By
Virginia Mburu
 |
| Photo courtesy Brian Cliff Daily Nation August 20, 2015 |
Imagine
this scenario as narrated by BRIAN CLIFF
in the Daily nation August 20, 2015
“ A
commotion, which at first, sounded like a rush to witness the stoning of an
unlucky pick-pocket turns out to be a scramble to board a matatu that had just
arrived.
“Is
that the Blackberry,” I ask a casually-dressed young man who seems elated at
the arrival of the minibus. He gives me a barely coherent answer as he
dashes to board it. And within just six minutes of the matatu’s arrival, all
the seats are occupied and the minus bus leaves for Nairobi on its first trip
of the evening shift. I’m lucky to have found a seat as they are often booked.”
According
to the proud Blackberry driver, “Many of our clients call
me or my conductor to book seats even before the bus arrives at the stage.”
Now,
Passionate entrepreneur, would you not wish this was your matatu?
What about turning your business into “The Blackberry, the best matatu on the Ongata Rongai route”.
Let us explore the strategies that propelled Blackberry to
the enviable, 'most popular, most liked and most-talked-about matatu plying the
Rongai Town-Nairobi CBD Route NUMBER 125 in August 2015'
CLVO 1......Right targeting....
****CLVO .... Customer Lifetime Value Optimizer
This matatu owner must have clearly identified the
niche in the matatu market to serve and therein was the basis for the business
model and all other strategies. The branding, the pricing, the marketing,
sales, employees including the route (distribution or placing) etc.- all are
based on the customer you decide to serve.
...And so it came to pass that the Blackberry owner
identified the niche- college students and young professionals. “Blackberry is
always full of 'teeniez' (Sheng for young people). I would be so uncomfortable
riding in a mat full of baby boomers,” says one of the' teeniez' passenger”.
Come to think about it... while the young
professionals take off early, the college students would be traveling
throughout the day as they go to college at different times depending on when
their lessons start and therefore for blackberry, there is no ‘on peak’ or
‘off-peak’ hours !
Over to you Passionate Entrepreneur..... Are you that
clear on the niche you are serving? And what are the benefits of that niche over the others......
CLVO 2.....Unique branding
Whereas
Blackberry is a well-known mobile technology brand, the ‘blackberry’ is a
unique name for a matatu.... and the owner completely brands the matatu with
the brand colours and themes. By the way... could they be partnership with the
real ‘blackberry’?
According to the article writer ,
“As soon as you look at the matatu, you immediately recognise a unique theme
used for its artwork, craftily airbrushed images of a Blackberry mobile phone’s
QWERTY keypad and screen icons blend well with the matatu’s predominantly black
exterior, itself a reflection of the staple colour of all Blackberry mobile
phones.”
Lesson... Brand it and make it
unique and obviously identifiable.....but watch out for trademark infringement!
CLVO 3.....An all-round
Comfortable and Enjoyable ride......
In
tandem with the needs of the target
market--- college students and young professionals , this matatu was fitted
with features to match. The writer experienced “‘trendy music played through
state-of-the-art multi-media entertainment systems, festival of lights,
speakers and screens embellishing the passenger cabin, a conspicuous 42-inch
plasma screen in the passenger cabin displays live video feed of the road ahead
through CCTV cameras mounted on the matatu’s windscreen.”
Well
that is it.......
Now
to you Passionate Entrepreneur....What is the ‘trendy music’, ‘festival of
lights’ or even a ‘live feed of road ahead’- what are the features that make your product or service a ‘must
use’?
CLVO 4....Predictable pricing ....
You
know the norm every rush hour----the fare hikes. It gets worse if it
rains! The Blackberry crew “never” hiked the fare during peak hours thus endearing them to many college students and young
professionals operating on a tight budget. But Blackberry can get away with it.... remember
they have no ‘offpeak’.
Can
you, Passionate Entrepreneur?
CLVO 5....Excellent customer
service....
The
Blackberry crew was famed for courteous and professional handling of the young target
group especially the female passengers who reckon that they have “never been
sexually harassed”- seemingly implying that harassment is the norm in ‘other
matatus’!
They
also anticipated the niche market need for information and entertainment and as
such “The driver uses controls on the dashboard to toggle between real-time,
live video feeds of the road ahead and booming music video mixes.” Furthermore though the music is predominantly
secular, it’s not overly raunchy thus acceptable by a wider clientele.
The
crew even books seats for clients! “Many
of our clients call me or my conductor to book seats even before the bus
arrives at the stage”, says the
proud Blackberry driver.
Over
to you Passionate Entrepreneur..... what can you borrow from this
crew?
Over
to you Passionate Entrepreneur;
- How
do you ensure your customers book your products or services even before you place
them on the shelves?
- What
can you learn from this Blackberry Enterprise?
Share
your experiences, suggestions or questions in the comments section below. Who
knows- We might be the ones to do advance booking of what you sell……..
Whatever
you do, make sure it results in less work, more money and positive
impact.
Update
Virginia
Mburu
The
Work Less, Make More Money Passionate Entrepreneurs Coach
Virginia
empowers and motivates Passionate Entrepreneurs to realize their purpose and
pursue it. She then assists the entrepreneurs to clarify, prioritise and focus
on management and marketing strategies and action plans that will get them to
work less, make more money and positively impact within one year.
Download some of her gifts- absolutely free lessons on www.biasharacoach.com
