BUSINESS ZONE

Your favourite newspaper, Informative, is going the extra mile to identify what exactly is happening for you, through you, with you as a working person!

Current highlight of the Business Zone - Starting your own business

Lesotho is currently facing a lot of retrenchment in the corporate sector. What is surprising is the fact that most of the retrenched persons are young and qualified. Also Lesotho higher educational institutions are produce graduates at very large numbers who face high unemployment thus deteriorating the economy of our country. Every human being has special needs and that includes money to survive and sustain daily needs. This topic is aimed to help you find, recognize and develop a profitable and practical business idea and to show you how to get started.

First of all you have to search for profitable business ideas but before you begin there are a number of things you ought to know. You also need to make sure that you understand some of the fundamentals about running successful business.

Know your customers

Identify your customer's needs and wants. If you decide to run a car wash, make your customers need your service while on the other hand they also want to be at your area enjoying themselves. If you operate an internet café, it is obvious that a lot of people will come to your café because they need to surf the net but the question is do they want to spend cash on your services?

Find a market niche

A market niche is a gap in the market that you exploit. Find a particular product or service that you can sell which is large enough to be profitable. Minimize the problems by turning them into opportunities. For example, Informative newspaper has been created because we knew that there were many people out there who couldn't get a special paper about businesses and corporate life in Lesotho . “Think of people's needs and aspirations. Keep alert opportunities and provide special things for special people in order to secure your own market niche”

Competition

“The greater the competition, the more the demand there is for that type of product or service”. Try to find a product or service in the market where it is obvious there is enough for you to do very well. Competition keeps you on your toes thus making sure that you develop the best service you can. Learn a lot from your competitors and their techniques. Find out how many similar businesses there are in the industry. What their strengths and weaknesses are. Inquire on the number of staff employed and why that particular quantity. What do customers think of the business, the product price (is it high, average, low?). Lastly you should research on how you can beat your competitor's service and product. “Remember in business, it's a matter of survival of the fittest.”

Go for quality

Research suggests that businesses which offer quality are businesses that succeed. “Quality makes all the difference” Quality is critical because there are many similar products and services on the market that the only differentiator is quality. Quality relates to back up, cleanliness, tidiness, professionalism, error-free work, style of letter head, quality of presentation, administration details, uniqueness in business cards and mostly staff behavior in the outside world. In simple terms, you should take pride in your work by being a perfectionist.

You must do a research

Try to find as much factual information as possible. The more information you have, the better your creative ideas will be. Research could be conducted by word of mouth, reading business journals, spying your competitors, watching TV, listening to the radios and also attending workshops. Some of the important facts to research on are:

Where your customers live; quantity of people who will buy your products; their spending rate; what exactly do they need and why; where are they currently getting the supply; what do bank managers need from you as a businessman in order to build good relationships financially.

Seek out distinctive competence

Find a business idea of something that you can provide better, faster, cheaper than anyone else. Or do something that is not easy to duplicate. You can use some equipment that others don't have or even have access to; conduct trade in special places; promote unique products. E.g. If you are a Certified Pastel Consultant you could start your own consultancy business and specialize in providing pastel accounting and payroll solutions and selling Pastel software at your preferred rate. Make an effort for people to see you as helpful, friendly, professional and knowledgeable. These are some of the qualities that make your business distinctive.

Positioning

Positioning is a communication strategy aimed at getting the customer to perceive values in your business which will lead to preference for your product / service / brand. Remember that how you position your product / service / brand makes a huge difference to sales. In business you have to keep everything in balance. “Highly successful and highly profitable.”

Promotion

Whether your business sells a service or product, people have to know about it. Some businesses are certainly easier to promote than others. You should make time for your business; think effectively about ways to entice customers and people to do big business with you; building a good reputation within your business and with your staff for the customer's sake. Involve your staff more on word of mouth advertising. Promotion takes continual effort. Make sure that your window displays are very attractive, not confusing. Make your services well known by way of pamphlets, advertising in local newspapers, free posters in the streets where permitted. “Promotion is critical to your success; if you don't promote, you don't sell.”

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