Doing what we do, our work load is very much client-driven. Although we’ve definitely identified trends of specific periods of time every year when we tend to have a flurry of inquiries and new clients starting, we definitely are at the mercy, so to speak, of our clients and their needs.

When you are in a client-service position, you work when your clients need you to. It’s simply the nature of the beast.

This is very different than many other businesses and industries that have other factors that drive what will be their busy seasons and slow times. If your business activity and sales spike at Christmas, for wedding season, or during the summer, for example, then you likely also have opposing times of year when your sales are noticeably lower.

What you do during your slower times can have a direct impact on how much easier – and effective – your busy business times will be.

4 Tips to Maximize Future Sales When Business is Slow

• Re-evaluate The only way to decide if you should change what you’ve always done is to reflect on goals, expectations, and outcomes, and determine what worked and what didn’t. From there you can make a plan for how to do things differently (or the same) in the future.
• Re-strategize After evaluating what did and didn’t work, and to what degree, use your slow time to strategize how to approach things going forward. The possibilities are endless here, but a few examples would be to start a new social media profile, incorporate Facebook ads, set up and utilize Twitter lists, engage with your customers more often on social media, and better integrate online and offline marketing efforts.
• Work ahead Grab a calendar and plan your promotions. Prepare the corresponding email newsletters. Write and schedule blog posts for future publishing. Locate sources of content to use on your social media profiles. Schedule social media updates for future publishing. Basically, take advantage of this time to cross some things off your To Do list so you have less to worry about when you are busy.
• Stay consistent in your social media and marketing Slow times at work don’t mean that you can skip out on your social media activities! You at least want to stay top of mind with your customers and potential customers for when your busy season once returns. Also, you have more time to dedicate to social media and marketing because it’s a slow time, so why not use that extra time to build stronger relationships with your followers?

At first glance, it may seem like naturally slow times in your business means there’s not much to do. But in reality, those slow times – if maximized – can be highly lucrative for your small business.