A recent article in the Providence Journal reminds us that we have control over our success and our failure, if we pay attention:
“With the downturn in the economy comes an increased interest in starting a business.
You may be interested because you lost your job, or because you have a great idea, or because you cannot find a job you are interested in.
Regardless of the reason, however, you will find there is more information available concerning starting a business than the average human being can consume in a lifetime.
Standard advice includes: prepare a solid business plan, have cash for at least six months, work with a good accountant and attorney; understand your market, understand your competition and have a marketable product or service.
This is good advice indeed. But in our experience, business success or failure involves more than adhering to these maxims. You can have an excellent business plan, good financing, a good product or service and good advisers, yet you may inadvertently sabotage your business and fail. Here are the things you need to pay attention to in order to avoid sabotaging your business success.
• Don’t let fear immobilize you. We believe the No. 1 issue adversely affecting success in a new business is fear: fear of failure, fear of success, fear of criticism, fear of feeling unappreciated, fear of thinking no one will like your product or service or you. Understand that fear can immobilize you and learn to recognize it and deal with it.
• Develop real relationships. Another key reason people starting new businesses fail is because they don’t take the time to establish real relationships. Nothing happens until a relationship is formed: no meeting, no sales opportunity, no business. Take the time to build a relationship, and then you are ready to sell.
• Respond quickly. The quicker you respond, the more responsive you appear. E-mails not returned in days, voice messages ignored, proposals or sales agreements delayed – none of these show that you care about the business. Forget the absurd advice that a quick response makes you look eager or desperate for the business. It makes you look – responsive.
• Don’t be a pusher. Nobody likes a pusher. So when your buyer says “yes” – stop selling. And don’t up-sell, which is getting the buyer to buy more than they need. It’s great for short-term profits; terrible for a long-term relationship.
• Don’t quit at no. Nobody likes rejection, but sometimes we see it when it’s not there. No is often an initial response to someone the buyer doesn’t know, not a conclusion. Or it can come from a gatekeeper whose job it is to say no. Sure, sometimes a no is a no, but many times it’s an initial reaction – almost a “knee jerk” reaction.
• Don’t get stuck in perfection. There is no such thing as the perfect proposal, the perfect letter, the perfect response. Good is often good enough unless you are dealing with life and death situations, which most of us are not. The extra 20 percent you put into your product, service, response is neither recognized nor appreciated by the recipient. But the fact that it took you too long to respond is recognized and not in a good way.
• Don’t wear your personal beliefs on your sleeve. No one cares – really – about your opinions when you are in a sales situation. Your political, social, sports beliefs should stay with you. If you are asked to share your thoughts on any of these issues, your thoughts should stay with you.
• Focus management. We call this “the lights are on but nobody’s home.” Lack of focus in people and in organizations leads to ineffective performance. In people, it looks like you are not interested or are overwhelmed; in organizations, it looks like a version of the fad of the month which quickly blows morale as staff struggle to juggle changing priorities and new initiatives.
• Executive presence. Executive presence is not about just looking the part – that’s defined as the “empty suite.” Executive presence is about being the part. It’s about managing your image thoughtfully and not artificially. Like it or not, tired, overweight, out of shape and sloppy people who aren’t aware of current events and haven’t read a book since high school or college present a very different image than people who take care of themselves and are intellectually curious.
These are very difficult economic times. Starting a new business can be exhilarating and very rewarding – personally and professionally. Yes you need a solid business plan, financing and a marketable product or service with a strong and compelling value proposition. But you need more.
You need to stack the deck in your favor. The more difficult the economic environment, the more important it is to differentiate yourself. And it starts with eliminating sabotaging behaviors. The good news is that it’s your lowest cost, most effective strategy. And that’s a new affordable, competitive advantage.”
Guest Column: Want success? Don’t sabotage your business
http://www.pbn.com/detail/42466.html, Anthony J. Kubica and Sara M. LaForest
Tony Kubica (tony@growthwithoutsabotage.com) and Sara LaForest (sara@growthwithoutsabotage.com) are co-founders of Kubica & LaForest Consulting and the Growth without Sabotage model for performance and organizational improvement.
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