To Succeed, Know The Reasons Why We Fail

In business, there are a lot of things that can happen, both perceived and not. Failing is one of them. I have had my fair share of failures in our business. There have been topics that were not successfully launched and were cancelled for how many months. There were failed attempts to partner for certain events. There were also failed marketing activities that costed us a good sum of money. Failing has been a part of our business, just like in any other business. Here are some reasons why we fail:

1. Understaffed. Each person you have in your business affects your entire image and performance as an organization. One customer service blunder from one erring sales representative can bring a lot of negative responses especially today in the age of social media. Being understaffed does not always refer to lacking the number of people. It also refers to the lack of collective skills from your people to accomplish the task.

In planning job specifications, keep in mind what kind of company you want to be in the eyes of the customers. It all starts from wanting to reach X goal, where you can derive what kind of people you need to reach it. If you want to have a stellar selling performance, then look for the most congenial applicants.

Fill all the functions you need to run the business smoothly. Just make sure that the work is distributed evenly so your team can do their work without being burned out. In short, have enough number of people and assign them to the proper designations based on their skills and qualifications.

2. Undersupplied. You know you have the best plan and your team have the best qualifications that you can think of for the job. But do you have the capacity to provide the budget, or the raw materials you need for your strategy? In planning to take on a country-wide service, do you have enough people to handle the inquiries and production? Sure, taking bold strategies might bring big returns, but are you assured your finances can take a hit if they fail? Will you be able to recover financially should you fail?
Sometimes, we fail not because we have a bad strategy or a bad timing, but rather because we are undersupplied — in terms of budget, people, raw materials, and even our own systems and controls. This is why in making strategies, it is best to create a TOWS (threats, opportunities, weaknesses, strengths) analysis, to keep your strategies grounded within the current capacity of the company and within the realm of external factors affecting your industry.

3. Underestimated. One of the biggest blunders even big companies make is being too complacent with their current market position. Perhaps having lead the competition for quite a while makes them think that no new entrant can beat them. Let’s take a look at what happened to a certain mobile phone company who once was a giant, only to be beaten by all other mobile phone companies who adapted new technologies resulting to the emergence of smartphones. No one could have foreseen it happening, but that inevitably happens to those who underestimate.

Whether you are a market leader, challenger, or a new entrant, always remember that your competitors also have a strong set of minds ready to release new products/services, and sometimes that next release is something innovative that just beats your standards by a mile. Never stop improving your business and do not be shy to test different innovations in the market; and when you gain the lead, always think that at any moment, any competitor can take away your title as a leader. Never underestimate.

There are a lot more reasons why we fail and sometimes these can be something entirely out of our hands, like strong typhoons destroying our store opening celebration that was meant to introduce the business to the public, or system errors online preventing our websites and ads from appearing properly. What is important is that we do our best, we are prepared in the event that we fail and that we are willing to take failures as learning opportunities to succeed in the future.

*Originally published by the Manila Bulletin, C-4, Sunday, August 13, 2017. Written by Ruben Anlacan, Jr. (President, BusinessCoach, Inc.) All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied without express written permission of the copyright holders.