For many businesses, the winter months tend to slow down considerably. Unfortunately, a slower season is a reality for those businesses who depend on seasonal tourism in the summer months — or reduced activity due to colder weather, among other things. During this time, the challenge for business owners is finding ways to keep themselves and their employees busy until things pick up again.
If your business has started to slow down and you want to keep productivity high, there’s no need to fret. This list will help get your gears turning as you fill your Calendar with meaningful activities that will boost your business even during a slow season:
1. Start a Deep Clean
Sometimes your business is just too busy to put together a proper spring cleaning. With that being said, now is the perfect time to start a deep clean while you have the time. A clean business space leaves a good impression on customers and creates a better workspace for all employees.
Start by making a list of all the deep cleaning needs to be done. Year-round you’re staying on top of basic cleanings like taking out the trash and vacuuming, but now that there are fewer customers to take care of, it’s time to put in a little extra elbow grease. Carpet cleaning, painting, and digging through old files to see what can be shredded are all examples of deep cleaning activities you can add to your to-do list.
Once you have a list of tasks, use your Calendar to schedule appropriate times to tackle your list. For example, you can schedule times for cleaning between meetings and appointments, or designate the closing hours of each shift for some deep cleaning.
2. Dive Into Your Data
All year you’ve been gathering data. If you haven’t, you’re really missing out on the benefits of data and should start doing so immediately. Assuming you have some data to work with, now is as good a time as any to do some thorough analysis to see how it can improve your business during the upcoming year.
Take a look at all of your data from the past year. This will include sales data, customer data, as well as marketing numbers, and statistics. Can you spot any trend lines that might be of importance? Then, you can use data patterns to try and repeat your success in the coming year.
For example, data gathered from your website might show you that most of your site traffic occurs after five P.M. You can use this information to alter your marketing strategy so that your ads are pushed harder in the afternoon than in the morning. If the data holds true, this should lead to an even more significant increase in traffic and sales growth.
3. Experiment With Something New
If your busiest time of year is the summer, as is familiar with many industries, there isn’t much time to experiment with new things. All of your time and attention is focused on taking care of all the customers lining out your door or flooding your website. However, during a slow season, there’s more wiggle room for trial and error and taking a careful approach to a new experiment.
Let’s say you’ve been wanting to try using video as a marketing tool. There simply isn’t the time to plan out and produce videos for your business during the busy season. This is the perfect time to try out video production now that you’re able. You can even stock up on content to release over the course of the year. Having videos to post during the summer could pay off handsomely for your business.
An off-season or slow season is also a great time to do some product development, try new marketing platforms, or experiment with a new vendor. If things don’t go your way, you have time before the busy season starts to get realigned.
4. Focus on Training
You can fill your employees’ extra downtime with some quality training. Training is never a mistake and will up your business game by better equipping them for when business picks up again and help them feel more capable for any challenge they will face. In many cases, employees won’t pursue this training independently, so take advantage of this time to give them a lift.
Every industry could do with some customer service training. Look up some courses online or look into adding a seminar into your Calendar with a certified instructor. Of course, industry-specific training will always be a good idea, so look into options that fit your organization as well.
Other general training like marketing, writing, and public speaking will also be beneficial. This training will also prepare your employees to take more significant roles within your company or elsewhere. Finally, employees that leave for greener pastures are sure to leave a good word behind in gratitude for your assistance.
5. Run a Promotion
If you really want your off-season productivity to bring in revenue, try and run a special promotion. The holiday season is chock-full of opportunities for promos, such as Black Friday deals, Christmas events, and even a New Year’s special. A great deal can bring in extra customers in an otherwise slow-paced season.
Get creative with the promotions you run. Since business is slow, you can put a little extra effort into the promotions you put together. Just make sure your team is prepared for things to pick up the pace all of a sudden once a promotion is launched.
Just because you’re in a slow season doesn’t mean it has to be a slog. Filling up your Calendar with these activities will ensure you’re staying just as productive as you always do, even if it’s a different way than usual.
