As a retailer, you know that seasons have an impact on your revenue. One slow season isn’t the end of the world, but when they occur one after another, it can really affect your business and your bottom line. When this happens, it’s important to adapt to changing circumstances to keep your business moving forward and make sure your business still runs smoothly, instead of slipping backward. Here are some tips to help you survive the slow months in retail. Practice Sales Discipline Consistently What is sales discipline? It’s doing what you do best every day—even when you don’t feel like it because you know your efforts will pay off later. We’d all be rich if it were easy to start a new relationship with a customer and turn that person into a long-term client. But starting relationships isn’t easy, so sales techniques are so important. So what can sales disciplines do for your business? A lot! If your company has been growing steadily at 20 percent per year over four years and then suddenly growth begins to slow dramatically, something has changed; usually that something is one of two things – either your competitors have caught up or you’re not following good sales discipline anymore. Always Check Your Numbers If you’re trying to keep track of your business’s growth, don’t just rely on a hunch. The problem with hunches is that they often reflect what you want to see happen rather than what actually is happening. With that said, you need to take a serious look at your business numbers over time if you want a reliable idea of whether or not your business is growing. Reviewing your monthly sales can be tedious but it will help you figure out how different strategies play out over time and allow you to make informed decisions about where and how best to spend resources. Be Proactive in Loss Prevention You should already have a process for handling missing or shoplifted merchandise. It’s recommended that you follow industry best practices when it comes to security and store exit procedures, as well as how you deal with a patron who tries to get out of paying for something. If you know that there are more shoplifters during certain times of the year, be proactive about adjusting your loss prevention efforts. For example, if a product that is popular during one season is also prone to shoplifting, make sure that your team knows about it and stays on high alert during those times. Work on Customer Service If you have a brick-and-mortar store, your focus during slow months should be on improving customer service. Most stores have training for handling things like solving customer complaints or making sales, but far fewer train their employees on best practices for connecting with customers on a more personal level. Even if you’re not directly interacting with customers, you must work on fostering a friendly atmosphere within your store. Greet everyone who comes into your store or shop, and make sure that other employees do as well. This can help encourage repeat business—even when it’s slow outside. Stay Positive According to new research, people who are pessimistic see their real-life experiences through a darker lens. Negative people tend to weigh their unfortunate circumstances more heavily than those around them—they remember bad events more often than good ones, for example, and discount happy moments as flukes. Plus, these brooding folks have a harder time regulating their moods, so even when something positive does happen, they’re less likely to be affected by it. These tendencies can put a damper on your business. For example Every small delay or setback makes you that much more frustrated and negative; employees who are prone to pessimism are less likely to seek out solutions on their own and need more direction from you, and your team members will feel less motivated because they don’t feel supported by you. Whether you work in retail, as an artist, or as an entrepreneur of any kind, slow months can truly be difficult to keep your business afloat, let alone find the resources to take your business to the next level. However, those months shouldn’t cause you to lose hope or motivation—instead, they should teach you how to survive and thrive during slow months in retail, no matter what industry you’re in. The post How to Survive (and Thrive) During the Slow Months in Retail appeared first on POP FUEL. from http://clipstrip.com/pop-fuel/how-to-survive-and-thrive-during-the-slow-months-in-retail/
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