Things You’re Doing that are Killing your Small Business
BUSINESS
Photo by Cloris Ying on Unsplash
Small businesses die within the first 5 years post commencement. This is a statistic we know all too well, many of us sadly being a part of it. It’s especially true in countries like my own (Lesotho), where we depend on our business from day one, for survival. But what other things could deliver the final blow to this seemingly inevitable failure of a small business?
The Customer: Bad customer service
My brother-in-law told me a story once, of a woman who returned an artificial Christmas tree to a store the day after Christmas, because it didn’t fit in with her Feng Shui. What would you have said to this customer, if you were a store owner? Well, they took it back and gave her a refund. That is how seriously other businesses take customer service. Marketing is how you get the customer to choose you. Customer service is how get them to choose you again.
You might feel like this is a bit of a stretch but think of it this way; how likely are you to go back to a store where the customer service was less than satisfactory, if you could choose an alternative shop?
The Business: Appearance
Early March this year, I attended a workshop and training at L'Oréal for their luxury hair product line, MIZANI. The brand ambassadors walked us through how they decide which salons to feature their product in. The first thing was the appearance of the salon — bright lights, neatly folded towels, clean windows and floors. Less than 100 salons in South Africa have the product line, they said, and they’re happy with that number. If you have a brick and mortar store, be sure that it represents the absolute best of what the business does. Even if you’re not the leader in your industry, you customer will firmly believe that you are.
The Employees: You are not professional
Yelling at employees, giving very little to no training while expecting efficiency, zero exposure to the market but with an expectation of creativity; these are all the things that small business owners are famous for. Want your shopkeeper to make better window displays? Put traveling in their schedules, an opportunity to go and see how other stores do it. Give them direction; tasks, deadlines and they will give the very best of themselves to their jobs. Most importantly, give people careers that they can be proud of, sign them up for workshops in the industry. Even if their job is to make coffee for the staff, offer the best tools to help them become the no.1 coffeemaker, and this will set you apart from your competitors. Hlompha batho ba u thusang. Se ke oa ba etsa lisono hobane ba se na menyetla e meng ea mesebetsi. (Translation: respect the people that work for you, do not take advantage of their desperation for employment).
Sometimes, it’s the little things that make or break a business, and, if we could take care of these in its early stages, perhaps we could better our chances of making it in the business world.
