Businesses of all kinds have ebbs and flows with some times of the year being far busier than others. During these slower periods it is time to figure out a way to make sure the entire year is busy or perfect areas of the business that rarely get attention. Doing this will allow a company to increase efficiency during the times of the year where it is difficult to hit all client deadlines. There are different areas that will yield the largest overall positive results for the future of the business. Below are a few areas of the company that should be improved and focused on when business seems to be stagnant.
Hiring Processes
Being able to take an extensive look at the hiring process and perfecting it is important. Bringing in star employees time after time and keeping employee turnover low will which keeps cash flow healthy. New employees take time to be trained without guarantee they will work out long term. An interview process with a few steps where there is a practical task related to the job is important. In today’s world many job seekers say they are an expert at a specific program or software only to be puzzled when they are hired. Freelancers can be great to use as this will allow a company to work with them to find who are the best to work with. Being in contact with quite a few quality freelancers can provide support and save the company money overall when compared to hiring someone in-house.
Optimizing Production Workflow
Asking staff what they need to make their jobs easier or workflow to be smoother is important. Simply making a change without discussing the change with the people it will directly impact can lead to bad decisions. There are plenty of tools that can gather data or automate processes that used to be time consuming. Look into all of the possibilities but make sure the processes that are improved are still scalable. The last thing a company wants is their systems to break when they have finally signed a client that will change the future of the business forever.
Do A Website Revamp
The lull in business could be due to the company website simply looking outdated. Website building has changed with best practices for website design as websites and technology are evolving. Set goals for each page of the website as there are multiple uses for each section of the website. Make sure contact information can be easily found as this will help to generate leads. The contact information being difficult to find or missing might lead a website visitor to opt for another company that provides the same product/service.
Focus On Digital Marketing
Digital marketing in a creative and effective way can help a business start to climb up the search engine results. While some businesses might not think this is important consumers do not go the 2nd or 3rd pages of search results. A focus on creating engaging content whether it is written, spoken, or recorded is imperative. This type of content is shared and can help a company showcase how they can help their target demographic as well as their knowledge on business related subjects.Use data to shape these marketing campaigns from past marketing efforts as this can help a company learn from mistakes as well as tactics that were effective.
Bring In Heavy Hitting Sales Professionals
Sales slumping happens at times but there are sales professionals that never see a dip in their sales regardless of the time of year. Sales professionals that seem to have thrived in multiple industries can bring selling skills that can make a huge difference. At times all a sales team needs at certain points is new blood to shake things up as sales is an extremely competitive profession. Perks that can attract this top talent is the ability to work from home or a higher percentage commission then is commonly paid in a sales position. If these pros can’t sell then taking a look at the price of the products/services needs to be done as consumers are not seeing it as a value. For those salespeople not in office they need to be monitored as the company does not want them to be overly pushy. Word spreads quickly about a company if their salespeople are harassing others and won’t take no for an answer to an absurd point.
Keeping a positive attitude even when things are slow is important as being negative is just going to make the office unbearable. Assess where your business can improve during some of the slower times of the business year and put a strategy together to do just that!