Entrepreneurship is the best virtue that gives employment to others, brings excellent ideas in the form of products or services to the public and contributes to the development of local and the country.
If you think about launching a startup or already have one, congrats! You are already on the journey of creating wealth for society and yourself.
But, heads up. Being an entrepreneur and running a successful startup is not that easy since many factors can fail what you have thought.
According to surveys, more than 50% of startups fail to survive in their initial 5 years, and more than 70% fail by they reach their 10th year.
There certainly are reasons for this, and there are ways to survive as well. In this article, we have discussed some of the ideas to help hardworking startup entrepreneurs like you survive your startups.
Have a well-prepared business plan
Most of the startups die as they fail to accumulate enough capital and long term funding, one of the core reasons for this is lack of a practical and well-prepared business plan. Statistics of the past several years have shown a clear picture of this aspect. Those with a proper business plan are more successful compared to those with no business plan in terms of attracting more investment, securing a loan and achieving higher growth of the business.
So make sure you have a well-researched, accurately written and proofread business plan. For that purpose, consider outsourcing it to professional services like Pro Editing&Proofreading, that will secure your reputation and deliver the perfect result on time.
Be flexible with your target market
It’s always good to have a niche market or a small and focused targetted group of customers. But when you see no or little success with it, it’s better you rethink your target market. You should be ready to adapt different targetting strategy and go to those customer segments that seemed to be out of your niche.
Make appropriate changes to your product/service features and prices to make it available to those out of your targeted customer groups.
Appoint the right people
Your energy is high while you are in the initial phase of your startup. That’s good. But don’t try to handle everything yourself as it will affect your productivity and ultimately your startup’s success. That is one of the many reasons startups fail to survive.
For better results, you should delegate responsibilities to other more capable people and focus your efforts on the task you are good at.
Have an online presence
It’s good to have a place to operate your business officially but having an online presence with an excellent website and social media accounts is equally essential these days. Most of the customers like to know about your business and products/services from your business website or your official page on social and business networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook.
So have a website and social media accounts. Keep them updated and stay connected with your customers.
Develop a marketing strategy
A powerful and flexible marketing strategy plays a vital role in the survival and growth of a business. First thing, if you are not a marketing guy, learn it, It will help. Second thing, develop an offline as well as online marketing strategy. You are always able to make changes to your budget, targetting and intensity of your marketing efforts as you go on.
So have a well-planned marketing strategy and get it working towards converting your potential customers into sales. Also, have a marketing campaign focused on converting non-potential customers into potential customers.
Ensure customer satisfaction
That is the most critical aspect of any business, and it decides if your company will survive or not. Most startups fail not because they failed in managing marketing and finances but because they failed in keeping customers interested in their products or services.
So ask clients for feedback and act on them quickly to improve your products and services. Have detailed manuals that are easy to read and understand so that your customers don’t get confused while using your product. Get them written by experts and hire a professional proofreader to ensure they are free from spelling and grammatical errors. It will improve customer satisfaction, loyalty and they will stay with you for a long-term.
Be flexible with your products and service
As said in the previous tip, be ready to change your product/service based on feedback and demand of your customers. Don’t be too rigid. You can’t satisfy customers with a product that don’t accommodate their suggestions. Big companies take this very seriously and never miss to receive feedback from the customer. That’s the reason they come up with improved versions of their products and services regularly in short intervals.
So be flexible and provide what clients want in your product or service if you’re going to survive in the long run.
Outsource processes to reduce cost
Big companies focus on their core operations and outsource as many processes as possible. This thing applies to the startups as well. There are processes like customer care, delivery, billing and accounts receivables that you can outsource. BPO companies have facilities, expertise, and trained workforce and can provide these services at a low cost. You can use them instead of setting up expensive locations and resources on your own.
So outsource as much as possible and focus your efforts on core business aspects. It will save your energy and cost that will help you survive your startup in the long run.
In conclusion:
For a successful startup, you should have a great idea that can convert into a business backed by a detailed and well-prepared plan. If you are done well with this, you will have a great chance of securing the required funding to start and run your business operations smoothly.
On the other hand, you should also be ready with an online presence and a powerful yet flexible marketing strategy and excellent customer service so that you can gain and retain a customer base. A successful combination of these things will ensure a long term survival and growth of your startup.