1. All Sales No Delivery

Sales are the first element of business, without sales you don’t have a business. However when a business fails to deliver on its customer promise; late delivery, absent functionality, over promised service coupled with underwhelming reality; the buyer feels cheated. The business risks entering a death spiral. There spiral where sales staff spend more time placating current customers rather than finding new clients. Marketing spends more time on public relations rather than highlighting key product benefits. Staff moral drops due to staff feeling uncomfortable being associated with a poor brand. Eventually you’ll have nothing to deliver.

2. The Distracting dog of an idea

The distracting dog of an idea occurs where the business owner loses focus on its core business. An opportunity arises that seems like a good idea at the time, but on reflection has very little to do with the skills, knowledge or intangible assets that form the foundations of the company’s natural strengths. The distracting idea absorbs resources and shifts the focus of staff away from maintaining and delivering customer satisfaction in your core business. You eventually lose market share.

3. Out-Dated Infrastructure

A business fails to focus on innovation and process improvement, either through internally developed assets or investment tools, equipment or technology. This leads to uncompetitive cost structures or product/service functionality. Your business eventually becomes uncompetitive as yesterday’s cutting edge service becomes today’s customer norm.

4. Nothing Ever Changes

Living with the false sense of security that tomorrow’s market will be the same as today’s. Selling & marketing practices remain the same, customer expectations remain the same, market forces remain the same, staff expectations remain the same, social conditions remain the same. Actually nothing remains the same.

5. It’s all my staffs fault

Instead of spreading enthusiasm about the customer experience and taking staff on the business journey, every problem that arises is blamed at the feet of staff members. Instead of engraining a positive culture, a culture of excuse and denial festers. The business owner becomes drag into every decision, no matter how small as staff avoids taking responsibility in fear of being assigned blame. Instead of embedding process, replicating efficiency and instilling an innovative culture, the work day becomes a daily fire fight.

6. Books cooked beyond recognition

The over complicated company structure is coupled with under whelming product/service margin information provides uncertainty and obscure clear decision making. How does this happen? When sales are rapidly growing exotic advice is provided on company structures involving various company transfers to minimise tax liability. However an unintended consequence is complications with understanding clearly product and service profitability. The seeds sowed with over complicated accounts only come home to roost when the company is nolonger performing as well as its glorious past; partly due to poor decision making from poor margin information.

7. Marketing mismatch

A great marketing campaign that does not match market expectations for the product or service; Everybody knows about your product but few people really understand what you have to offer. The marketing campaign has a great catchy jingo, but the jingo although memorable doesn’t entice you to buy. The marketing effort simply does not resonate. The marketeers have failed to understand the buyers.

8. No Plan B

Even the best laid plans can be the victim of unfortunate circumstance. What is your plan B if or when that unexpected event occurs? How will you operate out of a difficult circumstances? If you don’t have a plan B, you may never get the chance to revisit plan A.

9. Caged by the Business

Failing to recharge, delegate, take time out to gain new perspectives, you become trapped in the cycle of doing for doing sake. You fail to stop and think about ‘doing’ more efficiently, leveraging that knowledge you have, understand where your skills are best placed and move forward more effectively. You risk your health and burn out!

10. I know everything

Not taking advantage of the skills and knowledge around you; You risk failing to move with the changing business environment. That knowledge may be held by your staff, associates or alliances.  Investing in refreshing your knowledge base, understand the changing business conditions, acting with certainty when delivering customer satisfaction. There is always something new worth knowing.

Why make avoidable mistakes, speak to your business performance advisor to maintain your business success.