Your business might move in cycles. You might have a busy season where there is no sleep, and you might find yourself in a season where business is slow.
At first glance, that can be stressful. Where is the money going to come from? Is this the end of your business? Do your products or services no longer work?
Hopefully, you’ve got enough in personal and business savings to see you through a slow season. And don’t totally despair. A slow season can give you the time you need to home systems, create new content, and ramp up for your next busy season. Nothing last forever, not even a business dry spell.
Three Things to Do When Business is Slow
Create Marketing Materials
From creating a month of social media posts to rehashing your website to learning new tools, marketing is the business task that can always be done. A slow season is the perfect time to get ahead on your marketing.
Here are four marketing tasks to conquer when business is slow:
- Create and schedule a month’s work of social media posts for EACH of the platforms you’re on
- Conduct a marketing audit to see which channels convert the best for your sales
- Learn a new marketing skill or platform
- Add or delete links on your website to your products, services, or other platforms
Create New Services
Business is slow, but why is that? Is it because your target audience is on vacation this month, or is it because you’re not actually serving your audience?
For example, if you’re a physical trainer and all your programs are too hard for beginners to get started with, maybe you need to set aside 10 days and create a new program that is designed for newbies. Your marketing might be spot on, but your product might be too hard for the people in your audience who are just beginning.
Create new services and products to really serve everyone in your audience.
Organize and Audit Your Business
So often we allow the small things to fall by the wayside in our business. When we’re focused on making sales, maybe we don’t update our profit and loss forms. Take the slow down as a chance to get organized behind the scenes.
Make sure your business financials are organized and up to date. Make sure there are no broken links on your website. Clean out your inbox. Answer any emails that got buried. Clean out your email list of people who don’t open what you send.
That way, when business picks up again, you’ll be in a position to not only handle the business but even GROW the business.
Just because business is slow right now doesn’t mean it will always be. Use the time wisely and you’ll put yourself in a position to thrive when your next busy season hits.
