Posts Tagged ‘Entrepreneur’

Happy New Year!!! 2009

Thursday, January 1st, 2009

Happy new year! Welcome to a brand new year, 2009. Welcome to a fresh year of business opportunities. This year holds great potential for every diserning entrepreneur.

Each of us are presented a unique opportunity to build on our previous successes and correct past mistakes. All it takes is the right attitude and frame of mind. Believe that you can achieve success this year in your private life and in your business ventures. Work with a fresh enthusiasm and your dream will become a reality that will make people marvel.

Remember that as at this time last year (1st Jan. 2008), Barak Obama only had a dream about the US presidency. But today he has the people’s mandate because he believed his dream and worked for its fulfilment..

See you at the top! Cheers 😉

Coping With Business Challenges

Monday, December 29th, 2008

How do you cope with your business challenges? For almost two weeks, I was unable to blog because my V-Sat equipment was faulty (apology to my regular readers). The supplier of the equipment do not really care much about after sales customer relationship since they maintain a monopoly in the market.

So, instead of being treated as a king, I was begging for attention. Their support staff were in holiday mood and not quiet supportive. I went to their office, (which is several kilometers from my base) at least four times.

At first I was angry that the first staff that attended to me on phone was ignorant of what the solution to my problem is, yet he spoke authoritatively as if he knows what I needed. He told me that the problem was from their transmission base and not my equipment! Almost five working days was wasted by that guy who kept on telling me to be patient that the fault will soon be rectified.

When I eventually got tired of waiting and I went to their office, it took four trips before the engineer attached to the case could figure out what exactly the problem was.

My reaction

I have learned the hard way that health is indeed wealth. After doing my utmost to get the fault rectified before the Christmas holiday, I left the issue and went on an holiday trip where I thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas celebration in the midst of family and friends.

I resumed this morning and took another trip to the ISP office. Within 3hours, the whole fault was rectified and I am back online. Of course, I had to pay a huge amount of money for the replacement of the part that was faulty. Did I feel the payment was fair? Far from it. I am just waiting for a competitor to arrive in the area and I will abandon the present Internet Service Provider because I feel cheated and I rate their after sales service at 1 out of 10marks.

Perhaps you are having a business challenge and you have done all you could, but nothing sheems to work, I suggest you take a break. When you return you will be better prepared to tackle the challenge head on. Cheers.

Success Story – Superflux International Limited

Monday, December 15th, 2008

A Nigerian Company, Superflux International Limited has won the Pioneers of Prosperity Africa Awards 2008. Who says good things can’t come out of Nigeria?

I’m using this post to congratulate Superflux International for winning the Awards and also to challenge other African Entrepreneurs not to relent in their efforts. Media organizations within and outside Nigeria give wide publicity to con-artists that are bent on destroying the image of Nigeria. However, they give little or no publicity to honest entrepreneurs in Nigeria. I believe it is time to correct that.

Pioneers of Prosperity Awards (more…)

7 Mistakes Home Based Online Entrepreneurs Should Avoid

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

That online business is easy to start and cost little capital to kick off does not mean you can just start one and achieve success without proper approach. Just as easy as it is to start, so it is easy to pack-up.  Experts claim that about 90% small scale businesses fail within the first five years. The failure rate for the online home based business is worse. Too many home based online entrepreneurs get confused and frustrated within the first six months and they end up packing-up.

If you are really serious about starting a home based online business and making success of it, then you need to learn from the pitfall of others so that you do not end up like them.

1. No written Goal and Plan

If you don’t know where you are heading to, you will end up arriving nowhere. Starting an online home based business without having a proper written Goal and drawing up a blueprint of how you intend to arrive at the goal is sure road to business failure! If you write out your goal and spend time developing a blueprint you will discover potential pitfalls and hurdles that you are likely to meet on the way. Also, it will be easy to evaluate your progress by comparing result with expectation.

I know you want to ask, is it necessary? Are those stuff not for big entrepreneurs? Well, you want your home-business to be as successful as that being run by those big entrepreneurs, don’t you? If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, then you must think and act like a successful entrepreneur. (more…)

5 Tips For Ensuring Consistent Customer Patronage

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

How Do I Ensure Consistent Customer Patronage?

An entrepreneur is consider successful when he has gotten a good number of customers who consistently patronize his products or services. It is the dream of every business man to have satisfied customers returning time and time again to make more purchases. Here are five tips that many successful entrepreneurs use to build such customer patronage.

1. Build Good Personal Relationship With Your Customers

Don’t just aim at your customer’s purse or pocket! Render quality services that will truly satisfy their need and then back that up with a personal touch that shows you are genuinely interested in their welfare. When you do this, they will come to consider you as a friend instead of a salesman that is after their money.

Remember that everyone craves for attention and recognition. Don’t wait for them to ask for it. Give them attention, make them feel special. Treat them as friends! Research has shown that about 80% of customers who complain are just seeking for attention, not that they actually have a serious issue with the product or service they are complaining about.

Don’t wait for such customer to ask for attention, give it to them cheerfully. You can be assured they will return for more.

2. Be Courteous To Customers

Treat each client as a king. Believe it or not, without their patronage, your business is as good as dead. Also note that an unsatisfied customer can cost you so much in terms of bad publicity. He or she can make you loose potential income by discouraging others from doing business with you. Unfortunately, you may not be given an opportunity to defend yourself before such potential customer pass a vote of no confidence on you and your business. Do all within your power to treat each customer with respect, kindness and offer extras as much as you can afford.

3. Business Integrity

This is your greatest asset as a business owner. Deal with clients honestly and insist that your employees do likewise. Never make a promise that you cannot keep. Always keep your promise even if it requires a sacrifice to keep your word. This will win your customers trust and make them have confidence in you.

4. Reward Clients Patronage

Devise a means of compensating clients who patronize your business often. Make them feel they are special because indeed they are special to you. They are the ones that gives your business stability. Give discount and if possible render some additional services to such consistent customer without demanding for payment. This will enshrine you to their hearts.

5. Add Value To The Society

In all your dealings, always seek for a way to add value to the society. This pay huge dividend on the long run. Human beings are intelligent, they know the difference between a business man who adds value and the one that seeks for profit.

Summary

If you make up your mind to render quality services and products, beyond what you are paid for, in due time, clients will be eager to pay you for more than you offer. Many successful businesses have built such goodwill that people are willing to pay more for their brand of product even when it is the same quality with that of a competitor. You can get future updates to this post 5 Tips For Ensuring Consistent Customer Patronage by subscribing to Nigerian Entrepreneur RSS, cheers.