16 Critical Mistakes Business Owners Make
16 Critical Mistakes Business Owners Make
By Dave Lavinsky
Running a business is tough. And too often, business owners get so involved in day-to-day activities that they forget about critical, longer-term tasks they must do. Below are 16 such tasks and reminders. Figure out which ones you’re not doing, and need to do. Then do them and eliminate these mistakes, and your business will be much better for it.
Client and Customer Reminders:
1. Listen to Your Customers
Ask your clients and customers what they want in order to reveal new ways to improve your business’ products, services and/or processes.
2. Diversify Your Revenue Sources
While it’s nice to have a major client, it is important to make sure your total revenues comes from multiple sources and is diversified enough that you can survive the loss of one or a few clients.
3. Make Customer Service A Priority
Customer service is one of the most important elements in any successful business. Clients and customers need to be able to contact a business to answer questions and resolve any problems.
If you’re not satisfying clients, you will fail.
4. Resolve Client Problems Quickly
Having a customer or client experience a problem is only a matter of time. In this age of ubiquitous internet access, however, ignoring their dissatisfaction can result in bad reviews and negative publicity. Problems should be addressed and resolved as quickly as possible to avoid this.
5. Fire A Bad Client
Some business owners are so concerned with retaining existing clients that they will waste far too much time on one who simply cannot be pleased. Eliminating a bad client may be a scary prospect for some but it will allow precious resources to be dedicated to those clients who are more of an asset to the company.
Technology Reminders:
6. Back Up Everything
Think about what happens if you lose all the information in your business tomorrow. Probably not a pretty sight, huh. Backing up information is relatively easy these days and it should be done on a regular basis.
7. Keep A Pulse On Your Industry
Technology is constantly changing and there are new tools coming out every week. It can be far too easy to be left behind when it comes to the current state of relevant technology. Operating with outdated technology can cause a rippling effect throughout your entire business and will impact both productivity and profit.
Similarly, staying informed of regulatory or business trends in your industry is crucial for keeping your business model relevant.
8. Your Website Is Important
It should be fairly obvious that a business needs to have a web presence. What is not always so evident, however, is that this presence must be up to date and as modern as possible. When someone researches a business, your website will often be the first impression they have. A well designed, informative and modern website can make a world of difference. And make sure it’s desktop, mobile and tablet friendly.
9. Never Ignore Security
Every business has information which needs to be kept secret. Whether it is the personal information of employees or contact lists of clients, this information needs to be well guarded. Keep this information secure.
10. Maintain Redundancies in Key Systems
There will always be certain technological systems which are important to the continued success of your business. There needs to be redundancies and contingency plans in place in case one of these systems should go down.
Other Reminders:
11. Reinvest in Your Business
Investing in your business will generally give you a great return. A portion of your profits should be set aside for reinvesting. Doing this will create a situation where growth and success fuels further growth and success in a positive loop.
12. Network
No business can hope to succeed in a vacuum. While networking events may often seem like a waste of time, valuable contacts can be a tremendous asset.
13. Keep An Eye On The Competition
Every business has competitors. Always keep an eye on them. What are they doing? What are they changing? If they made a change a while back and haven’t switched back, it’s probably working for them. Don’t blindly copy your competitors, but don’t ignore them either.
14. Analyze Risk
Before making key business decisions, think about the risks and potential returns. One important risk that too many business owners ignore is time. Specifically, if you try something and it fails, consider the time you will have invested in it. If the return from the new endeavor could have been huge, than the risk was probably worth taking. If not, then you wasted time you shouldn’t have.
15. Act Fast, Implement Quickly
Almost everything in business is time sensitive. There are innumerable factors at play in any market and new ideas need to be implemented quickly. Waiting too long can cause a business to miss a tight window of opportunity which may be gone forever.
16. Have a Plan
As baseball player Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you probably won’t get there.” In the case of both sports and business, he’s absolutely right. Importantly, in business, there is a critical tool that helps you both state where you’re going and how you’ll get there; that tool is your business plan. So, develop your business plan and follow it.
Choose at least 3 of these reminders, and put them into effect within the next 7 days. You and your business will be glad you did.