Why do some businesses fail?

I am not an expert when it comes to business and I don't even qualified to talk about business failure but what I want to say is what I feel why do some businesses fail? I speak from a customer point of view.

I think a lot of research and thought need to go into these businesses planning before begins to take shape.
It reminds me of the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf. For those who are too 'young' to remember then let me refresh your memory..

Once upon a time there were three little pigs and the time came for the young adults to leave the nest to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Each little pig took a different path out into the world.

Before they left, their mother gave an important reminder, "there is no shortcut to success, success doesn't come without hard work and perseverance".

One pig built a house of straw, while the second pig built his house with sticks. They built their houses very quickly with ease. Both of the pigs laugh at the third pig who worked very hard and methodology ways of doing things to built his house that was made of bricks.

A big bad wolf saw the two little pigs while they danced and played and thought, “What tender juicy meals they will make!” He chased the two pigs and they ran and hid in their own houses. The big bad wolf went to the first house and huffed and puffed and blew the house down. What a piece of cake!

 With just one big huff and puff, the big bad wolf blows the house of straw down

The frightened little pig ran helter skelter to the second pig’s house that was made of sticks. The big bad wolf now came to this house and need more huffed and puffed and blew the house down in minutes.

Now, the two little pigs were terrified, fear for their life ran to the third pig’s house to seek refuge.
The big bad wolf tried all his effort to huff and puff to blow the house down, but he had found all in vain. He persistently trying for hours but the house was very strong and withstand more powerful blow but the little pigs were safe inside and there is no danger whatsoever . He tried to sneak  through the chimney but the third little pig has prepare boiled a big pot of water and kept it below the chimney. The wolf fell into the pot of boiling water with a big splash and that's the end of the big bad wolf life.

The 3 little pigs mother advice for them, only the third little pig took his Mother's advice to heart, and he built as strong a house. The two little pigs now felt remorse for did not adhere their mother's advice and for being so lazy. They in turn built their houses with bricks and all three pigs lived happily ever after!


So What's The Moral To The Story? 

A good solid foundation and well structured plan can help in times of a storm when business owners face challenges.

In today's busy business world, you don't wait for the handouts. Success does not come to those who wait. It will come to those people who like taking pride in their accomplishments, whatever they earned was through their own sheer effort. There is no shortcut to success. It takes many years of dedication, persistence, hard work to get this achievement.


CLEAR DIRECTION

It is important for every entrepreneur to have a business plan for measure your business' progress and to explain how you are going to turn your business vision into be a reality. Your business is the blueprint for your business; it is a vital document the loan officer will want to see before you can obtain a loan from any financial institution.

A poor business plan is no hope of getting any fund from established financial institutions such as banks.

Every people are well aware to operate a business or businesses, there will always be financial risks involved. If you take calculate risk the odds for success are much greater than the odds for failure.

You don't need to jump on the bandwagon because you see what everyone else does doing. Create your own work, be original of your own product.

Before you can start any business you must have a good product that everyone will accept. You cannot copy blindly by lowering your cost/price and expect someone surely will buy it but nowadays most entrepreneurs are copycats of another person product.  You can be aware of the trends, but never completely dependent on them. There have certainly been lots of fads over the last decade, with some quickly going in and out of fashion, while others prove to be rather more sustainable.

What customer wants is a product which is cheaper, lasting, eye catching, innovative and difference with others ideas.

I take for example, vendors selling food on the streets but if everyone does the same thing it would be like if everyone favourite fast food is hot dog, yours selling point should be different. You provide a variety of different mix and match combinations instead of the usual stuff on the menu.


A restaurant entrepreneur wants to promote his restaurant signature dishes to his customers which may have special secret ingredients. There will always be another copycat that will claiming it as their trademark dish.


Don't just fish on the same spot when looking for a business spot.

"Why don't you just beat it, three's a crowd ?"

If you're entrepreneurial, I will recommend starting your own business which doesn’t venture into the same business in the same area. If there is a Tyre shop in a small residential area why would want to follow? This is different if the area is in a busy commercial district.

Just like when you go fishing, make sure you don't crowd in on others space. It is not necessary you need to fish the same exact spot.

One would expect to hear the saying two is company, three's a crowd phrase.


What affect consumer decision making?



Human minds are more complex to predict on factors that influences our decision-making. If you compared it with fishing all you have to do is to use worms which are good bait for nearly all freshwater and saltwater fish. Likewise, when you try to get the attention of a potential customer's attention, you'll find it's not easy to catch.

You need to do research on the current product on why customers are satisfied but may still be feel it can be bettered. Every customer wants to know what you pay for it; you'll get your money's worth, in other words "Value for Money".

You don't expect customers to stay with you forever. Just because they're regular 'old' customers doesn't necessarily mean they won't find another supplier or vendor.

If someone can better serve than its target competitors, by offering good product offerings, prices, quality etc..then the happy customers will likely will most likely remain loyal to your company.


ADVERTISING MEDIA- to promote your business to a broad audience



Once people make up their mind on what product or service want to run your business, it’s time to find a way to attracts potential customers using creative advertising media. The most common ways is throu magazine advertising, newspaper insert prints ads, banner etc.

Nowadays it is a trend to explore Internet marketing or online marketing which uses advertising web and e-mail to drive their product by e-commerce but you should not forget the old ways of ads methods such as brochures, flyers and business cards


One common mistake I found in some of the ads is they did not provide enough information such as the address, map location and business time hours. In today's technology world, it makes life easier knowing all it takes is to provide your GPS (latitude and longitude) coordinates and the GPS will lead the customers to your shop. Finding an unfamiliar place can waste lots of precious time and at the end will give up and settle for whatever available.


Display your contact number on the shop signboard to allow a customer to contact you, just in case of your shop still not open or your shop just closed. It is also necessary to provide the company website (if any) to allow potential customers learn more about your products.


Poor design messages of company graphic sign board

Can you just imagine the anxiety when you waited outside a shop for hours but still not not open for business. The usual business hours of any given business is from 8.30am to 10.00am. Despite the opening hours of normal business has started, you are unable to contact them as there is no contact number provided on the signboard.


In every business you need to inform when is your business operating hours and which day the shop will be closed. This is so fundamental and yet I've found many shop do not display their business hours, expecting us to somehow know.


What are your opening hours?

Do an outline of your regular working hours and working days operations, such as the hours of operation, and which days the business will be open and which day it is a rest day.

If the business is closed for long seasonal holiday, be sure to say so. This is to let the customers to be prepared so that they won’t stock out.

Why is your business signboard message extremely significance?

When considering new signage for any business it is extremely important to express the correct tone on how you plan to use signage. A creative, attractive sign can help to boost your business sales.

How many potential customers are lost when they don’t understand what message you are trying to get accross to the customers?
You need to keep your advertising simple but clear. In other words, don't beat around the bush. Go for straight to the point.

Is this method of placing an empty engine oil on top of the vehicles denote the used car is for sale is practised around  the world or only in Malaysia you can find this? Who started this?  No need to display a message on cars which are about to go on sale because most of Malaysian  clearly understood the message.

Outdoor signs are extremely important for business and companies as it is an ideal mode to introduce what are the products sold by the company. In order to grow your business and maximise profits, you must continually attract new customers.

Even an indoor simple business signboard is very important. Take an example of a food court stall business signage. In our multicultural society, you need to display a sign in Chinese and English language above the food stall where customer can understand what food you are selling. Not all Chinese people could not read or write Mandarin and this is where you  fail to attract new customers. Some Chinese illiterate would rather skip your stall than face embarrassing moments.

I remembered in the film Enter the Dragon  [1972],  Bruce Lee having  problems translating the menus.

Few are too young to remember it, in the opening scene of the movie, there was a hilarious scene where Bruce Lee's character was shown feeling hungry and walked into a restaurant in the airport. After seeing the overly-pricey menu, he decided to settle for cheaper option but he has no clue on what food he just placed an order.

It turned out a meal of Campbell soup; five dishes of them. Bon Appétit

Future signboard will display LED display sign board which provide information on site which can be changed when need arises.

LED digital signage and digital billboards offer a powerful, cost-effective advertising. Whether your office is open or closed, it still  help promote your product or services.

Some company start using big scrolling programmable outdoor led sign with variable message that can be seen clearly for those potential customers traveled through on the road.

The advertising purpose is a simple way of announcing you have a product to sell and you need to bring in some faithful followers for starters but some still rely on the old fashion ways of relying on pure luck of doorstep customers.

The simple result on this failure to attract customers is No Customers No Business. If you don't have customers than your business will eventually faltered.


CUSTOMERS FEEDBACK

Once you got an inquiry from a potential customer you got to stay or keep track with them. They may enquirer only one item from you but if your service is good, your customers are likely to get more from you and even introduced more customers for you.

So don’t adopt the attitude of saying it’s just an item he require.

Keep a good database on your customers and even a simple gesture as New Year greeting will be remembered by them. Sending birthday card or text message might not be a good idea for customers, especially if they're female. Some people sensitive about their age and do not want to share this information.


Always keep them inform of your latest product to keep the sales going as they say, it's easier to get a customer than retain one.

Do not over aggressive when asking for inquiries. Don't you hate it when you walk into a shop, the sales rep or the business owner will keep following you and rearrange anything you have touch.

When a potential customer walks into your shop you and/or your staff need to alert. Make eye contact is a simple way of acknowledging their presence, give a WARM smile and say the usual stuff such as, "Hello. How may I help you today?"

Allow the customer to respond. "If a customer says “No thanks, just browsing…” then its better when you to give them some space. Be wary of seeming over-eagerness scares any person, customer is turned off when you keep follow them closely wherever they go. In the back of their mind, thinking.. stop following me! I'm not going to steal!

In the end you are unlikely to buy anything from this shop. The correct way is when the customer says just looking, you response by “Please let me know if you need any assistance” and watch them from a distance.

Sometimes customer who had no intent to purchase but do spontaneous buy goods or impulse buying.

It happened once to my sister years ago.. I know there was a new house launching near my parent's house, so naturally I expect free food will be served. I brought along my sis and family to visit that place.

After looking at different show houses and had our free lunch..I thought it's time we made a move. Unexpectedly at the on site show room office, my sister sign up to pay the down payment on a new home. Now that's what I called impulse shopping behaviour in Grand manner!


Building out a customer base profile

Create a customer base profile to keep track of your customer.Creating a customer profile is one way of describing the individuals who make up your target audience/market. When you have a clearer picture of the type of person or business you are planning to serve this will allow you to better prepared for your marketing strategy, promotional design, and sales process.

You can find a way to allow potential customers to leave their email address in case of any discount promotion, you will then have ready target customers.This doesn’t just work for potential customers but also likely those already brought from you. Keeping in touch with your customers will likely generate sales in future.

Communication and interpersonal skills play an important role in generate sales and develop new business.

Just stay in touch and many satisfactory buyers will buy from you again.

Customer complaint

At some point everyone in business, we will have to deal with disgruntled customer.  All of their complaint has been dealt with swiftly and fairly, the customer need to know you have start to investigate, but the customer must still be notified in writing to keep them abreast of progress.

The customer complaint issue must be deal tactfully while you resolve the problem.  Don't start blame game. You should not be biased in your investigation.

People who feel that their consumer grievances were handled poorly may do more than stop patronising your shop. Upset customer may sought to filed a lawsuit against you or will lodge a formal complaint with Consumer Affairs.
Solving a problem effectively can also be a great importance opportunity for your business to enhance happy clients and perhaps even generate word-of-mouth referrals. So even if you think it is too small or unimportant be sure an alternative support worker when your main support worker can't be there.

Thanking Customers

Business owners should make a good habit to thank their loyal customers as their companies continue to grow and make money.

Saying thank you to customers is often overlooked, there are many ways of rewarding customers but a simple say thank you is the most direct and personalized way to build lasting customer relationships.

Well, is it really so hard to say thank you?

Some corporation like the OCBC bank will have their staff line up neatly at front door every morning waiting to welcome customers. The moment the second hand of the clock strikes the opening time, the doors will be punctually opened, and customers can make a grand entrance being flanked by bowing and greeting staff with a chorus of 'Good morning, welcome to OCBC Bank' before they head back to their post. This is one of the way of making customers feel important or valuable.

Another bank I will see their staff busy doing something while we anxiously waiting for the door to open. You kinda feel one bank making you feel welcome, another makes you feel you need them more than they need you.

Bows are the traditional greeting in East Asia, particularly in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and Vietnam. This is alternative way as a greeting, a parting gesture, a way of expressing humility, respect or apology, and an option to waving or saying "Hi.

A cashier job pay might not get paid to much but they plays a very important part in sales. They are the last person to interact with customers.  Ideally they should have a very friendly smile, greeting and when hands you back your receipt or change back, will thank you and ask you to come again.

Often this scenario might not be a habit of all the cashier. May be forgiven as the cashier job is highly tension with the customers queue up and naturally afraid of making a mistake in money transaction.

This may not be the case in Japan where thanking customer is a serious business, customers are considered gods (of sorts). It's fairly common for staff to bow to customers and say “doumo arigatou gozaimasu" which means thank you very much.

One thing cashier should never do is to accuse customers of stealing or accused them off not paying their bills. This kind of public humiliation does not go down well with the customers and will retaliate with lawsuits or  stop ordering and patronizing the place if could not prove accused of ANY wrong doing!


New Product


Most people are reluctant to change to another product, these people are comfortable and loyal with a product the less likely they will switch. So in order to convince the customer, you need to provide sample to change their minds.‎

When a customer resist to change his mindset about offer to purchase a new product, you need overcoming objections is by educating your customers solid factual selling points of your product.

Your customer needs stronger evidence than the ones he has in order to believe you.

Most automobile dealer prepare for you to take the test drive so you can assess the feel and functionality of the vehicle. A test drive is the only way to really make sure that's your dream car you’ve got your heart set on.

Innovative supermarket or shopping mall knows the only way is by giving free samples or free drinks to acquaint the consumer with a new product. A survey may also be collected to evaluate responses from potential customers.

RUN A SYSTEMATIC BUSINESS SYSTEM


When running a business it must be systematic organised way rather than based on a few key talent persons. In the event of the few key persons decide to quit for more pay, the whole business will be at risk. Besides thinking of running a smoothly, staff manpower plays a major part in the success of a business. Treat your employees like important assets or family members and not someone for you to manipulated.

One example to mention is when you’re running a restaurant; chef ability to cook is a major factor in keeping the business alive. Once the customers dislike the taste of new chefs they are likely to switch to other restaurants.

If you're going to hire a chef, make sure it is important that you know how to cook as well as the one your hirer cause you never know he may leave his job to work for a competitor or start his own business.
One of the biggest headache being a boss is when your employees suddenly quit their job.

Hire the right person for the job to ensure productive output from each one. Employees who are bad attitude will not only bring down productivity but also adversely affect customer/client relations.


Under staff

New company or factory will lure away good talent near their location by offer better job prospects. It usually depends on the ongoing relationship you have with your employees. Realistically means that you simply won't be able to keep all of your workers but you need to retain your best employees in your organisation.

The companies which always understaffed will get bad reputation. Who will want to visit a restaurant which will ask the customers to wait for an hour due to lack of chef or when you try to get attention to get serve but no one seems to notice you. You feel like you are invisible to other people! At the end you will probably stop stopped patronizing this place.

Employee morale will suffer due to stress and overworked due to under staff, they cannot be mentally and physically able to do the best.

SUCCESSOR

One of the most important issues for a business to survive is that you must examine whether there could be suitable leadership successors for your business.

It is seen normal in Asian countries where a son usually inherits a family business, but now times have changed.  It's becoming more pragmatic decision now when try to choose the most capable successor, regardless of gender.

Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement could be considered to be long overdue. His successor, David Moyes will have big shoes to fill.  We wish Moyes the best of luck and hope he does live up to the fans high expectations.

Slow Delivery

Every business out there whether it is a big or small company knows how important to provide fast delivery to customers. Customer likes companies which deliver superior customer service and any deliver that fails to deliver the expected date will rate as failure unless they have been pre-informed or unforeseen things like a lorry breakdown.

Better still if goods are ready ahead of time but this is rarely especially in manufacturing industries.

If the customers says, delivery suck then you will know that's the last time you're going to see them for a while.

No one like a snail's pace delivery!

Bad Customer service



Is your bad customer service creating a leak in your business, letting potentially loyal customers slip away? A customer wants attention when he walks into the shop unless his intention is to browse only.


A good services, ideally is they treat you like a king by providing good service like courteous and friendly service with a smile no matter how much you buy from them. This kind of service is a habit which doesn’t matter the value of items we purchased.

Faster service. Waiter takes orders from guests near their table, tap it in their mobile device ( smartphone or tablet) with installed application for mobile ordering and send it to the kitchen directly. Thus, reducing time and effort so that chef can concentrate only on their food preparation.

Tabletop Ordering: A lot of restaurants contemplate mobile or tablet apps for tabletop. However only few guest decides to order with their smartphone or tablet. Sorry girl.  We're not regular customer and not so tech savvy.

We love it, hate it and sometimes fear it - technology.  For those who know how to harness and use technological resources, it will be a useful tools In contrast, for those who don't know how we still need to use the good old-fashioned service of  human waiter for human interaction.



A friendly place, just like in the old TV drama movie “Cheers” you kinds like to go to a place where everyone knows your name. If you have a favorite drink in that shop then you don’t have to remind the waiter what drink you have. They’ll serve you just the way you want.



Do remember a there will be no sales generate or repeated sales should the service is unsatisfactory.

Cleanliness


One of the main reasons why customers' primary reason for eating at your food center is you kept cleanliness level at your premises was admire for your practice and not because of your food always tasty.

The people have becoming more and more health conscious, cleanliness is important for health foremost. Unlike the past where people are more expressing concerns on whether the food taste goods and forget about the rest.



I still remembered one time long ago where there was a famous curry noodles at a street back lane in Ipoh. After my mum finished an excellent curry noodle she looked around asked my uncle what was the purpose for the bucket of plastic stacked nearby? He replied in a calm and gentle manner, "Oh those are bucket for human excrement container". Yuck, Ewww, Ptui!



Those times the people has not yet have modern system of waste management, the human feces are collected in solid form. The human excrement usually collected at night, feces as fertilizer was common.

My mum swears will never want to go to that place again!



Another time my family went to a famous fish ball noodle stall in Seremban. After we had finished our meal, we saw a worker trying to retrieve a plate that has fallen into the drain with a pair of tongs.

How stupid those workers can be? Don't they know we are watching what they doing? Again we will never ever visit that stall nor recommend this place to anyone!

“If it looks good, eat it”. This is the motto that Andrew Zimmern used on his TV show Bizarre Foods. Unfortunately we can’t say the same here. We want a place where we can see

1- Washroom cleanliness – One thing that will influence you to continue patronizing the restaurant is the washroom cleanliness. I usually won’t go to the restaurant washroom unless I have to but if I found out the owner did not provide a decent washroom I will never ever go back there no matter how tasteful the food. Yeah that will kill my appetite! If the restaurant won’t bother to keep the washroom and sinks clean, disinfect and fragrant then imagine what it will look like in the kitchen workplace.

Would you still want to eat after pass through this kitchen?

Local Council carry out regular checks on all food premises to ensure the public are protected and that high standards are maintained.   Cleanliness Spot Check take place without prior warning and higher risk premises are visited more frequently than lower risk premises

2- The food handler should kept personal hygiene rules like wear apron, wear a hat or cap to prevent hair from dropping into food, short and clean finger nails and wear a clean shirt or uniform. A professional food handler will even wear a mask to prevent sneezing or coughing inside food preparation area is unavoidable.

Besides the cap and apron, food handler had to wear plastic gloves when it comes to handling the food as  prescribed by Regulations under the  Food Hygiene Regulations, 2009.

It worries me all the time when I heard the chef suddenly sneeze like this “AH-CHOO!!”.

EW, well there goes my Bon appétit or should I say, "My appetite has gone!"

Food handlers must present for work in a clean state – hair, clothing and body. Also not to mention, reasonable level of hygiene by regular bathing and grooming from development of unpleasant smell which may make others feel uncomfortable.



3- No cats and dogs at the restaurant. I particularly dislike it when the cat likes to brush against my leg. Some people I found them rude for bringing their pets into the eateries places cause you never know when their pets wants to answer the call of nature.

WHEN THE GOING GET TOUGH THE TOUGH GET GOING



Some people just give up too easily. When they encounter a string of obstacle, they just lose hope things will change.
Self belief is vital to important to the success and survival of a business. The corporate world is full of tough obstacle. The resilient company will kept going then emerging triumphant while those give up soon after become extinct.

Don’t make the same mistake. Commit yourself to your company for the long term if that should fail after you have tried, you can be true to yourself by saying, I’ve tried my best.
As someone put it, “If you think, you can do it you can, If you think, you can’t do it you can’t”

If you are afraid of taking chances, there is no way you can succeed.- Chinese Proverbs

You must have the passion and the courage to make big decisions cause when opportunity comes knocking, you either act fast or get left behind. Have faith,believe in yourself and don't bother what other people think.

Noah had great faith in the word of God and tried to warn others about God's coming judgement for sin, but no one listened. ..have become the laughingstock of the world until the flood came. "Who Has the Last Laugh Now"

Drawing from his own experience, 'Rocky'  Sylvester Stallone never gives up being rejected over
1500 times when he tried to sell the script

Poor Manpower management


Being an efficient manager not only about being a strict disciple and capable but also know how to get the best effort from each employee to work for you. Many managers like to deliver message to the employee on what they wants but failed to listen to their suggestion or grouses.



It’s a suicide attempt by not willing to ask employee for idea. Give the employee the chance to speak and be heard. You will be surprise what they can teach you.



Manager should be open to idea draw from employee as they were the one who likely to know better inside out of the situation.



Sometimes you have a bad perception about a person saying he’s the laziest fellow but when you asked him to contribute ideas on how to get the best result of work flow in the shortest way. He may surprise you with his ideas given. All the while the management have asked the worker to follow an unfruitful way and he proves them wrong.


LACK OF CAPITAL


Some entrepreneurs expect they will be making profits for their beginning operation cycles, spending most of the cash fund, only to find out that they will not have enough money to keep the cash flow cycle going. Consider every possible cost scenario on overhead production, equipment and etc.

A new small company will unlikely to be given any credit for the first year and that’s why you need to save money for rainy days or poor sales.
A small company will takes on average 12-18 months to break even to generate a profit.

Quality

Quality is a complex notion and means different things to different people, unlike manufacturing which has a standard rule everyone can follow.
When somebody says perception of that food quality is tasty, the other person might not share his enthusiasm.
Quality can definitely play an important part in business survival especially when you talk about food. When your food doesn't not meet someone expectation he'll unlikely want to eat there anymore.

Innovation

How do you define the word of innovation? The word can  mean so many different things to different people in business. For some people, it merely implies latest discoveries in technology. E.g. new mobile application.

For others, it’s about converting an idea into a reality that can add value to the customer.

Innovation is the key to survival. It is a matter of life and death for companies around the world and is important in all sectors.

The innovative companies will thrive, while others will risk being left behind.

Its a competitive world out there,  innovate or become extinct.

Multi functional sports car pencil case.  Do you find yourself buying things you don't need? Can't resist impulse buys. 

Men Never Grow Up: Boys Will Be Boys, Forever. Grown men will still  irresistible attraction of toy trains like 4-ports USB hub. 

After sales service product

Buyers nowadays not only care about how good is the product quality but also the importance of after-sale service. One of the most visible part of the after sales service is car.

By creating great customer experiences in after sales care, you can establish trust while building lasting customer relationships through the help of customer confidence.

To have a bad experience in any of the after sales service product can lead to a bad ending for your business. The customers will discontinue using your product in future and even discourage his friends not to use it.


Choosing Location


When looking for a good location for your business, there are a few things that you must bear in mind.


1. Whose is your Intended Market? – By right your shop should be close to your target market. If you're opening a food outlet you need to look for which side of town is usually where people have their breakfast, lunch or dinner. The reason of this is food outlet attract many customers due to being able to choose different taste daily.

Often you'll find many food business located near school, colleges, large factories and offices that provide convenience neighborhood food outlets, food courts and stalls for their hungry customers. Opening a restaurant near a school campus is a good idea, but don’t expect too many customers if the food is expensive and there are much cheaper alternatives around.

When you see crowds flock to see or choosing,  something good or a bargain that just happened. At the casino if you see gamblers crowded around gaming table. Your gut feelings can tell you quickly that the banker is losing money.

2. Rental price of shop lot - Price of rental is based on the level of the unit and units on the ground floor tend to sell much faster and are also more expensive in terms of rental price. Shop lots located in an auspicious sites and busy location with lots of human activity also fetch higher rents. Don’t be afraid of spending on prime shop location, as the increased numbers of customers coming into your store and making a purchase will make up for the higher rental cost.

3. Trade Area - Many business owners preferred to focus on an area is where most commercial activities happen. One reason is it gave giving your customers more choice is a good thing or is it? Another is certain business activity such as car repair and car related shop like spare parts can help each other by providing business and recommend customers to each other.

4. Choose your location facing the main road to be well seen instead of some obscure location

4. Feng shui- Feng Shui is part science based on geomancy. Literally translated as "wind water" is believed to be the process to make the best use of  the flow of energy in harmony of nature and people.
There are some old shop business owners who are reluctant to shift to another place cause their present location is auspicious site. Ideal feng shui principles location can promote a good flow of energy, which in turns brought good business to owners.

You've heard it all before.  I like the location as near strategic location, near shopping place and a place that easy to access and once you're done with your grocery shopping, you can get back on the road as quickly as possible.

Some shopping center like to conveniently located near the highway, allowing customers to enter and exit from different directions with increase safety and  a more convenient shopping experience for the customers.




New customer


A new customer is like your company is going thru probation period. There is no room for mistake as every detail will be scrutinised for error and if you pass the test they are likely to come back again.

The old customer maybe lenient to you but that doesn't mean you can serve them less attention!


Maintain Professional

It's essential to be professional if you want to be a success but what does "being professional" actually mean?Literally you think it means being in a profession job like a doctor, lawyer etc.

Not necessary being a highly paid job is trait of professional, it can be also your trusty postman who will deliver your mail to you come rain or shine.

In general terms it means that an individual who maintain works to high personal of personal standard performance. The employee  feel strong personal responsibility for his job performance and show a high level of dedication to the company, always can count on them to do their part.

High Integrity

A business person with ability to be trusted as a person who has good ethics and makes decisions based on morally correct decisions. The person with integrity knows how to refrain from harming others and fully respectful with law and regulations.

Recently the Veterinarian Department investigate claims of errant poultry traders resorting to dying their farm chickens with yellow industrial pigment, believed to be Aniline to pass them off as 'kampung chicken' or free-range chickens.

Fake 'kampung chicken' were in fact ordinary farm chickens. 

Ayam Kampung  refer to indigenous chickens that are raised using traditional free range production. These fowl are said to have less fat and are healthier for consumption as they are fed corn, rather than antibiotics-laced chicken feed.

Some unethical poultry traders duped the consumers, mainly from the Chinese community, into thinking they were purchasing kampung chickens owing to the bright yellow color.  It probably will affect the sales in future given that the rumor still fresh in consumers' mind but it will eventually die out and the sales will pick up after that.

Nobody likes to be played for a fool. Once they feel betrayal or being cheated, customers will not forgive and forget easily.

No parking


One of the most important criteria why a business can succeed is ample parking spaces for the customers. Trader will lose business if customers cannot find parking or forced to walk long distances.


In an effort to draw more customers some hyper shopping outlet not only provide adequate parking but also cover with shade in a hot sun giving your precious cars cool once you get inside it.

Empty parking lots

Another shopping mall provides shade and shelter for entire car parks in large open outdoor areas

Pricing a Product 

No matter what type of product you sell, the price at which you sell your product to your customers or clients will have a major impact on the success or failure of your business.

Before you begin selling something, you need to know who you are selling to or who you are targeting, then setting your prices you must make sure that the price is competitive with your peers.


Check out your competitor pricing and deals and make sure your in-store offers remain competitive edge over rivals in terms of product quality, price and delivery time.



Obsolete Inventory

Goods that is available in a hypermarket or a department store sometimes might not sell or could become obsolete. It's a matter of time..

Supermarkets that sale perishable food, often face biggest headache when foods go bad. So, before it goes bad on the day after certain time the sell by date it is reduced, then if it is not sold it gets thrown out.

Some non-perishables stay good for only weeks, months or years. BEFORE it goes out of date-you can get some great deals. Dead inventory is not good for your business cause your dollars are frozen in dead stock.

Get rid of last year's styles or old style by having clearance sales.

 It better to gain lower profit than left for dead stocks.

NO price tag


It really gets my blood boiling when find something I like but when I tried looking for the price tag, I couldn’t find it. Even with a bar coded items you still have to find the price bar code scanner equipment. Alas I give up buying it. These are where the sales are lost when prospective buyers are fed up searching for price!

When goods displayed at a shop, let the customer read the price and not hiding it.

Let’s take a flower shop for example why the owner can’t display the price tag prominently. You don’t expect the customers asked the price one by one.

Price tags should be display clearly for the customers to see, imagine some of the price tag I found stick on the bottom of the display counter. Do they expect us to stand up and down when reading the price tags?

Putting a price tag on is the decisive moment whether the customer would like to buy or not. The blank label on the Magnifier make me rethink maybe next time when they label it,
 I'll have to make a decision.

NO instruction manual


When you buy things that require instructions, please read the safety instruction manual  before you start to use.

There are times when you buy things and expect the manuals will be placed inside the box but when you got home and open there is none. For those with computer skills they are fortunate to be able to search through the list of web pages to pinpoint information.

Some manufacturer take us for granted and assume we know how to use them to good effect.

This year Superman doesn't wear his famous red underwear on the outside. He must have
finally read and understand  instructions  manual before wearing this time around.

Shop premises equipment in working order


It will project bad image on a company if equipment you want to use is faulty all the time without any urgency to repair it. How often you go to a petrol station and found out Petrol station Tyre Inflator is not working? One of the reasons why I select certain Petrol pump station is not because of that particular petrol but due to their air pressure pump is always working.

A faulty air pump not only did not let in the air flow through pump but also may release some of the air inside therefore making a tire air pressure even less.

Equipment out of order..We apologies for any inconvenience, and thank you for your patience. Again?

Having a slick shopping cart is great way providing good shopping experience for customers.
Aligning frames and fixing  wobbling and broken shopping cart wheels or casters is an important duty of the shopping Housekeeping/Maintenance team.

There are certain factors that influence the shopper's mood before they start a shopping spree. First of all, once they arrive, most shoppers hate wasting time finding parking space. It is essential to have ample parking spaces for customers. Next challenge is to find a shopping cart that is clean and not wonky.

The Baggers or Lot Attendants who works at a supermarket pushing carts for the customers should ensure the shopping carts should be cleaned every time before next person who wants to use it, Traces of saliva, bacteria and fecal substances can be found on shopping cart handles.

Most people aren't even gonna bother cleaning the cart with an antibacterial wipe on the cart handle. Either choose to be ignorant in their actions or some shoppers just lack the knowledge of  hygiene.

Oh, don't you hate it when you get one of those shopping cart failed to work properly due to
caster wheel found to be in need of repaired or replaced. After some time the layer of rubber wheel will peel off making it difficult to rotate.


Shopping mall anchor tenant has to make a yearly routine of maintenance of shopping cart to keep customers happy, away from unnecessary stress.

Shopping Trolley With Toy Car - clever way of making children to persuade parents to
 go to this place with this kind of trolley!

Know Your Competitor

Why You Need to Know Your Competition is important to assess the competitive landscape so you have a strong sense as to who is targeting the same customers as you.

Like The Art of War by Sun Tzu, it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.

Meaning you have to know the weaknesses and strengths of your opponent as well as your own strengths and weaknesses. So that you can strengthen your own shortcoming by taking the right course of action and deploy your marketing strategy for always stacks up favourably against the wider competition.

By knowing your competition does not equate to copying what they do but prevent you from catching you off guard.

Projecting a Trustworthy Business Image
Projection is nine tenths of success. To attract business you need to build an image that attracts potential customers and clients, rather than repels them.  Let me take an example, an insurance company X is being constantly referred as giving bad service when you file a claim. As a potential customer the most important thing we want to have a good service,  you want them to deliver what they have promised and surpass our expectations. 

Nowadays we can  find out if public opinion have a favorable or unfavorable view of the company. Consumers will tell others about their customer service experiences and usually a bad experience customers comments can influence new potential customers to stay away from this company. 

If the mindset of people have been stuck unfavorable of the company, it's difficult to remove this bad stigma. People will think of them as only in business to collect premiums and try to make as much money as possible but when it comes to them paying out to you...they give you a run-around.

NO attraction or facilities

What makes a shopping mall successful?

For a shopping mall to be able to attract customers then there must offer more to attract customers to their retail center. It has to become a place where people go to eat, shop and be entertained.

These days shopping malls need to  beautifully constructed to attract more and more customers and continuously upgrading plans to ensure the mall is never out of style.

It is this experience that makes customers keep coming back to the same Shopping Center and not choose another.

Who are you kidding? The large sign board says "an exciting new shop opening soon". In bad times in poorly performing shopping centers, tenant ends the tenancy.

Customers these days are quite particular choosy of having a one stop center which will save them time from going a few places. In other words they can do the fun and business at one go cause these days finding a parking space is really difficult.

Public Safety Concerns

THE recent spate of shootings and violent crimes in the country has created fear, scaring away late night customers at food outlets around Kuala Lumpur have made Malaysians worried for their safety.

This is not a joke.One seafood restaurant hires armed guard to protect diners at a restaurant.

Relocation



Sometimes you wonder why people cannot make a better announcement saying they are shifting and should stated where are they relocate to.
Recently I went to a flower shop and there's a sign that says, "Closing business and everything must go" but actually I found out what they meant is they are closing the business here and relocating somewhere else.

Now that's the right way of keeping your customers informed

Renovation

With the sales slowing down a little, maybe businesses owner should keep in mind whether to upgrade your shop appearance with renovations or major facelift that some desperately needed.
A renovated shop or mall bring fresh environment to induce the customers to patron the place.

As usual, whenever there’s a new restaurant, cafe, shopping mall, or whatever that is new and fresh in the country – you will always find the most people here taking a sniff at the new place.

 Shopping Centre undergoing major renovations. You either evolve or you disappear.

Like some Chinese odd saying – wherever there’s a new toilet, that’s where you will find everyone pooping/peeing – well, something like that.

The customers will always eager to visit a newly launch shopping mall that cause a massive jammed in the area but after few weeks it is back to normal.


To Keep Your Customers, Keep them happy and they will be coming back for more.
So, what can you do to keep your customers happy?

There is no one secret to being a successful business. Some people simply have the Midas touch. ... I mean it seems that everything they touch turns to gold. 

It also helps when he has a habit to develop a good rapport with clients which contributes to the success of the business or maybe some of them are just "born lucky!"