Remy
According to
the latest statistics from our Small Business Association two thirds of small
businesses survive two years, and only 44% survive at least four years. So that
leaves us with more than half of all small businesses failing in the span of
four years, ever wonder why? I think a
major reason is simply poor communication with customers and lack of sales
engagement and expertise in the product or services area. Brian Head, Economist with the SBA
Office of Advocacy, noted that the latest statistics are a much more accurate
assessment of new business success rates, and that "as a general rule of
thumb, new employer businesses have a 50/50 chance of surviving for five years
or more." I found this information at business know how along with a their
seven reasons for failure, which I don’t necessarily agree with: http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/business-failure.htm
The Seven Pitfalls of Business Failure
1. You
start your business for the wrong reasons.
2. Poor
Management
3.
Insufficient Capital
4.
Location, Location, Location
5. Lack
of Planning
6.
Overexpansion
7. No
Website
During the
course of my career I started, cofounded and/or joined six small businesses and
I don’t agree that small business failure can be attributed to these seven
pitfalls only. In my experience knowing, understanding and engaging with
customers to understand their stated and unstated needs is the key ingredient
for success. There is no question that if don’t have the right location for
your business, you don’t plan, you over expand and don’t have enough money you
probably will fail and deserve to. Aren’t these all key management decisions?
There are of course many people that have life style business aspirations and
need to limit their businesses growth, and start businesses for all the wrong
reasons. But today if you are not selling products over the Internet, my
question is do you need a website if you are on Facebook? I would love your
comments on this.
Engaging Customers
How many
times have you walked into a small business and felt ignored? And how many
times have you walked out of a small business without making a purchase because
of this? I think this is one of the primary reasons why so many small business
fail, lack of marketing and sales engagement by employees and small business
owners. I also think that merchandizing of store windows and products within
small business is another reason for failure. If the products and store doesn’t
look inviting and products aren’t well presented in the signage then why should
I go into the store? We are visually oriented beings and our journey begins
with our eyes, although the nose can play an amazing role.
Last weekend
I went wine tasting in Sonoma County California with friends and visited a
number of new small businesses in Healdsburg, a small quaint but up and coming
town. Clustered around its center square are bookstores, wine shops, specialty
gourmet stores and art galleries. One business, a new cheese shop in town
looked inviting and we I walked in. Upon entry I saw a small figurine of Remy,
the famous rat from the movie Ratatouille. There were two people behind the
counter and no one greeted us upon our entry, it wasn’t until I picked up Remy
and asked if he was for sale that the person who appeared to be the owner spoke
to us. Even then she did not seem friendly or engaging, and did not do what
would seem obvious to me, tell me where she got Remy and ask me if there was
something special I was interested in. Not at any time was there an engaging
conversation started and they never asked us if we needed any help, which I
think is a stupid pedestrian question in this day and age.
Net/Net
When I walk
in your store, don’t make me feel like a stranger, engage me even if I am a
visitor to your town. Make me feel like I am welcome and you are not doing me a
favor by talking to me. Small business owners need to carefully select
employees with engaging personalities that will foster a business personality
and environment that drives sales. In any business the customer experience or
what modern marketers call “the brand experience” begins before you even enter
the door, but in my mind it’s all about communication. All of this sounds like
common sense, but it is the biggest challenge in retail today. Communications
and engagement are only the first step the second and most valuable is expertise.
And if you are a cook and have not seen the movie Ratatouille yet do it!
The Personality of Fish: Sea Mice in
Deep Basins of our Oceans
Along the
Eastern seaboard of the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean there are a series of deep
basins often more than 2000 meters deep. Some have been named after early
bathymetric scientist/explorers such as Wilkinson, Tilles and Stellwagon. These
basins are unique ecosystems that are inhabited by bizarre looking animals and
plants that spend their lives living in the dark. The fish and invertebrates
have highly evolved chemo and olfactory sensory apparatus that enable them to
find food, reproduce and survive. They are part of an ecosystem rarely seen
and/or explored even with ROVs, (remotely operated vehicles) and this is where
I encountered the sea mouse.
As a marine
scientist I volunteered to do ground fish surveys up and down the Atlantic
seaboard, where we often encountered, the sea mouse, Aphrodite aculeate. Sea
mice are actually segmented worms and slowly cruise along the bottom like
vacuum cleaners scoring the surface. I never had the opportunity to dissect one
and examine their stomach contents, but I can imagine that is was a strange
mixture of detritus, mud and other dead things. We often used Yankee Otter
trawls to drag up everything from these basins and what I remember very vividly
was the distinctive almost noxious smell of these animals live in the dark.
My favorite flounder
species, the grey sole flounder can be found in these basins, along with
perhaps the most disgusting of all fish species, the Hagfish . Hagfish are eel
like and live inside dead things like some fresh and salt water eels. When the
nets are emptied out comes the hagfish and as a defense mechanism it surrounds
itself with a thick and absolutely disgustingly thick mucous and slime that
reeks of the basin depth. Grey sole was a highly sought after fish because of its
delicate and unique flavor. However, its populations have been decimated by
overfishing of the basins, and because of our ineffective and dysfunctional
government management systems. Until next time I wish you great selling and
marketing in the millennium.
