Every new business starts with an idea or a dream, and it’s never for lack of hope that companies fail. Instead, most businesses fail because the entrepreneurs who started them didn’t have the tools or a plan in place to ensure consistent, meaningful connections with current or prospective customers. If your business is failing, stalling or doesn’t seem to be growing as quickly as you hoped, look to these three reasons why most businesses fail.
1. No Differentiation in the Marketplace
For business owners who have not found what makes them unique in the marketplace, there can be a lot of noise and chaos while fighting for the scraps at the bottom of the barrel. The result is business owners who are barely hanging on, getting a few customers and a bit of revenue; entrepreneurs who are skimping along, month after month, wondering if this is the best it’s ever going to be.
If you do not know your true value, what sets you apart from the rest of the competition, then the bottom of the barrel may be the best it is ever going to be. To succeed, you must find and believe in your unique contributions. Without differentiation in the marketplace, there’s no reason for customers to choose you… so they probably won’t! Instead, when you know your unique contributions, you will know who your perfect customers are and why they want to do business with you.
2. Failure to Create Clear, Concise & Compelling Messaging
Once you have discovered your unique contributions, the next step is to create messaging that is clear, concise, and compelling to communicate your uniqueness to your perfect customers. That messaging is critical for connecting with customers, and without it, people are not likely to take the time to learn about your company and ultimately choose you.
For many business owners, there’s a tendency to focus on describing the products or services offered because that’s what gets you excited. Customers, on the other hand, react better to messaging that communicates how you will make their lives better, easier, more profitable, or another tangible benefit. Once that personal connection is made, then they will be receptive to hearing about the details of your products and services.
To succeed, entrepreneurs must take their unique contributions and create messaging that clearly describes their position using language that will capture the attention and imagination of customers.
3. No Meaningful Conversations with Others
Doing business boils down to solving problems. You offer something that can solve an important problem for your customers, and you love to do it. Getting more customers to choose you as their problem-solver starts with meaningful conversations where you spend more time listening to their needs, pains, dreams, and wishes so you know exactly where you fit in.
When a business is failing, it may be because no one is taking the time to sit down with customers and listen. When nobody wants to hear what makes their customers excited, and what’s making them nervous. What do your customers wish they could accomplish? What are their values and hopes? What made them reach out to you specifically? The answers to these questions will tell you how to create long-term, repeat business from loyal customers.
Invest in Relationships
What these three points have in common is that they all start with making an emotional connection with your customers. By defining your unique contributions, you’ll know what your message should be. By crafting the right message, you’ll find more open doors and receptive ears. By taking the time to have meaningful conversations, you’ll get to the bottom of what makes lasting customers: genuine relationships.
I can help make sure your business doesn’t succumb to these three common reasons for business failure. By rediscovering what brought you to entrepreneurship, we can find and clarify your unique contributions, create messaging that differentiates you from the competition, and build lasting relationships with your customers.
