How To Succeed In Starting Your Own Business

 Starting your own business

The real secret to success in starting your own business is to sell a product or service -that your customers’ want-and is willing to pay

 

Why? Because the only reason a business exist is to serve the customer. Your business can only thrive if it’s providing valuable service to the marketplace

 

The two questions to ask then is:

Why do many businesses fail even when the founders appear to have -excellent product or service- to offer to in their industry?

 

Why do many business start-ups fail within the first 5-year of starting business?

 

The answer to these questions is this:

There is a flaw in the way many wannabe entrepreneurs think about starting business

 

Why? Because over the past few decades there has been a shift in the way business is done:

Many businesses now thrive or fail on the power of the customer.

Your business will thrive and experience massive growth-if you listen and care-for your customer or your market.

On the other hand your business will fail quickly if you are not serving your customer

 

I truly believe that most entrepreneurs truly want to serve their market

But…

 

The main challenge most business owners face is:

that they are not anywhere near there customers-even though they seem to think they are serving their customers

 

As a result they are not doing the most important thing a business must do to flourish: that is selling

 

The result is most business owners go bust in no time fast

 

Why? Because when you start  a business-serving customers who have a strong need for your product or service, they will pay you to provide it.

 

And…guess what? Your business will prosper

 

The good news is that you can easily turn around starting your own business-from being a nightmare to the American dream you always wanted

 

Why? Because you’ll avoid the biggest mistake most entrepreneurs make in starting business:  not knowing the steps to take when starting out.

 

If I had to narrow how to succeed in starting your own business to three steps, they would be:

  • Find your ideal prospects
  • Figure out how to reach these prospects
  • Find a way to get their attention and sell your product

 

 

Find your ideal customer

The biggest waste of time for starting a business is to target the wrong customer for your product.

For example you’ll be wasting your time if you are promoting nicotine replacement patches to non-smokers. Instead you should promote the product to smokers who want to quit smoking

If you are in the car wash business you should target  people with dirty cars in shopping malls and offer them a discount-to wash their cars

 

It is only when you can find your ideal customer that your business can flourish.

Because even if you have the best product in the market

…But sell to the wrong market…

Your business has no chance of surviving

 

Figure out how to reach your market

 

The next thing you must do is to find out how you can best reach the prospects in your market.

 

How do reach your customers? The answer is simple.

 

You need to find the best channel where your customers gather in your niche or industry

 

For example if you are selling golfing accessories your customers are likely to:

  • Subscribe to golfing magazines
  • Hold membership of golf clubs;
  • Watch golf tournament or
  • Talk about golf in forums online or offline

 

The key to reaching your customer is to research and find the multiple channels that your customers use to find your product and service-in your niche

 

The next thing you should do is to test your marketing message in these channels to find out the most responsive channels

You’ll be surprised that your customers use multiple channels to buy

 

The other important thing about  reaching  your customer is: you need to be perceived as a helper. 

This means your business is-seen as the go to-link for finding solutions to the problems and frustrations your customers have

 

In order words you are seen as the authority in your niche. As a result, you’ll build trust in your niche and easily convert prospects to customers.

 

On more thing: your customers should be reachable online and offline. And your market should be large enough to support your business

 

 

Tell your customers the value  proposition  of your business

 

Once you have found your target customers-you need to grab their attention-so you can sell your products to them

 

The key to positioning your product is to offer a value proposition such that-your prospects will want to buy from you instead of your competitors

 

 

One of the biggest mistakes in starting your own business :  not selling your customer the value proposition of  your product

 

What’s your product’s unique selling proposition?

Also known as USP the unique value proposition of your product -is the benefit that your product offers to your customer-that separates it from your competitors.

 

Your USP must accomplish three things for your product when you are marketing to your customer:

  • unique-that is it sets your product apart from the competition
  • selling– it persuades your prospect that its the right product for him
  • proposition– it offers your customer a benefit that fill his needs

 

The earlier your customers can know your USP the higher your chance of getting their attention and starting a relationship with them

 

A USP does not have to be something exotic …it may just be a easier and better way of solving your customer’s problem

 

For example Domino’s pizza’s USP

“Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or it’s free” Which means its customers will get pizza delivered in 30 or less when they are hungry

FedEx’s USP is

When its absolutely, positively has to be there overnight which means FedEx customers will enjoy next day hassle free shipping.

 

The key to success with position your goods and service is: to grab their attention and tell them the “pain” your product will alleviate when they use your service

 

Here’s a few tip you can use to grab their attention:

 

  • Write your   ads with headlines that states the promise your service will offer your customers
  • Prove that you can deliver what you promise
  • Offer your customers risk free guarantee

 

In summary the bottom-line to succeeding at starting your own business is knowing-who is your ideal customer-how to reach them-and letting them know-the benefits your products offers them over your competitors.

 

When you start your business this way-you are likely to build a successful business

Please let know your own suggestions and comments: on what you think is important for prospering in starting your own business