Why businesses fail
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Why businesses fail
I was really saddened to hear of the closure of two of our lovely local pubs over the Christmas period.
This always prompts me to ask the question “did that really have to happen?” and I am not sure in either case that it did. My diagnosis is that they didn’t move with the times and give the customer what they wanted.
We all know that things have drastically changed in the last few years but sometimes businesses don’t change with the times. What was acceptable to Joe public in the past no longer applies. People are now looking for value for money and we have to adapt some or all of our offering/s to suit their pocket.
It is very easy when you are embroiled in the day to day running of your business to forget about what is going around you, whether that be customers, the competition or the economic scene in general. It is so important to stay in touch with your customers, both past and present.
It is also fair to say that in these times when customers are conscious of where they are spending their money business owners need to look carefully at their costs too. Whilst it is important, nay vital, to continue to market your business you should be doing so within a very clear understanding of the numbers in the business.
Think about what a particular marketing activity is going to cost and what sort of return you will get on that expenditure. It is vital to know what is working and what is not working in your business and keep doing more of what is working and simply ditch anything that does not work.
Having done all the hard slog to acquire a customer, you should give careful consideration to what you can do to develop a long term relationship with them?
For instance. What do pubs do to collect the details of their customers so that they can market new offers and services to them – normally nothing at all!
This can only ever be my perspective on the “outside looking in” but sadly there are many businesses out there that should be thriving but are not. Running a business is tough. I find that most business owners have never received any training in how to run their business often, so it’s no surprise that so many do get into difficulty.