Not sure which type of crowdfunding you are referring to. If you mean donation-based crowdfunding. It is very effective. Look for some ''touching'' story about some real stuff happening to you or someone close to you, with proof, then look for the most suitable crowdfunding platform to use. But if you mean crowdfunding for business, you can only influence it effectively if there is something in it for them. And the level of that influence is dependent on the extent to which you are clear about how those crowdfunding for you would benefit from it. This takes us back to what I wrote about equity crowdfunding and debt crowdfunding.

wittywriter:
Good Writeup.
Q:How do you influence crowdfunding effectively.




Wittyness

Sometimes, the distance between where we are and where we want to be is light.

- Istifanus Sarki

According to Techpoint Africa, as of August 2023, Nigerian startups secured a combined funding of $166.45 million, marking a 77% drop from the $959 million raised in 2022. Despite this decrease, Nigerian startups ranked fourth in terms of funding among African nations in 2023, trailing behind Egypt ($442.5 million), Kenya ($344.3 million), and South Africa ($329.55 million).

What this means in English is that startups and small businesses are getting investors and you too can if you do the needful. So, to begin with, it's going to be a long read but how badly you want an investor will determine your patience because this blog post is detailed and worth your time.

Table Of Content

- Types of investors
- Why your business may not attract investors in Nigeria.
- What attracts investors in Nigeria
- Pitching your business or idea
- Execution

Types of investors in Nigeria


Venture capitalists (VCs)

These are rich people or organizations that invest money in new businesses that have the potential to grow very quickly. They usually invest a lot of money, and in return, they get a share of the business.

Venture capitalists typically invest in businesses that are in the early stages of growth, such as seed stage, Series A, and Series B. They may also invest in later-stage companies, such as Series C and Series D, but this is less common.

This type of investor comes with benefits and risks

Benefits of attracting venture capitalists as investors:

- Access to capital: Venture capitalists would provide you with the capital you need for growing your business, hiring more employees, developing new products, and expanding into new markets.

- Expertise and advice: Venture capitalists have a lot of experience in business. They would arm you with valuable advice and mentorship on how to run your business.

- Network: Venture capitalists have a network of contacts in the business world. On your own, you probably might not have access to some of these networks in the next five years. This network would introduce you to potential customers, partners, and employees.

Risks of attracting venture capitalists as investors:

- Loss of control: When you take venture capitalists' funding, it means giving up a portion of your company to the venture capitalists. In other words, you will have less control over the direction of your business. Wait, is that your heart beating fast right now? Lol. I know right? But yeah, that's how it works.

- Dilution: When you issue new shares to the venture capitalists, the value of your existing shares will be diluted. This means that you will own a smaller percentage of the company. Roger that? No? Okay, take for instance, you have a company with 100 shares outstanding and you own 50 of those shares. This means that you own 50% of the company. If you issue 100 new shares to the venture capitalists, the total number of shares outstanding will become 200 and your ownership percentage will decrease to 25%.

- Pressure to perform: After investing heavily in your business, venture capitalists would want to see a return on their investment. This means that they may put pressure on you to grow your business quickly so that it yields profit for your benefit and for theirs too.

Angel investors

Angel investors are called "angels" because they are wealthy individuals who provide much-needed capital to risky, unproven businesses, business ideas, and startups at a very early stage when the risk of failure is relatively high. These businesses and startups are often unable to secure funding from other sources, such as banks or venture capital firms. Angel investors then become their ''hope''.

They often provide capital to businesses in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity.

Angel investors are attracted to your business by the potential ROI, the desire to help, and the interest in being part of the growth of a new business. They are often retired entrepreneurs or executives with lots of experience in the business world and the industries they invest in.

Family and friends

Many entrepreneurs get their first investment from family and friends. Hello? Remember the story of how the richest man in Africa, Dangote, started his business? Family and friends can be a good way to get started, but you must note that these investors may not have the same experience as professional investors. So, you have one ''rich uncle'' or ''rich aunty'' somewhere? go ahead and do the needful. No jokes.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is another way of raising money for your business by soliciting small donations from a large number of people. The main types of crowdfunding for businesses include:

Donation-based crowdfunding: Contributors provide money to the business without expecting anything in return. It's commonly used for charitable causes or product/service launches. While this might not entirely be suitable for business, the next two would.

Equity crowdfunding: Here, investors purchase shares in the business in exchange for their investment. This option is often utilized by startups for early-stage growth.

Debt crowdfunding: Investors lend money to the business and receive repayment with interest over time, typically used by small businesses for working capital or short-term financial needs.


Why Your business may not attract Investors in Nigeria

1. Your business or idea is too young

Depending on whether you are in the UK or in Nigeria, try pitching your business ideas with the likes of Dragons Den or Lion’s Den, a reality TV show for entrepreneurs where you present your business ideas to a panel of wealthy investors who are themselves, serial entrepreneurs.

Or better still, watch some of their pitch sessions and put yourself in the shoes of those pitching. The questions asked by the investors would weigh your ideas and business on a scale of how mature it is for investment. Here are a few things that show your business or idea is too young:

Your business is not yet profitable. Investors are attracted to businesses that are, to a reasonable extent, generating revenue and showing a profit. If your business is still in the early stages, without a proven track record of making a profit yet, it is usually perceived by investors as too risky. This of course does not include angel investors.

The team is not experienced or qualified. Your business would not attract investors because you alone are the CEO, COO, CFO, CMO, CRM, HR, Project Manager, Admin, and others. Your business shows how serious you are when you have a strong team with the experience and skills to execute the business plan. If your team is not experienced or qualified, how would they trust that their money would be worth investing in? So rather than attracting investors, your business becomes too risky for investors.

The business is not scalable. To attract investors in Nigeria, your business must possess the ability to spread its wings and grow without being caged by its structure or crippled by the available resources when faced with increased production. In other words, you must have a solid plan for how to grow your business and scale, and not be caught unprepared when a potential increase in production appears. For instance, your business plan and structure will show if your business is ready enough if funded with $20m right now. If your structure cannot accommodate it, then it may not be a good investment for investors.

The business is not unique or differentiated. Have you been able to find that thing that differentiates your business idea from every other business out there? You can rest assured that clients are not looking for businesses that offer the same thing with no touch of difference, not suitable to their interests, concerns, budget, and preferences. If your business is not attracting investors with a unique value proposition or competitive advantage, it may be too difficult to compete and attract customers.

2. It is not investible

For your business to be investible, it means you must have a clear and concise business plan that outlines everything that business contains and projects, from how you intend to make money and grow the business, to how you plan to sustain the business beyond just making profits and growing.

3. It is not relevant.

Here's a quick question. Is your business positioned to solve a problem that has long existed, a problem that will soon cease to exist, a problem that is yet to exist, or a problem that is not going to cease anytime soon? So long as your business remains relevant in terms of the problem you are trying to solve, in the next 5 - 10 years, then your business is worth investing in. In other words, your business is too young to attract investors because you have not drilled your business enough to find its potential to remain relevant years after now.

Note: No matter how groundbreaking your idea is, investors don’t trust you, they trust in numbers, evidence, and potential. These three things convince them to trust you. No hard feelings. A fine business idea doesn’t automatically translate to success.

Got any questions so far? Your answers are just a chat away (contact details at the end of the article). Let’s proceed to how to attract these investors, cos as far as this article is concerned, they are in trouble. Lol.


What attracts investors to your business


Whether you are embarking on a CSR (corporate social responsibility) project, a non-profit-making project, or you have an idea that would ‘’change the world’’, the most important thing is that it solves a key problem and adds a key value. 

As an entrepreneur, your idea is not as good as it feels or sounds, rather it is as good as the solutions it brings. People will pay you only for the value you bring, and investors are weighing your offerings versus the worth of the value your business or idea is offering.

Let your proposal carry a worthwhile value.

A business plan

Having a good business plan gives you a 70% chance of getting investors to consider your business for investment. It's the first thing any investor would ask you because the business plan will answer at least 80% of their questions. Here are some of the questions investors ask that a business plan answers:

What is your business about? What problem does your business solve? What is your unique selling proposition (USP)? Why should I invest in your business?

What is the market for your product or service? How big is the market? Who are your target customers? What are their needs and wants?

What is your competitive landscape? Who are your competitors? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How will you differentiate your business from the competition?

What is your business model? How will you make money? What are your revenue streams?

What are your financial projections? How much money do you need? How will you use the money? What are your financial goals?

What is your management team? Who are the key members of your team? What are their skills and experience?

What are the risks to your business? What are the potential challenges and obstacles that you face? How will you mitigate these risks?

What is your exit strategy? How do you plan to get out of the business? When do you expect to be profitable?

A business plan is a whole topic on its own Click here to read about it. But here’s my advice: In all your gettings, get a business plan ready on time. E get why! They say luck is when opportunity meets preparation, yeah, well, opportunities don’t announce their arrival beforehand.  

And please, make sure your business plan/proposal is detailed, well-researched, and well-designed. If you are not an expert in business plans, hire one. A business plan that is convincing enough to persuade investors to invest millions in your business is not something you should attempt to create on your own if you are not an expert. 

If you have doubts, or you are not sure of who to contact, you can reach out to me at any time (call, WhatsApp, email). See my contact details at the bottom of this article.

Business registration: 

In putting together the things you need to attract investors in Nigeria, your business registration plays a major role. Let’s look at it from the point of view of an investor.

Nigeria is a very special country with a special set of people, which makes our case a bit special when it comes to qualifying for an investment. The trust issue is always on another level, especially when it is a non-Nigerian investing in your business/idea.

One method of recognizing fraudulent individuals and scammers masquerading as authentic entrepreneurs in search of investors is through the lack of legitimacy in their schemes. Their businesses are hardly registered.

Ensure your business is registered with CAC and if you have any questions on how to register your business from scratch, you can always reach out to me about that. 

Structure

When your sponsors go through the business structure written in your business plan, they would love to know how much of this structure is currently in place.

Beyond what your business plan says about your organizational and business structure, do you have a strong management team? Do you have a team of experienced and capable managers who can use the grant money effectively? 

An investor would want to see that you have a clear plan for how your team will use the money before he is convinced enough to show interest in investing in your idea/business.

Success History

Sounds funny to say you’ll be requested to share the financial history or success history of what you have not even started. But then here’s where motivational speakers are right when they said the best time to start is now! Why?

So someone you don’t know from Adam attempts to convince you to lend him N5m. However, he has no financial pedigree, and neither are you sure of his ability to refund the money. Would you lend him half of the money? Even angel investors need something to bank on.

You want to attract an investor in Nigeria? Then start with the little you have, and make some results to back up your claim that your idea is worth the investment. Prove it with track records, numbers, and successes achieved no matter how little.

So what happens when you have all these? Time to look for that investor. Here are a few, to begin with:

Pitching your business idea

Beyond watching plenty of videos on pitches, rehearsing, dressing for the pitch, etc, here is my two cents: be convinced of your business, be sure of your numbers, and be a smart negotiator. Don’t give a rushed response. Think it through. You could request to get back to them if you are not sure of an answer.

Don’t be too long-winded. These investors are busy people and they want a straight-to-the-point presentation and responses. Don’t overhype your business. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Again, know your numbers, think ahead of your investors, and sell yourself well in every sense of it!

Getting investors is not about luck but about what you do to attract investors. Besides, investors are not doing you alone a favor by investing in your business. They are benefiting from it too.

Execution

Complete your journey by taking your first steps from studying the types of investors, to selecting the right investors, down to having your business plan/proposal ready, and to registering your business.

If you don't trust your ability to do this, you can contact me (contact at the bottom of this blog post). I will help you take care of the processes and recommend the right approach to attracting the investor. Only thing you will have to do is finish the process by contacting the suggested investors and pitching your business to them.

If you have any questions, concerns, or contributions, please share them in the comments, and I would be glad to respond. Your comments and questions will also determine my next article. If you don't have any comments at all, at least rate my article on a scale of 1 - 10. It's the least you can do for me.

See you in the comments. 

___________________________________

Name: Istifanus Sarki (Strategist)

Email: manicleworld@gmail.com 

WhatsApp: +2347080225737

wittywriter:
My Fundraiser experts says Crowd-Funding is the easiest in Africa....What's your take @OP?




Wittyness

Crowdfunding is easy. True! But do you really want to go that route for a project or business idea that requires as much as 20m? And how would you sell the idea to get people to crowdfund for you? Think about successful crowdfunding projects. You'd find in common what made it successful.

How To Get Investors For Business Funding In Nigeria

Sometimes, the distance between where we are and where we want to be is light. - Istifanus Sarki

If your attempts in getting investors to fund your business have fallen flat on countless occasions, then it’s best to pause the search and focus on the roots.

And don’t even buy the lie that it’s difficult to find investors. Those are false assumptions from the backend of wrong approaches. You would be shocked to know the rate at which millions are being invested on a weekly basis locally and globally.

Here, you will learn how easy it is to get one…just one investor that would bring your ideas to life with their investment.

The Financial Investment Space in Nigeria
We can date investment back to when Dangote was loaned half a million in 1977 to start a business and the rest is history. Today, we have more investors who invest in several businesses, ideas, and startups. Even more, there are lots of angel investors who are looking for businesses to invest in.

And the result?

According to a 2022 report by the SMEDAN (Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria), there are an estimated 41 million SMEs in Nigeria, accounting for 96% of businesses in the country. These SMEs contribute about 50% of Nigeria's GDP and employ about 84% of the country's workforce.

What this means in English is that startups and small businesses are getting the necessary financial support they need, and you too can if you do what they did to get the result they got.

Before we get down to business, here is a summary of this article you are about to learn so much from:

Table Of Content
1. What you need to know about investors and how they come into your business
2. Reasons people hardly find investors or qualify for the investment.
3. What you need to Qualify For A Business Loan, Grant, Or Investment in Nigeria
4. How to find investors
5. Pitching your business or idea
6. What to do after pitching

What you need to know about investors and how they come into your business

It’s essential I state this: there are a lot of investors and people generally willing to invest in companies and ideas. The only problem is finding the right person(s). I will explain further. Before you start looking for investors to pitch your business to, it's important to understand their investment mindset. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

- Their investment criteria: Study their investment career, and speak to someone they have invested in previously. Study their personality too. If you are smart enough, you can pick a thing or two about what they are likely to be looking out for. Some focus on businesses in a specific industry, while others may be looking for businesses at a certain stage of development.

- Their motivations: Understand why they are interested in your business. Some investors are motivated by the potential for financial gain, others are motivated by the desire to help a business succeed. Whatever the motive is, how you plan your moves must be with an end to create a win-win situation for you and the investors.

- Their risk tolerance: Learn how much risk they are willing to take on. Some investors are more risk-averse, while others may be more willing to take on high-risk investments.

- Their exit strategies: Investors always have plans for how to get their money back. Some investors may be looking to exit their investment in a few years, while others may be willing to hold their investment for a longer period of time. This information would help you when pitching to them.

The moment you understand what investors are looking out for, you can begin the process of preparing to pitch by tailoring your pitch to their specific needs. With these, your chances of getting their investment are high.

However, what about individuals who attempted to pitch to investors but were unsuccessful in gaining approval? Let’s take a cue. A few lessons here and there won’t hurt. Would it?

Why people don’t qualify for Investors, Grants, Or Business Loans, in Nigeria
Here are the reasons people don’t qualify for loans in Nigeria

- Your business or idea is too young
Depending on whether you are in the UK or in Nigeria, try pitching your business ideas with the likes of Dragons Den or Lion’s Den, a reality TV show for entrepreneurs where you present your business ideas to a panel of wealthy investors who are themselves, serial entrepreneurs. One of the questions you would definitely get asked would be how much have you made from it so far and within the space of how long?
What shows that your business idea is not too young is that the business has gone from being just an idea to an executed idea with real-time results. No matter how groundbreaking your idea is, investors don’t trust you, they trust in numbers, then the numbers convince them to trust you. No hard feelings. A good business idea doesn’t automatically translate to success.

- It is not investible
For your business to be investible, it means you must have a clear and concise business plan that outlines how you intend to make money and grow the business, a strong team is in place that has the skills and experience to make their vision a reality, and traction such as customers, revenue, or user growth which shows the potential of the business.


- It’s a win-lose, not a win-win
When applying for investment, most people are usually after how they’d make a lot of profit. They go ahead to dream about how they’d amplify the result. While there is nothing wrong with that, they often forget to figure out and factor in how their investor would benefit from the same.


There are other reasons and I can always share more with you later. In fact, you could chat me up about it if you want (contact details at the end of the article). But for now, let’s continue unraveling how to get these investors, cos as far as this article is concerned, they are in trouble. Lol.

What qualifies you for business funding by investors

Value:
Whether you are embarking on a CSR (corporate social responsibility) project, a non-profit-making project, or you have an idea that would ‘’change the world’’, the most important thing is that it solves a key problem and adds a key value.

As an entrepreneur, your idea is not as good as it feels or sounds, rather it is as good as the solutions it brings. People will pay you only for the value you bring, and investors are weighing your offerings versus the worth of the value your business or idea is offering.

And as Uncle Leke Alder would say in an interview with Poju Oyemade in 2020, there is a difference between an idea and an idea of an idea. That you have an idea is not enough. You must prune the idea until it can stand on its own. And this is because people have made mistakes of building businesses on the pillars of the idea of an idea, rather than the idea itself.

Confused?

What I am trying to say is, let your proposal carry a worthwhile value.

A business plan:
It is safe to say having a good business plan gives you a 50% chance of getting investors to consider your business for investment. One of the first things any investor would ask you is your business plan. This is because the business plan will answer 80% of their questions. And if you care to know, here are some of the questions investors and financiers ask that a business plan answers:

What is your business?
What problem does your business solve?
What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?
Why should investors invest in your business?
What is the market for your product or service?
How big is the market? Who are your target customers?
What are their needs and wants?

What is your competitive landscape?
Who are your competitors?
What are their strengths and weaknesses?
How will you differentiate your business from the competition?
What is your business model? How will you make money?
What are your revenue streams?
What are your financial projections?
How much money do you need?
How will you use the money?
What are your financial goals?

What is your management team?
Who are the key members of your team?
What are their skills and experience?
What are the risks to your business?
What are the potential challenges and obstacles that you face?
How will you mitigate these risks?
What is your exit strategy?
How do you plan to get out of the business?
When do you expect to be profitable?

A business plan is a whole topic on its own Click here https://manicle..com/2020/03/all-you-need-to-know-about-business.html to read about it. But here’s my advice: In all your gettings, get a business plan ready on time. E get why! They say luck is when opportunity meets preparation, yeah, well, opportunities don’t announce their arrival beforehand.

And please, make sure your business plan/proposal is detailed, well-researched, and well-designed. If you are not an expert in business plans, hire one. A business plan that is convincing enough to persuade investors to invest millions in your business is not something you should attempt to create on your own if you are not an expert.

If you have doubts, or you are not sure of who to contact, you can reach out to me at any time (call, WhatsApp, email). See my contact detail at the bottom of this article.

Note:
In cases where an opportunity to pitch to an investor within the period of a week pops up, you can kiss that opportunity goodbye, cos you don't expect a grant-winning business plan in a week. The best time to have it ready is now when you have enough time to research and write a detailed plan.

Business registration:
In putting together the things you need to qualify for funding from an investor, your business registration plays a major role. Let’s look at it from the point of view of an investor.

Nigeria is a very special country with a special set of people, which makes our case a bit special when it comes to qualifying for an investment. The trust issue is always on another level, especially when it is a Non-Nigerian investing in your business/idea.

One method of recognizing fraudulent individuals and scammers masquerading as authentic entrepreneurs in search of investors is through the lack of legitimacy in their schemes. Their businesses are hardly registered.

Whatever questions you have on how to register your business from scratch, you can always chat me up on that.

Structure
When your sponsors go through the business structure written in your business plan, they would love to know how much of this structure is currently in place.

Beyond what your business plan says about your organizational and business structure, do you have a strong management team? Do you have a team of experienced and capable managers who can use the grant money effectively?

An investor would want to see that you have a clear plan for how your team will use the money before he is convinced enough to show interest in investing in your idea/business.

Success History
Sounds funny to say you’ll be requested to share the financial history or success history of what you have not even started. But then here’s where motivational speakers are right when they said the best time to start is now!

While I understand that you have a picture in mind of how big and how excellently you want to start, and how you don’t have the financial capacity to actualize that picture at the start of your business, guess what? Most investors won't be willing to support your idea, project, or business at its conceptual stage. Perhaps a few might, but it's essential to empathize and put yourself in their position.

So someone you don’t know from Adam attempts to convince you to lend him N5m. However, he has no financial pedigree, and neither are you sure of his ability to refund the money. Would you lend him half of the money?

It’s simple logic. You want to win the heart of an investor? Then start with the little you have, and make some results to back up your claim that your idea is worth the investment. Prove it with track records, numbers, and successes achieved no matter how little.

Even Loan companies and grant programs want to see that your business has a good track record of financial performance before they award you grants. In other words, you must have a history of generating positive cash flow and paying their bills on time.

So what happens when you have all these? Time to look for that investor. Here are a few, to begin with:

How to Find Investors in Nigeria
Networking. If you stay at home, you'll never find anyone who wants to invest in your business. So, get out there and attend business events, seminars, and workshops. Join industry associations and connect with people on social media. The more people you know, the more likely you are to find an investor who is interested in your business.

Angel investor networks. These are groups of angel investors who pool their money to invest in early-stage businesses. These networks can be a good way to find investors who are interested in your type of business.

Venture capital firms. Venture capital firms are companies that invest in early-stage businesses. These firms typically have a lot of money to invest, and they can be a good source of funding for growing businesses.

Family/Close relative: Wondering why this is on the list, yeah? Sometimes, what you are looking for in Sokoto could be in your Shokoto. The Dangote of today that you wish was your uncle actually started by getting a loan from his uncle. Sometimes what you need is to search for people within the network of your family or relatives that has the capacity to invest in you, and that’s it!

Chat me up on WhatsApp for my next article which will cover a full list of investors, angel investors, venture capitalists, and the correct type of business to approach them with (contact details at the bottom of the article).

Pitching your business idea
Having gotten the preparatory stages right, it’s time to roll the dice. You can look up different videos that teach how to pitch your business, but beyond the rehearsals, dressing for the pitch, etc, here is my two cents: be convinced of your business, be sure of your numbers, and be a smart negotiator. Don’t give a rushed response. Think it through. You could request to get back to them if you are not sure of an answer.

Don’t be too long-winded. These investors are busy people and they want a straight-to-the-point presentation and responses. Don’t overhype your business. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Again, know your numbers, think ahead of your investors, and sell yourself well in every sense of it!

What to do after pitching
Sometimes an extra is what differentiates you from every other person. Here are some things to do after pitching to an investor:

- A thank you note: Follow up with a thank-you note to show the investor that you are grateful for their time and consideration.
- Send additional information: If the investor asked for any additional information, don’t take too long to send it to them.
- Stay in touch: Let your investor know how your business is progressing. Keep them updated.
- Keep pitching: Pitching is like looking for a job. Don't stop because one looks promising. Don’t quit if one investor doesn't say yes. Keep pitching to other investors until you hit success.


Getting an investor comes about as a result of the actions that precede finding one, and not so much about ''luck''. Investors are not doing you a huge favor by investing in your business. No, they are doing themselves a favor because the success of your business means more money for them too. So, they are as eager as you are to make your business idea work.

So go ahead, get your business plan ready, and bring that business to life. You can also reach out to me if you need help with any of the things that qualify you for an investor from business plan/proposal to registration, and down to other things you need clarity about.

If you have got any questions, concerns, or contributions, please share them in the comments. You can also reach out to me directly via mail or WhatsApp chat. I would love to give more light on this subject and related topics. Your comments will determine my next article.

See you in the comments.
___________________________________

Istifanus Sarki
Strategist.
email: manicleworld@gmail.com
WhatsApp: 07080225737

..with Manicle, it's all about you…

WHAT PROBLEM CAN YOUR BUSINESS, BRAND, OR IDEA SOLVE? PITCH IT

We in collaboration with Manicleworld are looking to promote entrepreneurs, talents, and skills that are passionate about problem-solving in the local & global market and reward them as well.

See below for details on how to join and win The Manicle Pitch contest.

WINNING GUIDELINES

- The contest is open for entries from the 16th - the 20th of January 2023.
- Post your video (reel format), tag @istifanussarki, and use the hashtag #TheManiclePitch
- Tag at least three of your friends.
- 7 best entries would be shortlisted based on creativity, clarity of message, and persuasiveness
- The videos would be uploaded on YouTube, for voting on the 21st of January, and participants would be notified.
- Voting on YouTube ends on the 28th of January 2023
- 3 Videos with the highest views, likes, and subscribers win.

WINNERS PRIZES

- 1st Place winner: N2,000 cash, a business plan, and one free consultation
- 2nd Place Winner: N10,000 cash
- 3rd Place winner: N5,000 cash

Got questions or need more clarity? Please visit any of (Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook) to share in the comments under the post, and we’ll gladly respond.

Good luck ��

#TheManiclePitch #Istifanussarki #PitchContest #SocialMediaContest

Have you ever done this?
Have you ever had to read a post on social media and the next thing you find yourself hurrying to the comments? Sometimes because you want to know people‘s opinions on the post, yeah?

It might also be the case that you don’t fully understand what the post is about and you Kinda feel like the caption will explain better, and the comments will give a more robust interpretation of the post. Does that sound like you?

Have you, in the process of reading comments, seen a certain comment that stood out for you, made a lot of sense, got you thinking, or got you laughing, and decided to like the person’s comment and check out the person’s profile quickly?

And in some cases, you click on their follow or subscribe button, right?

Why? Because somehow you were impressed and you believe that by following the person, you’d get good content from them, right?

If you get this intro, and three months from now, your followers across all your social media are less than 500, then, I will visit you in your dreams and charge you $10,000 for wasting my knowledge and your time. Lol. Now let’s get to the details.

What if the comment was made by you?
Note this, if you are smart enough, you’d know that this technique goes beyond just growing your online community. You could meet clients and close deals that would change your business forever. Read my lips. FOREVER!!!


Okay, let’s do this.


6 WAYS TO GROW YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA WITH COMMENTS

1. Understand the psychology:
If you can’t relate to the scenario painted at the beginning of this article, then run it through a couple of people and get solid answers from them. The easiest and most important part of this technique is understanding how the human mind works when interacting with social media.


2. Review your social media platform:
You don’t want people to trace you through your comment, only to land on your page and they are seeing designs that look like you are confused about life. Or, they get on your page, and there is little to no content that would at least keep them there longer than 4 seconds. First of all, there is such a thing as social media optimization. What that means in English is your page is it positions you well for what you offer and who you want to attract to your page. Amen?

Let your content, or at least most of your content be evergreen. This means the content should still be relevant and be able to add one form of value or the other long after you had posted it. Some people have a habit of staying on one page, checking your videos and quotes, and others for hours because each post just ticks something in them.

Don’t let your page be so value-dry and empty that it sends them away as quickly as your comment brought them. Village people will not be responsible for this one. I and many others have tried it and it works, I promise you.

3. Choose what you comment on:
It’s one thing to take a drug, it’s another thing to take the prescribed quantity and at the time you should take it. Not all posts are meant to be commented on. Comment on posts that are relevant to you and to the people you are seeking to attract.

Comment only on posts you have a good understanding of, and you are double sure your comment will add a certain value. Not commenting at all is way better than spewing things like a low-budget drop-out with an A in folly.

In a generation where Twitterians will take you up if your comments or tweets are off point, you want to be careful so you don’t end up destroying a platform you have been building for years because bruv, Cancel Culture is real. Those guys would dig you out, and make you pay for your statement.

4. Comment early:
Being the 3,639th person to comment doesn’t mean your comment will not be noticed by people, it also doesn’t suggest that your comment will be easily noticed by people. But chances are that your comment will get better interaction when you are among the first few to comment. And if you are lucky, your comment could just be pinned by the page owner.

5. Don’t be too serious, just make sense:
Your comments can be funny yet pass across a strong message in response to a post. Now, some of these social media platforms such as Twitter, and Facebook allow you to comment with media files such as images, GIFs, and videos. We can leverage these to post the most befitting responses n the comments.

Some time ago, Nigerian banks went on a social media war on Twitter. This was a cruise time as #Banks at war trended then. Here is a screenshot of one of the tweets.

6. Learn from Daniel Regha
A quick case study. Daniel Regha is one person that did justice to this technique by growing his Twitter account to more than five hundred thousand followers and creating a name for himself within two years by merely commenting on people’s posts. Here’s what Bioprenuer Nigeria has to say about him:

When it comes to remaining relevant on social media, Daniel Regha has proven that you can be a content creator of anything. Without a base, without any prior support, the social media adviser has gotten the attention of thousands of Nigerians, including Davido…

Now, what this means in English is that Daniel is known for commenting on people’s tweets, especially renowned persons such as celebrities and politicians among others. Most often, his comments on their tweet are advice. He became well known by Nigerians because his comments are always noticed in public figures’ tweets.

His comments fascinate people because it’s just hard to comprehend the fact that this ‘’nobody’’ has the audacity to comment on Messi’s tweet, for instance, advising him on matters. Like, who the heaven is this Daniel Regha dude? Yeah. This gets people to check him out and start following him. Oh, sometimes his comments can be soooooooo annoying. You should check him out.

Hol’up, I am not asking you to copy him. Just find your style and rock it in the comment. But the moral is, you can follow key persons on social media and drop noticeable comments on their posts.

7. Practical
So let’s begin here. Visit Istifanus Sarki on any of my social media and drop a comment under my post on this topic and I will engage your comments and most likely follow you. Of course, I won’t be the only one who might follow you. But again, if you have learned anything from this post, then it means you have enough magic to get more followers starting there. And no, this is Conclusion, not point number 7.

See you in the comments! Godpeace!!!

Written by: Istifanus Sarki


#instagramgrowth #twittergrowth #linkedIngrowth #business #onlinegrowth #socialmediafollowers #socialmediamarketing #socialmediamanagement #facebookgrowth #Digitalmarketing #socialmediagrowth #IstifanusSarki

How To Sell: Sales Strategies For Growing Your Business

The funniest comedians are not necessarily the most popular. The best painting perhaps never made it to exhibition. The best fashionista probably never made it to any magazine or fashion parade. The best things sometimes don’t sell the most.

Reason is simple, not everyone knows how to sell. Note that I didn’t mention what to sell, the quality of the product or the service. It’s basically about how to sell anything whatsoever that you are selling.

Before we dive into how to sell, note that while sales is not marketing, they are siblings of same parents and often work together to achieve a common goal.

There are many things to consider when planning your sales strategy. Here are a few

HOW TO SELL

1 Self Selling
If two people ask you to join their table at dinner, and one of them is a smart looking banker all suited up, while the other is a school teacher dressed in a simple way, even though the food on both tables are the same, served by same waiter, you’d most likely join the banker’s table. Let’s argue this in the comments if you disagree.�

People don’t just buy your offers, product, or service. They buy you too. How you present yourself, how you position yourself, how you pitch your ideas, how you dress, how you arrange your thoughts, your carriage, your spoken language, your social skills, everything about you, they either appeal to your potential client, repel them, or leave them neutral.

When people buy you, when they like you, your chances of selling ANYTHING to them increases.

2. Online Selling
If this is your first time knowing that your business is partly as successful as your online platform, then you need 96 hours none-stop coaching from me. It’s the least I can do to help you. Lol. Just kidding.

The opportunities the online space offers are too numerous to count. The reason so many businesses don’t make sales online is not because their business is not sellable online. Creating a social media account and posting content is not online selling. There is more to it.

I could spend the same amount of data, use the same amount of time and the same platform as you, and make more sales within a week than someone can get in two years.

3 Online Security
Looking to make more money is good, but securing your online presence and the source of income is wisdom. We have heard of countless cases of social media accounts hacking with the hacker impersonating the account and requesting money from the brand’s clients.

Not only does it lead to loss of money, it also leads to loss of sensitive information that could easily damage the reputation of your brand or business, making you to lose lots of loyal and potential customers

4 Understand Target Audience
Sales is a game of persuasion. Consider your target audience as a battle, and your plan as a strategy to win them. You have to understand them enough to know who they are, where they are, what their behaviour is, their dislikes, etc. These and more inform your approach in convincing them to buy from you.

The only thing standing between increased sales and you is knowledge. You can choose to close the gap and increase your sales today. In our upcoming training, you can learn more on this. Visit Manicleworld and click on the link in bio to register.

Trust me when I tell you there are a thousand and one legitimate ways to make at least 500k monthly online!
Your job is to select from the myriad of skills and business models available, learn, practice and start making money from it as soon as practicable.

Some people are unaware of this fact,
Some believe it's only through illegitimate means you can make such amount of money,
Some know that it is possible but genuinely don't know how to go about it.
If it's that easy, everybody ought to be making such amount online right? Nigeria shouldn't even have any poor person.
I laugh in Spanish.

This tells you that a lot people need enough guidance on how to go about making money in this part of the world.
Overtime I have realised that the first major area where people mostly need guidance is helping them believe that it is even possible to earn such an amount and even much more.

Truth is You can never earn beyond what you think is possible. If by chance, you get to earn more than you believe is possible, there is 100% chance that you will self sabotage. You will go back to square one.

I first became exposed to the fact that a person could make at least 20 million naira monthly last year even if they came from a poor background. I couldn't wrap my head around it then because it was too too too big.

I had to do a mindset rehaul. Changing the mindset on any topic is a consistent, never-ending process but rewarding process. I am still in that process but I'm way better now.
Have you ever imagined that you can earn 80-120k every week legally? Emphasis on Legally.
Or do you think it's absolutely impossible?
Do you think you can do at least 500k monthly?

Or do you think it's just another FAKE DREAM?
If your answer to the first and third question is YES, then keep reading.
I show smart people just like you how to start and scale to making six figures monthly through the Affiliate Marketing business model in Nigeria while working from home or anywhere else in the world even if:

- You don't have any experience selling online.
- You tried affiliate marketing at some point, failed and even lost your money.
- You're not a tech savvy person.
- You're shy and you don't know how to talk to people.
- You're a busy workaholic who only has a few minutes of free time daily.

Concerns and questions are likely to come in shortly after now. And I will be glad to respond to your questions and concerns. Chat me up on 07080225737 (WhatsApp) and let's get talking.

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Back in the days, it was an uncle or a neighbor who was going to the market that acted as our delivery service. my mother would write a list and tell me to give it to uncle john or aunty Helen so that they would buy the items on their way back.

Sometimes we had to look for someone coming from another city and buy in bulk so that we don’t start searching for a makeshift delivery system the next week

The Gulder ultimate search for people to deliver goods for us did not always yield the required results. And traders, afraid that the lack of an effective delivery system would cost them their customers, came up with the idea of delivery boys and girls. Although they meant well, this delivery system did more harm than good,as these delivery boys and girls sometimes got locations wrong, delivered the wrong goods or delivered late and in some cases ran away with the goods

It was clear there was a serious gap between effective business delivery and customer satisfaction, something needed to be done especially among small-scale business owners. Necessity as they say is the mother of invention,we had bicycle men deliver letters, we had a delivery system for letters which the likes of UPS and DHL pioneered, then like simultaneous equation someone put two and two together

What is on the same scale as a bicycle but faster? A motorcycle. If motorcycles can be used to deliver letters can we not package them to deliver other goods? Then it clicked like Thomas Edison when he finally got the formula for the light bulb. Bike delivery system was the solution we had been looking for this brings us to the benefits
Brief History: Evolution of bike delivery system
According to Florin Costache, bike couriers in the United States got their start in 1894, when a railway strike had mail deliveries stopped in San Francisco. On observing this, it down on a Fresno bike shop owner to set up a route from Fresno to San Francisco, a beautiful business idea that had remarkable success.

Soon enough big companies also started using bicycles to do deliveries, at first including Western Union and eventually even the US Postal Office.


UPS
The story of delivery service cannot be complete without the story of two teenagers way back
August 28, 1907. An 18 year old Claude Ryan and a 19 year old Jim Casey. The two had one bike and burrowed $100 (about $2400 today) from a friend to found the “American Messenger Company” in Seattle, Washington.

In those days there was neither smartphones nor social media except telegrams with which sending message was a frequent thing. These had to be hand delivered. The company expanded from delivering these telegrams into transporting pretty much anything that could be transported on a bicycle or on foot. While Casey and Ryan received order via the phone, Casey’s brother George and a handful of other teenagers went out making deliveries.

A few years, Casey and Ryan acquired a few motorcycles and delivery cars to run their business more efficiently. At this time, there were more people having telephones, so Casey and Ryan switched to working with retail stores to deliver customers' purchases to their homes. This gave birth to UPS, one of the first and oldest delivery services

By the time Casey retired from UPS in 1962, the company had grown to operate in 31 U.S. states with annual revenue of around $550 million and about 22,000 workers.

Casey and Ryan’s company that started with a bike and $100 some 100 plus years ago worth approximately $80 billion with annual revenue at over $50 billion in 2013; employing just under half a million workers in 200 countries; delivering over 3.8 billion packages and documents a year.

DHL
DHL is another prominent courier service after UPS. It started in 1969 and was founded by Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom, and Robert Lynn in San Francisco. In 1971, DHL expanded its Express network rapidly and becomes a trusted partner of many companies. Expansion into the Far East and Pacific Rim.

In 2003, Deutsche Post, DHL and Postbank make up the Group's current brand architecture. DHL now serves as the exclusive brand for all express and logistics activities. DHL changes its corporate colors from red and white to yellow and red. In April, the worldwide visual transformation of all vehicles, packing materials, and buildings begin.

Today, DHL is active in more than 220 countries and territories. Within their worldwide network, DHL Express delivers on time at the right address with an understanding that their customers' shipment is far more than just a parcel.
Benefits of bike delivery system
Fast delivery: Everyone wants to be able to get the goods they buy as quick and possible and this made it possible for people to get their goods as if they were physically present in the store.
Convenience: Not everyone can make it down to purchase items and as much as possible we need this thing for our everyday life, it gives you a breath of fresh air when you can just pick up your phone, order for something and has it delivered to your doorstep
Business boost: If you want to expand your market, it is important you invest in an effective delivery system, so you can get both an online and offline customer base.
Effective packaging: Packaging is important for your brand identity and of course if you want to make use of a delivery service you have to package your goods well and it helps attract more customers.
Customer satisfaction: Nothing puts a smile on a customers face than to see goods delivered, fast and in good condition and no stress at all to the customer and bike delivery has made this possible in recent times
Now let us move to how bike delivery service started in Nigeria. It is said that if you want to go on a journey it is important that you learn from those who have gone down that path

We would be learning from one of the pioneers of bike delivery system in Nigeria - GOKADA I found their story quite fascinating I hope you do too.

How Bike Delivery Service Started In Nigeria

While there may not be a precise date for some of these services in Nigeria, there are quite a number of them in Nigeria. Prominent among them include UPS, DHL, Gokada, Jumia, Konga, and GIG Logistics. We are aware that the first three are foreign-owned. Today we have so many more logistics businesses in Nigeria, especially Lagos. You would agree with me that most of these businesses thrived a lot during the lockdown in 2020.

Well, the good news is, they still thrive today, and while we may not be having another lockdown, the world has never been and will never remain the same again since the pandemic. If there is anything this means, it is that the logistics business will yet thrive, even more.

Let's take a look at some of the major logistics businesses in Nigeria.

GIG Logistics, a subsidiary of GIG Group, started in 2012 in Lagos with its founder, Chidi Ajaere who doubled as CEO of GIG Mobility, a distinct company with its own assets and separate operations. In 2014, GIGL incorporated technology to track all ground shipments electronically. In 2017, GIGL opened its office in Houston, Texas, and expanded to Ghana in 2019.

In 2019, GIGL launched GIGGo, an on-demand delivery app that allows its customers to request pickup and delivery of items without visiting a service centre.

Their services and products include courier services, mobile, social, and e-commerce logistics, delivery services, on-board courier services, imports, packaging, mailroom management, and relocation services

GOKADA started in 2018 after the founder surveyed and discovered not many services as such existed. Perhaps the only one around at the time was DHL. He did his market analysis and created his positioning, and then launched.

Government Policies on Bike Delivery Services in Nigeria
Government Policies can work to your advantage. It can also work the other way round. In May, the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) shared a letter showing the new Nigerian licensing regime.

When the service providers could not cope with the new regulations imposed on Courier services in Lagos, they took to social media on the 25th of July 2020 with the hashtag #SayNoToNIPOSTFees, to protest the new fees,

The new registration and licensing process the LSETF references in its website is handled by the Courier Regulatory Department (CRD), a specialized arm of NIPOST. Under the new licensing structure, there are six categories of licenses that range from ₦250,000 for SMEs like restaurants to ₦20,000,000 for international courier companies like DHL.

Reports indicate that from July 23, policemen in Lagos began arresting hundreds of dispatch riders in Lagos, and seized their motorcycles for failing to have the NIPOST license.






This attracted the attention of many including the Minister of communication, Isa Pantemi who had to call for the immediate suspension of the fees while claiming that the new license fees were not part of the approved regulation. Initially, the Courier and Logistics Services Operations regulation (2020) was issued by the Ministry of communications and digital economy. The outcry of the people eventually prevailed.

But how lasting was this victory? A new obligation came up. According to Regulation 8(5) of the Courier Service Regulations, logistics companies are mandated to contribute a sum equal to 2% of its total revenue to the Postal fund, which will be used for postal development and delivery of postal services in rural and underserved states. Welcome to Nigeria. Lol.

As though that's not enough, Regulation 8(7) requires for referral of specific items to NIPOST for processing and delivery.

Here it is n details,

“items/articles such as rights issues, share certificates, statements of accounts, cheques, letters or offer documents weighing below 0.5kg sent to courier service operators for delivery must be recorded and referred by such operators to the nearest post office of NIPOST for processing and delivery.”

“Any operator that fails to comply with this requirement will be liable to pay a penalty of 90% of the amount charged on the item by such an operator.”

This section raises a lot of concerns in people's minds.

So what do you do?
How To Start A Bike Delivery Service In Nigeria
Like every other business, Bike Delivery Service is WAR. Yes. It's war. The reason is simple, you have too many competitors trying to have a market share, coupled with some government policies that might not be so favorable. This especially if you are in Lagos Nigeria. So, like every war, the first step is strategy. Ready? Let's do some strategy for your bike delivery business.

1. Study the market:

There are questions to ask, though they are not new anymore. Yet, they must be asked. Questions such as
What is the market share like?
Who are the major TA?
What is their buyer persona like?
What are their fears and concerns?
Why do they prefer xyz logistics to others?

Now, if you are not a strategist or a consultant, you might want to outsource this to someone who is good at analyzing these questions and finding the perfect answers for them. You can just click on this link to Chat on WhatsApp with me. Or you can call me right away on +2347080225737.

2. Ask Yourself The Right Question

In Nigeria, if you don't have a strong conviction and a resilient spirit, you will likely end up among the 95% whose businesses die within the first 5 years of starting. When you get to the part of government policy you will understand better.

The what that answers the why should be the NEED you MUST identify first. And the rate of demand for it. According to Saleh, the late director of GOKADA, he identified Nigeria as the target market, visited the country, picked Lagos state after identifying the need based on their huge population, and lack of an effective transport system

In the meantime, you want to ask yourself, am I doing this for the money alone? Or for posterity? How big do I want this to become? when do I want to start? And where?

3. Write a Business Plan
There are many questions people ask regarding business plan. Some of them include. why do I need a business plan? People who have business plan end up not seeing the light of the day, so what's the essence? Busness plan in most cases is like a new year resolution. Why should I still write it?

Well, ever planned on travelling or going somewhere, and you just stood up and began to make your way there without wearing the right cloth for the dress, taking your phone and probably a bag, or even knowing where you are going, the best road to take to get there?

If you care to know, most businesses thrive because there is a plan, whether it was preplanned or it was planned along the way. But some businesses still fail even after the business plan simply because they put it in the shelf and let cobwebs and dust find dwelling place on it, rather than open it and follow it to the last.

So in a bid to explain why you need a business plan, I came to a conclusion that people who start a business without a good and well detailed business plan end up with the 95% whose businesses die before they are born. You might want to click here to have a 360 understanding of business plan.

See: All You Need To Know About Business Plan in Nigeria (visit manicle..com to read)

4. Register Your Business

Registering your business gives you credibility in the mind of your customers. It also saves you from trouble. This is aside from the fact that it is the right and professional thing to do. And if you know the right way to go about it, you won't have to spend much.

5. Create a Website
I understand this has become a cliche, but let's look at it from this angle. Would you comfortably send a package worth 50k to a certain destination using a bike delivery company you can't trust or some random courier service that calls itself a brand simply because they have an Instagram account with 192 followers?

Research has shown that most of us tend to trust companies with websites more than those without. So you want to do the same for yours

6. Develop an App
Yeah, I get that it sounds far-fetched because of the cost and everything. Well, you might not want to go for it at the beginning stage, probably because you don't have the capital that covers that. But, hey, it plays a huge role in your business, especially if you are looking at the aforementioned brands as your competition.

For one, transactions and orders using mobile apps are much safer, easier, and faster. Also, it makes your company appear more professional and more reliable than those with websites alone.

Using your app, create a booking system that allows for people to book ahead of delivery will make communication and delivery easier and faster. Maps designed based on each customers location to make locations easier. Slot allocation so as not to stress bikers it is important to put a peg on the number of deliveries we can make in a day

Drop off location points for areas with bad road networks and which are very inaccessible nearest street or junction would be used as drop of location
7. Brand Your Business
This is that part we answer the question, "How do we position ourselves uniquely in the market?" Remember when I talked about Gokada? Well, the first thing that attracted me to them was the branding. They invested in quality branding. Now you must have heard the saying, do not judge a book by the cover. Well, while most times the cover doesn’t tell the story of the book, it can attract readers to explore the (Read further on manicle blog)

We are a consulting firm that solve business problems. We also recruit interns twice in a year. The recent batch just ended. Kindly visit manicle..com to learn more and stay update.

WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER?
Who are the potential customers and how will you reach them? They are the reason why you have a business in the first place. The business idea is about solving their problem, therefore you need to know who they are, where they are, what they need, and how to reach them.

The fashion business is quite vast so you can not just come up with a blanket mission statement like “I want to make quality and affordable clothes for all functions.” That is vague and caters to the whole population of consumers in your location.

No start-up can seriously aim to serve every single tailoring need in their location alone. You simply do not have the resources to achieve that. Before you start using up your limited resources let us sit down and sort this out first!

Find Your Niche
A start-up cannot expect to compete with the bigger boys in any industry. But as an underdog, the crumbs falling from their table is enough to grow big on until you can sit at the table. There is a population of underserved or unserved consumers in every industry that you could target to build your customer base from the ground up.

The prudent thing is to find them, focus on meeting their needs alone, and do it well. As you grow you can expand your customer reach, but as a newbie, that small community of unsatisfied consumers is your lifeblood. This type of focused marketing is called a niche business or a niche market.

Niche What?
A niche is a biological term, it means a comfortable or suitable position in life. In layman’s terms, it means a sure footing that you build on first before venturing into the larger market.

A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused. The market niche defines products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population. It is also called a small market segment. The niche market is highly specialized, and aiming to survive among the competition from numerous super companies.

Let’s go back to Mercy, the Ikeja fashion designer.

Example Of Finding A Niche Market
Mercy, a fashionista recently moved to Ikeja to start her business and grow it into a medium-sized enterprise within 10 years. But Ikeja is full of fashion brands that are supersaturated with talents, capital, and ideas. It seems that there is a cloth-making or selling business per square kilometer.

So she had to compete with imported ready-made clothes, second-hand cloth merchants, custom-designers, already established fashion designers with access to larger resources, and other small-scale start-ups like hers.

The fashion market is one of the largest markets in Ikeja with numerous subsets. We have established that Mercy is a cloth maker but that just makes Mercy one of the thousands of cloth makers in Ikeja. What can make Mercy stand out in the crowd? Mercy needs to identify the following:
0ne specialized service she can provide excellently,
A small section of the population that need that service, and
If the small population is large enough to create a profitable enterprise.
Mercy may do these herself or she can get a business consulting agency like ManicleWorld to do all the groundwork for her. The fashion business is used as an example here but niche business applies to any business in every industry.

Understanding a niche market is having the people within that market who have similar problems or need that you intend to solve.

Ikeja is her local market, a smaller subset of the Lagos market, but we will further sectionalize her target audience by highlighting the problems she can solve within the market and settling on a small customer base that she can comfortably provide her service too.

Yes. Ikeja is a commercial hub and residential area, therefore a business start-up could choose to provide business-to-business (B2B) services or business-to-consumer (B2C) services.
B2B or B2C

How To Make Your Brand Different from Your Competitors
1. Identify Your Product/Services
Take your time and plan your business. As earlier stated, this applies to any business in every industry. Analyze your industry or consult ManicleWorld, determine what specialized service you can comfortably provide that will set you apart from the crowd.

Click on https://manicle..com/2021/03/how-to-make-your-brand-different-from.html to read further.

VOLUNTEER �️

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We need interested Lagos based individuals who can Volunteer from home with our consulting firm as a Human Resource Manager

Benefits of interning include the following:
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- Skill improvement
- CV and portfolio building
- Free attendance for paid classes (organized by Manicleworld)
- Networking
- Corporate experience
- Team Work

Interested? Send your CV to manicleworld@gmail.com

For further inquiries contact
Call: 07080225737

You can visit @manicleworld on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or click on www.manicle..com to know more about our firm.

Entries for volunteering is closed. Thank you

Fabrics Business In Nigeria

There is no easy way to get rich, but there is a legit way to get rich, starting with small capital.

You should have heard by now that one of the fastest growing businesses is fabrics. A business that is easy to begin by anyone with as little as 10k and still make very cool cash.

Wondering how it works? Well, you simply need mobile phone with internet connection. That's all.

Interested? Click on the link below and let's have a one-to-one chat. Or contact me on +2349136665781 (WhatsApp/Call)

https:///message/WFL5FMVYMMZWF1

Very simple and real. I happen to know about this social media challenge, and thought someone might be interested out here. I can't participate because those of us involved in organizing the challenge are not permitted to join. But I felt I could help someone out there who is in need of some quick cash.

Now, you might choose not be interested in either, but how about you send this link to someone who might really be in need of the cash, or you just ask them to visit @unveilnigeriatv on Instagram?


HERE IS HOW TO WIN THE UNVEIL NIGERIA CHALLENGE

- In one minute, talk about your hope and dream of a new Nigeria
- Tag us @unveilnigeria and use the hashtag #UnveilNigeriaChallenge
- Your video will be uploaded on our Instagram page.
- Ask your friends to like your video
- Let them follow @unveilnigeria and write 'follow for (your name)
- Video with the highest likes and following wins the cash prize
- Deadline is November 13th. Winner will be announced and rewarded same day.

Good luck!

You are welcome

HOW TO START FOOD BUSINESS IN NIGERIA
No one expected all this mess, I tell you. No one. My friend Emma just got married in December, and he moved into a new apartment in January in preparation for his growing family. 2020 was supposed to be a good year for all of us. Then April came, and hell blew over. It started in March, but, it was a slow march, and we were all optimistic that it would blow over. In April Emma's wife got pregnant, in April, Emma lost his job and in April, the good year ended.

Emma has been searching for a job and battling depression since April. The few jobs he has seen so far are beneath him, and his transport fare is even more than the salaries they are offering. His wife cannot help much because she was working with a private school before the lockdown started, which means that she has been without a job for over some time now. Both of them decided to turn into food business and the results have been tremendous.

Before going into how to start food business with little capital, let's explore the kinds of food businesses available.

TYPES OF FOOD BUSINESS

Let's break it down to the kinds of food businesses so that you will fall into at least one of the categories. But whichever category your business falls into, whether raw or processed, I can guarantee that as long as you know what you are doing you can get more than 300% return on investment in a short time. Ready? Let's explore.

1. Food kiosk : if you are a baker and you can make the common confectioneries with your personal touch then a food shop is a great and affordable idea. You may not necessarily have a kiosk; a shaded area will do just fine. Fast food like puff-puff, doughnut, chin-chin, meat pie, cupcakes, and so on sell like hotcakes (pun intended) especially, when they are located at junctions where people and kids in particular pass all the time.

You can also decide to make and sell Akara, Moin-Moin, fried yam and potato, roasted corn, and roasted plantain (boli). Sell the pastries and confectionery in the morning, sell fried yam and potato, roasted corn and plantain in the afternoon, and sell Akara and moin-moin in the night. Your versatility will even impress people and turn them into loyal customers.

2. Drinks: selling all kinds of drinks is also a marketable business idea though this may require more capital investment. You can sell beers, wines, soft drinks, gins, bottled water, food drinks, energy drinks, and even beverages in retail quantities to grocery shops and for events.

3. Meal-to-go: Some people do not have the time or skill to cook good food but are willing to pay you to deliver cooked food to their houses. They will pay for the food and the delivery. If you can make excellent Nigerian soups and dishes, you can market this skill to the right people. You can also offer catering services for events and home deliveries.

4. Fish and meat: You will agree with me that these are two of the most sought for in the food market. Almost every household in Nigeria consumes either meat or fish daily. If you could market neatly packaged fish (fresh or roasted), beef, chicken, and turkey to unmarried employed men and women, you will make money in no time.

You do not even need to have a shop, just form a team of contract butchers who will deliver meat to you on-demand or, you could get the animals killed and carved up yourself. For the fish, you can become a distributor for a fishing company, and also roast them yourself. All you need is a deep freezer with a constant power supply and a good marketing strategy.

What if you don't have a deep freezer? Well there are other preservative methods that could work. Besides, you could strike a deal with your neighbour who always has light and a deep freezer, and pay the neighbour a token to preserve your meet at their freezer.

5. Egg: You can either produce the eggs yourself or buy in bulk from a dealer. It is cheaper to buy in bulk and resell though. You can market it to households by word-of-mouth and social media marketing at little or no cost. You can also submit proposals to restaurants and eateries to supply eggs weekly. The point is that you can sell anything today with a good marketing strategy and quality service. A marketing strategy will bring the customers, and quality service will keep them increasing.
6. Fruits and vegetables: Study your market very well until you find the easiest means to get your products supplied to you. Sometimes, these vegetables waste because sellers are not well positioned to buy it. Locate them and buy from them at reasonable rates (please do not cheat them).

People pay more for the packaging more than they do for the good or service. Know your target consumers, market your fresh fruits and neatly packaged vegetables to them, and make a profit without stress.

If you consistently deliver quality goods, your customers will promote your products for you free. Also, we all know how cheap fruits and vegetables are in Nigeria so you can start with little capital. You can always ask those who are already in the business.

7. Oils: there is no Nigerian food that does not require the use of oils (whether palm oil or vegetable oils) either as the main item or as a side condiment. There is, therefore, a large market for edible oils. If you focus on selling palm oil and vegetable oil, you may need a personal banker in no time.

From my findings, the best type of palm oil comes from the east. You can get them in bulk cheaply from local women who are the major producers and you can get them delivered to any part of the country.

8. Grocery store: a grocery store typically sells retail foodstuffs and other household supplies. I am sure that if you stand in front of your house you can count at least five grocery stores in your sight line selling the same items using the same method. Therefore, if you are going to open a grocery store, you had better know how to attract your customers. The profit rate here is quite low; however, it is consistent and spreads over a long period.

While you will need refrigerators, a dependable power supply, and a big shop, you can rest assured that it is highly profitable and can provide you with a steady source of income all year round.

9. Cafeteria: if you can get an official permit to sell cooked food in a canteen, in parks, schools, hospitals, government office complexes, etc., all you need is excellent cooking skills, some furniture, and good customer relations. You can also offer catering services as a side gig.

10. Farming: If you are thinking this is not for you because you don't have a farm, then your fear might make you to miss big financial opportunities. Firstly, there are different kinds of farming, and to be successful in the business of farming, you have to focus on one particular product - crop farming or livestock farming - if you want to be the best in it.

How to go about it? Well, I would advise modern mechanization and farming methods. Niche farming is more profitable that way Some of the low-cost options for niche farming are:

Poultry farm
Fish farm
Apiary (honey farm)
Snail farm
Plantain
Oil palm
Maize/cassava
Vegetables (leaves)
Tomato
Pepper
Cucumber
Onion
For the crops, you do not need to own a large piece of land to start; with the knowledge of soilless farming, you can produce commercial quantities of products on a relatively smaller piece of land. All you need to do is acquire the necessary skills (which are readily available online from credible sources) and find a market for your products.

Note: The types of food business are not limited to these, but the principles guiding the food business is applicable to any kind of food business.

HOW TO START FOOD BUSINESS WITH LITTLE CAPITAL
Having listed all the possible options you can choose from in the food business, the next important question is, how exactly do you start a food business or any business for that matter? I hope the following help:

1. Understand The Business

Being very good at what you do is good, but not enough. Learn everything you can about the product or service you want to sell to maximize profit and minimize risk. Seek sufficient knowledge about the market dynamics of the product you want to sell. How do you do this? Ask questions, meet people who are already in the business, and learn directly from them.

2. Understand Your Market
I understand that you are so passionate about food, talented and skillful in some kinds of food. But dear, it is one thing to learn how to bake, it is another thing to understand who to bake for, when to bake for them or even why.

Understanding your market helps you get result within a short period of starting the business. Here is how to understand your market. Ask yourself the following questions:

What is the size of my market? (Is it the street, the town, the city, the region, the country or the global market?)
What age range am I rendering my service to?
What level income are the customers/client?
Where do they likely stay at?
Where can they always be found? etc.


3. Write a Business plan

A business plan is a summary of how a business owner, manager, or entrepreneur intends to organize an entrepreneurial endeavour and implement activities necessary and sufficient for the venture to succeed (Wiktionary). In simple English, a business plan is a written document showing;

What business idea you want to pursue
Your goals based on consumer needs and research
A systematic breakdown on how you intend to achieve your goals
Who your target audience is; and
Wow you intend to reach them.

The sole aim of any business enterprise is to make a profit for which need a business plan. Business plan shows that you are serious about your intentions. Moreover, it helps you to measure your progress and to keep a balanced financial sheet.

4. Follow Your Business Plan
Most people go ahead to write a business plan with the sole aim of obtaining loan, grants, etc. This is good and a very good reason for writing a business plan. However, it is not the only reason. Part of your business plan is a detailed explanation of the marketing strategies, market research, target market, etc.

In other words, it is like a map, an architectural design of how your business will...Click on https://manicle..com/2020/07/how-to-start-food-business-in-nigeria.html to continue reading.

Joyce95:
2. Enterprise business plan.

Kindly contact me and let's talk further. Thank you.

Zeesugar:
Enterpreneurship education

Contact me via my contact details in the post and let's talk further.

kinzation:
How do I learn business writing from you?

Kindly contact me through the contact options in the blog post. Thank you.

kinzation:
How do I learn business writing from you

Contact me through the contact details in the post

Great article here. For more details on business plan in Nigeria, here are the highlights of the article

- Features of a good business plan
- Types of business plan in Nigeria
- Why you need a business plan
- Cost of business plan in Nigeria
- Why some business plans are costly
- Disadvantages of not having a business plan
- Why some don't have business plan
- What are the business ideas that don't need a business plan?

Click on the link to read further.

https://manicle..com/2020/03/all-you-need-to-know-about-business.html?m=1

All you need to know about Business Plan in Nigeria



It will shock you to know that you will need a business plan to start selling pure water. The idea is not pure water but how you see the business.



Take, for instance, Mr. Manicle and Mr. World live in Iyana Ipaja in Lagos. They both want to go into pure water selling business. They both have just N5,000 to start with.



Mr. Manicle wants his pure water business to grow and become Africa's largest water selling company, while Mr. World wants to sell pure water to support his financial income, so as to be able to pay bills.



Even though they live in the same environment, have the same business idea and same capital to start with, one of them needs a business plan and one doesn't. What's your guess?



Here are the highlights of the article

Features of a good business plan


Types of business plan in Nigeria


Why you need a business plan


Cost of business plan in Nigeria


Why some business plans are costly


Disadvantages of not having a business plan


Why some don't have a business plan


What are the business ideas that don't need a business plan?




Got it? Let's get to work.





Features Of A Good Business Plan
Just in case you are wondering what is in the business plan that people are speaking a lot about, here is an answer to your question. And it is not necessarily chronologically.



Vision/Mission Statement


Executive summary


Market Overview:


SWOT analysis


Unique Selling point


Financial projection/Prediction of the first 1 -3years.


Marketing plan


Sales strategy


Company description


Operations plan


Competitive analysis


Request for funding


Breakdown of your product and services


Management and Organization


Milestone


Etc






Types Of Business Plans in Nigeria


1 Investment business plan: This is the kind of business plan you write with an investor(s) in mind. It describes the features of what your ideal enterprise looks like in short term and long term and has a rich market research background.



2 Enterprise business plan: The standard format for business plan applies in this.



3 Loan business plan: When you have a business idea that is capital intensive and needs a huge amount from a bank or a loan issuing organization, this is the type of business plan that fits it. The plan explains every bit of how the funds will be run, spent, regenerated and returned. It also states emphatically when the loan will be returned.



4 Grant business plan: This business plan intends on seeking aid or loan from the country or foreign donors. This explains the benefits of the idea you wish to use the loan for in society.



Why You Need a Business Plan
I strongly suggest, never go for a business plan until you are sure you know why you need it. You can send me a mail or chat me up on WhatsApp (+2347080225737) for further explanation. But in the meantime, here is a little clarity on why you need a business plan as a Nigerian.



1 Direction

Your business plan is like a map of your business journey for the next few/many years. It gives you a description of where your business is, and where it is going. If you ever need a business seer, your business plan is one, because everything you hope to do has been analyzed, forecasted, and backed up with facts and figures.



2 Viability

I did a business plan for a client some time ago on a Soft Drink Business in a location popularly known as Sango Ota, in Ogun State, which shares a boundary with Lagos.



And to show how viable the business will be, I had to do researches on each of the products she wants to sell, do findings on the number of drinks consumed each day, the kind of drinks mostly consumed, age range of major consumers, target location, where the products sell the most, the population of the people in the environment, and the buying ratio for each day.



The effect of these data findings, researches and data analysis is to prove logically and beyond a reasonable doubt why and how the business can thrive without the fear of failure.





3 Confidence

The business plan gives the business owner the confidence to venture into it, having understood the game well. It totally erases the fear of going into the wrong business or a business that won't yield profit.



4 Clarity

It bills you out in times of confusion: The tendency is high that there will come a time when you will be confused about what to do. Your business plan is what will bill you out, show you the way and substitute your confusion with clarity.



5 Structure

If you produce bags, or you produce music, having a business plan lets you know what you are doing, why you are doing it, how you are doing it, where you Are doing it when you are doing it. Structure gives you definition and keeps you within your scope.



It also provides a management structure. In other words, it defines the roles needed to successfully carry out the business. Even if all the roles are played by two people or you alone.



6 Milestone

It also helps you to measure your progress. As a makeup artiste, for instance, your business plan will at least include how much you will achieve in the first 6months of Your career, what height you will attain in the first 1year, 2years, 5years, etc.



It will also include the methods and strategies you will use to achieve your desired result. If you intend to hold a makeup training for 10 startup makeup artistes once in every 6months, then you are planning on graduating or certifying at least 100 people in 5years time.



This will move you to think bigger than you ever thought.



7 Budget

No business plan goes without a budget for all proposed expenditures including miscellaneous. And with counting your cost comes the instinct to plan towards generating capital for the budget.



As a business proposal, it helps you to have an idea of what you are to present to your potential sponsors, or the bank as the budget to be financed, or the loan to be obtained.



8 Funding

There are enough people out there who are willing to finance your project/business/idea especially when they see how serious and well prepared you are, and how viable your business or idea is.



I know of some people who got foreign investors to finance business of promoting African culture on media. They were given over $50,000 (N18m), and guess what they did with it? They got a bar in Ibadan and got two massive TVs that showed Nigerian films steadily. Next, they stocked the bar with drinks and furniture, and of course, squandered the rest of the money. This is true life.



Yep, in case you are interested in your ideas being sponsored, you can try AYEEN. It's a trusted sponsoring body that helps young entrepreneurs throughout Africa.



I once watched them on TV and they are credible and impressive. You should check out some of their 'project defense shows' online, and you will be jolted into the reality of being serious with your plans. Besides, if you are serious with the business plan, you can contact me via my email, call or chat me up via WhatsApp (+2347080225737)



9 Competitors

Business plan helps you to learn about your competitors, and suggest how to stand out among them. You learn your competitor's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. These help you to know where you are strong, and where you need to be strong. Simply put.


Read also: 17 things to consider before a business Nigeria



Cost of business plan in Nigeria
Having explained the types, the cost of business plan in Nigeria varies for different business plan writers. The only predictable one is the one you write by yourself. Though for professionalism and business plan sake, I won't advise you to write it yourself.



Pre-written business plan: The amount is usually between N10,000 to N30,000. This is the type of business plan that is written before you request it. While it works for some, it doesn't for others. Reason is, your business idea is forced to fit into the pre-written business plan in spite of the location or budget or class of audience for which your business is intended.


Custom/Normal business plan: This is usually starting from N30,000 to N100,000.This is the type that is written from the very beginning, specific to the idea in your mind and the information you give about the business.




This business plan carries every detail you want in and builds on it to make a standard business plan.



Note that some business plan professionals won't take anything less than N100,000 from you because they believe in the value of what they want to give you.



Personally, I write a business plan for my clients between the range of N30,000 and N100,000, depending on the kind of business idea you want a business plan for.



For instance, when I wrote a business plan for a soft drink for one of my clients for N30,000, another client sees the job and wants it for his startup tech company business idea, you don't expect me to charge him the same amount. Read further to see why business plan writers charge the way they charge.



Why Some Business Plans Are Costly
I have heard some startup clients tell me that business plan is too expensive. And my response is, do you even know what business plan means at all? Or did someone just recommend a business plan for you and you jumped at the option?



Here is why business plan costs.



Business plan is about facts and figures. You don't just wake up and write a business plan. It takes time and lots of intellectual work. It takes lots and loads of research. The reason is, business is a logical map of a predicted and calculated future.


Business plan is a guarantee of business success. It not only tells you, it shows you how, why, and when you will succeed.


It is a skeleton of your entire business. It shows you what your business is made up of. Permit me to say business plan is a logical mirror of that business idea in your head.


Business plan is a compendium of so many things. Sales strategy, marketing strategy, market research, business structure, swot analysis, and many more. All these things, on a good day, are written separately.




Personally, if I am to write a marketing plan for you or any of the things I listed above, I can't charge you anything less than N10,000. Be sure that the market research/marketing survey on its own might cost more than N10,000.



Yet, a business plan offers you a full package of all of them in one place at once.



Business plan is not something that can be written in days. I used to think I could until I went into professional writing of the business plan.



Note that there are several reasons why business plans cost the way they do. These are just a few.



You may like: Generating leads for real estate in Nigeria through blogging (manicle..com)

Disadvantages of not having a business plan
First, you will lose thousands of opportunities when they show. Because the only proof you have to show that you are worth the opportunity presented to you is your business plan.




Opportunity must meet preparation for 'luck' to happen. your business plan. A saying goes thus: luck is when opportunity meets preparation. But how can you be lucky when Tony Elumelo Foundation sends you a mail informing you that they want to sponsor 50 people's ideas with 5million naira each, and the first and best 50 businesses plans to be submitted between the next 24 hours will be picked? Opportunity must meet preparation for 'luck' to happen.



On March 8th, 2020, His excellency, vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, awarded a couple of people N1million naira each to start a business. A week before then, a client contacted me that he needed a business plan...any business plan. There was none on the ground, unfortunately. And that was how the opportunity slipped away.



Second, as I earlier mentioned, an idea or a business that does not have a written plan might not have a good structure like that of one who has a business plan and lives by it.




Thirdly, the focus will hardly be maintained as some who has his/hers written down. In other words, a business that has a clearly written plan is likely to be more focused than a business without one.




Fourthly, you cannot measure your productivity without a business plan. Lack of writing down plans, in general, is usually one of the main reasons we have a jack of all trades moving from one idea or business to another without stability.




Why some don't have Business Plan
Here are a few reasons some don't feel compelled to have a business plan.



No one around them is writing it.


No one around them seems to be talking about it or laying emphasis on it.


People are scared of the cost of writing it, especially when they give professionals to write it for them. (But they are not scared of the cost of a slowly developing, or dying business/idea).


People feel they can do without it because they see others 'making it' without necessarily writing a business plan.


Some are not even aware of something like a 'business plan' that exists.


Many don't know the disadvantages of not having a business plan. And that's what I'll be sharing with you as I round off.


What are the business ideas that don't need a business plan?


The illustration I gave about Mr. Manicle and Mr. World in the introductory part of this article applies to this. Remember? The business ideas that don't need a business plan are business ideas that don't have a long term vision or a business idea that is inspired by hunger or the need to satisfy immediate needs.



To know if your business idea needs a business plan, ask yourself the following question:


Why are you going into the business?


Where do you see the business in the next 5years?


If the business crashes in the first 6months, will you give up or try again.


If a bigger job opportunity comes your way tomorrow, will you still continue with the business or close it down?




If your answers favor the business, then you need a business plan, but if your answers make the business look like it's an option and doesn't matter that much, then it's time to kiss that business idea goodbye.





Is that still unclear? Do you have a question? Or you need a business plan? You can send me a mail, call or chat me up on WhatsApp (+2347080225737)



Source: Manicleworld
https://manicle..com/2020/03/all-you-need-to-know-about-business.html?m=1

..with Manicle, it's all about you...

Generating Leads For Real Estate Firms In Nigeria Through Blog Posts
Blogging is one of the most effective ways to generate leads, and yet one of the least used by real estate firms. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying other means are not as effective as blog articles. All of them have their functions. But it will shock you to know how blog articles play a huge role in pulling traffic and increasing sales.

Why You Need It
Based on our research, the following points are confirmed to be true. And, while you read, it may interest you to know that research also found that only 11% of real estate firms have blogs. This makes it an opportunity for you to be one of the few who enjoy this simple lead generating strategy. Here are a few results of research made by Hubspot in recent years.

Firms that published 16+ blog posts in a month got three times more traffic than firms that published 4 or less than 4 monthly blog posts.
Business to Client companies that blogged 11+ times within a month got more than four times as many leads than those that blog only 4 to 5 times per month.
60% of marketers agree that blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority.
Due to high competition rate, many real estate firms who have property in similar locations as yours will soon take the blogging advantage and pull traffic to themselves.
More real estate firms are joining the market with newer strategies for marketing, sales and development.

Why Blog Posts Succeeds In Generate Leads For Real Estate Firms In Nigeria
There are many reasons we believe blogging will generate leads for you. Here are a few:
Your potential clients are not looking for your real estate firm, they are looking for a property to buy. They search online for certain topics, and your blog post could be the result of their search.
If your blog post satisfies their curiosity, they are likely to take action such as contacting you to know more, thereby turning from leads to prospects, until you successfully close the deal.
The process of turning from visitors to leads and to prospects on your blog happens as a result of trust. Because of the many self acclaimed real estate firms out there, some of which are scam, real estate buyers are skeptical, and so they tend to buy trust first, before buying property.
Real estate clients are not commoners. They are people who are, to an extent, financially fit. Most of them are business people, High Network Individuals (HNIs) and as such, are meticulous about anything that involves their money. Hence, they will only do business with experts. Your blog posts have a way of establishing you as one.
The presence of a blog keeps visitors interacting with your website even longer.

These are but a few reasons why blogging will unquestionably generate leads for you.


Kinds Of Blog Articles That Pull Traffic
Gone are those days when anything you put on your website or blog will hit the first page or rank top on google. Now you have to put some extra effort to get your post to rank top on search engine for your real estate clients.

And to achieve this, your blog post should possess these attributes:

Quality: The posts must rate high in quality. What determines the quality of a post is the uniqueness of the content, how much sense does it make, how educative, informative and entertaining it is.
Plagiarism-Free: Quickly following quality is the fact that your content must be 100% plagiarism free. There are good plagiarism checking websites online to use and see how your article rates in plagiarism.
Naturality. Nowadays people's hunger for relationships is increasing. Even when they engage with a blog, they look for this connection in the post. Therefore while writing, it is essential to avoid writing too formal or in a way that it will sound like a robot.
Relevance: Ensure the blog post you are writing is just as relevant a year from now as it is today. Let the content apply to all time, rather than being streamlined to a particular season.
Length of Article: Any article will depend on the number of words to thrive on the google search engine. (Try as hard as you can to publish 1500 words and beyond)
Consistency: The number of articles to post per week can't be the same with everyone. But in real estate, I will suggest 3articles at least per week.

What to write for Real Estate Blog Posts
I'm sure you will be wondering about what a real estate blog to write about, because as far as you are concerned, real estate is about land, and not about news, gists, gossip or stories writing.

There are some topics and areas that you can write about that are being searched for in real estate in Nigeria. These topics are general topics from which you draw out specific topics to suit your audience needs. Below is a lit of some of them:

List of parks, gardens, restaurants, banks, supermarkets, malls, beaches, etc close to the property.
Topics on the topmost or best places, people, things, around the idea of real estate.
Topics on real estate sellers
Topics on real estate buyers
Information about the Neighborhood
Information on market updates
Upcoming and Future events around the neighborhood where the property is located.
Local activities for children.
List of schools around.


Why Real Estate Firms Hardly Blog

Lack of time for real estate blogging
Some say about time that it is the most crucial challenge faced by most real estate agency. Most firms belong to the school of thought that the marketers must all be out there doing field inspection, or visiting clients, or in the office making cold calling with a written script beside their computer on the table.

As far as they are concerned, they would rather spend more time 'generating leads than blogging'. I struggle not to laugh when I hear this. And the reason is, blogging will probably generate more leads for them than whatever they are doing at that moment to 'generate leads'.

You will discover sooner that blogging is meant to bench some of your activities. Again, real estate is a game of the mind between the seller and the buyer. If you must win the game, you have to sneak into your buyer's mind and convince them on WHY they should buy it. This can best be achieved through blog posts.


Real Estate Blogging is not an Exciting Activity

Let's get this clear. If you are not a blogger, blogging will be boring. Don't fight it. It's boring for firms because even after the above list, some still find it difficult to come up with something to write about.

This is not a crime. In fact, it is normal. And that is why usually, I advise that you find someone who is not only good at blogging but at blogging on real estate matters.

Getting the right person for the job will not only make it boring. You will begin to have the opposite of 'boring' when leads, sales, and referrals begin to multiply through your blog.


So here is some advice, get someone to fill the blogging space in your firm so as not to be benched by your competitors. You can always contact me via mail or call/WhatsApp me through +2347080225737 to manage the blogging aspect of your real estate firm.

How to generate leads for your real estate firm in Nigeria
Okay, here is the main work. However note that it is not what you read here that will pull traffic or generate the leads for you. It is the proper application of what you read here that will guarantee that for you. Ready? Push!
Create a blog to your website: If your website has no blog, its time to contact your web developer to work on it. Ensure the blog is mobile-friendly like the web itself.

Hire a blogger: Don't ever assume your social media manager or digital marketer can do the work of a blogger or a blog writer. You will ruin the Beauty and efficiency of the blog if you attempt that.

Instead, hire a blogger or outsource your blogging to a professional. Till today, my client keep telling me that the only blog post I wrote for her brand at www.beauticleworld..com still refers to customers who have read the post to her.

Yes, that's another thing you must learn. Learn to ask clients who contact you, 'how did you get to know about us?' It helps you to know where your clients are coming from and which marketing strategy is working the most.

Write: When writing, some of the things to pay special attention to are the topic, the meta description, the tags, the originality of the text and the depth of the content.

I wrote a blog post recently about 17 things to consider when starting a business in Nigeria recently, and within a few days of my writing, I had several comments from readers on Manicle.

One thing that was common about how my readers felt was that the content had depth and insight.

Nothing less than 20% of the hundreds of readers contacted me via mail or Call or WhatsApp to ask for my services. You can't get any lesser result for your real estate blog. I can assure you that.

Add a CTA: A Call To Action is what you put in the middle or at the end of your post, asking people to take certain actions such as the following:
call you,
send you an email,
like your post,
comment on it,
visit your site,
subscribe to your weekly mail,
ask questions based on your blog post or general questions on real estate,
etc.

Some don't put a call to action to their posts, and this makes the whole work of erecting a blog and writing blog posts a waste of time and energy. A professional blogger will understand better.

This applies to social media posts. He who has an ear...

Publish: Pushing the publish button means you have gone through the blog article, and are sure that there is no single grammar/spelling error, and that your points are well laid down for your audience to easily get your message.

Share: Now this is the part I love the most. There is no foolishness like writing a blog post, only to sit and wait for folks to read, like, comment and share your post.

Not that your post won't reach people. Of course you will. But your sharing of the post on all your social media platforms and beyond can go a long way to making your post reach a larger and more targeted audience. An example is sharing it on LinkedIn.

Answer questions: Confused? Here it is. Do you know about quora? It is a question and answer forum where people ask and answer various questions intellectually.

It's not a Nigerian forum, yet Nigerians participate. Now imagine someone is asking questions about lands in Ibeju Lekki in Lagos, and one of your blog posts has answers to the person's question, it is a good place to sell your post.

How? Answer the question and make reference to your post by putting your link in your answer. You will be shocked at how many people will be converted from visitors to leads through your blog.

Other questions to answer also include the questions people will ask you on the blog based on your article.

Okay, if you ever need a professional blogger for your real estate company, you don't need to search far. You can contact me directly via manicle email, and for instant reply and faster and more flexible conversation, you can call or chat me up on +2347080225737


I hope you got something from this article. I look forward to your comments, opinion, just in case you don't agree with some of my points or you feel there are some things I could have added. Kindly drop it in the comment box or contact me directly. I will gladly respond. Thank you for reading this far.

I am Istifanus Sarki, a business strategist, and CEO of Manicle, a business consulting firm based in Lagos. We help businesses and individuals create marketing strategies and proffer solutions to business problems.

Enjoy!

Source: https://manicle..com/2020/03/generating-leads-for-real-estate-firms.html?m=1

GENERATING LEADS FOR REAL ESTATE

Based on our findings, one of the major problems in real estate business in Lagos and Nigeria at large is that there are more sellers than buyers, and more real estate agencies than real estate clients.

So, we came up with a solution which we believe you will love.

We understand you have a marketing strategy with which you use to source for prospects and generate leads. Our intention is to partner with you for the next three months, and deliver results based on the solution we found, tried and approved.

We will love to meet you to discuss further on how we plan to employ our strategy, how credible we are, and how achievable our proposal is.

We have a mapped out strategy that will convince you enough. Simply contact us and we will forward it to you right away.

Email: manicleworld@gmail.com
Call/WhatsApp: +2347080225737

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Personally, I believe if you want to thrive in business in Nigeria with such amount of money, your concern should be more of the understanding of the market first. This will give you a hint to making the right decision.

I say this because there are several businesses you can invest in with one million naira. You'll find a lot of them on the internet. If you ask me, I'd say Real Estate, Fabrics and Agriculture stand out among them. You can have a breakdown on how to go about it as I provide tips and business plan for all of them.

But I insist you read on 17 Things to consider before starting a business in Nigeria (http://manicle..com/2020/02/17-things-to-consider-before-starting.html?m=1)
It will be of great help and will give you the wisdom to decide among several options, the business to venture into. Because, frankly speaking, it's easier to start a business than to maintain a business for more than 5years.

Statistics has shown that 90% of businesses
close down in the first 5years and only 1% of the remaining 10% survive the first 10years. So, choosing wisely will go a long way to save you from loosing a lot of money to wrong business.

You can contact me on +2347080225737 (call/WhatsApp)

Personally, I believe if you want to thrive in business in Nigeria with such an amount of money, your concern should be more of the understanding of the market first. This will give you a hint to making the right decision.

I say this because there are several businesses you can invest in with one million naira. You'll find a lot of them on the internet. If you ask me, I'd say Real Estate, Fabrics, and Agriculture stand out among them. You can have a breakdown on how to go about it as I provide tips and a business plan for all of them.

But I insist you read on 17 Things to consider before starting a business in Nigeria (http://manicle..com/2020/02/17-things-to-consider-before-starting.html?m=1)
It will be of great help and will give you the wisdom to decide among several options, the business to venture into. Because, frankly speaking, it's easier to start a business than to maintain a business for more than 5years.

Statistics have shown that 90% of businesses close down in the first 5years and only 1% of the remaining 10% survive the first 10years. So, choosing wisely will go a long way to save you from losing a lot of money to the wrong business.

Hi guys, please I need advice on what kind of business I can do with 5million naira in Nigeria. I'll appreciate your answers please. It's urgent. Thank you.