Photo (CC) Chris Potter, on Flickr via stockmonkeys.com

As you probably know, if you are going into business, the odds your business will be around in five years are not good. But they aren’t as bad as you may think, either.

Approximately one-third of businesses close within two years. At the five-year mark, about one-half of all businesses have closed. We don’t approach the commonly cited numbers of 70 to 80 percent of businesses being closed until the 10-year mark.

Also remember that 15 to 20 percent of businesses that close are actually successful, they are breaking even or they are making money, but the owners closes the businesses for other reasons.

So your business chances may be better than you expected. But as an aspiring or startup business owner, what can you do to increase your odds of being one of those who remain in operation?

The first major task is to build a business that solves a problem. That seems simple, but lots of businesses are built because someone has something to sell.

And is your solution something that will last for some time, or will it have a quick burst of sales and then disappear?  This means both finding a niche that has some future potential as well as looking forward to what you need to do when the market changes.

Solving a problem is only the first step. People must be willing to pay for your solution. And what they pay must cover your costs and provide a profit.

Ask yourself if other people already are providing the solution. If so, is the market big enough to support another player, and how will you distinguish yourself from the competition? Plus, how easy will entering the field be for others? Answers to these questions will help you understand if you are selling something special or if it is simply a commodity.

As you can see, planning is a key to business continuity. You also need to have adequate cash reserves. When you hear that getting started will take twice as long and cost twice as much money as planned, don’t discount the warning. While these vary, the reminder that things won’t go as planned is very accurate.

Building a sustainable business requires sacrifice, planning, and the ability to pivot and change. Are you ready?

Photo (CC 2.0) by USDA, on Flickr

How do your customers feel about the opportunity to access your company online?

This may be to find information, search for products or services, make a purchase, ask a question, discuss a problem, find more information, get store hours, or determine where you are located.

Have you ever thought about this question? Or perhaps you don’t have an online presence so you don’t feel there is a need to ask your customer?

This should be a key question as you work to understand your customer. Just recently a report was issued that suggested the buyers of 70 to 80 percent of purchases at some point used an online resource in the search and purchasing process. And with the rapid growth of mobile devices, this trend will just expand.

My interest in this topic came to the forefront when I tried to contact a local store of a major chain to ask why they no longer carried a favorite product.  Yes, I could have talked to someone in the store but never got the right person (but that’s another issue). When online though, I found that all questions were directed to the corporate headquarters. I suspected my question was now entering a black hole. (It’s been a week and I haven’t heard anything.)

So I did my own market research. I asked a dozen friends/colleagues (most lived in other places in the US) about their online experience over 2015. This is what I heard:

• Everyone had tried to locate or contact a local company using an online service or went online to look at products and services available. On average, they did this weekly or even daily.
• Based on their recall, 50 percent of the stores responded to a comment or question in 1-2 days. Only about 10% responded in 8 hours or less (Sometimes they got an automatic response saying that someone would bet back to them. Generally the feeling was that really didn’t count as a response). About 25% of the companies took more than a week or never responded.
• Some of the time, a first and second message were returned fairly quickly but if it was a more complicated issue response time grew as the conversation continued.
• Several comments were made about the difficulty in finding where to even make contact. A couple even mentioned that not only was their no online contact information provided but neither was a phone number and, in a couple of cases, there wasn’t even an address.
• Not all of the business map locations were correct. Several small business owners had not claimed their business (Don’t know what that is – Search for “Claim your business”).
• I didn’t ask but a couple of comments were made about websites that were not mobile-friendly.  This made it difficult to find the information they wanted or to even fill in a form for more information.

While the overall feeling was that things were getting better, the people I talked with said they also have lowered their expectations over time.

My little study has no scientific rigor. It’s not necessarily valid or reliable. However it begins to tell a story.  

You can do the same thing when talking with your customers. Ask them if they have ever tried to connect with your store online. If you don’t have an online presence, ask if they have ever posted a review about your business in a third-party online review site. Ask them about their experience contacting other stores. These are simple questions. They don’t take a lot of time to ask or answer but they may tell you a story about your business.

Think about the answers I received. What’s the story about your business? Is a response in 8 hours acceptable? What if I am simply asking what your store hours are?  I probably am looking to head out now to buy something so you don’t even make my list of places to go.

Today’s customer is online to compare, shop, buy, resolve an issue, find store hours, etc. They are doing this while 100 miles away, down the block, and even standing in your aisle.

Are you meeting your customers’ online expectations? 

We know but do we always practice? And is it high priority? Moreover, have we instilled it into those working at our company, whether employees, volunteers or family? As we have trained those working at our facility, how high on the priority list have we put it?

Why bring this up? You just answered yes to each of these questions. In your message you tell everyone it is important. But what happens in practice?

A story – Had a chance to go out to supper with a friend recently. As we were enjoying our meal, the hostess walked by our table and slipped because of something on the floor. She didn’t fall as she caught herself on a couple of tables. She left. About four minutes later, a waitress came by and slipped on the same spot. Again, she caught herself and left. Probably another three or four minutes went by and a third employee came over with a towel to wipe up the spot. She wasn’t directed by anyone to do it. She just saw the second person slip and decided to do something. A little while later the hostess returned with a towel to take care of the wet spot. Although it was largely gone, she spent some extra time making sure everything was dry.

I suspect, but don’t know for sure, that all of the employees had received a message in workplace safety and their role at some point in time with the restaurant. Yet look at the different responses. The third employee gets credit for recognizing a safety situation and taking care of it although maybe responding a little quicker would have been even better. Also the hostess did return but some time passed and another person had slipped on the same spot.

What’s the take-away?

Workplace safety is important. In 2006, slips, trips and falls was the leading reported workplace injury and the second most costly injury. Slips and trips alone, without a fall, ranked third.

Workplace safety has direct costs as well as indirect costs in terms of workers taking time off and workers compensation claims.

It has been noted that safety aspects in and around your business can influence customer decisions in terms of returning.

You, as the manger, are the first line of prevention. The second line are your employees. Help them understand the issue, give them the tools to handle various situations, and keep asking what you can do to make your workplace even safer. A good person to add to your team is your insurance agent.

Workplace safety may seem like a little thing but these little things often are contributing factors to the success or failure of a business.

Workplace safety impacts your bottom lines. Be proactive in preventing.