If there is a mantra that entrepreneurs have come to embrace is that speed is essential. Speed to market with new products, speed to opportunistically respond to competition, speed to ship and deliver products, are all points of difference that make the small business a preferred option for customers. However, sometimes in the desire to be fast and to quickly respond to market conditions, mistakes can be made that would have been avoided if the requirement to complete the task quickly was not as heavily valued. While it may seem counter-intuitive for many business people that have been brought up to worship speed - speed also kills.

Race To Be First

There is a high premium placed on being first to market with an idea, service, or product. The thinking is that if a company or a brand is first to bring a solution to customers and consumers, there is no competition. Without competition, there is almost no restriction on pricing levels, no need to compare and contrast the offering versus other choices available, and the chance to build a long-term and impenetrable relationship with the customer exists before the competition even knows what happened. Effectively, a company makes the barriers of entry for others that much harder to overcome by locking up a good percentage of the market and creating the standard.

However, there is also much research that shows that it is not always the first to market that wind up collecting the lion's share of the market. The

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first company to introduce a product has to absorb much of the cost of R&D to create the product or service. Others get to follow the basic design of the original and only seek to make improvements upon it based on the mistakes of the initiator and after having collected feedback from those customers that have tried the new product or service and see opportunity for an even bigger or better offering.

Additionally, the first company has to invest resources; whether it is advertising, packaging, sales or marketing efforts to educate the marketplace about the product or service. Whether relying on distributors and wholesalers, retailers, or selling directly to the customers; each link in the chain must be trained, convinced of the benefit of the new product or service, and provided with an inducement or incentive to include the new item in their consideration set. All other competitors get to ride on the coattails of the first to market company by selling against it with products or services that have enhanced features that the original did not offer. However, those companies that are second or third to market do not have to invest nearly the amount of money that the first one did to educate and explain how the product or service would work or better the lives of the customers.

In fact, very often the subsequent competitors are able to refer to the first in their sales pitches or explanations (it is like an IPOD, but with , or, it has the same search speed as GOOGLE, and also has , think of it as being like FEBREZE, but it can also be used on , etc.). By doing that, the mental image is solidified in the customer's mind, but it is also enhanced by the additional features or capabilities provided.

It is therefore essential that before products are launched or brought to market, that appropriate market research be conducted to truly understand what the prospective customers seek and what they expect from a product. True - it will slow the process down somewhat as opposed to just trusting one's gut. But, many an entrepreneur has been sorry they did not complete a full market assessment of customer wants, current options available from competition, and production capabilities before attempting to bring a product to market.

Internal Issues

Another place that entrepreneurs will sometimes make a mistake in placing too high of a premium on speed is when discussing internal issues like production, purchasing, and marketing. There are entrepreneurs that feel very comfortable in the quick decision-making, gunslinger-type adventurer approach to running a business. Operating on perceptions, intuition, and one's own experience; the business owner will make quick determinations of problems, reasons for their existence, and will then prepare solutions to address the problem. Unfortunately, the solutions are often ill-formed and do not directly address the issue requiring correction.

The example that occurs over and over again is that when sales revenue take a dip, it is far too easy to assume that the issue is that the sales force is to blame and to immediately shuttle those tasked with selling into some training or remedial education to refresh their skills. Oftentimes, it is not a skills issue at all that needs to be addressed, but one of compensation and incentives, poor product or service design, inability to deliver to customers as needed, or a whole host of other contributory factors that are not at all related to whether the sales person has the necessary skills or resources required to sell.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

As anyone who has ever handled a saw knows, it is always advisable to measure twice before starting to cut wood, lets you wind up with a piece of wood that is either too short for the job required, or too long and thus in need of additional cutting. Similarly, business people would be wise to consider whether they have accurately measured their own processes, procedures, approaches, etc. to acquiring customers, generating revenue, delivering product, meeting customer needs, tracking orders, or any of the other business requirements needed to be met before choosing a recommended course of action and attempting to initiate it.

It is often far better to truly consider the implications of actions before implementing them and taking the time to do things correctly initially, rather than worshipping speed - only to have to redo, undo, or standby as a competitor leverages mistakes for their own benefit. Sometimes, the best way to go fast is actually to start off slow. Gaining speed is easiest when one is heading downhill and momentum is on your side. Trying to increase speed while in the incline on a hill requires much more energy, greater amounts of resources dedicated to the effort, and rarely happens.

David Zahn is a serial entrepreneur and consultant to Fortune 100 businesses (www.zahnconsulting.com) as well as entrepreneurial startups (www.startupbuilder.com). His books, "How To Succeed As An Independent Consultant, 4th Ed.," and "The Quintessential Guide To Using Consultants" are frequently cited by other authors and have been used as textbooks in college and MBA classes.

The opinions expressed are the author's and not necessarily those of connpost.com. Please direct comments to cdauber@ctpost.com.