There's no easy answer to this, of course. However, I think almost all businesses have the potential to succeed. Unless you're trying to sell ice cream at the North Pole, there's a way to make your business work. You just need to figure out what you need to do.
Growing a business is a constant process of experimenting to see what works, throwing out what doesn't work, and doing a lot more of what does work, over and over again. If you stay at this process long enough you will succeed. If you're not able to keep at it long enough you fail.
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I believe that it is very difficult to create a unique business which means that there will always be competition. As a result (what I saw from my own experience) small business fails if it is not persuasive in answering the question "why us?" Why clients should buy from YOU? Why the best employees should come to YOU? etc.
It seems like a lot of it has to do with great marketing and networking. Great marketing will help you to sell ANYTHING, networking will help you to build the circle of people who trust you and who will eventually become "ambassadors" promoting your business (word-of-mouth)
In terms of Marketing "secrets" any marketing text book will help with that at least to some extand. As for networking, I added a link to this answer which might help (for those who are located in USA)
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All business owners need to set goals. 90% of all business owners who set goals were successful. 90% of business owners who did not set goals were unsuccessful.
Hiring great employees and treating them well will lead to happier employees and better customer service. Many businesses have average customer service at best and will not go out of their way to "WOW" a customer.
Give the customers more value than the competition. This does not mean the lowest price, but can include a quality product at a fair price with great service.
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Answer Added by Corrisa.....
Businesses Fail for a variety of reasons, some of which are:
Lack of an infrastructure to support the business i.e.
Lack of capital
Lack of planning
Lack of marketing know-how
Lack of research into their market
Lack of a business-mindset
Clearly all of those above can be overcome. Unfortunately, by the time people realize their mistakes and poor judgments, it's sometimes too late to save the business.
Corrisa :-)
AnswerFew of the reasons were provided by the respondents already. It is also of great value to have a unified communication system in a business because this can be a good reinforcement in advertising and promoting the products and services.
The #1 reason why most small business fail is due to the lack of basic Foundation (Market Research). A lot of small biz owners jump into business without first of all doing proper market research or analize the niche market to find out if there is consistent demand for such product or services. A good marketing assistant or SEO will help you to analize the market, find out if there're much demand to sustain your biz, also figure out your competitor and their marketing strategies. Lastly, he will help map a way for you to dorminate the niche market. To make sure the biz does not fail.
The #2 reason is Fund. Lack of sufficient fund has kept many online buisness stagnant. Starting up in auction site such eBay & Amazon is less expensive. You have the opportunity to test drive your products on this auction sites before making big investment .
Thanks
Chucks(seo)
Free Enterprise means individuals have the freedom to start their own businesses. They can succeed or fail or their own
50%
1 in every 153,700.00 people own their own businesses. However 96.2% work for someone else hence being known as an employee. Individuals that own their own business are considered to be in an elite class of citizen. Statistics show that almost all small businesses fail within the first three years. Only 6.9% of all business succeed after three years and only 1.7% of all small business succeed after ten years. Small business ownership in America is reserved for only a select small group of highly intelligent and highly motivated people. Statistics from the US Corporations of America.
Freedom rewards those who exercise it wisely. Some entrepreneurs succeed, and some fail.
If you are asking how many businesses are successful today then the following would apply. Over 70% of the businesses that start today will fail within the first five years. This is not to say they will make it to five years, but will fail within that time frame. Not very encouraging is it? Well, look at it this way. There Are 30% who are successful. Some of the major reasons why businesses are not successful include:* No written plan. * Not enough expertise in product being sold. * No mentor or coach. * Never had a business course. * Not enough start-up cash.
then you would still fail to succeed as trying to fail is as bad as failing while trying to succeed. but you would succeed to fail. wierd right but no one ever fails until they stop trying!!
The reason most small businesses fail within two years is that they are under capitalized.
No you succeed to fail and succeed to succeed,and you fail to succeed.But if you succeed, but you meant to fail, then you had to of failed to fail, thus what you said is incorrect.Paradox anyone?
Pr(1 out of 3 succeed) = Pr(1 succeeds and 2 fail) = 3*(0.6)*(0.4)2 = 0.288
Free Enterprise means individuals have the freedom to start their own businesses. They can succeed or fail or their own
60%
well, if it was your goal to fail, then you have succeeded at failing.
It is estimated that ninety five percent of all small businesses will fail within the first five years. The overwhelming cause of these failures is poor financial management and bad bookkeeping.
inovate with technology to meet their customers' needs
50%
failed
fail