A Woman With A Business

This week I am talking about Slumps and Slowdowns ... how to know if you are really in a slump or slowdown, when to freak out, and what to do about it! Today is all about analyzing stats.  Over and over I have witnessed people freaking out about slowdowns because their stats are down from a day ago, a week ago, and a month ago ... but just this is not enough information to know if you are really experiencing a slowdown.  Retail sales are cyclical, and you need to know your cycles.  If you cannot deal with the natural cycles in your business, then you need to develop a new product line that will work opposite those cycles in your current business.  Trying to even out cycles in your current business is much harder than creating a product line that you market to a different market to fill in slow cycles.  Also note, that cycles in business will fluctuate year to year, and your sales should be increasing during these cycles year to year.  Although as your bus...

Steady sales ... it is the goal ... it is the dream ... and it is also somewhat of a fairy tale!  If you look hard, sometimes you don't have to look hard, you can consistently find a business person complaining that they are experiencing a slowdown, that their shop is dead, they wonder if it is the end ... Seasonal ups and downs are normal, should be expected, and your season may not be Christmas! First, every business throughout the year, experiences ups and downs.  Those ups and downs do not occur at the same times for all shops ... even shops selling almost identical things don't always experience ups and downs at the same time.  Your competitors may be reaching a different market than you or have brought a previous customer base with them.  Do not kill your shop comparing it to other similar shops.  Base your fluctuations on your own shop visits, not another shop's visits. All businesses should keep track of their sales and visits to their shops....