KENYA · GUIDE 0566 · EDITION 4.2
Data entry service in Kenya: Customers and Market Demand
The buyer and the buying decision
Small organizations moving records from forms to spreadsheets. The offer to test is: Enter a defined dataset with exception reporting and accuracy checks.
Enter a defined data batch using agreed source fields, validation rules, duplicate handling, confidentiality controls, and an exception queue for records that cannot be interpreted reliably from the supplied source material.
Separate interest from an accepted order
Process a small batch and measure errors before a larger assignment.
The purpose of this test is to establish whether the buyer accepts the specified result, delivery arrangement and payment terms. An encouraging interview does not establish repeat demand. Ask what the buyer currently uses, what would make them change supplier and who has authority to approve the first order. Record a refusal as carefully as an enquiry so that unsuccessful offers do not disappear from the evidence.
Collect evidence specific to this offer
Maintain batch references, entered record counts, validation failures, ambiguous fields, duplicate decisions, sampled errors, client clarifications, and correction totals so acceptance rests on traceable quality rather than volume alone at project completion.
| Question to resolve | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| What exactly will the buyer accept? | Ask the client to reconcile totals and sample entries back to source records, deliberately including ambiguous dates, repeated names, missing values, and unusual amounts before accepting the full entry approach proposed. |
| What is included in the first trial? | Enter a defined data batch using agreed source fields, validation rules, duplicate handling, confidentiality controls, and an exception queue for records that cannot be interpreted reliably from the supplied source material. |
| How will a prospect see the offer? | Propose a measured batch test rather than an unsupported accuracy percentage. |
| What must happen before repeating the trial? | Row count and key fields reconcile to the source; exceptions are not silently filled. |
Decide whether to continue
Review the specification with the buyer before committing to tools or stock. A trial is commercially useful only if actual costs, rejected work, time spent and cash collected can be reconciled. A complete-looking dataset can be wrong when blanks become invented values or duplicate customers are merged merely because names match, destroying distinctions the business depends on for its actual work and reporting.
If a buyer changes the required output, record a new scope and re-cost the test. Do not count a request for a different product as proof of demand for the original one. Keep personal contact details in your private records and use customer statements publicly only with permission.
Turn the example into a buyer test
Fictional data-entry batch ENT-66 captures 200 handwritten stock-receipt rows into a client workbook with six fields: source page/line, receipt date, supplier code, item code, quantity and document reference. Example row: 'P03-L07 | 2026-10-12 | SUP004 | 00127 | 8 | GRN00045'. Codes are identifiers, not numbers; leading zeros must survive. Accounting classification, stock valuation, supplier verification and changing ambiguous quantities are excluded. Output includes the entered table, query list and reconciliation totals.
| Buyer discussion | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| Specification to confirm | Do not mix cartons and pieces in one quantity column without an explicit unit field or conversion approved by client. |
| Output to inspect | Open the final workbook and any CSV through the intended import route to confirm identifiers remain intact. |
| Failure that can defeat acceptance | 00127 becomes 127 |
Ask the buyer to describe one acceptable and one unacceptable result. Record the decision maker, price basis, quantity, handover point and payment date privately. A sample request, an encouraging conversation and an accepted order are different evidence. Keep the first commitment within your demonstrated capacity; no customer interview or successful trial is asserted here.
What a failed test should change
Check cell type and import route.. If the offer cannot meet that check, revise the specification or process before promising a repeat. Keep rejected offers and reasons in the same register as positive replies so that your record does not exaggerate demand.