It is estimated that anywhere between 60 and 70% of new businesses fail within the first two years of their existence. While this is a figure that may intimidate those looking to start a business, if you can get through the initial period of heavy costs and other associated start-up issues, the omens are good.
Many new start-up businesses that become successful are even reaching a stage early on where they are rivaling larger, more prominent rivals in terms of products and service delivery. What are the steps you can take to avoid becoming a statistic, one of the businesses that have started, tried, and failed to make an impact?
Learn From The Past
Whether it is by reading books or searching for personal anecdotes online, there is a wealth of information available that will help you avoid the mistakes of the past.
Even more powerful than doing this is to look at what the larger businesses are doing. Many corporations, in the current climate, are content to maintain revenues and profits, unwilling to try something different to generate growth in the fear that it may backfire.
This is why you see many businesses with little or no reference to social media on their websites, for example. It is the unknown for them and, while evidence proves it is a huge opportunity, to them it is a risk not worth taking.
Even by just becoming a prominent social media presence, for example, you will be quickly putting yourself alongside, and in many cases in front of, some world famous brands.
Look To The Future
Another area that large businesses are shockingly inept at taking advantage of is web applications. Many small businesses are stealing a march by developing their own apps, and taking advantage of the opportunities they have to interact with their customers on a daily basis.
By being smart with a web or mobile application early on, people will immediately associate this with your business. Implementing it later will make it more difficult to involve people who are already used to your normal methods of operating.
Customer Relationships
There is much-advanced technology available that allows businesses to monitor their customer habits and trends. While large businesses do this to a reasonable degree, their vast customer bases mean that they are not able to apply the truly personal touch that comes with standout customer service standards.
Personalise the way you communicate with your customers and how you deliver their needs, and you will find yourself quickly on the road to success.
Posterita is a successful start-up in the web POS marketplace. The company offers the latest technological products for companies that need point of sale remotely.