More BIG mistakes entrepreneurs make...

Sort of a follow-up on the post I made earlier.

This is from the 8/2003 issue of "Target Marketing", and is from marketing expert Denny Hatch:

"What spawned this column was the acquisition of two clients who build extraordinary Internet-based businesses-with fabulous Web sites-and then decide to talk to marketing people to figure out how to make money on them. One guy spent $2 million on a financial services site; the other spend $6 million on a newsletter and database. Neither thought through who would subscribe, what to charge, what the offer should be or what medium to use. Rather they put all their cash and energy into creating the Web sites and assumed that marketing was a field of dreams. "Built it and they will come," said Kevin Costner."

It's nice to see that BIG money can be wasted just as easily as SMALL money.

Take care,

Mike Winicki

Precisely what killed the dotcoms and many predicted just that. Unfortunately, many of those still got hoodwinked because everyone was going there. Even though it made no sense, many thought that they just weren't getting the whole picture and they were afraid to NOT be on board.

I review a lot of business plans and about 60% of the time, my first question is, "Where's the money?" To which I often hear quite a bit of stammering and a "We're working on that" approach.


SeniorMag

I recently attended an AMA (american marketing association) meeting on why the dot.com failure took place and what to learn about it.

That build it and they will come was one of the items on the list.

Another is that there was so much cash comining in and it got wasted.

There were others of course.


Elevating Your Business

> I recently attended an AMA (american
> marketing association) meeting on why the
> dot.com failure took place and what to learn
> about it.

> That build it and they will come was one of
> the items on the list.

> Another is that there was so much cash
> comining in and it got wasted.

> There were others of course.

Absolutely.

The biggest problem I see with remote type businesses like e-commerce and mail order is the lack of finding and developing a single profitable product. It all starts with being able to sell one thing at a profit. Companies typically waste their resources trying to sell a wide variety of products across a wide front. They fail to gain a significant profitable breakthrough with any of their products.

Take care,

Mike Winicki