Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced business person, you can’t achieve a state of perfection.

There is always something that should have been done better. However, there are fatal mistakes that should be avoided, especially if you’re just starting out, because doing business is hard enough even if you get right. And if you’re experienced, your current business challenges are traceable to at least one of these five business errors:

Skipping the Planning Phase

it is never an easy road. You have to figure out a lot of bends and bumps that frustrates the journey. This is why you don’t’ just launch out without drawing a route based on knowledge. This means that first of all, you must make research to determine the feasibility of your business in terms of market potential. Then you must draw a financial and marketing plan as these are the two pillars upon which any business stands. Failure to respect means you will be operating without a direction. And if you lack direction, you can’t reach your destination. 

DISREGARDING MARKETING: 

It is appalling how many business people do not see the point in doing all that it takes to make their business known to their prospective customers. But if the best product does not market, another product of less quality will do better with marketing. Marketing can be in any form; it may b word of mouth referrals, traditional advertising, physical marketing or internet marketing. What is important is to know to market and where you are likely to meet them. 

There is never a time to ignore marketing, even if you have become a leader of your market. This is why a brand like Coca-cola continues to advertise despite its position in the global market as the number one beverage brand. 

AVOIDING NEW TECHNOLOGY: 

Technology is available to ease your process. But because it comes with a cost, many people ignore it. If you consider how it saves time and conserves energy, you would realize that technology pays you more than it costs you. If you are able to manufacture and distribute in shorter time than usual, it means more capacity and higher rate of turn-over. Disregarding these advantages translates to giving your competition an edge over you. 

NOT DEFINING YOUR TARGET MARKET:

Ideally, the moment you decide to start a business, you should know who your business will be serving. But the mistake many business people make is thinking about the business first because they think or hear that it is lucrative. But the audience and their needs should be defined before designing your product or service, not creating your product or service and forcing it on people who don’t need it. Defining your target market does not only help you to create a needed product, it also helps you to determine the pricing, channel of communication and tone of communication. 

FAILURE TO SET SMART GOALS:

Goals represent the result you intend to effect with your business. They shape your decisions and guide your actions. They keep you in focus as you go about your daily operations. But whatever you aim to achieve are mere dreams unless they are SPECIFIC, MEASRURABLE, ACHIEVABLE, REALISTIC and TIMEBOUND. To ensure this, you must outline specific steps you intend to take and detail the tactics involved  

Like I said earlier, it does not matter whether you’re a beginner or experienced. Therefore, you may want to review your business today, consider these factors and put them in place if they missing.