The Key Feature in a Failed Business

The Hallmarks of a good business wo/man are being proactive and in some cases, prescience.

This means that as a problem is about to come up good business wo/man they jump in with a solution and can often see an event, good or bad, before it happens.

The good business wo/man is at ‘ground zero’. They are on the floor, they can see what is happening, they have their finger on the button.

In many businesses which are not doing well it is usually the management. Whether it is the owner him/herself or the persons hired to manage, the problem can be laid at their door step.

The customer who has an actual issue who is treated with a lack of respect, or the fact no one is watching so employees do what they please are real threats.   These things are so easy to correct, and devastating when they are not.

There are customers who spend thousands of dollars a year who, after the first insult, are never seen again. And no one ‘knows why’.

There are employees who do absolutely nothing at all whatsoever, but go unnoticed. There are products which would fly off the shelves, if they were placed on the shelves.

It is rather humourous to troubleshoot one of these businesses.

The ‘management’ is no where to be found, the workers are sunning themselves, the boxes are sitting unpacked, and the customers are going elsewhere.

Years ago there was a supermarket which had virtually no competition.

The nearest neighbour was four miles west and  east for twelve miles.

In the middle of a housing estate, on the road to the airport, it ought have been jammed packed. It was, for the first few years. Then, the owners, thinking that everything was fine, interested themselves in other endeavours, and appointed managers.

The first were of high caliber and were head hunted by other concerns as they were not particularly well paid.

The next group were rather mediocre.

The group that followed them led to a decrease in business of over 50%. The owners raced in to find out what had happened.

By that time there was no repair.

Persons who had shopped there now shopped near their offices and came into the community with what they needed. There was no real plan to regain the customers so the owners sold the supermarket to a conglomerate which didn’t care very much.  Despite the excellent venue they accepted the lower revenue, using that supermarket as a kind of dump where excess goods were stored and sold.

The reality is that a prime piece of real estate, a supermarket with a perfect location could be at the very bottom never shocked the owners. They didn’t invest enough brain matter into comprehending how and why and what so as to turn the descent into an ascent.

The fact is, poor management is the key feature in a failed business.