It’s summertime! While summer is known for fun in the sun, vacations, and beach-filled memories, in the sales world, summer is known for slow sales and the dreaded “summer slump.” Because customers are out living their lives and making memorable moments, sales professionals must be creative yet strategic to meet their sales goals and make the most of this time of the year.
Here’s the deal: Summer doesn’t have to be slow, and your sales don’t have to slump if you know how to navigate this season. Considering each sales season or sales quarter has its high and low points, seasoned sales professionals know how to weather both and come out meeting and exceeding their sales goals while maintaining an excellent rapport with their customers and ethical and integral standards. There are better ways to go than cutting corners during a sales slump. Sales “tactics” like badgering customers or harassing your competition don’t last long and usually end up hurting your brand’s image in the long run. However, there are ways to overcome the summer slowdown with dignity, sanity, and sales.
At Credico, we’ve been around for more than three decades, so we’ve experienced our fair share of sales slumps and humps. We know how to ride the waves and the droughts with integrity and optimism because we understand sales patterns, our customers, and the industries we work with. Moreover, from a business perspective, we know the fear behind slow seasons and why succumbing to that fear is never a good move. Since we have navigated multiple financial crises and sales seasons, consider this your guide to getting over the summer slowdown the Credico way.
What is the summer slump, and why is it a thing?
The summer slump is not just a phenomenon in the business world; other industries are also affected by this lull in customer engagement. When you think about it, the summer is spent outdoors, near water, at a park or in nature. In education, it’s called the “summer slide” because students seem to forget everything they learned during the school year during their summer break. Churches experience a summer slump as well in attendance and financial resources. As it relates to B2B relationships, the decision-makers are out of town, on vacation, and can’t respond immediately to approve and move forward on any new deals or sales requests. While shopping and sales happen, fun is the priority during this time of year. This seasonal decline is a known pattern and part of life’s usual ebb and flow. Knowing why the summer slump is a reality in the first place helps your teams know how to combat it.
Outsource your sales
Delegating is essential in leadership, especially in business. Outsourcing is a lifeline for our clients because it is leadership delegating part of its sales process to a third party or agency like Credico to help maximize their profits so they can focus on something else. For businesses experiencing the summer sales slump and wanting to find an affordable way to navigate this seasonal sales drought, it’s wise to delegate this task to professionals. To prepare, navigate, and come out on top of a sales season like summer, an outsourced sales team can adapt to your requirements, and a team of outsourced sales providers can bring the expertise you need. Outsourcing your business’s sales team during the summer slump is not a gamble but a chess move.
Don’t go digital, go face-to-face
Face-to-face or in-store sales are not a lost art. It’s a meaningful way of doing business that values and understands customers, especially during the slow summer months. Don’t go digital alone; if anything, prioritize face-to-face because this sales strategy keeps you visible and connected more than behind a digital screen. Credico considers in-person sales to be our secret to business success. We recommend this sales approach because it works. Face-to-face allows a personalized engagement exchange needed to close the sale, build connections, get immediate feedback, stay ahead of the competition, and truly be there for your customers during challenging sales periods. In a world full of digital stores, stand out by standing in front of your customers.
Adopt an omnichannel marketing strategy
Working in sales means you have to be strategic. It’s how you have balance in this industry. Otherwise, you’d burn out quickly chasing clients just for the sale. The ultimate way to use your time wisely is to adopt an omnichannel marketing strategy. Marketing is vital in business, along with your strategy. Pair those two with an omnichannel approach and watch your summer sales slump shift to a surge. An effective omnichannel strategy has touchpoints that meet your customers where they are and make any and every opportunity for them to connect with your brand to make a sale effortless. When engaging with your brand is easy and seamless, your customers will come back over and over again, even in the summer.
We don’t see the summer slowdown, slump, or seasonal decline as bad. We see it as a summer sales pause. That’s because if your business prioritizes an exceptional customer service experience while integrating all of these tips, your team will be there to receive customers when they have a pause in their memorable summer fun in the sun. Considering there are 93.6 days in summer, your team has many opportunities to make an impression and a sale.