What You Can Do When Your Business Slows
Every industry has them, and every small business owner experiences them. Slumps hit whenever business is slow; it seems to occur every year. Slumps may be cyclical for you — whether due to the holiday season or the summer season. Or you may never know when or why business crawls for a week or two. You may be one of the lucky ones and only get hit with a slump at infrequent times, like once a year or so.
Whether you know in advance or just reach a little waiting period between projects, you need to have a plan for what to do when business is slow. Waiting until it happens and then scrambling to keep employees busy or worrying about the bills is not fruitful — nor is it the best way to run a successful enterprise.
As Ben Franklin was fond of saying: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Forecast: Stormy and Calm
Like weather forecasters, humans and their algorithms and predictors can only go so far. They provide accurate predictions only so often. So while you may know that September is hurricane season since you live in a coastal community, you recognize the value of having an emergency evacuation plan in hand. But you still need to know how to react when the big one hits in August or October!
Wall Street may give you a clue as to when you can expect an economic slump for which you can prepare, but financial wizards can’t tell when business is slow in your neighborhood with certainty that’s as clear. You may rely on experienced brokers and the latest technology to give you forecasts based on historical data and market research, but when business is slow for no apparent reason, all that investment may seem like redundancies and wasted resources.
J.R.R. Tolkien seemed to have his finger on the pulse of American business when he said: “It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”
It’s Not If, But When
Even the brightest financial prognosticators encourage business owners to keep a little back — to include a contingency plan for when business is slow through no apparent economic, cultural, political or earth-shaking disaster. And while the best mindset for successfully running a business is one that’s positive and optimistic, it never hurts to give way to the realistic left-brain side of your mind and prepare for a time when business is slow.
Use that time wisely, shore up your energy and keep up the optimistic forecasts even when business is slow by following a few creative and common-sense tips, such as:
- Turn to your clients and use the time when business is slow to recognize them with a little extra attention or a limited special deal.
- Know and become proficient in every aspect of your business so that you can fill in when business is slow. When business is booming, you may not have the bandwidth to pay outside contractors for every little job in your company.
- Keep a training program or two in storage. When business is slow and you don’t want to resort to layoffs, put your staff through these training processes when everyone has time, not when they’re busy filling orders.
- Diversify your services. Create new offerings that serve to fill the gap the next time you get in a slump. Time is now available to get together with your partner or leadership team to brainstorm in a creative session.
- Lay out your marketing strategy for a complete review. Check the analytics on your social media campaigns, look at the number of views your blogs are getting and see how long visitors are staying on your website. Then decide what and how to change.
- Ditch the analytics when business is slow and go with some new, outrageous marketing ploy you’ve always wanted to try. Just like the weatherman and his Doppler radar, marketing analytics aren’t always right!
- Revisit your staffing needs. Meet with key HR staff or look at the performances of your employees to see how you can better use them. Or contemplate which ones may be best left off your payroll for good because they weren’t really doing all that well anyway.
- Dust off your going-to-a-meeting outfit and do some networking if you’ve let that part of your marketing go in lieu of business demands. Find some new networking opportunities and get out and shake hands, pass out business cards and get to know your neighbors.
Plant the Seeds Today
Risk management is not a dirty word, nor is it negative. In fact, forethought is always a positive, proactive frame upon which to base your actions from week to week, especially when you’re the boss. When business is slow, it’s exactly the right time to work harder.
Alternatively, if you’re really a flexible Frankie, you may want to use the time to go fishing or take that trip you’ve been putting off for a while. With 24/7 connectivity, no one even has to know you’re not in the office when business clamors once again for your immediate attention.
When it comes to business planning, Ray Access follows the advice from one of our financial heroes, Warren Buffet: “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.