By Efa Sunday
Many entrepreneurs have failed in their businesses because they tried to please all customers at the same time said business consultant, Mr. Steve Harris at Wednesday’s meet and greet session with young entrepreneurs at Lyft Hub, a tech shop in Calabar.
Mr. Harris who is in Cross River for a show at the University of Calabar said that the ability to use the approach of a sniper by targeting a particular audience was vital in the success of any business.
“Look at the machine gun, it has so many bullets, and because of that, the person operating it can afford to shoot sporadically for a long time without any particular target in mind, and in most times they may end up not hitting even one person, but when you see a sniper, because he has (a) limited (number of) bullets in his gun, he tends to be more proactive,” Harris said.
Continuing, Harris who stressed the need for the adoption of a customer focused approach, explained that the sniper is, “very careful before he shoots. He makes sure that his target is within the range of his bullet and sight and when he releases the trigger, he is sure of hitting his target; also in business that is how it is supposed to be.
“Make conscious and deliberate effort to reach only a targeted audience, don’t try to produce goods or services for everybody. If you do that, you may end up not having anybody buying your product.”
Fielding a question on the best approach to handle failure despite all efforts to avert it, Harris posited that failure in itself is an experience needed to move forward when doing business and described it as a feedback mechanism.
His words:”Not what happens to you that matters but how you respond to the happening. As an entrepreneur, don’t take failure personal. Failure in itself is a form of feedback. If you fail, you then need to go back to the drawing board and check what happened that you failed and then try to do it better next time,” said Harris who shared a personal experience how he organised an event with the topic, “how to sell your events” with no one showing up but had to forge ahead to build his brand.
Furthermore, he advised entrepreneurs to, “set a low bar for themselves” in order not to take failure personal.
On his part, the founder of Lyfthub, Mr. Joseph Okorn commended the speakers for finding time to talk to young entrepreneurs without a fee.