There are 3 areas of every successful business.  Without solid foundations in these 3 areas, a business will suffer.  These 3 areas are: 1. Sales and marketing. 2. Operations.  3. Finance and administration.

Sales and marketing is how the business presents itself to their prospects.  For a business to survive, it must have customers, and to have customers, and business must have sales and marketing.  Operations is the process of obtaining and developing the product or service and then making it available to potential buyers.  Finance and Administration is the process of handling legal affairs, and of course, the finances of the company.  Each of these 3 aspects are crucial to the structure of a successful company, and without one, the company will fail.

To give an example, I am going to explain how the 3 areas of business apply to a business in my city.  This is a business that I am familiar with because I have a part-time job working at this facility.  This is the indoor flea market.  This is a well known and respected local establishment, and one that I am familiar with.

For sales and marketing, the business uses several online tools, as well as focuses on creating long-term relationships with customers.  Because of  new merchandise coming in every day, the owner has added all of the employees as administrators of the Facebook page, and each one of us writes posts about new and unique items that come in.  The business also really focuses on customer service and creating relationships with the customers, thus most of the locals tell visitors to stop by the indoor flea market.

As far as operations, the flea market does not have to provide the merchandise.  The warehouse is divided into 7′ by 10′ booths that are rented out to vendors who stock the spaces with unique items old and new.  The flea market relies on these vendors to create a unique shopping environment.

For finance and administration, our office manager ensures that the vendors pay their monthly rent, and that the vendors get paid for the items that sold that month.  She also pays employees and assists the owner with the accounting and legal issues.  The owner of the company, ensures that everything is running smoothly and is constantly working to solve problems and improve the business.