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Is Your Small Business Facing any of These Top 8 Challenges? We’ve Got Solutions!
Nigeria is a country with a booming entrepreneurial spirit, also called the spirit of hustling. Everywhere you turn, whether it’s on your street or online on social media, you find new businesses popping up. And people are selling everything!
However, like every other country, small businesses in Nigeria face various challenges that can hinder their success. So today, we’ll discuss the top 8 challenges faced by small businesses in Nigeria and how to overcome them, if you’re running a small business.
1. Nigeria
This might seem like a funny thing to read, but it’s actually true. From power outages to bad road networks, Nigeria itself is a significant challenge to the growth of small businesses.
Solution:
With systems that set blocks everywhere you turn, innovation is your best friend. Seek out tools and resources that will help you in growing your business without having to deal with the everyday headaches of the country. A great example of this is setting up your business online.
Pro tip: Bumpa is the all-in-one tool you’ll need to set up a business website and start selling online. Sign up now to get started!
Related: Discover 10 Things Bumpa can Do for your Business in 1 Minute!
2. Getting customers
Another huge headache businesses have is expanding their reach. Most businesses typically start with having their friends and family as customers, but sometimes find it hard to expand beyond that small circle to reach other potential customers out there. But do not despair if you’re a small business owner, because this problem isn’t just unique to you. If you pay attention closely, you’ll see that even big businesses are also ‘hustling’ for customers. The slight difference is that they may have a bigger marketing budget than you, so how do you bridge that gap?
Solution:
The first thing you need to do is figure out who your audience is. Take time out to craft out who the perfect customer for you is, because when you do that, you can then find the perfect methods to reach them directly. For example, if you’re creating content, you can create the exact type of content that will attract the customer you’re looking for, if you know who they are. And not just that, you can target them directly through paid ads but in this case, instead of trying to target everyone and spending huge sums of money, you will be targeting the right people and converting them without spending so much of your marketing budget on running ads.
Related: 10 Ways to Get More Customers and Increase your Sales
3. Market Saturation
Ah, yes. This one is very relatable to every Nigerian business owner. It’s almost impossible to find a market that is not competitive. Think shoes, bags, clothes, jewelry. The next 10 accounts you see as you scroll through Instagram or Twitter is selling them. Infact, think okrika. This was a market that wasn’t very prevalent in the online market space years ago, as everyone used to go directly to the market to buy them. But everywhere you turn now, there’s a thrift store selling okrika wears. But that does not mean that you won’t sell your own items; you just need to do it better.
Solution:
To overcome this challenge, you can do more than just offer unique products or services. You can create and execute innovative marketing strategies that can differentiate your business from the pack and makes you stand out.
Related: 10 Simple Hacks for Marketing your Business in 2023
4. Keeping your Customers Happy
“Getting a good review is great, but NOT getting a bad review is even more important.” - Petra
I’ve often heard business owners complain about how customers can be tough, and while this is understandable, it is more important that tough customers do not become dissatisfied, upset or even angry customers. Such customers can decide to let the whole world know how upset they are with your business, and that becomes a negative stain on your brand. And you should also remember that it is happy customers who come back.
Solution:
Customer service is a major part of driving and increasing business growth, so you should take it very seriously. Set clear processes on how to deal with customers, and always make sure that your customer does not feel like you’re not doing your absolute best to help them. Even if their issue cannot be resolved, they should leave feeling that there was nothing you didn’t try. Also, remember to always get feedback from your customers, and implement the great ideas. It will help your business’ processes a lot.
Related: 10 Easy Tips on Improving Customer Service for your Business
5. Access to Capital
Quite simply put, the country is hard. Inflation is at an all-time high, and sourcing for items is getting more and more expensive. This makes funding or running a business very difficult, especially if you’re funding it with your own money. For some businesses, it takes a while to start making profit, and to stay afloat before that happens can prove to be a tough challenge.
Solution:
To overcome this issue, you can consider alternative financing options like loan applications or grant applications. There are a lot of grants you can benefit from like the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) grant, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) grant, African Women Development Fund (AWDF) and more. It’s important to have all your business documents ready so that you can apply for these grants when they kick off.
Related: How to Register your Business Name in Nigeria
6. Managing your Processes
Sometimes, running a small business means you as the business owner have to do every single thing yourself. You have to make posts on social media, respond to customers, process orders, source for products and even have a life while at it! All of these can get overwhelming and when that happens, some aspects of your business can start to suffer.
Solution:
Technology is the answer! The beautiful thing about 2023 is that there are so many apps you can use to make your process run in the background, while you go off into the beautiful sunset for a date or just a fun night with your friends. Learn how to use these apps and save yourself some stress, while not dropping the quality of your business.
Related: 5 Best Apps for Managing your Small Business Online with Ease
7. Lack of Trust
This one is funny because even I have been burned by a business before! So don’t take it to heart when a new customer is a bit skeptical about your business; they might have had a bad experience somewhere else before. Infact, see it as an opportunity to correct the impression such a customer has about small businesses, and turn them into a loyal customer by treating them right!
Another point to note here is that you might not be getting customers because they cannot see any proof that your business is legit, especially if it a business is new or small.
Solution:
This one is an easy one! You can leverage social proof by sharing customer feedback, reviews case studies, and any other demonstration of expertise or experience that inspires confidence in the business. Some customers go hunting for reviews even before they send that DM, so make sure that they can find them easily. Pin a thread of reviews from your customers on Twitter, and create highlights on Instagram as well. This helps you keep all your reviews in one place, and boosts confidence in customers as they get to see a lot of reviews at once!
8. Saving Customer Data
Here’s an interesting fact; most businesses especially on social media, have no way to reach out to customers who have shopped with them before. They just keep hoping they come back. But other businesses are taking it a step further by keeping in touch with these customers, offering them personalised discounts and more. But how do you do that, when you don’t even have your customer’s details?
Another challenge is saving them. No one wants to sit down and fill an excel sheet every time a customer places an order; that’s creating more work. And lastly, have you thought about what happens if you lose your social media account and can no longer reach these customers and audience that you have carefully and diligently grown over the years?
Solution:
There’s one perfect solution for all these issues and that’s Bumpa. You can record customer information like their name, phone number, shipping address, billing address and even notes on things like their preferences and more, on the Bumpa app. And you’ll never have to lose it, or sit with an excel document again! And with their details, you can take it a step further by sending them emails and SMS about products, new offers and sales you may be running, right from your Bumpa app! This broadens the marketing opportunities for your business.
Conclusion
And that’s it! There is nothing that doesn’t come without challenges, and that includes running a business. The good thing is that each challenge has a solution! So do not fret if you’re having any of these issues; these solutions will go a long way in getting rid of them for you!
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