Why Do Businesses Fail?

Marilyn SanfordsmartPRENEUR Blog Series

Unfortunately, business failure is common: About 20% of small businesses fail in their first year, only half make it through their fifth year and a staggering 70% of businesses don’t make it past 10-years. As for the remaining, it does not necessarily mean they succeed – it means that they’ve survived. So why do businesses fail?  According to Dun & ...

The X-Factor: Driving Customer Loyalty

Marilyn SanfordsmartPRENEUR Blog Series

The Oxford English Dictionary defines x-factor as “a variable in a given situation that could have the most significant impact on the outcome.”   According to an article by Sunil Menon “Brands that excel at delivering the best customer experience have something special, an x-factor.”  From our earlier article ‘Dare to be Different’, “50% of brand promises are not believed by ...

Dare to be Different

Marilyn SanfordsmartPRENEUR Blog Series

Different is Important “No longer is a “good culture” good enough to be competitive.  Organizations today must find alignment between their corporate strategy and their corporate culture, or risk never fulfilling their competitive advantage.  Too many organizations, especially within the same industry, look and feel the same to work in. ….in all of the ways that matter, too many are ...

Vision, Purpose, Mission

Marilyn SanfordsmartPRENEUR Blog Series

“We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time. “  T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets Core Values “Companies that enjoy enduring success have core values and a core purpose that remain fixed while their business strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing ...

Corporate Culture by Design

Marilyn SanfordsmartPRENEUR Blog Series

According to Katie Heinz in an article entitled Types of organizational Culture, “…it is defined as shared values, attitudes and practices…. It is the personality of your company and plays a large part in your employees’ overall satisfaction.”   A Common Goal and Purpose Culture helps inform the entire team.  It connects people to common goals and purpose.  Think of it ...

Turnover and Company Culture

Marilyn SanfordsmartPRENEUR Blog Series

The Cost of Turnover I’ve heard horror stories about the cost of turnover in firms, especially smaller firms.   It may be one of the least understood and costly aspects of running a small labor dependent business.   Estimates have ranged from a month’s salary to a year’s salary.   I’m not referring to payouts, I’m referring to the internal ...

Task Management

Marilyn SanfordsmartPRENEUR Blog Series

In my last smartPRENEUR Blog we spoke to the importance of creating systems to capture detail and ensure effective information flow.   There is no question that task management systems are critical.  Automating is a big help, especially once clear processes which have been documented and tried, are in place.  Some key benefits of task management software:  Single place for ...
Attention to Details

Pay Attention to the Details

Marilyn SanfordsmartPRENEUR Blog Series

How to Boost Productivity A 2017 study by NFIB (National Federation of Independent Businesses) revealed that 56% of small business owners consider communication is key to boosting productivity. Further, it stated that the most powerful way to boost productivity is to optimize task management systems, so that the details don’t become protracted, and processes are easily captured and repeated.   No surprise ...