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When Being Aggressive Pays

January 28, 2018

Let’s talk about aggressiveness in life. But first, a little background.

Last week I vented my frustrations right here after I tried looking for some information regarding a MacBook Pro on behalf of a friend. I called a certain certified Apple Dealer here in Dar Es Salaam but got some really pathetic customer service if I may call it that. I was so disappointed that I wrote about it here.

Then something amazing happened....Another Apple Dealer who is also located right here in Dar Es Salaam got to read my article the very next day and on the same day he read it, he wrote to me offering to assist me in getting whatever I needed. I was so impressed by this action, hence this article today.

The fact that this gentleman from Elite Computers saw an opportunity as soon as he read my article is what jazzed me. He didn’t care to know whether or not I had found a solution, but his first thought as soon as he read my frustrations was to see how he could turn the situation to his own advantage, which is very impressive.

Every good sales person or customer care person knows that giving customers “a magical experience” in a world full of competition and alternative solutions is one way of ensuring you have loyal customers, which translates to increase in revenue. But how does revenue increase, you might ask? I’ll tell you.

When you have a loyal customer, besides buying your products, in most cases they also become your external sales ambassadors. This means that the next time they hear of a friend or a family member who needs any of the services or products you offer, they will quickly recommend your company to that person. But the reverse is also true.

If the customer stops being loyal to your company and its products for whatever reason e.g. poor quality of products, poor customer service or poor quality of products, etc, that customer becomes a very negative mouthpiece against your company. Any time a friend or family member mentions that they will be going to take services or products from that company, rest assured they will give them thousands of reasons why they shouldn’t buy your products/services.

Something else I also deduced from the way Elite handled my issue is the “Power of NOW”. When you want to do something, as soon as you get the idea in your mind start working on it quickly before you talk yourself out of it. Promptness is a vital ingredient if you ever want to be successful in life. Remember the saying “Opportunity waits for no one”. If you see an opportunity and decide you’ll take it tomorrow, chances are likely that someone else will grab that opportunity and work on it before you do. So before you put off what you’ve been wanting to do, consider the possibility of losing that opportunity to someone else.

Then there is the willingness to take risks. If you do not make the decision to risk looking foolish, or risk looking like an opportunist because of looking for an opportunity where someone else failed, then you will be missing lots of opportunities. Muhammad Ali said this about risks, He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.Whatever it is you’ve been thinking of doing but you are afraid of doing it maybe because you think you will, fail, or people will misunderstand you because of the nature of that business, just go ahead and do it.

This reminds me of the company that first came up with funeral service solutions in Kenya.

When the business started, their first products were coffins. They had coffins for every class of people. Those days death was considered some kind of taboo and anything associated with death such as coffins and graveyards was always discussed in undertones. Not sure whether people feared the dead people would hear them and come for them or what exactly it was they feared. Anyway, the business progressed from just providing coffins to providing hearse services. Whenever a hearse would pass on the streets, you would hear people asking questions such as, “why would this person get into the business of making coffins and transporting bodies? Why would anyone do something like that? The owner must be from the dark world.” Because nobody was venturing into that business, the owner quickly became successful to the point she actually opened a funeral home where she would give her customers a one stop shop solution. She even had a very catch tagline to go with her business name.

Suddenly people realized she was making loads of money when she went from not only having hearses but also buses to transport mourners in large groups. Today, there are so many other people doing the same business in Kenya, that nobody talks about it being an unusual business. I don’t mean to be insensitive but with the number of deaths happening in the recent years, business must be booming for all these businesses.

What is the moral of this story? Stop talking yourself out of great business ideas and do what this lady did.  If she hadn’t taken that step, she would definitely not be where she is today. By the way, any time your thoughts take a wrong turn towards negativity, find a way of bringing them back to the positive lane because your thoughts create your world. Change your thoughts and your world will change.

The initiator of this business line in Kenya took a major risk when she first started. She took the risk of being hated and segregated because of the nature of her business, she took the risk of being misunderstood by people; in fact I remember at some point she was being labeled a devil worshipper. She went through all that but in the end, she proved that it was a business like any other. If anything, she didn’t even need to do any kind of aggressive advertising; her business just advertised itself.

Coming back to my story, when Elite Computers sent me that email offering to help me with my need, that showed a high level of aggressiveness. They not only saw an opportunity and took the risk to get in touch with me, but they also applied aggressiveness. If the article had carried my number I am sure they would have called and followed up the call with an email, but because the only available contacts was social media or email, they choose to send an email, which I received.

In the world we are living in today, only the aggressive will make it in business. Only those who see opportunities and grab them before they hit the ground will make it to the top. Aggressiveness is no longer an option in business today; it is a requirement. Gone are the days when people used to wait for customers to walk in or to call to enquire about products and services. Today’s customer needs more than that; they need extra care because if you don’t treat them well, they will just walk down the street and buy whatever they needed. Better still, they could just perch on their toilet seat and via their phones or tablets order whatever they want online, while they are offloading last night’s dinner from their bodies.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan said this about aggressiveness, The great corporations of this country were not founded by ordinary people. They were founded by people with extraordinary intelligence, ambition, and aggressiveness.”  Indeed we will not meet our targets or make any profits if we do not increase our levels of aggressiveness in our areas of operation businesswise. The days of business as usual are gone; it’s now time for business unusual.

Remember, business is not done with trees or animals; it is done with human beings. This means you need to understand your customers and anticipate their needs first and fast. You need to deliver and surpass their expectations all the time if you are ever going to keep them hooked to you and your products. You need to create relationships with your friends that will ensure you have a steady flow of business, despite the fact that competition is increasing on a daily basis.

That is why this week in the #52BooksIn52Weeks2018 Book Reading Challenge I am recommending the book, “How To Win Friends And Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. This is a book that will help you understand how you can touch the hearts of people every time you talk to them, and win them over to your way of thinking. I call it a cheat-sheet for endearing people towards you.

If you haven’t joined the #52BooksIn52Weeks2018 group on Facebook and would like to, send me an email using the email below and I will send you the link. Remember, no one reads and remains the same.

 

Be Ignited. Be Inspired. Be Influenced. Become the best version of yourself you can ever be.

 

PS: This article was originally published in Tanzania's Guardian On Sunday on the 28th of January, 2018, under my weekly column "Thoughts in Words".

 
 

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im passion to read motivational book in order to change the way i think

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