What is the PURPOSE of a business?



There's as many answers to this question as there are 'experts' waiting to dump their THEORY on you. But here's one which can help you to sell more space:

'The PURPOSE of a business is to BUY a PROFIT'

Hmmmmn?

Think about it for a moment. A business buys (or makes) a product (or service) in order to sell it for more than it cost them.

Take the following ideas and CHANGE THEM to suit your particular circumstances and market ....

Retail stores buy products at one price (wholesale) .... mark them up to a higher price .... and sell them. Manufacturers buy the parts for a product, hire labour to assemble the parts ..... and sell the assembled product for more than the costs of parts and labour. Banks borrow money at one rate of interest .... and lend it out again at a higher rate of interest.

In each case, the business SPENDS some of its money in order to GET MORE BACK .... further down the road.

This is DIFFERENT to the way a consumer, or the government, or a public organisation such as a school, hospital or library .... spend their money

A consumer buys a Pizza to EAT it. A pizza business buys the ingredients and constructs the pizza ... to make a profit.

A hospital buys a bed to USE it -- to fill it with a succession of sick people. The supplier to the hospital had previously bought THE SAME BED -- to make a profit by selling it to the hospital for more than it paid.

So what?

So the ACTIVITY of all business can be seen as buying 'stuff' to sell again at a higher price -- a profit. Sometimes the stuff is bought and sold 'as is' .... sometimes the stuff is bought .... then TRANSFORMED in some way .... and sold.

So business people UNDERSTAND the idea of 'buying a profit'.

An 'agricultural businessman' (farmer) understands that he has to BUY seeds .... and fertiliser .... and planting machinery .... and harvesting machinery BEFORE he can bring in his crop and sell it.

All businesses have to ACQUIRE (buy) 'stuff' before they can sell it on, and they all risk LOSING money if they then fail to sell the 'stuff' at a price which allows them to 'realise' their profit.

And all businesses are selling to PEOPLE. Which means that in order to buy a profit, they have to buy their potential customer's ATTENTION.

If they can't attract anyone to NOTICE their goods, then they can't sell them, can they? And they have to BUY people's attention as part of buying a profit.

Sadly, many business people don't 'get it'. Sadly one in three businesses fails.

Just as buying the parts, and buying the labour is part of 'buying a profit' -- so is buying attention. Businesses can buy attention with P.R., by mail, by telephone or by calling door-to-door in person.

But the best, quickest, most effective method of buying attention -- and therefore buying a profit -- is to ADVERTISE.

With YOU.