Chapter 10
SEEK TO ADD VALUE THROUGH YOUR BUSINESS
As an entrepreneur, uppermost on your mind should and must be the welfare of your customers.
It is important to note even before you commence your entrepreneurial journey that the customer is king and everything you do in your business must be to please him.
The understanding and acceptance of this fact is what can take your business from a one dollar business to a one million dollar business simply because the king favors and places on high positions him who diligently serves him.
Your customers’ welfare comes first before the welfare of your pocket, your purse or your bank account.
This truth in simple terms means that when you make it a priority to serve value, you put yourself and your business in a position where value is added to you through the people you serve.
While we might argue that the expansion of your business depends on how much you invest in your marketing efforts, the truth is that it is not as nearly as when your customers are the ones doing the marketing for you, simply because you offered the value they seek.
The expansion, growth and sustenance of your business has everything to do with how much you invest in adding value to your customers than on how much you invest in your marketing communications and awareness efforts.
It is a pity to learn that the present business environment has failed in some ways to provide the well sought after value in their products, laying greater efforts and focus on quantity rather than on quality.
Well this is why the existence of such businesses can only be described effectively as a mirage.
To help you understand the concept of value addition, I always encourage entrepreneurs to focus on studying and understanding the needs of their target customers before commencing with product development and introduction.
There is a misguided principle, which entrepreneurs must be careful about and that is the concept of ‘get the product into the market, you will always get a demand for it’.
What happens in this case is that, yes you may make some sales due to the curiosity of customers to try the products, hence the initial frenzy of high sales at product introduction stage. What you observe after this stage is a sharp decline in sales and no repeat purchases because customers will say, ‘I didn’t need this product after all’.
Having made this clear, you should not be surprised when you find out that a product that sold like wild fire at introduction is nowhere to be found today.
A careful study of your target market needs and strategic product development to meet those needs is what will ensure your sustenance in your entrepreneurial journey over the long haul.