What to do when times are slow?

Have you ever been in that situation where you have no work coming up? Or it feels like a feast or famine situation? You either have too much or not enough!

Despite in times of economic downturn, seasonal slowdowns and highly competitive markets have you ever wondered how some businesses get through those times and have steady growing incomes? How do they do it? And how can you be one of them?

Highly successful people are always doing something to get new business in their pipeline. They are always meeting new people, networking, teaching themselves something new and keeping in regular contact with their clients and partners.

Marketing is an activity that seems to be always put on the backburner or a low priority for many small business owners. The secret to any business success is to always be marketing!

Now, it doesn’t need to be complicated, it doesn’t even need to have a large budget allocated to the activities that you do. It just needs to be consistent and regular to keep feeding referrals, and sales leads into your business.

Here are a few simple things you can do to ensure you have consistent business:

1. Send thank you notes to clients you’ve just completed a project for or who have just purchased products or services.
2. Ask your satisfied and existing clients if they know anyone who might benefit from your products or services and reward them for giving you referrals. This can be as simple as giving them a gift voucher, double passes to movies or a bottle of wine to show your appreciation.
3. Call one or two clients a week that you have not seen for a while and offer to catch up to discuss their business needs; or give them a special offer on a service that they may want to take up if they book a job with you in the next month or two.
4. If you have an email database of clients - start a regular newsletter to inform them of your specials, industry news or tips on which may help their business or their clients. This will also ensure to stay in touch with your clients on a regular basis.
5. Block out 1 to 2 hours a week where you research and get in touch with dream clients you may want to work with.
6. Get Networking – find local business groups that have similar interests, who may be able to refer business to you or help you connect with other businesses that become alliance partners.
7. Celebrate a client success – if you’ve just helped a client with a project that has led to some wins for them, ask permission to share this with your client base or social media and give them a shout-out to congratulate them publicly.

Never be in that situation again where all of a sudden there is no new business coming in, no sales, no new enquiries, no new orders or bookings. Always be marketing! It allows you to keep in touch with existing and potential clients on a regular basis. It gives you an excuse to catch up with them to see how their business is going and how you will be able to help.

Have you been in this situation, what are your tips for those slow business times?

Written By Emerald Firli