4 reasons your business isn’t taking off

Posted by Jeremy L. Knauff | June 30th, 2009

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Business can be a fickle thing. Sometimes, what seems like a great idea fails miserably while some of the worst ideas take off and grow like wildfire. More often than not though, there are pretty obvious reasons when a business doesn’t take off or grow. Unfortunately, from the inside looking out, it can be tough to see those reasons.

This certainly isn’t an end all, be all list of everything that can cause your business to stagnate, but it is an excellent starting point to get you moving forward.

1. Your advertising sucks. It looks just like your competitors’ ads, tries to appeal to everyone and has no call to action. If you want your advertising to work, you need to differentiate your company from your competition, target a specific demographic and tell your prospects exactly what you want them to do.
2. You’re throwing away good leads and wasting time on bad ones. Let’s be honest, not all leads are created equal. Some people are just tire kickers, or worse yet, competitors trying to get information on the inner workings of your company. Others are ready to take action right away. If you’re not utilizing a CRM system like ACT or Goldmine, you can’t keep track of who is who; your prospecting and sales process will be inefficient and cost you valuable revenue.
3. You’re not using what you’ve already built. Chances are you’ve already got a website. If you put a little more work into further developing your site though blogging, SEO and online advertising, you can leverage your previous efforts and reap the rewards more quickly than if you had to start from scratch. The same goes for email or direct mail lists. Use what you have and build upon it.
4. You’re not tapping into your existing clients. You’ve already built a relationship with them, so it would be a huge mistake not to approach them about buying your products or services. Your profit margins will be higher since you don’t have to go through the typical prospecting and sales cycle, and they will generally make a decision more quickly. Keep in mind though, don’t push too hard or you may alienate them.

As promised, here is your starting point. You can easily see a dramatic increase in revenue if you implement these simple suggestions, but there is always room for more. What additional tips or ideas do you have?

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3 Comments »

3 Responses to “4 reasons your business isn’t taking off”

1. Xavier Paz
   July 15th, 2009 at 6:15 pm

   I think those reasons are not near the top reasons why a business sucks, which are: the idea is stupid, it is badly implemented, they don’t know how to do business, etc.

   90% of businesses are mediocre or plain bad. There are plenty of things to do to escape mediocrity before starting a blog or starting using a CRM.

2. Wildfire Marketing Group
   July 15th, 2009 at 6:42 pm

   Thanks for your input Xavier.

   As far as mediocrity goes, yes, many businesses are guilty of that. Some can and should change that at all costs.

   Some businesses, on the other hand, are viewed as commodities. If you sell hardware, for example, your business is merely distributing products manufactured by other companies. You can’t change the quality of the products, but you can change the image of your company through your advertising and customer service and educating your target market.

3. Alyson Fleig
   September 20th, 2009 at 5:51 pm

   Super-Duper site! I am loving it! Will come back again –

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