Business Owners:

Would You Like To Make
Your Business Worth What It Should Be Worth?

Stop doing things that make your company less profitable and error-prone.

You’re in charge, and that means your profits—or lack of them—depend on the choices you make… or don’t make. No one else is going to chart the course or set the agenda. And realize that yes, you make mistakes. Don’t think so? Keep reading…

• 90% of all businesses operating today will fail (62% of them within the first few years.)
  
• Only 13% of companies worldwide show even a modest level of growth and success…
  and even fewer enable their owners to retire comfortably.

Success is the result of doing a few simple things well, over and over again.

Do you know what they are? You know you’re doing some things right because you’re still in business. But do you know which things are helping you succeed, or are you making mistakes that are killing
your sales and profits? Depending on the choices you make today, your business may flourish and provide you with the life you’ve always dreamed of. Or, without even knowing it, you could be speeding down the road to ruin. How can you tell the difference? And who can you trust to help you make the best decisions?

Avoid the 37 Fatal Business Mistakes

Think you’re doing everything right to have the best business possible? Think again.
Take a look at just a few of the 37 Fatal Business Mistakes. Do any of them sound familiar?

Nobody can do it* as well as I can

Ever catch yourself thinking, “No one can do this better than I can, and by the time I teach it to someone else I could’ve had it done”? As long as you’re doing it* instead of grooming someone else, you are a bottleneck to your company’s growth. Figure out what you can give away, and find someone who can do it in your stead.

Not using a sales system

Small businesses often depend on one star salesperson, while the rest of the sales team flounders. Companies that grow consistently use a sales system—a proven process that is easy to learn, measurable and holds people accountable… and repeatedly brings in sales. What are you using?

Operating with thin margins

Some CEOs think selling their product or service much cheaper than their competitors is a great
business model. No wonder they’re not making any money! Unless you can buy things much cheaper as well, this plan will ultimately cost you your business. Thin margins lead to low (or no) operating profits which leaves you unable to sufficiently invest in growth. Discounting is a game for people with deep pockets or very big credit lines. Is that you?

Letting someone else be responsible for sales (while you do the “important” things)

“Can’t somebody else do the selling while I work on the things that really make a difference?” So many business owners tend to delegate the sales process because they feel that it is beneath them to go out begging for customers… and they don’t have an understanding of sales themselves. “If business was really good I wouldn’t have to do this.” NOT TRUE. Selling is one of the most important aspects of your business, if not THE most important. Delegate this function at your own risk.

Trying to squeeze enough business out of too few opportunities

Too many business owners try to grow their businesses without having enough prospective customers. What happens next is just plain desperation. You sell too hard and end up either scaring them away, or you end up making so many compromises that later you’ll wish you had. The answer is a continuous lead generation program that over time brings in enough new prospects that you only work with the qualified ones.

Marketing only when “necessary”

Looking for leads only when business is down is how most CEOs manage their marketing, and that’s exactly how you get into the dreaded boom-bust cycle. Successfully growing companies plan marketing that floods them with new opportunities (and customers) all year long. Does your current marketing plan allow for expansion… or just survival?

Getting by with mediocre people (and not knowing how to hire great ones)

Would you build a house for yourself using sub-standard materials? Of course not, so why would you try to build a company with sub-standard people? It seems that for many business owners it isn’t a matter of choice; they just haven’t had the good luck to hire really great/ qualified people. But, smart business owners know that it isn’t a matter of luck and that it’s a matter of making your company attractive enough to bring them in. Is your company attractive enough to bring in great people or are they just ok?

No exit strategy

Most business owners don’t consider an exit strategy until they are ready to exit. This almost always leads to giving away the company for much less than it might have been worth under other circumstances. Want your company to be salable for more? Start planning your exit now! This means working to position the company in its best light, and making sure that it is profitable and
growing at a better-than-industry rate. That’s how to bring in the most cash when you’re ready to leave.

Not managing the cash flow (and running out of cash!)

The majority of all businesses that fail do so because they don’t have sufficient cash flow. What does that mean? It means that they run out of cash while they are trying to build their businesses. They aren’t profitable enough fast enough, or they don’t have reserves to weather a downturn. Either way, cash flow and cash on hand are the two most critical numbers on your dashboard.

Charging prices that are too low

Price is the lazy business owner’s answer to competition. Lower prices lead to lower margins, so there is less money for marketing, new products and everything else necessary to build a healthy business. Once you lower yours, equally-lazy competitors lower their prices, and behold – you are in a price war. Instead, compete on uniqueness, quality and value. Get creative. Be better. Make more money!

Not looking at the numbers often enough

Flying by the seat of your pants is a certain way to lose control of your business. You wouldn’t drive across the country without glancing at your speedometer or gas gauge from time to time, would you? So why do that with your company? And it’s not only the sales and profit lines, but critical measures like new customer orders, cost of sales, gross margins… and other key numbers that require your ongoing attention.

Doing anything that is lower than a top priority

Did you ever meet a business owner with too much time on his hands? CEOs have a lot to do, maybe even too much, but business will boom when you focus your time on high-priority items that make the biggest difference. Anything that doesn’t add to revenue, cash flow or growth should be done by someone else—if at all. How well do you differentiate between the two today?

Doing all the “important” things yourself

Some CEOs think they have to hold on to all the really “important” things because they want to make sure they are done just right. But this means that anything important, anything critical has to go through them. And if they are out of town, or just busy, then those important things have to wait. If it’s really important, is it something that should be put on hold? Of course not, this approach bottlenecks
the growth of the business. Without delegation, no business will reach any significant size. How well do you delegate?

Letting the business grow slowly

When was the last time you met a business owner who told you business was growing fast enough? Believe me, it happens, and it is usually said by people who either don’t like salespeople and who
think marketers are really flim-flam artists. The problem with slow growth is that it leaves too much opportunity for your competitors to move in to your market and capture your business and it leaves
all the time in the world for faster-movers to out-innovate and leave you in the dust.

Selling to each customer once

It’s hard enough to get new customers, so why go through the trouble of landing one and then never selling to them again? Yet that’s exactly what many companies do, over and over. There are three key strategies to multiply revenue per customer. How many are you using?

Not having enough capital to invest in your business

Some businesses don’t need investment, but we haven’t come across many of those. If you want your
company to grow quickly and dominate your market niche, you need to invest in products, services,
positioning, marketing, staff development and a host of other areas. Most often, that investment comes from surplus profits. But that is not always available, and you can’t always wait. Growing businesses consume cash, and if it’s not available your growth will slow and stall.

Never having enough leads, (and making it the salespeople’s job to get them)

Some companies don’t like to market. The owner thinks it’s just a waste of money and believes that salespeople should go out and find qualified buyers who’ll be interested in the company’s wares. This strategy can work up to a point, but ultimately there will be problems. Good salespeople are hard to find, and if you make them spend their time on marketing, they won’t be closing enough business. If you want your company to grow faster, you’re going to have to give them qualified leads and then let them do their real job.

Building a business with a “me-too” product or service
(and wondering why you can’t charge enough for it.)

The only way to win with a copy cat product or service is to be able to make it (or buy it) for much less than anyone else. But almost anything you can get cheaply can be gotten as cheaply by someone else. Can you say “price war?” What if you were able to make sure that your product or service was unique and distinct and could command a higher price? Would it be easier to sell? Could you make
more money? Wouldn’t that be more fun?

Don't make ANY of these 37 Fatal Mistakes...

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