GALT Consulting LLC

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4) Poor Planning - Really, poor planning is a root cause of most business failures.  You can get past a lot of mistakes and weaknesses if you have good planning that utilizes your strengths and focuses on your passion.  Many business owners think they are too busy to plan, and this is often true.  However, if you don't MAKE time to plan, you will be extremely busy right up until you find yourself in a hole that you may or may not be able to get out of!

5) Inability to Sell - This is a common weakness of almost every new business owner.  You have a great product, but you are unable to sell it.  I'm not talking about an owner's ability to connect with people and communicate effectively.  I'm talking about understand the basic fact that businesses do not sell products or services... they sell value.  A friend of mine who is a golf pro recently flipped his sales approach from talking about the high tech equipment he utilizes to talking about how he can help get your game to the next level, and this new approach has worked very well.  Doctors don't sell medical exams, they make you feel better.  People don't buy Harley's because they want a motorcycle, they buy it because they want the feeling of freedom.  (Special thanks to my friends Brett Curry - Curry Marketing, and Glenda Coble - Midwest Family Broadcasting for contributions to this article).