ZERO TO STARTUP

By

N.C. Desmond

Cover Design by Creative Chaos Branding and Marketing Limited

Book Design by Presley Rejoice

Zero To Start-up

First of all, please do me a favour. If you

read this book and you like it, share it with

at least five people. If you don’t like it,

please don’t share it biko (don’t spoil my

years of hard work 😭😭😭) However,
kindly tell me you don’t like it and what I
can do and how I can become better.
Agreed?
Also, please write me a review via this link.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQ
LScNnqN2fy2lG7-

L3D5NDGNR7BeKdZiQRzL6sRa6KQiW5z
-LtA/viewform?usp=sf_link

N. C. Desmond
1
Zero To Start-up

I will be checking it to see. I do not say

this lightly, I highly need your reviews.

Thank you and God bless you. I hope you

enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it for
you.

PS: This whole book is an excerpt of a

more detailed and richer in stories and
lessons business book I’ve been
experiencing, researching and writing in
the past three years.

2 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

Letter To You

Dear Reader, permit me to start this Letter

with Theodore Roosevelt’s speech, Man In
The Arena,” Listen…

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man

who points out how the strong man

stumbles, or where the doer of deeds

could have done them better. The credit
belongs to the man who is actually in
the arena, whose face is marred by dust
and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;
who errs, who comes short again and
again, because there is no effort without
error and shortcoming;
3 N.C. Desmond.
 Zero To Start-up

but who does actually strive to do the

deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the

great devotions;

who spends himself in a worthy cause; who

at the best knows in the end the triumph of
high achievement, and who at the worst, if
he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so
that his place shall never be with those cold
and timid souls who neither know victory nor
defeat."
Dear Reader, as long as you are doing

something, working on something, building

something… I am proud of you. It takes a lot
to start or build anything.

4 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

The journey from Zero to ‘Starting-Up-

Something’, Anything, is usually the

toughest. The fear of failure or the fear of

judgement, can’t really be explained.

As for me, all i want is a life of risk, one

filled with the adventure of trying and giving
my best than one clothed with the comfort
of regrets.
Hey Champ, keep up the good work. It
may look dark right now, but the stars will

align and your dawn will come. Well done.

With Love,
Desmond.

N.C. Desmond.
5
Zero To Start-up

Stop!

Do not read any further. you may not

like what will follow.

N.C. Desmond.
6
Zero To Start-up

Are you sure you

want to keep
reading?

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

7 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

Okay, that’s
enough…

😊
You made it this far 😊
Happy reading.
Enjoy ❤️
8 N.C. Desmond
 Zero To Start-up
Chapter 1

I AM A THIEF! (A True Life Story)

It was in the early hours of a Monday

morning when we started hearing the

distressed voice of a woman screaming,

“My bag, my money, my bag.”

As was the custom in Lagos, people were

usually up and about, going to work or
preparing for school. It was roughly 5am in

the morning, and we were up, my mother

and I. My brother on the other hand, Kevin,
was still asleep inside the shop.
N.C. Desmond 9
Zero To Start-up

We would have been five inside that small

shop, but my sister, Blessing, and the the

oldest among us, Eric, were not in the

shop with us that day. Due to the
smallness of the shop and its inability to
contain five people crashing on its floor,
my sister often goes to a family friend's
house to spend the night and my big
brother would also do the same. The three
of us; my mom, my brother Kevin, and I,
would be the only ones in the shop, often

sharing spaces on the floor with some of

the goods and wares we sell.

10 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

“My bag, my bag, ole, ole!” the woman

screamed as we heard blazing footsteps.

The word ole, is a Yoruba word for thief.

And in this part of the world, Lagos,

whenever such a word is heard, people
either lock their doors and windows, or they
come out to join in chasing the thief.

This scenario was not alien to us. It was a

common thing. We were used to it due to
the fact that we were living in the shop.

Before now, we had been sent packing

from where we were living because we
were unable to pay our house rent.

N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

PS: One of the best gifts a parent can

give to their children is a piece of land, a

property. Especially in a city like Lagos.

My parents left none.

My dad had died some five years back.

My mother was a petty trader, trying to
feed multiple mouths with no help from
anywhere at all. So, we had no choice
than to move into the small windowless
shop where we sell food stuffs. If you

have ever been sent packing and you

literally have nowhere to go, you will
have an idea of this... the fear, the
shame, the pain and the hopelessness.
N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

In a city like Lagos that never sleeps,

usually we would wait till about 11:30PM
or middle of the night before sneaking
into the shop so that people would not
know that we didn’t have a house to go to
at night. And we would wake up very
early, say 4-4:30AM to start our day so
people wouldn’t know.

PS: despite that we tried to console

ourselves with thoughts of people not
knowing that we didn’t have a house to
go to at night, deep down we knew that
they knew.

13 N.C. Desmond
 Zero To Start-up

You know when you go to school with torn

uniform, believing others won’t notice if you

try hard enough to hide those torn parts...

but deep down you know they know this.

such a dreadful feeling. The fear, the
shame, the pain and hopelessness is
something I don't wish for anyone. We just
pretended they didn't know, deep down we
knew they know.
What we didn’t know however, was that
someone would be robbed off her bag that

particular morning.

“He don tief my bag, my money, my bag, my

bag!” the woman kept shouting. “Ole, ole!”
14 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

As the cry intensified, other people leaving

for work joined in the pursuit of this thief.

The thief, apparently, had snatched the bag

of the woman as she was going to work
that morning. As the woman continued
shouting ole and thief interchangeably,
many others joined her, including the thief
himself. He was shouting, “Thief, thief, Ole,
Ole!” Matter of fact, he was shouting the
loudest as he ran for his life, pretending to
be chasing the thief. This was a tactic they

used to confuse people and send them the

wrong direction. If you grew up in Lagos

you will know this.

15 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

Unfortunately for this young boy, some

young men who were just a stone throw

from the lady when he snatched the bag

had seen him. So, they chased him,

caught up with him and pounced on him.
Tried as he may to deny it, they didn’t let

him go as they began beating him. And

when he realized they were not going to let

him go, he began to plead for his life.

It was the first time in my life that I saw a

human being been burnt alive. And he was

a boy. A boy in his teenage years, beaten

and burnt to death before my very eyes.

N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

The Bag & You

Everyone in life is gunning for a bag.

Before we start that business, start that
job, or embark on that journey to live a
successful and peaceful life, there is an

imaginary bag we are gunning for. What

lies in that bag can mean different things to
different people.
Money.
Power.

Freedom.
Peace.

N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

To some it may lead to ultimate peace

and to others it may lead to death…

depending on how you choose to go

about it.
Some would do anything necessary to
get it, others will rather not do anything,
while some would find a balance walking
the right path to secure it. And some are
too impatient to wait for it, so they will
simply try to grab it like the young boy.

When that young boy was set ablaze, like

everyone else, I called him a thief. He

stole a bag. He was caught.

N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

He was burnt alive. He died. It was that

simple. However, it wasn’t that simple few

years later when I was standing in the

middle of my local church with a phone I

had stolen. I was caught red handed. All
eyes were on me. Shame washed over
me. The reason I stole the phone
suddenly felt irrelevant. The hunger I had
wanted to quench, the prestige I wanted
to feel after selling the phone and buying
a new one, all those felt ridiculous. I was

awash with shame. Though no one set

fire on me, I was burnt… and something
died in that fire that day. I vowed never to
do it again.
19 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

We Are All Thieves

How many of us don’t want to work but

make money?
You are a thief.
How many of us want to wake up and find
money lying beside us on our bed?
You are a thief.
How many of us want someone to
mistakenly transfer millions of dollars into
our accounts?

Sir, you are a thief.

You want to be an overnight wonder and
make billions?
Ma, you are a thief.
20 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

And you can’t be a thief if you want to run a

successful business. A thief is not
necessarily someone who stole money or
something. A thief is someone who wants to
skip the process, discomfort others at the
expense of becoming comfortable
themselves!

At some point in life, we all were thieves or

will be. Who no like am easy? The problem
is not in wanting these things or the ease
that comes with it, the problem is actually in
living your life that way.

21
N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

Waiting.

Expecting.

And doing absolutely nothing to better your

life! Most entrepreneurs when they start
business, sit around and wait, yet they want
to make sales… no be juju be that?

Someone I know used to say this, “If you

don’t find yourself doing something to earn
money, you will find yourself stealing or
begging.”

22 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

Before you start that business, first, banish

the thought of anything landing on your laps

for free. To make sales, you have to market

like crazy. Forget those motivational

speakers and whatever they’ve said to get
you believing in balloons filled with air.

It will burst!

And when it does, they won’t be there. They

got me believing, then my partner and I ran

into millions of Naira worth of debt. When it

happened, they were not there. It took me a
lot of time to realize that no one is coming to
my rescue.
23 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

No one will send me free money.

I had to come to the hard and painful

realization that no one will rescue my
business, no one will rescue my company,
no one will stick their nose for me, or write
me that dream check.

With this in mind, I began the arduous

journey of revamping, restructuring and

building a formidable business. The

experience was what gave birth to

everything I have done and I’m still doing.

N.C. Desmond
24
Zero To Start-up

\
What I realized and you may not have
realize is this…

Everyone you see has their own problem,

and yours is not one of them. The moment
you become a problem, or they sense you
becoming a problem, they would blacklist

you. It might not be consciously, but they will

do it. And by blacklisting I mean, they might

stop communicating as much or totally cut

communications. I would know this, it has

happened to me a lot. Especially people who

are goal-getters.

25
N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

They mentally protect themselves. If they

sense that you are or will be a problem to

their state of mind, you are blocked

automatically.

PS: for people to even give you money or

invest in you or your business, you must
show a level of work and commitment.

Let help meet you half way, don’t wait for it to

come. Although, the root issues are deeper

than what is seen on the surface, the case of

America and Afghanistan is a perfect case
study. America invested trillions of dollars in
helping Afghanistan but it all went to smoke.
N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

PPS: You can’t help who doesn't want to

be helped.

The question is, do you want to be

helped?

Start helping yourself by putting in the

work first. Stop trying to get it fast and
quick. It is a long game. Those
experiences taught me a lot about
patience and process when it comes to

life. These same principles I have applied

in my business and I want you to do the
same.
N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

However, I must also say nothing can

prepare you enough for the ups and

downs in business. If anyone had told

me that starting a business was this
difficult I really might not have started. It
is so damn hard and difficult. Everything

will so choke you, you will want to just

drop it all and run away or simply snatch
a bag and runaway. When you are
thinking of that idea, it is usually sweet.

LOL.
But enter market nah, you will
understand the difference.

28 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

A lot of businesses have closed shop

because of this. The idea and imagination

they had was different from the reality they

met. It is for this very reason I wrote this

book, and I want you to learn from their
successes and their failures like I did. Let
us take a look at some of these
businesses…

29
N.C. Desmond
 Zero To Start-up
Chapter 2

The Murky Waters of the African

Marketplace

In Yorubaland, there are different kinds of

drums for different kinds of events. Each
occasion requires different kinds of drum
to be beaten. For example, the Yorubas
have drums like Gongo, Bata and many
others. Historically, the Bata drum is
beaten during carnivals, religious events
and coronation events… it is like a
welcoming sound to the entrance of a king
into his palace.

N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

So, when one looks back to 2012, one

would wonder if it was the Bata that was
beating or it was a simple Gongo, as
Konga, an indigenous e-commerce
company, made its entry into the Nigeria
marketplace. This company, led by Simdul
Shagaya, former Google’s Head for Africa,
was interesting to watch as it made its
majestic entrance into the Nigerian
marketplace.
However…
The drum stopped beating when this king
entered the palace and saw another king
sitting on his throne… this was the
beginning of the war between Konga and
N.C. Desmond
Jumia. 31
Zero To Start-up

Like the legendary brand war between

Coke and Pepsi, these two e-commerce

platforms entered a ferocious battle of

out-advertising the other. Lagos, the

economic capital of Nigeria became the
major battleground and out-discounting
each other was the weapon of choice.
During this time of war, anyone driving
through Lagos, often saw hovering Konga
and Jumia’s war-drones in form of
billboards facing one another across

intersections while the companies delivery

bikes whizzed past them.

32 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

It was an interesting time for Nigerian

online shoppers, and quickly many

picked sides in this uncivil war… it was a
full blown out-advertising and price war
in the Nigerian e-commerce space.

Amidst the mountain of problems

crippling the wings of both ventures from
taking flight, the battle to be the go-to
place for online shopping in Nigeria and
then Africa continued without slowing

down.

33 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

Having received startup capital from

Swedish Investment Firm, Kinnevik and

backed by Naspers with a 108million

dollars in funding, Konga seemed as

though it was built for war. After all, it was
a king in its own right and it must have its
royal stake in the African market-palace.

However…

In a marketplace war that lasted five

years, Jumia with a back-breaking move,

raised times three of Konga’s initial raise,

326million dollars.

34 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

With a funding of this kind and a built for

war mentality driving Jumia’s leadership,

the e-commerce company quickly became

one of Africa’s unicorn… leaving Konga’s

delivery bike men on the street of Lagos
to be eating roasted corn.

Having lost the war, its bright CEO, Sim

Shagaya, was forced to resign, its
warehouse merchant service closed, 60%
of its staffs laid off and investors began to

divest.

35 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

As the e-commerce giant drowned in the

black waters of the Nigerian marketplace,

the reported 10million dollar life rack

thrown to it by Zinnox Group as it acquires

it, remains to be seen if it would be saved
as at the time of writing this. But it is
highly unlikely, no one gets hit by an
atomic bomb in the Nigerian marketplace
and lives to tell the tale.

36 N.C. Desmond
 Zero To Start-up
Chapter 3

Madmen & Magicians: A Dance of

Failure & Profits

The Loss

An old rubber/telecommunication company

from a small region called Pirkanmaa, in a
small European country, Finland, had no
dream to be the largest phone makers in
the world. It was something they regarded
as a James Bond idea… something

futuristic and unrealistic. Even when it

acquired Mobira in 1981;

N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

the mobile phone company to have the

very first international cellular network in
the whole world and also the first to allow
international roaming, it still had its doubt
about the mobile phone industry. By 1982
when it launched the Mobira Senator car
phone, things began taking a dramatic
turn. Coupled with other acquisitions, in
just a few years the company became a
2.7billion dollar company. This Finnish
company, focused on two key things, the
phones' hardware and its battery life. The
durability and affordability of the
company’s phones soon made it the talk
of the town and everyone wanted their
products. 38 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

As word spread, the quality and

durability tested, trust and loyalty were

quickly built and in no time, this phone
company took over from the then market
giant, Motorola.

However…

As at 2009, this Finnish company

became as good as finished in the
mobile phone industry. As at the time of

finishing this book’s research in 2021, it

planned to lay off over 10,000 jobs.

39 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

This company is Nokia - the largest

phone makers in the world who lost it all

in the blink of an eye. But this was just

the beginning of their greatness and
success.

In 1996 the company launched the first

internet-enabled phone, and by the start

of the millennium it launched a touch-

screen mobile prototype. This Finnish

company was revolutionary, ferocious

and in just a few years had become

unrivaled and dominated the mobile

industry globally…
N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

an industry it was skeptical about in the

first place. No phone company in the

world could rival this Finnish company.

The Loss

While Nokia lost it all in the blink of an

eye, a different phone company with its
eyes wide open was getting it all… getting
all the mobile market share. The future
looked bright as they quickly rose to

become the dominant player globally. And

it wasn’t because Nokia lost its market
share, it was because this company was
revolutionary with incredible innovations.
N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

The BlackBerry Messaging service.

This was like the Whatsapp of today, an

innovative messaging service that
forever changed the game. The
BlackBerry phone was a phone everyone
wanted. It was easy to use, one could
shoot mails easily and it was quite
affordable for its target market. The most
interesting and exciting feature of this
phone was the BBM service.

However…

42
N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

In 2018, BlackBerry announced that it

would stop making phones. It had lost its
market, reduced to one time cultural
icon, it became as good as the past.

43 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

The Profit

There was Motorola, there was Samsung,

there was Nokia and there was BlackBerry.

In fact there were many more phone
companies in the world at the time. Yet,
Apple decided to contest in this market. To
many, this move didn’t make sense, there
were already too many phone companies at
the time. However, Steve Jobs and the
Apple Team wanted to reinvent the industry

like they did with iPod and Macintosh, they

wanted to shape the future. But then, Steve

Jobs didn’t even like the idea of creating a

mobile phone at first.
44 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

He hated the idea because he believed

Apple was losing focus, the exact same
problem he fixed when he returned in
1997.

However, after Jobs' surgery in 2004,

where he was diagnosed with cancer and
his pancreas was removed, Jobs would
ask himself a single question everyday, “If
today was the last day of my life, would I
be happy with what I am doing today.” This
was a defining moment for the company.
Jobs' stance on making a mobile phone
would change and the company would
start doing everything within its power to
make it work. 45 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

Apple wasn’t exactly a happy place for

any of the employees, it was a pressure
cooker, with a group of highly smart
people working on creating a
revolutionary product. Mind you, none of
these people had created a phone
before.
Some years back before Jobs surgery,
an interesting thing had happened at
Apple. An informal group of engineers
and software designers had been
created and met regularly in what was
known as a User Testing Room. Part of
this team was a lady called Tina Huang.

46
N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

Tina had had a wrist injury and had to

come with a black rectangle device to work.
This device, whatever it was, helped her
complete complicated computer tasks with
just her fingers. This would lead some
curious engineers and user interaction
teams to create a prototype and show to
Steve Jobs by a member of the informal
group, Jony Ive. He rejected the product
demo.
Even when Tony Fadell; a prominent Apple
employee, the very man who led the
successful iPod division,

47 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

suggested to Jobs that it would be a good

idea to put WiFi on iPod, he accepted at
first but hated it upon seeing the prototype.

It was a complete disaster.

Despite all these failed demos, un-

revolutionary ideas and rejections, Steve
Jobs as opposed to his previous stance,
wanted the company to create mobile
phones. Matter of fact, in 2005 he gave a
team two weeks to create a great product
otherwise they would face deadly
consequences - a team which had never
before created a mobile phone.
N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

This team would spend two weeks of

sleepless nights, creating a product,
working on what would become the most
influential product of all time. By the time
the two weeks had elapsed, they
presented their touch screen creation to
Steve jobs.

He was blown away by it.

Yet, he didn’t jump from his seat or
made any gesture to show how intrigued
he was. He simply asked for it to be
shown to him again…

49
N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

from then on it would become a top

secret in Apple. This revolutionary
product, would cost people their
marriages, some their health and others
their job.
This product, the iPhone, was shared
with the rest of the world on January
29th, 2007. This single product changed
everything and became everything you
desire in the palm of your hands.

50
N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

Why Did Nokia Fail?

1. There are so many reasons why Nokia

lost its grip on the mobile phone

industry, but one of the major reasons
was its failure to embrace evolution. By
2007, a revolution was at its wake.
Championing that evolution was Apple
with the iPhone and Google
commercially sponsored product of the
Open Handset Alliance; the Android

smartphones. Particularly, the Android

was a table-turning smartphone

evolution which Nokia resisted.

51 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

They refused to take advantage of this

evolution which would have been easy
and very effective considering how much
market share they had. But Nokia’s
management were stubborn, taking a
stance with the past as opposed to the
future. They refused to jump in on the
smartphone evolution with Android and
stubbornly stuck with Symbian. Other
mobile phone makers around the world
were busy working tirelessly, embracing
this evolution and improving their
smartphones, Nokia did the opposite.

52 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

They resisted this change, believing

people would not embrace touch screen
phones. So, they continued production
and manufacturing of phones with
Qwerty keypads, and even when all
signs pointed to the future going a
different direction, they refused to listen.
Stubborn as a horse… they slowly,
withered away in the mobile phone
industry.

53 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

2. Umbrella Branding executed poorly.

Before I go into details, let me explain
what Umbrella Branding is.

Umbrella Branding is marketing tactics

involving the use of a single brand name
for the sales of two or more related
products. Companies with positive
acceptance in the market can use the
umbrella branding strategy to their
advantage. Of all the phone brands,
Apple was the first to use the Umbrella
Branding Strategy with the first iPhone
as the forerunner.

N.C. Desmond
54
Zero To Start-up

Year in year out they released a new

product model to it, iPhone 2, then the
iPhone 3, iPhone 4, iPhone 5 and so it
kept going. Samsung seeing this,
jumped in with the Galaxy Series. Before
Nokia could utilize its full strength in the
marketplace with its Umbrella Strategy
which it started as far back as 2005, it
was already too late for them. They had
lost the users trust and too late in the
game.

55 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

3. Acquisition by Microsoft: this could

have been a great deal but the timing
was wrong for the mobile phone. This
purchase was one of the most fatal
errors for both sides and they both
ended up losing. The innovations and
technical development by other phone
brands were too fast paced and
groundbreaking for Nokia to keep up
with. They failed to take their eyes off
their strength (hardware) and watch the
trends.

N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

The technological trend at the time

showed that focus should be on
software, therefore calling for adoption
and adaptation in the marketplace. But
Nokia’s stiffness and stubbornness
made them churn out boring and
unwanted phones. Let this knock some
sense into you, don’t be like Nokia.

57 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

Lessons

1. Don’t be stubborn to change. No

matter how scary, embrace it.
2. Listen to the market, listen to what
the customers are saying. Be part of
the conversation your customers and
competitors are having. You are not
that important. The market only cares
about the market, therefore the most

important thing in the market is the

market itself.

58 N.C. Desmond
Zero To Start-up

3. Don’t overestimate your market value,

keep your eyes open for the trends.

4. Understand your position and use it

effectively.

5. Be flexible and adapt quickly

N.C. Desmond
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Zero To Start-up

Why Did BlackBerry Fail?

1. Same with Nokia, Blackberry refused

to adapt. As a revolutionary
company whose innovative
contributions helped speed up the
evolution of smartphones, one would
have thought it would be one of the
first to adopt and adapt as the
market kept changing. But it was
quite the opposite. Like the

management of Nokia, they were too

stubborn to change. And it was quite
understandable. Why? Because of…

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A Heart Broken Once

What happened to Blackberry that led to

its failure was like the case of someone
whose heart was broken once and for
that reason refused to fall in love again.
The dominating phone brand was
among the first mobile phone companies
to manufacture and launch the touch
screen phones with its infamous
BlackBerry Storm:

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The Blackberry Storm was a disaster. At

the time of its launch, the world wasn’t
ready for touch screen phones. Users
were very comfortable and wanted to
stick with the qwerty keypad layouts of
phones. The epic failure of the phone
caused Blackberry to stick with the past
even when the world became ready for
the future. Blackberry made almost the
same kind of mistakes Nokia made.

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Lessons From BlackBerry

1. The fact that your heart was broken

once doesn’t mean you shouldn’t fall
in love again. Even if you fail once, go
again and go harder.
2. Your product will not keep being the
best. Even if it was and is the best,
innovation will happen that will cause
it to fall behind. You can either
choose to react to the market or

respond to the market. I am sure you

know there is a big difference between
reaction and response.
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3. So, most times, ask yourself are you

reacting or are you responding
innovatively?

4. Take feedback and make corrections.

5. No matter what you do, make your

products user friendly. For example, the

Blackberry App Store was terrible and

users hated it.

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Why Did iPhone Succeed and

Lessons to learn

1. Audacity to dare the market and defy

the norms. It is no news that Apple
entered a very competitive market,
yet they not only survived, they
thrived and set the pace for those
before and after them to follow.

2. Apple’s leadership were not

stubbornly holding on to the past, rather

they thought of creating the impossible

and they did it.

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3. Apple recognized their own

weaknesses. They had tried to produce
a touchscreen device in the 80s and it
failed woefully. So, in 2007, Apple knew
touchscreen was going to be a major
part of the revolutionary product it was
making. Plus, the world was ready for
such innovation. So, to make this work, it
strategically bought a company called,
FingerWorks owned by Wayne
Westerman. This man had created a
capacity motive touch technology, a
technology that played a huge role in
smartphone works today.

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4. At a time when Apple was faced with a

tough decision on its revolutionary product,
one of which was to either enlarge iPod
into a phone (the iPod was an incredibly
successful product of the company) or
shrink Mac IOS down into a phone using
the Fingerworks technology, Apple decided
to work on both simultaneously. As
opposed to what other companies would
do, they chased both projects, creating
separate teams, forming sometimes
healthy and sometimes unhealthy
competition which led to stiff and incredible
innovations and results at the end.

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5. Each team was led by experienced

and very smart people. One was led by
Tony Fadell and the other Scott Fortsall.
Let experience and expertise drive your
brand leadership. Passion is sometimes
not enough. Passion is important,
especially in young people. However,
complement those who have the passion
and expertise with those with experience
and expertise. The only thing is, let none
slow the other down.

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6. Some projects are to be kept secrets

even from members of your team. When
both teams were developing the product,
no team was allowed to know the
business of the other team. Matter of
fact the hardware guys could not get to
see what the software guys are working
on and likewise the software guys
couldn’t see what the hardware guys
were working on. Keep certain projects
top secret and work on it without letting
anyone or much people know about it.

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7. As an entrepreneur, don’t always

listen to marketers, listen to the market.
It might seem they mean the same thing,
but they don’t. Listen to what people are
saying, and create products to be on the
lips of that conversation. Apple’s Head of
Marketing, Phil Schiller, at a point
wanted the product development to stop
due to the intensity and chaos in Apple.
What if Apple had scrapped the
products? There wouldn’t have been an
iPhone today? Imagine a world without
the iPhone you know.

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8. Finding solutions in the most unlikely

places. Apple has been known for its
innovation. At the critical stage of the
development of the product (the iPhone),
few questions were still unanswered.
Particularly questions like how can one
unlock the touchscreen phone without
doing it accidentally while it’s in one’s
pocket. The answer came from the door
of an airplane toilet through User
Interface Designer, Freddy Anzures.
This designer observed the locking
mechanism of the airplane toilet and
immediately his head sparked with fire.
Simply swipe.
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However, to test this out, it was given to a

3year old child. Without hesitation she slid it
and unlocked it. If a three year old figured it
out, just about anyone could do the same.
Meaning, you can find solutions to your
brand problems in the most unlikely places.
You just have to be open minded enough to
see it.

9. Moving ahead in the midst of a mountain

of problems. A year to when the company
was to ship the products, they still didn’t
have a CPU. The CPU is the brain of the
device. Even on the day of launch, there
were still an alarming amount of problems.
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Chapter 4

Carving A Place in the Marketplace

It doesn’t really matter if there are

people, companies or brands in an

industry already. The question is: are
there still voids in that industry or sector

you could fill with your products or

services and be incredibly good at it like

no one else can? How do you exceed

customers expectations in a way that

would make them market for you (word

of mouth-marketing) and draw other

customers your way just the way Apple

did?
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This is what we will address here.

What you should know is that the

marketplace is constantly changing and
the customers are always demanding
new and innovative things. And the most
tasking thing is that your competitors are
always improving… nobody wants to
stay behind. If Nokia and Blackberry had
listened to the market and what their
customers were saying, they probably

won’t lose their market. Let me share

with you how Apple was able to gain so
much market share.

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They did that by:

- Exceeding Customers Expectations

- Recover & Retain

- Team Optimization

But before I go into details, let us

establish one key thing. It is very
important that your products are of

quality. It doesn’t matter how many

strategies are shared with you, if your
products are shitty, it won’t fly.

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Therefore, I will like to assume that your

products are very good or you are great
at what you do. If that’s the case, then
you are good to go. However, your
product or service might be very similar
to that of those you are competing with.
And it is pretty hard for the customers to
distinguish your brand from that of
others.

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A B C D

N25,000 N69,000 N37,000 N45,000



Where did your eyes go to first and where

did they focus on?
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PRICE
TAGS!

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Because the brand names of these

products had been removed the only
standout thing that would influence your
buying decision is PRICE.

Most businesses are like this. There are

no significant differences in products or
service between them and their
competitors, hence, they leave the
customers to make purchase decisions
based on price. And this is very
dangerous and unsafe if you are going
to grow your business by beating your
competitors.

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Samsung - 4G iPhone - 5G

2,000mAh/3GB Ram 5,000mAh/6GB

N25,000 N69,000

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Google - 3G Huawei - 3G

3,000mAh/4GB/Ram 2,000mAh/3GB Ram

N37,000 N45,000

What were the basis of comparison you

used this time around?
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I am sure you took time to look at the

features. Even though the 5G phone is

the most expensive of them all, you are

most likely to buy it because it has better

features than the others. Except of
course you have personal sentimental
disgust or what some will call ‘beef’ with
that brand of phone.

Regardless, when you look at the

phones, the brand names and features

would definitely affect your decision

making.
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The point is, your decision will no longer

be just about the price. Depending on

your brand preference, you are likely to

pick the brand you are comfortable with or
the brand you like.

Successful brands make you feel this

way. They make you buy not because of
price but on different features that are
likely to amaze, astonish and astound
you. As a street-smart entrepreneur, you

have to take the customers away from the

pricing war, win them over in the area of
value. You have to create a perception of
value and actually offer it.
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A perception that they perceive as

unique in some way. A value that beats

their expectations, otherwise they would

depend on just the price. And contrary to
what many believe, it is quite easier to
do than fighting the price war.

I learnt a model developed by Philip

Kotler early enough that helps me in
structuring businesses for my clients. To
understand this model, think of your

business/products/services as a number
of circles within a circle. These circles
are divided into two, the inner circles
and outer circles. N.C. Desmond
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The first three circles, the Core

Benefits, the Generic and the

Expected are basic features or things

your business should and must have.

Generic Expected

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First of all, before you even create any

product or service, you must be able to
determine what purpose it should
serve. What fundamental benefits will
the users get from using the product or
service? Before anyone buys or use
your product, there must be a
fundamental want or need they want to
satisfy, hence, your product should be
able to satisfy that need or want. This
is the Core Benefits according to Phil
Kotler.

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So, I won’t be focusing on the Core

Benefits of the Kotler’s theory. If there are
no Core Benefits to the product or service
you are trying to create, there is absolutely
no point for the other circles.

Let’s take a look at those circles…

For example, you run a salon where

people come to make their hairs. So, what
are the Generic Features of a Hair Studio:

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Generic Features:

- A Physical location or a Mobile Studio

- Apprentices learning and working on

customers hair at the same time.

- A chair to sit down (just imagine they ask

you to stand and wait until they are free to
attend to you… disaster!) LOL.

These are the Generic Features, basic

features that every hair studio should
have… you can add to this list.

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So, what are the Expected Features that

one would expect from a Hair Studio?

Expected Features:

- Open at a particular time and close at a

particular time (Opening/Closing Hours)

- A hairstyle magazine that shows you

different hairstyles to choose from

- Someone to attend to you, ask you to

take your seat until one of the stylists is
ready to attend to you.

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These are the Expected Features you

expect every hair studio to have.
However, unfortunately, these circles,
the Generic and Expected circles are
where most businesses remain. These
features are basic and are sort of the
same like every other studio. Those who
win the war and gain market share, take
customers beyond these two circles.
They take them to the outer circles.
The Augmented and the Potential
Features.

So, let’s say you are the owner of that

hair studio,
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what would be your Augmented

Features?
Let’s take a look…

Augmented Features:

- A cup of coffee or a bowl of ice cream

brought to you while you wait, in a
chilled and separate lounge.

- Different cups of hair creams are

brought to you by the salon and you are

asked to pick one while they explain to
you the benefits of each. Plus this hair
cream is FREE!
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- You are then told if you ever wait more

than 30minutes you would pick any of

the human hair for free as compensation

for inconveniencing you with waiting
(imagine a FREE Bone Straight!
Hahaha). And this is because they don’t
want to keep you waiting at all, as a
brand they pride themselves with
effectiveness, excellence and swiftness
or timeliness in delivery.

If you are the customer, how would you

feel about that?

Better than good right?

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That is the Augmented Effect!

As an Entrepreneur, your aim should be

to create that effect on your customers.
In subsequent chapters, I explained how
creating certain effects would shoot up

your sales and how to create them. As

the owner of the hair studio, this
Augmented Features would make this
customer want to stay with you and be
loyal to you.

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Augmented as explained by Lisa Ray is

how a brand can do more of it, do it
better or do it faster. This is where you
beat your competitors. You do more
than they can ever do for your
customers, you do it better than they
can do, and you do it faster than they
can ever deliver.

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Look at your business and think of the

Augmented Features you can add to
your business to make you standout.
Use the circles to determine the Generic
and Expected Features in your industry
and think carefully of the Augmented
Features you can bring or add to your
product or service to make you standout.
Mind you, what used to be Augmented in
certain industries in the past are now
very Generic… this was one of the
reasons why Nokia failed.

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What they thought was innovative when

they introduced Nokia Lumia and Asher

was already in vogue and appeared as a

lame attempt to jump-start the company.

Don’t make that mistake, visit your
Augmented circle regularly.

Generic Expected Augmented Potential

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Now, the last circle which we haven’t yet

talked about, the Potential, is simply
what makes you unique. This is what
differentiates you from everyone else in
the marketplace. The problem with
entrepreneurs is that they always
assume that they are different, because
they say they are different. But yet,
customers cannot point one significant
factor or feature that makes them
standout or unique. As a street-smart
entrepreneur you have to do it
differently.

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For you to understand the Potential

Circle better, think of it as having all the
augmented features and more. How?
This circle contains all the new and
exciting augmented features your
product or service might have in the
future. It shows a continuous
improvement made to make the
customers happier. The aim is to
surprise and excite. You must keep
improving your product or service to
delight and excite your customers in a
way that keeps them loyal to your brand.

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As you can see, the Potential Circle is

the largest circle, it is endless. Hence,
your improvements to your products and
services must be endless. It has the
potential to make your business or brand
standout massively and draw a flood of
customers your way. So, let’s still stick to
our hair studio as example. What would
be the Potential Features you can think
of?

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Potential Features:

- A Monthly Salon Subscription. Maybe

with a 35 - 50% Membership Discount

- Free Human Hair delivery on birthdays

- The Triple Benefits Package - Let’s say

you bring three of your friends to use our
salon, you get to make your own hair for
free.

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You can think of different exciting and

surprising features that will make your

customers and potential customers
excited now and in the future and start
integrating those features. The goal is to
surprise, delight and excite.

Remember as a brand, you must first be

great at the two inner circles to even
survive in the marketplace. The other
outer two circles will make you thrive

and be extremely successful.

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So, think of it this way:

The Survival Circles &

The Thriving Circles.

Work on the Survival Circles first, else

the Thriving Circles will just irritate the
customers. You must get the basics right
before you augment the offering.

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Reflections and To Do List

1. Note down your Generic and

Expected Circles, then actively
create your Augmented and
Potential Circles.

What is that skill or those skills you have

been meaning to learn that can improve

your life or business?

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Write them down, then take the one on

marketing and sales to the top of the list. It

can be a training on Facebook Ads,

Google Ads, Digital Marketing in general,

take it to the top of your list. Next you
allocate a budget or an amount for it. This
should be top priority. Because…

Everything in life has to do with buying and

selling.

If for any important reason you can’t go for

the training or you can’t learn the skill, pay

for someone on your team to learn it.

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Make a List of the people you will like to

buy from you

Once you are done creating this list, start

crafting messages to send to them or
practice how to call them to buy from you.

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 Zero To Start-up
Chapter 5

The Marketplace & The Marketer

The size of Johnson and Johnson

definitely increased the size of its
problems, because there are certain
details that are lost in big corporations
due to its size. This is where good
structure comes in. However, the brand
size and brand problem shouldn’t be the
reason why you dream small, make
excuse not to grow or refuse to create

great products.

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Talking of great products, we have

covered a lot on relationship and teams,
we would now talk about products and
systems. It is important to understand
that building businesses doesn’t take a
single day. Johnson and Johnson surely
didn’t take a single day to build. It took
decades. Building a successful business
takes time, it takes effort. If you learn
how to do it right it will save you a lot of
time and resources.

I want to believe at this point that you

understand more about people and
relationships, so let us really talk about
product building. N.C. Desmond
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How do you get into a business, field

and industry that others have been in
and succeed way above them?
Sometimes when I hear people complain
that the market is crowded, I used to
wonder how? With over 7billion people
on earth, the market is crowded? No
ma’am, no sir, the market is not
crowded. You just haven’t found/created
your audience or you haven’t learnt how
to steal that of others. This is why you
are not making sales.

You are not making sales because:

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You are not selling something valuable or

something that people want.

You are selling a valuable product, but

you don’t know how to sell it.

You are selling to the wrong audience.

You can’t tell a good joke to a bad crowd
and expect them to laugh.

You don’t believe in what you are selling

and it shows in your marketing efforts.
You are not creative in your sales.

And, contrary to what most people

believe… N.C. Desmond
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Your Product Doesn’t Have to Be the

Best
Yes, that’s right. Your product might not
be the best out there, but people will feel
better paying you more or buying from
you than from someone else. There are
people in America with shitty services,
people you are way better than, but then
your hungry customer is happy to pay
them higher while paying you way less.

Why?

They are buying more than a product,

they are buying a feeling.
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What this means is that, you must learn

to sell feelings and not products. This
doesn’t mean that your product should
be shitty, no. Matter of fact, there are
certain criteria your product must have.
They are detailed by a Japanese
Professor many years ago but the rules
still apply.

In the 1980s, this Japanese Professor,

created a product development and
customer satisfaction theory called the
Kano Model. Wait… not Kano State in
Nigeria o.

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LOL.

Though the same spelling, it is named

after him. Noriaki Kano. This model
explains the very features any product
should have. What this means is that
every consumer looks for specific
features in a product, either consciously
or subconsciously. These features are
their preferences, and they are classified
into 5 categories: Item 5
10.5%

E
RS
VE
Item 4 R E L IT Y
A
10.5% QU

IND Item 1
IFFE
QUA RENT 39.5%
LITY MUST BE
QUALITY
AT QU
TR AL
A C IT Y
TI
VE

Item 3 ONE
26.3% ONAL
DIMENTI
QUALITY

Item 2
13.2%

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THE MUST-HAVE QUALITY

Before I explain the Must Have Quality

in detail, let me share a little incident that

happened between me, a customer and
a supposed expensive restaurant in
Lagos. A client whom my company;
Creative Chaos Ltd. had done, in his
words, a fantastic branding job for,
recommended us to an acquaintance of
his. And from my little research and

prospecting, the man was a big weight

and looked like someone who would pay
us a lot of money for our service
depending on his company's needs.
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So, when he asked for a meeting (we

didn’t own a physical office space at the
time) I was excited and happy to meet
him. But in order to create a good first
impression like I always like to do with
my clients, I decided to take him to an
expensive and reputable restaurant. A
place where we could have time to talk,
discuss deliverables and figures.

So, I called a friend of mine to

recommend a place for me. He
recommended a restaurant on the
island.

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I sent the location and time to the

prospect before leaving home, and being

someone who is big on punctuality like

myself, he drove in five minutes after I
got there.

We sat down and began discussing, and

for over one hour, thirty minutes, no
single waiter walked up to us to take our
orders. No water offered. No drink
offered. Nothing coughed our way.

Nothing sneezed our way. Nothing. We

were by ourselves and the staffs were by
themselves. It was as though they didn’t
notice that new customers walked in.
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Some of the waitresses were on their

phones, two were gisting and laughing
with each other. And when we signaled

them to come take our orders, the feet

dragging, the nonchalant and irritating
approach was unbelievable. It made me
wonder how they make sales at all. I
couldn’t look at the prospect's face, I
was so, so embarrassed.

If you were in my shoes, would you be

satisfied with the restaurant?

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Another question, if you were in my shoes

and you get the opportunity to recommend

any restaurant would you recommend

them?

I am sure your answer is no.

Then ask yourself this…

If you were a customer, would you

sincerely recommend your own business

to yourself?

Think about it carefully and be honest with

your answer.
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Talking of recommendation, I don’t think

I will ever recommend that restaurant. In

reverse, if you walk into a restaurant and

a beautiful looking, smiling waitress
walks up to you to take your order.

How would you feel?

I guess you would feel good.

But a waitress walking up to you

shouldn’t make any great significance

really.

Why?
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Because, naturally you expect the

restaurant to have that in place. In

Kano’s theory, that’s a MUST HAVE
Quality. A Must Have Quality is simply
the features your product must have. It is
not optional, they must have it. Whether
your business is product based or
service based, it must have certain
features for people to be able to buy
from you or buy again from you. Yet, the
irony of it is that the customer takes

these features for granted.

It’s crazy, yeah?!

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You must have it in place, the customer

expects you to, even if they take it for

granted or don’t take conscious note of it.

But if you don’t have it in place, they would
know instantly and it will create a big
problem for you and hamper your sales.

For example, imagine this conversation with

a customer care agent called Agent Fiyin:

Agent Fiyin: (Cuts in) Mr. You, please,

please I will really like you not to talk long

story, just go straight to the point. Why
exactly are you calling?

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You: (shocked) Ahhh ahhhh, excuse

me…?

Agent Fiyin: I’ll do just that, I have other

customers to attend to. Are you done?

You: (angry) Fiyin or what do you call

yourself? I am calling because I went to
the properties you guys sold to me and I
discovered that you have sold it to
someone else and it has been fenced

round!

121
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Agent Fiyin: Why didn’t you fence it

round when you bought it?

You: Wait… what…?!

Agent Fiyin: Omo, you’re in Lagos o.

Nah only Jew dey buy land no fence am

for Lagos o….

Imagine such a conversation with a

customer care agent. Imagine just

discovering that your property has been

resold and an Agent Fiyin is talking to

you like this. Imagine that.

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Unimaginable right?

But…

Most of you are Agent Fiyin in your own

kind of way, in your business and to your
customers. A customer care agent is
naturally expected to be receptive, warm,
calming and reassuring. When a customer
agent is hostile and rude, we will notice
immediately. In other words, when

products or services have the must have

qualities, they are hardly noticeable by the
customers and not much is felt about it.

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But when they do not have it, or if you

do it wrongly or poorly, they would notice
and they would be very dissatisfied. And

sadly, some of us make this mistake in

our businesses too. To avoid this kind of
mistake we should learn to apply the

Suya Man Principle in our business.

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The Suya Man Principle

For you to better understand the Must

Have Quality and be able to apply it to
your business, the Suya Man Principle
explains how to do that better. I will
explain.

Imagine coming back from work or

returning from your office or place of
business at night. The moment you get

to an Aboki man selling Suya, usually

there is a brief greeting.

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What happens next?

The Aboki Man slices a small piece of

suya and gives to you to taste - that is a
must have.

Even if the Suya man didn’t give you,

sometimes you will ask for it. Because
naturally, you expect him to give you
tasting.

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The next thing is, you tell him the

amount you want to buy and he would
sell it for you. When he is done, the next
thing he does is to put onion - that is a
must have. Sometimes, before they put
onion, they would ask, for the sake of
those with allergies or with special
preferences. Because they understand
the importance of these must have
qualities some experienced suya men
are now going as far as having cabbage,
carrots and onion, depending on the
preference of their customers. This
quality will keep your customers with you
and turn prospects to customers.
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Exercise

Name of Your Business….

Product…

Must Have Quality…

How To Improve It…?

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Write down the name of your business in

a paper, write down the name of the

business’ product or products as the
case may be. Then write down the must
have qualities and finally how to
improve it.

Example using the Suya Man Principle

above:

Name of Business… Suya Man Spot

(SMS)

Name of Product… Suya

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Must Have… A slice of suya as tasting.

Slices of onion on the suya.

How To Make It noticeable… Slice three

parts of the suya, normal meat, a gizzard
and the fatty part. Give it to the
customer, and as you hand each to
him/her, one after the other, you briefly
tell them the nutritional advantage of
each one.

If a Suya Man does that to you, it will

definitely catch your attention. What will
catch the attention of your prospects?

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Now, go back to the exercise, do them and

catch the attention of your customers.

PS: Good customer service and relation is

a must have for all businesses and
products!

ATTRACTIVE QUALITY
The next kind of quality that a product
should have according to the Kano
Model is the Attractive Quality.

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Though I had a bad experience with that

restaurant, scratch that, a terrible

experience, let us still stick to the

restaurant scenario. Let’s say you have

a date. A date with a fine, beautiful,
everybody-wants-her-but-can’t-have-her
kind of girl. She has agreed to go out on

a date, and you have just one shot at

this. Impress her, and win her heart.

PS: Some people will probably say,

mtchwww, it’s not war nah, which one is

win her heart? It’s simple, I love you, talk

your own.

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LOL.

Okay…

Let’s not use a romantic date with a girl

or boy… because some of you, all that is
in your head is money. So, let’s say you
have a business date with a prospect.
You have one shot at killing the pitch
and crushing the deal.

In order to crush this deal, you decided

to take this client to an exquisite
restaurant.

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Imagine a beautiful waitress walks up to

you and after taking your orders, she

returned a minute after with three
different bottles of expensive wine.
Imagine your surprise, imagine you feel
somewhat irritated that she would bring
some expensive bottles of wine when
you clearly didn’t ask for one. You’re
thinking what kind of embarrassment is
this? You don’t even have enough
money.

Now, let’s take for example that the

following conversation took place:

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You: (frowning as you calculate the cost of

the wine) “Excuse me, I didn’t order for…”

Waitress: (interjects politely) “I’m sorry sir,

yes you didn’t. However, this is a welcome
bottle. It’s on the house sir. Please pick any
brand of your choice, and thank you for
visiting C.C. Restaurant.”

I can feel you smiling…

Yes, that would surely impress you,

wouldn’t it? Even if you don’t like being
interrupted, you will forgive this one
interruption.
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The point is, an Attractive Quality is an

unexpected but exciting quality that makes

your brand desirable and attractive to your

customers. Unlike the Must Have Quality,

if your product or service doesn’t have it,
customers won’t be dissatisfied, but when
they do, it creates immense satisfaction.

Exercise

Name of Your Business….

Product…

Attractive Quality…
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Write down the above as you’ve done

before or simply, create an Attractive

Quality page on your business notebook

and then write how you can improve or

create more of them.

Exercise sample:

Let’s take for instance you are a Fashion

Designer selling your designs online,

either through social media platforms,

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or through

Whatsapp or your own dedicated

website where people shop from.

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Name of Business… Chioma Akpuru

Name of Product… Dinner Dress Gown

Value: N59,000

Attractive Quality… Imagine someone

orders your Dinner Dress Gown and
after packing it neatly in your designed
delivery bag, you add a box of fragrance.
Let’s say, one of the rich fragrances you

know, with a short note like this:

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Queens aren’t meant to look just nice,

They are meant to stand out.
Stand out like a queen that you are in

this gown, tailor made just for you

And, yes baby girl, you’re Royalty, you
should smell like one.

Xoxo.

CA Woman.

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Without the fragrance and note, the

customer won’t be upset. After all, it is

the dress they ordered. However, the
fragrance and note are Attractive
quality. It makes the brand endearing to
the customer. It makes them lovable and
recommendable.

For your business, think of the attractive

quality things you can add to make your
business attractive. Or check the last

chapter to find numerous ideas of the

Kano Model Samples for different
businesses.

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PS: You should study people in your

industry and see what attractive quality

they have, steal them and improve on

them!

Continued in the next chapter…

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Chapter 6
KANO MODEL 2

REVERSE QUALITY

Imagine you closed from work for the

day and knowing fully well you won’t be
able to have the energy to cook when

you get home, you decided to stop by a

restaurant to eat. Imagine the moment
you walk into the restaurant, the waitress
walks up to you and the following
conversation take place:

Waitress: Hi, you’re welcome to CC

Restaurant. How are you today sir?
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You: I am very well, thank you.

Waitress: You’re welcome sir. You look

stressed, shouldn’t you be home by

now?

You: (Gives a weird expression) Well, I

am hungry, I want to eat first.

Waitress: Very well sir, what can I get

you? (Hands a menu to you and you

start going through it) While you pick

your choice, I will go get you a glass of

water. Or would you prefer something
stronger?
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You: (looks up) Water will do.

Waitress: What kind of water?

You: (Confused) What do you mean

what kind of water?

Waitress: Warm or chilled?

You: (Inhales and exhales heavily)

Chilled please.

Waitress: Would you want a full bottle or

just a glass?

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You: (Snaps gently) Please just get me

water.

Waitress: Right away. It will take

approximately 5minutes.

You shake your head as she walks away

to get you the water. She comes back
shortly and you have picked your choice
and ready to place your order.

You: Please give me shsshsh

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Waitress: That’s a perfect choice. Do

you know that meal was created from

the french recipe in 1909?

You: (Your stomach grumbles) No, I

didn’t know that.

Waitress: It was a recipe created by an

old man who went to the farm to get
leaves to prepare his meal before he
dies.

You: (Stomach grumbles again)

Hmmmm. Really?

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Waitress: Yes, it was just like the Biblical

story of the hungry Prophet Elijah and the

Widow who wanted to prepare the last

meal for herself and her son to eat and

die…

You: That’s nice, but can you go and get

the meal, I am hungry.

Waitress: (Smiles politely) Yes sir. Do you

know hunger is a thing of the mind…

You: Goddamm it, go and bring my food!

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Crazy, yeah?

That’s how some businesses are.

Though their intentions are nice and

what they sought to do is good, but
when you do too much, customers will
find it irritating. Some products and
service go the extra mile in doing
rubbish. According to the Kano Model,
these are qualities that seem excess,
unnecessary and often irritates

customers.

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Simplicity is key.

The Reverse Quality also shows that not

all customers are the same. Though as
irritating as some products with reverse
qualities can be, some people will still
find it attractive. It shows that not all
customers are alike.

However, stick to simplicity. Because

products and services with too many

extra features put some customers off.

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Exercise

Name of Your Business….

Product…

Reverse Quality…

How To Improve It…?

Create a page in your business

notebook for the reverse quality.

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Write down all the reverse qualities of

your products or business and then

remove all of them or change them to

make them less irritating and more
attractive.

Example let’s say you are a shoe

vendor and you have a Business
Whatsapp number where people can
reach you to buy from you.

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So, in order to still communicate with

prospects and clients even when you are

not available, you set your account to

have an automated response message
that your customer will receive once they
contact you.

Name of Business… Walkings

Name of Product… Nike Air

Reverse Quality… Hello, thank you for

contacting WALKINGS, we are currently
not available. Please, let us know how we
can be of help to you.
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Tell us your shoe size, where you live,

how old you are, where you are from,

and who recommended us to you.

Improve it to: Hi there, thank you for

WALKING in on us, a simple shoe brand
which don’t just sell shoes, but give goal-
getters like yourself, the right shoes as
they walk on the journey to greatness.
Thank you for letting us be part of your
journey to greatness, we can’t wait to

WALK with you.

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The difference between the two is clear.

Look at every aspect of your business

and change them to be more attractive.

PS: There are too many businesses, too

many products and too many options for
your target customer to pick from. They
have just one choice to make, remove all
reverse quality and replace them with
very attractive quality to force them to
pick you over all others.

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ONE DIMENSIONAL

As you’ve come to realize and agree,

CC Restaurant is the best restaurant.
So, let’s say after taking your client
there, you succeed in impressing them.
You crushed the deal and the customer
is really happy with you.

The waiter brings you your bill, you settle

it and even tipped him. You are happy,

your client is happy, the restaurant is

happy. Everyone is happy.

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As you are about to leave, the waiter

comes to you and then tells you that if
you buy a take away, you’d get an extra

two chicken laps.

Oh…. really? You said.

Yes, sir… he nodded.

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Thinking about your wife or loved one at

home, you excitedly pay for a pack. As

you drive home, you imagine how

happy your wife would be to hear the

good news about the deal you just
crushed and also the pack of delicious
meal you just bought for her with two

freaking chicken laps.

Imagine getting home and discovering

there is no chicken in the food at all.

How would you feel?

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How would you even feel watching your

wife eat the food without any chicken?

You would feel disappointed right?

This exactly is what the One

Dimensional Quality is. What this
means is, these are features or extras

promised to your customers. When these

promises or extras are given, they leave

the customer extremely satisfied and

happy. But when they are broken or not

carried out in the manner in which they

have been promised, they leave the

customers very, very disappointed and
dissatisfied.
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PS: These features are sort of like an

enticing promise. And you know what

happens when you break a promise?

Good.

Exercise

Name of Your Business….

Product…

One Dimensional or call it Customers

Promise…

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Broken Promise…?

New Promise…?

Create a page for One Dimensional

Qualities on your business notebook.
Now, write out all the promises you’ve
made to customers but never fulfilled. It
can be promises made through your
brand's About, through your Vision or
Mission statement, it can be through

your marketing offers. Whatever promise

you have made to your customers or
targets that you didn’t fulfill or you’re not
fulfilling, write them down.
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Now, write down new promises,

inclusive of how you will fulfill the old

ones.

For example, let’s say your are a real

Estate Agent and you want to infuse a
one dimensional quality on your
product offer to make people buy from
you.

Name of Business… vest Reality

Name of Product… One Plot of Land

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One Dimensional Quality… You can

offer to give the first ten people who buy

a plot of land in your new estate a fence

round their properties.

That’s a one dimensional quality. If you

fail to do this, it will paint a very bad

image of your brand. If you do it right, it

will improve your brand perception, and

increase word of mouth marketing.

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PS: The One Dimensional Quality

often get your customers talking to

others about your products. And as you
already know, word of mouth marketing
is still the best type of marketing.

Understood?
Great.

Continued in the next chapter…

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Zero To Start-up

KANO MODEL 3

INDIFFERENT QUALITY

You remember in those days when buying

something as basic as a sim card was a
sort of luxury. But now sim cards are sold
or even given out for free depending on
the area you live. As a matter of fact, very
soon, no one will be using sim cards
again, the world is moving beyond that.

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As technology keeps making our world

advance, most of the things we used to

see as luxury, we are now realizing are
basic things we should have. Though,
annoyingly, in this part of the world,
some of these things are still in place.
For example, imagine having difficulty
with your sim card, or network. Then you
call your network provider’s customer
care line:

Some of them take up to an hour playing

advertorial songs while keeping you
waiting - This is an Indifferent Quality.

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. Depending on the customer or the

mood of the person, these songs or

adverts can either make you very happy
or make you very unhappy.

The annoying thing is sometimes, they

would take the whole day playing
advertorial songs and you will never get
to speak with an agent and your issue
stays unresolved.

Until…

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You drag them online before they hastily

attend to it. Of course, they will attend to

you faster. The point is, an indifferent

quality can be good or it can be bad.

These kinds of features can make
customers very, very happy and it can
make a customer very, very mad. In

other words, they are features which

your product shouldn’t necessary have,

because customers are indifferent about.

Whether you have it or not, they are

indifferent about it.

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Exercise

Name of Your Business….

Product…

Indifferent Qualities…

Remove Or Not Remove…

Create an Indifferent Quality page on

your business notebook and then write
out all the indifferent qualities in your
products or business. Ask yourself, do
these features in anyway add to the
value the customer is getting?

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Do customers really care about them?

What purpose does this feature or that

feature serve?

Write all this down. Then ask yourself

which ones to remove and which ones to
keep.

Example… a perfect example has been

set for us by the most iconic founder in

business history. Steve Jobs.

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Do customers really care about them?

What purpose does this feature or that

feature serve?

Write all this down. Then ask yourself

which ones to remove and which ones to
keep.

Example… a perfect example has been

set for us by the most iconic founder in

business history. Steve Jobs.

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Name of Business… Apple Inc.

Name of Product… iPhone

Before the first iPhone, phones had

keyboards. This was an essential feature
and almost all the phones had them.
Including top phone brands like,
Blackberry and Nokia. However, the
Apple Team literally made us realize the
irrelevance of it. They decided to remove

it and sold it to us. It seemed ridiculous,

but they did it and the rest of the world
followed suit.

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Indifferent Quality… Power Button

Remove or Don't Remove…. Remove.

PS: There are a lot of irrelevant things or

features affecting your business growth
and product sales, look into them. If they

are indifferent qualities, remove them

asap!

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FINAL WORDS…

Dearest Reader, thank you for reading.

As I said from the beginning of the book,
it is an excerpt from a much detailed and
rich book. I would appreciate it if you can
support my work.

You can send me anything you have and

can with love, to support me in
publishing my books or for simply being

amazing 😊

N.C. Desmond
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Nwali Desmond

0113190235
Guaranty Trust Bank

Nwali Desmond
9049743538
Opay Digital

Thank you and remain blessed.

With Love,
Desmond.

174
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Also, please write me a review via this

link.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp
QLScNnqN2fy2lG7-
L3D5NDGNR7BeKdZiQRzL6sRa6KQiW5
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I will be checking it to see. I do not say

this lightly, I highly need your reviews.
Thank you and God bless you. I hope you

enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it for

you.

N.C. Desmond
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I have more gifts to help your business

and financial goals. Stay tuned to my

newsletter, these gifts are coming your

way.

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