Nobody starts a business expecting to fail, but the reality is only half of small businesses in the United States last longer than five years—and more than a fifth won’t even make it to a second year.
According to the recent statistics compiled by Zippia.com, 21.9% of small businesses fail within the first year, while 50% fail after five years and more than 65% by their 10th year. The average small business ends after about eight and a half years, with cash flow problems the most common culprit.
So when a company survives even a handful of years, it’s an achievement worth celebrating. Success is never a guarantee, no matter how attractive the product or service, or how solid the business plan.
Valerie Schlitt certainly understood this when she founded VSA Prospecting in the family room of her Haddonfield, NJ, home in the summer of 2001. There was excitement over building a business from scratch, for sure, but zero expectations that VSA would grow into one of the most sophisticated B2B prospecting firms in the country.
Twenty-two years, more than 1,000 clients, and countless technology advancements later, VSA is exactly that: a best-in-class lead generation and appointment-setting firm offering outbound, inbound, and other call center services to B2B and B2C clients across a wide variety of industries.
Along the way, we’ve learned plenty about our business and the industries we serve. We’ve seen firsthand the ways many of our clients, referral partners, and competitors have managed to sustain success, and we’ve parlayed that knowledge into our own long-range business strategies.
There is no magic formula for maintaining a successful business, but there are certain intangibles that are almost always necessary. Here are six of them:
1. A tireless work ethic
It’s a given that a business needs to offer something that the market demands, and price those goods or services fairly. But just having those pieces in place likely won’t mean much in the long run if you’re not willing to go above and beyond to raise your level of service for your clients.
That means being flexible, even if veering from normal procedures might require significantly more work. It means paying attention to small details, because even the tiniest concern can grow into a major dilemma if left unchecked. Most of all, to quote one of VSA’s core values, it means “always striving to be exceptional” and never compromising on effort.
2. The tenaciousness to seize new opportunities
Whether due to an ever-changing economy or other external factors, your market is unlikely to stay the same over multiple years, and there’s no guarantee that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow. It’s vital to always be looking for new uses for your services and new ways to utilize your skillsets.
For VSA, a prime example occurred at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like a lot of businesses, we knew we couldn’t maintain the status quo. And so we leveraged our existing infrastructure and healthcare knowledge to launch a new division of the company that focused on contact tracing and disease case management, helping schools and municipalities limit the spread of COVID in their communities. Just as many of our clients successfully re-invented themselves during COVID, we took steps to not only sustain our business, but to grow it, while at the same providing a much-needed public service.
3. A tolerance for risk
Taking risks can be nerve-racking, but your business is unlikely to last long without occasionally stepping out of your comfort zone, maybe even trying something that seems a bit crazy at first. “I don’t think anyone can run a business without the willingness to take risks,” Valerie says.
But there’s a big difference between calculated risks and reckless risks. The latter might lead to a boon in business, but without the proper research and planning, is just as likely to result in catastrophic failure. Calculated risks involve understanding what’s at stake, weighing the pros and cons, and making sure you have the pieces in place to pull off whatever new initiative you’re planning … or at least survive if things don’t go the way you hoped.
4. A great team
Even the smartest and most focused entrepreneurs in the world won’t last long without a dedicated, hard-working team to support them. From senior leadership to management to every last employee, it’s imperative to have a group of people who work well together and bring different strengths to the organization.
But that doesn’t mean everybody always needs to see eye-to-eye. Just the opposite, actually. Having employees who are not afraid to be honest with each other and share dissenting opinions can keep your business from growing stagnant.
It’s also important to heed feedback from all employees, not just upper management. At VSA, nobody gets a more direct look at what’s working and what isn’t during a cold calling campaign than the Business Development Representatives making the calls, so it’d be foolish to dismiss their suggestions. Our Program Managers regularly rely on the input of the BDRs when looking for ways to improve a campaign’s production.
5. Fun
It’s almost impossible to sustain a business if you’re not getting at least some enjoyment out of it. Sure, making money is a great motivator, but if you don’t love what you’re doing, eventually the effort is likely to suffer. Also, if your team doesn’t enjoy the work they do, your clients are going to notice.
At VSA, “fun” isn’t just some abstract concept; it’s actually one of our core values: “We build up a workplace that is motivating, supportive, and fun.” It’s more challenging to maintain such an environment with our mostly remote workforce, but we work hard to create camaraderie through regular video meetings, weekly in-house newsletters, and other morale-building efforts. As one of our clients put it in a Clutch review: “VSA’s employees are super-happy, satisfied, and engaged.”
6. A little luck
Even if you’ve got all the above pieces in place, on top of a great offering, there is no guarantee that your business is going to last. Sometimes, you need that lucky break—a chance encounter that blossoms into an invaluable referral partner or long-term client, a diamond-in-the-rough hire, or any type of right-place, right-time opportunity.
But as the saying goes, you make your own luck, and by putting in the effort, surrounding yourself with the right people, respecting your peers and employees, and making smart choices, you can dramatically increase your chances of uncovering a little good fortune. Sure, a serendipitous encounter at a conference or dinner might end up playing a huge role in the future of your company, but that encounter is not going to happen without first putting yourself out there. You also need to recognize these opportunities when they arise, and be willing and able to capitalize on them.
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VSA is extremely proud of our sustained success, and we would love to see how we can help your company achieve similar results.
If you’d like to learn how VSA can help you fill your sales pipeline, give us a call. We’re always excited to find new ways to help companies grow their business.