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The Challenge
If you are an entrepreneur, your innovative business plan must have brought in many profits. Being the only source of income for your household expenditures, you invest a lot of your energy (both physical and mental) into it. The energy, time, and financial investments are paid off when your work flourishes with a healthy cash flow.
However, there is one hardship that entrepreneur’s face- a sales slump. Every year, for a certain period of time, the sales for several businesses hit a wall. Mostly, this is during the holiday season and the end of the year time period when cities are decorated with bright lights and the sky is adorned with fireworks, but for several entrepreneurs, this is not a very colorful and bright time of the year.
Facing the Challenge
You have come a long way and met a road block at the end of the year. This is likely to affect your income and your morale negatively. The task for you is to take advantage of the awareness you have about the looming instability, lurking around the corner to strike your business.
Your creativity and commitment helped you start your own business; be confident in finding a way to deal with the challenges it puts forward. Instead of passively allowing your work to be swayed away towards a slump, take control and steer your business in a different and beneficial direction.
Dealing with the Slump
If you have decided not to give into the pressure of a slow business, here are some ways to deal with it:
Enjoy the Holidays
What time of the year is it? Is it the holiday season? Then you are entitled to some time away from work as well. Spend this time not worrying about the sales and the lack of cash flow; instead, spend some time with family and friends. Go on a short trip or call up a friend to catch up with them. Do something you like and take a break. Did you know that everyone needs sometime away from their work? Treat this as a natural time away from work and relax yourself mentally.
Polish your Skills
If you do not wish to break away from work, then spend the time working towards strengthening your business. Read books that are related to your business, speak with other entrepreneurs or use the internet to research any business related topic that has been on your mind. You will always find room for improvement. Did you know that networking is one of the most beneficial ways of expanding or improving your business?
With loads of new ideas and information in the fountain of your knowledge, you will be able to return back, after the natural sales slump, with a bang. Additionally, this might also help in increasing your revenue and sales during the peak seasons of the year, thereby compensating heavily for the snail paced business at the end of the year.
Organizing your Work
If you feel like staying at home and do not feel the need to network around, then focus on organizing your work. Start with organizing your documents and utilize hand written notes so that you can fish out a document you need within a minute you start hunting for it.
Positivity is said to emanate from a spacious and well kept office place. Besides your physical work place, you should also organize your email inbox. Did you know that there are many sale leads that you miss out on because you do not spend time sorting out your inbox? In the holiday time period, go through the phase of negotiation with an interested client who might have been unknowingly buried under spam emails.
Within Sight within Mind
Do not just disappear during the slow holiday time period; rather use this time to connect with former clients because you do not want to be forgotten. Send them cards or update them via email about any upcoming promotional sales or services. Ring them up and take their feedback, showing them that you value their opinion. Did you know that staying in touch with the customers increases their loyalty?
Forecasting the Cash Flow
Keeping a record of your sales, via digital means or manually, can help you discover the pattern of your business. When the time to make tax payment is near, you will know. Also, you will be able to figure out the slow and busy months. Once you understand your business curve, you can engage in aggressive sales a few months before hitting a slump. Did you know that this is one of the most ideal manners of dealing with the sales slump?
The holiday season does not necessarily have to be associated with a slump in sales. Now that you can forecast the slump, take advantage and build a partnership with someone whose business might be at a peak during the holidays. Therefore, to fill in the void of slow sales, prepare beforehand and find someone who becomes a sales star at the end of the year.