₦airaland Forum

Generally birds of a feather flock together but there is a type of bird I know that doesn’t flock with each other and that’s the eagle. The eagles also don’t flock with other birds as they don’t do what the other birds do because they can fly higher than any other bird.

The eagles also do not flock with themselves and you won’t see them eating together because they look for a fresh prey and eat a fresh food. That’s why the eagle is always used to represent success.

As an individual you shouldn’t always follow the crowd to do what they are doing instead you should be like the eagle that looks for fresh and unique opportunities which they utilize.

What I’m saying in essence is you shouldn’t always do what everybody is doing, it’s not as if you can’t succeed at it but you will need to compete with a lot of people in that same business.

What you can do is to always look out for new and untapped opportunities with less competition and you will be able to achieve big success that way.

You can also do a business that’s competitive but if you are starting, you need to add something new to what already exists. If you do exactly the same thing like the others, you might just be struggling doing the business without making much success.

I will be showing some businesses that you can start in Nigeria that are less competitive because we do not have a lot of people in that line of business.


App development and programing

App development is one of those business areas that are not so crowded in Nigeria. Why I’m saying this because you notice that most apps on your phones were built by people from other countries.

I’ve see some apps built by Nigerians, like those bank app, ayo game, news app and some other few, but I believe that we can still do more in that aspect.

I believe that if we can come up with addictive games, people all over the world will download it or if we can come up with a very useful app, it’s going to sell all over the world.

App development is a business that has to do more with your skill and ideas you have than any other thing, if you don’t have the skill, you will need to employ someone skilled in that area that can work for you or you can go and learn the skill and start developing your own apps .


Agriculture

Even though some people are into agriculture already, I still feel we have a long way to go when it comes to agriculture.

When you look top countries that are into agriculture, the likes of China, Brazil, India, USA and Turkey, you will see how agriculture is also adding to their economy. Nigeria has the potential of getting close to what these top countries have achieved, if we are serious about agriculture.

Nigeria should be doing more of exporting agricultural products rather than importing them, if we can achieve this it’s really going to have a great impact on the economy.

Some of agricultural products we produce in Nigeria includes beans, sesame, cashew nuts, cassava, cocoa beans, groundnuts, kolanut, maize (corn), melon, millet, palm kernels, palm oil, plantains, rice, rubber, sorghum, soybeans, bananas and yams.

Imagine if we can produce more of this and export it to other countries. Since the government is not making use of these opportunities, that’s a chance for individuals like you and me to make use of the opportunities.

Other opportunities also present are poultry and fishery, there are still lots of opportunities in these areas and it something that is doable.


Food preservation

I’ve noticed over here in Nigeria that seasons for fruits come and go. For example when it’s season for yam, you will have surplus, the price becomes cheap but when the season is gone, the supply reduces and the price gets expensive. This should not be happening.

In advanced countries around the world foods are preserved all through the year and are even exported to other countries.

Imagine if you can preserve onions, peppers and tomatoes throughout the year and you can sell when others are out of stock because of the season issue.


Food invention

Food invention is the art of transforming agricultural products into food or one form of food into another form so as to make preparation of food easier.

There’s been some achievement these days on food invention but I still believe there’s still a lot that can be done in that industry. A good example is Poundo yam which is another form of pounded yam, it’s actually a good invention because it makes the preparation of pounded yam easier and faster.

You can look for ways to modify the common food we have, like modifying beans and making something children love to eat.

Recently I saw an Instant Kunu drink which you can just mix it with hot water and your Kunu is ready, if you can do an instant food, people will definitely buy it. It’s just like me seeing an instant soup product, I will definitely buy it and try it because I want to cook my soup fast without much stress.

A lot of research needs to be done in this line of business because the food you produce must meet certain standard so that it is fit for consumption.


Recycling business

Recycling business has to do with transforming waste materials into usable products. You might see some things as waste but to some people it is actually a source of gold mine.

There are different wastes that you can recycle if you want to go into the recycling business. One of those is used papers and cardboard as they can be recycled back into papers such as plain sheet, toilet paper or newspaper.

You can also recycle plastic bottles to t-shirts, sweaters and other forms of plastic. Glass can also be recycled into tiles, flooring and also a brand new glass.

Examples of home items you can recycle include bulbs, batteries, CDs, disposable plates and cups, books and cards.

Recycling business makes you to see things in a different way because you now realize that those waste in your garage can serve a source of raw material for production.

Human feces can also be recycled into fuel and even fertilizer, so think about that before going to the toilet to poo.


Online business

There are many types of online business that’s has not been harnessed in Nigeria. Most times people talk about blogging and affiliate marketing, but there are other aspects that people have not looked into.

For instance I don’t see much of paid membership sites and online coaching sites in Nigeria and these are types of websites that can make profit. One of the important aspects of this business is creating content that people want and it also has to be well structured. I know some people are into this business in Nigeria already but there are still many niches that haven’t been touched of which a lot of people need mentoring in these areas.

You can also build specialized online store that can allow people to shop online and the products get delivered to them, a good example is Amazon. Before you start an online business, you need to make your research because there are many niches you can go into that can be profitable.


Shoe production

Shoe production business is one of those businesses that haven’t really been tapped into in Nigeria. You can’t really name any shoe production company that’s popular in Nigeria.

Most people still prefer buying foreign shoes because they feel it’s of higher quality and a better brand than what is produced here in Nigeria.

I can assure you that if we have a company that can produce quality shoes and brand themselves well, they are going to be able to compete with their foreign competitors in this line of business.

More companies need to invest in the shoe production business so that they can produce quality products in the market place. What we have mostly today is the local cobblers making shoes but people do not really have confidence in the shoes they make because they feel the shoes are of low quality.

I’m not saying the cobblers are not doing a good job but for people to really start buying Nigerian made shoes there needs to be some form of professionalism, branding and regulation.


Animation


I watched a movie Spirited Away a while back and I really enjoyed it even though it was an animation. I feel animation is something that can be done from anywhere once you have the skill and the right equipment to work with.

When I watch TV these days most of the cartoons children watch are the once created by companies outside Nigeria. Animation does not have to do with environment or actors like that of movies, so if you have the skill to create a good cartoon for children relating to the Nigerian culture, it’s definitely going to catch attention of children and it’s going to sell.

You can also produce a standard movie or a musical video using animation. You can also mix animation with normal movies and I really enjoyed that in the Ant-Man and the Wasp, it’s a movie mixed with animation looking so real that wouldn’t think animation was used. You might need to watch the movie to see what in talking about.


Conclusion

There are several untapped business opportunities in Nigeria but I’ve mentioned quite a few. You can also try doing research on your own and you’ll see that you’ll also come up with other ideas.

You should also do a thorough research before starting any business because when you do this, you’re going to reduce your risk of failing.

Some of the businesses listed above might be quite expensive to start because you might need to get a machine, a physical structure and human resources to help handle some of the work. The truth is these businesses are doable but you need to be willing to give it all it takes because where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Source

You can read more business related posts at Successpoint Nigeria because it will give you knowledge on how to start and run your own business

You might have noticed that you have some friends earning big income but at the end of the month, they run to you to come borrow money and you keep wondering how they spent all their money and had nothing left. Well the answer is money has wings and it can fly.

The thing is if you don’t learn to manage your money, you might just spend it all without knowing exactly what you’ve spent it on.

A good way to manage your income is by saving and investing part of it, that way you will be able yo have extra funds asides what you earn and you can use it for some other projects.

One thing you should take with you in this post is that you shouldn’t spend more than you earn, I know you’ve heard this a lot of time but I’m reemphasizing it because that’s one of the main principles of financial success.

So I will be giving you some tips on how to save and invest your money in Nigeria.


Don’t spend on betting

I’m always surprised at the number of people that are into gambling especially sport betting and these people see it as a means of making money.

Let me just tell you now that it is a sure way to waste your money. I even see some blogs and e-books showing you strategies on how to play and win from betting sites. Sorry to burst their bubble, there’s no winning strategy for betting so just forget about making it an extra source of income.

The way betting works is you play 10 rounds, you lose 8 and you win 2 or let’s say you lose 7 and win 3, at the end of the day it’s the betting company that’s making profit and that is why you see them getting richer.

If you want to go into betting, don’t be part of the customers losing their money on the game instead you should be the owner of the betting company making the money.


Don’t spend heavily on drinking alcohol

Hey! I know this a NO for a lot people because that’s the way they have fun but let’s face the fact, just try to do without drinking for a month and save the money instead, you’ll be surprised at the amount you would have been able to save at the end of the month.

I know you’re thinking I’m going to tell you to stop drinking but I won’t. My advice is you reduce your intake of alcohol. Maybe if you’ve been taking 5 bottles before, you can reduce it to 2 bottles.

But really I would prefer you stop drinking alcohol if you can because there’s always that tendency to keep increasing the number of bottles you take if you are someone who drinks every day and you know that taking too much alcohol can also lead to health issues.


Patronize mama put restaurant instead of fast food eatery

One of the ways you can spend less is by visiting eateries less often, I’m not saying you shouldn’t visit eateries at all but it shouldn’t be every day because you can actually get same food from mama put restaurant at a lower price. So why not just patronize mama put more.

From my experience some mama put restaurant cook better than some of these eateries then why should I pay more at an eatery when I can get something better elsewhere at a lower price.

If you earn big and you feel like eating in an eatery every day, it’s not bad but if you still struggling and you don’t even have enough savings then just eat more at mama put and don’t mind what people will say.

Another option is you can cook your food yourself as this will save you a lot of cost but from what I’ve been seeing these days some people don’t know how to cook any food except noodles while for some people they don’t just have the time to cook. So if you are in this category I suggest you buy your food outside.


Reduce the number of events you attend

It’s good to go for parties and event but for some people it’s already part of their weekly plan. If you attend wedding ceremonies every weekend, it shows that you don’t really value your time except maybe you are an MC, a DJ or a party planner then it’s okay for you to go for parties regularly.

Some other people’s obsession is going for music concert, they are always at every top music concert, if you are in the entertainment industry then it’s cool to do such but if you are not in the entertainment industry then I see it as a waste of time.


Have a budget

Having a budget helps you control your spending. At the beginning of the month you should budget for the funds you want to spend that month.

Imagine you walk into a store with your ATM card and you start shopping, if you don’t have a budget you might just buy about half of the things in the store and before you know it, you’ve spent all the money in your account shopping.

When people hear budget, they think it’s about reducing your cost to the barest minimum but that’s not totally true because in a budget you determine how much you want to spend, if you want to spend big it’s allowed. The main purpose of budget is it helps you know exactly what you want to do with the money you have.

So a man with no budget is like a man who is confused and can be easily led astray.


Make use of coupons and promos

There are different types of promos and coupons we have these days. Some company award you reward points when you buy from them then when you have enough points you can you is to purchase something from them. Some other companies give discounts during special seasons like Valentine’s Day, Christmas seasons, new year period and even the black Friday.

You might be the type of person that does not care about getting discount because you feel it’s just a little percentage off what you are buying but you should also know that every penny counts.

So if your aim is to spend less then you should watch out for these discount periods and take advantage of the opportunities it presents.


Open more than one bank account

It’s good you open an account with a bank but I think is better when you have two bank account. I know some people wouldn’t like this idea because they believe that when you have more than one account, you’ll be spending more money.

My reason for suggesting opening two accounts is because you need an account where you should be keeping your personal savings. You might not even have an ATM card for this account so that it is not easily accessible to you. The main purpose of the account is just for saving your funds.

You should also have a main account you run which you can use for shopping; doing transfers, paying bills and any other transaction but such account can’t be where you keep your personal savings because you’ll easily spend it if you do that.

You can also decide do have more than two accounts in case you want to save for other projects.

One of the reasons I prefer keeping my funds with the bank is that you can always get an accurate report of your accounts.


Save funds in piggy bank

One of the ways to also save money is by saving your money in a piggy bank. You can keep that extra money you make in the piggy bank.

Although I’ve not tried this recently but I think I’m going to try it soon and I think you should try it too and see the result.

When you save in a piggy bank it’s going to make you realize that little drops of water make a mighty ocean and little grains of sand make the pleasant land because you will be surprised at how much those extra funds can amount to at the end of one year.


Save funds with cooperatives

Another way you can save money is by saving money with a group of people and you all benefit from it mutually. The most common one is called Ajo.

This actually works best if you want to save money for a big project. You can form a group of 10 persons and you all contributeN50,000 monthly for 10 months. Each month different person gets the whole bulk of money contributed by everyone. So that means if it’s your turn to get paid, you’ll get N500,000. I think that makes sense.

Definitely it’s not everyone that’s going to like this idea because you need to be disciplined to do it. I tried once and really it wasn’t easy but it gave me the result I needed, I was able to raise enough money for what I wanted to buy.


Make investments

This is like going a step further than saving your funds in the bank. Let’s say you have some funds in your bank account, you can decide to invest it with bank for a period of time.

The interest you will get on your money wouldn’t be high but I can assure you that it is better than just leaving your money in your bank account and it is also one of the safest means of investment.

There are different types of investments you can do which include fixed deposit, treasury bills, treasury bonds, treasury notes and you can also visit your bank to make enquiries about their investment packages.

Having an investment is a source of passive income because you don’t do any activity but you get interest on your money.

There are other good investments aside the ones have mentioned and you can try making your own research on it.

Before you make any investment decision, get advice from professionals. Don’t make the mistake of investing in High-Yield Investment Programs (HYIP) because you might use lose your money.

If you see any investment program promising you more 40% interest rate in a month, you need to assess it thoroughly or you just run.



Conclusion

It is possible for you to spend less and save more but that’s only if you are focused on doing it. A lot of people haven’t been able to save much money because they’ve never tried to do it.

But I’m challenging you today to try it using some of these tips I’ve written above and you will be surprised by the tremendous result you are going to get.

Happy savings!



Source.

You can visit www.successpoint.com.ng for more interesting post

Attainables Educating and Entertaining Limited is a learning resource company created to communicate sound educational, entertaining and value building principles to children through the instrumentality of fun learning resources.
We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Sales Officer

Job Description
• Marketing and selling of company’s products
• Developing and building of our Brands
• Create a strong visibility and client base for the brand.
• Maintaining good client relations and records.
• Creating and developing brand awareness.
• Follow-up on leads and prospects to a logical conclusion.


Qualification
OND only.
Marketing experience.
Applicant should be a person of integrity.


Driver

Qualification
A valid commercial drivers license plus LASDRI
Must have a minimum of 4 years of verifiable driving experience
Driver must have a basic knowledge of communicating in English, any other Nigerian language will be an added advantage
Must have a clean driving
A minimum of secondary school (WAEC or NECO)
Must be a Nigerian National.
Should reside around Opebi area


Application Closing Date
7th September, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV's to stating the position as the subject of mail: seunl@attainables.net or itunup@attainables.net

Attainables Educating and Entertaining Limited is a learning resource company created to communicate sound educational, entertaining and value building principles to children through the instrumentality of fun learning resources.


We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Online Sales Executive (Preferably female)


Job Description
Optimize sales on e-commerce platform like Jumia, Konga etc.
Management of our stores on ecommerce site
Management of social media presence and engagements across Facebook, Twitter, Nairaland and BBM.
Information dissemination and education of online customers about our products and services.
Expanding the online communities.
Escalation and Follow up on Customers complaints.
Customer survey and Development of customer retention strategies.
Development of brand awareness and online reputation.
Compile reports for management showing results (ROI).


Qualification
OND only.
Online marketing experience

Application Closing Date
7th September, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV's to stating the position as the subject of mail: seunl@attainables.net or itunup@attainables.net

dedons:
GNLD!

Our company does promotional sales for FMCG companies and the position is actually a field job that's why we want SSCE holders as it does not require much skills.

There is a bus to convey you to your location where you do group sales, the products sell themselves and after that you can close.

Please don't things mixed up.

A well established marketing company located at Anthony need officers to frontier its business

Requirement:
Education: SSCE only
Good communication skills.
Ability to persuade customers.
Good dress sense.

Salary:
40,000 monthly

Application closes on 29-02-2016

Successful candidates are to resume 1st of March 2016.

Send your CV to contact@aboutmarketingmix.com or send a text to 09084546791 with your details (Name, Qualification, Sex, Age and Location)

A well established marketing company located at Anthony needs officers to frontier its business

Requirement:
Education: SSCE
Good communication skills.
Ability to persuade customers.
Good dress sense.

Salary:
40,000 monthly

Application closes on 16-02-2016

Successful candidates are to resume immediately.

Send your CV to kenyfranklin@yahoo.com or call 09084546791

A well established marketing company located at Anthony needs sales reps to frontier its business

Requirement:
Candidate should possess at least SSCE.
Good communication skills.
Ability to persuade customers.
Good dress sense.

Salary:
40,000 monthly

Application closes on 05-02-2016

Successful candidates are to resume immediately.

Send your CV to kenyfranklin@yahoo.com or call 09084546791

jasper7:
This is very beautiful.

mrsage:
Excellent

Thank you guys

Most small businesses that close down do so because they do not have effective marketing strategies to promote their products or services therefore they cannot make huge sales. For a business to succeed it needs marketing strategies that will be used, do not make the mistake of starting a business without having marketing strategies you intend to work with. Let me discuss some marketing strategies for small business to increase sales rapidly.


Run a blog
Nowadays you will notice that you see companies now have their own blog, you may be wondering why but the real aim for them blogging is to attract customer’s to their business. Blogging on its own is a form of marketing.

Sometimes you even see some people blogging online and you think they are doing it for fun but they are actually doing it to market their business. If you notice you will see that most bloggers offer services and even sell products on their blog, what they are actually doing is blogging to market their products or services.

Blogging is a good marketing strategy to for small businesses; it helps you get customers online.


Build a website
A website is like your office location on the internet, if you don’t have a website, you are limiting your business in a way. Before dealing with a company, one of the things I check is their website and that will help me get some information about the company.

A website is there to provide necessary information to your customers but asides that it can also do a lot of things. Websites can help your customers order for products online, they choose the product they want and pay through the website. This will save them a lot of stress they should have gone through if at all payments were meant to be made offline.

Depending on the type of business you do, you can create an online store whereby customers can see all the available products and also shop online. This will give you advantage over your competitors as your customers will be able to shop in your offline and online store.

Basically some of the reasons a company will build a website is to build credibility, to attract customers and to increase sales, so you can see the reason why building a website is a good marketing strategy.


Use pay per click adverts
Whenever you log on to your system to browse and you visit a search engine site to search for some words, you will notice some search results by the side or at the top of the page relating to what you’ve searched for, these search results are adverts being sponsored by some companies of which this method allows them attract customers online.

If you want to do pay per click adverts, you can use Google Adwords or Bing ads, the reason why this method is effective is because you only need to pay when someone clicks on your link.

The good thing is that these adverts are not limited to search engine sites as they appear on other normal websites you surf on the internet.

When you logon to your Facebook account, you will see adverts by the side of the page, some of these adverts are pay per click advert and this is one of the big strategies other small businesses use in marketing their products, do not overlook it, it is something you can give a try.


Use affiliate marketing
You must have been hearing the term affiliate marketing in recent times as it is a common term mostly used by businessmen and it is actually one of the strategies small businesses can use to increase their sales.

The way affiliate marketing works is you recruit members to promote your product and you only pay them when sales are made, it’s that simple it is what some small businesses are using to increase their sales volume these days.


Use social media marketing
I’m sure if you have a Facebook account, you will some ads prompting you to like some pages and these pages are mostly sponsored by companies in order to build a community online.

This community will allow them to be able to communicate with their customers easily, through this community customers will get updates on products and also know when new products are launched.

Other social media platform you can use to promote your business includes Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin.


Build an email list
I doubt if you’ll not be subscribed to one or more email list from different companies and what they do is indirectly sell products to you through the emails they send.

Email list gives you control over your business because you can contact you customers any time you want, all you need to do is send an email.
You can also use this strategy too, you should try and get email address of all your customers, build a relationship with them by sending them mails and then you can start selling your products to them via mail.


Ask for Referrals
At a point in your life, you will notice that you recommended a product to your friends and family even without benefiting anything from the sales being made, that’s a form of referral as you are spreading words and referring people to buy the product.

In your business, you can also ask your customers for referrals too by telling them to refer friends and family to buy your products. Referral is one of the easiest ways to make sales as you do not have to do much in terms of marketing, all you need to do is to over deliver to your customers and you can get referrals from them easily.


Treat customers right
Let me tell you a top secret! In a recent survey that was carried out, it showed that most customers patronize a business because of excellent service delivery rather than the quality of product. So, don’t think it’s about how good your product is, if you have a good product and your service delivery is poor, you won’t make many sales.

Over the years I have noticed that I prefer to buy things from businesses that treat me like a friend, to cut the long story short you need to treat your customers right. The way you treat them really matters because that is what will determine if they are going to come back for repeat business.

The trick to get customers to keep buying from you and ignore your competitors is to provide excellent service delivery, which entails the way you relate with your customers during transactions.


Keep increasing your circle of friends
One of my friends was in the church for a service and he noticed that during prayers, when all eyes were closed, a guy and a lady were exchanging contacts, he was surprised but this goes to show how far some people can go to network with more people.

You also need to continuously and consciously increase their circle of friends, you should try and meet new people everyday, see every event as an opportunity to meet new friends. Don’t just go to events to have fun alone but also go there to make friends.


This strategy will really help your business in the sense that the more friends you have, the more likely your sales will increase because it is easier to sell something to your friends and they can easily tell others about your business.

Building your network can also help increase you influence as you have more chances of connecting with the key people in your market.


Create a strong brand
In recent times you will notice a lot of companies spend big money on branding themselves and even others keep on re-branding year after years until they get it right. Do you think they are doing it to just make their company look presentable? The main reason why companies spend big money to brand themselves is to attract the right customers.

Branding really matters in business and depending on the type of customers you want to attract, you should know how to brand your business. Your aim is to build a brand that your customers will be willing to associate with and tell their friends about.

Building a brand doesn’t always have to cost much but it is worth it because it attracts customers to your business and increases your sales rapidly.


Use print materials
Whenever you are walking on the road, you will notice that you might see some people sharing flyers or brochures, I see them all the time. This is also a simple marketing strategy that small businesses use to get more customers.

Asides sharing on the road, some businesses make use of events like seminars or product launch to share their materials. It might look funny to you but this works, it works because whenever a customer has a printed material like your flyer, there are chances he will take a look at time several times and it will let them know about your product.

They might find the seminar boring and feel like doing something else, so reading flyer will be an option. With this strategy you don’t have to talk too much all you need to do is share.


Offer price discount
This happens a lot during festive periods whereby you see most stores offer a price discount on products for a limited period of time, if you buy within the stipulated period you will buy at a reduced price.

You can use this marketing strategy too as it helps to attract new customers easily. Everybody wants to get a good bargain for their transaction. This strategy makes customers to spend more money because they might end up buying things they do not need simply because it’s at a reduced price.

I think I’m guilty of this too in a way, sometimes I tend to buy more when there is discount on price, I buy things I might not need immediately because I’m getting a good bargain. It is a strategy you can try during festive periods, just offer price discount on your products and you will see that it works.


Give free gifts to customers
One thing I’m sure of is that everybody loves getting gifts, so imagine when it’s free. You can decide to give out free gifts to customers who buy from you, this strategy works well and it will attract new customers to your business.

People want to feel appreciated and one of the ways you can appreciate them is by giving them gifts. It doesn’t really have to be something big but give them useful, if you do this not only will they buy from you but they will also be your loyal customer.


Offering credit to customers
If you want to catch someone’s attention easily tell that person that you want to give him a loan, even though the person might not want it, the person will still be curious and willing to know the conditions for getting the loan. That’s what it feels like when you tell customers they can buy from you on credit as they will want to know the criteria that qualify them.

If you are offering credit to customers you should also put security measures in place in case they do not want to pay back so that you can recover your funds. You should also know that it does not mean the customer will get a product without paying a dime at the initial point of sales but you might allow the customer pay 60% part payment while you convert the remaining 40% payment to credit.

You should also know that you will be charging the customer interest for products being sold, so in a way you are selling your products at a higher price.


Offering home delivery service
One thing that has also helped companies that have online store is that they do home delivery, who doesn’t like to sit in his bedroom and receive an order he made order for online or even make payments during delivery.

This is one of the strategies you can use to get your competitors off balance, when you provide home delivery services and your competitors don’t, it shows you are some steps ahead. Customers will prefer to buy from you because of the comfort you are offering them by delivering products to their homes.

Hey! I didn’t say you should use all these strategies at once but you can use a few that is well suited for your business and I’m sure your sales will increase.

You should know that same marketing strategy cannot work for all business therefore you should study your business and choose marketing strategies that will work for your business.

Feel free to tell me about other marketing strategies you have used that increased your sales.

Read more marketing tips on www.aboutmarketingmix.com

Over sometimes now I have seen a lot of people that usually mix up the terms marketing objectives and marketing goals. But really, both terms are different. Let me tell you how my thinking pattern changed over time.

Well, it is quite understandable because I was once like that before, at first I thought there is difference between marketing objectives and goals but that was before I really got into marketing.

Later on when I started doing marketing, I thought to myself that both terms were the same thing because I usually see people mix both terms up, I sat down to think about it and I concluded the terms had same meaning.

That is what it seems like to most people because they see the terms being interchanged for one another, so whenever I see people with this idea, I always understand.

Finally the day came when I began to do research both terms to get the meaning, I did my research by asking people, by listening to people using these terms , by reading books and also browsing the internet, that’s was when I knew there was actually difference between both marketing objectives and goals.

I will be showing you the difference between both terms in this write-up.

Marketing goals
Marketing goals are simply the things you intend to achieve with your marketing activities. They let you know when you have achieved what you want.

Generally marketing goals help shape your marketing activities so that it becomes more effective.

Whenever a new year starts and you write down the things you want to achieve such as you want to expand your business, you want to increase your customer base, you want to increase your profit and maybe you want to create a new product, all these are could be your marketing goals.

Marketing objectives
Marketing objectives are series of defined goals set by a business when promoting its products and these goals are to be achieved during a specified period of time. The main essence of marketing objectives is to raise awareness about a brand and its products, it should also be able to increase sale and ensure customer satisfaction. Marketing objectives are like sub –goals, they actually help you achieve your marketing goals.

Let’s say your marketing goal is to increase your customer base for the year, your marketing objectives could be to meet twenty potential customers daily, to employ two experience marketing staff in the first month of the year and to work extra two hours daily.

Another example is if you set goal to increase your profit for next year, your marketing objectives might be to increase your price by 5% and to cut cost of production by 20% in the first month of the year. So you can see how it works, objectives help you achieve your goals by breaking it down, being more specific and making you know what is necessary for you to achieve your goals.



Why am I explaining this? Well, I am explaining this so that you can apply it in your business. Have you seen businessmen that have vision and drive to build a big business and still their business remains stagnant, most times this happens because they lack focus and for them to stay focus, they need to set goals and objectives for their business.

Another thing you should understand is that this also applies to your personal life, you should not only set personal goals for yourself but you should personal objectives for yourself.

source

You can also read How To Carry Out Marketing Research And Develop Right Marketing Strategy and Why marketing strategy and marketing research important for business to succeed

I really appreciate nairaland and I've learnt a lot of things here. In my effort to give back I have a FREE ebook you might be interested in and it's called The Zero Startup, it really serves as an answer to the question "how can I make money online with no capital?" you can click here to download it.

I really appreciate nairaland and I've learnt a lot of things here. In my effort to give back I have a FREE ebook you might be interested in and it's called The Zero Startup, it really serves as an answer to the question "how can I make money online with no capital?" you can click here to download it.

Have a nice day

Building a successful business is something that is doable, most people think successful business owners were born to do business, they were lucky, they inherited the business or they are just too intelligent. It doesn’t matter what they think the fact still remains that anybody can succeed business if they do what they are meant to do.

Doing business has its challenges but it is far more rewarding than anything you can do if done properly. There are many reasons why people fail in business but the major reason is they fail is because they don’t learn from successful people, they want to do it on their own. To build a successful business, you need to follow these steps.





Think of services you can offer
The first thing you should do when starting a business is to think of services you can render to people. These has to be services they need, people buy things because they need them so you also should offer them what they need. Business is not just doing business, it’s about you being able to create a solution to people’s problem, once you can do that, you just got started.



Learn from successful people
When starting a business, you also need to learn from successful people who have done that business before. This is where a lot of people make mistake, they want to do business with the strategy they have but their strategy is not tested. It’s not as if their strategy can’t work but most times it doesn’t, what happens to most people is they keep trying and they keep getting their fingers burnt because they keep using strategies that are not tested. The best option is to learn from successful people.



Practice what you’ve learn
You need to practice the things you’ve learnt, it’s not just about learning but applying what you’ve learnt. When you start practicing you get better and you get perfect with time but when you have knowledge and you don’t make use of it, it doesn’t help you. Learn from others and practice what you’ve learnt.



Never give-up
If you want to be successful at business you must never give-up, you can change your strategies or change the direction you are heading to but you must never give-up on your dream of doing business. Once you have given up, it won’t be easy when you want to start again. A lot of people give up too early while some give up almost at the point of success but they are all seen as people who are not successful, that why you should never give up.

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A lot of people are used to the life style of going to school to get a degree, getting a good job and getting up the ladder, this seems to be their best plan. This works for some people but not for everyone



At a point in my life I have always thought paid job was the best option of getting a good life because that’s what I saw people around me doing. To be frank doing a paid job is good but it’s not always the best option. When you look at it always seems the best option especially for younger people because that’s what they see people around doing. For some people it is the right way, it works for them perfectly, they start working with an organization and they end up being the Managing Director of that organisation. One thing you should know is not everyone that starts working in an organisation will end up being the managing director, which is why paid job is not the best option for everyone.

Back then I wondered why paid jobs looked so good and I notice it was because of the security, most people prepare to go for a paid job because they felt it was more secured, people didn’t want to take risk. Looking at the situation nowadays paid job is not so secured, people get fired everyday for no just reason. Once an organisation is not making profit like it’s suppose to, they will move to reduce cost of operation and the first move they make is to downsize staff, thereby people lose their job for what they know nothing about. So you can see paid job is not secured like it used to be back in the days.

What is the best option? The best option is doing business

Well with what I’ve seen overtime doing business seems to be the best option, when you are doing business you have control over most things, no one can fire you, you can work harder to increase your profit and there’s no limit to where you can reach. The fact still remains that business has more risk than paid jobs but they both have risk involved. When you do business you also have time for yourself and you know time means money when properly used, on the other hand a paid job is like you giving your time to someone in exchange for money, you might not feel like that at the early stage but as time goes on, you will understand because the organisation continues to grow even when you are not there.



Most small businesses that start up die almost immediately except for few who start right and are determined. One thing that scares people from doing business is fear of failure. Failure can be avoid by starting your business right, which means you need to get advice from successful people who have being in business. People who started their on the wrong note always find it hard getting it later on, which is why you need advice from people that have experience. A lot of people always think business is all about branding, they forget it’s a process and that’s why they get it wrong.

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queenprecy:
nice write up

Thanks

One of the greatest mistakes most people doing business make is not taking any action. They believe so much in miracles and that it can get them all they want, they forget miracles happen only to those who try to make things happen. Let truth be told miracles happen to people who don’t work for it, but that happens once in a while, it’s not a regular thing.

Here are some tips that can get you started and going instead of sitting down without making any move

Do something

You should always think of the things you can do to achieve your goal, write them down and work on it, that’s how most successful people think. If you start a business and you don’t put in much effort, the business won’t grow.

Imagine you have good products to sell and you are not promoting it, nobody would buy from you, not because your product is not good but because they don’t know about your product. Even the big companies keep promoting their product, which shows you how important it is to take action in business.

Do important things

It’s just about taking action but it’s about doing what matters most, I have noticed that most people just like getting themselves involved in activities so as not to stay idle but that’s not a good idea. You should always act having your goals at the back of your mind, this will direct to doing important things first, things that can help you achieve your goals faster.

Doing important activities saves you time as you will achieve your goals on time on the other hand when you don’t do important activities it takes your time because you won’t achieve your goals on time.

Keep Learning

One thing successful people do and keep doing is they learn and keep learning. When you keep learning you will always have new ideas and knowledge to use in your everyday business. When you stop learning you start lacking ideas and you begin to lose confidence.

Whenever you have spare time, you should manage it well by learning new things. When you continually learn new ideas and skills you will hardly lack idea on what to do in your business.

Conclusion

Sometimes it happens that the person who work hard and the person who does nothing achieve the same result but don’t let that bother you because the person who has worked hard has certainly gained something, it could be more experience, it could be new contact and it could be a new ideas on how to do business.

In all you should keep yourself updated by learning new knowledge and skills, so that when opportunities appear you are prepared to make good use of those opportunities.

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@ Stephenomozzy @Bigdreams Thanks

Sometimes we meet customers that give us tough time; they are not willing to deal after we’ve made presentations and you keep wondering why they are not willing to deal. In situations like these, you should make some adjustments and those adjustments should come from your study about your customers and their business so as to make it effective



Let’s discuss how to study customers and serve them better



Ask them questions

When you meet customers, you should learn to ask them questions about their business. Most customers will feel comfortable discussing about their business because they will feel you have their interest at heart. Ask them about the dynamics of their business, their target market, their customer size and other related issues to their business.



You should also ask your customers how you can help in improving their business, let them open up to you. When they open up to you, you will know the right advice to give them or the right service to sell to them.



The whole concept here is you trying to understand the dynamics of your customers business and you selling the right service or product to them. When you sell service to customers and it does not meet their needs, they won’t take you serious; they will believe you are only after their money.



Observe your customers

Observing your customers might take time but it’s always effective at the long run. You will find it easy to observe some customers even on your first visit but it is not the same for all customers. It will take you a long time to observe some customers especially customers that are corny; it may take you time to understand them.



You need to be observant all the time when you are with customers. If you are not observant a lot of opportunities will pass you by without you noticing. For instance you customer might want to venture into a new line of business and if you are observant you will notice and you can be able to get involved in your customer’s new line of business, helping him to achieve success, it can be through advice you give, through the service you render or even through referrals to give.



Observing your customers gives you an advantage over other marketers trying to sell to them because you understand their needs and you sell to them services they need unlike other marketers that don’t know what they need.



The easiest way to make customers fall in love with you is when you observe them, understand their needs and meet those needs. Most people can’t resist that, it is something that is charming.



Ask other people for information

You can also get information about customers from their family and friends. Their family and friends usually know what they want because they might have opened up to them during discussion.



You can also get information from your customer’s competitors. These competitors know about the business and will have an idea of what level your customers are operating and might give you a clue to what they need.



This strategy makes you the answer to their business, they will feel you are that one person they’ve been waiting for to come a turn their business around. It also makes your marketing easy because you know the right product or service to sell to your customers.



Make research

You can get information about customers online, when you get information about customers, it makes you more competent and your customers see you as a professional.



When you read up about customers business online it gives you an idea of what the customers does. Most companies have their information online, this information might be about the dynamics of their business or their past projects, and this will help you know what their business is about.

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imoleay0:
God bless you.

Thank you

When starting a business it’s either you make succeed at it or you fail, but it’s possible you succeed at it. There are some things you should avoid which can kill a small business, I call them killers of a start-up business. I have listed some below, you can go through it.

Unrealistic action
A lot of business owners that are just starting up take unrealistic action most times. Take for example, a business owner who wants to start a credit firm with the aim of lending people money and they pay interest.

That’s a nice business idea but if it is not backed up with realistic actions, it won’t work. The business owner might be focusing on doing online marketing and ignoring offline marketing. I’m not saying doing online marketing alone cannot work but sometimes it takes time to build your business reputation online. So the best solution is to do both online and offline marketing.
As a business owner you need to take realistic steps that will yield result. You should use a sure method that will get you the desired results you want; you don’t need to take actions you are not sure of because it’s just like you gambling.


Unrealistic goals
Another thing that can kill a start-up business is setting unrealistic goals. Imagine someone who is just starting a business and already setting goals to make billions in profit for the first month running. It is possible and at the same time it’s unrealistic.

When you set unrealistic goals, you easily get fed up following up with your goals. When you set goals and you don’t achieve 2% of your goals in the first month, you’ll easily get discouraged because you feel you are not strong enough to compete in that field, at the end of the day, you might likely forget about the goals you’ve set and give up it because you’re not making much progress.

Its better you set realistic goals and break them down into weekly and monthly goals, this will help you keep track of how far you’ve gotten with your set goals.


No planning
A lot of business owners go into business without having a definite plan, they just believe things will work out with them putting the necessary effort needed. They think business works like magic; they just want to get results without starting with any plan.

Imagine someone who’s starting a transportation business and the does not have a specific route he intends to work, he does not have an idea of his target market and does not have enough information about that line of business that person is likely to fail.

When starting a business, it’s good to plan ahead before you start business, this will save you cost and time. Planning should be a continuous routine and not just something you do once. You should do your planning daily, weekly and monthly.

Source

Banks are always willing to do business especially when it comes to loan but there are some reasons why banks won’t give you loan. They build relationship with their customers over a period of time in order to know if these customers are worth doing business with.

Some reasons why banks won’t give you loan are discussed below, follow these advice and getting loan from banks will get easier for you.


Your character
You cannot predict people’s character unless they’ve been tested; some banks have been victims of this situation. These banks give loan to their customers believing they will pay back as at when due but it doesn’t happen like that. That’s when banks know the true character of their customers. Customers with character issue might be capable of paying back as at when due but they prefer to delay payments until they are being put under pressure by their bankers. You might have had an experience like this before whereby a friend comes to you for funds and promise to refund you in two weeks time but your friend doesn’t keep to his promise after two weeks and then you will need to spend your time and money just to get your friend to pay back.

When you see traits like this you will know that person is not of good character and not willing to pay back the loan he took. You will not be willing to give loan to such a person again because you’ve known the person’s character, that’s same way banks operate too.

If you want to get loan from banks, you should be someone who is willing to pay back and not your bankers forcing you to pay back. You also need to be consistent with your words and actions.

Your statement of account
You see a lot of business people walk into banks wanting to access loan facility; they claim they’ve been in business for long. But when asked to provide their statement of account, they don’t have anything to present. So, how do you believe such people have been in business for long as they don’t have anything to show for it?

Some of these people are actually telling the truth but still it’s hard to believe them if they can’t prove it. These people prefer to do their transactions without involving banks in order to avoid bank charges or to reduce the tax they pay.

This is why it’s advisable to always do your transactions through banks, so you can have an accurate record of your business transactions. Doing banking transactions are now made easy with the availability of online banking. That means you don’t need to get to your bank to do transactions as you can do it from your home.

Do all your business transactions as often as possible through your bank, you can also use internet banking so as to have an accurate record of your transactions.


Your line of business
Another reason why banks might not give you loan is because they do not support your Line of business or you are requesting for a wrong loan package for your business.

Take the right loan that supports your business. When you want to access loan, make sure you request for the right loan for your business. For instance a customer requesting for term loan for importation business, it might work but it’s not the best option for your business.

You might need to seek advice from your banker or a consultant so as to know the best loan package that works for your business.

Your credit history
There are some customers that seems to be good, these customers request for loan from their bank, they seem to meet all requirements needed to access loan. The bank sees good potential in them only for the bank to carry out search and find out these customers have bad loan with another bank.

Well, sometimes this might happen due to negligence on the customer’s side. Probably he had almost paying off his loan at the other bank but didn’t monitor the repayment properly. But most times these customers purposely do it, they get loan from one bank with the intention of not paying back then they move to another bank to do same thing. What some customers actually do is borrow loan from one bank and use it to repay for loan they’ve gotten from another bank.

My advice is do your best to maintain a good credit history, fund your account so loan repayment can be deducted easily and as at when due


Purpose of loan
You will see some businessmen requesting for loan because others are doing it. This set of people don’t know the purpose for which they want to access loan, they just want to get the loan first then they will decide on what they want to use it for later. Banks won’t do business with such people because the probability of them defaulting is high.

Another thing you should avoid is diverting loan funds for other purposes as this can lead to loss of funds and might make it difficult to repay the loan.

Know the purpose for which you need loan. You should know the purpose for which you want to access loan and stick to that purpose so as to achieve your goal. Focus really helps in business as it helps achieve the desired results you want.

You should know that sometimes security will be needed from you in order to access loan, depending on the loan package you want to access. You can also access loan without security depending on the type of loan you want. Banks will tell you their requirements when you want to get loan, once you meet those requirements, they can do business with you.

Basically what banks want to know is your capability and willingness to pay back the loan. Once you can prove yourself, banks feel more comfortable to do business with you.

Source

Getting a loan can help boost your business, a lot of big companies get loan to boost their business. This happens sometimes when a company needs urgent funds to run their business and they have assets worth more than the funds they need, you don’t expect them to sell their assets so as to fund business, the best thing to do is get loan from banks. Getting a loan is good if used properly but if not used properly it can really be bad and kill business.


Getting loan from bank without collateral is possible, a lot of people might not believe this but it is actually possible. I know that even after hearing about this some people will still doubt.
One thing you should know is if you are requesting for loan without collateral, the funds you want to access will be limited. Let me go further to explain this, some banks will tell you they can give you 2 million without collateral but if you intend to do above 2 million that means you’ll need collateral. All banks have a limit to which they can deal if you don’t have collateral, so it’s left for you to find out.


You will also need to build a business relationship with bank. Imagine you meeting someone for the first time and that person want to borrow money from you, that transaction won’t sound comfortable to you. But if it’s someone you’ve met for over two months, you’ll be more comfortable dealing with the person. Same thing goes for banks too, they feel more comfortable dealing with customers they’ve built relationship with over a period of time, so your duty is to get close to your relationship officer as most banks will attach one to you. Don’t wait for them to get close to you; you can also make the move because building relationships is a two way thing that involves all parties involved.

A lot of people walk into banks and request that they want a business loan when they don’t even have a business structure yet. No bank will be willing to deal with a business that’s not yet define, it’s like gambling with your money and you have a high chance of losing it.

Another thing most banks check is your statement of account. You may wonder why they are doing this; the concept behind this is to see how much you use to run your business monthly. Another thing that can be used is daily sales record of the business but most banks don’t go this way because most people can falsify their sales record just to impress the bank. That’s why a bank statement works more as it is more reliable and accurate.


Your character also matters when you want to get loan from banks. There are some things you will do that might make banks not to give you loan. An example is not being trustworthy, you might think they won’t detect but your character will definitely show. For instance if you give cheques to your customers to present and your account is not funded, it will show in your account and if this keeps happening continuously, it sends a bad signal to the bank or when you tell your bank your place got burnt and they come over only to discover you were lying to them. Issues like this can make banks not to give you loan.

Also the type of business you do matter. Banks don’t support all types of business. They avoid business they see as being risky so as not to lose their money. Different banks have theirs, so it’s advisable you confirm from your bank to know the business they don’t fund.

Getting loan from banks without collateral is really possible, some companies have been enjoying this but you won’t know. Get wise today and make enquiries at your bank to know the requirements so that you won’t be left out.

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There are some actions you need to take regularly to build a successful business, all successful business take these actions regularly and that is why they’ve achieved success. These actions are the secrets to building a successful business.

If you want to build a successful business then you should take note of the actions pointed out in this write up.

Meet your customer needs
One of the main reasons we do business is to meet customer needs. So it should be the number 1 priority. If you don’t meet needs of your customers, business will naturally die.
I don’t think I’ve seen any business that lasted over a decade and that business didn’t meet their customer needs.

If a product does not meet my needs, I don’t think I will continue buying that product. But if it does meet my, I will continue buying that product, even though the people selling it might not have good customer relationship, I might still continue buying because the product is useful to me.

It is a very important aspect in business, your business should meet the needs of your customers.

Making profit
Making profit in is also an important aspect in business. If you don’t make profit in business, how do you intend to keep the business running, except you’re running a non-profit organization and I doubt you’re doing so.

You need to make plans on how to make profit for your business, so that your business won’t run down. You can read Making Profit In Business Faster Than You Think to learn how to avoid those mistakes that can crash your business.

If you follow trend very well, you notice that the major reason why most companies fold up is because they are not making profit and this makes it hard for them to survive in the business environment.

Giving back to your society
A good business should be one that gives back to the society they are benefiting from. There are different ways you can give back to your society and doing this won’t affect your business negatively instead it will make your business grow bigger because your customers will patronize you more for caring about them.

One of the ways you can give back to the society is by creating employment for capable people in the society.

Another way you can give back to the society is by take up projects that affects them, it could be in form of a seminar or physical structures such as building. Others include giving scholarship to students and doing business with other businessmen in that terrain.

Don’t have the mind that giving takes away from you but should know that when you give more doors will open for you to expand your business.



Business should be win-win
All we’ve discussed still drive down to one thing, which is business should be a win-win relationship. You benefit from your customers and society while they also benefit from you too. Always have this at the back of your mind and it will help grow your business.

Only a win-win relationship can make you stay in business for a long time because all parties involved are satisfied.

There are also some other factors that makes a business successful, you can share the one’s you know

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Doing business is actually interesting but it can also be stressful. It is interesting for those who do it right and stressful for those doing it wrong. There are things every business owners should know if they want their business to be interesting.

Let’s discuss about 5 things they should know…

You need more dedication when starting up a business
When you are starting a business you need to be focused and dedicated to it. It is just like you nurturing a baby.

You need to give that baby extra care, I believe you know how babies are. Even though they are fun, they take a whole lot of your time and energy.

When you are starting you business, it is just like that too. It is interesting to start a new business but be ready for the challenges that come with it.
So if you are a man, you need to more patient, as some women are already used to being patient!


All goals are achievable
The number one secret to succeeding in any business is setting goals. When you set goals, you set awareness for yourself to succeed.

When opportunities come, you quickly grab them at ones because you have set your awareness to being successful.

Good news! You can achieve every goal you set. Set the goals, make plans and take necessary actions. That’s how it works, and then you can expect success to come knocking at your door.

You can succeed in business at the first attempt
A lot of times people tell you it’s not easy to do business and they fill you with this fear that you must first fail in business before you can succeed.

To an extent they may be right but there is another twist to it, which is if you prepare properly to do business even at your first attempt, you can succeed.

Some people have done it before, for some people to have done it, it shows that you can also do it.

The trick is to have the right mindset.


You learn more in business as you invest more time in it
If you see the best performers in every business line, you will notice they invest a lot of time working on their business.

If you want to be the best in your line of business, you will need to invest more time in that business.

Well, this might not sound easy but in a way it is, let me tell you why. Most successful businessmen do business they are passionate about and doing that business is not an extra work for them, it is just part of their life. That makes it easier to invest time in business.

Business can fall if you start slacking
One mistake most business people do is to start slacking with opportunities after they’ve made some progress in business. This system is not really good for business.

If you are in business and you want to stay relevant, you need to hungry for opportunities and be aggressive like a lion to take those opportunities.

Business is not for slackers, anyone that slacks in business will be overtaken by others who are ready to make use of opportunities.

Conclusion
This post was written so that those doing business can have the right mind set that can help them to achieve success in business. Once you have a positive mind set about business, it becomes easier for you to succeed.

I would also love to hear from you what you think every business owners should know.

Source

A lot of times you might have seen businesses go down, you might be thinking it’s something that is normal but most times it’s the attitude of the business owner that actually kills the business. You may be wondering how attitudes can kill business. I will be discussing about attitudes that can kill business in a bit.

Okay, let’s go…


Lazy attitude
At the top of my list will be lazy attitude. Being lazy can kill business in the sense that when you act lazy you don’t work hard. You don’t put your best to what you are doing and this can cause setback in business.

When you see lazy people, they are dependent on people around them and they slow work down.

Lazy people don’t take up responsibilities and they slack on opportunities they see which can affect productivity of business.

Being lazy is bad and can ruin a business down.

Selfish attitude
People with this attitude can easily be noticed, it shows in their mannerism, the way they talk and work.

They are not interested in adding value to their clients, all they want to get is money.

After getting the funds they want they can’t justify it because they have added no value to their client.

Unfriendly attitude
Not being friendly with clients can also move business backward. When you see people like this they are only interested in achieving their own goals, they don’t care about satisfying their clients.

Unfriendly people don’t build relationship with clients; they are only interested in sales figure. What they do not understand is that if customers don’t keep patronizing, it can kill business. This is why they need to build good relationship with customers.


Careless attitude

People with careless attitude don’t take work serious. When you see people that don’t keep to time often, that is a sign they are careless.

Another trait you will notice about this group is they don’t keep to their promises. They keep making promises but won’t deliver.

If you also look deeper, you will notice people like these don’t set goals, they don’t plan, they don’t keep track of what they have done, they only work and continue working aiming at nothing.


For any business that dies, there can be several reasons for it, which may include some of the points we have discussed. My advice is to avoid these attitudes and you will see the positive effect in your business.

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You might have noticed that you are putting a lot of effort into marketing and you are not getting much result.

This could happen for some reasons which may include not closing sales appropriately.

Closing sales is you being able to help your customers make a fast decision. Most times when you discuss with customers, you’ll notice they want to buy but they still have some doubts and something is actually.

A lot of times, you might have a good presentation to make but making a good presentation does not guarantee you a deal with customers.

What can win you that deal is you being able to close sales after you’ve made a powerful presentation.

Now, you can see that both work together, you need to make a powerful presentation and you also need to close sales.

If you try to close sales without making a good presentation, there are chances you might not get those sales.

Imagine someone coming to meet you and asking you to buy a product without telling you the features and benefits of that product, that’s what you do when you try to close sales without making presentation.


Let’s take a look at some steps on how to close sales the easy way


Ask customers for order
After you have discussed with your customers and made your presentation, the next step to take is to ask for order. Yes, ask your customers to order.

Some salespeople shy away from this part because they feel it’s wrong to persuade people. Persuading people is not wrong; it only becomes wrong when you are persuading people to do the wrong thing. But when you are persuading people to do something good it is right.

You always need to persuade people, even if you are not a salesperson; you need to persuade people around you.

Tell your customers time of delivery
At this point you’ve possibly asked for order and the customers are still thinking, then you need to go a step further. Tell him when you will deliver if he orders immediately.

This will make customers live in the reality of using your product already. They see themselves using and enjoying the benefit of your product already.

This will trigger them to make their decision faster.

Show your customers what to do
Now when your customers get more engaged and are making a move to buy already, that’s the time to show them what to do.

Don’t leave customers in the dark by not showing them what to do. You will only be giving them a strong reason not to do business with you.

Show your customers what to do, show them where to sign, show them how to fill the application form; you can even give them a list of what they need in order for you to do business with them.


You should help your customer in signing up
Sometimes customers get lazy when it comes to sealing a deal. So, you need to help them.

You don’t have to be rigid when dealing with customers but instead be flexible. Sometimes you need to waive some things off so that your customers can deal.

Sometimes you might need to make compromise so that you and your customers can deal. So far making a compromise won’t have a negative effect on your business, then go ahead, that’s what it means to do business smartly.

Conclusion
One step backwards from you can make you lose a business deal, which is why you need to be prepared and focused when it comes to closing sales.

[url=http://blog.aboutmarketingmix.com/how-to-close-sales-the-easy-way-2/][/url]

When you are experienced in a field, it simply means you are not new to doing business in that field.

It shows you have done enough business transaction in that field before.

Take a look at the game of football, when you give players the ball to display, it is then you’ll know how experienced they are.

Experience is not same thing as knowledge. That is the mistake most people make, they get knowledge and they believe it is enough to run a business effectively. They mix up being knowledgeable with being experienced.

Being knowledgeable is good but having experience with that knowledge is great.

If you look at most lecturers that lecture about business and entrepreneurship in schools, you will find out they don’t have their own business or they are not successful at their business.

The issue is they have the knowledge about business but they don’t have the experience.

How do you gain experience?

You can gain experience simply by doing, I don’t mean just doing anything that comes to your mind. You should do the things you have read about.
When you read too much and you don’t take action on things you’ve read, you’ll get no result.

You should read regularly, update your knowledge and practice the things you read, that way you will gain experience.

You can also gain experience by learning from successful people. You should study them, ask questions and take actions based on the knowledge you have gained from them.

Do not learn from someone who is struggling in business because that person will also teach you the same thing and you might also start to struggle in business too.

Instead learn from the masters in your field of business, if you listen to their instructions and follow them you will also become a master too.

Learning from successful people makes you achieve success faster. That is one of the fastest ways to achieving success, learn from the successful ones and use the same strategy they used.

You can also gain experience by taking actions based on your personal thought and inspiration. This might be interesting but can also cause you lots of hurt.

You are prone to making mistakes and it is from that mistake you will learn and gain more experience.

But this is like taking a longer route to success when shorter routes are available.

The easy way to gain experience and be successful in business is to get enough knowledge and begin to take action on knowledge you’ve gotten.

Source

You will notice in business that some customers are more corporative than the others. You discuss with some and their response is swift while you discuss with others and they are slow to respond.
 
When customers are not corporative, it is because you have not built a strong relationship with them. You will notice that customers you’ve built good relationship with are more corporative.
 
You might think building relationship does not matter in business but you will see below the essence of building good relationship with customers.
 
Easy understanding
When issues arise with customers, it will be easy to resolve when there is a good relationship between you and your customer.
 
When there’s is no close relationship, customers can turn their back on you when issues arise. To ensure mutual understanding between you and your customers, you should keep a good relationship with them.
 
Understanding your customers makes it easy for you to do business with them.
 
Referrals
Your customers will only refer people to you for some reasons, which include having a good relationship with them.
 
You can get referrals easily from customers if you have built a good relationship with them. If you have good relationship with your customers, they won’t just refer you; they will also go the extra mile of recommending you.
 
You may be wondering why you’ve not been getting referrals from customers, part of the reasons include not building a good relationship with your customers.
 
When you deepen your relationship with customers, they believe in your business, they also want you to grow and they will refer new customers to you as for your business to grow.
 
 
Sales get easier
Selling to your customers becomes easier if you have built a good relationship with them.
 
Whenever you are finding it difficult to sell to clients, part of the reasons can be not having a close relationship with your customers.
 
Your customers will trust you when you build a good relationship with them. Trust is important for any transaction to take place; your customers buy from you because they trust you.
 
 
Number one choice
Building a good relationship with customers will give you a competitive edge over other competitors.
 
If you want to become the number one choice of you customers you need to build a good relationship with them.
 
Most customers prefer to transact business with people they know and trust. Even this applies to me, I feel comfortable doing business with people I trust.
 
Relationship is important in every area of life, it is also important in business. So, build good relationship with customers and maintain it.

Source: http://blog.aboutmarketingmix.com/essence-building-good-relationship-customers/

When you focus on important things and take your eyes
off those things that are not important, you’ll succeed
more. There are some marketing goals that are
important, which will make you succeed in business.
Here are marketing goals that will build your business.


Product quality

The quality of your product matters a lot and you need to pay attention to it. The quality of your product has to do with how good your product is, quality products are products that over deliver in terms of value its adding to customers. A product that over delivers is one the gives extra benefit to customers. But depending on type of product or service, quality could sometimes be seen
from different angles, it could be in terms of how long the product can last, the extra benefits it adds to
customers or the stuff and material the product is made of. When you focus on creating quality products, you will build a reputation for offering valuable products in the market. When you create quality product, that reputation and credibility is there, people trust you because they
are sure of your product. To create a quality product,
you need to put your best into every product you create; making sure it adds value to your customers. You should also maintain consistency so as to keep
producing quality product and don’t reducing your
product quality in order to make profit as this will make you lose credibility.

Read more

http://blog.aboutmarketingmix.com/marketing-goals-that-will-build-your-business/

@kelvin1191 you're welcome

You might have noticed that sometimes you set goals and don’t achieve them, but the truth is that you are not always happy when that happens. There are obstacles that you need to overcome so as to achieve your goals, so let’s look at 7 obstacles that can stop you from achieving your goals.

Procrastination
This happens when you delay to take actions you ought to do. Delaying your action at that moment seems to give you the pleasure of relaxing and the pleasure of doing the needful later but this will have its effect as every decision you make will yield result. Some people do not procrastinate because it gives them pleasure or they are lazy, but they procrastinate because they want to wait for the right time, so as do their work perfectly. The best time to always take action is now, when you have an activity that is important do not delay it to a later time, instead do it now or seek for help of someone else, the concept is that you take necessary actions to achieve your goals. Procrastination is sweet but you can overcome it, by keeping a straight mind and doing important things at the right time .

Not making sacrifice
If you want to achieve big goals, you need to make sacrifice. That means you doing things that are not convenient for you, doing things that will stretch you, doing things you’re not meant to do but for the sake of achieving your goals, you do it. To make sacrifice is to go the extra mile, those moments whereby you do activities to achieve your goal instead of sleeping or going to night parties, those are the moments you’re making sacrifice or those moments when you miss lunch because you traveled to see a client and you wait for hours to meet your client when you have the option of staying back at your office to have a good lunch. You need to make sacrifice if you want to get extraordinary result. Sacrifice is also a form of giving, it entails giving more than enough time, money and energy towards a cause. It might be hard for you to make sacrifice but what will help is you knowing that it’s worth it and it can produce a great result.

Read the rest here

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