STOP! Is your business missing it's mark-et?

Written by Aaron Colman


STOP! Is your business missing it's mark-et?

Written by Aaron Colman info@ibasics.biz http://www.ibasics.biz

I've seen a lot small business go under inrepparttar last few years. Most of these were founded by good, well-intentioned people that wanted nothing more than to take something that they enjoyed and make it a successful business.

This can be a good way to find business ideas, but it's before you dedicate your life's savings to creating your business dream you really should think about it fromrepparttar 104582 perspective of a business executive.

Sometimes,repparttar 104583 fact is, you're just not positioned well enough to get intorepparttar 104584 market. This doesn't mean that you should abandon your dream, it just means that you need to take a new approach.

When evaluating different approaches, here are some ofrepparttar 104585 things you should consider:

1. How much are customers willing to pay?

If you customers aren't willing to pay for your product or service offering, you're going to be fighting an uphill battle.

While it's possible to succeed with low-ticket sales... you should be prepared to focus your business on a quick, high-volume sales process as opposed to a more lengthy sales process. This works especially well on consumables like food or clothing, but wouldn't work at all on major contracts.

2. What does it take to satisfy those customers?

Customers can be very demanding. What does it take to make them happy? Are standards for a new product so high as to price it out of your range?

3. How much does it cost to satisfy them?

The ultimate conclusion torepparttar 104586 question above. How much will it cost to make your customers happy?

4. How big isrepparttar 104587 customer base?

If you've only got a dozen customers inrepparttar 104588 country, you'll clearly want to take a very different approach. Take for instance commercial airplane manufacturers. The cost of each product combined withrepparttar 104589 small number of customers makes it difficult to penetrate this market.

5. Is it growing or is it shrinking?

How many horse and buggies have you seen lately? Obviously some markets are shrinking, while others are growing. Getting involved in a shrinking market will make it tougher to succeed since you're going to be competing withrepparttar 104590 already established "big fish." Onrepparttar 104591 other hand this places extra value on established market share, so if you have strong enough competitive advantage it could become especially profitable.

6. What kind of competition is there?

If you've only got a few small name competitors then your branding efforts will be greatly leveraged in your favor. However if you're competing against large name firms, then you're fighting againstrepparttar 104592 grain. For this reason a large number of companies have found it profitable to commoditizerepparttar 104593 market by flooding it with a large number of generic alternatives.

ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES PREPARING TO LOOK FOR WORK WHEN THE JOB MARKET REBOUNDS?

Written by Gary Halverson


Those who care to make predictions for what to expect in 2004 may have differing opinions in a number of areas: whatrepparttar new fashion in hemlines will be, who will become our nation’s next president, or whenrepparttar 104581 expected economic recovery will occur. What most experts agree on, however, is that with an economic rebound, we can expectrepparttar 104582 retention of valued employees to become a key concern for all businesses, both large and small. Organizations are now positioning themselves to grow and compete inrepparttar 104583 future, and that means it will become increasingly critical to hold onto talent who might otherwise be ready to jump ship People are already dusting off their resumes as they realize that work is out there, and I think businesses should expect to see some significant defections byrepparttar 104584 second quarter. There is starting to be some real concern onrepparttar 104585 part of companies beginning to realize that their key players, who are relied on heavily to growrepparttar 104586 business, provide leadership direction for employees and leadrepparttar 104587 company to future success, may be lured away. Asrepparttar 104588 economy rebounds, there will be an increase in competitive pressure inrepparttar 104589 marketplace to attractrepparttar 104590 best talent and organizations need to be prepared for that. Having a solid retention strategy in place is vitally important torepparttar 104591 success of any organization. In fact, that strategy should be implemented as an ongoing part ofrepparttar 104592 day-to-day business plan. Successful companies are proactive and approach retention as part ofrepparttar 104593 business structure, rather than reacting to what is happening when it might be too late. It should start with recruitment and follow through as an ongoing multi-dimensional process that allows employees to be a part ofrepparttar 104594 business dialogue and see that there are opportunities for growth and development withinrepparttar 104595 company. Gone arerepparttar 104596 days when employees could plan to join a company straight out of college and stay with it until they receive a gold watch and a pension. Today, many may be poised to leave after having felt exploited forrepparttar 104597 past few years during an era of widespread layoffs and less-than-adequate compensation. In many cases,repparttar 104598 bond between employees and their companies has been broken. Some have interpretedrepparttar 104599 uncertainty and downsizing as a message sent that employees are expendable, and should neither strive for, nor expect, long-term employment within a single organization. However, employers must not assume that nothing can be done to manage these negative reactions. According torepparttar 104600 U.S. Labor Department, productivity grew atrepparttar 104601 fastest rate since 1983 inrepparttar 104602 third quarter of 2003—employees have been working hard, and companies have been running lean. Savvy organizations will be preparing now, rather than waiting until they begin to lose a critical mass of employees, to create a climate that will foster retention of these valued team members for whenrepparttar 104603 economic pendulum shifts.

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