If there ever was a need for proof that observing Business 101 principles isn’t enough to bring about business success, a visit to a large and busy mall in the festive season to observe customers and business interactions provides proof of such inadequacies.

For some businesses, maintaining flexibility and dual operational strategy might be the additional missing link needed to ensure success. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 28 December 2016.

Johannesburg tends to be a ghost town in December with many residents visiting other provincial towns as their vacation destination. Among them all, coastal cities tend to be the biggest winners, with Durban and Cape Town receiving most tourists. Such high traffic is a nuisance to some locals. But those appreciating the good economic impact of such visitors to their shores see the high traffic as a blessing.

Keen business observers would appreciate the dynamism of Business 101 strategies at play, noting their successes and limitations, and the need for business managers to do more to ensure success.

Places such as the Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront in Cape Town offer almost everything to businesses operating there: Place, Footprint, Product, Price and others. Many businesses do not benefit at all from such opportunities, leaving one wondering what such businesses need to do more of to also benefit from the boom.

I’ve realised that running a business is somewhat like raising children. Despite what others might say, I don’t think there’s a formula to raising good children. As an economist would say, it depends on many factors.

For example, you could be a good parent showering your children with love and resources, taking them to reputable schools, and they could still turn out badly. You could also be poor but offering little other than love to your children, and they could become great and making significant difference in their communities.

Some say life is all about the luck of the draw. Others, perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, say it is through leading a purposeful life that great success can be attained.

Success surely depends on the actions you take influenced by your beliefs, and if you learn from setbacks.

But you’re more likely to succeed in doing the “basics” right than in being ignorant and apathetic.

Doing the basics focuses the mind on solving the real problem and not being flustered. It gives peace of mind akin to driving a car that is regularly and timely given an appropriate good maintenance service. With enough fuel, when something goes wrong with such a car, the driver would not waste time focusing on basics not done, but on other issues.

Similarly, Business 101 principles are more than the “feel-good and fewer-regrets” imperatives one must observe. They help in keeping the focus on exceptions hampering business success. The importance of observing business basics should not be underestimated.

Why do some businesses, reputable and less known alike, in prime spots such as at the V&A Waterfront with high traffic in the festive season, offering unique products at the right price still struggle to attract customers? What more should they have done to attract buyers?

The answer to this conundrum isn’t straightforward, more so because we live in an era where the consumer is inundated with many choices. What such businesses need more of though is to create demand for their offerings. Since customers did not see offerings of those businesses as answers to their problems, those businesses should have created an impression in consumer’s mind that their offerings are the right solutions for their concerns.

However, I noted something peculiar about those business, something they did not do that some big businesses do successfully. Those businesses needed more diversification.

I’m not just referring to offering different products and services to appease diverse customers, but diversification involving all aspects of business. These include diversification of identity, design, sector, market and operations among others, while also observing Business 101 basics. Perhaps this explains why some businesses struggled more than others despite increased traffic owing to the festive season.

For example, how many cash customers know that TotalSports, Foschini, Truworths, Sterns and G-Star RAW and many others are part of the same group, or RocoMamas and Spurs, or Dion and Makro?

Even with vehicle dealerships, some own different prominent vehicle brands and one finds a customer unhappy with one vehicle brand, vowing never to buy it again, only for that customer to unknowingly buy a different vehicle brand at a different dealership owned by the same group as the original vehicle brand they loathed?

Such is the power of the multifaceted diversification I’m referring to. Under those circumstances, it might be prudent to keep the identity of the owning group confidential. This, not because there is an intention to operate business unethically, but to maintain the strength and unique identity of the brands. When the owning group is reputable and strong, it makes sense disclosing and associating the identity of the owning group with other struggling business brands to capitalise on the strength of the group brand. But when the group’s performance is poor, it might be prudent that ownership identity be kept confidential for associated businesses.

Business success clearly requires evolution and familiarisation with human behaviour. I am not suggesting that psychological courses be taken, but that there be increased general awareness of different consumer needs.

Besides observing Business 101 basics, considering such diversity when business is struggling in this season, might be the “feel-good and fewer-regrets” tactic needed to focus the mind on solving real problems affecting the business.

Have fewer regrets, consider ideas carefully and seize opportunities as much as possible.