Navigating The Path to Business Growth: Innovate or Die

Innovation is a key component of a business. For a business to grow appropriately, the key decision markers and business managers have to think innovatively and creatively. The benefits of innovation on business are already well-documented, so there isn’t really any need to go over it again. In any case, you can read about them here.

How exactly can you think innovatively? Here are a few tips:

  • Clear your head: This should be the first thing you do. Make sure you are relaxed and do not feel pressured. The best ideas are formed in a relaxed and calm atmosphere. If you find it hard to stay calm or keep a clear head, you can complete some relaxing activities like taking a walk while listening to calming music, preferably classical. It works for me and should work for you too.
  • Ask questions: ‘Curiosity kills the cat’ a common phrase. But this does not work when it comes to business. Prime your mind to observe, inquires, question and understand concepts around. Remove any constraints that might inhibit your inquisitive nature. Challenge old ways of doing things and try to imagine new ways that they can be done.

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  • Increase your exposure: Make sure to put yourself in a position where you will be able to observe a wide variety of things. Never assume that any knowledge is useless. Note that ideas are usually birthed from other ideas. Henry Ford got his idea of the assembly line technique of mass production from observing a meatpacking plant. The more exposure you have, the more likely you’re going to pick up ideas for your ideas.
  • Be imaginative: You should be creative. Don’t squash that random idea that comes to you prematurely. Allow your imagination run wild. Think of ways things can be done differently. You can follow some tips to boost your creativity.
  • Exceed boundaries: Don’t feel caged or forced to follow the status quo. Be ready to think outside the box. Learn to deal with and learn from past failures; be ready to take risks to find out what works and what does not.
  • Welcome feedback: Ask for people’s opinions and ideas and gather these to come up with a better idea for your venture. Also, feedback is important to know if a current idea you implemented would be a hit. Never disregard this.
  • Run brainstorming sessions: This can be done individually or in a group, although it is usually more effective when done in a group. This would involve coming up with a large number of new product ideas. Make sure to have people from diverse backgrounds if you plan to have a group brainstorming session. You will be better served if you include a provocative outsider, like a consumer or supplier.

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  • Adapt old solutions for new problems: You could do this by applying an existing product to a new need available. You could look for new uses of your product. For instance, De Beers produced industrial diamonds but found a new use for diamonds when they introduced the concept of engagement rings. It opened up a large new market for them.
  • Watch your competition: This does not mean to blindly follow whatever innovation they come up with. Instead, observe them intelligently. See if there are any of their ideas you can refine and adapt and even possibly license as your own. You can also acquire smaller profitable businesses if possible!
  • Look outside: You can outsource your new project development to external companies to work on this. Company like Edumark Consult can help us engage actively within the education community.  If that seems like a risk for you, you can ask individuals to come up with novel ideas for innovation. Countless big companies have been known to do this successfully.
  • Go back in time: Look back at older business models and products. Try to ascertain which of these models can work for the present market. Be sure to refine it, however, to fit into the current market trends.

The tips above are in no way exhaustive of all the tips that can be used to improve innovative thinking. Also, not all of them might apply to your business model. Whatever the case, use the tips as a guide to building your business even further through innovation.

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Feb 08

4 Core Principles of Customer Relations That Fuel Business Growth

Companies in all industries and all of sizes understand that customers are perhaps their most valuable asset. Improving the overall customer experience is vital for continued success and survival of their business.

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Customer relation is a way business relates to its customers, clients and patrons. Some business organizations hire people specifically to manage how the company interacts and communicates with people. The goal is to retain existing customers and to gain new ones by providing the best customer relations and clients’ services.

There are some core principles to relationship management that any company can and should follow:

Communication: Listening is just as important as telling. Think about how often you actually speak with your customers. Focus on less financial-driven communication (whether it’s E-mail, phone or face-to-face interaction) if you make your customers feel involved, they feel as though they actually have a stake in your company, and feel like you care about more than just trying to make sales.

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Rewards: Every company should initiate and make provision for reward programs. It is a very simple form of saying “Thank you” and particularly it is a viable and measurable marketing tool that big companies and small businesses can use to retain their customers and grow their business.

Be flexible: Be quick and attentive to customer’s complaints: The objective of customer relation is typically to interact with the customers in order to answer questions, resolve support issues, establish credibility and nurture relationships.

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Here are strategies that Improve Customers Relations and building customer’s loyalty, from simply opening up communications channels to implementing elaborate point systems that reward loyalty enhanced customer communications.

Be prepared to meet and interact with lot of customers at TOSSE 2019.

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  • Providing customer feedback forms
  • Asking about customer needs in general when customer calls with problems
  • Training call-center staff to handle disputes
  • Encouraging a service culture throughout the organization.
Mar 13

Edumark Unveils Exciting Plans for TOSSE 2020

Edumark, popularly known as the “education company”, has made known its plans for the 12th edition of TOSSE (Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition). The educational exhibition has been a haven for educational bodies, institutions, educational influencers, teachers as well as students to connect, share ideas, and learn from each other new innovative strategies and techniques that can bolster educational productivity in their schools.

The announcement was made by Mr. Ibrahim Oguntoyinbo who emphasized that TOSSE has been the go-to event for school owners, businesses and influencers in the educational sector to converse, share and sell ideas that would improve the quality of education in Nigeria as well as enlighten and train the teaching workforce about the dynamism of education and why they need to be abreast of new educational changes and how to adapt to it.

He stated that the TOSSE 2020 theme which is “Think, Innovate, Impact” is targeted at revamping the educational sector to promote explosive creativity and innovation at all educational levels, seeing that innovation is the spark that lends credence to productive learning. Having achieved so much in previous years through quality Teachers Training Seminars and effective branding and marketing for productivity in school business, TOSSE is set to hit for higher milestones through its insightful seminars and discussions, some of which Mr. Ibrahim Oguntoyinbo highlighted being:

  • Leading for Progress, Profit and Purpose
  • 10 Principles for Principals
  • Becoming a Winning Leader in a Difficult School
  • Beyond Academics: Teaching for Social Progress.

Edumark’s TOSSE has, in previous years, raked in over 7000 guests and is set to witness an explosive attendance of 10,000 guests and above from every part of the world. The event also promises an array of insightful activities and experiences where educators and guests can meet, chat and do business with over 120 companies from diverse countries. Educators and students can also brush up their skills and learn through several Masterclass sessions, free seminars, and IT classes.

TOSSE 2020 promises the very best of educational exhibitions, as several well-respected companies would be present at the event. Some of these are:

DLA Toys

DLA Toys offers parents, schools and the general public the opportunity to create the dream playground for their kids, in a secured and safe environment as well as various types of playground equipment, toys, modern, classroom, and decorations and facilities.   
Evans Publishers

Evans Brothers Nigeria Publishers Limited has continued to thrive in the development of high quality educational and curriculum-based books, as well as leisure books, all of which would be readily available for school owners to browse through to update their school’s catalogue of books.

Zeco Schoolwears

Zeco Schoolwears is one of the leading clothing companies focused on providing top quality school uniforms, school accessories for top schools all over the world. Zeco School wears have also featured consistently in previous TOSSE events, providing school owners with top quality school accessories.

Several other companies such as Nocett Academic Services, Safe School and Nexcel Group would be in attendance at the event with an aim to providing quality educational services and offers to educational institutions present at the event.

The event which is set to run for a week, starting from June 1st to 5th, would be held at Ten Degrees Events Centre, Billingsway, Oregun, Lagos, and would be the first of its kind as it would be a week-long experience to learn, meet international educators like Prof. Kirsti Lonka (Author of Phenomenal Learning from Finland) who would be lecturing on leadership for teachers. The TOSSE Event 2020 is where teachers, educators as well as education-focused businesses should be to learn, do business and improve the educational sector of Nigeria.

For Inquiries and Registration, contact the TOSSE team via the following channels:

Website: www.tosse.com.ng or www.edumarkng.com

Email: info.tosse2017@gmail.com,  info@tosse.com.ng

Phone Numbers: 0708 480 8659 and 0701 120 2454.

Seminar ticket can be obtained at Eventbrite

Jan 14

Tips for Boosting Business Productivity in 2020

 

The year 2019 has ended, with it, a decade. Putting the year 2019 under review, there are couple of lessons to be learned when it comes to handling businesses. Below are highlights for boosting your business productivity in 2020.

Some ideas might seem basic at the surface and business owners may tend to ignore them, but these “little things” should not be taken for granted. This brings us to the first tip of having a productive business in 2020.

Know Your Customer

Know your consumer needs and develop products that help satisfy those needs. The all essence of creating a business is to provide solutions to solve other people’s problems.

One big pitfall most businesses have run into is getting comfortable with a routine, forgetting that the tastes of the consumer are ever-changing despite its originally eclectic nature. Business owners should always find a way to tweak already existing products to meet these changing demands. Ever wondered the need for Coke Zero when the normal Coca-Cola was selling by the truckloads?

Identifying consumer needs is not as difficult as it might sound. It takes engaging your consumers in discussions. Encourage them to give feedback on the products. As much as it depends on you, keep your services as personalised as possible. Always acknowledge these comments; it just might encourage them to send another.

Boost and Nurture Customer Relations

Most businesses, if not all, want new customers. But what is a new customer if you lose two of your old ones! Old customers are usually the source of new ones, directly or indirectly. So nurture those old clients.

You can do this by staying in contact with them via different means. Newsletters, emails, text messages – these are just a couple of ways to do this. Try to always make these means of correspondence personalised.

Grow Your Network

Invest time in building your networks. Who you know is more important than what you know. Therefore try to get to meet more people. Attend networking events and do not be hesitant to put your business out there.

Possible benefits of networking include the possibility of customer referrals by word of mouth; it is a form of marketing. Another benefit is that you could get positive ideas on how to further grow your business. If possible, have discussions with your fellow competitors. It almost always pays.

Utilize Social Media

Social media is a powerful tool for businesses. It provides an easy platform to conduct market research, get consumer feedback and even promote and advertise your business. The best part is that it is relatively easier and cheaper to run when compared to other traditional methods, and it undoubtedly yields better results.

As common as social media is, some businesses have overlooked this goldmine. It so happens that some don’t have a social media presence while some others have not gone through the process of growing their brand’s visibility on the network. What this means is that those ventures miss out on prospective clients that are teeming on social media, feeding off scraps. Hence, try to boost your visibility on social media. Take advantage of Brand Influencers, create sponsored ads, grow your following by posting relevant and fun posts, and so on. Your clients are on the timeline.