Here is the best advice to follow to start a successful business
When starting a business, we focus on the quantitative aspects, i.e. everything we can measure in numbers such as finances, investment, expenses, setup costs etc. Once it’s up and running, many things that make the business a success are intangible, and these make up its essence.
In the majority of cases, these intangible elements are key to being successful in business.
There is no perfect formula to business success, but risks can always be minimized and care given to details. Here, we give you some ideas for starting a successful business.
The first thing we ask ourselves when starting from scratch is ‘’what is needed to start a business?’’. The answer is easier than you think: setting a goal.
The goal must be long-term and we must be clear about where we want our business to go in order to stay on track. This initial goal allows you to plan your next business move depending on the extent to which it’s being met.
You can set this goal for self-improvement, either professionally or personally. Having a personal goal motivates us to improve and push ourselves.
Customers are the key to business success and a business without customers is doomed to fail. Our advice is to listen to your customers from the start as they will determine the future of your business. It’s important to understand their needs, their likes and their dislikes.
Although we tend to avoid negative comments, they need to be considered.
People appreciate it when you pay attention to them. Addressing the needs and complaints of customers increases loyalty.
Once you know the needs and preferences of your customers, you can focus on the quality of your goods/services. As the saying goes, ‘’cheap can be expensive’’. We can’t offer a good product/service by neglecting its quality.
Once the customer senses a decrease in quality of the business, it’s very difficult to change their opinion.
Regarding the aforementioned point, another piece of advice for starting a business is to clearly understand your product’s value for money. This should account not only for your perception of the product/service, but also the balance between the customer’s perception of it and its true value for money.
This balance is important. Nobody will buy a low quality product at a high price. Selling a high quality product at a low price is also not advised as it is not a viable solution in the long run (even though the customer would find it appealing). High quality implies higher investment because you won’t earn enough profit with a low price.
Another key point for a successful business is to keep up to date with market developments on a constant basis.
Why is this so important? If we are aware of the advances of our market we can position ourselves on top. If we study market trends we can offer the newest products and services to our customers.
Now that you have the steps to carry out market research, you must choose a strategy based on the results.
One piece of advice for starting a business is to choose attainable strategies. You can choose these depending on your short-term requirements, or long-term if you are looking for a strong market position, where these strategies should be studied and elaborated in greater depth.
If, for example, your short-term goal is to increase your business’ visibility, you could have price strategies, i.e. offering services at a lower price so that people will be happy to try out your product/service.
What do we mean by this? One of the main ideas for creating a successful business is to make the customer fall in love with the brand, making them feel that it is as much theirs as it is yours.
Putting yourself in the customers’ minds isn’t easy but it’s key to having a successful business.
Once we become number one in people’s minds, it makes them our brand lovers, or loyal customers.
These customers are brand advocates, their recommendations to others result in an increased customer-base for the business.
It’s not only important that the customer experiences the brand, you must be your own biggest fan.
You must believe in your business and its potential because only in this way will you achieve success.
If you don’t believe in your business, who will?