← Notebook · Session 18 · 2026-08-30
Guest Lecture · Shahid Hussain Joia — Biggest Reason for Business Failure
The decision this session forces
Treat marketing as an investment you fund first and keep funding, not an expense you pay only if money is left over after the launch party ends.
The short version
- Seven reasons cover why marketing fails, not why the product is bad. Every one of them is a money or attention habit, not a craft problem.
- Reason one: money goes to machinery, rent and packaging, and marketing hears "there is no budget left" once its turn comes.
- Reason two: an office refit a few visitors see gets a large budget; an ad that reaches thousands gets a small one, because one is booked as decoration and the other as an expense that can wait.
- Reason three: marketing that stops after the ribbon-cutting and the first pamphlets goes silent. It has to keep running, not launch once.
- Reason four: two days of ads with no flood of sales gets called "marketing doesn't work," but a buyer needs to see a business several times before trust exists.
- Reason five: sending a sales team into a market with no brand behind them makes every salesman a stranger, and doors close on strangers.
- Reason six: chasing new customers while ignoring old ones wastes money. An old customer is cheaper to bring back, and refers others for free.
- Reason seven: a business that stops being visible loses its place to whichever business keeps showing up.
- None of the seven reasons blames what was built. Every one is a habit around money or attention, and every one is fixable without changing the product.
Money treated as an afterthought
Reason one: lakhs go into machinery, rent and packaging without a second thought, and then marketing hears there is no budget left once its turn arrives. The money existed. It was just never planned for this.
Reason two goes further: an office decoration a handful of visitors will ever see gets a large sum without a fight, while an ad that could reach thousands gets refused over a much smaller one. The difference is not the amount, it is that one is booked as decoration and the other as an expense somebody thinks can wait.
Momentum treated as optional
Reason three: the ribbon gets cut, the pamphlets go out, and then silence. Marketing is the oxygen of a business, not a launch party held once and never repeated.
Reason four: two days of ads with no flood of sales gets written off as "marketing doesn't work." A buyer has to see a business several times before trust exists, so judging a channel on day two is judging it before it had a chance to work.
Reason seven closes the loop: a business that stops being visible does not stay in its customers' minds by default. Whichever business keeps showing up takes its place.
People treated as replaceable
Reason five: a sales team sent into a market with no brand recognition behind them meets every door as a stranger, and strangers get doors closed on them. The brand is what a salesman is selling before he says a word.
Reason six: all the energy goes into hunting new customers while the old ones get ignored. Old customers are cheaper to bring back than new ones are to win, and they refer other people for free.
Your note
Saved on this device as you type.
Credit Taught in Gharebon Ka MBA · Dr. Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani. Used here with credit, not as my own. https://www.zeeshanusmani.com/career-growth-accelerator/