25 Real Reasons Why Your Small Business Is Failing

Here are twenty-five reasons why your existing small business can fail even in great economic times. If any, or worse yet, several of these are happening to your business, you need to get advice from a small business counselor. Check your local chamber of commerce or your local Small Business Development Center or local office of SCORE, if you’re in the USA, to see whether free counseling is available for you.

1. Your business plan is several years old and has never been updated
2. You don’t have a profile of your favorite customer
3. You don’t know your target market
4. You don’t understand which of your products are profitable
5. You can’t say what your inventory turnover is
6. Your business credit cards are maxed out
7. Your cash outflow is greater than your cash inflow
8. You’re not taking advantage of vendor terms for your accounts payable
9. Your accounts receivable is too large
10. You don’t track your email and snail mail marketing campaigns
11. You don’t engage in conversation with and don’t listen to your customers
12. Your prices are not in line with the market in general
13. Your customers don’t understand the added value of doing business with you
14. You don’t know why your customers buy a particular product
15. You don’t like to sell and don’t know how to close a sale and get the order
16. You don’t have a list of your competitors
17. You can’t articulate why you’re better than your competition
18. The key phrases in your website content do not relate to your business
19. When people Google your type of business you don’t show up
20. You spend money on advertising but can’t tell if it is working
21. Most of your business comes from a couple of large customers
22. Your product displays and product placements are poor
23. You neglect to share your passion and your vision with your employees
24. You and your employees do not operate as a team
25. Your location is hard to get to and you have minimal foot traffic