Launching a business can be difficult, but what’s more challenging is maintaining it throughout the years. It’s a common conception that more often than not, half of the new businesses fail during their first year. However, before the misconception gets the better of your business plan, it’s important to realize each business has its challenges and risks. Fortunately, with the right planning, investors, targeting, flexibility, and more – there is a good chance your business would thrive.
A fundamental part of preparing your small business for success is having the right mindset, planning, and utilizing the right tools. As your business progresses, you might start focusing on more markets, achieving better revenue, and acquiring more users, etc. However, it is equally important to keep your focus on the basics, and use analytical tools to your advantage. Zubi.Ai offers data analytics tool that enables you to leverage long-term success by utilizing data for business sustainability and growth.
Worried you are setting your small business for failure? Here is what you need to look out for to ensure your small business stays afloat:
You Plan Only When You Have To
Small businesses require continuous investment, and not just monetarily but also in terms of planning and preparing. If you are one to take things easy and delegate important tasks, and only plan when you have to – chances are you are sabotaging your small business before it can stabilize. Small businesses need more effort and require data-driven decision-making.
Perform SWOT Analysis and Create Data-Driven Plans
If you are unsure of what works and what doesn’t, performing a SWOT analysis can be very insightful. A SWOT analysis can help you identify what strengths, and opportunities your small business has, as well as which threats and weaknesses. Here is a breakdown of each:
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Strengths:
These are internal factors that are working in the favor of your business, you need to identify and improve their performance to ensure growth.
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Weaknesses:
These are items or factors that are not working for your business, and you need to either remove, stop, or improve them to sustain your business.
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Opportunities:
These are a sign of growth, and represent good prospects for the future. Identifying, and mapping out a plan for these can help achieve long-term sustainability.
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Threats:
Potentially damaging external factors to your small business are termed threats, these can be your competitors, market conditions, new products, etc.
You Sell What You Create and Not What People Want to Buy
While businesses are supposed to sell whatever product or service they are offering, it is equally important to modify the product according to the changing needs of the market. If you are only selling what’s in inventory and not many people want to buy it, your business might be on a path to failure. You need to focus on customer insight and provide products that offer value.
Understanding your Target Market Product Needs
There could be a high demand for your product, and there could be a large target audience – however, your business could still fail. In such cases, you need to improve your Value Proposition for your small business to truly be successful. Use data analytics to find your target customer’s buying behavior, and target them effectively based on that data.
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Offer a Fair Price (VOM)
If your sales have decreased, there is a chance that the value of your product is no longer worth the price. In such situations, consider halting production, executing effective CRMs, or advertising your product’s value in a way that matches customer needs.
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Improved Usability and Convenience
Is your product sustainable? Is it meeting customer needs? Is it reliable and durable? If your product isn’t offering enough usability and convenience to the end-user – it is setting sail to fail. Identify usability and warranty concerns, and conduct frequent testing.
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Offer a Good Customer Experience
If your product is not unique and doesn’t offer any particular benefit, it needs to be revamped. Look into what your competitors are doing, and perform market research. Based on that, offer bundling, sales, new advantages, loyalty points, etc.
You Underestimate the Importance of Administrative Tasks
As a small business owner, you might have visualized your company making sales, doing partnerships, and building customer loyalties. However, you might not have thought about filling one spreadsheet after the other, making calls after calls, and doing redundant work. Administrative tasks are often not planned, and that’s what causes most businesses to fail.
Planning and Automating Administrative Tasks
Plan for the redundant and routine tasks, from inventory management, business correspondence to managing employees. Automate most of the tasks via an AI data analytics tool, and delegate the rest of the tasks that aren’t as important. Here are some tasks you can automate:
- Order Fulfillment
- Inventory Management
- Flagging High-risk orders
- Order tagging
- Scheduled sales
- Scheduled product releases
- Autoresponders
- Back in Stock Notification
Focus on doing tasks that are essential to the success of your business, and for the remaining of them – automate. Free up your schedule to constantly review your business, the trends of the market, customer data, competitor analysis, and prepare a frequent forecast. Willingly invest more time into your small business to maintain its growth, and prioritize stability.
