Loopholes that may Leave your Business Stagnant Forever

Written by Abe Oluwasegun
The main objectives behind every business are success, growth and profit.  It is now becoming a constant phenomenon for businesses to end up not achieving any of these objectives due to certain obstacles and loopholes, the business might even end up being stagnant forever.

As a business owner that does not want his or her business to remain stagnant forever, then you should always put into consideration certain procedures and controls that your business is lacking which might impede your business development so as to prevent them from affecting the growth of your business.
These loopholes basically interfere with the success and growth of a business which results into stagnancy.  These loopholes might be caused by lack of monitoring of the business by the owner and disruption of the normal functions of the business. Some of those loopholes are:

• Lack of Effective and Efficient Employees

A business that does not have effective and efficient employees is on its way to being stagnant. This is because employees are one of the important players in a business setting, they come next after customers.  Employees are the face of your business and are also the ones that provide labour for your business.
Therefore, you should ensure you have good employees [if possible, the best in the labour market] to prevent your business from being stagnant forever. You should not just employ good employees but also be firm in handling them to prevent laziness and unnecessary absence from work which will directly affect your business productivity. Employees should be paid based on how hardworking and punctual they are.

• Lack of Effective Customers’ Feedback Channel

A channel for customers’ feedback is essential because it will give you an idea of what customers are saying about your product, brand, service, employees and even the business at large.  Knowing their feedback will help you to quickly know and correct whatever is going wrong in your business to achieve customer satisfaction.
Customers’ satisfaction really helps a business to grow since the direction and success of your business depends on them. You should not only have a channel for customers’ feedback but also make sure that the channel is effective to the extent that you will know both the positive and negative feedback your customers are giving.
Do not give chances to your employees to hide negative feedback from you. You should come up with a channel that will be properly used as a communication channel between you and your customers to avoid stagnancy in your business.

• Taking too Many Risks and Tasks

This is another loophole that causes your business to be stagnant forever. Although, you as a business owner cannot avoid taking risks but you should not be taking too many risks especially by yourself. If at all you will take many risks, then you should delegate some of those risks to professionals that you know can do like you or even better than you.
Also, you should do all tasks by yourself and that is why you have employees. They should be capable of doing certain things even when you are not there. Delegating tasks to others will give you the time to concentrate on other important things.

• Loss of Focus on Objectives and Goals

Many businesses have lost focus on why they are in the market; they don’t even know the reason behind their business anymore. It is important that you do not lose focus on the goals and objectives of your business because if you do, then you have automatically lost dedication to that business.
It is much easier to set goals when you start your business than focusing on them while your business expands because as the business grows, there will be lots of challenges and distractions that might result into losing focus of your goals and objectives.

• Underestimating your Competitors

There is a saying that co petition is healthy for business. It is true but competition can also ruin a business or make it stagnant and that is why you as a business owner must never underestimate your competitors.
No matter how small the business might be, never look down on any business especially those in the same market with you. Always ensure that you are aware of your competitors’ strategies and approaches in the market.
Try to be at the front of your competitors and do not ever underestimate a competitor even if you are at the top. This will keep your business from being stagnant.

• Lack of Mentorship

As a business owner that does not want his or her to be stagnant forever, you should have a mentor especially the one experienced in your field that will be advising and directing you towards achieving your goals. This will help in adding wisdom to your business strategies and also in making brilliant decisions pertaining to your business.
Abe Oluwasegun is a franchising expert. He blogs at Franchise Costing (http://www.franchisecosting.com). You can mail him at catfishnigeria@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter here: @Agrodynamix