⏱ 6 min reading
On the off chance that you own a seasonal-based business, you are most likely used to riding the “success or failure” thrill ride. However, what a lot of seasonal entrepreneurs don’t understand is that this thrill ride is definitely not something that just “belongs to the business”. Actually, there are a lot of successful seasonal entrepreneurs that try to maintain their business all year round. They use certain strategies and systems that help them stay busy during the slow seasons. These tips are straightforward and help you develop a growing business that can help you jump off the seasonal thrill ride. Put them into practice in your own enterprise and it might inspire you to find some ways to come up with some ideas of your own.
1. Keep marketing your seasonal business all year round
Probably, the biggest mistake seasonal entrepreneurs can ever make is to back off or stop their marketing activities. During the busy season you probably won’t be able to continue the marketing because of the lack of time and assets. And in the slow time of year numerous entrepreneurs believe that there’s no point in advertising or marketing in any other way when their products or services are not in immediate demand.
Actually, being unable to keep up year-round advertising is detrimental to regular organizations. Why? Because these organizations already face a dull season every year. And if you decide to cut back on all marketing efforts during the busy season, you’re virtually asking for a slow season that is entirely dead.
Most of marketing is a long game. Regular promoting strategies incorporate The Rule of Seven, which says you have to hit your potential clients in any event multiple times before they’ll notice your company and make a move.
Generally, the normal shopper isn’t going to want or need your product or service the minute they’re presented to your advertising message. But, if they happen to see your logo, see your online advertisement, and see your marked truck driving by again and again, you’re bound to get their business when they do need your product or service.
So, make a long-term marketing plan and set aside the time and assets to make sure you can keep the marketing going during the entire year. You’re probably going to have extra time on your hands during the slower months, which is really a perfect time to step things up. Make sure that the more time and labor-intensive marketing activities take place during the slow-season and make sure you take advantage of atomization and other tools you can use to save the most time while you’re busy during the busier seasons.
Over time, as your marketing stays consistent, the number of new customers coming to you will become more consistent as well.
2. Give customers a reason to come back
Obviously, success in business also requires something other than bringing in new clients. In reality, it is actually way quicker, simpler, and unquestionably more cost-effective to earn repeat business than it is to find new clients.
Research supports this claim as the likelihood of selling to a current client is 60 to 70%, while the likelihood of selling to a new customer is 5 to 20%.
All in all, what actions are you taking to keep your current clients and urge them to do more business with you? Here are a couple of proposals you should consider:
- Set up a loyalty program. Boost repeat business by offering loyal clients discounts or unique advantages for working with you again and again. This can be as basic as a punch card that earns you a free espresso after a client has purchased nine of them, or it very well may be something way more involving. The fact of the matter is it needs to give you enough of an incentive that your business will be the first they turn to when want to do more business.
- Upsell and cross-sell. It’s anything but difficult to see your current clients in a two-dimensional way: they initially enlisted you to do X, so all they’ll ever need from you is X. Yet, in reality, those clients might just get great value from product Y or service Z if just they realized you offered them. Ensure each client is exposed to your full scope of products and services in a non-pushy way. You can even incorporate it with your loyalty program and get twice the power out of the two strategies.
- Rewarding your customer. A referral from a fulfilled client is perhaps the best sort of marketing one could ask for. It’s free and it gives you a brand-new customer, right into your lap. Besides this, there is another side to it. When a client refers other people to your company you could say that their memory of doing business with you is a pleasant memory. This is the perfect time to hit them with a “thank you”; a tangible gift, a discount or a chance to win your product/service or any other thing that shows your appreciation. This way “you strike while the iron is hot”.
- Stay in touch. Sometimes all you need to do is send a quick email, text-message or postcard that keeps the memory of your company alive and gives them another incentive to order something new. If you make your repeat-purchase process as smooth as possible, keeping contact can make significant difference.
3. Change things up
Professionals have recognized that differentiating their portfolio of investments offers them security against certain ups and downs on the market. This way, they purchase stability. For every business, this works the same way. Differentiating the products and services you offer provides you with stability throughout the entire year that is hard to find when your services and product can only be sold during one season.
Seasonal business always wants to make use of this. And for a good reason: It works. A good example is landscapers that make the investment of the heavy-duty plow. This means they can actually keep working during the winter because they put this plow on the front of their trucks so they can now also offer snowplowing services. Another example is constructions companies that specialize in outdoor projects start specializing in indoor projects as well during the winter.
It’s not hard to create new ideas you and your staff can do to bring in income during your generally slow season, however, it takes responsibility and willingness to push the new contributions until they are established.
All things considered, what you’re basically doing is starting another business entirely.
While you’ll absolutely need to offer your new administrations to existing clients, there’s a good chance there will be some disconnect between what you’ve been doing and what you’re attempting to start up. Expect that it should require some time and ensure you give it the time it needs.
