Friends, today marks a month on our journey towards job empowerment and financial emancipation. Thanks for your loyalty to the thread.
I hope the journey, so far, has been a worthwhile one for you. I intended uploading a <b>free report</b> to mark this milestone, but the content was said to be above the upload limit for the forum. I have been in a dilemma since about what to do. Is there anybody who can help me out of this?

I wish to pass the material to you in time - to help you at the business plan phase. I await your help.

We shall continue next week. Thanks.

please i will like you to send us your email in the trend or send it to my inbox at adegbolasegun@yahoo.com abeg we are enjoy you please or your phone contact

please i will like you to send us your email in the trend or send it to my inbox at adegbolasegun@85yahoo.com abeg we are enjoy you please or your phone contact

Hello friends. I am sorry @k lala, I switch off from the thread over the weekend to re-appraise my business and life. It is very important you cultivate this habit as an aspiring entrepreneur. We would go through this during the business plan module.
So @k lala, I would get back to you soonest.

My good brothers at the webmaster category helped me over the weekend on how to make the report available to you.
Expect it within the next 48 hours.

Today, we will look at why we must have a working knowledge of marketing and sales. My people, no matter how
good your product or service is - if you can't generate cash from it; then their is nothing good about it.

Marketing is all about identifying who your customers are; where they are; how to meet them; how to let them know what you have for them; taking notice of your competitors; how to outperform them and how to persuade people to buy from you.
It is a tough task abi! However, the beauty of it is that the more you do it the better you get at it.

What subject matter do we require to read? Let us know tomorrow. Thanks.

Good morning friends. I hope your need is still being met on this thread, if the reverse is the case, your feedback will set it right.

Friends, take it or leave it - marketing is all about persuading. What is persuasion? It is the abilty to talk with someone and give them reasons until they agree with what you say. Based on our topic, the definition would hence be; The ability to (talk, write or both) with someone and give them (logical, factual, sensory or all) reasons until they agree to buy your product or service.
Do you see this scenario playing out when you go to the market to buy something? The sellers wants to convince you beyond a reasonable doubt to buy a product or a particular brand. To become a multi-million naira brand, you've got to persuade people to like and buy your brand.
Remember, no sales no money.

Different schools of thought exist when it comes to what sales and marketing is; whether the subject matter is a science, art or psychological in nature - acquaint yourself with the various schools of thought.

In conclusion, you 've got to learn how to talk and write powerfully to persuade your customers. Thanks.

Hello friends. Sorry for not "appearing" yesterday. I was trying to fulfill my promise of sending your free gift, but technology is proving me otherwise. I am really sorry for it.

I have been able to attach it. I leave you with it to savor it's content till tomorrow.
Thanks.

Hello friends. I hope the e-book content have cover my sin of late uploading of it. I hope it was quite helpful.

Lest I forget again, my contact e-mail is on my profile. I would appreciate we ask our questions on the thread rather than through the mail - a lot will benefit via the thread.
Secondly, business conditions may apply to what and how I anwser personal question through e-mail.

Today, we will look at another non-negotiable skill, record keeping or book keeping. Why the need for a working skill of this?
1. It will provide you a record of your business activity.
2. It will help you measure the actual success of your business.
3. It will help you in decision making in your business.
If it has this much advantage, what records should I keep?

See you on Monday for the continuation. Have a nice weekend.
Thanks

I have just joined Nairaland and have read ur post on building a multimillion brand and I have so enjoyed your post, I have been richly blessed.

I want you to advise me on this, I love reading Romantic novels, Motivational books(have lots em') Business journals like success Digest paper, I can also easily spot errors in printed materials.

Tell me how I can turn these abilities into a brand.

Thanks.

Hello friends of the thread. I hope you all had a nice weekend.
Thanks @ akko. Today, please let me give @ akko an answer and we will continue with customer relationship tomorrow.


@ akko, you must have a perfectionist trait for your ability to spot error in printed matters - just on the humor side.
You can use that ability to turn yourself into a multi million naira
'proof reader' brand. How? A lot of Nigerians are into information product creation, in books and e-books format (printed matters).
A lot do not have a good command of written English in terms of grammar, structure and style.
Proof read to spot errors and correct them, at a fee for publishers or writers before they offer their printed matter for sale.

@akko, I hope this meets your need. Thanks.

Hello dear friends. I remembered we are yet to know about the type of records we are to keep in our business: this we would do before we proceed to customer relations.

An income record showing all the money coming into your business must be kept, on a daily basis. Such money could be from sales, gift, interest or loans. This income represents your cash inflow.
Another is the purchase record itemising each thing you spend money on - this represents your cash outflow. For a business to survive, do not take your eyes off cash outflow.

Which other record should we keep? Let us know tomorrow.
Thanks.

Good day friends. In continuation, other records worthy of mention is the debtors' record, which is a list of those owing you - it is an income on paper, but not in reality. The other is the creditors' record, the people you owe. These records are the basic required for a start.

From these information, what financial computations can I get?
We will know tomorrow. Thanks.

Hi friends. Now that we know the basic financial record to keep, what information can we derive from it?
1. Profit/Loss.
2. Income statement.
3. Balance sheet.
4. Cashflow

The financial information tell how you are faring in your business - and if need be the adjustments you have to make in your finances.
It takes less than 30 minutes a day for bookeeping.

I know some of us are not mathematically inclined or know how to do a single or double entry in account. How can we go around it?

Stay cool till tomorrow. Thanks.

www.oludareo..com
[color=#000099][/color]

For all kinds of Ankara for your gifts and ASO EBI (such as Daviva, Excellence, ATL and Treasure e.g.) contact us @ 3, Davies Street, Marina Lagos.
08064289342, 08050763505. dareogunpeju@yahoo.com www.oludareo..com/

Good morning friends. In solving our financial computation problem - a very good help will be a software. Input the figures, press the enter button and whao! You see your income statement, profit/loss account, balance sheet and so on and so forth.
These bookeeping/account softwares will also help you in budgeting/forecasting, variance analysis, inventory/stock control and what-if-analysis (where you vary input(s) to see the effect on price or other constant).
Examples of the softwares are Microsoft money, Quicken, Initut e.t.c. I recommend Quicken, infact most new computers come with a trial version of it. Different versions exist, from basic to pro edition. Go for the basic edition for a start - since your information needs are minimal.
Where can I get it? Computer villages - from Lagos to Ibadan, Kano, kaduna, Aba, PH e.t.c. or software shops . Original version or not? The ball is in your court.

Have a nice weekend. Till Monday. Thanks.

Welcome to another week friends.
I hope your journey on this thread
has been a worthwhile one.

Last week I wrote on bookeeping and available softwares that can give required financial information when you input the debit(income to you through sales and others) and credit(expenses) figures into them.

Recall that we are still learning about the skills we ought to have a foreknowledge of before we start any venture. Today, we will start with the king called 'customer'.

Why are they called the king? They determine whether your business will live or die. I use to know a man who was into water production, an incidence around him sparked up hatred for his product in the whole town. He tried to turn the tide, but all to no avail. With no customer patronizing him in the whole town, he had to shut down his production facility. Ever heard this before? Please a customer, he will tell another person - displease him, he will tell seven others. With the ratio of 1:7, which news will spread fast about your business?


This week, we will look into some tips that can help us in customer service and relations.
Let us meet tomorrow. Thanks.

Hi friends.
Every customer that comes your way comes with an expectation. On your part: it is either you meet the expectation or meet it exceedingly above the need of the customer.

To have and retain customers, you 've got to exceed their expectations. A customer comes to buy roasted corn, you offer a sit while negotiation is going on, you divert a bit into his/her emotions to persuade him to buy - after the purchase you offer pure water, at no cost, to help wash down the content to the stomach. As a customer you will look forward to coming back. Compare this to a seller who shouts at you while bargaining - you wouldn't want a repeat encounter.

Tip 1: Always give customers above their expectations, even if they would pay for it indirectly. Put in a better word - suprise them.
If you promise a bonus for a purchase, suprise with two.

Tip 2 tomorrow. Thanks.

@keemax i like your thread. Pls keep it coming.

@ keemax, i must confess, at first, wen i saw ur first post i thought it wud be like some sort of oda post dat lacks direction. Truely i followed you from d very begining.

You are good. Keep it on . I belive some nairalanders are also following like i am and they can agree with me.

Good job.

This is my e-address frank.tuazor@yahoo.com i can use some help if u can send that ebook for me.

Thanks

@ babaearly and @ tuazaor, I am humbled by your comments. Thanks also for your loyalty to the thread.

@tuazor, is it the free e-book gift you are referring to? If it is, please get the link to the copy from post 37 on the thread.
Thanks.

Hi everybody. @ tuazor, I hope you got the link to the free e-book.

Tip 2: Let your brand speak trust to your customer.
In any known relationship, trust is the bedrock of it's existence and continuity. People will only do business with you if they trust you enough that you are not out there to fleece them, short-change them or take them for a ride.
You are building a brand which may even outlive you, so do not let the small gain of the moment spoil your long term gain.

The truth is that you drink every Coca-cola bottle with the trust that the content will not harm you. I am sure - you will be very skeptical to drink some brand of pure water and once you do not trust a brand, you do not patronise it.

Deliver the promised quality, quantity, type and value for the money paid.

Thanks.

Hi, all. Today, I want to talk about a post that made the front page yesterday. Sorry I do not know how to link post on with a mobile phone.

The story was about a person that was scammed. Everybody called him names and said he was a fool to have fallen for it.
However, someone's comment brought out the essence of trust. He said trust is all that is needed to become a customer - and as long as you trust you can be scammed easily.

What does this mean? When you earn the trust of customers, please and please keep it as something sacred. I am sure nobody wants to build a scam brand. Scamming builds only a transient brand. Sooner or later the scammer is found out and the chance of a repeat business is blocked.

The tip is that, let trust be synonmous with your brand.
Thanks.

See how several multi millionaires are going to be created in Nigeria in this 2012 and beyond. Just look below an click on the link in my signature.

Kudos to u bro...am realy enjoying and learning more from your thread...u deserve a standing ovation

Pls feel free to add me to your mailing list: george31300@yahoo.co.uk

keemax: Hi, all. Today, I want to talk about a post that made the front page yesterday. Sorry I do not know how to link post on with a mobile phone.

The story was about a person that was scammed. Everybody called him names and said he was a fool to have fallen for it.
However, someone's comment brought out the essence of trust. He said trust is all that is needed to become a customer - and as long as you trust you can be scammed easily.

What does this mean? When you earn the trust of customers, please and please keep it as something sacred. I am sure nobody wants to build a scam brand. Scamming builds only a transient brand. Sooner or later the scammer is found out and the chance of a repeat business is blocked.

The tip is that, let trust be synonmous with your brand.
Thanks.

which is what you are doing, you are trying to build yourself in2 a trusted brand and i really love your style.you lay a solid foundation first before building.most pple try to build without a solid foundation

@ hannytalker and george31 am so grateful to you and all readers and lovers of the thread.
Please stay tuned, we still have a lot ahead of us

Why the need for good customer relations? Some customers have the 'gene of unsatisfaction' in them - irrespective of the first class service you give them.
They will complain about everything and everybody; and you know what? they are often the least paying.
It is imperative you learn to handle this group of people, you will definitely come across them, sooner or later.
However, if you are a person given to anger, go for anger management first because you will do more damage with it if not tamed.

Till Monday, have a nice weekend.
Thanks.

Hello, I love this topic, knowing people are really interested in making the sky their starting point and not settling for peanuts, but the real problem with most Nigerians is the fact that they do not have the resources to start up, yes you might be working on managing your monthly salary to start something up but what of those who don't have jobs. Note, I'm not saying there is no hope but I just wish people can take advantage of what they have @ their tips. The internet is the biggest global market, people are making money here online. I told myself i wanted to get some change to start a business but guess what i don't even want to stop. Anyway I wish us all good luck in the strive for success. For anymore info on this send me an email chukwukankem@gmail.com. Thanks

Hello friends, hope you all had a nice weekend.

Now that we have gotten some tips on how to service and relate to customers, I think we need to learn to relate our own self. Suprised?

It is important we know how to handle our emotions and attitude during the many problems that will accost us during the course of running a venture. Believe me, there would be plenty of such days ahead.

How do you feel when you don't make sales for weeks? What would be your attitude when you can't meet your financial obligations for some time? How will you react when these problems want to overwhelm you? What stance would you take when your family member become a source of discouragement rather encouragement? How do you anwser the question of whether you can make it or not when you ask yourself?

These are some of the scenario that would stare you in the face. You 've got to prepare yourself to handle them or they will throw you off the path.

How do I prepare myself? Let us meet tomorrow.
Thanks.

Thanks for all the info. Ever tune to your frequency. Ride on folks.