8 Items for business success :58 seconds to read

Want to be successful? ...sure! There are tons of books and/or online informational sites that can give you "keys" to success. But when it comes down to it, the following 8 items will serve you just as well (in a broad sense) as anything out there. I've spent my life building companies and these following items have played the major part in every success I've had. Pay attention and satisfy these simple requirements and you'll be well on your way to building a successful/profitable business.

Your product and/or service must be fully developed and ready to roll out

Too many business professionals are in such a rush to get to market that they roll the vehicle off the line before all 4 wheels are firmly in place. Keep the news of your launch to yourself and very few others beforehand if you're worried about the competitive conditions in the marketplace...finish up the offering, THEN LAUNCH!

Your product and/or service must fill a need for "the masses."

Old adage in the food business..."feed the masses (think McDonalds) and you'll live with the classes - feed the classes (upscale dining) and you'll live with the masses." It's the same with any product or service. The broader the need or want for what you have, the more upside potential.

Your product and/or service must be priced fairly

More important than ever these days...with people watching their pennies and the availability to price compare over the Internet you had better have done your homework on what is fair to charge.

Your product and/or service must be different and/or better from other solutions currently available.(Have a unique value proposition...don't have one? Come up with one...otherwise you're just more "white noise" in a busy marketplace)

I cannot stress this one enough. If you're not the first into a particular competitive set you'd have better built the better mousetrap and have done so in such a way as people are going to recognize that it's better. And you'd better have a good one sentence "grabber" that will convey the unique/better nature of your offering!

Your marketing must answer the question as to how your product and/or service, in some way, makes the consumer's life better.

Everything we purchase answers this question. Whether it's the clothes you buy that you believe make you look slimmer, the truck that has enough payload capacity to get your jobs done, the home that's in the right neighborhood/school district, to the church that has the pastor who's message really feeds your soul. Each and every selection/purchase we make we "feel" as though makes our lives better. Customers must readily be able to determine how your product and/or service makes their life better. Only then will they purchase!

Have a strategy for getting the product and/or service and subsequent value proposition in front of the masses. (repeatedly and effectively)

People won't buy it if they don't know it's there...DUH! (no, seriously, there are people out there who don't realize this...I'm not kidding...hard to believe, I know. But they're out there - and we wonder why 80%+ of new businesses fail)

Realize that in marketing the message is more important than placement and frequency. (It's more about what you're saying and if your audience can relate)

I can go out and say iAdvertizing is great, we do, x,y and z for you...blah, blah, blah, but if I say. "iAdvertizing clients make more money..even in this crappy economy!" You get the idea...

Follow through ...Work, work, work! the above items and you're well on your way!



Best Always,
Dave J.