In 2012, my firm, Summit Consulting Ltd won a bid to formulate a risk management strategy for a government institution. This is our first assignment. Being the team leader, I had to research extensively as you can imagine — just looking for a process that works. My key questions were: “How and where do I start from?” As a consultant, I am expected to know more. And I had one chance to prove my competences and those of my firm, www.summitcl.com. As the firm leader, we spend thousands upon thousands of dollars finding for a system that works all the…

People don’t buy your product or service features per see. They are interested in the benefits they get when they use your products and services. Your website, brochures and presentations should error on showing the benefits of your products or services.” Mustapha B Mugisa, 2015 Following on last week’s Guerrilla insights, in this issue we explore guerrilla sales insights #2, how to package your services to your prospects. Here is the #1 sales rule of all: Never sell products – sell benefits. Never sell services, sell benefits. Never sell features, sell benefits. Never sell insurance, sell what? … benefits. Always…

Your business is 80% marketing and sales; and 20% support services”, Mustapha B Mugisa, 2015 After consulting for several startups, the #1 challenge of most small businesses is not the lack of capital. It is the lack of customers. If your business lacks customers, it will suffer from cash flow problem which is critical for survival. At the start, don’t be driven by profits. That should come as a natural expansion of business success. It does not matter how much loan (capital) you have, if you don’t have customers, your capital will still not be enough. So, focus on revenue…

For businesses to succeed, it is has to undertake aggressive marketing. Other functions are support. If you do not market, you won’t have income. You will incur costs but unable to meet them. For any firm whether in manufacturing industry, consulting services, audit or fast moving consumer goods, the core function to do is aggressive marketing as much as possible. If you don’t market, few, if any, will get to know about your services. As they say “it does not matter how beautiful a lady is, if she is in darkness, no one will notice her.” To be appreciated, she…

Guerrilla marketing is a term coined from the law of the jungle, which states that “for small trees to survive, they must climb onto big ones in order to access sunlight”, which they need to survive. As a salesperson in Uganda’s competitive environment, you are the small plant. Uganda’s business environment is the jungle. How do you survive? In order for you to cope up with the tight stiff competition, you need income, and only marketing and sales will bring revenue. You must come up with strategies that are cheap but effective. Since you are just starting out as a…