Summer last year was one of my most difficult seasons in business. Things in the business felt slow in terms of revenue and no new clients are coming into our funnel. I didn’t know how to function to get out of the situation. However, these things alone were not enough to indicate that I was not doing well in business nor is the business slowing down.
At the end of the day, there were other elements at play that have affected the status of my business. My expenses were way higher than what was coming in and our internal process had too many leaks. My team and I had to patch them out every single day. Boy were we in deep waters. This gave us plenty of data to work with to assess where we were at that helped us be strategic in our actions and decisions because when it all comes down to it, it’s important to make business decisions based on more than just a feeling.
So, how do I know when business is slow? What do I need to watch out for?
So, how do I know when business is slow? What do I need to watch out for?
Symptoms of a slow business
So how do you tell if business is slowing down in general or if there’s internal tweaks that are affecting the bottom line? The answer: By eliminating variables as you troubleshoot from your bank account backward.
Here are some symptoms of a slow business that may be factors to consider:
Reduced Revenue
This is the first thing you notice since it is something you’ll see reflected in your bank account every single month. Compare your revenue numbers to previous periods: last month to this month, last quarter to this quarter, and so on. By doing this, you’ll be able to spot when your low seasons are, where possible market trends change and this helps you forecast how the coming months/years will look like. Data is everything so keeping track the amount and timeframe when you get a dip in your finances is a good countermeasure to combating business loss. Awareness is the first symptom of business slowing down.
Reduced Profitability
Being profitable does not only equate to the increase of revenue in your business, it is how much time you actually get back. Remember that time is money.
Did you hire new employees, invest in new tools or equipment, or take on additional overhead in some other area to optimize your systems and process?
If not, you’ll want to investigate the performance of your more profitable products against the ones that are less impactful. It’s possible that even if you have tons of work going on, business is slowing for your “money makers” and there is a gap between how many hours of work was put into a project versus the price attached to your service.
Reduced traffic, insights
One of my biggest regrets was not tracking my analytics at the early stages of my business. There we precious data unrecorded. Information went down the drain. When I started to check my insights and analytics I was shocked at the reach that I was getting. If you haven’t yet, make sure you plug in google analytics to your website and frequently check the insights on your social media platforms.
So now we know the symptoms, how do we combat them?
Mark Zuckerberg once said, “Move fast and break things.” We all have seasons in our businesses. Moving too fast to secure your monthly goal will lead you to burnout and a business unprepared to scale. That’s why the goal shouldn’t be to grow fast but to grow better and wiser. When you experience slow business, remember that slow and steady wins the race. With that said, how can you grow better and stay productive in your business?
Here are my top 3 tips to keep your business running even on low seasons.
👉🏻 Refine your client journey experience
Take a step back and audit your client experience journey. What does your system look like? How are you improving things in your business to help you with client retention. What can you do so you can work with previous clients again?
Check and audit your systems. See what you can refine and improve to enhance the experience your client gets when interacting with your brand. Make sure to also check your sales process, how can you simplify your backend and automate the process so you can spend more time working on aspect in the business that can increase your revenue. Double check on your products/services. How many hours are you putting in when working versus the income you are generating per product/project. Your time is precious and every hour spent working in your business should be converted to working on your business. Maybe it’s time to hire a team member that could support you in getting things done in your business or invest in platforms that can simplify your work process. Remember that the more time you get back, the more time you have in improving your business.
👉🏻 Audit your website
Check your messaging and your branding. Make sure that as you grow, you are consistent with your growth. Your website is a direct reflection of your brand and business. Are you staying true to what you communicate online and offline? Keeping the way you communicate consistent all throughout your brand touchpoints is a must. We often forget consistency and it costs us consumer trust. To build trust, we have to communicate our authentic true story. One of my biggest mistakes when I started my business was not tracking my analytics. Google analytics is a great tool to monitor your website’s reach. It can gather many kinds of date for you depending on what information you want to track.
👉🏻 Generate leads
Strategize and work on generating leads for the new season. Make sure you are always top of mind with your audience. One of the best ways to do this is by creating a free checklist or offer that you can give out to your consumers. We have one that may help you out too. This free unique Instagram story template will support you throughout your launch campaign.
Slow times are also seasons to lean back and embrace what’s to come. It’s time for growth and assessment. No business is built overnight. Give yourself a good break and celebrate what you have achieved in your business.
