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16<br />
BUSINESS SKILLS<br />
The main duty of entrepreneurs is to make sure that all operational<br />
activities needed to provide goods or services to the<br />
customers are conducted as required and a profit is generated.<br />
To do so, they have to plan, organize, lead and control. This is<br />
called <strong>business</strong> management.<br />
1.5 Market demand<br />
Customers buy a good or service to satisfy a need or solve a<br />
problem; the key to a successful <strong>business</strong> is therefore a satisfied<br />
customer and not, as many believe, a superb good or<br />
service. If no one is willing to buy a <strong>business</strong>’s goods or services,<br />
it does not have a market, however superb its goods or<br />
services may be. Without sales, a <strong>business</strong> cannot exist.<br />
It is important to note that every <strong>new</strong> <strong>business</strong> starts without<br />
customers. It must convince people to buy its goods or services.<br />
It is therefore crucial for entrepreneurs running a<br />
<strong>business</strong> to know to whom they plan to sell their goods or<br />
services. They need to know their market.<br />
A market can be divided into different market segments, with<br />
each segment representing a group of customers with particular<br />
characteristics. From a <strong>business</strong>’s point of view, a market<br />
consists of specific customers who are willing and able to buy<br />
its goods or services. Take, for example, the market for locally<br />
produced traditional sandals for men in a small town.<br />
Each market and each market segment works in its own particular<br />
way. The goods or services can be sold in different locations,<br />
at different times, in different manners, with different<br />
services, etc.<br />
The entrepreneurs’ first interest should be the needs and preferences<br />
of the people they want to sell their goods or services<br />
to. The most important question is: What do the customers<br />
want?