By Joe Mukoko,
Every business desires to fully sell its products or services and have repeat business by attracting, retaining and developing its customer base.
When the sales do not occur as expected or anticipated business owners get frustrated and feel lost.
This space can be very hard because the turbulence in the journey affects the owners, their families and the communities in which they operate. The question to therefore ask is, Is there a way out? Do practical solutions exist? Is there a formula? One answer suffices for all those questions: YES.
My journey of not only walking with entrepreneurs but also having run business enterprises has enabled me to identify a simple formula that is stage based. For it to work well it needs you to be willing to get help and be accountable. I found this help at SME Founders Association (SFA) a Learning and Networking Organization. I realized that a business owner needs to Retreat, Reflect on self and business, and Re-plan and Relaunch as often as possible using the following steps.
Gain Clarity on your why. Understand and appreciate your motivation and reasons for running the business plus how it fits into your overall life goals. Assess where you wanted to be and where you are. Identify the gaps, and leverage what is working well that you can build on whilst developing realistic solutions to the challenges faced. Identify your leadership style because it has a bearing on the overall operations of the business and will help you build a winning team.
Commit to developing a realistic and time-bound action plan. It should define who you need to serve, why you should be the one to serve them and how your solution will satisfy their problems, needs and wants. Your action plan should brief about your Growth Goal, Product, Customer Promise, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Operations, Monitoring and Evaluation and Personal Development Plan.
For you to stand out in the marketplace you need to know and understand what sets you apart and how you can protect that competitive advantage.
You then need to define your contribution to the process. The resources to be allocated for operations should be realistic and non-constraining. Develop and build an efficient, effective and sustainable system. Understand and know where and how you will reach your customers and ensure that you not only meet but exceed their expectations of your product or service promise. Then build a winning team that delivers to stakeholders.
Finally, have a Credit System in place. Remember to reward the business and yourself. Work on your cash collection cycle, pay suppliers and team members and pay yourself.
In conclusion, as you celebrate your wins ensure you have an accountability system or partner who will help you keep track of your progress vis a vis your goals and objectives in order to grow, scale and thrive.
Most importantly your product or service should be solution based. I invite you to give the formula a try.
Joe Mukoko, VP Business Development, Founder Haki Integrated Services
