ROLE OF SOCIAL SKILLS AS A TOOL TO PROMOTE MICRO AND SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS

ABSTRACT

The study examines the role of social skills as tools to promote micro and small business success. The investigative study ascertained the role social skills would play to promote micro and small business success through effective customer relationship management. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised of all the small business retail shops in Benin-City. The sample size consists of a hundred responses (100) and a random sampling technique was adopted by the researcher for the study. Instrument employed for the study was a set of structured questionnaire for the collection of primary data. The reliability of the instrument was administer from the population but excluded from the main study .Data collected was determined using cronbach Apha and a reliability value of 0.85. The descriptive statistics of percentage, frequencies, mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data gathered. The major findings revealed that social skills such as effective communication, active listening and relationship building play a vital role in fostering customer relationship and acquisitions of contacts. Also, that social skills contribute to creating a positive business environment and are instrumental in achieving high sales volume through persuasion and negotiation. Strategy such as getting feedback from customers was needed to achieve micro and small business success. Based on this findings: it was evident that social skills are fundamental driver of success for micro and small business in the retail sector in the study area. It was recommended therefore that micro and small business operators should invest in training and development programs to be abreast with current trend in social skills utilization.Also they should adopt customer centricapproach by actively listening to customer feedback, understanding their needs and preferences and addressing them promptly.