Business planning

Five steps to take if you think your business is failing

Here, Ruta Gabalis, CEO of business consultancy Aeroblue, offers five support strategies to company owners who are beginning to realise their business is failing.

All businesses have their ups and downs but if you think that your business may be failing it is important to act fast. Startups are particularly at risk, with half failing within the first five years.

However, it is not only startups that are at risk, five large retailer companies have failed in January this year alone.

To prevent a business from failing, the necessary financial, operational or management improvements must be made. This is in order to deliver profitable growth or set a course for a maximised profit on exit.

The following five tips could help you make some crucial decisions.

1. View your business objectively

This is easier said than done when you are emotionally invested in your business. Objective thinking plays a crucial part in understanding why your business is failing which will enable you to amend the issue. Adapt your perspective from a business owner to a shareholder, you will then begin to view your business as a product and see evident issues that will be able to be resolved.

Enlisting the help of people that you can trust to offer constructive feedback is also highly recommended. Consider your business as a whole; the service you offer, pricing, demand and quality of your service or product.

2. Employees

Your employees can offer a unique insight into your business that you may not have noticed or been exposed too. Allowing employees to voice their opinions anonymously will allow them to speak honestly about their opinions and experiences.

However, there is no need to suggest to your employees that you think your business is failing, or beginning to. Just ask for their thoughts on what the business could do to improve.

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3. Seek professional opinions?

In addition to employee opinion you should certainly seek the help of a professional to achieve the most efficient and immediate results. With years of experience, turn around specialists will be able to consider your situation from a professionally informed perspective.