Why good businesses fail

I believe something about your business, about every business in fact.

And it’s something I’m sure, in your heart of hearts, you believe too …

In short, your prospects and your customers will be loyal to you, pay premium prices to you, and refer their friends and family to you in direct proportion to how much value you bring into their lives.

And that value has to be more than just a good price on a good product.

You have to show, through every contact with your prospects and customers, that you care about them. By proving you are looking out for their best interests.

That you will fight for them – at every turn.

I believe every time someone markets their product or business in a way that goes against their customer’s best interest, that person is slowly killing their business.

No traffic strategy, no sales-funnel, no brand-building, no advertising campaign, no marketing plan and no business strategy can make up over long haul for putting your customer’s experience on the back burner.

I believe championing your customers is a fundamental key to your business’s success.

But I DON’T believe that alone
is enough to build a terrific business

Putting customer first DOES NOT mean putting smart business last.

History is littered with the failures of entrepreneurs with great products who deserved to succeed if you only looked at how well they served the customer.

But they failed.

Anyone who tells you having a “great product” and “treating customers right” in and of themselves is a sure path to success is selling a pipe-dream.

Ignoring sales fundamentals and the fundamental economics of your business, your industry and your marketing will kill the business of the nicest, hardest-working and  most dedicated entrepreneurs.

A terrific business is composed of three things:

1. Free cash flow – your revenue minus all of your costs of doing business
2. Tangible Assets –like real estate, customer lists, proven sales funnels, proven promotions, etc
3. Intangible assets like your customer relationships, business relationships, reputation, ability to generate new selling ideas and more

To create explosive growth you need to market and build your business with a close eye and deep understanding of these fundamentals.

Having a great product and first-class treatment of your customers is the price of entrance.

Having a “great product”doesn’t do you – or your customers – any good unless you convince lots of people to buy it

If you want to serve your customers and your market over the long term – YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO STAY IN BUSINESS.

So you need strong sales funnels – from lead generation to conversion to buyer to conversion to multi-buyer.

You need killer customer acquisition systems – which is only possible when you understand your Break Even ROI.

Great customers service is, in my opinion, a “must-have” for long-term business success. Considering studies show that up to 90% of your lost customer left you because of the way you or your staff treated them customer service is ultimately a marketing issue.

But it can’t stand on it’s own and if you’re an information publisher and marketer it certainly is not going to drive new customer acquisition and generate back end sales all on its own.

You can’t ignore the fundametnals at the heart every organic growth strategy:

1. Attracting more new customers
2. Getting them to buy more products
3. Getting them to spend more money per sale

The truly terrific business will serve it’s customers, serve it’s market and plan and execute rock solid business growth strategies.

In business being good to your customers is simply not enough to survive. If you disagree try spending some time with a small bookstore gonig out of business because of the new Barnes & Noble who moved in down the street or who lost huge amounts of business to Amazon.

I do believe championing your customers is a fundamental key to your business’s long term success.

But it alone is not enough that’s why you need strong, lead generation and sales conversion strategies combined with a backend marketing strategy to continually generate consistent revenues.

John