If you’ve spent the last few months in the midst of a rush, you could be forgiven for dreaming of when things quieten down and you can catch your breath.
But what about if the business gets too quiet?
What if you’re starting to worry about cash flow and you know you need to attract customers and fast?
Some businesses are seasonal by nature and naturally get busier at certain times of the year. First, know your trends by monitoring your cash flow and what is sold across the year and monitor year on year (NB: Covid has overturned some of the current trends but it still pays to review)
To survive and thrive, you have to find a way to deal with the peaks and troughs. Here’s how to boost your small business during quiet times.
Be proactive with marketing
When you’re really busy, marketing is often put on the back burner, but when you’re quiet, it needs to be a priority. Why not:
- Run a special offer or promotion and make it time-limited to encourage people to buy as soon as possible.
- Run competitions and preview your future products and services on your social media channels.
- Focus on what else you could offer. Do you do workshops or do you offer online training courses? These can be a valuable extra revenue stream during quieter times.
Work on your business instead of in it
When business is quieter, you can take advantage of it and work on anything you feel needs improving or the things you feel like you never have time to do, like updating your website, investing in new equipment, or improving your business processes. Often these actions will show you what you need to change and will cut out waste too.
Work on improving efficiency
Often we can get so busy we can’t see the wood for the trees, but you’d be surprised at how some small changes can make your business more efficient. Try:
- Create a FAQ page on your website so you spend less time having to respond to the same queries over and over again.
- Automate as many things as you can
- Delegate or outsource onerous tasks like admin that take up too much of your precious time
- Identify what you don’t need to do as it adds no value
Create more opportunities
While the business is quiet, look for networking sessions you can go attend so you can get your name out there and people get to know you.
Contact previous customers and family and friends to rekindle relationships and open up more possibilities.
Share on social media that you are open to 1-2-1s and don’t shy away from suggesting a catch-up.
Take the opportunity to relax!
Instead of worrying, use quieter times to recharge yourself. Have a break and do anything that helps you relax. It’s great for well-being and it will be great for business when you go back feeling refreshed and ready to take the reins again. And often taking the space away from your business will mean new ideas and creativity flow.
Read more about successful networking here