Quality vs. Quantity: Establishing priorities in your small business

Posted At : August 25, 2010 11:17 PM | Posted By : Marita Greenidge
Related Categories: Opportunity,Priority

By Kathy-Ann Fletcher 

Do you take all the new opportunities that come your way as a new business or do you focus on doing a good job with a few at first to establish a solid reputation? This is the dilemma that many entrepreneurs face in the early stages of their businesses.

Will you be sacrificing the quality of the product/service you provide by expanding or taking on too much too soon? This is a very important question to ask yourself when faced with new opportunities. The fear of opportunities drying up so to speak usually drives entrepreneurs to grab at every new opportunity. However, in the process some quality is sacrificed if the company is not properly prepared for expansion leaving the business vulnerable to failure.

So how do you handle this choice? I have two simple suggestions.

1. Pre-set the priorities of your company and do your best to stick to them. You have to establish very early what your company’s objectives are and match the priorities to suit. As you set up targets and earmarks for the growth, stick to these unless your company has grown at the pace to accommodate the new opportunities. For example, accepting an order for 50,000 new pieces before you have the capabilities or are able to outsource it will not secure your future, regardless of how great the opportunity seems. What it will do is run your business into the ground before its name can be established.

2. Determine the image of your company – Do you want to be known as a jack of all trades but a master of none? No. You want to be known for great products and dependable service. Therefore at the early stage, in fact at any stage, it is best to focus on quality rather than quantity. You don’t want to damage the reputation of your company and the trust within the market for your product and service. This would be a sure fire way to damage future opportunities.

We face the dilemma all the time. These new opportunities seem once in a lifetime and exciting. We say if we get this account then we will be set. We sit and imagine how good it will be but then forget to consider our capabilities.

So in business, it is best to choose quality over quantity if you can’t achieve them both. 

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Taking Advantage of a Business Opportunity

Posted At : June 24, 2010 12:22 AM | Posted By : Marita Greenidge
Related Categories: Opportunity

By Corey Graham 2.0

I believe in order to take advantage of a business opportunity you will need to figure out exactly what is a business opportunity. 

A business opportunity consists of four integrated elements all of which are to be present within the same timeframe (window of opportunity) and most often within the same domain or geographical location, before it can be claimed as a business opportunity. These four elements are:
 
1. A need
2. The means to fulfil the need
3. A method to apply the means to fulfil the need and;
4. A method to benefit
 
With anyone of the elements missing, a business opportunity may be developed, by finding the missing element. More unique combinations of elements will lead to more distinctive business opportunities. The more control an institution (or individual) has over the elements, the better they are positioned to exploit the opportunity and become a niche market leader.

Business Opportunities can take several formats or scenarios.
 
Now that we have a better picture of what a great business opportunity looks like, we can start to take advantage of it. One key thing to recognise is that timing is important to any great business opportunity. You have to be on time to make the most of the business opportunity. The reality is that you will have to take a leap of faith in preparing for the kinds of business opportunities you want. Preparation is a massive part of taking advantage of a business opportunity. Ideally, you would want to be in a position that when a great business opportunity comes your way, you can effortlessly step up to the plate and accept it and do all that is necessary to make it a reality. You don't have to do a lot of thinking or research on the opportunity because you have already done all the leg work in assessing and preparing opportunity. Being prepared allows you to also identify the opportunity because many times, opportunities don't knock on your door, they wait for you see them and to come and get them.
 
A key part of taking advantage of a business opportunity is in creating strategic plans which will help you to move yourself to take care of the some of the opportunities that will be created as your business, market or industry evolves. 
 
Realistically though you will not be always ready or prepared for every great business opportunity, so what do you do when you are not quite prepared and you might really need to take advantage of them. 
 
To keep this post applicable to the range of business opportunities out there I would break down taking advantage of a Business Opportunity into 2 broad steps:
  • Clearly Identifying The Opportunity 
  • Seizing The Opportunity
 
Identifying the Opportunity
 
It’s important to be able to identify business opportunities clearly. You will have to check that you have the four elements present for the opportunity to be viable. Just because you can see how it will be a great fit for the organization doesn't mean it’s a great opportunity. If you are not able to access the funding for the initial investment to make the opportunity a successful one, then it’s not a great business opportunity. You don't have the four elements present in that "opportunity". In identifying a great business opportunity you have also got to go beyond the surface to clearly identify it. I was listening to Jack Welch's presentation at the UWI School of Business, where he was making the point that he has seen several seemingly "natural" corporate mergers around the world, often fail because the culture of the two organizations were not compatible. It might sound obvious right? It is important to get a clear picture of the impact of this new opportunity on your resources and also to understand those factors that it are not dependant on you. 
Here are a few questions to ask when sizing up a deal
  • Is it a "win-win" deal?
  • Are all the critical persons involved benefiting from it?
  • Is there anyone losing from the deal? Who are they are why?
  • How long will this opportunity last? 
  • Is it in an emerging market ?
  • When must you decide on it? 
  • Does this opportunity align to philosophy?
  • Is this something that you can commit to and do the extra homework needed to make it successful?
  • How does it impact the people around you?
  • What happens if it falls through?
Seizing the opportunity
 
Once you have decided on the opportunity, you will now have to actually seize the opportunity and here is where your salesman and negotiating skills come into play. I included this section to remind you that after you might have seen an opportunity. It is still important to convey these ideas to the others who will have to be involved. It might take the form of a meeting, or a proposal or a business plan. It’s important that you take time to communicate with the different players to be involved in the opportunity. You will have to cast vision and get persons to buy into your vision. In this process it’s also important to listen as the persons involved share new perspectives on how to maximize the opportunity even further.

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