How Sucessful Is Your Business?
Monday, November 06, 2006
If your business is one of the lucky few that make it through
their first year without going bankrupt, you might be left
wondering what it was exactly that made you so sucessful. If
you can isolate that item, then you can focus on it, and as the
theory goes, continue your sucess (or even be more sucsessfull
in your second year).
1. What Were Your Profits?
Be brutally honest with yourself when tabulating your profits
or losses. Don't write off the new computer you bought just
because your old one died on you, and similarly, don't count
money that is due any day now. Only after you know how you did
can you start to plan on doing better.
2. Where Did The Money Go?
Most businesses do not make any sort of profit within their
first five years. You should be lucky just to still exist. Of
course, if you did happen to make a profit, don't immediately
go and spend it. If you re-invest that money back into the
business it might serve you much better.
3. Track Your Customers
If you don't already have a customer database, now is a good
time to start one. If you can, you should also use a system
that is sophisticated enough to track repeat purchasers. In
this way, you can start a customer loyalty program if you so
choose. Out of all the transactions you did, calculate how many
were repeat business. Most businesses aim at achieving the
highest possible amount of repeat business they can, because
it's a lot cheaper to keep an existing customer than it is to
make a new one.
4. Learn From Your Mistakes
You should have a detailed record of every customer complaint
you have ever recieved. Take a good hard look at what you
didn't do right, and make a commitment to correct those issues
permanantly. If you can, put up defensive measures to help
ensure those situations won't happen again.
About The Author: For more great business related articles and
resources check out http://businessopportunityseeker.info
posted by Dennis Cheesman @ 5:21 AM,
