By Francis Akinnodi

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Despite the damage done to businesses which also affected their mode of operations in Nigeria, experts have stated, that creating value and building relationships with customers will continue to be factors that would drive business growth.
A business expect, Mr. Oluwadunsin Titilayo pointed out that a business must also have systems and a strong brand image to maintain long-term growth.
“Building systems help businesses achieve their goals. A business system is a combination of policies, personnel, equipment and computer facilities to co-ordinate the activities of a business organisation.”
He explained that businesses must learn to see challenges as opportunities and treat success and failure as the same.
He noted that customer intimacy was important to ensure business survival.
“Customer Intimacy refers to the art of getting to know the Customer’s business and problems better, and being able to provide solutions that alleviate the customer’s problems rather than just sell one’s product or service to the customer.”
According to Titilayo, “Building customer intimacy can be achieved by increasing customer touch points. This can be through customer service, direct mails, emails, apps, packaging and mobile messaging.”
He further explained that service excellence was a key competitive strategy for business success; Businesses must learn to deliver their services better than any other person can do it.
He also noted that running a successful business goes beyond the benefits and financial gains, as such passion comes in as a driving force most especially when things are not going as planned.
He said technology and innovation were important in building a successful business, noting that the system as well as consumer’s preference changes regularly.
“Innovation is key to business growth as consumer’s preference changes regularly, you have to be informed about new trends and discover diverse ways to address the needs in your market.
“There will always be trouble starting a business but the fundamentals of running the business successfully is when you can be consistent, innovative and determined. You will also be required to take a lot of proactive action and adapt to a lot of things,” he said.
He advised entrepreneurs to break new grounds and explore untapped markets as long as it addresses a need.