For many businesses today, there are many challenges that come along inhibiting success. It is, therefore, important to know the pitfalls that one can run into and the possible solutions. Some of these challenges are:
• Lack of Integrity
• Resource management; borrowing cash
• Increased Competition and Selection
• Customer Loyalty and Marketing
• Uncertainty
• Regulations
• Risk management and problem-solving
• Finding competent staff
These are the main challenges that every business faces or will face. It will only be wise to have a prior understand what they are and hence find a proper way of solving them. No one starts a business to fail but at the same time, challenges are not meant for failing but to sharpen, strengthen and inspire growth. This article goes deeper into each of these setbacks and offers practical solutions for the same.
Challenges and solutions
1. Lack of Integrity
Lack of integrity can put a business on its knees. With the standards of living going up the roof, workers trying to meet their quarterly goals and be successful at the same plus get that little overtime bonus, the temptation to cut corners is so great.
Information is omitted or given in terms of doing what it takes to get ahead. There is head to head competition among employees, and soon the entire staff is infected. This behavior goes up the ladder whereby the managers and directors are also involved.
For integrity to improve, there is a need for work policies to change. There should be no room for any minor or major misconduct. Staff should be trained on how they are expected to conduct themselves. Different kind of systems can be used to deal with problematic employees namely, counseling, warning, and termination. The greater the misconduct, the greater the action taken. Those who show high levels of integrity should be rewarded so that other employees can be won over to good virtues.
2. Resource management; borrowing cash
Money is everything, and that is a statement that will be heard for a very long time to come. Many businesses are making a profit but what draws them back are heavy expenditures and borrowing. It is quite common to see many businesses, especially small ones, fail to manage cash flow.
The main solution here is to ensure that there is enough capital or cash saved up to meet business obligations as they rise.
Cash management becomes vital during the fluctuation period, as cash is flowing in more slowly into the business and moneylenders are less than willing to extend the loan repayment period. For the growing small business, tackling taxes and business the proprietor may handle accounting but dealing with the professionals is even better. Business books get more complexed with every client that walks in and employee you add. Having a professional bookkeeper will ensure your business succeeds where others are failing.
Borrowing money from lending institutions only adds injury to the cash flow situation since these institutions have the power to dictate the lending terms and policies.
3. Increased Competition and Selection
It has never been an easy task to start a business, however, gone are the years when it took long procedures to start a business. Today you can purchase a host domain name online and register a business with just a few clicks. Nevertheless, staying in business is a much more convoluted subject. While business expertise was once a time consuming and expensive endeavor, nowadays you can find experts online who you can consult and get assistance from on any difficulties encountered. There are user-friendly interfaces and even support teams to help you set up an online store, get marketing materials and business cards, all at a very pocket-friendly price.
The simplicity of starting a business creates a much wider level of competition. You are likely to find different businesses competing to come up with the best product while others concentrate more on their selling point instead product manufacturing. This contributes to increased selection, which makes it more challenging for businesses of all sizes to maintain customers who with a click of a mouse can change suppliers. It is a battle of marketing, focus and perception. Business owners who master these changes and provide a good customer experience will more likely be on the winning team.
4. Customer Loyalty and Marketing
Along the same road of increased competition and selection to a potential customer, emails, social media, texting and other communication modes are making it easy for individuals and businesses to get their messages out to customers and hence sell more.
The conservative fluctuation period is also causing a decrease in client base. Customers are forced to be conservative with their pockets and as a result, the normal business growth of new clients is not taking place as quickly as it should. Executives and business owners are forced to spend more time figuring how to go an extra mile in order to keep the existing clientele base. The same time, trying to figure out how to reach new customers in a cost-effective way without necessarily competing chiefly on price, this always leads to a race that ends at the bottom.
Figuring out the best channel for marketing is the key for individuals to be successful in the current business world. How do you reach your clients with the right message and where can you find them? Once you get a new customer, how do you keep them and when do competitors of all sizes and types, trying to convince them that they can provide it cheaper or better, constantly barrage them? Identifying what your clients want and giving them a satisfactory experience will make a huge difference in your business’ future.
5. Uncertainty
Everyone including business leaders is usually uneasy with uncertainty. Because of economic struggles and global debts, uncertainty is more common today than in the past years. The sorrowful news is that uncertainty leads businesses and individuals to a short-term focus. Because of uncertainty, businesses tend to shy off from long-term planning for short-term benefits.
While this might seem like a better choice, failure to plan five to twenty years ahead can end up destroying the value of the business in the end. Businesses must learn the art of balancing short term goals and long term goals. Usually, short term goals should be small steps leading towards the bigger goal. The ever changing market speculations by business analysts in the news usually leave a bitter taste in the mouth of business owners. The end result is executives and business owners raising prices, and thus, clients stop spending on the business. You need to get back to work with what you have and not media speculation.
6. Regulations
A change in the regulations is always a major concern in certain marketplaces, but unexpected energy, financial and environmental policy is wrecking mayhem for nearly every business today. Whether a demand from stakeholders or clients to become environmental friendly or an imposed policy to increase costs due to the new carbon taxes, environmental consideration is among the biggest problems that businesses face. And we don’t have to give too much pressure to the issue of financial regulation and reform though we do have some suggestions about how to prepare to face that problem if you are a brokerage house or bank.
The challenge to be solved is to comprehend the meaning of regulation in your marketplace, its effect on your business, and how to develop the skills which are required to deal with the challenge. Two main areas of regulatory problems and difficulties are health care and taxes. Lawmakers are still arguing over what is called the fiscal cliff, the combination of millions of dollars in budget cuts and tax increase. Even if the congressmen reach a conclusion, it is most likely that it won’t be understandable enough to the point of being required the following year.
Health care has also been another problem for businesses. For instance, the new Affordable Health Care Act (ObamaCare) is so complicated that local and state governments won’t understand what to do, and businesses will have to sacrifice resources and time to understand the law hence hiring professionals to break it down for them to implement it effectively.
Many businesses do not know whether they will have to continue with the national system, or the state system will be creating exchanges. Additionally, they do not know what that will mean for their costs. For some business enterprises, that information will aid them to conclude whether it is cheaper not to provide insurance and just pay the government fine of two thousand USD per employee or whether they will provide insurance to their employees and avoid the penalty. Companies that have nearly close to fifty workers may opt not to recruit more employees in order to remain outside the law’s radar.
7. Risk management and problem-solving
A major problem faced by nearly all companies is assessing, identifying and mitigating risks, including the financial and human capital. The need for a more sophisticated challenge solving competency among current business controllers is limiting the possibilities of their ability to effectively deal with risks facing their businesses. This is the main reason business managers tend to land from the frying pan into the fire, depending on who among their executives they are trying to put away and in most cases the ever changing business environment is what starts these fires.
So what is the challenge to be solved? We believe, to achieve more in the future, organizations must conclude that problem solving is the main path to business success then develop a strong problem-solving ability at all levels. As organizations continue to identify the challenges, they will have the right problem-solving techniques to know how to best maneuver them.
8. Finding competent staff
Without exception, every business owner has faced the major business challenge, which is, finding the right staff, ensuring they buy into the business’ vision and retaining them. I firmly admit that I have no magic formulae for this challenge. In fact, if business executives can come up with the right formula to engage and recruit the right staff members, they would have made millions.
A small organization is like a family and in most cases, they can dysfunction or work well. In large organizations, the main challenge in human resource is how to fit in the workplace and office politics, but when it comes to small organizations, it is skills and personality. When you work in a small firm, each individual’s personality can have a huge impact on the productivity and harmony of the business.
The main goal is to learn how to deal with each staff member’s personality, find out what drives each staff member and shape your management accordingly. In spite of unemployment, many businesses try to find the ideal staff members with the precise skill for the business. Many upcoming manufacturing jobs require individuals with hi-tech skills. They include vacancies at the production sites where computers and machinery are used to build products like machines and airplane parts. Some skills require several years of perfection and training. Because of technological advancement, business executives are struggling to find the right high-skilled individuals to fill positions in their firm; that is individuals who have the right IT skills, deductive reasoning skills, and problem-solving skills.
Final thoughts
Without the right skills to identify and solve problems that arise in business, many businesses end up failing in fulfilling their core mission and vision. It is then the obligation of business owners and executives to make sure that all these challenges are looked into and come up with the right formula to solve them. Moreover, it is not only the obligation of the business executives but also all other members involved in the business to make sure that some, if not all the challenges, are dealt with in an appropriate and ethical manner.
