2014

Survival Strategies for Startup Business

NAME: NEERAJ ASHOK AGARWAL
REGISTRATION NO. :

GMCS - I

3/2/2014

A strategic plan is an organizational management tool used in the present to determine future projections for desired result or goal. A strategic plan serves as a road map to lead an organization from where it currently is to where it would like to be in a specified time frame, usually five to ten years. Establishing a solid foundation for your new business is vital. However, startup businesses face risks, especially in the economic climate of today. Research suggests that start-up businesses which fail, often fall into a pattern of problems in at least one of the four following areas: Lack of a plan to guide the business from start-up through expansion. Including the lack of business forecasting and limited access to capital for the first few years of the start-up period. Including not realizing the need for specific experience in the business being started, for management experience, and a business or entrepreneurial mindset. Including inadequate operating facilities, poor geographic location or underor over improving the facility. A strong business is one that can ride out the tough times. Your business plan should be able to account for a soft economy or an industry slump and should have the built-in flexibility youll need in order to react quickly and nimbly in the face of chang e. On startup of new business, question in ones mind should arise. How is your business unique, and why will your goods or services appeal to customers? What are the primary differences between your company and your competitors? What are the driving factors to choose your business over another? In other words, what is the underlying reason a customer would do business with your company. To survive in todays world planning is important. The strategy for startup business can be consider as, Defining your vision is important. It will become the driving force of your business. Create a list of goals with a brief description of action items. If your business is a start up, you will want to put more effort into your short-term goals. Often a new business concept must go through a period of research and development before the outcome can be accurately predicted for longer time frames. Understand your customer; choose your target market carefully. Overlook this area, and I guarantee you will be disappointed with the performance of your business. Get this right and you will be more than pleased with the results. Needs what unmet needs do your prospective customers have? How does your business meet those needs? It is usually something the customer does not have or a need that is not currently being met. Identify those unmet needs. Wants: think of this as your customers desire or wish. It can also be a deficiency. Problems: remember people buy things to solve a specific problem. What problems does your product or service solve? Perceptions: what are the negative and positive perceptions that customers have about you, your profession and its products or services? Identify both the negative and positive consequences. You will be able to use what you learn when you start marketing and promoting your business. Learn from your competition about your business and customers by looking at how your competitors do business. How will you make money? What is your break-even point? How much profit potential does your business have? Take the time to invest in

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preparing financial projections. Identify your marketing strategy, define WHO your ideal customer is or target market. Most companies experience 80% of their business from 20% of their customers. It makes sense then to direct your time and energy toward those customers who are most important. The purpose of this step is to further qualify and determine which customer profile meets the best odds of success. The strategy is to position your business at the same level as the majority of the buyers you are targeting. It is critical to figure out who your best customers are and how to best position your company in the marketplace. A market you cannot access is a market you cannot serve. Marketing is the process of finding, communicating and educating your primary market about your products and services. Choose a combination of tools and strategies, that when combined, increase your odds of success. The assumptions we do not verify are typically the ones that have the potential to create business problems. Take the time to test all business assumptions, especially when you are making major expenditures. What are the various possibilities for achieving or failing to achieve goals? It is vital to understand whether there are obstacles for your business in its striving for success. Obstacles may be competition that operates at a lower cost, or inability to borrow enough capital at an affordable rate, or environmental issues with the property you plan to develop, or other, similar eventualities. Or they may be regional or national issues, such as a recession. First, you must recognize what barriers might exist or potentially crop up. Second, you have to describe options or contingencies you might exercise to deal with them. For example, a nonprofit that started a lawn and home care business it thought would be able to sell its services to the increasing number of retired people moving to its community found that the national recession resulted in fewer seniors moving and existing seniors having less money for cleaning. So, the business adjusted and started selling its services to local institutions and governments that had cleaning and lawn care needs. In short, avoid the mistake of assuming that value exists anywhere other than the customer relationship. Saving the world by inspiring action in large social networks is a great goal. But its important that entrepreneurs establish that they are going to make money. So these are the plans or strategy to make business sustain in the todays market.

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