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The Five Customer Types In Nigeria And How To Sell To Them -Emmanuel Otori

Published

3 years ago

October 5, 2021

Improving Service Experience to Increase Customer Satisfaction

The lifeline of every business is enmeshed in the number and interactions of stakeholders as well as their activities in relation to the business. These stakeholders include the suppliers of the raw materials needed for the business to manufacture its offerings, the employees or human resources who engage in the production and the customers who are the end users and the most important stakeholder in the cycle.

The Customer

Customers are consumers or users who products or services are made for in order to satisfy their needs with a series of unique experience. The customer in-turn has a unique role to play as their consistent purchase makes them to become the most important stakeholder in a business.

The major reason businesses collapse is for lack of customers as customers generate cash-flow for the business whenever they make purchases therefore contributing to increasing the sustainability of the business to remain afloat.

The uniqueness of the customer does not trivialize the role of the supplier and employee but then without the customer, the aim of building a business without an end user is defeated.

The Nigerian market is characterized with different categories of customers and ability to understand the type of customers a business attracts through their purchasing behaviour and data driven approach will support the growth of a business as they will understand how to position their offerings in order to attract the specific customer segment they want and also secure a reasonable market share through intentional strategies

Here are the five customer types and what we need to know about their personality traits in order to sell to them

Innovators (2.5%)

Innovators are the type of customers whose buying decisions are risk driven. Innovators are the youngest in age and willing to experiment upon seeing a product or service they desire to use. The personality trait of innovators is that they are impulse buyers, their need for adopting a new product has no regards with respect to whether they have budgeted for it or not. Because they are risk takers, they easily adopt new technological solutions and while they can easily help brands to get exposure by putting these products in the presence of other potential users, they might lose their financial resources if such solutions fail based on some limitations. The Innovators account for only 2.5% of purchases made.

Early Adopters (13.5%)

These categories of customers are the second set of individuals to adopt an innovation after the Innovators, they are called the Early Adopters and they account for only 13.5% of purchases made.

The Early adopters are also very young in age just like the Innovators and have a high social status and reasonable disposable income. They are opinionated and can be regarded as thought leaders. Because Early Adopters are judicious in their choice of adoption, they can easily maintain a central communication position, especially in giving reviews.

Early Majority (34%)

The Early major only adopt new solutions when a degree of time has passed after the launch of the solution into the marketplace. The time taken before they adopt any solution is usually longer than those of the Adopters and Innovators. They usually tend to be slower when it comes to the adoption of a solution and only belong to the above average income class, however their contact with Early Adopters eventually informs their decisions about eventual purchases. They also rarely hold an opinion which is a direct opposite of what the Early Adopters do. They account for 34% of all purchases.

Late Majority (34%)

The Late Majority only adopt any form of innovation after the average in the society has done that. Their approach of innovation is with a high degree of skepticism. They are far from being risk takers as they are low on disposable income and want to avoid mistakes when making purchases since their income is limited. They are also characterized with very little financial education, are in contact with those in the Early majority and their peers, and possess not much opinion leadership. They account for 34% of all purchases just like the Early Majority.

Laggards (16%)

The laggards as the name implies are the last to adopt any form of innovation. These individuals have no respect for change as they hold on to their first generation of solutions and do not consider a change of such solution except there is a breakdown of such product or it no longer works again, only these circumstances makes them embrace change. They are traditionalists and are usually elderly, have very little disposable income, lowest financial education and are only in touch with family and friends

All customer types make their unique contributions to serve them and grow a business; their role in the value chain supports the sustainability of a business in different dimensions.

The early majority and the late majority are usually the difficult set of customers, however learning to sell to them by winning their confidence and serving them right, has the ability to increase repeat purchase as they both account for the highest percentage in overall purchases made.

Customers are never the same and understanding how to serve them uniquely in a particular market, holds the key to profitability.

How Superstores are Utilizing Superior Customer Experience to Increase Retention Rates and How SMEs Can Adopt Technique

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Bitrus Lawrence has been appointed as the Area Council Service Secretariat in the FCT

Published

7 months ago

September 14, 2023

Onyebuchi Aniekeyi

Bitrus Lawrence has been appointed as the Area Council Service Secretariat in the FCT.

Poverty is mostly indegenous, we would tackle it from the root- Garki

…express readiness to collaborate with other Mandate Secretaries

The newly inaugurated Mandate Secretary Area Council Services of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Mr Bitrus Lawrence Garki has said that President Bola Tinubu led administration would tackle poverty from the root.

Mr Bitrus Lawrence Garki, stated this when he was reveived by the management staff of the Secretariat in his office after immediately after his inauguration by the Minister of FCT, His Excellency Nyesom Ezenwo Wike in Abuja on Tuesday.

Mr Lawrence Bitrus Garki who is the youngest Mandate Secretary ever appointed, noted that it is an opportunity to be appointed, adding that the office is for the entire Nigerian Youth.

According to the Mandate Secretary, the energy of the youth and wisdom of the elders are all that is needed to succeed as a Mandate Secretary, and sue for collective collaboration between every department of the Secretariat in order to achieve success collectively.

“This position aligns with my principle and concept of operation. I am a youth that listen to the advice of both young and old.

” As an indigenous person, poverty is most indigenous, and we have to deal with that. We have to bring excellence into the civil service.

“We need the energy of the youth and wisdom of elders to succeed. We must work collectively to achieve success in this office,” he said.

Expressing his heartfelt gratitude to His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, His Excellency Nyesom Wike, for his appointment as Mandate Secretary Area Council Services of the Federal Capital Territory Administration for the great task ahead, Garki assured Mr President, Bola, F.C.T Minister, and other Nigerians of his resolve to liaise and work collaboratively with other Secretariat, promising not to disappoint.

He explained that his appointment as a Mandate Secretary represents not only a fresh start but also a remarkable opportunity for progress as it signifies a commitment to harnessing the energy, creativity, and potential of youth.

“In this appointment, we see the recognition of the important role that young people play in shaping the destiny of our beloved country.”

“My appointment is a testament that President Bola Tinubu acknowledges the contributions of the youth, their aspirations, and their determination to build a better Nigeria.

“It is a recognition of the fact that when the youth are empowered and given the opportunity, they can be a force for positive change.

“This appointment is indeed a win for the youth, and it is a testament to the wisdom of our father President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in recognizing the need for intergenerational cooperation and youth inclusion in governance,” said Abuja.

Responding on behalf of the management staff, Director of Administration and Finance, Mrs Olanipekun, pledge the readiness of the staff of the Council to make the newly inaugurated Secretary a successful one and sought the support of other staff to make it work.

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Bootstrapping Your Business From the Ground Up

Published

2 years ago

May 2, 2022

Onyebuchi Aniekeyi

Bootstrapping Your Business From the Ground Up

Author: Emmanuel Otori

The term “Bootstrapping” is derived from the phrase “to hoist oneself up”. It is a method of starting one’s own business utilizing one’s own resources.

A bootstrapped startup is a business that began and grew without the help of outside investors. Bootstrapping a HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/microsoft-project-management-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” business does not imply that the company will not seek outside funding. In fact, a bootstrapped firm could be self-funded or wholly funded by its founders and founding team. These businesses do not solely rely on outside HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/data-visualization-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” investors such as venture capitalists to support them. Bootstrapped businesses are usually slower than funded HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/digital-marketing-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” businesses because they often start and scale without the intervention of investors.

Process of Bootstrapping

Customers/audience – are usually the hope of bootstrapping businesses as they seek to provide services and sales to the HYPERLINK “http://www.abujadataschool.com/courses/” customers Businesses offer quality and services of value to establish a customer base.

Organic growth – customers are used as a way to grow the business as hinted earlier. Its growth does not have to be fast as It is more focused on bringing customers into contact with the business rather than acquiring HYPERLINK “http://www.abujadataschool.com/” capital from venture capitalists.

Cash flow – the cash spent and received in the period of operation makes its cash flow. Future investors can look at the books of its cash flow to have a glimpse into the business history.

Reinvesting in the business – revenue generated in the course of running the business is ploughed back to generate more for HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/quickbooks-and-sage-50-accounting-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” growth and expansion purposes.

Viable business model – at this point, the business takes a structure that is realistic, feasible and solid worthy of investing in.

Improved customer base – loyalty is earned when the customers can rely on the HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/geographic-information-system-training-in-abuja/” business, hence, growth kicks off.

Sustainable ways of Bootstrapping

Debt and owner financing – putting your own money into the HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/cloud-computing-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” company.

Sweat equity – putting a significant amount of effort yourself rather than employing people to run the operations. It is not sustainable in the long run, but a good approach to raising your business from the ground up to make some headway.

Cost management – Bringing your HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/ui-ux-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” operating expenses to a bare minimum.

Income-based financing – earning early revenue through the sale of services and products, the cashflow can be used to fund the business continually.

Pros and Cons of Bootstrapping

Pros

Flexibility – this cannot be over emphasized as founders have the liberty to carry out business HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/website-design-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” operations in ways and manners that suit the process of growing it. This means being able to adjust swiftly to new situations as they emerge. Business owners can adjust their strategies to negotiate or overcome unexpected challenges.

Growth mechanism – Bootstrapped HYPERLINK “https://www.msmehub.org/tips-and-tricks-of-choosing-a-business-name/” businesses take the risk of growing from scratch without money being pumped into it. Such businesses solidify if it thrives through the hurdles of raising from the ground up.

Business perception – Customers, revenue and profit are the main focus to keep the business going rather than scalability. In as much as Bootstrapped businesses want to scale, usually the founders concentrate on unit economics, considering the company’s revenue and profitability. Profits are what will allow the HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/administrative-management-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” company to grow and scale, especially because it is a self-funded venture. A bootstrapped business will be more successful and long-lasting in the long run unlike funded startups as they are more concerned with rapidly accelerating their businesses and expanding at 5 to 10x pace than with profit or a long-term business strategy.

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Business control – Bootstrapped founders have 100% control of the startup vision and operations unlike funded businesses that lessens its ownership by external support.In a shared ownership business, founders are likely to lose their own companies due to investor funding, even at an early stage. Bootstrapped HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/data-analytics-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” businesses have the power to make full decisions in regards to the business.

Cons

Slow scaling – Due to insufficient funds, bootstrapped businesses must rely on revenue and profits to scale their operations. This affects the growth level unlike funded businesses with full access to capital and only have to keep the business running more on a faster pace. Bootstrapped businesses must contend with slow growth in their early years until they accumulate enough customers, revenue and profits for fast growth.

Limited network connections – Bootstrapped businesses are oftentimes faced with the challenge of limited to no network connections unlike funded HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/architecture-design-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” businesses who get introduced to other venture capital companies. These companies connect their investee companies to other venture capital companies for collaboration which fosters a more rapid growth.

Risk taking – Bootstrapped businesses bear all the risks there is to raising a business from the ground up. The operational risks rest on the founding team who takes HYPERLINK “http://www.thebroadnews.com/” responsibility for whatever goes on in the growth process. They bear the financial risks also as there are no investors yet.

One can consider running a rapid growing or slow scaling business. Rapid growing businesses often use funding from venture capital. Here external investors can provide capital, security, scaling speed, and advice/network, but they can also exert influence over you based on their preferences. Whereas, slow scaling businesses using bootstrap have complete control over the rate at which the company expands.

However, even if you want to raise venture capital, bootstrapping is a great way to get your business started.

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Improving Service Experience to Increase Customer Satisfaction

Published

2 years ago

May 2, 2022

Onyebuchi Aniekeyi

Author: Emmanuel Otori

HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/microsoft-project-management-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” \t “_blank” Customer satisfaction should be a business aim as it is vital to success for all brands. Customer satisfaction can be improved through user experience, which can have a favorable impact on your company’s return on investment (ROI).

A happy customer is a satisfied customer. HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/microsoft-office-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” \t “_blank” Customers that are dissatisfied with your service are less likely to return. From research, after a series of poor experiences, 59 percent of customers will abandon the HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/digital-marketing-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” \t “_blank” company, 18% tend to leave after one poor experience.

It is worthy to note that 98% of customers who have changed brands are due to user experience encountered in the past. Customer experience should be one of the things to look out for as it contributes greatly to keeping a business running.

You can improve your customers’ experience, boost customer satisfaction, and increase retention rates by using consumer data obtained through HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/software-development-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” \t “_blank” market research and customer surveys.

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What is user experience?

A user’s interaction and experience with a product, system, or service is referred to as the user experience. User Experience encompasses a person’s views on usefulness, usability, and efficiency of a product, system or HYPERLINK “http://www.abujadataschool.com/” \t “_blank” service. Therefore, User experience is the experience, observation and feel users get through practical contact with a solution. This solution takes different forms which can be a product, service, project, company and other organizations.

First, for there to be a HYPERLINK “http://www.abujadataschool.com/courses/” \t “_blank” user experience surface for interaction, there has to be a representation or a plan to give a glimpse into what should be expected to give maximum satisfaction to the end user. This plan is known as the design for user experience. Providing solutions based on personal ideas of what the needs of consumers are without viewing them from the perspective of the consumers often lead to giving solutions that are not right. HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/quickbooks-and-sage-50-accounting-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” \t “_blank” Customers not served well are most likely not to return.

Seeing that user experience is essential in giving value to users, offering a top notch and excellent service is important because it has a ripple effect on the HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/blockchain-development-and-cryptocurrency-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” \t “_blank” customer base and return on investment. Let us consider some useful tips in improving customer experience.

How to improve user experience

➢ Feedback Mechanism: Be aware of what your customer’s desire. Therefore, listening to your HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/stata-for-data-analysis-training-in-abuja/” \t “_blank” customers will help you better grasp their wants and know how to meet their needs. Surveys and HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/ui-ux-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” \t “_blank” questionnaires are coordinated and a convenient way of gathering feedback reports.

➢ Action Step: Knowing customer’s needs to give insight on what is relevant is made easier through feedback. The action step requires you turn feedback gathered from HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/business-plan-writing-course-in-abuja-nigeria/” customers into practice.

➢ Product and Service Touch: As much as you take action in responsiveness of feedback obtained, there should be a flexibility to improve the product and services you offer. It portrays the image you have of the needs of customers at heart.

➢ Feedback Evaluation: Make comparisons of the feedback before and after action has been taken. Respond to customer feedback as this gives the feel you have HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/administrative-management-training-in-abuja-nigeria/” customers at heart.

➢ Ongoing Basis: Customer satisfaction should be assessed on a regular basis to keep up with demands in case there are changing desires as there are factors which can cause demands to change.

➢ Responsive Support: Oftentimes, customers need guidance to get the best of what they want through what you offer. A support that is responsive and quick to action is an excellent way to improve user experience. This could be live chat support, email support, on-the-phone support, In-person support and social media support. Customers will give you positive feedback if you pay more attention to their experience, and you’ll get a larger return on HYPERLINK “https://www.abujadataschool.com/geographic-information-system-training-in-abuja/” investment.

Not limited to the above are other approaches to improving user experience which will take effect on the satisfaction of HYPERLINK “http://www.thebroadnews.com” customers. Depending on the kind of service offered and platforms showcased, the steps to improving user experience are not a “one size fits all” approach as some other will require creating personas, sketching wireframes, building prototypes, testing the model to have a feel of what the design could actually turn out to be.

Excellent user experience is beneficial as it minimizes complaints and negative reviews. Irrelevant cost and waste of resources is brought to bare minimum as services become more efficient. How about your customers? Excellent and improved services that meet their needs give them ultimate satisfaction and make them loyal. Lastly, there’s a high revenue generated from their loyalty.