Why Every SME Needs a Sales Process

store, online, ecommerce

Why Every SME Needs a Sales Process

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Last month, I reached out to 3 different IT hardware suppliers to make inquiries regarding laptops. I had a clear budget, basic technical requirements, brand preferences, and a timeline. If you were to assess my situation according to the BANT framework that looks into Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline, I was what you would call a qualified lead.

The responses were as follows:

  • One promised to send me details via WhatsApp but didn’t, even after sending them a reminder.
  • One sent me a quote with two options: a new machine or an ex-UK machine.
  • One sent me 2 options, both of which were ex-UK machines.

Sixteen days later, and none of them had reached out to follow up to close the sale.

This made me reflect on how easy it is to lose opportunities for closing a sale without a proper process in place, one that is preferably not managed by the business owner themselves as they tend to wear many hats.

Remember that you only grow when you maintain the business you already have while closing new sales. So build a sales process regardless of how small your business is.

Article also available on Linkedin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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You Need To Build Your Skills to Grow Your Business

You Need To Build Your Skills to Grow Your Business

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“My focus right now is business growth and not skills development.”

It is a statement I often hear when I’m talking to entrepreneurs, which makes me wonder, how can business growth go without skills development? Shouldn’t the two go hand-in-hand?

I’ve always believed that if you were to grow your business organically through selling directly to clients, it is important to master several vital skills, among them:

  • Strategic thinking and planning: This is the process of crafting the direction you want your business to go within a three-to-five-year framework.
  • Team building and management skills: Unless you are a Solopreneur, it’s very hard to attain operational excellence without a team to deliver your product/service.
  • Customer service skills: You need to ensure your customer’s expectations are met and they are kept happy. It would be really hard to grow a business if you keep on losing customers at the same rate you’re acquiring them.
  • Financial Management skills: Cash flow is the life-blood of all growing businesses and is the primary indicator of business health.

These are a diverse set of skills that you would need to master through experience as well as business courses such as the Advanced Entrepreneurship Program(AEP) by ISBI at Strathmore Business School.

 

 

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We Need to Do More to Support MSMEs

We Need to Do More to Support MSMEs

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Over 70% of all jobs created in most economies are in the Micro, small and medium enterprises category and if you consider emerging economies like Kenya, this figure jumps to over 80% according to a report by the International Trade Centre titled Promoting SME Competitiveness in Kenya.

This translates to 8 out of every 10 jobs.

In addition to job creation, MSMEs also contribute to sustainable development, in terms of contributions to economic growth, provision of public goods and services, as well as the reduction of both poverty and wealth inequality. How can we ensure that this segment of the economy survives the current pandemic and continues to drive our economy?

Back in 2008, as a small three-year-old independent advertising agency trying to grow, I nearly lost out on a major advertising project because I had approached the procurement department of one of the big corporations in Kenya to sign some documents confirming they would make payment to a specific bank account to support an invoice discounting facility I was applying for to enable me to do the project. His argument was that if I couldn’t afford to finance the project then I didn’t qualify to be a vendor for that organization. This is despite the fact that I had already won a major pitch against bigger agencies which meant I was technically capable of getting the job done.

This bias against MSME’s is just one example of the multiple barriers that small businesses in Kenya and possibly the rest of Africa face while trying to grow their businesses. As we mark this MSME day during an unprecedented time, let’s work together to develop and put forward practices and policies in our country that support the growth of more small businesses.

MSMEs not only matter but are the future of our economy.

 

 

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