With the festive season over, we now enter the quiet months of the year. It happens every year with every business. Consumers generally use up most of their money during the holiday “silly” season and therefore aren’t as active with businesses the month after. Some businesses also feel the strain of the festive season and therefore engage less with other businesses as well.
The good news is that you can turn your slowest months into your best months with these tips.
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Analyse your sales
Have a look at your figures and identify what the quiet months are, how long they last and track your numbers. This is where knowing your numbers can make or break you. As an entrepreneur, the most important things to keep track of are:
- Monthly sales and expenses
- Cost of sales
- Profit margins
- Quarterly sales
- Year to date sales
You cannot manage what you cannot measure and know your figures and where your company stands are the first steps to making sure you flourish even in the quiet months.
Check out some of our products that can help you in this stage: EasyBiz Tech
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Strategize and Execute
While in the quiet months, you should use this time to plan and strategize for the next busy season. This is the perfect time for it because when that busy season does hit again you may not have the time to strategize, putting yourself and your business under unnecessary pressure.
It will be all hands-on to fulfill and maintain sales during your busy months. Use the slow periods to strategize, so that you can optimize the busy season.
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Train Your Team
This is the ideal time to invest in your employees. Remember, systems don’t build businesses, people do and the more they know, the more they can accomplish.
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Build Up A Strong Online Presence
Use the quiet time to increase your online presence. This includes social as well as your online visibility. Engage with your clients on your social platforms, look for potential new business and see what your competitors are doing. Keeping on top of your game and trends is key.
With regards to your online visibility – for anyone unfamiliar with the term SEO, this stands for Search Engine Optimisation. This includes increasing traffic to your website, upping your ranking with Google and other search engines as well as monitoring what consumers are searching for via targeted keywords, which you can use to your advantage. People will find you when they are Googling anything that relates to your product or services.
The most important aspect of a business is online traffic – without it, you won’t gain leads, clients or sales.
Remember, nothing that is worthwhile is easy. The key is to take action. The only way a problem will go away is when it is defeated by a solution. Now you have your solutions and the quiet months, won’t be so quiet after all 😉