The complaint of most business owners in Nigeria is that “Business is not moving well as before”. This is a major concern to so many small scale businesses and corporate organizations. These four proven ways will help you focus on some things you have probably ignored in your business. Whether you operate a service business, retail shop, wholesale service or online business, this article can give your company an edge.
Educate Your Customers about your business
There is value in education, especially when it comes to sales. You can educate your customers about the different services you render by using business brochure, or by offering articles related to your products and services inform of a newsletter. For example, if you own a dry-cleaning business, you can publish an article on the dangers of chemicals in many cleaning solutions and the effects on the body. However, let your articles be based on facts and not fictions. To compliment this effort, make sure your marketing efforts highlight the fact that you use safe solutions that are not harmful to their body.
Educate Your Employees about your Vision
So many businesses have closed down because the staffs do not understand the vision of the owner of the business. The staffs need to understand the vision and mission of the business especially those that deal directly with your customers. Multinationals and local organization spends so much money education their staffs about customer service and ways their staffs can treat customer better. Trainings are excellent way to train your sales team. Educate your staff on business policies or improve customer service. Let your staff know that “Customer is King, even when the customer is wrong”.
Run Advertising Campaign
Having a business and not telling customers about it, is like putting on a light and hiding it under a stool. Running advertising campaign is very fundamental to the growth of any business. Running a campaign does not necessarily means you have so much money to spend; you can run strategic campaign that would not cost you so much. I will not advice a local food restaurant for example to spend money on a TV commercial, because it is going to be a waste of resources that can be put to more effective use. I will rather suggest campaign fliers (handbills) to the local community where the restaurant is located. In the fliers, we will educate people on what will be gained, if they decide to stop to eat at the restaurant.
Run Sales Promotions
Sometimes, you don’t even need to spend money on publicity. I once advice a lady who runs a local gift shop to spend the money she intend to use on advertising campaign to buy extra bonus gift for her present customers. She did just that and her customer base increased by 300% in 6 months. You will ask how? Her present customers she gave free gift told the whole community about her store, and that is the power of “Word of Mouth (WOM)”. WOM has proven to be the most effective form of advertising campaign in the history of man, because most people that buys a product, mostly do by recommendation. So, run sales promotion today because people love FREE gift, and your gift bonuses will go a long way to make ways for you.
