The Single Biggest Factor of Succeeding as an Small Business
So what's the biggest factor when it comes to actually succeed as an entrepreneur?
Well, for starters, here's a quick list of what's not a factor:
a) It's not how much funding you have
b) It's not how much you believe in yourself - or your project
c) And it's not how much time or money you've invested into your project...
No, rather, without a doubt the biggest factor in your success as a small business is being able to impress the living daylights out of your customers - and you know you've accomplished this when they all genuinely feel like they've received many times more value than they've paid for, time and time again...
This will unleash a tidal wave of referral business, word-of-mouth marketing, and nothing else imaginable. And the more you grow, the faster the sales will pour in.
Some examples of this type of aœtidal-wave success as a result of over-delivering in a market include companies such as Skype, Apple (with the iPod, specifically), and Google. In each case, a product or service was provided that completely blew away the competition in every way, while providing far more value to the customer in exchange for their patronage.
Here's why:
Skype makes it possible to call anywhere in the world – with great sound quality – for just pennies on the dollar. This is literally a communication revolution, as it almost makes a traditional long-distance plan obsolete.
The iPod's simplicity, size, and massive storage space as compared to a CD player made it a complete no-brainer for music enthusiasts worldwide. The ability to store and play music on a device that never skipped had ten times the battery life, and weighed a fraction as much as a cd player made it an instant hit across the globe.
And Google's no-nonsense interface with contextual ads and super-fast load times made it an instant preference of millions of internet users – to the point where it alone holds more than 50% of the entire search engine market share...
And so with those examples in mind, here's a basic formula for succeeding wildly as an entrepreneur today in America:
1. Your product or service needs to meet and exceed what your customer wants. If you've got something that nobody needs or wants, you won't be in business for long...
2. Your product or service must provide MORE perceived value than what your customer pays. This doesn't mean that you'll be losing money. What it does mean is that whatever you're offering must be worth MORE in the eyes of your customer than what you're charging for it.
When this happens, the "word of mouth" factor becomes so massive that often a small start-up business can become a massive, multi-million dollar enterprise in a very short amount of time, simply because they give their customers something to talk about - or even brag about in some instances...
3. Your customer MUST feel valued and appreciated. Make no mistake - you enter into a business relationship with every single person that invests their hard-earned money in you. And if you violate that relationship with poor customer service - or by simply not appreciating your customers - then they'll spend their hard-earned money elsewhere. Guaranteed.
4. You need to make things as EASY and accommodating as possible for your customer at every level of your business. Let me give you some examples...
* If your business isn't strictly local - then do you have a 1-800 # so that your customers can call you toll-free?
* If your product can be ordered directly, do you have a website that people can place orders from (securely), 24/7/365?
* And perhaps most importantly do you accept credit cards so that your customers can feel more confident in their purchase because of the convenience and flexibility you're offering them?
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