Some business slumps are predictable. Every landscaping service expects a slump in landscaping jobs during winter months. Their usual strategy to maintain a flow of business in winter is to promote a different service such as snow removal. For most businesses, however, slumps occur without warning and for no apparent reason.

Some slumps occur when you're spending most time, money and effort on promoting business. When that happens, it's easy to panic and start replacing proven methods of promoting business with speculative ideas. This reaction is especially hazardous for a small business struggling to grow. I know a business owner who almost lost her business when she panicked and reacted to a slump in business by suddenly changing all of her proven advertising messages.

I've experienced many business slumps over years. Eventually I developed a simple procedure I can implement quickly to replace business lost during a slump. You can copy this same procedure to reverse your business slumps when they occur.

The first thing to do when a slump occurs is to accept it as part of a normal business pattern. It isn't signaling end of your business. Don't panic. But don't be complacent either. Give problem your immediate attention. Begin by taking following steps.

TRY TO IDENTIFY A CAUSE FOR THE SLUMP

Determine if you can identify something specific likely to be causing slump. For example:

** A recent change in your advertising or promotional activity.

** A direct competitor recently rolled out a huge new advertising campaign.

** A major news event had a negative impact on your industry... such as announcement of a government investigation of business practices in your industry.

EXPECT CHANGE

Develop a "change is normal" attitude. Realize you're never going to reach point where you know your business so well you can stop learning. Just when you think you've mastered operation of your business something will change and disrupt your growth.

Make it a habit to look for changes that may be a developing trend. Then try to determine how this trend may impact growth of your business. You can develop best solution to a problem when you catch it early and take your time to carefully work out your response. There's nothing more difficult than trying to make good long term business decisions at same time you're trying to rescue rapidly falling sales.

#1. TAKE DEFENSIVE ACTION IN ADVANCE -- DIVERSIFY

Diversification is your best defense against impact of change. This applies in 2 major areas:

* The products and/or services you offer * Your marketing activities

The primary reason you want to offer a variety of related products or services to your customers is to maximize your income. But there's a second reason. Changing market conditions or an aggressive competitor can cause sales for a product or service to decline, often suddenly. The impact won't be devastating if a variety of other products and services continue to produce business for you.