Well, it's after Christmas -- and after the after-Christmas sales.
For many businesses, especially in retail and ecommerce, January can be a dead month -- even in a good economy. Employee morale may plummet, and yours may not be so upbeat, either.
How can you perk up your post-holiday bottom line? Here are seven suggestions:
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Have a clearance party. If you need to clear out leftovers from holiday time, make an event out of it. Maybe give customers who turn up first pick of your new merchandise, too.
Related: How to Make Your Marketing Work Together
- Take a poll. Now is a great time to involve customers -- letting them help shape your plans for 2012. Give limited-time coupons to participants and up your winter traffic. Then, when you give customers exactly what they asked for, they'll flock back.
- Trim expenses. This lull is a great time to revisit all those niggling little costs that bug you, but you never have time to address. Get new, competitive bids on your phone service, insurance, copying, shipping, accounting and any other outsourced, independent services. Remember, spending less grows your net income just as much as selling more does.
- Network. Take advantage of the downtime to get to those networking events you've been meaning to attend. Or maybe start a new mastermind group of local business owners and play host.
- Buy closeouts. Be on the lookout for stores that are closing down after the holidays, and see what you can snap up at bargain prices. You can also attend merchandise auctions, or hit closeout websites online. In this economy, there should be tons of activity for the next couple of months, as retail losers ditch their leftovers. Remember, the secret of many big retail chains' profits is end-caps full of $1 items they bought for a penny.
- Look for opportunities. Are new retail spaces opening up near you? January is a time when desperate landlords make deals to keep stores occupied. If competitors are going bust or scaling back, it might be time to market more aggressively to capture market share.
Related: How to Compete -- and Win -- When Rivals Cut Prices
- Learn. Take a class, attend a conference, or connect with a mentor. Read more widely to understand trends in your industry. Make sure you're keeping up with the technology you need for success -- if you're boggled by how to make your website more mobile-friendly or how to create an app, now's the time to solve it. Increasing your knowledge and skills now will lay the groundwork for success in 2012, no matter what the economy does.
How will you beat the January blues? Leave a comment and add your strategy to the list.
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Comments:
In the winter months, we find the time to grow our employee skillsets while giving back to our customers. We get a jump on the Spring work, and at the same time get to spend more time on site training our employees. We sharpen our image and our focus for the coming year, and take the time to organize our warehouses and make needed repairs to trucks and equipment.
It is great list of ways to beat the January doldrums. I hope these are very helpful to business owners to get good results in their business.
Taking a class and learning something new is an awesome idea. Not only are you broadening your own horizons, but potentially your business's. Great ideas!
Nice list! I think at least for smaller businesses, it's a good time to do some of the long-term benefit things like preparing strategy/marketing plans, networking, creating content, etc. If doing direct marketing efforts aren't likely to get as good of results as usual, then doing more things that help over the long-term may be better a better use of the time/resources in the long-run.
I wonder if the same holds true for other e-commerce sites. I guess, it's time to look forward to 2012 with hope and optimism. To be a game-changer may just mean looking for new ideas about where exactly to look for them. Happy New Year everyone!
A great time to review your strategy for 2012 and, absolutely, kick your marketing up a notch or two when most of the others are cutting back.
Thanks very much for this. I am planning on organising a one-day clearance sale in my local community and was delighted to find it listed in your suggestions. Weldone!
This is an excellent list of things that should be implemented during "slow" periods. This is the time to find ways to be more productive, work more efficient and try to trim costs. It's a great time to plan for the new year and prepare for change whether it's positive or negative. Also, social networking is imperative, so taking the time to post comments or start a discussion on sites such as Linkedin or Manta is something we need to work on as well. Anthony www.faceitfigures.com
I recommend doing a little start of the new year scenario planning type brainstorming focussed on what 2012 might be like. We do this not so much to predict the future but more to be prepared for the changes we know will come. Resilience is the name of the game for 2012.
This should be a plan for more than just January or the following months. This needs to be a precedent for every period of time in which you experience a slow down. Take advantage of every moment. If you aren't working, then you need to be working. When business is booming, stay productive and learn how to be more efficient and effective. Take note of things you learn and thing you need to research. If business is slow, then concentrate your efforts in research, networking, marketing, trimming expenses, business planning and goals, etc.There are certain things in which you will only learn and accomplish during a time in which business is booming, while others can only be done in moments where you can reflect on and learn from past successes and mistakes. If your business is seasonal, then learn to go with the flow and plan out your year accordingly while allowing a little wiggle room for the unexpected.
Invigorate your workforce. Let them know what they did well in 2011 and how to be even better in 2012. We will be looking at improving customer service and contacting previous clients to find out what they need, let them know of our new services. Find out why they use us or why they don't!
This is a good list and I'd like to put in a plug for planning for 2012. I saw a post about planning your marketing, but how about planning for a big projectk like finishing a book or launching an info-product series? How about new skills to learn, new business processes to adopt, or new customer segments to approach. And how about starting with a "boy if I could do THAT!" financial goal, then doubling it! It's not too late to plan--it's never too late to plan. Just be sure you put the plan into action!
Thanks for this great addition to the list.
You could also consider running a social media promotion. Everyone's New Year's resolutions are still fresh on their minds in the month on January, so it's a great concept to capitalize on via social media. Facebook and Twitter are excellent platforms that can help keep your business running smoothly through the dark months. Thanks for the read! Lauren www.volusion.com
Carol, It is a very good list however I would add two more: 8th - plan your year around marketing/on-line activity and prepare some material beforehand 9th - catch up or start you social media activities