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Only one of every 5
businesses makes it to its 5th year, and fewer still make it to
10 years. What do the successful businesses have in common?
1. The experience
and skills of the top managers. Over half of business failures
are directly related to managerial incompetence.
2. The energy,
persistence and resourcefulness (the will to make the business
succeed) of the top managers. Many business owners have failed
or come close several times before their “instant” success.
Don’t give up.
3. A product that
is at least a cut above the competition and service that doesn’t
get in the way of people buying. There must be a compelling
reason to buy; the product is great, the people love to provide
service, and the buying experience is easy and fun.
4. The ability to
create a “buzz” around the product with aggressive and strategic
marketing. Make scarce marketing resources count. Do as much
homework about your customers and their choices as you can
before investing your marketing cash.
5. Deal-making
skills to sell the product at the highest possible price given
your market. It comes down to your customers’ perception of the
value of your product and sometimes the power of your
personality.
6. The ability to
keep developing new products to retain and build a customer
base. Consider gradual product development based on improvements
to the current product line and sold to the current customer
base.
7. Deal-making
skills to work with resource suppliers to keep costs low.
Keeping costs lower than competitors’ and continuing to look for
cost reductions even when the business is profitable is key.
8. The maturity to
treat employees, suppliers and partners fairly and respectfully.
Trust and respect result in productivity increases in ways that
may be difficult to see and quantify.
9. Superior
location and/or promotion creating a connection between your
product and where it can be obtained. Studies have shown it can
take seeing your product or name seven times before a customer
is ready to buy.
10. A steady source
of business during both good economic times and downturns. Over
the long term, develop a product mix that will include winners
during good economic times and other winners when times are
tough.
Jan B. King is
the former President & CEO of Merritt Publishing, a top 50
woman-owned and run business and the author of Business Plans to
Game Plans: A Practical System for Turning Strategies into
Action (John Wiley & Sons, 2004). She has helped hundreds of
businesses with her book and her ebooks, The Do-It-Yourself
Business Plan Workbook, and The Do-It-Yourself Game Plan
Workbook. See
www.janbking.com for more information
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