10 Reasons Why Most Businesses Fail

[David Jackson]

There are a variety of reasons why most businesses fail. Following are the ten most common reasons:

1. They don't have a business plan. They build a website without having any sort of business plan. That's putting the cart before the horse. Develop a business plan first, then build a website.

2. They're incompetent. You'd be surprised at how many businesses there are out there being run by principals who don't have a clue about running a business. Don't embarrass yourself. Educate yourself, before starting a business.

3. They're undercapitalized. Unless you're an experienced sales and marketing person with the ability to improvise and create, it's very difficult to start a business without any money. Granted, with the advent of the Internet you don't need as much money to get started as you once did. But you still need money.

4. Poor website design. First impressions are everything, and the first impression that is presented by many businesses is a poorly designed website. Internet browsers are an impatient lot. Instead of hanging around trying to figure things out, they simply click-away and move on to the next site.

5. Poor presentation of product or service. You've probably heard the saying, "Presentation is everything." Truer words have never been spoken. How well you present your product or service will ultimately determine its success or failure.

6. They don't advertise. You can have the greatest product in the world, but if no one knows about it, you won't make any sales.

7. They don't ask for the order. As unbelievable as it may sound. I've actually read ads where the company presented its case for buying their product, and never once asked for the sale.

8. They're in it strictly for the money. Businesses that exist to serve their customers approach business entirely different than businesses that exist to serve themselves. Don't kid yourself. Customers can sense the difference, and if you're the latter, customers will avoid your business like the plague.

9. They don't learn from their mistakes. Some businesses continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. Albert Einstein once said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results."

10. They don't take advantage of trends. Things change rapidly on the Internet. However, many businesses don't recognize and take advantage of that change. For example, Twitter is red hot right now, and while I personally choose not to Twitter, I recognize the fact that some of my readers do. Therefore, I give them the ability to receive their updates via Twitter when they subscribe to receive my blog updates. That's taking advantage of a trend.

David Jackson

[Juliawilliams]

Thanks David for such an informative article but what to do when a business person is suffering from financial crisis, wish to adopt every way but don't have so much sources, how one can raise capital from market and can achieve success in his/her own business

[lisamariemary]

[David Jackson]

[tknoppe]

[David Jackson]

[lisamariemary]

[David Jackson]

[angienewton]

[David Jackson]

[terrapin719]

I admit I giggled a little at #2 ... LOL

I don't think I'd say that anyone was incompetent! Other than that you've put together a very informative list here.