Is There A Business Organisation That Cannot Collapse?

The internet is awash with news about the sale of the handset business of Nokia to Microsoft and the continued struggle of Blackberry to stay afloat. What is however not awash on the internet is a very funny thing a friend of mine said a while ago, about a very big bank in Nigeria. He said the bank can never collapse 🙂  This was very funny to me as companies much more bigger and stronger than the bank in question, with world class CEOs, have gone with the sands of time.

I was one of those who were not surprised when the problems of Nokia and Blackberry became public. Why? Experience has shown that today’s business environment is no respecter of persons or businesses organisations. It has become so complex and fast-paced that the skills, education and experience of CEOs are becoming obsolete with the passage of time. So much that a company soon discovers that the CEO it hired has suddenly become incapable to handle a business problem that showed its face after being hired. In fact, having a 100-paged CV and tens of years of diverse experience is no more a 100% guarantee that a CEO will be a “superstar.” If my assertion is faulty, Nokia and Blackberry would not have the problems they have today.

The situation would therefore will be worse for a business that hires a CEO that does not know the rudiments and dynamics of business management or who does not appreciate the fact that mediocrity in business management of today has quicker consequences than it used to be.  I have read countless write- ups on these two companies. Their stories are just like those I have read about former blue chips that swam into troubled waters – rosy for a period of time, comfort from success seemingly beclouds realty, organsational and environmental factors start affecting it negatively, efforts are made to salvage it, the efforts fail and then the company begins a journey to the unknown, either abruptly or gradually.

One big lesson I learnt from the bank audit carried out in Nigeria some years ago was that the public image portrayed by businesses, especially the architectural master pieces that characterized some of the office buildings were actually make beliefs – more like seeing someone with a trendy outlook and quickly drawing conclusions about the person’s personality. Now I know that indeed, sound business management is much more complex than glamour, because beneath those beautiful imagery might be a badly managed business or a business going through serious pains from competition, and is heading towards the brink.

What is my ideal CEO of today’s extremely complex business environment? I will address three qualities. The seeming greatest flaw of today’s CEO would be to ignore the fact that competitors do not have a heart of mercy. It seems to me that the greatest challenge of businesses today is COMPETITION MANAGEMENT. Take competition away and a lot of dying businesses will bounce back to life. But you and I know that isn’t gonna happen 🙂 Competition is an unavoidable and cannot be pushed aside. Ability to manage competition is a huge asset for today’s CEOs. I follow the school of thought that say that competition is Nokia and Blackberry’s major “headache.” I really enjoy the competition in the smartphones and tablets market. To me, it is a test of CEOs 🙂 In years to come, I foresee an upset in the smartphones/tablets market, especially with the current trend of competition. today you can get very good Chinese smartphones/tablets that run Android operating systems at very cheap prices, cpmpared to to the big names. Any business that does not see competitors, no matter how small, as threats is obviously “digging its own grave!!!”  Any business that sits back to only counter an “offensive” is certainly begging for trouble.

Secondly, today’s CEOs need to be extremely dynamic, just as the market place is. The market place has become so unpredictable. Foresight and ability to predict market trends have become priceless jewels. Mistakes could be very disastrous. To say that CEOs should sleep with one eye open would not be a joke 🙂 CEOs cannot afford to engage in arm-chair management anymore. Change now takes place on per second basis. Just when one CEO thinks he has taken a huge step for his company, he later discovers that another CEO has dwarfed it. Dynamism is no more a prerequisite for a CEO, is now extremely indispensable.

Finally, creativity and innovativeness are twin traits which today’s CEO must possess. Anyone who does the same thing all the time is most like to get the same result all the time. Creativity is a major tool that can used to abate the heat of competition. Thus, they should be able to think out new ideas, approaches, products at very regular intervals. A CEO’s imaginative ability should be excellent. It should not be business “as usual.”

In  my humble opinion, where a CEO lacks these qualities, then the business they oversee is(are) not in safe hands.

Conclusively, I leave you with my parting shot : Is There A Business Organisation That Cannot Collapse?

 

Thanks a lot for allowing me share my thoughts with you. I hope this piece has added to your wealth of knowledge. Please tell someone if it did.

Thanks for your time 🙂

Related posts:

Outsmart your competitors or they will kick you out of business

Decision making:The sensitive and far-reaching function of a manager

Between nepotism and merit in staff selection

Customer loyalty:A condition for business survival

 

Decision Making : The Most Sensitive And Far-Reaching Function Of A Manager

Image source:ambro/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As a student of Business Administration and Management, I had had to do a project on the most sensitive and far-reaching function of a Manager. Then, I had thought that providing good leadership was the most challenging, as every organisation was made up of all sorts of people- permit me to say , the good, the bad and the ugly – which makes leadership very complicated and in some cases, very frustrating.

Much later, the following questions stared me in the face: What could make a very successful business go down the drain like a small road side one-man business? What could make a business that falls within the first five in the world collapse like a pack of cards? What could make the CEO of a company which used to be of a house hold name, suddenly become a reference point for business failure? What could make a world class business with the best of the best world class hands collapse like a business with a Board made up of a bunch of illiterates?

A critical look at the collapse of ENRON, which used to be one of the foremost energy companies in the world and their auditors, revealed one thing – these businesses collapsed because of the wrong decisions taken by some persons. One fact is indisputable – if the right decisions were taken, the damage done to the image of these businesses would not have taken place.

My graduation from school and years of working has further buttressed what I have now discovered – that decision making is actually the most sensitive and far-reaching of all the functions of a manager.

2009 provided me with further evidence of my conviction of how far-reaching decision making can be. This was the year the current Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido ordered an audit of banks in Nigeria. The result was very ‘’interesting.’’ It was because some of the banks that failed the CBN audit were actually banks which I (and I am sure most Nigerians too had) had a l lot of respect for, as well as their CEOs. Today, some of  those banks have either been taken over by government or ‘’swallowed’’ by other banks – all because WRONG DECISIONS, like in the case of Enron and Arthur Andersen, were taken.  by some  managers.

There are so many businesses out there that have suffered or are suffering similar fate. There are some that are have not closed down, but are  going through harsh times or stagnated progress simply because the managers do not know the A-B-C of decision making and have therefore taken wrong decisions in the business.

For a business owner, the worst decision is to employ managers who will continue with the trend of wrong decisions. Managers who take decisions before thinking. Managers who do not know the difference between a plan and a decision. Managers who give priority to self-fulfillment rather than business interests. Managers who lack foresight and cannot decipher the immediate consequences of their decisions, how much more the long term consequences. Managers who take decisions like complete illiterates. Managers who live and work in the past and are guided by the past, in a fast moving world.

Show me a very successful business and I will dig up a catalogue of beautiful decisions they took. Show me a stagnant, troubled or collapsing business and I will dig up many terrible, misguided, not-well-thought-out and destructive decisions that they took.

My last line ? For every business (irrespective of the size) failure is traceable to a decision(s). Equally true, is that every business success is traceable to a decision(s).

Read between the lines.

 

Small businesses’ practices and the issues of stagnation and collapse

I have been very fortunate to have worked in all sorts of businesses: small ones, medium sized ones, blue chips, collapsing ones, and very solid ones. As a University of Cambridge Advanced Business studies lecturer, I have had to carry out series of studies on business failures and successes. The combination of these experiences is basis of this blog post.

There is no generally acceptable definition of a small business. It is safe to say that this very important element in every economy can best be defined by their peculiar features.

Small businesses are known for the following features:-

*Small startup capital requirement

*Operates without a staff or one or two staffers

*Small office space

*Small stock up – for those businesses involved in buying and selling

*One-shop set up – no branches

*Very small assets value, including bank account

*Uses less of modern equipment and tools, especially the internet

*Inconsistencies in business practices

*Low turnover

*Low profits

The list above is inexhaustible. No doubt, there are many small businesses today which have become global players. Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, Apple Computers (and a host of other global names), did not start from the top; they all started from the scratch.

If these businesses can be this successful, why is that many small businesses never leave their starting point, or worse still, later collapse. The following are my findings (it is important to note that for some businesses, a combination of these factors could be their problem; for some, a single factor could be their their problem):-

Inability to raise good capital:- Capital is the life blood of the any business. Where it cannot be sourced, or where enough cannot be sourced, then there is a serious attack on growth. This is because, every additional investment that is made in a business is a potential for future growth.

Modernization has made the issue of business financing less stressful and diverse. Here are some finance options open to small businesses:-

*Loans from friends and associates or micro finance banks.

*Thrift and credit societies for soft loans.

*Credit purchases.

*Equipment leasing from firms that are friendly to small businesses.

*Debt factoring.This involves selling of debts to finance firms like banks

*Ploughed back profit or earnings.

*Selling of disposable properties.

*Soft hire purchase arrangements. This is also an alternative to buying properties.

 An analysis of these options will have to be done before a decision is made. The terms of each option are usually a major guide.

One of Mark Zukerberg’s secret of success was getting good capital to push his dreams further. In 2005, Accel Partners, a venture capital firm invested $ 12.7 million into Facebook, which at the time was only open to Ivy league students. This led to a huge expansion of the network.

Giving priority to huge profits as against growth:-  I am one of the very strong followers of the late Apple boss, Steve Jobs. I have read many articles on him and I love listening to him because his words always contain strong meanings and implications. He once said that ‘’being the richest man in the cemetery does not matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful ‘’ is ‘’what matters to me.’’- (Craig Biddle -theobjectivestandard.com) Doing something wonderful would certainly require you to do something, not because of the money, but because that is what you really want to do. It also means you are not following the crowd to do what they are doing. This helps you to stay focused and always wearing your thinking cap. When this happens, all your efforts tend towards success and growth, dwarfing the motive of money-making.

Not having a Sellable product:-  Not every product is sellable. Surprised to read this. Every product has its time and location. A wrong time and location will surely jeopardise growth and may eventually snuff life out of a business.  Wrong timing of product release and location of small business has been a major setback for so many of them.  It slows down growth and if the situation becomes severe, it may lead to a collapse of the business.

Closely related to this is the issue of quality. It is a matter of time when even the less privileged ones in the society will turn their backs on sub-standard products. They do not last long. Food items might lead to health issues. This causes a drift to another product, no matter how cheap. The cycle continues. Growth will be a miracle in this situation. And when stagnation persists for so long, collapse cannot be ruled out. High quality is a major reason for the huge successes recorded by the small businesses started by Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg, Page, Filo, Yang and several other blue chip companies worldwide that started from the scratch.

Not surpassing your competitor in what you are selling :- The world of business is premised on the principle which recognizes the fact that for every business you want to go into other people are either doing it or will join you in that line of business later. So, survival is the order of the day. Surpassing your competitors is like a game of football where you have to get the ball pass all the players and goal keeper and then score. That means you have to very outstanding in your business practices. A great achiever, Steve Jobs, has this to say in this respect: ‘’ the only way to do a great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking….And like great relationship, it gets better as the years roll on.’’ – (Craig Biddle –www.theobjectivestandard.com). For small businesses, this could be, and has been an uphill task.

Very poor record keeping, especially financial records: – I liken the very poor record keeping habit of small businesses to the AIDS virus!!! Why? On the face of it it looks as if all is well with the business. But unknown to the business, a problem exist which is unknowingly affecting many aspects of the business. Poor record keeping is the major reason why :-

*A fraud can occur and the entrepreneur may not  know on time or may never know

*There might be a stock out and it is not known on time

*The entrepreneur may not be able to take sound investment decisions

*The entrepreneur may not be able to control expenses

* He may constantly have reconciliation problems with creditors and banks

*The entrepreneur may never be able to state his financial at any  time

* He may never be  able to know whether he is  running at a profit or loss

*The entrepreneur may never be able to tell how much his turnover in a year is

*The list goes on and on

Meanwhile all seems well with the business. A close examination of the practices above will show that each of them are clogs in the wheel of progress of any business for that matter, worse still , if the business is a small one.

Having incompetent or inexperienced assistants/partners/workers:- Human capital is the most crucial of the resources an organization can put together. No matter the kind of sophistication in your business machines, very high quality goods and services, fantastic business ideas, wonderful location, and the like, it takes human beings to transform all of these into business growth and success. The success stories of   Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zukerberg (Facebook), David Filo and Jerry Yang (Yahoo!), Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google) and Steve Jobs (Apple Computers), cannot be complete without the mention of some names of some very brilliant people and reputable organisations. Thus, slow progress or imminent collapse may definitely creep in where a business is made up of people or organisations that cannot drive the business towards growth.

Lack of foresight:-One key business skill is the ability to predict the market. Inability to do this creates constant shock-effects on the business. This is similar to the same effect a shocking situation has on a human being.  Too much of this shock-effect can be every inimical to a business. Having foresight enables the entrepreneur to plan and prepare ahead. It reduces too many stop-go situations. This is a situation where an unforeseen event creates a serious problem in the business which requires a complete change in the business, and starting a new line of practices becomes inevitable. If this happens often, progress will be deterred and imminent collapse cannot be ruled out.

One of the strongest points of Microsoft was that Bill Gates’ career has been marked by his incredible vision. Microsoft beat out the competition largely because they were always looking one step ahead, to the next revolutionary idea. The lesson is: if you want to get ahead in business, think ahead.

Inability to move with the times/changing global events: – Global events are changing at a very fast pace. Business techniques, methods and practices are fast changing at a per-second-basis. Information on better ways of doing business is being updated on a per-second-basis. The internet has made things even more difficult for small businesses that cannot have adequate access.  The result is that businesses that cannot meet up are put at a disadvantage, with the resultant consequence on growth and overall business success.

Poor marketing skills:- The whole essence of marketing is to bring about a sale. Marketing activities are very wide. Poor marketing skills slows down growth to a very large extent. Some of the marketing activities/practices expected of businesses includes :-

*Product issues – proper packaging, right colour, right size, right quality

*Pricing  issues – setting the right prices

*Distribution issues – excellent distribution plans

*Promotion issues-choosing the right type and mix of

promotional tools.

*Excellent customer relations.

Poor staff relations:- Lastly, where the business can employ a staff, the staff MUST be well taken care of. The entrepreneur must have a good relationship with the staff. Staff welfare must be a priority. A happy worker is more dedicated to his job, loyal, and less prone to criminal tendencies. Where the reverse is the case, the business suffers for it. The staff sees himself as a salary-worker who only works for his salary, with nothing at stake. He is less dedicated and more prone to criminal tendencies. All these and much more adversely affects the business.

A careful study of the above research findings will not only be very useful to small businesses, but the following businesses:-

*Failing business, i.e., businesses going through difficult times

*Medium scale businesses that want to grow

*Big businesses that have been facing challenges.

*New businesses or those coming on board

Good luck to us all and thanks for your time.

Customer Loyalty : A Condition For Business Survival

As the Manager, Administration/Accounts, of a medium sized technical services company in Lagos, Nigeria, I had had to contend with one of the most challenging functions of a manager, namely ensuring customer loyalty. One fact is indisputable – customer loyalty is the key to business survival, irrespective of the size.

As easy as the task appears, it requires a lot on the part of any business-minded organisation. Ensuring customer loyalty involves doing everything to ensure that the customer ‘’sticks’’ to your business i.e., that there is repeat purchases. It involves creating a devotion or attachment to the business by your business.

In a world where no single firm engages in a line of business, this can really be a demanding task. It therefore requires that businesses have to do everything possible to edge out one another in a bid to retain their customers.

So many businesses have had to be eased out of the market simply because of constant loss of customers to competitors. One big mistake businesses normally make is to assume that the loss of a customer ends at that single loss. But often times, the loss of a customer might lead to the loss of other customers/potential customers connected to the lost customer. Thus, customer loyalty is a task that must be achieved if a business must survive. Once your customers are loyal to your business, repeat-purchase/patronage can be assured. It will not be wrong to say therefore that in the world of business the consumer is king.

Here are some simple and cheap tips which I applied, which yielded excellent results :-

*Regular phone calls – The popular saying that ‘’out of sight is out mind’’ is very true and also applies     in the business world. A simple courtesy phone call to a/the manager or an owner of a business goes a long way in both showing you care and indirectly saying ‘’ please do not forget us/me.’’

*Branded gifts – Branded gifts is also a good way of attracting customer loyalty. These are gifts with stickers showing your business details on it. Everyone likes and appreciates freebies. It is also a form of advertisement for the business. Branded gifts usually travel far, thus creating more awareness and a has a reminder effect.

*A warm welcome and treatment – this is one of the no-costs things you can do to ensure customer loyalty. A simple smile can have a very powerful effect on a customer.  Everyone feels good when warmly received and treated. It makes the customer want to come back again and again, and even recommend your business to other people.

*After sales courtesy –this involves showing concern over the satisfaction of the customer after purchase or after rendering the service. This gives the buyer the impression that you are not only concerned about the money, but also their satisfaction.

*Courtesy visits – do not wait until your customers come to you before you see them. Do not practice sit-tight business. Pay regular visits. You could pick up deals in on some of those courtesy visits.

*Attend customers’ functions – find time to attend functions organized by your customers. It makes the bond between two of you to be stronger. You can even strike new deals there or even make new customers.

*Organize customers’ fora – here you and interact, receive complaints, suggestions, and you generally feel their pulse at such gatherings.  It gives your customers a sense of belonging in the business. Thus, you make them feel that your relationship goes beyond just buying and selling.

*Have branded work tools and materials – having branded materials like stationery, packing materials, delivery vehicles, receipts, invoices amongst others, has an effect of constantly ‘’announcing’’ your presence in the market place.

*Give bonuses and discounts – bonuses and discounts are powerful tools in business. Every customer wants cheap but good quality goods and services. Once in a while, grant discounts – cash, quantity or trade discounts. Quantity discounts have been known to attract customers more than the other forms of customers since it impacts directly on the quantity bought. Bonuses also encourage repeat purchases. A buy-one-get-one-free sale will certainly attract more customers and bring them back again. Festive occasions should not be the only time for granting discounts or bonuses.

*Give urgent attention to customers’ complaints – many businesses have lost customers because of their inability to handle complains. In some cases attend to the problem personally (for small businesses) rather than send your staff or junior officer (big businesses).

*Always say thank you and I am sorry – it costs nothing to say thank you to a customer who has patronised you. It costs nothing too to say ‘’I am sorry” where a customer deserves it.

*Never allow a customer to leave with annoyance. You may never have his patronage again. He could even discourage other potential customers from coming to you.

No doubt, no matter how good a business may be in terms of staff competence, high quality products, good location, best connections, highly skilled management team or strong financial back up, it takes purchases and patronage for businesses to survive. Customers determine whether the business stays or collapses. Their patronage determines whether a business is small, medium or large. No business opens its doors for employees to buy its products. they look forward to the patronage of customers.

In business, the consumer is king. So we have to do everything to get their LOYALTY.

Thanks a lot for your time.

Make Or Mar Ability Of business Locations : Looking Beyond The Consumers

In my last post on business locations, I only focused on customer considerations in deciding on where to locate a business. Even as crucial as the consumer factor is, there are quite a number of other factors to put into consideration. It thus follows that even where an area is considered as a consumer hot spot, other equally important factors might make the choice of that particular location, a big error.

One very other very important factor to consider is the availability basic infrastructure such as power, roads, communication, transportation, water and much more. I do not see a business doing very well in a location where power supply is non-existent or very unreliable. Power supply, whether hydro, gas or solar, is like blood to a business. Its absence causes a lot of problems to businesses since most business equipment need power to function. You can imagine what businesses that actually need power to render their services or sell their products, would do where there is no public power supply, or where it is unreliable.  They would definitely need to generate their own power, usually at a higher cost. This would eventually have multiple chain consequences on the business – meeting up with other business expenses might be hampered, especially salaries, asking for a raise might be an “abomination,” re-stocking might be affected which can lead to stock-outs, stock-outs deals a bad blow on sales, low sales means low profits; dwindling profits, if it persists, leads to stagnation and eventually, collapse, in severe cases. A number of businesses have packed up because of this singular factor – power!!!

The state of transportation and roads and their networking, play very vital roles in the life of businesses. Businesses that are into manufacturing and buying and selling cannot but give serious thoughts about it. This is obviously because of their frequent movement of goods, in and out of the business premises. No doubt, roads also have impact on the life span of motor vehicles and their maintenance cost. Again, these also have chain consequences on the business.

The way businesses are being run today, communication is almost as important as money in business. Technology has changed the way communication is being carried out. The level of development is not the same everywhere. In some areas, communication services, in particular, the internet is far from being developed or reliable. This kind of situation will not speed up business growth. This kind of situation would also prevent the business from meeting up with global trends.

Security is another crucial issue. Insecurity is a very is a big enemy to anybody, let alone a businesses that needs people to come around for deals to be struck. Insecurity restricts movement, creates a general feeling of fear and anxiety; and in extreme cases, reduces the number of current and potential customers through deaths, particularly in areas experiencing wars and terrorist attacks.

Another vital factor to consider is the cost of labour. Labour costs seems to take a huge chunk of running expenses. A smart way out of this is to consider areas where labour cost is cheaper. Apart from having access to more eligible workers, running cost is greatly checked.

Government policies also affect businesses. Ignoring them might make the business to be at the mercies of the government later. Policies on taxes and fees, what is legal and what are not, personnel issues, business records, business hours and much more, have effects on business. Experience has shown that the “friendliness “of these policies defers from place to place. So, if you want to start up a business or you want to relocate, you might want to find out which location would have greater friendly government policies.

A business whose daily turnover is usually on a very high side would have to be security-conscious. One smart way of doing this is to look for a location that is close to banking facilities. This enables frequent movement of cash away from the office to the banks, which is considered safer.

In addition to these, businesses that see their employees as key to the success of the businesses, would be see it very necessary to consider easy access to health facilities when making location decisions. Employees give in their best when they have a feeling of care and concern coming from their employees.

Another important factor to consider is the cleanliness of the chosen location. A dirty location poses health hazards to everyone that has something to do with the business. If the business is into food processing, a clean environment would be their best best. A dirty environment therefore keeps people away. Such businesses also run the risk of constantly having problems with government health officials.

Finally, it might also be very important to consider competitors in making location decisions. The world of business, as we have it today, is a very competitive one. Some businesses merely exist. Some have intimidating profiles and stature. Some will attract customers which eventually strike deals with rival businesses. Some are serious threats to competing businesses that make the mistake of coming so close to locate their businesses next to it. A serious appraisal must be made of these realities.

In all, together with the first part of this post, it is obvious that businesses that are very successful today have actually done their homework very well.

I sure hope this post was worth your time.

Thanks for your time 🙂

Staying Afloat In A Competitive Business Environment

Our streets, roads, the print and electronic media are awash with different offers from manufacturers and service providers. The one I enjoy so much is the one between the phone manufacturers. The competition is so hot that that Apple and Samsung had to extend their “fight” into the court room 🙂  I also read online that one major phone manufacturer, and a one-time major player in the phone business, has been having some “survival” meetings with some organisations. How sad! But that is the nature of business. It’s like a game – no pity for the opponent and all the players cannot be winners.

As a consumer, I love competition for so many reasons. It affords us the privilege of having alternatives to choose from; it forces businesses (serious-minded businesses, if I may add) to see consumers as being the most important factor to consider and hence, be the focal point in business decision making process; it makes pricing to be at consumers’ advantage; it forces businesses to constantly seek for their loyalty; and it forces businesses that are not quality-conscious, to have a rethink……the benefits continues……

No doubt, as consumers are enjoying these benefits, businesses grapple everyday with the art of “out-smarting” one another in a game, an interesting one at that, that involves winning as many customers as they can, over to their side. Sadly, the inability to cope with competition is a major reason why so many businesses all over the world are finding it very tough to operate, and in extreme cases, many have “crawled” out of existence!

Competition has been the bane for so many businesses that have either not mastered the tricks of the game; cannot withstand it or have simply believed that businesses can survive on luck and chance for so long.

I got the urge to do these posts after my wife started complaining that the number of businesses competing with her was rising every day. To me, the only way to avoid competition was to “close shops.”  Aside from legal monopolies (organisations given the legal power to be the sole producer or seller of a product/service), every business attracts other businesses in the same line of trade. Even where turnover/profit is not encouraging, or where a business enterprise is creative and launches an entirely new product or service, other people/businesses will still join the market and create competition.

So, since competition is inevitable, and the foundation of competition is “winner takes all,” what will a business do?  Apply for a legal monopoly status? 🙂 Well, I am not aware of any country where that is done. Cut corners? That too, is not a good option as it is a short-lived solution that can even boomerang. So, what’s my take on competition?

Below are six [to avoid putting up a very lengthy post] of the tips I shared with my wife…..

1. See business like a boxing match. In a boxing match, boxers fix their eyes on each other to counter every move of the opponent. In doing this, they have to be alert and conscious of their environment – a case of complete alertness. Thus, businesses have to constantly be at alert – conscious of, and pre-emptive of competitors’ actions and inactions. I feel this among phone manufacturers these days. To me, competition among phone manufacturers is  good case study for my post.

2. Do something extra….something special.  Make your product or service very outstanding. Relate with your customers in a way your competitors are not known for. Give them a very competitive price, without lowering standards. Use marketing campaigns and strategies that your competitors have not explored or not even thought of. Give your customers reasons to stick to you and give your competitors‘ customers reasons to cross over to you.

3. If making huge profits was your major focus, think of this : while you are busy chasing money, your competitors are busy strategizing on increasing customer base, including, of course, winning the hearts of your own customers over. So, my take on this is: re-strategise by making customer-focused strategies to be your main focus.

4. Where you do not see your customers for a while, do not wait for them. Reach out to them. In this age of high tech communication, distance or large number of customers is not an acceptable and reasonable excuse.  By just by clicking “enter” or “send” on your computer or mobile device, you can reach millions of customers. A simple message that reads : “Hi valued customer. We just want to wish you a splendid weekend” can go a very long way in reawakening a dwindled customer loyalty.

5. Every consumer loves convenience. Think of ways you can create convenience for your customers. There are many ways that this can be done. This however depends on the nature of good or service. You can carve out time for home service, break bulk, arrange for delivery of the goods to the door-step of the consumers, ease usage, among others. All of these are aimed at satisfying different groups of consumers rather than seeing the entire market as being the same.

6. There is no doubt that the human resource “drive” an organisation towards growth, stagnation, decline or eventual collapse. It becomes MANDATORY therefore for businesses to engage and maintain(through motivation and excellent welfare and staff development packages) goal getters and workers who understand what business growth and success is all about. Thus, merit and not nepotism or sentiments should be a business’ over-riding criteria in employment.

Of special mention here, is the caliber of the CEOs and top management personnel who take far-reaching decisions affecting the entire business. This days, wrong choices of who pilots the affairs of a business would be a costly mistake as it could place a business on the path of failure, stagnation, inability to stand competition, and then collapse.

I hope you found my tips useful.  I would like to read your reactions 🙂

Thanks a lot for your time and wishing you loads of luck in your business 🙂