By Jeff KumekuchaI have received a lot of positive feedback from the first part of this article. It seems that I touched a raw nerve and many entrepreneurs at this moment are facing the problem of shrinking profits.
Today I conclude my article.
Actually it is easier to squeeze out more profits from a business than most people think. To illustrate this let us take a closer look at a typical restaurant business (a great favourite for many Kenyans).
The typical experience is that this waiter comes up to you and takes your order in a hurry. They are usually harassed and want to move on to the next client. From the moment they stand in front of you, you feel under preassure to give your order as quickly as possible so that you can release them to rush off to the next customer. It is like they are doing you a favour serving you. I know many restaurants that do this and still seem to be doing well. I can see the thinking behind hiring the minimum number of waiters. It is to cut down on costs.
Now come with me for a minute and let’s take a completely different path. The waiter approaches you with a smile as you peruse the menu and greets you warmly.
II have never seen you here before. Is this your first time to honour us with your visit?” he asks.
And then he goes on to suggest that you have a drink as you decide on what you are going to eat. You agree. When he gets back he offers his help by asking you a few questions like how hungry you are (so that he knows what portions to give). Are you on a diet? (so that he can recommend dishes more knowledgeably).
After you finish every course he suggests something else. Even after you have finished your meal and want to leave. The weather is extremely hot outside and you have had some chicken curry or something. The waiter intelligently suggests that you try their special ice-cream to cool off and make the hot weather more bearable before you leave.
This attention to detail and friendly talk is NOT wasting time. The end result is that each customer served ends up spending more than they had planned. Admittedly not every customer will take the recommendations given but say out of every 50 customers served in a day by a single waiter, at least 25 will end up spending 50% more than they had planned and maybe 5% will spend three times what they had originally intended to spend. Done properly you will find that hiring more well trained waiters will not only increase your costs but will increase profits many times over.
Translate the example I have just given into figures and you will begin to see that too many restaurants in this country never reach anywhere near their full potential for earnings.
Now the example I have given in a restaurant can be applied to any business. The person taking the order just needs to prepare themselves and think on their feet. For instance a customer at a stationary shop who buys a ream of photocopying paper may also be interested in toners for their laser printer or photocopier. Especially if you can offer it at a discount.
If you are selling something that people need to replace periodically you can estimate how long it takes them before they require new supplies. You can even ask them directly. By simply contacting them at the right time and making useful suggestions, you can win a lot of business that would have otherwise gone to your competitors.
Much more profits can be squeezed out of any business while giving your customers better service. And you do not have to raise prices which is what everybody rushes to do first.
Read about many more specific examples from the Kenyan market and beyond that will help you find hidden profits in your business that you never thought existed. It does not matter what kind of business you are in, whether it is a website or small stall in the market or a high tech computer company, these ideas will impact on your profits and bottom line. Get my regular Free Hidden Profits report NOW
Read Part 1 of this article
Mwanetu, hapo umeneno vilivyo. I will get back to it once I am done with the current bumpy train ride.
ReplyDeleteSummer is here and that's why there maybe too many people aboard for a normal Tuesday afternoon.
Oh, how I wish we had the same mode of quality transportation around our so called major cities of Kenya.
For instance, from Athi River to the city, Ngong Hills to the city, Thika to the city, Utheru to the city, JKIA to the city, Kasarani to the city, Dagoretti (DGT) to the city, Kiambu to the city, Dandora (DDR) to the city, Kangemi (KGM) to the city, Makongeni (MKG) to the city, Kayole (KYL) to the city, Mathare (MTR) to the city, Westlands (WLD) to the city, Gigiri (GGR) to the city, and many other heavily travelled routes around the "Greater Nairobi Metropolitan area".
I am sure it will some how happen in some distance future when Nairobi gets some proper leadership and a visionary parliament.
Summer in Kenya?The diasporian has spoken...mmmmh!
ReplyDeleteIts currently raining too heavily over here my friend, and as usual the cold that comes with the rain has driven kenyans indoors hiding in big blankets and drinking hot beverages to chase away our local version of "winter"
Come back to Kenya my friend, as much as i know you enjoy America,there's no place like home. and by the way how is the republican GOP presidential candidacy options looking for next year?
Am not in the US my friend but in china getting some free phones to come sell in nrb.
ReplyDeleteSummer is in more countries than just the US.
what the hell happened to KUMEKUCHA..man u guys were doing well...honestly u have REGRESSED...just shut down or something...what happened to kina Taabu and the others..this is EMBARRASSING!u ought to be talkin bout paying taxes-high costs and stuff...DAMN
ReplyDeleteYAWWWWWWWWWWN!
Anon10:36AM
ReplyDeleteWhy would you ignore all the other trillions of great websites and more interesting online content on this great world wide internet and come to KK just to tell them to shut down the blog?
Is your head working properly or are you like our dumb and ignorant MPs who want to be cheered and applauded for paying their taxes as if they are doing Kenyans a favour?
If u are talking about Summer you should go to Turkey. That place is sweltering with heat at the moment. I am talking 40 degrees c and it's only June, by the time August comes only God knows how hot it will be. Greece is even worse.
ReplyDeleteWe should be ever so grateful in Kenya especially Nairobi we don't get that kind of heat.
Shock on "Boss" Harun Mwau!
ReplyDeleteHe did not realize that the case built against him by the USA internation drug and narcotics investigators has been taking place over a good number of years. Real investigations such as the one's done by his new "nemesis" America is the type that he would never have experienced here in Kenya
The same Mwau who is now caught flat footed in the glare of the spotlight is the very same Mwau who in Kenya has been enjoying the game of musical chairs between our local police force and the ministry of internal security and provincial administration.
Wonder what "evidence" the Americans can "manufacture" against the likes of Kabogo and Joho and Sonko and the mysterious mistress of a high ranking government official? interesting times are here indeed
Look at these two set of leaders.
ReplyDeleteSet 1: Muthama and Peter Kenneth.
Set 2: Raila and Mutava Musyimi.
Set 1 leaders wrote to KRA telling them to collect the taxes from their salaries like 3 years ago. They have been silently paying taxes while all the other MP's, President, VP, PM, judges and other constitutional office holders including that KACC head have been collecting almost all tax free perks.
Set 2 leaders: These gave in to pressure of Kenyans led by that KRA hero. But they collect the whole media empire, parade them in KRA halls to take photos and video of them doing what millions of Kenyans do silently and diligently every month.
Which set of leaders do Kenyans want to lead them next year?
The choise is yours folks.
Anon 3:44 PM
ReplyDeleteThe man in question has never been the Boss or the Consigliere nor the Underboss, but he seems to be one of the "powerful caporegime" in Eastern Africa.
His not so golden goose is now cooked, it's "medium well" and it has already been served on the DEA's, Interpol's, Europol's and FBI's menus.
The "Macno Inya" days are numbered, and it's no longer a question of where, why, or who, but it's now an issue of what's the "Boss" going to do when they come for him one of these days?
On the one hand, the DEA has so much fire power that when it's agents strike back due to drug enforcement related reasons, they never leave any comical calling card similar to the bb gun pellets that ricocheted off as wellas inside the vehicle belonging to "Macho Inya".
On the other, the professional "Blackhand" or "Crotalinae" sent by the cartels (be they friend or foe) never leave an assigned location without having crested their heavy service mark on the intended package (target) as a future warning to would be undisciplined "caporegime".
Forty Days are what awaits him in due time.
To many restaurants in our dear country never reach anywhere near their full potential for earnings.
ReplyDeleteRestaurant business is never really bad. Some people are just bad at being in restaurant business.
A restaurateur's time, energy, and money always go to what is important to him or her, the eatery.
If a restaurateur is not putting his time, energy, and money into the eatery, then it shows he doesn't give a damn about it.
Truth be told, many restaurateurs in Kenya have always manage or run their eateries by remote control or with a hands-off-attitude. They never like having their golden hands dirty or in the "mix of things."
Some restaurateurs have been known to dash into their so called "enterprises" toward end of the business day, then head straight for the cash register and grab whatever cash is available, or count it meticulously and pocket it all without ever reconciling the eatery's ledger or bothering to check with the other sections of the eatery, clients, real issues of the day or employees, especially the cook and the front desk person.
In some cases there is a constant blurred line between financial capital (fuel) used to maintain a business and personal finances. Dipping into the till is their perpetual modus operandi.
So what could possibly be more important to the many restaurateurs than living up to their full potential?
To live as prosperously as they can in a country like Kenya where folks still love their mosaics of a cusine?
To be financially healthy as they can? To be successful restaurateurs and branch out to other city venues?
Long story short, "Why does a dog lick himself?" Answer: "Because he can." Why do restaurateurs do what they do? Because they can.
For the most part, restaurateurs will get away with whatever they can if there are no financial consequences.
... "Boss" Harun Mwau!
ReplyDeleteHe did not realize that the case built against him by the USA internation drug and narcotics investigators has been taking place over a good number of years. Real investigations such as the one's done by his new "nemesis" America is the type that he would never have experienced here in Kenya
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"The US government believes both the depot and the container belong to Mr Mwau."
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So, the U.S. BELIEVES. Ok, does whatever they believe mean it is true or proven?
They also, believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.
More so, does it mean that, if we discover dugs at Msa. Port, JKIA, in the BA, KQ airplanes, a matatu, the owner of these facilities must be the owner of the drugs?
What rubbish is this Kenyans are being fed by the Americans? Ati, thru a secure video link? It is nice to be an imperial power.
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"The Ofac boss said that the sanctions against Mr Mwau were “not criminal but civil”, insisting that it was an administrative process in dealing with the billions of dirty money in the US economy."
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So, drug running is now civil matter? We were not aware of this new invention by Nero Obama.
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“It’s not a quick or short process. We build a case slowly and carefully to ensure that it is soundly built,” he said, revealing that the US Department of Treasury had a “top-level package, many inches thick” linking the duo to drug trafficking."
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Who cares whether they took 100 years or 1 day?
It proofs NOTHING. ZERO. Where did some of these guys go to sch? Well, IVY LEAGUE of FOOLS.
Many inches, or 1 inch, what does that proof? NOTHING.
xxx
We also read that, Mwau has "longstanding reputation" of drug dealing.
Surely, surely, surely, does it mean because Kumekucha has been yapping about Mwau and drugs he must be a drug dealer?
xxx
NB: We defend not Mwau. We have no idea where he got his wealth from. And, we care not, for it is irrelevant in the scheme of things.
We only, defend the TRUTH. In other words, where is the beef in all thes accusations?
Anyway, as Bob would sing:
Back them up; oh, not the brothers,
But the ones who sets 'em up.
http://is.gd/OWktl1
Business as Usual at the IMF
ReplyDeleteAll the IMF cares about is how the banks and financial institutions get paid back what's owed to them by all means necessary.
The IMF cares less whether the Kenyan shilling continues to take a bloody nose dive or flip itself deep into Mengai Crator as long as payments are done on time regardless of whether there is enough ugali to go around the urban areas as well as countryside.
Hence, the more things change the more they will continue to remain the same for the next four decades.
In the meantime, the free market fundamentalists are still celebrating and cheering the fact that the chosen one, the preferred replacement, the who is not going to rock the boat or make any waves whatsoever, the 17th most powerful "white crested eagle" in the world has (been) patched at the IMF by virtue of entitlement and neo-patrimonialism.
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Hon. Harun Mwau, MP.
One more of those boring advocatus diaboli tirade regarding the serious allegations against one by the nature of Harun Mwau, let's give him the benefit of doubt and assume he is innocent until proven guilty by the Kenyan courts as well as the United States' attorney general.
Those concerned or alleging that he is a drug lord or somehow affiliated with the illicit drug trade, bear the burden of proof.
The burden of proof is on the son of Obama Mac'Kongelo, the United Sates' attorney general, DEA officials, their counterparts in Africa and around the world, but not on Harun Mwau who has no business to actively prove himself innocently clean.
And thus one in the nature of Harun Mwau, his high powered attorneys and inevsted handlers, have all but forgotten the fact that he has the right to silence, right against self-incrimination, and every/any evidence presented against him must fulfil the requirement of beyond reasonable doubt at the judgment day's proceedings.
Unfortunately, if it quacks like duck and walks like a duck then it must be a powdered duck and not a black swan nibbling on fish, prawns and other pickings in Lakes Nakuru, Nyanza, Turkana, Elementaita, Bogoria, Baringo and along the waters around East African coast.
Where there is smoke there is bound to be fire, (panapo moshi pana moto), it all depends on struggle between the real keepers of the flame and those seeking to extinguish in accordance with international law.
All things taken into account, the presumption of innocence confirms our faith in humankind: it reflects our belief that individuals are decent and law-abiding members of the community until proven otherwise.
Therefore let one in the nature of Harun Mwai aka "Sharpshooter Kidevu" aka "Afande Shabaa" aka "Kamada Macho Inya" aka "Afisa Crack Shot" aka "Self-made Billionaire" and above all the MP of Kilome be proven otherwise in the court of law.
Or forver hold our silence.
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Nakumatt vs. Uchumi.
BTW, love it or hate it, but the questions still lingers, how and why did Nakumatt succeed where the fossilized Uchumi had failed so miserably?
Do I smell a kanyuru? Eeeeeh! Rumour has it tah Walmart is busy salivating and drooling in the hopes of sinking a foothold into where Nakumatt has traversed.
ReplyDelete