer, and what you get is rejection.
The bottom-line of marketing is to make a profitable sale. The sale is the ultimate marketing event – you are marketing to sell. It’s one long journey that transits at certain ends. (Let’s leave it for another day). So, understand the buyer, position your ‘product-service’, and enjoy the experience. But remain confident, be consistent, professional, and patient and maintain your excitement. And when you get your ‘product-service’ in the mind of your buyer, remain there.
There is much to say than the paper can contain. For a comprehensive marketing training programme for your team, feel free to get my attention. Marketing has just begun to be fun, and it’s up to you to make it happen!
Tony Ajah is a highly consulted Business Growth Strategist. He is the Principal Strategist, TA Strategic Solutions, a Lagos-based firm that is into business growth and development.
www.ta-strategies.com tony@ta-strategies.com ajahxt@yahoo.co.uk 0805 140 3056
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