04.05.09
BusinessWeek: Is This The Right Time To Start?
This Is a Good Time to Launch the Right Business
And it was a welcome opportunity for us to realize, well, yes, it could be a very good time to start a business. In fact, we can now think of at least four compelling reasons why.
We can, that is, if and only if the business you’re hoping to start passes one major test.
It can sell more for less.
To be clear, we don’t mean a little bit more for a little bit less. In these recessionary times, a new business doesn’t stand much of a chance unless it provides a demonstrably superior value proposition than the market’s current offerings. Sure, not that long ago, you could still take a competitor’s service or product, tweak it or slap on a new feature or two, and persuade customers to buy it at a premium. But with everyone in hunker-down mode, the days of marginal up-selling are gone, and could be for some time to come.
Yes, it is. BusinessWeek has the story.
I think there is even more to it. Right now, big, hierarchy-based organizations are frozen in fear. A smaller, locally-owned business (SLOB) is going to have to be more responsive to its customers or it will shut down even in the best of times. Now, this is the difference that can zoom you from worst to first in your local area.
Does your main competitor have to get someone in headquarters to approve of changes in the product, its pricing, or in services offered around that product? Is your competitor’s product imported? Can your locally-produced product present improved quality or a better feature set as compared to the competitor? (I’m talking about perceived quality: reliability, product lifespan. As for features, the only ones I’m talking about here are the ones that motivate your customers to buy your product instead of your competitor’s product.)
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