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Believing the competition is Irrelevant
Competition is one of the most important things in business. The biggest mistake a startup could make in their pitch deck is to not provide a review on their competition. Not only is it delusional to not consider competition relevant.
But it is very costly. Your business could fail just because you didn’t consider competition. Competition may be direct or indirect but it exists. It is virtually impossible that a competition doesn’t affect your business.
More importantly you must take extra precautions in response to competition. Whether the competition is direct or indirect you must have strategies in place to gain competitive advantage over them.
Be Consistent
Business requires care and concentration. This means that you must be regular with your posts, your ads, your content. You must regularly be in touch with your loyal customers and address their needs and wants.
Consistency also applies in the internal business environment. Your employees must be motivated and on the top of their game. Your sales team must be persuasive looking for new leads and customers.
Consistency is often ignored in business but it is the major factor against competition. Often competitors competing neck to neck gain advantage simply because one is more consistent than the other.
Lack of credibility
According to competitive intelligence services credibility is one of the biggest factors for booming businesses. Take the example of Nike, Adidas, Puma. These are global giants that sell a commodity yet they are expensive and premium.
How is it that a commodity has become a premium product? It’s in the brand name that brings credibility to the products. Your service and products must speak for themselves and the added brand name gives value to that credibility.
So, businesses of all sorts must strive to gain credibility in consumers’ minds. It not only helps deal with competition but it creates loyal customers which support your business in the long run.
Lying
A huge mistake that people in business make is to lie about their value proposition. Your customer may not have huge expectations about your products and services but when you lie to them, those expectations are broken.
Lying does a lot more than losing your credibility. It ruins your brand image; you may lose loyal customers. And a loyal customer base is perhaps the most important asset for a business.
Furthermore, lying could end up giving credibility to your competitor. This is particularly dangerous since not only are you losing business but your competitor is gaining market share.
No Enthusiasm
Entrepreneurship and business are exciting domains. One must meet them with the same level of enthusiasm. This matters to customers a lot more than you would expect. Dull business repels customers.
Ever seen an eastern style market or “Bazaar” filled with thousands of people. All walking in streets with small shops on the side. These businesses flourish despite them not having a brand per se.
The shopkeepers have become experts in selling products. They yell their prices calling people to their products. These are traditional business practices that need to be translated into modern businesses.
Enthusiasm generates customers and retains them. So, show that you are enthusiastic about what you are doing.
Too “salesy”
This is to say that too much enthusiasm is also not good. There used to be a time in the 80s when salesmen would call random people to make sales. Or walk around with their products.
Yes, these are outdated practices that hold no positive outcome in today’s times. Today people want to go to the product rather than it be brought to them. This is particularly because the consumer has greater buying power.
Instead focus your business models to attract customers and make sales by presenting your products and services. So do not be too persuasive otherwise your competitors will enjoy their numbers.
Lack of Clarity
You must be clear about your brand, what you represent and what value you must deliver. Lack of clarity is the single biggest modern business problem especially with the startups.
People are too double, triple minded when defining their goals. This in turn impacts their communication to customers which is what drives them away. Lack of clarity not only impacts your internal environment but also your market.
You employees need to know what they are doing. Furthermore, they must be able to represent it to your customers. This is the key to thriving businesses, good customer-employee relationships. So, make sure your goals and objectives are clearly defined.
Doing it for the wrong reason
Business objectives are very important, they define you, your value and your worth. But objectives are derived from internal drive. An entrepreneur must not start a venture just because they think it would work.
Rather an entrepreneur would start a business because it holds some meaning to them. Intuition is one of the most important assets for an entrepreneur. It guides them during uncertainties.
Business is not done just for-profit motive, drive enthusiasm, clarity, honesty integrity. So your internal drive and motivation matters not just to you but to your business and startup.
Avoiding sacrifices
Business needs to be done with passion. The only real measure of passion would be how much you are willing to sacrifice for your startup. Entrepreneurs usually have to give up their leisure to make time for their side hustles.
Often this side hustle turns into a full-time grind. But it would have never reached this stage had there been no sacrifices. Sacrifice your time, put in effort, be consistent and you will make it.
Unorganized
Organizational power is the key to young startups. It is when entrepreneurs need to resolve uncertainties and create a structure. It is on this certain structure on which the business must thrive upon.
If you don’t organize yourself or your employees. You will struggle to make it. Organizing yourself improves your operations and this is what attracts customers. Because only when you have thriving operations, then you can display an image and represent value.
