The Top Causes Of Business Failure (And How To Avoid Them!)

Many people want to start a business but are afraid of failure. It makes sense, after all, there are loads of failing companies all around us.

There are certain things that can cause a business to fail. I’ve listed the top causes down below, as well as some tips to avoid them:

(Photo via: https://flic.kr/p/icfMNP)

Bad Employees

Anyone with a business will know that employees can be tough. In an ideal world, they’ll happily work for you five days a week, throughout the year. However, you often come across some employees that just don’t pull their weight. And, when that happens, it has a knock-on effect on everyone else. If one person is unproductive, then it can lead to unproductivity in general. People have to wait longer to get work from them, meaning their workload is slowed down too. Then, you have employees that are just bad at their job. They do things wrong, and it can cost your business.

Thankfully, there are ways you can avoid this problem. Let’s start with unproductive employees, how do you get them working harder? For me, you have to get down to the cause of their unproductivity. Some employees don’t try and work slowly, but they’re restricted. This could be because of physical problems or issues in their personal life. In which case, there are EAP solutions for employers to implement in their business. These programmes can help assist your staff, and deal with any issues that are troubling them. Then, when the problems are dealt with, they’re able to be productive. In some cases, people don’t work hard because they don’t have the motivation. So, be a good boss and motivate like crazy!

To deal with the issue of people that are bad at their work, make better hires. It’s as simple as that, ensure you’re hiring the best people possible. This guarantees you have a team of competent people.

Getting Stuck In The Past

A lot of business failures are caused by the owners being stuck in the past. What I mean by this is that they don’t keep up to speed with modern advancements. If you start a business today, then your methods could be outdated in a couple of years. The world is moving crazily fast right now; new things are being developed every day. When your company is stuck using old methods, then new businesses can pass them by with ease.

For example, so many old businesses were ruined by the rise of the internet. Online businesses started popping up, and stealing all their customers. Companies had two options, they either started using the modern technology, or they didn’t. Some businesses were smart and jumped on the bandwagon right away. They started changing the way they operated and moved their company online. Others weren’t so smart, and they tried to stick it out. They wanted to carry on being traditional and failed.

It’s easy to be stubborn and stick with the way you’ve done things for years. But, every successful person will tell you that you have to change eventually. If you want to grow, you need to keep up with modern business trends. Stay in the loop and keep a close eye on the latest developments. Make sure your company is making the most out of modern technology, and you’ll avoid failure.

(Image: http://goo.gl/FJzW3B)

Bad Customer Service

Let me ask you a simple question, what’s the most important part of business? I’ll answer that for you; it’s your customers. They’re the ones that will provide your company with all its money. They spend, spend, spend, and you expand and grow. For this reason, customer service needs to be a top priority. And, when it isn’t, big problems will occur.

There’s no way a customer will continue to be a customer if they get poor service. If they feel like they’re treated poorly, then they’ll leave. To make matters worse, they’ll tell everyone how bad your customer service is, and other people might leave too. In this day and age, consumers have been given a voice. With social media, all it takes is one disgruntled customer, to have a huge impact. I’ve seen negative tweets that have been retweeted tens of thousands of times by Twitter users. The impact this can have on a business is catastrophic.

Any failure can be avoided if you simply provide great customer service. Keep your loyal customers happy, and they’ll continue to use your business. Make sure that you’re always providing support when they need it. Every time you deal with a customer, you need to be happy and supportive. Remember, the customer is always right!

If you avoid these three causes, then you have nothing to worry about. Your business will be safe, and free from failure.