Even a complete layman knows that the key to success in business lies in making the right decisions at the right time. Now, to people who have years and decades of experience in the industry, this may not seem hard, seeing as how they have gone through a number of situations, which can help them make the right call more easily. But, is it possible for a person without such previous experience to make effective business decisions? Well, with the right tools, techniques, and mindset, you will be able to make the right business moves.
1. Deciding on an impulse or taking too long
The first major mistake people make when making decisions is believing that they have to decide right away. Even on the tightest of schedules, this is not the case, which is why you need to take some time to carefully consider your options. On the other hand, you also risk falling into the trap of procrastinating for too long, which is yet another thing you want to avoid. This is due to the fact that the longer you wait to decide, the less confident you will be, which might negatively reflect on both your and your staff’s morale.
2. Cost-benefit analysis
This simple technique is probably the oldest one in the book and it relies on your ability to weigh the benefit of every outcome of your decision in relation to your initial investment. For this, you need to put all the outcomes you can think of, from the best to the worst, and see where you stand with each of them. At the end of this process, you will know exactly whether the choice you are about to make is a good one from the financial point of view. This method is not much different from a simple ROI calculation; the greatest difference being that you are doing several versions of the same calculation.
3. Watch out for your brand image
Inexperienced business owners often tend to fail to adequately track their brand. This can prevent them from finding out if they are on the right path or not, which can be devastating for their branding efforts. On the other hand, with the aid of the proper media monitoring campaign, they get instant feedback on every business decision they make, which gives them ample opportunities to remedy a mistake they’ve made. Furthermore, this is by far the most affordable way of learning on their own mistakes.
4. Be realistic about your capabilities
One of the greatest problems with inexperienced entrepreneurs is that they either overestimate or underestimate their company’s capabilities. The first one will compel them to make promises they can’t keep, while the latter will prevent them from ever reaching their full potential. In order to avoid falling into this trap, you need to know your company thoroughly. One of the ways to do that is to bring in a fresh pair of eyes and try to objectively assess both your company’s potential and limitations.
At the end of the day, there is no such thing as a 100 percent guarantee that a call you’ve made is the right one. Still, if you weigh all the outcomes carefully, take an appropriate amount of time to decide and carefully assess the results, your chances of making the right call will be significantly higher. Furthermore, by knowing your company from the inside out, you are minimizing the risks of making the wrong moves that can be harmful to your business. In other words, an effective business decision is not one that gets you rich overnight but the one that keeps yielding positive results week after week, month after month.
