‘Start small and grow gradually’
Ikechukwu Kalu, CEO/Lead Consultant of Customer Passion Point discusses his business career, philosophy and contributions
You were the Vice President/Group Head of Marketing & Communications of one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, FCMB; why did you leave to join your wife at CPPL?
Yes. It’s a great job I enjoyed while it lasted. As you may remember, I was head hunted and recruited all the way from Tanzania where I had just ended an expatriate contract as Marketing Director for Zanzibar Telecoms (Zantel Limited), a part of Etisalat. I had a two year contract with FCMB which ended in August 2014 but we agreed to extend it to December 2014, a period we thought was adequate to get the team fit into a new structure which was intended to align the activities of marketing and the retail banking group in the bank’s quest to build a viable / profitable retail franchise.
What is Customer Passion Point Limited all about?
Customer Passion Point Limited is a value creation firm that is positioned to support p small, growing and medium size organisations to create stakeholder value through consumer insights. This we do through business marketing consulting and training / development. We sit with SMEs and Entrepreneurs to understand their issues and develop appropriate solutions to solve the issues. We also serve large organisations that may not have the capacity in house to implement their strategies.
What services does the company offer?
We offer two broad services – Business Marketing Consulting and Training / Development.
Business Marketing Consulting. Forward looking businesses know that value creation through efficient and effective marketing is the key to success across times and seasons – during both good and bad economic times. The challenge for most businesses is that they are not able to quickly and cleverly adapt their marketing strategies to current and foreseeable economic climates.
This is not surprising as successful business promotion requires marketing experience and knowledge that many businesses don’t have in-house.
Investing in an experienced business marketing consultant can give an organisation the help that they need to acquire, grow and retain customers while building a solid and sustainable brand. We believe that when you build a solid brand, it will sell itself through advocacy which is the ultimate of good marketing.
Training / Development. We are focused on delivering business enhancement training programs. Our flagship program is the CPPL monthly training program for business people where we train business owners and their core staff on strategies for growth and profitability. We have recently introduced other programs like:
Effective Business Writing & Communications Skills program to help improve communication within the business environment, appreciating the over whelming positive impact of good business writing and communication to a business.
We have also introduced leadership and personal effectiveness training programs. This is because leadership sets the tone for the entire business and people must be thought to appreciate the role of leadership. People should also be thought on how to ensure personal effectiveness at work and manage stress.
What makes a good businessman?
A good businessman or woman is someone who is able to convert an idea or value to a profitable business. It’s someone who is able to make a meaning by improving quality of life, righting the wrong and or preventing the end of something good. He does all these and makes money out of it. If no money is made, then it’s purely social responsibility.
What has been the toughest hurdle you’ve had to overcome in bringing CPPL to this point?
Good question. It’s been getting people to try you out. I thought that it would be a smooth start given that I had worked in great companies and rose quite high there, that they will naturally want to patronize me. It’s not that easy as they also have to be sure that you can provide value that match the need they have. So, I have had to start small with training and growing gradually. Our flagship training, the CPPL monthly training program for business people has been on for the past 14 months and we have trained well over 150 participants from more than 50 businesses. We now have to leverage on this to pitch for marketing consulting jobs. Slowly but surely, we shall get there.
What is the best way to start and grow a business?
Start small and grow gradually. This will help you keep cost down and invest wisely. There is nothing wrong in starting from you home and gradually hit the high streets. It’s important to manage cost, be discipline, professional, keep good record, and track your business performance by doing some simple profitability test. It’s really important to start right.
What is the costliest mistake that most business people make?
In my view, it’s about not being disciplined. You don’t borrow money to do business when you are not sure of the returns. How do you pay back? Some have invested huge funds on esthetics claiming that ‘image is everything’ You have to start small, understand the terrain and position properly before you start to get into huge investment. There is really no hurry. Get it right the right time and always.
What do you hope to achieve in the next five years as a CEO?
I hope to build a thriving business with clients that you can look back and say, yes we did it together. I have been successful with my work carry. I hope to replicate same in business. I want be known creating value in the market place. I want to redefine the concept of value creation consulting. The market is there and we are actually few in this sector. My vision is to operate CPPL as a dynamic African brand while focusing on excellent client service in every country (and culture) where we operate in.
What makes a good business consultant?
Personal effectiveness is key. You must manage your time well, work well with your clients and continuous self-development. Your client is depending on you for insights and you can’t afford to fail them.You must always to seek first to understand and then to be understood. This way you hear the voice of your client and possibly respond more aptly to their needs. We want our clients to focus on other aspects of their businesses while we help them with the development of insights and the relevant value propositions to drive growth and profitability.