What To Do When Sales Slow Down (Don't sing the Bad Economy Blues)

{photo by Kevin Dooley. Does your shop seem a little deserted lately?}

I know many of us have noticed a slump in sales over the last few months and that's of course understandable, given the state of our economy. But just because big businesses are collapsing, doesn't mean your micro-business has to, too.

In fact, you're probably in better shape to stay afloat in this situation than the big guys are. Check out this Harvard Business article about Why Small Businesses Will Win This Economy, and US News' look at Starting a Small Business in a Bad Economy and how you can still make it successful.

There are plenty of things you can do to help keep both your sales and your chin up during these tough times. For instance:

Focus on marketing yourself

Maybe when you were busier you were too overwhelmed with shipping out orders to even have to think about placing and ad or asking a blog to write about you. When times are flourishing, customers seem to just come find you.

But if you find yourself with more time than sales on your hands right now, use it to actively market yourself and spread the word about your business. Keep up on your blog posts, send out a newsletter this month, create a press kit, place some ads on blogs that serve your niche (you can get some pretty good traffic coming in for as little as $20 a month!), email bloggers and introduce yourself, collaborate with other creatives on special projects... Now is the time to focus on getting in contact with people, making connections and really working on getting yourself "out there."

Remember the customers you already have

The people most likely to buy from you, are people that have bought from you in the past. It's easier for someone to decide to spend their money on you when they already know exactly what they're going to get out of their purchase.

Your past customers know the quality of your items, they know how good your customer service is, they know the cute little gift wrapping everything comes in... Get in touch with them and remind them about your business and what you have to offer, maybe even offer them a special discount or incentive with purchase or with a referral. Don't forget about the customer base you've already worked hard to build up.

Offer an incentive with purchase

I'm always a fan of incentives like sales, free shipping, discounts, etc because I know how well they work. I've used them before and I'll use them again- in fact, I recently decided to put all my advertising on Modish on sale for a week to celebrate its anniversary, and the ads sold like hotcakes! Could I have sold them all at full price at some point later? Yes, I'm sure I could have. But would I have the money now to use on things like paying taxes and rent and bills? No, I wouldn't.

Sales can be a great way to boost your income in a short period of time, and can also be a way to get rid of older/out of season items. Use holidays, anniversaries and other events as excuses to celebrate and offer discounts, special deals, free gifts with purchase, etc.

Help the lucky people who get a tax refund this year decide to spend some of it on you, hmm?

Seek out discounts from suppliers

You're not the only one who's going to be offering incentives to boost sales- the larger companies that you rely on as suppliers are offering sales and discounts galore. If you need to buy new stock to make things, need business cards printed, need to join a newsletter service, whatever, search around for some discounts before you buy. I've had offers for all of the above hit my inbox within the just the last few weeks. Remember, money saved is almost as good as money made.

Use your extra time for good (not for watching more internet tv, not like I would ever do that :)

When sales are slow, it's the perfect time to concentrate on all those little things that you may not normally have time for. Re-take your photos if you need to, clean up your shop and get rid of old items, re-design your blog to be in line with your current branding, etc. Use your extra time to work on making sure you're presenting yourself in the best way possible so that when the customers do come along, their decision to purchase something can be made all the more easier.

Get to know your accounting program

Whether you use quickbooks, an excel spreadsheet or a hand-scrawled notebook with receipts stapled to it, you need to make sure you really understand your money right now. How much is coming in? How much is going out? Focus on what you can cut back on and try to lower your monthly expenses. Figure out what you can afford to spend on advertising or supplies each month. Plan for the extra expenses you know are coming up, like booths at summer shows, etc.

Understanding your money is half the battle. If you can get it all laid out in front of you, right where you can see it, it can help you prioritize, plan and spend more wisely. (Caroline will us more with all this next week, too!)

No one ever said any of this would be easy, but we did not go into business for ourselves because we thought it'd worry free, right? Hang in there, stay focused and get creative with your marketing and business ideas! Creativity is what you do best, afterall! :)

Anyone else have tips to share that have helped during the slow times? Or links to other articles that offer advice on how small businesses can survive their economic woes? Please feel free to share below!