Business Suicides

You ask for the business from customers or the prospects for the business.
You are not a peddler. You are not a beggar. You are a problem solver, solution provider, advisor, consultant, expert and educator. Does your lawyer get on his hand and knees for your business? Does your doctor? No. And you neither should you. This isn’t a matter of ego or pride. It’s about being a sales professional. When you ask for the business, you:

• Appear desperate and lose professionalism.
• Rely on a stunt as opposed to creating a compelling sales performance. When you instill trust in yourself, you don’t have to ask for the business; your customers and prospects ask for you. So don’t ask for the business. Make the offer so attractive the business asks for you.

Reminding yourself of your prospects’ patterns before you walk in the room is critical. Replay the movie of your last meeting in your mind before you enter the room. Doing this provides you with strong and reliable signals and patterns for how to conduct yourself this go-round--this new opportunity.

You rely on referral sources
Building a network of referral sources and having them recommend you to their friends and family, these are always good things. But relying on them is a big mistake. That’s because you pass control of your own destiny on to others, who may or may not act on your behalf. There’s too much at stake for you to risk the “may not.” Far better to go out everyday with a goal to educate, influence, and build trust. Then the dollars will come.

Common Mistakes

J. W. Marriott said that if a person wanted to start a business, he should find the best business in that industry and go to work for them. Once he had learned everything that he could, he should then start his own. What Marriott was suggesting was that a person should have a great knowledge about the industry he was about to enter.

The following are the most common mistakes that people make when starting a business:

• Inadequate front end planning (no business plan, feasibility study, or cash flow projections). You need sufficient capital for both the start up and the backup.
• Thinking that you can achieve instant success without spending the time and having the long commitment.
• Failure to research the market. Know the market and your competition before you start.
• Underestimating the competition. Whether they're big or small, understand that your competition sees you as another company trying to take money out of their pockets.
• Trying to do everything alone. Work with a banker, accountant and a lawyer.
• Hiring inexperienced people to save money particularly in the area of marketing and sales.
• • Inadequate records, financial knowledge and not watching cash flow. Just because you're making a profit doesn't mean you can pay all the bills.
• The false idea that the world will come to you. Your product is not going to sell itself. Never underestimate the power of advertising.
• Assuming that all you need is just a good idea. You need fortitude, financial and moral backing, as well as timing, organization and a bit of luck to be successful.

Small business dominates the nation and certainly is the driving force of the economy in the country. Entrepreneurs take on the challenge of business ownership and independence. Don't get caught saying to yourself, "If I had only known."