Have you noticed that your phone isn’t ringing as much, or that your foot traffic has slowed? You may have found yourself in the “dog days” of summer. “Dog days” refer to the time in late July and into August when the heat has set in, and so has the slow pace and lethargy. People are on vacation and decision makers may be less available.
So now that you have found yourself in the dog days, what can you do? Making the most out of your “slow” days can be the difference between a successful bounce back from those dog days and a fall flop. Having the right sales strategy checklist can help to keep you and your business on the track for growth this fall.
Now may be time to re-evaluate your sales process. When you evaluate your sales process, you want to find which areas represent your strength and provide a largest return. Additionally, there may be areas that are weak and need improvement. While your foot traffic is slow, take some time to re-examine the steps of your sales process.
Start with how your company intakes new inbound sales leads along with generating outbound cold calls, sales demos and the closing process leading to a sale. Determine which points in your process yield the highest return rates. Those are the areas you want continue to focus efforts on. Areas that you see little return are the steps in the sales cycle which you want to develop a new process or technique. One example of this is reevaluating your call script that is used for cold calling and outbound calls. Does your current process uncover a potential client’s pain points?
Business owners often get caught up in the hustle and bustle of dealing with the daily needs of customers and business. The key is when you hit a slow down to utilize your time wisely. If you could snap your fingers and make a change in your marketing effort, what would it be? Is there a new lead generation tactic that you would like to try? Can you possibly go back to a former client for repeat business or upsell opportunities? Should you be updating your current website? Are you asking for client testimonials? There are so many times in business that an opportunity is in plain sight and you simply fail to see it because you’re working in your business and not on it.
Examine how you regularly keep in contact with current customers and potential clients. Is it through email or an electronic newsletter? Do you have an editorial plan in place? Are you capturing email addresses through social media and your website? These regular touches with pertinent information keep you and your company top of mind. If this program seems like an insurmountable task, perhaps it’s time to outsource it. The Edmiston Group writes custom blogs and executes digital newsletters for our clients every month. We can help you get there!
We’ve asked a lot of questions within this blog. The reason is to have a business owner begin thinking about the strategy behind the sale of a product or service and uncover gaps that may exist. While the ‘dog days’ of summer are often slow for business, it doesn’t mean that you have to slow down as well. Use the slow time to work on your sales strategy and lead your company down a path to growth for when it’s back to business moving into the fall season.
About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group. The Edmiston Group is a multifaceted Pittsburgh based marketing consulting firm providing senior level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long term basis. Core areas of service are business development, marketing, strategic planning and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business growth.