Loading...
Answers
MenuMy company was successful for many years but has been losing business the last 4 years. Where do I find someone that can help me get back on track?
Declining advertising sales have been a big issue but my sales have dropped as well and that should not be happening.
Answers
Half the people on Clarity, including myself, can do that.
The real question is: who understands your business and your marketplace?
What level are you at? How many employees do you have, what gross revenue target do you have, is your marketplace expanding or contracting?
The usual thing, though, is lack of focus on revenue-generating activities. I'll give you that one as professional courtesy.
People do everything they can to appear "busy" in order to avoid selling.
Are you and your people focused on getting and closing orders? I'll bet if I surveyed what they're doing, a lot of their time is eaten up with grunt work that makes them look busy but doesn't lead to sales and money in the door.
After that, I'd look into positioning.
The secret is to understand why this is happening. The key to find this out is being open to what your analysis is telling you. Too many small business owners fail to acknowledge the "what's wrong?" Beak down the drivers into two categories: industry/macro economic factors and your business services/processes. I will be glad to have a call with you to come up with a reasonable approach.
This requires an in-depth analysis of your business, products, competitors, target market, revenue model, expenses/costs, sales model etc.
You can get general advice from anyone, but better advice from someone who is an expert (more specifically) in the product or services you provide.
Talk to an industry insider, to understand what's wrong in your company, and what needs to be improved, and whether it can be improved or not.
Do you have an idea of the cause of the decline?
It is important to isolate the problem first. Why is your business declining after many years of success? Is it a competitive threat? Is it a tired business model or stale value proposition? Have you been eclipsed by better options?
Once you figure out the "why" behind the decline, you can move towards developing a solution to correct course.
What is your business and what industry are you in?
Your situation is one that many businesses face. Stalled growth or down revenue is usually just the symptom. Could be any of a number of things, but usually is founded trying to use yesterday's solutions to address today's problems. Company's get fat, dumb and happy, just like people. In order to grow, you need to change. Here is a link to a blog post that should give you some insights and maybe set off a couple of light bulbs - http://bit.ly/1tvMFh9. Invariably, you need objective, outside advice to help really assess the situation. Happy to start a dialogue, if that makes sense.
All the best,
Lonnie
Am sure you would got the answer by now, with these responses. I would only ask you to do one thing. Take a candid interview of some of your old clients and ex-employees. You would know the real answers to the challenges you are facing. They know what exactly is going wrong.
You should first check on what is making the company to be draged behind
if cant solve then you should look for a people with successful business for a long period without making no losses gate advises from them like companies communication companies, Internet companies and many of the successful
Then if you are the director of the company you should have closeness to your employees so that hou can notice early enough before the company drops down.
Related Questions
-
What companies have successfully implemented both B2B and B2C products or services? Which should I start with for the non-profit sector?
I would suggest the first question to ask is "what problem do I solve?" And of those people I solve problems for "who do I create the most value for?" In the non-profit world you need to add "How does my business help the non-profit run better and/or help the group the non-profit focuses on?" For example, if you've created a platform that drives donations, your company "has created a platform that helps you reach fundraising goals faster." What you don't want to do is market and sell to B2B and B2C audiences simultaneously. They have different ways of buying - a B2B audience needs to have their benefits quantified (using your thing makes me x amount more) - and it's extremely hard for a startup to be able to do both well. Better to start with one, execute really well and move into the other. Feel free to give me a call and we can dig into who your most valuable audience is.AV
-
How can I become an idea person, as a professional title?
One word: Royalties This means you generate the idea and develop it enough to look interesting to a larger company who would be willing to pay you a royalty for your idea. This happens all the time. Rock stars, authors and scientists routinely license their creative ideas to other companies who pay them a royalty. Anyone can do it. Your business, therefore, would be a think tank. You (and your team, if you have one) would consider the world's problems, see what kinds of companies are trying to solve those problems, and then develop compelling solutions that they can license from you. You have to be able to sell your idea and develop a nice presentation, a little market research and an understanding of basic trademark and patent law. The nice thing about doing this is that if you develop enough cool ideas you will have royalties coming in from a lot of different sources, this creates a stable, passive revenue stream that requires little or no work to maintain. Start in your spare time and plan on the process taking 3-5 years. Set a goal to have a few products in the market that provide enough revenue (royalties) to cover your basic living expenses. Then you can quit your day job and dedicate more time and increase the momentum. A good idea business should have dozens, if not hundreds of license contracts generating royalties. It's possible to pull this off. And it is a fun job (I'm speaking from experience).MM
-
How can I make a million dollars?
First, I agree with Chad in that the pure pursuit of money is unlikely to render anything significant. By using a monetary value as a primary goal, you're only diluting the real drivers of success: passion, crafting great customer experiences, building an incredible team and culture etc. That said, making $1m isn't that hard. :) I love this thinking by Amy Hoy and that's how I would go about making $1m: http://unicornfree.com/30x500. Using that logic, this is what I'd do: * To earn $1m in a year, I need to earn +- $80k a month. * To earn $80k a month, I need 1600 customers paying me $50 per month. * So what can I build that could attract 1600 people to pay me $50? * Or, what could I build that could attract 400 people to pay me $200 per month? This logic works on two drivers: * Cumulative revenue and growth. So SaaS works best in this regard, as you only need to focus on having new signups that are greater than your churn. * Building something that people are willing to (really) pay for and going for quality over quantity. If you are building something that sells for $5 pm, you'll need to sell at much higher volumes (which are tricky). In terms of doing that, these are the areas of my business that I would prioritize: 1. Build an awesome team that do things they're passionate about. 2. Prioritize customer experiences above anything else. Do everything in your power (regardless of whether it can't scale) to add value and help your customers. 3. Build a brand and reputation that has long-lasting value.AP
-
I have an idea for a start up, but I don't know how to code, whats the next step?
Hello, If you have time, I suggest that you learn coding yourself. That saves you money but takes a great amount of time to do. And if your interested, I'm a coder myself. You can give me a call and we'll discuss the details of your idea.GS
-
To make 50k per month, what are some proven online business models? Which niches have good potential for this?
I think you need to think outside the box. You can definitely make 50k a month but someone just giving you ideas is not going to help you. Remember Ideas are just 1% execution is 99%. Find something you're passionate about. Find a problem that people have daily that can be solved. But if you wan't ideas: E-Commerce is going to be really big over the net few years. Helping people increase their conversion rate will definitely make you over 50k a year if you can execute it right.AC
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.