Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I just launched a new business - 7 days ago - and I am frustrated by the slow response. My product is hands-down better than my competitor, priced 10% below them and everyone we`ve called on have said they really like/love the product! Literally 48 out of 50 buyers. But we are not generating orders nearly fast enough. Mine is a seasonal business and this is the slow season, many customers are on vacation so unavailable and we are taking on a well-entrenched competitor.

So tell me, is this something others of you ran into? My banker referred to the "dead zone" that many new businesses experience - the first 6 to 12 months where things take longer than planned and cost more than expected so I am trying to keep this in mind.

I should also disclose that patience is not one of my strong suits!

Thanks for your help/thoughts/insights!

First, congrats on launching your biz!  That`s great!

I am sure you understand that a new business commonly doesn`t have the exposure to be an instant hit, no matter what your competitive edges are (better, cheaper).  What were you expecting from your launch?  Maybe you need to examine what your expectations are versus what is happening now that you`ve gone official.

Is it really that slow of a launch or are you just being impatient as you admit?

What are you doing to market your product?

Think about all those overnight success bands! They weren`t there one day, then the next day, everyone in the world was all excited about them.

How long is "overnight?" Usually about 8 years, if you go back and study their backgrounds.

For you to be this frustrated indicates to me that you have a critical expectation. I wonder what it is? Sometimes, it`s that someone has a standard of living, decided to start a business, but believes they can`t afford to lose their standard of living for even a week. So the new business "must" succeed immediately.

If you`re calling on people and they overwhelmingly believe your product is fantastic, they`re buying it, and telling all their friends, then you`ll likely grow on a regular basis. But why do you believe you would grow literally "overnight?" What background information are you using to indicate that would be normal?

Steve and Craig - Thanks for your posts! We have worked SO hard for the past year to get to the launch that I am sure we`ve had some fairly unrealisitic expectations about how much of the market we`ll get immediately. My partner and I are in a great place financially - plenty of reserves to cover us in the coming months.

Your commments are very helpful, and yes, I am familiar with many of those 8 year "overnight success" bands!

As I said the reaction we`ve received has been uniformly positive - in my 20 odd year career as a sales/marketing guy I`ve never had this good a response so I agree it`s just a matter of passion, patience and persistence!

LOL! hey...I like that with the 3 P`s for Success.. 

I know how it is to have a product that`s "ho-hum," and try to sell it. Then to have a product that`s getting uniformly positive feedback. Here`s an exercise where maybe we can get other to join in:

Name a product, any time in history, that has been an Instant Success.

There are, of course the famous "hot cakes," as in they`re selling like those. :-)

Even products like the iPod started out slow.  It takes time for the market to catch on.

It sounds like you are on a good path with your product since you`ve gotten a lot of positive feedback so far and it`s only been about a week.  Instead of focusing on numbers of sales versus the competition, think about numbers of sales versus last month`s sales.  (Or since you are so new right now, last week`s sales).  Grow, new company, grow!

Here`s my advice about patience.  Don`t be patient - continue to be impatient.  But also be realistic.  However, impatience will be one of your personality traits that drives you to grow.  Harness those feelings and channel it into practices for success!

Impatience is when you think you`re in control of the universe`s time clock. Patience is when you discover that you can`t do a damn thing other than deal with whatever`s happening right now. :-)