Get Out Of A Slump
 By Patrick L. Wynne

Were you one of the fortunate few whose new small business burst out of the startup blocks with a flurry of success and a flood of sales? If so, you’ve probably come to that next inevitable stage that virtually all budding entrepreneurs experience. The slump.

Revenues are down. Sales lag. Profits dip. So too can your emotions. But there’s no need to panic.

Slumps, as any competitive athlete can tell you, are inevitable. The great Willie Mays once went to home plate 24 consecutive times and came away without a hit – and Willie ended up in the Hall of Fame.

Baseball players say the way to get out of a hitting slump is to hit. That’s good advice for a sales slump too: Sell. You know you can sell because you’ve sold in the past. One more athletic metaphor before we move on: Just do it.

Now that you know how easy it is (you’re laughing, right?), here’s a little more practical advice.

First, take a deep breath and assess the situation. Although it’s possible that you may be doing something wrong, not all slumps are necessarily about you. Has the economy changed? Have customers’ altered their appetites?

Some things you can’t do much about, but you can make adjustments to compensate for them. For example, consider the swim shop that discovered bikini sales are sensitive to seasonal fluctuation. The shop owner concluded it may be prudent to cut back on newspaper ads hawking the scanty garments in November. The lesson? Reduce your overhead in times when return on investment isn’t as good.

Frequently, your self-appraisal might reveal the culprit to be something you are doing, or more precisely, something you are doing that’s wrong.

When evaluating your slump, take particular note of any changes you’ve implemented that seem to coincide with the onset of the slump.

If you have a window display that is vital to attracting customers from passing foot traffic, did you alter the display in some way about the time the slump began? Ditto for changes in advertising or office hours or staffing. Maybe you’ve changed your product offering and buyers are signaling their disapproval. Perhaps that new counter clerk you hired has been growling rather than smiling. Take note. Then take corrective steps.

There are countless variables that affect every business. Pinpointing the consequences of all of them is impossible. But you don’t have to nail down the precise cause and effect for every aspect of your marketing, managing and advertising. Just the ones that bear on the slump.

Not every slump can be quantified. Sometimes the causes remain as elusive as the effects are obvious.

At times like this, don’t add to your travail. A dour disposition can create slumps of its own. Take a break. Take a day off. Break the routine. Reward yourself undeservedly. After all, you are the boss, right?

An emotional timeout can deliver twin benefits. It may buy you just the time necessary for the slump to reverse itself, despite your inability to identify its cause. And the passing of time is even more likely to unfurl your worried brow with a respite away from the problem, allowing you to recoup emotionally. Either way, you’ll be better off.

One thing to keep in mind, regardless of whatever is at the root of your slumping sales: You know it can end.

Slumps, by definition, mean there was a time when your business wasn’t slumping. And if you can focus on and recapture what you were previously doing right, the chances are, whatever’s wrong now is bound to come to an end.

(Posted June 2006)

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