For many small business owners, getting customers is only one part of the challenge.
The bigger problem can be dealing with everyone who shows interest.
A potential customer sends a message asking, “How much?”
You respond.
They ask, “Is it available?”
You respond again.
They request pictures.
You send them.
They ask for the location.
You explain.
Then they disappear.
Another person asks for your price, negotiates aggressively, promises to come back later and never does. Someone else wants to know every detail about a product they have no intention of buying. Another customer may genuinely be interested but needs more information before making a decision.
Meanwhile, the business owner is spending hours replying to messages instead of doing the work that actually moves the business forward.
This raises an interesting question for small online businesses: Would you pay ₦296 a day for someone to handle the first conversation with potential customers and send only the serious prospects to you?
At ₦296 a day, the cost would amount to about ₦8,880 over 30 days.
The concept is simple.
Instead of the business owner personally responding to every incoming enquiry, someone would act as a first layer of customer screening. They would receive enquiries, ask basic qualifying questions, identify genuine interest and then pass the more promising prospects to the business owner.
The business owner would then spend more time speaking with people who have already demonstrated that they are interested in buying.
It sounds simple, but behind the idea is a much bigger question about how small businesses should manage their time in an increasingly digital marketplace.
The Hidden Cost of Answering Every Customer
One of the most overlooked costs in a small business is the owner’s time.
When a business is just starting, the owner often does everything.
They create the product.
They take pictures.
They post on social media.
They answer WhatsApp messages.
They negotiate prices.
They package orders.
They arrange deliveries.
They handle complaints.
They keep records.
They manage suppliers.
They may even do the accounting.
At first, this seems normal.
But as enquiries increase, customer communication can become a full-time responsibility.
The problem is that not every enquiry has the same value.
Someone asking about a product does not necessarily mean they are ready to buy it.
That distinction matters.
If a business receives 50 enquiries in a day and only five people are genuinely prepared to purchase, the owner could potentially waste significant time treating all 50 conversations equally.
A screening system could change that.
What Would the ₦296 Actually Buy?
The proposed service would not necessarily be about replacing the business owner’s customer service team.
Instead, it would function as an initial filter.
The person handling enquiries could ask simple questions such as what product the customer is interested in, what quantity they need, their preferred delivery location and whether they are ready to proceed.
The goal would be to establish intent.
For example, imagine a fashion entrepreneur selling dresses online.
A customer sends a message asking for the price of a particular dress.
Instead of immediately passing the conversation to the owner, the screening assistant could establish the customer’s size, preferred colour, location and whether they are looking to order immediately.
If the customer provides the necessary information and indicates that they are ready to proceed, the conversation can be handed over to the business owner.
The entrepreneur can then focus on completing the sale rather than spending time collecting basic information.
The same principle could apply to real estate, catering, beauty services, photography, event planning, digital services, furniture, electronics and countless other businesses.
But Would ₦296 a Day Really Make a Difference?
That depends entirely on the business.
For someone receiving only three enquiries a week, perhaps not.
If the business owner can comfortably manage those conversations personally, paying for an additional service may simply create an unnecessary expense.
But consider a business receiving dozens of enquiries every day.
If the owner spends three or four hours responding to messages, filtering customers and answering repetitive questions, the economics become different.
Suppose that time could instead be used to create products, meet serious clients, improve marketing, manage suppliers or pursue larger business opportunities.
The value of the service would no longer be the ₦296.
The real value would be the time recovered.
This is an important principle in business: sometimes the cheapest service is expensive if it consumes your most valuable resource.
And for many entrepreneurs, that resource is time.
The Real Question Is Not “Is It Cheap?”
At first glance, ₦296 a day sounds inexpensive.
But price alone should not determine whether a business service is worthwhile.
The better question is: What result am I getting for the money?
If the service simply responds to messages without improving the quality of leads, it may not provide much value.
But if it consistently filters enquiries, identifies genuine prospects and helps the business owner close more sales, the equation changes.
A small daily expense could potentially become worthwhile if it contributes to increased revenue or allows the entrepreneur to focus on higher-value activities.
According to DDM News, this is increasingly becoming an important consideration for small businesses operating online. As customer enquiries move from physical locations into WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and other digital platforms, entrepreneurs have to think carefully about how much of their time should be spent answering messages manually.
The Biggest Challenge: Knowing Who Is Serious
The hardest part of this idea may not be answering customers.
It may be determining who is genuinely interested.
Some customers ask many questions before eventually buying.
Others may appear extremely interested and still disappear.
A person who says, “I want to buy tomorrow,” may never return.
Another customer who seems uncertain may eventually become one of the business’s most valuable clients.
This means screening cannot be based simply on how quickly someone says they want to buy.
A good screening process needs to identify buying signals without unfairly dismissing potential customers.
That requires training.
The person handling the first conversation needs to understand the business, the product, the typical customer and the difference between a genuine objection and a lack of interest.
This is where the service becomes more valuable than simply having someone answer WhatsApp messages.
Trust Would Matter
There is another important question.
Would business owners trust someone else to communicate with their customers?
For many small businesses, the answer may not immediately be yes.
Customers are often emotionally connected to the person behind the brand.
A fashion customer may want to speak directly with the designer.
A real estate client may want immediate access to the agent.
Someone ordering a customized product may have specific questions that require the owner’s expertise.
If the first point of contact does not understand the brand’s tone or product, the business could actually lose customers.
Therefore, any service offering this kind of customer screening would need to prioritize communication quality.
The assistant should sound professional, understand the business and know when to hand a conversation over to the owner.
The goal is not to create distance between the business and its customers.
It is to make the owner’s time more valuable.
There Is Also a Question of Accountability
If the service is going to charge a daily fee, business owners will naturally want to know what they are receiving.
Are all enquiries being answered?
How quickly are customers receiving responses?
How many leads are being classified as serious?
How many are being handed over?
How many eventually purchase?
Without some form of measurement, the business owner may struggle to determine whether the service is actually working.
That is why a simple reporting system could make such an idea considerably more attractive.
A business owner could receive a daily or weekly summary showing the number of enquiries received, the number of qualified prospects and the number of conversations transferred.
This turns an abstract service into something measurable.
Could This Become a Bigger Business?
The idea also reveals an interesting opportunity within Nigeria’s growing online business economy.
Thousands of small businesses are operating through social media and messaging platforms, but many have not yet developed formal customer acquisition or customer service systems.
Their owners are often overwhelmed.
They are selling through WhatsApp but managing everything manually.
They are receiving Instagram enquiries but answering messages whenever they have free time.
They are losing potential customers simply because they cannot respond quickly enough.
A low-cost lead-screening service could potentially solve a genuine problem for this group.
It would not need to be complicated.
The service could start with simple customer qualification, then gradually expand into appointment scheduling, follow-ups, sales support, customer relationship management and reporting.
The key would be proving that the service produces a meaningful outcome.
So, Would You Pay?
The answer ultimately depends on the type of business you run.
If your business receives very few enquiries, ₦296 a day may not be necessary.
If you receive dozens of messages and spend hours every week responding to people who never buy, the proposition becomes considerably more interesting.
For an entrepreneur who values time, the service could be less about paying someone to answer messages and more about paying to protect their attention.
That distinction is important.
A business owner should not necessarily be spending every hour talking to every person who shows interest.
Their time should increasingly be directed toward activities that create the greatest value.
According to DDM News, the future of small online businesses may involve more specialized support systems that allow entrepreneurs to focus on selling, creating and growing while routine processes are handled by trained assistants and technology.
But before anyone pays ₦296 a day, there are questions that deserve honest answers.
Will the person screening enquiries understand the product?
Will they know how to recognize serious buyers?
Will they respond quickly?
Will they communicate professionally?
Will they protect customer information?
Will the business owner actually close more sales or save enough time to justify the cost?
Those questions matter more than the ₦296 itself.
The concept is therefore worth considering, not because ₦296 is an incredibly small amount, but because it forces small business owners to think differently about one of their most valuable resources.
Time.
If someone could genuinely remove hours of repetitive customer conversations from your week and leave you with a smaller number of better-qualified prospects, would ₦296 a day be worth it?
Or would you rather continue handling every enquiry yourself?
That is the real business question.
Would you pay ₦296 a day to deal only with serious customers?
