|
|
| Top Quick Tips |
|
|
|
|
Top 10 Stumbling Blocks that Limit Business Growth
Never in history have more entrepreneurs launched more new businesses! In America, thousands of business open their doors every single day! Unfortunately, most of them (over 90% of them) also close their doors within two years. Businesses are started with high hopes and glorious dreams. It is easy to start a business. It is much more difficult to build it, to make it succeed, to avoid the traps and pitfalls and frustrations, and enjoy the fruits of success over the years. In working with hundreds (probably two to three THOUSAND) entrepreneurs over 25 years, here are the mistakes I see most often. Avoid them! 1. Fear and Confusion. There is either a sense of being over-whelmed by the size of the tasks, or a refusal to master the work of being an entrepreneur and business owner. There are specific skills to owning and running a successful business. Learn them! You can master this! You can focus and succeed! (This is often the time to hire a coach!) 2. Lack of Capital. Capital comes in three forms: Time, money, and energy. Some people have one or two, but not all three, and they fail because they simply can not sustain the growth phase of their business. EVERY business is a commitment of everything you have. You may start "small", but that does not mean casual or part-time! 3. Lack of Courage or Commitment. Building a business is always risky. Some people perceive the risk as frightening, others see it as an exciting challenge, but there is always risk. Manage it. Limit your potential losses. Understand the risks and enjoy the process. You will make mistakes. Learn from them and go on. 4. Refusal to select and target an audience. No one can sell their services to "everyone" ? a message that goes to everyone is unlikely to create a sense of urgency in anyone in particular. Attorneys focus on one type of law. Physicians specialize. So should you. 5. Choosing the wrong audience. A market that can not or will not pay or an audience that is too small or dispersed is a recipe for disaster. The "poor" desperately need medical, dental, legal and other services, but who is going to pay you? The same problem exists when trying to reach an audience that is dispersed over a large geographic area and not easily identified. 6. Fuzzy or unfocused message. What exact benefits do you provide? To whom? Under what circumstances and at what cost? How can people contact you? Be precise, be clear, be specific. 7. Lack of planning ? too many random efforts. Many entrepreneurs try a little radio, a direct mailing, join a service organization, offer free samples, and then report that they have "tried everything and nothing worked". Pick one, and stay the course! You become identified with your marketing techniques. Choose a logo, a color-scheme, and a marketing technique and stay with it! 8. Too much advertising, too little relationship building. Advertising works best for tangible products because customers can see the results. Intangible services are very difficult to advertise and are almost always purchased based on the quality of the relationship. The more people know you, and the more they know about you and your caring, your professionalism and your quality, the more business you will do. Build networks of relationships! 9. Laziness and/or Greed. Your business ONLY exists to serve the customer! You must make a profit in order to continue serving the customer, but service is the key to success. Everything must be focused on that. The statement, "I want to be my own boss", or "I want a business that supports me" may be true (and be totally honest and reasonable), but they are a dangerous focus for your business. Customers first! 10. Having a product or service that fails to produce adequate benefits, or fails to serve as promised. Some professionals are incompetent. Some don't use current technology, or are sloppy in their delivery. Particularly with services, even ONE mistake will undermine client confidence, loyalty, and trust. Do your best ? every time! © Copyright 2003 by Philip E. Humbert. All Rights Reserved. This article may be copied and used in your own newsletter or on your website as long as you include the following information: "Written by Dr. Philip E. Humbert, writer, speaker and success coach. Dr. Humbert has over 300 free articles, tools and resources for your success, including a great newsletter! It's all on his website at: http://www.philiphumbert.com
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Media Training: Seven Ways to Instantly Improve Your Media Interviewing Skills Imagine if you were going to address a stadium full of people. You'd probably spend hours (if not days or weeks) agonizing over every word you were going to say. You'd practice your gestures in the mirror. You'd carefully select your clothing. You might even rehearse with your family. Top 10 Items to Review & Build Your Business Now! In building and runnng an independent private practice or small business, there are many items that need to be monitored closely and should be reviewed periodically. Year-end is a traditional time do this, and this week's Letter is a "Top Ten" of items to review as the year draws to a close, or whenever you decide to pause, reflect, take stock and re-assess. Top 10 Ways to Start a Business For Less Than $500 We've heard numerous success stories of Internet entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos, who started Amazon.com from his garage, using cheap plywood to construct desks. There are scores of others and they never fail to make new entrepreneurs feel a little overwhelmed or dare I say, jealous. Well not every business has the moneymaking potential of some of these successful businesses but it's no reason for you not to have a profitable business of your own. After you read this article you'll never have to ask again, "I'm barely making ends meet. How can I start a business? " 10 Steps for Business Owners to Take if They Are a Victim of Identity Theft Be aware that 40 million crooks obtained credit card numbers this past year, "Be Suspicious". Also be aware that most identify theft is not reported, especially when it involves family members, so the statistics are off. These statistics show that consumers lost $5 billion last year when in actuality it is closer to $50 billion. There have been an estimated 9.9 million victims in America. Performance-Stress-Motivation: 7 Sanity Saving Business Boundaries The lack of strong boundaries is one of the chief causes of stress, overwork and overwhelm in the business environment. The Seven Secrets of Top Performers Let's put to rest the fallacy that success, in sales or any profession, is due to luck, chance, and/or hard work. There is nothing further from the truth. Think about it, you and I both know people who work incredibly hard, putting in long hours, they may even have two jobs, but they are not consistently (if ever) successful. Hard work certainly contributes to success, but hard work alone will not make you top-flight in your industry. Is success due, then, to luck or chance? After years of study, in a multitude of industries, I have come to the conclusion that success is an absolute science. In other words, there are exact principles of thought and action that all top performers universally and consistently exhibit. Let's examine seven of these principles more closely: High achievers know exactly what they want. I was recently working with top sales professionals on a seven-city tour of Canada. In these seminars, I invariably asked people what they wanted to achieve in the upcoming year. Many people had a vague idea of what they wanted (or what they thought they could achieve); and even more knew what they didn't want; but the high performers knew in measurable terms, what they wanted to accomplish in every area of their life. Without a doubt, this type of clarity and focus is power! Top performers visualize themselves in possession of their desired results. I have interviewed thousands of the worlds most successful and without fail they see themselves winning every single day. Whether in business or athletics: Jack Nicholas in golf, Michael Jordan in basketball, the million-dollar sales producer I spoke with last week, they all have this in common. Visualizing is the key to realizing! Highly successful have an unbending belief in themselves and their abilities. Winners believe they will win in advance, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. A common mistake among would-be achievers is the notion that ''if I become more skilled in my profession I will succeed.'' Yet how many highly skilled people do you know that are not profiting every single day? Often two people go through the same training course and acquire the same skills -- yet one becomes a huge success and one accomplishes nothing. The answer lies in the individuals belief system and the unshakable conviction that he or she will win. Achievers take action ''as if'' they were already in possession of the goal they desire. High achievers think, work, talk, play, and take action like the person they want to become. This means turning away from current results and focusing, believing, and acting ''as if'' you were already there. Understand that your current results are the direct outcomes of the past. The past does not equal the future. Winners take full responsibility for their own destiny. Winners get results! Results are not equal to no-results-and-a-good-story. Many sales professionals are better at making excuses than they are at making money. ''It's the economy, it's the location, my prices are too high.'' You can always come up with a good story, but winners hold themselves accountable. Only when you take accountability for everything in your life can you be responsible to change anything. Top performers build high-leveraged partnerships. No one in today's world can make it alone. There is just too much to learn and things are changing too rapidly. High achievers always spend time with other high achievers. Like attracts like. They attend the same events, eat at the same restaurants, join the same churches and clubs. Your business and social environment is more important than your heredity, choose your relationships and partnerships wisely. Great achievers are great givers. Achievers ask: "How can I provide more value? How can I give to others, to my teammates, employees, clients. What can I do to make it better?" Winners always give 10 times more value than they ask for in return. Success happens according to universal laws and timeless principles. Understand and utilize them and you will win. It works for everyone....every time. Managing Your Major Sales - 7 Steps That Could Change The Way You Pursue Business Ever lost a sale you thought was in the bag? Not an unfamiliar feeling for many businesses large and small. No matter how good you think your product or service is, everything finally boils down to your ability to convince others that it is good for them. It is all about getting the decision makers who matter to say "Yes". Top Ten Ways to Develop New Success Habits 1. Make a clear, specific commitment to what you want. Put your commitment in writing and post it where you can see it often. Seven Keys to Get Out of a Rut They say a rut is a shallow grave with two open ends. The good news (good news?!) is that the ends ARE still open, which means if you act fast, you just might out of it. How do we get into these ruts anyway? Who would voluntarily lie down in that grave, shallow or otherwise? Ten Steps To Better Listening Talking is the least important half of any conversation. Listening is the real skill. Listening for what is being said, what is being omitted and what's being given a "spin." Top 10 Steps to Build Your Professional Practice Now! 1. Examine everything in your office from the view of a new client! If necessary, spruce it up. Does it need new plants, better music or an aquarium? Make it as warm, comfortable and inviting as possible. The 7 Keys to Business Success Do you run a business that seems to run you? It does not have to be this way. There are 7 keys that can improve your business results and help you achieve success with much less stress. 7 Reasons You Want Referral Business and How to Get Them Studies have proven that there is one reason why people don't do more referral business: they don't ask. There are two reasons why, they forget or they don't have a strong enough relationship with their clients, so they don't feel comfortable 10 Compelling Reasons Not to Downsize Almost daily, newspapers, business magazines, radio and television carry reports of corporations, large and small, that are downsizing. Their attention is chiefly focused on the impact to the employees, as they are the ones most acutely experiencing the immediate effects. But what are the effects on the companies? Downsizing, rightsizing or any of the number of synonyms for radically cutting expenses and employees, may provide a decrease in operating expenses in the near term, but how will they impact the longer term future? Ten Reasons to Implement Choice Theory in Your Organization What is Choice Theory (CT)? CT is a theory of the explanation of human behavior. CT has applicability to both a person's personal and professional life. It teaches us about our five basic needs, how to meet those needs in a responsible way, and how to take personal responsibility for getting those needs met. Seven Ways to Improve Your Results with Follow-up What follows is a bold statement, but sometimes it takes a bold statement to get people's attention. Top Ten Reasons to Write a Sales Letter for Each Product? - Part 1 Authors/publishers are great at getting their books written. Entrepreneurs know their products. But after the initial one-year honeymoon, sales slow down. To counter this make sure your ebook, product, or service you offer will keep on selling from the first day, the first year, even for life. Write a short sales letter for each product or ebook. The Lazy Person Secrets To Overnight Wealth And Fame There are so many simple, yet really sure-fire ways of acquiring wealth, it's a wonder everybody with even the least bit of ambition isn't already rich. When you come right down to it, the only things needed for anyone to make bundles of money are the long-range vision and the energy to put a money-making plan into force. 7 Reasons You ARE Your Own Best Product, or Lessons From the 2004 Presidential Election The 2004 election is over--at least in the minds of the public--and analysis runs rampant as to why Senator John Kerry lost. From a business viewpoint, one could say that he simply didn't sell the product. Or more accurately, he didn't sell the American voters on himself, and by extension the Democratic Party, as the product. We all remember phrases such as "This is the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time" and "I voted for the invasion of Iraq before I voted against it." 7 Things You Can Do To Weather The Lows Of A Business Cycle Hey, as hard as this may be for you to swallow, business online is no different than a business on Main Street in your home town or city. We have good times and we have slow times.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2005 |