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July 9, 2008
How Do You Maintain Sales During the Slow Seasons?
Posted at 6:03 PM
It's that time of year. July 4th, picnics, vacations, and a predictable drop in business. If you are a sales veteran, perhaps you have noticed the cyclical nature of sales volume. If you are new to sales, it is possible you have not determined the fluctuations.
Historically, many companies experience a dip in sales performance from November 24th to December 24th -- unless of course you are in retail. But what are the other times that sales volumes suffer? My experience in selling to major businesses is that the following time lines are affected: the first week or two of January (holiday restart),
July through August (vacations), October (in election years), and of course, November 24th through December 26th.
What is the selling cycle of your business? Have you prepared your team to sell more before it? Or do you fight to sell during those "off" times of year.
For more information, please click here: http://www.gregwinston.com/download.asp.
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You really have to turn up the intensity. Think of more reasons that customers should buy from you. Be more creative. Act with more desperation. It's amazing what you can come up with if you push a little harder.
Raza Imam
http://SoftwareSweatshop.com
Everything is possible when it comes to sales,no matter what are the sales environment.Basic key to succeeed in slow time is pre-poned your action plan,develop the new strategies to fit and above all you should know your objective.
ACT POSITIVELY
The "slow" season is a opportunistic time to reach out to the existing customers who continue buying from you. Offer them a discount or a two for one to move inventory, generate cash flow and recognize loyality. Spend time and money on the customers who are spending $ with you - the adage is true that it is cheaper to keep an existing customer than find new ones ! Good Luck !
We see a July/August dip due to summer vacations. We sell customer management solutions at http://customerfx.com - any tips on mitigating the vacation dip?
Our slow season is between Thanksgiving to Middle of Jan. During this time we try and contact all clients that didn't schedule with us during the busy time of year with a promotion. Margins go down but we stay busy and it helps with recognition because potential customers get hit with another advertising piece.
Every business has slow seasons, no doubt, and yes; we need to prepare for those slow seasons by turning up the heat prior to them. We also have to be willing to turn up the heat during the slow season. Working smarter is always the way, but some good old fashioned hard work (during the slow season as well) can't hurt either.
Paul Castain
Consolidated Graphics
Summer is the slow time for our business, but we offset that with new programs and a marketing shift. The new programs and marketing shift take place in the late winter to prep for June. That gives us enough lead time to get the word out and drive traffic in July and August. We do more grassroots efforts leading into and during the summer to try and keep revenues more consistent.
http://theoctopussolution.blogspot.com/
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