The most fundamental part of recovering from a business failure is rooted deep inside in the individual mindset. Problem-solving begins with a flexible and positive attitude and the courage to take bold steps to turn things around in your favor. Winston Churchill also stressed this particular factor when he said “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often”. There is nothing in a world with which you can be 100% sure; there are always chances of failure. How we deal with failures is what depicts how capable we are of doing a certain job. Here I would like to quote the example of our very favorite fried chicken Franchise known as KFC.
At the age of 65, Colonel David Sanders a financially unstable old man with just $105 to invest was wandering on the roads trying to find himself an investor who could help him with his envisioned fried chicken business. With a positive attitude and commitment, he found someone who believed in his potential and the idea enough to aid him to start his own business. Now, KFC is one of the biggest fried chicken chains in the world.
Businesses do experience some rough patches but getting through them efficiently is where a robust mindset, dedication, commitment, and honesty come into play. Businesses must adopt a few things to avoid or to effectively deal with catastrophic situations. Let us discuss those key points without any further ado:
1. A Forward-thinking Approach:
No business can survive without a vision or a forward-thinking approach. Technology is getting sophisticated with every passing day and no business can survive for long if it does not adopt that change. Max Mckeown rightly said, “Adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win.”
So have a clear vision. Note it down, map your plans accordingly for it to steer your effort in the right direction. To devise an effective business plan, the vision of your business must take into account the following factors:
- An effective mission statement
- Identifying your niche
- Your business’s offerings
- Ways to identify problematic areas
- Ways to find potential prospects
- Devising effective marketing strategies
- Devising a plan to emerge as a strong competitor
Your vision can boost the underlining spirit of your ideas to set your business towards new horizons.
2. SWOT Analysis:
SWOT Analysis is an analysis of the external and internal areas of your business. This exercise familiarizes you with all the factors that are working for you and all those that are weighing you down. SWOT is essentially the acronym of:
- Strengths:
Your strength is the drive that pushes you to identify those entire internal and external factors, which help you meet your goal and get business for you.
- Weaknesses:
Weaknesses are the areas, which cause damage to the efficiency and productivity of the internal factors. They are mostly reflected in sales and marketing strategies.
- Opportunities:
Opportunities are found from a deep analysis of all the external factors influencing the business while keeping in view the likely prospects. Capitalize on these opportunities and optimize them to pave new ways for your business.
- Threats:
Threats are the external factors, which can potentially affect your business like your competitors, inflation rate, etc.
3. Think of the Customers
Customers are at the heart of any business. Always devise strategies by keeping in view the demands, behavior, and pattern of your potential audience. Artificial Intelligence implemented by search engines and social media platforms is of great help in identifying trends, behavior, and patterns followed by an audience. You must not just work hard on acquiring new customers, but also put the effort into retaining those customers. Stats have shown, a company’s 20% revenue comes from repeated customers. Make your customers feel important by acknowledging their recommendations and appreciating their feedback. Make them feel special by providing special discounts and coupons. This will not just encourage sales but will boost customers’ interest too.
4. Set Smart and Realistic Goals
Setting up smart and realistic goals is one of the most important steps. Smart and realistic goals will not burden your employees rather will be a source of motivation for them. They will take the set goals as challenges and will try their best to achieve them. Unrealistic goals will only discourage the employees and make them lose interest in their job. SMART goals are to provide your employees with a productive environment where they don’t have to be dependent on anyone to get their things done. Facilitate them with all the right equipment and technologies like high-speed Cox internet, efficient devices, right tools, etc.
SMART goals are a business term and mean more than it says.
- S: Specific
- M: Measurable
- A: Achievable
- R: Relevant
- T: Timely
Develop a plan which can support SMART goals effectively.
5. Invest in Getting an Advisory Service:
If you think you lack in some domain, do not hesitate in getting an advisor or even a mentor. Draw upon reserves of their knowledge and their pool of experience to grow your business. If you don’t want to outsource this part of your business, then the most suitable option is to hire yourself someone who could act as a mentor, play the role of an advisor, and conduct training. These trainings will educate your employees and help them add to their skillset. A survey showed, 93% of mediocre businesses credit their mentors. Investing in an advisory service is always worthwhile.
I hope the article has helped you identify the seemingly small yet crucial factors, which can not only save you from failure but also help you, recover from failures too.