There is a simple but tough answer to this question, which is never.
It may seem like a blunt response and a lot of people will come up with a lot of reasons why the above statement is not true. Some of the answers we have heard from our clients as reasons why their sales drop for a period are as follows;
1. I work with builders and they are on holidays for six weeks over Christmas so the whole industry shuts down.
2. It was the Global Financial Crisis and everyone was doing it tough.
3. I work with business people and they are not at work over Christmas so therefore I can’t make money in January.
4. We can’t find enough sales people to grow the business.
5. We sell plants and people don’t spend time in the gardens over the Winter.
I am sure there were some people that read these reasons and thought “but hang on, they all make sense, some businesses are seasonal and you can’t control everything”.
Let’s have a closer look at these answers.
“I work with builders and they are on holidays for six weeks over Christmas so the whole industry shuts down.”
This quote comes from a client of ours who is a window cleaner and cleans new houses when they are built. He spent a number of years with no work from mid December until the end of January when the building industry went on holidays. One year we sat down with him in January and said “OK, So what is your plan to avoid this happening next year?” He had a look at what opportunities there are and came up with a couple. One of them was to promote to schools, as they were usually cleaned over Christmas and were similar work to what he was set up to do. He then sent out a lot of promotional material and now one of his most busiest periods is during December and January.
“It was the Global Financial Crisis and everyone was doing it tough.”
This came from a Recruitment Consultant in Melbourne. The truth is our recruitment business – “Exelect Recruitment” had its best ever month of the time in November 2008 and we later found out that job ads fell 50% that month on the year before. If you think about it, Exelect grew during the so-called “Global Financial Crisis”. Unless you are a company the size of Coles or if the market you are working in gets smaller you will only be affected if your results are no good.
“I work with business people and they are not at work over Christmas so therefore I can’t make money in January.”
This client managed to work out how to solve this problem each year in two ways. The first method is that he asks all of his clients in November who is taking holidays and if they are not he books them in for appointments over the break. The second method is that he makes sure he has home phone numbers and not work ones to call in December/ January. Again the Christmas period is now his best sales period.
“We can’t find enough sales people to grow the business.”
This one will affect sales, I agree. With the client who said this, we worked out a plan to find more sales people for him and now he has to hire more technicians to keep up with all of the work.
“We sell plants and people don’t spend time in the gardens over the Winter.”
This client looked at the mix of products they were selling and decided to introduce indoor plants and accessories and promoted them to increase their sales in Winter. Last year was their busiest Winter ever.
Overall it is important to realise that there are a lot of opinions and ideas that float around such as the ones that have been included above that aren’t very helpful to your business if you look at them.
If you want to increase your sales or any area of your business,
as a business owner or manager it is your job to look outside the usual and find a solution.
So build your team by hiring productive and easy to manage staff, give them the basic training needed to help them get established and manage them by their results and statistics to create a productive atmosphere.
This way you can also ensure your only reason for losing sleep at night is because of the excitement up ahead and the expansion awaiting your business!
We’re always open to your feedback and knowing how we can help, so call now on 1800 603 023 or email info@performia.com.au if you need support in any area of your business.
We wish you lots of great production and success!
Negar Riazati
General Manager
Performia Australia
Ph: 1800 603 023
Negar@performia.com.au
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