Friday, January 03, 2014

Good advice from Cleanfax

Cleanfax published an article recently that goes to the heart of the training program at Bane- Clene Institute. Following are excerpts from the well-written article:

"The U.S. Department of Commerce claims that only one in five businesses will survive to celebrate its fifth anniversary. What is your biggest challenge? Rarely does one hear about a company failing because equipment could not do a good cleaning job. The real challenge is finding customers. Thousands of well-trained companies with state-of-the-art equipment fail each year. The predominant reason for their failure is the inability to create an ongoing flow of profitable work. Being the best carpet cleaner has little value if no one knows you exist. Yet for most start-ups, marketing is only an afterthought.

"Acquiring customers should be important from the beginning, and it will continually demand your attention and resources. Your success depends on your ability to accomplish this through effective marketing. Who or what is your competition? Many excuses have been given for why companies struggle. Some blame “price-shoppers” for forcing down prices. Others point to bait-and-switch companies as the reason for their hard times. National franchises or cheap budget companies are also good scapegoats.

"And when all else fails, blame the economy. These excuses are not the true reasons for failure. To succeed in business, you must know your real competition. If you do not know who or what that is, it will clobber you hard before you know what hit you. Your true competition is time.
Each company starts with a limited amount of cash and credit. Every month you and your business require a certain amount of that money to pay the bills. Your company is successful when it can produce more revenue than these bills consume. Until then, you are using up the limited financial resources with which you started.

"New owners often look around to see what other companies are doing and use them as role models. Unfortunately, according to the statistics, four out of five of your competitors are going to fail. If you follow their lead, you will experience the same failure that awaits them. Be selective about whose advice and habits you follow. You want to imitate businesses that are succeeding. Choose companies that are profitable, growing, and healthy. Look for mentors and teachers who have a proven track record."