The Talkroute Blog

In a time when more new businesses are opening up than ever, why are so many of them being forced to close their doors, and so quickly? The reasons for the failure of small businesses are as varied as the types of businesses in operation. Even so, we will answer a few of the questions surrounding this phenomenon here. Execution Ideas are like mothers; everybody’s got one, no matter who you are. What separates a business idea from a viable business is the ability to execute that idea. You may have come up with the best thing since sliced bread, but if you don’t have the ability to build the proverbial machine that will produce, sell, and deliver that product or service in the real world, then all you have is a great idea. Money Startup capital and working capital are tricky. When you start your business, the amount of …

Business owners don’t just need to streamline their company’s operations—they need to streamline themselves if they want to be really successful. There are a lot of things that can hold you back when running a business. Consider these negative personal habits and whether it may be something you need to address so that you can move forward and be truly effective. Procrastination We all seem to subconsciously think that when we decide to take on the endeavor of starting a business, we will automatically morph into some kind of superhuman business-runner with heightened senses and dulled emotions, but the truth is that we’re still the same poor schlubs that we’ve always been. We take our bad habits and shortcomings with us into the business. One of the most stand-out and common habits we can bring with us is procrastination. Quite honestly, if you’re a business owner, then you’re most likely …

  It’s going to happen at some point, if it hasn’t already happened to you; you’re going to come across some negative reviews or feedback about your business. Your first instinct will most likely be to panic and get angry at the same time, but after you let that phase pass, train yourself to react in the following ways.   Pay Attention As the owner of the business that someone is tearing apart with their scathing review, no matter where you come across it, it hurts because this business is like your child. You have created it and raised it to the point of success where it is now, and to have someone publicly say how awful it is can be very difficult to stomach. Even so, you have to pay close attention to what these reviewers are saying so that you can gain a deeper knowledge of your customers’ …

A lot of businesses have a kind of multiple personality disorder, so to speak, that makes it really difficult for their customers to connect with them. Even if you are good at producing a lot of different things and know exactly how to execute all of them, you’re much better off concentrating the business on one product or service and do it better than anyone. The Mind of Your Customer As we always say, put yourself in the shoes of your customer to find out why they decide to patronize your business, or just move on. The bottom line is that everything you present to potential customers has to be simple because people want to know what you are, possibly even more than how good your product is. This is why branding is so effective. When a potential customer comes across a well-branded business that presents concisely what kind of …

  Pretty much the last thing that anybody wants when they call into a business is to sit on hold. Be that as it may, callers can reach a level of acceptance, for a few specific reasons, and decide it is worth their time to put it on speaker and wait it out until they can speak with you.   1. Billing Issues One of the foremost reasons that people are willing to stay on hold is not part of any strategy—it’s just one of those things that isn’t much of a choice for your customers. People are very likely to call in for a billing question or problem, and though they may not be excited about it, they’ll probably accept being on hold if necessary.   2. Great Customer Service If your business provides excellent customer service, and people expect that when they contact you, then they’ll usually be …

  One of the greatest ways to make sure customers come to you when they need a certain product is to project the impression that you are the go-to provider or purveyor of whatever that thing is. This post discusses the reasoning for this strategy and how to do it.   You might not be the authority, yet. This strategy basically uses hype to persuade customers to come to you for a given product, and you don’t necessarily have to be known for whatever it is you’re selling. The idea is to “act as if” your business is known for something so that people will naturally be more drawn to you when they need that product or service.   What does it look like in practice? The point is not to be deceptive but to create a buzz for this item or service which you are indeed already producing. It …

One of the most unfortunate mistakes that business owners make is setting their price point too low, even when they know that their product is worth more. They do this because they don’t believe people are willing to pay more than standard market value for something; however, there are a few things that actually will make them comfortable paying a little extra because these qualities make it worthwhile to them. 1. Great Customer Service It doesn’t matter what your business sells; people are always going to choose the company that gives them great customer support over the one that doesn’t put much emphasis on taking care of its customers. Many times, customers will even settle for a product that isn’t quite as good as the other, if they can get excellent customer service with the lesser-quality product. And if it comes down to a choice between two products which are …