When you go to the doctor, he or she will not prescribe a solution to your symptom without a diagnosis. Similarly with businesses – large, small, start-up, or established. To identify underlying issues, we must perform a diagnosis.
First, what does struggling mean? The particular symptom could be insufficient sales, poor quality, inadequate staff, underfunding, and many other permutations. However, an important issue often overlooked is this: Does this business have the potential to be viable? Indeed, not because you decide to be in business means there is a market for the goods and services you offer! Did you do proper market research? Did you choose an activity that merely fits your talents and desires? How much planning did you do before you started?
Second, after diagnosing the issue (s), it's essential to deal with each matter identified, methodically, objectively, and be prepared to change course if needed. The result of this process may involve closing the business to stop the cash drain. It is a good idea to seek counsel from a trusted, experienced person whom will tell you the truth, not merely what he or she believes you wish to hear.
Sometimes, finalizing the primary purpose and strategy of the business can be difficult because finances (usually a lack thereof) can distract you, and cause you to seek a sub-optimal path. That's why you need to be patient while you raise adequate, funds required to start.
I advise a firm with a significant problem of deciding its strategic path. This indecision led to the business struggling to find its way while burning cash. Should it go for a niche market, or should it try to gain a larger share of the broader market? The first will produce fewer customers, higher value-added products, greater attention to customers, and higher margins. The second would be a much larger market, lower margins, more customers, less value-added products, more standard products, and probably less profitable.
Executives debated the two alternatives endlessly and were divided. Meanwhile, the business struggled. I asked them to consider these four questions:
- Which markets are you serving today?
- Are you serving higher value-added and mass market customers?
- Are you delighting your customers today?
- What are your core competencies?
They were trying to operate in both markets and did a poor job in each, so they lost money. Customers were unhappy and returned products regularly. The firm had not identified core competencies and thus were not exploiting these competencies. Executives focused on “making money” to stop the cash drainage. But this approach was not satisfying customers who were fleeing. Most of all, while the issue was clear in hindsight, executives did not try to diagnose the business' condition; They saw the issue as a “cash flow problem,” which it was not.
After my initial discussion with the owners, they realized they needed to diagnose the situation to find causes of the problems to fix them. Quickly, they understood their challenge; they were not serving their customers. Indeed, the business was not focussed; it headed in several directions resulting in the massive cash drain. Once they found the roots of the problem, they made changes and set the firm on a solid foundation.
They decided to be a niche player and focussed on serving particular customers while staying alert to market developments. A few years later, they were delighting customers. Today, the business' profitability keeps soaring.
