Steve
Baker says your baby's ugly and you have bad breath as it
refers to your business and why so many business fail in the
first year.
Learn how to look at your own business with
an objective eye and not the gleaming eye of a parent who
just won't face the truth.
Your Baby’s Ugly…
and you’ve got bad breath.
I’ve
got good news and bad news. The good news is that 98% of
businesses are small businesses. That bodes well for the
entrepreneurial spirit that has made our nation great. The
bad news is that 80%, that’s right, four out of five new
businesses will fail in their first five years.
After years of building my own companies and consulting
growing businesses, I’ve come to the realization that too
many business owners can’t see their business through an
objective eye, which often leads to their demise.
It takes an incredible amount of intense drive,
determination and a strong ego to breathe life into a
business and create products from scratch, but it’s also
that same ego that won’t let a business owner be objective
about what their business needs to succeed.
The business is up and running at light-speed and management
doesn’t have the time or willingness to stand back and take
a real look at what they have created. They are too close to
the problems to see them. Just like a proud parent, they
have spent sweat and time creating this “baby,” and they
refuse to believe that it might be less than perfect.
I call this the “business parent trap.” It is in this trap
that business owners often create and introduce products
that would not test out in the marketplace. There’s an
attitude of “Hey, it’s gotta be great because I thought of
it.”
I’ve found that there are usually two basic things wrong
with a business: the product (the Baby) and the management
(the Breath).
So how do you assess your business? Are your employees going
to tell you that you’re headed in the wrong direction? Not
likely. Occasionally a consultant will
be brought in to review the company’s performance in a given
area. Unfortunately, when management does bring in a
consultant, they often are really looking for affirmation –
not straight-forward constructive criticism.
Sadly, some consultants are more than willing to “affirm for
a fee.”
If you’re going to succeed, then someone needs to tell you
if your baby’s ugly or you’ve got bad (corporate) breath. So
here are some blunt yet truthful thoughts for your business,
and perhaps you:
•GET OVER YOURSELF: Know yourself, trust yourself, believe
in yourself...then Get Over Yourself. You’re really not the
smartest person in the world. You built the business and
know it better than anyone else, but no one else really
cares how much you know.
•SPECTATOR SPORT: Conversation with you should not be a
spectator sport for others. Remember that there’s a huge
difference between listening and merely waiting for your
turn to talk. You hired your employees and perhaps a
consultant because you assumed they had brains, so let them
use them. Ask questions and listen to answers.
•JUST ANOTHER PRODUCT Realize that even though you think
that your new product or service is the greatest thing since
the flip-top beer can, the world just sees one more product
and must be convinced. You created this product and you know
every function of it, but customers do not buy functions,
they buy only benefits. Whether your product is a high tech
internet service or office furniture, you must show how it
is uniquely beneficial to your customer. Functionality makes
your products work, Benefits make them sell.
•PAPER WEIGHT: If you have the high tech inventive skills to
create a product, chances are that you don’t have the skills
to market and sell it. Many small business owners think that
marketing and sales are the simplest part of their business,
so it is almost an afterthought.
There is only one reason that inferior products outsell
better ones; and that is successful marketing. Think of your
marketing plan as the complete story book that sells your
product. If your story book is a best seller, then your
product will be a best seller. Without the right story that
will build sales and distribution, your wonderful product is
just another paper weight head for a land fill.
•STAND BACK: Your competitors are not all stupid. Guess
what? They think their babies are cute too, and they may
tell better stories that make them look even better than
yours. So stand back and look at yourself and your baby and
try to look through the eyes of a disinterested party,
because believe it or not, the world is a disinterested
party.
Remember, there‘s an 80% chance that you will not be in
business in 5 years. As busy as you are, and successful as
you think you are, you must set your ego aside and realize
that there are things beyond your control. Successful
companies know that the secret to success doesn’t lie in
knowing everything; it lies in knowing what you don’t know,
and finding those who do.
I wish you good luck and great success.
