Small Businesses Don’t Die,
They Just Commit Suicide

Presented by Tom Shay

Let’s say 100 small businesses open on October 1, 2008. By October 2013, only five would be celebrating their fifth anniversaries. Of those five businesses remaining, only two, possibly three, would reach the 10-year mark.

The casualties will usually experience a series of inactions or incorrect actions that make up the list of the 10 most common fatal mistakes of small businesses, according to Tom Shay, a former fourth-generation merchant who today is a successful author, columnist and prestigious Certified Speaking Professional (CSP).

“Many small-business owners think the event that will most affect their businesses will be the opening of a major competitor within their trade area, whether it’s a Target, a Wal-Mart, a Home Depot, or a specialty retailer like AutoZone," Shay explains. “When this occurs, most small-business owners go into a defensive mode, planning how they can protect their market. And in these situations where the business owner fights the competition for a period of years, only to eventually close, it is said, ‘The big stores put him out of business.’

“That last statement is not true. What caused the business to close occurred within the four walls of the business. They didn’t die—they just committed suicide!"

For most businesses that fold, it’s a combination of fatal mistakes; with others, it takes only one. Shay will outline the 10 most common fatal business mistakes in his seminar “Small Businesses Don’t Die, They Just Commit Suicide" at the upcoming Network National Convention in Nashville.

A native of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Shay had his first job working in his grandfather's general store. Tom later moved to Florida to join his parents in the family operation they had purchased in 1971. Over the next 26 years, the Shay family owned and operated three businesses.

Those stores were ongoing laboratories for the management and promotional techniques that are the backbone of the seminars and articles Shay produces today. He teaches and shares from experience—not from theory.

During that time, there were several traits that remained consistent in the Shays’ businesses: innovative management, great staffs, wonderful relationships with customers, and unique marketing techniques. Perhaps the most important lesson taught by Shay’s elder generations: In every aspect of the business, it is the customer who is most important.

By working with other small businesses, Shay has also learned what doesn’t work. Today, he is a renowned expert in the areas of customer loyalty, business-management design, employee-skills development, and financial control.

Whether it’s a business in the first 10 years of existence, or one that has been around for decades, Shay’s seminar will explain how you can overcome each of the 10 Most Common Fatal Mistakes Small Businesses Make:

1. I have enough cash on hand in the business.
2. I do not need to create an “open to buy."
3. I do not need a business plan.
4. I am in this business because it is my hobby.
5. If I run out of something, I will order more.
6. I do not need a marketing strategy.
7. Advertising and promotion are optional.
8. Theft/shoplifting, internal or external, is not a problem.
9. I do not need job descriptions, policies or procedures.
10. Any extra money will buy more inventory.

Shay will also reveal the 11th mistake and how it could already be affecting your business.

Whether you’re a jobber, service dealer or warehouse distributor, you’ll leave the Network National Convention with practical, real-world tasks you can complete upon your arrival home to help ensure the profitable future of your business and/or that of your customers. You don’t necessarily have to work harder or work longer hours—but you do have to work smarter.

“Finding ways to stay in business can be as difficult as finding customers," Shay maintains. “I can provide the tools to help you make intelligent decisions about the many aspects of your business."

Shay also stresses the importance of attending an event like the Network National Convention, citing the unique camaraderie fostered among independent entrepreneurs.
“No matter the size of your business, the opportunity to share a meal or an afternoon break with a fellow independent business owner shows a kinship like no other—they share their plans, experiences and problems. You are a rare and proud part of Americana."