6 Qualities of Business Success

Most business owners place great emphasis on getting more customers and generating more sales.

They see this as the foundation of their success, as perhaps the only way they can grow their businesses, increase profits and or revenue.

While this may be true to an extent, these businesses often don't know that there are actually several other factors that significantly contribute to success in business.

In addition to getting more customers and generating more sales, a truly successful business requires success in six different areas. It’s possible to be somewhat successful if your business does well in some of these areas and not others, but if it doesn’t have all these six at decent levels, your business can't transcend the ordinary and become a generational success.

These areas are:-

1 Redundancy:- For a business to become a generational success, it needs to understand and inculcate the concept of redundancy.

This basically means that the business owner shouldn't have or rely on just one of anything affecting the business.

This business shouldn't have one marketing technique or source it employs to get new business, it should have several.

This business shouldn't have one customer or client it serves, it should have several.

This business shouldn't have one product or service it renders, it should have several, etc.

Today’s shaky economy has made this concept required for long term success. Not only should it make sure that it has interests in completely different industries, it should also have multiple operations in completely different areas selling to completely different markets.

2 Diversity: Diversity in the talents, skills and knowledge a business can call upon is also a required quality of the truly successful business.

Though a business will want everyone associated with the business aligned and working towards a common goal, it should also recognise that the coming together of people of different personalities, backgrounds and levels of experience is a key driver of innovation. Diversity in these can help to foster creativity and offer a range of perspectives and ideas.

3 Modularity: A business is usually comprised of various departments, structures, aspects,  processes and operations.

Modularity is a measure of the degree of mutual independence of these individual components of the business.

As a business owner, you want all of these being able to function effectively and independently even as they interact, and play their part towards achieving the common goal.

Achieving a high degree of modularity in a way that makes the interfaces and interactions as simple as possible is crucial if the business is to become a generational success.

Further, there are situations where you may need to make changes in your business structure or systems for a variety of reasons:- to incorporate new products or services, expand operations, determine functions that can be outsourced or to further increase efficiency.

The degree to which your business is flexible and amenable in this regard also impacts the long term success of the business.

4 Adaptation:- The only thing constant is change and a business that will thrive and survive has to be able to quickly adapt to these inevitable changes.

The rate of change in today’s business environment is faster than it has ever been. The rules of the game are constantly evolving both on the micro levels which directly affect your particular industry and the macro levels affecting all forms of business.

Much of these changes are influenced by customer wants and technology. This is because these are usually engrained in every element of our businesses. Customer needs determine the kind of business we do, the products and services we offer, while technology influences the way we communicate, the way we market. It also drives our business systems and operations.

Business adaptation therefore, requires constant vigilance and awareness that allows you to recognise possible changes in both market needs and technology to enable you quickly make the adjustments in your models and operations to keep you competitive and relevant.

The most successful businesses, those that become generational successes will be those that are proactive and strategic in their adaptive activities.

5 Prudence:- Prudence is a key aspect of successful businesses-- when planning strategy, making business decisions and dealing with finances, the business owner should always act with diligence.

It can be disastrous to make decisions or draw conclusions without gathering all relevant information and carefully evaluating the factors influencing an outcome. The business that becomes a generational success always places emphasis on research and accumulation of information.

Of course there will always be risks associated with any eventual course of action but prudence should be exercised in prior evaluation to ensure you give yourself the best chances at success.

Prudence should also be applied when dealing with customers and clients. A lot of customers leave a business because of what they perceive as indifference from that business. They felt unappreciated, and/or taken for granted.

The business that has ambitions of becoming a generational success should always make its customer feel appreciated and valued.

6 Embeddedness:- Most long term successful businesses are that way because they've built up credibility, trustworthiness and are consistent in their representations and dealings with customers and the world.

Further, they make the necessary efforts to ensure they're well connected within and without the industries they operate in. These connections are important as they often form the basis of profitable joint ventures and collaborations. Being embedded in this manner also enables them to keep a pulse on events and changes so they can adapt effectively.

When customers and clients know a business is consistent in its dealings with them and this business is well connected in the relevant circles, the business is well placed to become a generational success.

It may take some time and effort to get your business up to speed in these 6 areas.

But the rewards you stand to reap by doing so will be well worth it.

You're going to do business anyway, you might as well ensure that your business is well placed to become a generational success.