Emmanuel Egbroko Services

20/12/2019

Are nonprofit organizations prohibited from selling products or offering services that generates income?

I often get this question from organizations during consultations and trainings, the answer is No! Nonprofits are permitted to sell products and offer income generating services, however there are restrictions which you must be clear about.

I recommend you read this article by Hash Zahed for further clarification.

Can nonprofits sell products or services? Yes, nonprofits can sell products or services as long as they stay within the bounds of the law.

17/12/2019

SCREW BUSINESS AS USUAL SET YOUR BUSINESS GOALS FOR 2020 NOW

The year is gradually coming to an end, but another journey of 365 days is about to start, and now is the time your organization prepares her amour to face the challenges of 2020 by planning, strategizing, and monitoring all activities for effectiveness.

Organization goals are crystal clear and specific objectives you set for your organization, that gives your organization a direction towards achieving her mission and vision.
Setting goals are important to help your organization know where its headed, her exact position in any particular time. It's like a blueprint and road map that should motivate everyone, and help them live a positive life.

A well-architected goal should:
-Narrow focus
-Direct attention to what matters the most
-Clarifies the actions needed to get results
-Enables everyone to hold on when the going gets tough
-Foster the development of new learning strategies

In addition, your goals should be SMART, this means it should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time bound.

Important to note is goals become very powerful when written down, this is why your organization's goals should be displayed for everyone in the organization to see. Have goals for sales, marketing, training amongst others.

''Life always has a script prepared for everyone and organization to follow, draft your script and live by it to avoid regrets.''

09/12/2019

Growth hacking as a market research tool

Today, I will practically discuss how you can use growth hacking in market research for need discovery and understanding.

Growth hacking is a very effective tool that enables you to understand your end users.

From my experience, It can be done in different ways, when you are doing your market research, there are more applicable ways than what I will suggest.

First, you find a channel or avenue where you can meet most of your target audience or you find people your target audience make purchase from.

For example, when we were trying to launch a service for community pharmacists, we reached them through the National Executive Council meeting, spoke to them about what we intended to do and told them to register, and get others to register too, and we got the right numbers of pharmacists we needed to interview, from whom we found out if there was a need for that service.

If you are working on a product like garri which is in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) space, this strategy can be used to discover what type of garri customers buy? and what they look for when purchasing? amongst other questions.

This you do by interviewing traders in the market who sell garri to customers (who in this case are your targets) by interviewing these traders you can superficially gather information that will enable you know what should be incorporated into your product and what you shouldn't, and it still helps you clarify if there is need for such product, the pack size, and so on.

However, these people won't just give you their time for this brief interview, to avoid them telling you they don't have time this is how you go about it.

1. You must make an initial purchase if possible, this creates a friendship bond, and like Abraham Lincoln will say "if you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend."

2. Try the product and praise it especially if its an edible product.

3. Tell them whats in for them for example in the case of a garri trader you can tell them, a traditional wedding is coming up, and you were given the contract to purchase like 10 bags of garri you will come and get it from them next week, then proceed to your interview questions, and round up by collecting their contact.

"If you are doing business gather data to improve the business, its a positive feed back from the market, that way you don't even send your competitors." Emmanuel Egbroko

05/12/2019

MBA 101 from the street of Lagos: killing the rat with a trap

In this write-up, I try to portray the message of how understanding your customers journey can help you get the desired results in your business using an analogy from an engagement with a trader on the street of Lagos.

So I approached a rat gum trap seller and asked him how much was his product and if it works?

He started by saying " no worry yourself this one no need poison or food, no odour self as he go catch the rat alive," but you go first know where the rat they follow enter and commot house, na #200 presents product to me.

Take home points.

I buttress, this guy didn't go to a business school, but he just sold the features and benefits of his product under a minute. After explaining what I need to do for the product to work he closed the deal.

A point imperative here which I will throw more emphasis on is the part of understanding the rat route to get results. I compare this to understanding your customers journey, how are your customers schedules? is it that they leave their houses by 5:00 AM and return by 9:00 PM Monday to Friday, and you run a Laundry business that opens by 8:00 AM and you are complaining of poor sales, you are most likely missing your customers. How is your customers journey? Which social media do they use more often?

My take home point from this street trader was understand your customers journey to get results.

MBA from the street of Lagos, Baba no worry yourself! Eko oni baje