Down in
Slumps(Karen E. Hipp, Author, Do-It-Yourself Marketing)
Every business experiences times of heavy sales volume and slow sales volume. Most people call slow sales as being in a business "slump."
Some business slumps are easy to recognize. A downturn in economy, seasonable business, weather conditions. For most businesses, a slump happens without warning and for no reason apparent.
Sometimes you're in slumps when you're spending most time, money and effort on selling strategies. This is usually when I get a phone call from prospective clients. Owners start to panic. They cut their advertising budget, advertise in unknown territories, add or delete services, develop new price structures. This is what I call "crises marketing" and must be avoided at all costs. Particularly for a small business that is struggling to grow.
You can avoid your own "panic attack" by developing simple procedures that can be implemented quickly.
The first thing to do is to accept it as part of a normal business pattern. It shouldn't be signaling end of your business. Don’t go off deep end, but don't sit there waiting for your sales to come back either. Try taking following steps:
What Do You Think Is Causing The Slump?
Look for something specific like:
A change in your advertising or promotional activity. Are you spending less on advertising? Trying not yet proven media advertising? Changed way your ads look? Put out a new campaign? Changed your ad copy? Have you raised prices? Has new competition opened or rolled out their own new advertising campaign? Has your competitor lowered its price points? Has a major news event had a negative impact on your industry?
