Starting a New Business: 4 Ways to Forgo Faulty Deals

Congratulations on your new business! There are a lot of new and exciting opportunities to choose from. How do you know what will be best? By following these tips, your business can avoid frequent run-ins with the phrase, “There’s just one catch.”

Good, but not too good.
When hearing about an opportunity, if you only hear good news, that’s not good. A business can pick two things, “fast, cheap or good--but not all three."

Set goals to team up with colleagues who understand that each situation has trade offs. As long as you are aware of the negative side of things and address them properly, your business can still profit.

Get feedback from real users.
If the new opportunity is a product, try it yourself. You should be pleased with it too. Simply learn from the actual users! If your service or product is being sold in another country, consider doing some first hand research of how the product is perceived there. By getting the user’s opinion, you’ll see things more realistically. Also, talking to users builds a better relationship for the future. Start building a positive relationship with the customers now, because this generates loyalty later.

Raise questions about their motivation.
Doing business internationally provides a broader range of options. With that, it is important to uncover exactly why deals are being offered to you. Is the company looking to expand? Would they benefit more by working with your international business compared to a local company? Or would it be a win-win situation for both of you? You should question their motives.

When questioned, common responses may be something like, “We've had overwhelming requests by people to participate in this new opportunity, so we finally caved in.” Usually, this is code for “We’d rather use your money to test this concept, rather than put our own money in danger.”

Maybe the response is, “It's not part of our core business so we're selling it off.” If this can be verified, it might mean the company is sticking to its forte. In that case, this would be an acceptable answer.

Pay attention to the time frame.
Identify the needs and wants of the regions your product and services will be sold or performed. If your business relies on popular trends, keep an eye out for indications of user fatigue. Remember that every place is different. Trends in Venezuela vary from those in the United Kingdom. Lastly, know when the product or service will be at its highest and lowest demand. That way you can market correctly.

Continue to better your business by learning more; check out some of our great resources on resource desk.