Is it a slow season?
Some products & services can be slow at different times of the year. Does your product fall into this category?
Compare sales figures form pervious years to identify a trend. If you don't have data from previous years try to contact others in your industry, to see if the same problem exists. A quick and easy way is to forum in your relating to your business and post your question.
Type in YOUR "business forums online" or something similar in your favorite search engine and you should be able to retrieve favorable results.
Could there be a new competitor you don't know about?
Sometimes a new competitor could pop up with a successful campaign and you may not know about or just brushed off as no big deal. When new competition arrives it is key first to know about it and second to secure as much as the market share as possible. The competition can't be ignored.
Have you changed anything in your business?
If you have changed something in the way your doing business then you should back track to see when the sales slowed down and that should reveal what change you made at that time. When you find it then switch it back to the way it was.
For example:
Sales started to slow down in mid April: As I look back the only thing that changed was we introduced a new higher quality stereo system. It's a bit more expenses but it's ten time better than the old model:
This example reveals the culprit as being the product change. With this example you have three options:
1. Go back to providing the old unit
2. Educate your customers about the new better quietly
3. Use option 2 and 3 together.
Have you minimized your advertising?
Sometimes during cost cutting we cut the lifeline of our business which is the marketing expense. This is the one area we should increase during slow times. Make sure you don't have problems in your advertising.
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