The Most Important Thing To Do Before You Start Any Business

Each passing year ends with its own successes and failures. While every business gets its own share of the problems, challenges, and opportunities that spring up, their experiences rarely ever stand as a deterrent for new businesses to enter the market.

The zeal to start a business in Nigeria and everywhere else around the world is growing rapidly. New year resolutions drive many to set out towards their entrepreneurial dreams. But for some already existing entrepreneurs, they launch a new business in another industry.

In the midst of all these start ups, many businesses will fail, while a few will record some successes, if any. The general percentage of the failure to success rates are usually 90% failures to 10% successes, and may deepen further as desperate and inexperienced individuals start up their own businesses.

Why then is the failure rate after starting a business high? What drives the growth of successful entrepreneurs? And what do entrepreneurs need to get right to ensure their businesses succeed?

The two fundamental skills every new entrepreneur must have to be successful are:

See Also: 5 Powerful Ways To Succeed In A Highly Competitive Market

1. You Have To Know How To Make A Sale:

Marketing is the lifeblood of every business. It drives the growth of any startup and determines how far it will go. Without it you cannot have sales, without sales you cannot have cashflow, and without cashflow you cannot cover expenditures and expenses incurred in the day to day operations of the business.

Before you set out to take care of your legal requirements, buy or lease an office space, hire employees, prepare a brochure and complimentary card, or make any other pre-launch expenses, you have to attempt to make your first sale. This will help you know if you have a good or bad idea, and will create cashflow to keep your business going. The sooner you make your first sale, the better your chances of success will be.

Ultimately, without sales it is extremely difficult to sustain any business. This is the real business of any entrepreneur and must be your number one priority. To be highly effective and successful you must become your business’ foremost expert in selling.

2. The Ability To Put The Sales Process Into Action:

After making your first profitable sale, your business now has a map to follow, and so, the entire sales process must be improved and integrated into the overall operation of the startup. Four groups of individuals you must surround yourself with at this stage are:

• A Great Salesperson: Someone to market the products.
• A Brand Expert: Someone to improve the products.
• An Organiser: Someone to make sure the whole process flows smoothly.
• A Pusher: someone to get people to do what they are supposed to do.

See Also: How To Market A New Product In Nigeria

To Sum It Up

Growing a new business can be hard, especially when you’re starting up in an unfamiliar industry. The two major problems experienced at this phase are usually getting things going and selling. And so, every business must master the art of selling, and must record a degree of sales before the business owner sets out to spend a dime on setting up the business.

To grow a successful new business, you must be an expert salesperson.

What are your thoughts on these one important thing to do before starting a business? Let me know by leaving a comment below.