From Trauma to Triumph: The Journey of a Mental Health Coach and Her Determination to make Mental Wellness Accessible - An Exclusive Conversion with Funmi Ayowole, Founder of TheVirtualSoulClinic
Ever heard the story of the elephant and the blind men? Each one felt a different part and insisted they knew what it was—only to miss the bigger picture. Just like them, our perspectives can be limited. But when we collaborate and share insights, monumental results happen. Here are 5 practical ways to foster team collaboration.
Studies suggest that focusing on customer retention rather than pure customer acquisition can reduce marketing costs by up to 30% while increasing customer lifetime value. Retention efforts not only cost less but also lead to long-term profitability. These 12 retention strategies can help small businesses achieve sustainable growth.
Studies suggest that focusing on customer retention rather than pure customer acquisition can reduce marketing costs by up to 30% while increasing customer lifetime value. Retention efforts not only cost less but also lead to long-term profitability. These 12 retention strategies can help small businesses achieve sustainable growth.
Businesses are to experience growth, it is an expected outcome. It speaks volume and show the work that has been put into it.
Today, we’ll be sharing 5 ways your business can move to the next level.
HAVE A STRONG ONLINE PRESENCE: As we know, technology and the internet is a great tool in the business world. Every business that needs to reach a wide range of customers needs to utilize this platform; The businesses with a thriving online presence utilized the platform during the total lockdown.
BUILD A STRONG TEAM: Have a trained team because they determine the outcome of the business in a very large way. It involves seminars, leadership training, qualification exams and ensuring understanding and passion almost as much as you have.
KNOW YOUR NUMBERS: Being aware of the company expenses and inflow of profit ensures proper managerial skills. The business owner should be aware of the finances of the company.
These 3 tips are just a few out of many but can be helpful in the evaluation of the business and ensuring growth.
Stay tuned for more tips to take your business to the next level.
Follow us @thebriefnetwork on Instagram and the TBN Entrepreneurs Connect group on Facebook.
Welcome to the spotlight entrepreneur, we have another enlightening session today and I must say, it’s filled with words of wisdom. Today, our spotlight entrepreneur is OKEYINFU AJAYI and she is here to change the world through education and technology.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role in your business.
My name is Okeyinfu Ajayi and I am a purpose driven individual who believes people should not remain the same after they have met with me. I am here to change the world via Education and Technology.
I am the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Busy Minds Center, an Educational Institution in Lagos Nigeria, with both online and physical business units. We cater for children aged 3 months to 16 years from two campuses. In addition, we have a Teacher Education and Leadership Development Center.
One of the special parts about my role in Busy Minds Center is Teacher and School Leadership Development. Why, you might wonder. Two critical pillars necessary for high education quality and school culture are, School Leadership and Teacher Quality. Of course, I also enjoy innovating with the school team on programs for the students and ensuring we stay accountable to the parents and our vision. Program Evaluation and Learner Assessments is also a huge part of my role.
I am happy I have a strong senior management team, who are able to take control and run the business, leaving me in the space where I can take a step back and focus on some other things within and outside the business.
Beyond Busy Minds, I run an Outsourcing and Technology Solutions Firm, Ka’Vabe Hub and it exciting to be in a space where I can give functional technology service and advice to SMEs especially, women owned business. I am typically in charge of client acquisition and supervise the entire user experience process and I love being able to talk solutions and integrations in a way that is relatable and most importantly, executable. I am the founder and lead creative for KaVabe Hub.
What led you into this sector as a career?
To be honest, getting into the Education Sector, was 100% unplanned but I am happy with where I am. A friend of mine who worked in a school in Lekki, called, asking me to come and have a chat with her boss because she believed with my operations background, I could help their school get their administration and operations unit sorted. As someone with an administrative background, as soon as I walked in and around the school, I could see some alignment and operational issues.
When I eventually met with Mrs Kalejaiye, I shared my observations and recommendations with her, promising to send a more robust report. As the conversation progressed, she offered me a job. I was interested but I had been a stay at home mom for about three years and I was unsure if I was ready for the leap, especially because I coming in at the highest managerial role. When I took the offer, I planned to help them out for a month or thereabouts. I was there for about four (4) years. I have been in the field of Education since 2009; That’s over 11 years.
When I eventually left Discovery House in 2013, I realised that every business idea I considered paled in comparison to the satisfaction I felt when I thought of getting back into education. That’s how I got back in and I must say it has been amazing being in this sector. A tough but life changing happenstance.
Entrepreneurship could be hard, what has been the highlight (victories and challenges) of your entrepreneurial journey so far?
I agree with you the entrepreneurship can be hard. One of the tough parts is to get beyond the glamour and understand the level of hard work and commitment it takes to run a business. Most people see you as a founder and assume you are having a ball. This gets old and tiring.
Another really huge challenge, is consistent and quality staffing. However, due to our on boarding culture and staff development framework, we can ensure we have people who are ready for the classroom and deliver on our promise. We could of course not forget to talk about governmental polices and poor infrastructure that are not exactly favourable to growth, but we keep powering on.
God has honestly been good to me, whilst I wished some things could be erased, I cannot deny they have made me a stronger leader and a better business individual. Some of my highlights are linked to collaborations that have happened in the educational sector. Being able to collaborate with many Educational leaders, has given the education sector a stronger voice. I am also quite excited about some of the team members I have been blessed with over the years. Their commitment to my vision is exceptional.
Before I started Busy Minds in 2013 April, I had another business which I started in 2008. I was not ready for it and it died despite trying to resurrect it. Now I realise, I was not quite ready for the commitment entrepreneurship required. I was basically playing office.
Success is not defined by others; we need to define it for ourselves and by ourselves.
My unique experiences count, and I do not need a applause to validate me or call me successful.
What is it like working in your industry?
Working in education is a lot of fun to be honest. It is always fresh every single day because we work with children and young adults. It is very intense as we deal with real life children and sometimes, extra sensitive parents but at the end of the day, knowing that we are all working towards the good of the child makes it easier. When the children come to school and feel free enough to share the good and not so great things that happen at home, it can be earth moving. But we smile and spin a tale to make it alright.
Seeing a child that came in shy, progressively become bolder and be able to stand in front of the class and make a presentation is a surreal experience. I love it.
The lack of regulation governing opening schools, means one (a school) can practically spring up right next to you with zero warning. It can be a little unnerving but the truth is, we all have different customers. It is however important that we all deliver quality education and be accountable to all the students and families that walk through our doors. Sometimes, the school hype is a real distraction, causing people to focus on the wrong metrics as determinants of quality education. However, I would not trade it for another sector. I am deeply satisfied here.
How are you staying ahead in spite of covid19 and what lessons or what advice would you give to anyone who wants to break into your industry?
As a business, it is always important to be responsive via an agile feedback process. The pace and quality of change outside your organisation should not out pace you. If it does, your relevance and market share will keep shrinking. Responsiveness is like oil, it keeps things moving. Secondly, communicate and keep the lines of communication open.
At BusyMinds School, we have always had a strong technology component and part of our strategic 3-year plans, was launch our online school. As soon as COVID-19 spread into Europe, we started to look at our plans and think about how to fast-track our online/ Virtual ED Component. We were able to run a 2-week pilot at the end of March/First Week in April and this helped us refine our platform and get it more user responsive.
Another thing I believe is extremely important at this time, is empathy. We are fully in touch with our clients, those who have their children online and those who do not. What we did it to create a free platform for those who were unable to join us online due to several reasons – parents at work, no devices etc. This ensures the children stay on track with learning.
Beyond COVID-19 the online school stays because we have students outside Lagos State and Nigeria. We are drawing up measures to ensure that we can go back to school safely but still retain the essence of robust schooling which goes way beyond concrete learning.
For those want to come into education, I have a few questions for them. If they can answer these questions, they should be fine. Education is an extremely sensitive, so it is best to determine if you are in for the money or the impact. Of course, both streams could lead to money and impact, but the start-up approach is different.
Why Education?
What level for you want to cater to?
What is your unique service position?
Who is your target audience?
How do you plan to let them know you exist?
Why will they come back to you? (Service Measurement)
What curriculum will you use?
What is your Overarching vision for the school and your role?
What location are you looking at for set up?
Does it align with your number 7?
What is your digital integration strategy (Academics and Administrative)
The tips I have shared below have also helped me immensely:
a. Trust God with everything. b. Start where you are but have a self-development plan. c. Communicate clearly; never assume people know what you are about. d. Make your thinking visible e. Have a strong support system f. Know your why/ your core, and build on that g. Think long term and short term and include an execution path with clear next steps and what connections you need to make. h. Leverage network when possible but rely on what you can control i. Be customer centric with a good feedback loop
j. I always ask myself – what needs to change or be improved? k. How can I leverage technology?
Welcome to Spotlight Entrepreneur and today, Banke Alawaye has the spotlight today. She gives us a sneak peak on what it’s like being in technology and the challenges she has faced as a business owner. Let’s get right into it.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role in your business.
My name is Banke Alawaye, I’m a digital transformation specialist and CTO @ aCubed Limited where we work with smart businesses who are interested in growth, profitability, and longevity. I’m also a teacher of sorts in that I teach entrepreneurs and freelancers how to use digital tools to work smart. I’m particularly focused on tools for automating business tasks to create efficiency.
2.What led you into this sector of tech as a career ?
I like to say that the CTO stands for Chief Transformation Officer. Our work at aCubed is about helping our clients develop structures that are foundational for their growth. And you can’t escape technology in a growing company at this time.
My background includes investment banking and leading a Pan African digital agency. All that business and technology experience is best used to serve businesses who are trying to gain market share in an increasingly digital world.
I’m also very keen to get more women into tech. At aCubed we have a women-in-business program that is targeted at female entrepreneurs who are ready to structure their business and make the transition into a thriving business entity.
Personally I provide mentoring through a program called Girls in Glasses which I started as a way to find and nurture talented women interested in the tech world.
My goal is simple. To help and support women in tech by:
Providing mentoring to take their tech related idea to launch and/or grow their business
Providing support and information to help find a path to becoming a woman in tech
To create a community of women tech service providers and connect you to job opportunities
This is a labour of love and I look forward to telling some success stories from the group soon.
4. Entrepreneurship could be hard, what has been the highlight (victories and challenges) of your entrepreneurial journey so far?
It’s interesting and has its challenges. I’m lucky enough to love what I do and to have built a reputation to attract the right clients to my business. But entrepreneurship is not all roses. I have closed down two businesses over the years for various reasons. The good thing is that from those failures I’ve learnt what doesn’t work and what not to do. For a long time I was a reluctant entrepreneur but now that I’ve found my stride, I’m loving it.
5. What is it like working in your industry?
Just like any industry, you have to stay ahead of the curve. Technology is continuously evolving and you have to keep yourself up to date on new developments so as to provide the most value to clients. I’m lucky that this plays to my strengths as I am always learning.
6. How are you staying ahead in spite of covid19 and and what lessons or what advice would you give to anyone who wants to break into your industry?
Technology has become necessary for so many people to do their jobs and keep their businesses afloat. This has meant that my industry has been busy as people seek out expertise and support to get them on their digital path.
For anyone looking to break into the technology industry, the first step really is education. Take some courses and see where your interest lies. There are many free courses to get started just to see what area you want to learn more about. There’s no better job in the world than the one that you love to do and you’re excited to do. Don’t follow the bandwagon. Play to your strengths. There are many opportunities in technology at this time.
Follow Banke Alawaye on Instagram and LinkedIn. Also, visit her website to be more informed and learn more to run your business with ease using technology.
Who loves to dance and also be fit in the process? I do!! Dancing is one of the best ways to stay fit and have an active lifestyle. Today our entrepreneur is a Dance fitness expert and dance choreographer. She is Tamara Ajasa and she shares her journey as an entrepreneur.
Tamara Ajasa is a Dance Fitness Expert and a Dance Choreographer. She is a certified Pre-Natal and Post-Natal fitness specialist and the Creative Lead at DanceMusicologyConcepts, a company focused on Dance, Fitness and Wholeness for women.
Tamara and creativity are synonyms as she has written, acted and directed a number of stage plays.
She is a content creator, a self – taught Davinci Resolve Editor who shoots and edits most of her materials herself. Tamara has also co-produced a reality weight-loss show currently in post-production. For several years, Tamara was the ballet teacher of choice at one of the most prestigious primary schools in Nigeria. Dance features prominently in most of her creative projects and it is no surprise that she was part of the first set of certified Zumba Instructors trained in Nigeria.
Tamara recently re-tooled her business DanceMusicologyConcepts and has currently set her sights on ensuring women embrace wholesome living choices and healthy daily habits.
She currently runs routine ONLINE weight-loss/fitness services to help women achieve their body transformation goals in a sustainable manner.
She also uses her page to advocate for wholesome living for women and mothers. Tamara has an exercise EP out on Spotify, Youtube Music and other music platforms in aid of DMC’s weight loss services.
DMC also offers choreography services for music videos, product launches, stage plays and other functions.
As an entrepreneur for the past nine years, I have faced a number of challenges while trying to grow my business. Some of them include;
Talent development: In my field, finding employable talent has been a huge challenge. I have come across dancers and fitness enthusiasts who see no need to be professionally trained or certified. On another hand, I have had staff leave after I have taken them through training. This often leaves me to do most of the work myself and I make do with just contract staff.
Value appreciation: There are no set fees for creative work and value for my work has sometimes been depreciated. A client requests my services to choreograph a routine for a social event or fitness event and when I give my bill, you hear comments like, “Is it not only 10minutes dance?” “Why should you charge for choreography?”
My advice to entrepreneurs would be;
Be ready to Persist. Perseverance and consistency is the only way you can sustain a business in this life. Great brands are what they are because someone somewhere did not give up. Stay focused and diligently push till you hit your goals.
Find your niche and hone it. Do not try to be jack of all trades. If you have several vocations and passions, choose one first – work hard to set yourself apart in that field then you may diversify later.
Evolve with times. Change is the only thing that is constant. What you start out with may need tweaking from time to time. Keep your eyes open to moving trends and find ways to make your business adapt. This would constantly put you at the forefront of your industry.
Embrace technology! This is very vital in this new decade. Have an online presence on as many social platforms possible. Make use of the internet as a marketing tool. Find new ways to give your customers/clients a stress-free experience.
In all, always remember that times and seasons are predetermining factors to an entrepreneur’s success. While you put in every effort to be the best, do not be discouraged by stumbling blocks and mountains you would face. See every phase of your journey as a learning process. When it is the set time, you would be great and you would reap the rewards of all the years of diligence that you have planted. Be of good cheer.
The one thing owners and managers of small businesses are after is business growth and the extent to which a business can provide a great customer experience goes a long way in determining the extent of growth. The bad news is many small business fail at this. However, others have used excellent customer service to transform their businesses from good to great! These set of small businesses seem to understand how to manage their customers and have therefore established enough trust to not only keep existing customers, but to also attract new ones. From my experience running a business and the challenges I have had to face, I have put together 7 things you can do right now to improve your overall customer service experience.
Pay attention to what your customers are saying. In fact the best customers are the ones that give you feedback – because such feedback can serve as springboard to what you need to change to improve how you do your business and your overall product / service offerings.
Pay attention to how you want to be perceived and start showing up like that. In situations where customers have to visit your office / store in person, you need to pay attention to how you want to be perceived. First impression matter, and the subsequent impressions too. The truth is you want to ensure you are showing up exactly how you want your business to be perceived. This means when someone interacts with your brand (be it in person, in a chat, on the phone and so on), the message you are passing across about your brand is same across channels.
Be sure that the values your business represents are clear and are communicated with every body in the organisation – from the CEO, to the manager, the customer service officers, the social media handler, the dispatch, every single person. Do not leave out any one.
Pay attention to the little details. You can’t have a glamorous social media presence, and then your delivery packaging is not in sync with what you preach. The little details matter and they help in determining brand perception.
Hire Right and Train them: Great customer service delivery can set you apart from other brands and especially in an overcrowded market. What will a small business do when the company begins to grow and customers are making repeat purchases and new ones are added regularly? The key is to not wait until it’s too late before you start hiring right. You want to get staff with good human relation skills and you also want to invest time and resources to train them.
Be sure that customers and clients are able to do business with you smoothly. Some time ago, I purchased an item from a reputable online business. I was expecting an update from them after a few days, but no update aside the initial email confirming my order. Long story short, the item never came then I got an email informing me that the item I purchased was sold out. I immediately requested for a refund. The customer service officer told me they do not issue refunds, she suggested other products, but I was not interested in the offerings; in this case the best they could do for me was to put my funds in a wallet on their website so I could use same for future purchases with them. Just look at that! The competition is quite fierce, consumers have a lot of choices these days. Once I found an alternative to that brand, I moved on. Why should customers come to you? To what extent are customers able to do business with you smoothly? Can a customer easily get in touch with you? Is your delivery process smooth? Do you respond in a timely and efficient manner? If they want an exchange, is it easy for them to reach you and get an exchange? Are customers able to get refunds for damaged or unavailable items? What about after sale service? Creating a smooth process is not the easiest thing to do, if it was, every business will have a great process. But it’s not, that’s why only few succeed. I believe you are one of those few.
Use Technology: As your business grows, it might become more difficult to manage your budding customers. This is where technology comes in. Use technology to automate repetitive processes; Some examples are automated response (ensure you actually follow up); including an FAQ page on your website where you have answered all possible customer related questions and inquiries; having a contact form with pre-defined subject matters among others.
The goal of every business is to build trust, good customer service delivery can help in building trust and it begins with the very first contact a customer has with your business. Once you constantly do your best at providing great customer service each time a customer gets in touch with you, the trust they have established at the first interaction with your brand will grow. When customers trust you, they will keep coming back to you. The more they keep coming back, the more you increase the customer lifetime value. An increase in customer lifetime value will lead to an increase in revenue.
Keep in mind, the growth of your business is at the other end of great customer service
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role in your business. My name is Olaoluwa Mojisola Alaba. I am a mental health expert, a clinical Psychologist & Psychotherapist.
Nutrition and weight loss expert.
I am also a Nutrition and weight loss expert for OMAC (Olaoluwa Mojisola Alaba Consult) a mental health and wellness hub. In addition, the co-founder of Funtasticaland entertainment centres, amusement parks, in Nigeria. I believe in healthy eating, and I lost almost 40kg in a year without strict dieting and extreme exercising. I had fun losing all that weight! I am almost completing writing my first book on how I lost the fat. To me, food is a functional medicine Role in Business? I am the CEO & MD.
What led you into this sector?
I was overweight for many years. I have always struggled with weight gain from the onset of motherhood (mother of three beautiful children), through working many years as CEO of my company, Funtasticaland.
Before weight loss
For many years, at 5 ft’3 inches I weighed over 106kg or 233.6lbs and life was miserable for me. I was caught in between a big belly pouch due to 3 cesarean childbirths, pre-diabetes, chronic anal fissures, knee pains, aching shoulders, shortness of breath, and regular hospital visits. Every part of me wanted a better life. I tried to run, play, dance, jump, climb, swim, and explore the world, but I was weak and couldn’t do much because of my excess weight.
I was mocked for being on the obese side of life. Then I was not able to wear the clothes I liked, because my size was increasing every day. For that reason, I had to compromise on what I wore. It was not a pleasant experience. It left me with so much pain, anger, fear, self-pity, and low self-esteem. How did I allow myself to become ballooned to a size 20? I thought to myself. I was stuck and irritated. My self-esteem was bruised. I started seeing food as the cause of my predicament (I used to have a bad relationship with food). I became afraid of eating. It also became hard for me to attend social gatherings; and whenever I did, I avoided taking pictures. I hated taking a stroll in my neighbourhood because I got fed up with having people, including strangers, pointing out my body size. Sure, some did it out of sheer concern, but I felt hurt, nonetheless. Then this particular day, I decided I have had enough. My problem was not overeating as such, but the lack of information on what to eat, my food intake, portion control, and a sedentary lifestyle. Aimed with a healthy lifestyle, nutrition, and weight loss training and certification, I was able to lose almost 40kg in ten months. For anyone trying to lose weight, please understand that insufficient or extreme diet will not make you lose weight but rather slows your digestion, your sleep becomes disruptive, your hormone functioning decreases, and micro-nutrient deficiencies become a risk. Your body needs food to have optimal metabolism. An optimal metabolism will be able to burn fat and keep it off in the long run.
After weight loss.
Entrepreneurship could be hard. What has been the victories and challenges of your journey? Businesspersons face a lot of challenges, and many books have been written about the ways to overcome them. While economic education doesn’t make a person a businessman, it is important to get a relevant information about the mechanisms of running a business. Many difficulties the small and medium-sized businesses struggle with can be solved, but entrepreneurs need to be willing to face them and put the needed efforts to build the successful business. Sources @ https://www.legit.ng/1198401-challenges-entrepreneurship-nigeria .
One of the most challenging things about being an entrepreneur and nutrition and weight loss expert is the amount of myths around food and nutrition. People putting themselves at risk by believing a set of principles about food which may not be entirely accurate. Also as clinical psychologist, one of the victories of my entrepreneur journey is understanding the way I work and providing insightful awareness on mental health, rethinking food, emotional eating, meal prepping, calorie counting and planning. I’ve been able to take actions on the science behind eating well by making it practical, understandable, and fun. We’ve been able to help our clients make the best choices by seeking professional help on mental health issues and also encouraging people to inculcate healthy eating habit and lifestyle. As a health coach, You can make good income, but it won’t happen overnight and it will take quite a bit of effort. When you finish your health/Nutrition coaching certification, clients will not automatically fall into your lap. You’ll have to find them, market to them and work to gain their interest. Becoming a health coach has been deeply rewarding to me, because it is rare in life that you get to promote happiness, build resiliency, save people’s money, and help people live longer and more fulfilling lives at the same time.
As running Funtasticaland; we know play is so important to optimal child development that it has been recognized by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights as a right of every child. Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. Play is important to healthy brain development. It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them, thus at FuntasticaLand Amusement Park, what we do basically is putting smiles on our clients’ faces, making them happy which is very important for their states of minds. Some challenges we face are meeting the diversified needs of our customers, Lack of capital, Difficulties in getting loans, Poor state of infrastructure, Marketing strategy challenge, staying ahead of our competitors, improving our marketing strategies, how to digitalized some of our products etc.
What is it like working in the weight loss and amusement park industry? Working as a health coach is incredible dealing with weight management, mental fitness etc. It requires a lot of dedication, passion to help our client’s wellbeing, commitment, trainings etc. It is a beautiful experience being a Co-founder of FuntasticaLand Amusement Park, mental health expert and a health coach because I get to make people happy, celebrate kids, help overweight people meet their weight loss goals, reduced stress, increased self-esteem, decreased anxiety, and managed depression. Feeling better psychologically contributes to better physical health outcomes.
How are you staying ahead in spite of covid19 and and what lessons or what advice would you give to anyone who wants to break into your industry? The pandemic really affected almost everyone and every sector but most especially the entertainment industry, in compliant with the federal government direction that all entertainment facilities must remain shut, we had to close our parks. We had to refocus our marketing strategies, create two new products that we can deliver in people’s home; tagged “FuntasticaLand Treats Box and Party Box”. Also we are still reaching out to more customers and engagjng some people online and still celebrating children’s birthdays in their home. While most start-ups may see repurposing as a short-term opportunity or solution, it remains a fundamental survival strategy and growth opportunity for this time. As an health coach and weight loss expert It is an avenue to reach out to more people that our health is important and we should also employ healthy living habits even in the lockdown. We can stay fit while at home without gym by simply increasing our daily movement through house chores, jumping ropes, participating in aerobic videos, dancing etc.
Advice to give anyone who wants to break into the industry. To be a health coach or specializes as a weight loss expert, you may obtain a certification, but very importantly, you must have passion to help people improve their health and wellness. As an entrepreneur, I will advise that many entrepreneurial businesses must pivot to meet new needs for goods or services borne out of this crisis in order to survive in their Business at this covid 19 era and beyond.
These are the social media links to the businesses mentioned above
SUMMARY OF FACEBOOK LIVE SESSION ON DELIVERING EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE BY ADENIKE ODUJOKO
On the 29th of May, 2020, we held our first Facebook live with Adenike Odujoko, who has 15 years of experience in customer service delivery and it was an enlightening session on delivering excellent customer service for business growth. It’s available on our TBN Entrepreneurs group on Facebook. Click here to watch the full video and also join the group for more wholesome contents.
WHAT IS CUSTOMER SERVICE?
Customer service is the action taken to care for the needs of customers. It is highly important for an entrepreneur to have an excellent customer service. This service should be provided before, during and after the interaction with the customer. It was also mentioned that “good customer service starts from you and your team”.
Having an exceptional service gives the brand a niche in the market.
“Having an exceptional service gives the brand a niche in the market.” This means as a result, the business gains ground, grows and attracts more customers. However, to provide this service, the business to adopt ways to meet the needs of the customers.
HOW DO WE BUILD AN EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE?
3 HELPFUL TIPS will be shared to help entrepreneurs:
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS: This is very crucial because how one relates to each customer differs and one cap does not fit all. Be able to segregate your customers and know how to meet their individual needs. For example, running an online business can include customers that are not social media or online shopping savvy, they could call a number of times before their order is placed. The relation to them will be different, it might require patience.
TRAIN YOUR TEAM: It’s important to have a grounded team and develop emotional intelligence in dealing with customers. They determine how the customer feels about the business to a very large extent. Train them to handle common issues that may arise with customers and still ensure the customer is satisfied. The team must be grounded in knowing what the business is all about and knowing how to sell the product. They all must be humble in relation to the customer and respect them.
BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH CUSTOMERS: In business, relationship is key in ensuring the business grows. Through this, more customers can patronize the business and gain loyal customers. Be responsive to the customers by being genuine in your relation with them, they can sense lack of interest. Let them know they are important to you.
We hope these tips are helpful and visit the Facebook page to watch the full video and learn more.
Customers will choose to do business with you because you provide a better all-around customer experience. Here are five things you do to provide that better experience:
Pay attention to your initial greeting, whether in person, on the phone, on email or chat, is always prompt, genuinely pleasant and sincere. You use that positive first impression as a springboard to developing a real dialogue with your customer.
Ensure that Doing business with you is a smooth process. Your customers can easily get in touch with you, consult you, place an order and also get them swiftly. You need to deliberately think about all the steps that your customers will need to interface with your business and create process and options for your customer. Creating a smooth process is not the easiest thing to do, if it was, everyone would have a good process. Once you can do this, you would have succeeded in building a better business.
Established trust. While this is not easy to do in your first interaction with a customer, you realize that the building of trust begins with that first contact, and grows exponentially with each subsequent positive experience. Real trust is built like a building, from the ground up, with a strong foundation.
Be friendly, yet professional to every customer with whom you interact. Be sure however, that you are also tactful when dealing with customers. For example, you won’t apply the same level of friendliness to a customer who is in a bad mood or in a hurry and a customer who is chatty and enthusiastic.
Be attentive and listen to your customers, even the things that are not said. There are customers who prefer to be assisted while there are some others who would rather do it all by yourself. Remember it’s all about your customers’ preference and not yours. Be courteous and offer to help if needed allows the customer to determine the extent of his interaction with you, and that makes for a comfortable experience for all types of customers and prospects.
The goal is to ensure that the service you provide remain in the customer’s mind long after the product purchased has run its course.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role in your business.
Gbemisola Adebayo
My name is Gbemisola Adebayo, founder and CEO of Hegai & Esther Cosmetics, a position I have held since I founded the company in 2002. I also head the company’s Research and Product Development team.
In this role, I oversee the total life cycle of makeup products creation, from conception stage to designing and manufacturing.
What led you into this sector as a career?
At first, it was passion for makeup as a whole, but then as time went by I discovered that more women were looking for more holistic benefits from their skin care and makeup products, so I decided to fill that niche.
Entrepreneurship could be hard, what has been the highlight (victories and challenges) of your entrepreneurial journey so far?
Showcasing Hegai & Esther Products
Major highlight for us was when we had our first breakthrough in 2012 when we caught the attention of hundreds of makeup artists through the sale of makeup books and DVDs. It is a highlight because we proved that truly you don’t need capital to start a business, what you need is an idea. I had bought a makeup DVD from an American makeup artist and felt many Nigeria makeup artists would be interested as well as against paying a lot for training here or traveling abroad for the same reason. I mailed the author asking if I could get a deal if I bought multiple copies of her DVDs, she agreed, but then there was a big problem, I didn’t have a dollar to my name! So what I did was I uploaded a picture of the DVD I bought on my Facebook page, marketed my business to over a hundred makeup artists via their inbox, asking interested MUAs to make a deposit of 50%, and boom that was it! I used their money to buy the minimum quantity required by the author, and business started!
Hegai & Esther Product Perfect Pressed Powder
We face the same challenges peculiar to the Nigeria business climate like importation, foreign exchange, access to funding. As for funding, we grew organically up until 2015 when we got a bank loan that almost destroyed the business, so we had to scale down on our costs in order to stay afloat. We look at victories and challenges the same way, both help us know what works and what doesn’t.
What is it like working in your industry?
Hegai & Esther Product
Fulfilling. We fill a psychosocial need and that in itself is very rewarding. Meeting women’s needs to feel beautiful, pampered, and confident makes the job satisfying. It also is a steady income stream because these needs never end, even during this present lockdown and economic downturn, the needs still exist, the onus is on us to devise affordable and sustainable means to meet those needs.
It is also a very competitive industry. Entry is almost nonrestrictive, so we find many people considering it a first option into entrepreneurship. Also beauty like fashion is dynamic so trends keep changing very frequently, meaning we have to be very aware of trends and must be careful on how to stock up on goods.
You have done so well for yourself and your business, what lesson or what advice would you give to anyone who wants to break into your industry?
Passion will help you start, but strategy will sustain you. You have to be a thinking business owner!
You can learn more about Hegai and Esther by visiting their website at www.hegaiandesther.com
My name is Comfort Omaye Okwundu. I am the Creative Director for COMFENDY
We make the prettiest ready to wear Ankara dresses for girls. When I say for girls, I mean little girls (age 2-14) and for ladies (size 8-16).
I recognise that there is a universal confidence that comes with looking good. Hence, I enjoy creating clothes that externalises the inner beauty. We also offer other services like gift wrapping, custom party dresses and styling for birthday shoots.
LESSONS LEARNT AS AN ENTREPRENEUR:
Entrepreneurship has been very challenging for a number of reasons. Every customer is different. Different in tastes, expectations, lifestyle and attitude. This is where focus comes in. Initially, I was doing more than I could handle. Making clothes for men, women,girls, ready to wear and custom. I was doing virtually everything but was not a master at my craft.
Overtime, I was able to find and create my niche which is making clothes for girls and ladies alone. Even at that, I had to stop taking customers fabrics to work on, because I realised it was not working for me. Finding your niche makes the flow seamless.
ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS:
From my experience of running a business for over 5years, I will advise entrepreneurs to forgive themselves when they make mistakes. When things are not going as planned, draw strength from the fact that you are doing what you love. This is really important because there are moments where you will feel like throwing in the towel and you will begin to question yourself. One other important lesson I learned is to come out of my box. This lesson was a major one for me, since I am naturally an introvert. As an entrepreneur, we must seize every moment and every opportunity. Don’t wait for the opportunities to come knocking, go all out for them.
