Ridiculous sale strategies:
They say its better an enemy who looks in your eyes and say he hates you, than a friend who puts you down behind your back. If there is one thing companies in Tanzania are doing to hurt themselves, is having themselves wrong marketing managers, who lead a wrong sales team. Like this one communication company at the Nanenane celebrations; that as if selling a very wrong image wasn’t enough for all eight days, their unorganized sales team like crazy poor monkeys desperately kept trying to sale simcards while their competitors were selling the best image, having the biggest well branded booths, great promotions and major sales.This team hung around cracking jokes, that their regional manager was as good as a cabbage, and he cared less about the success of the company.
So users kept admiring the digits on the card sold by this company and telling each other they wish they could use the cards, which they weren’t going to because after all, this company has a major problem in airtime distribution in Arusha. Why waste billions in advertisements that don’t really make sense and then desperately sale simcards while you can’t/don’t sale airtime. I wonder if the Dar headquarters is aware of this little mischief.
Wrong expectations:
Most Tanzania business men have wrong expectations from tradeshows which lead to wrong preparations which then lead to poor results during tradeshows.
Yes! making money should be a company’s number one priority, but how long you keep making this money should be your first question.
Those who have visited Sabasaba, Arusha trade fair or Nanenane celebrations must’ve realised that small companies have logos, a good theme but the company owners don’t know exactly what their little logos are really for. That’s why they all look so gloomy in the first place.
Then, you have the big companies with an excellent Brand, but then their marketing team knows nothing about it or have never even heard of the word Brand, I suppose it must be stuck some where in their subconcious mind with no business to be any where else, because no one has heard of a college that doesn't teach of branding in a marketing class. So while the bosses are somewhere in Dar or wherever, their marketing teams are busy doing nothing important at trade show than desperately trying to sale or not.
To cut a long story short, these are a few of the reasons why most companies in Arusha didn’t show up at this year Nanenane leaving it to the “machingas” who surely took full advantage of it .
And well of course, some businessmen who did attend kept complaining they’ll never attend again. Why is it so easy to quit than to learn?
Forgetting plan B, C & D:
While you are not a host of the entire trade show, you are obviously hosting your business. You need to prepare for tradeshows early enough to make sure that you take full advantage of these special and rare events, because they could completely raise your yearly sales and customer loyalty to a very great extent.
Most companies make late decisions in joining without enough preparations, so at the end of the day they waste money to join a trade show without taking full advantage of it. Some go with one plan and if it’s not working they can’t switch to plan B. A marketing team needs to be very creative and have a broad foresight of everything around them.
All those wired unnecessary decorations:
not only do some businessmen waste a lot of money, but it seems like they don’t even know what they are doing at these trade fairs. I’ve seen it all during this Nanenane; banks, real estates developers and other well respected businessmen decorating their booths as if they running a traditional chinnnese wedding. No identity, no brand image whatsoever. All they can do is hang colourful curtains and hang around desperately trying to make sales. That wastes money they could have done a lot with in those eight days, than their imagination could expect.
Location:
Nobody knows what exactly goes inside some business men’s head when they are looking for a business spot, but unless you have extremely good marketing plans, the first things you need to consider before setting a business are people, demands & movements at that particular area. Most people look for fancy places with beautiful surroundings without even reconsidering and observing a place for a few days; they desperately buy because the tenants said someone else will take it.
Like this one field at the Nanenane grounds that was the most beautiful area in the whole place, it was fully booked days before the celebrations but for days business men went without having a single client to even peep and say hi. So we had to advice them to walk out with their tables, get a clown, and attract as much attention as possible.
A message especially to the young entrepreneurs.
Yes, small dreams are a waste. And it’s a shame to see college graduates do the same old things their great grandmothers did. You need to be creative and dream really big but you also have to know not everything you touch should turn into gold, and if this is what you keep expecting you will give up way to soon.
Many young enterprenuer tried to participate during these nanenane celebrations and many ended up disappointed, who kept saying it wasn’t meant for them to succeed and all that, people should stop believing in meant to bes. Only your efforts and smart moves can take you places in fact you should never ever believe in the terms “good luck and bad luck” they are just expressions, they dont really exist!
Young entrepreneurs had invested in this Nanenane and due to poor preparation and before hand knowledge, their plans didn’t go well. But they must have learnt a lot and that is all that matters when starting a business; to learn through experience and failures. Any extremely successful man must have failed a hundred times and most of these times it must have hurt so badly, but it is what makes them who they are today.
