7 Tried and True Keys to Success in Business

The number of new startups in the U.S. this year has risen to a high not seen since before the Great Recession. Millions of jobs are added to the market each year as entrepreneurs try their hand at created successful businesses. 

But the key question remains for all new business owners: What are the real keys to success in business?

Business models and types vary, but the secrets to successful business management are universal. Here are 7 tried and true keys to developing your startup into a successful new business.

1. You Can’t Do Without Cash Flow

We’ve all heard the well-known poetic phrase, “You must spend money to make money.” –Plautus

Still, while this may be true at the beginning of a startup’s life cycle, your little business-boat won’t sail long unless you develop an immediate and on-going cash-flow. This is particularly true for small businesses. 

If your business is going to succeed, you need to implement careful financial goals, controls, and monitoring from day one. 

Don’t spend a dime that’s unaccounted for. Success in business is often rooted in carefully created budgets and adherence to them. This can be said of financial success in almost any arena.

The rule of thumb should be, only spend money if it earns money. One of your business’s mottos ought to be, that if somethings not revenue, it’s an expense.

2. Meet a Real Need

You can have the best budget in the world but if you don’t offer a product or service that provides real value–meets an immediate need–of your target audience, kiss that cash-flow goodbye!

Develop and offer a product or service that makes life easier or solves a problem for your customers. 

It also helps to make your product benefits undeniably clear from the very first encounter. This is where good marketing will come into play later…

3. The Price is Right…But So Is the Quality

You may be able to convince some people to pay a ridiculous amount for your product, but in the long-run, your business will not succeed without fair pricing. Especially in today’s age of price-comparing and online shopping.

Customers can instantly look up competitor pricing for almost anything. They will not be easily fooled by jacked-up prices.

In the same vein, quality counts. If you have several competitors offering a similar product or service, you can bet people are going to want the option that’s of the highest quality or offers additional features that your competitors do not.

Customers don’t care if you’re selling the same lemonade as the guy down the street. They will notice if your lemonade tastes better, is priced fairer, or comes in multiple flavors.

4. Sales Are Tops for a Reason

Perhaps one of the single most vital keys to succeeding in business will always be your ability to sell your product. There’s a reason salesmen and saleswomen are given high-status in the workplace.

Without their efforts, there will be no cash flow and no business.

Of course, the ability to sell your product shouldn’t completely overshadow the additional need to sell your business in all aspects. This means you need to figure out how to sell your brand as a whole.

The more your target customers are “sold” on your brand, i.e. the lifestyle and vision your business represents, the more loyal they will be to you. Loyalty is invaluable. 

If you can sell the ideals, standards, and lifestyle your business stands for, customers will be excited to purchase each new product you put out.

5. Accessibility and Communication

There’s no misstating the obvious with this key tip to success: we live in a day of instant gratification. Customers want answers to their questions and resolutions to their concerns immediately.

If your business doesn’t offer an open-communication style, customers will go elsewhere. 

Most successful business models today include some kind of instant messaging or chat options so customers can feel like their concerns aren’t buried in among a host of emails unseen by human eyes.

Business success is also found in transparency. Customers prefer a business that can accept responsibility for errors or missteps. If you send a faulty or broken product to someone, don’t try and blame it on the courier.

Be transparent. Accept fault for things when you should. Let your customers know you aren’t perfect, but you provide real quality, great prices, and quality customer service.

6. Define Your Target Audience

Who are you selling to? 

Before you ever begin a business, try selling a product, or implement a marketing strategy, you better be darn sure who your target audience really is. A little market research can help you here.

Fortunately, social media is a great way to find out important demographic info on your audience. Look into who they are, what their interests are, income level, buying habits, family-size, etc.

You’d be surprised how much of this data is readily available from Facebook alone. This article and others are available to help you understand the importance of data.

Once you have a clear grasp of who you want to sell to, target them. Give them what they want and need, and when they want it.

7. Market Right

Along with defining your target audience, you need to know where they are. If your customer base isn’t into Facebook, do not launch a Facebook ad campaign. 

If they are more about SnapChat than Instagram, advertise on SnapChat.

Basic journalistic questions can help you design the best marketing strategy. Know the “Who, What, When, and Where,” of your customer base so you don’t waste money on marketing strategies that simply miss the target.

More Keys to Success in Business

The keys to success in business are basically the same wherever you go. You could add in a few other essentials like, “being careful with your money,” or “find a unique niche,” but the truth is, that with basic financial know-how and a little business-common-sense, you can take your startup to great heights.

For more insights into becoming a successful entrepreneur, browse the Startup portion of our blog.