SINGAPORE: Experts at an entrepreneurship conference in Singapore said at least 40 per cent of American small businesses fail because they overlooked three vital areas.

These are managing company finances, communicating with employees, and listening to customers.

Motivational speaker Don Hutson said to succeed, entrepreneurs must identify talent among their staff and empower them.

He said entrepreneurs must also understand their customers' needs rather than simply promoting a product or service.

He said: "I think if 'listen to your customers' is a good premise, I'd say listen to them better and more than ever today.

"Our marketplace is changing, I think the consumer and the people we are doing business with are getting smarter, competition is getting keener, the bar of excellence is going up on every single one of us.

"And in light of that, we need to work harder at this process of communicating with all the key constituencies that have a factor in our own success." - 938LIVE/vm