3 Ways My Business Overcame the Summer Sales Slump

All of us stay up for taking a dip within the pool throughout the summer time when the solar is shining, however the inevitable dip in gross sales from June to August can depart enterprise homeowners in a bind.

According to one 2023 study, two-thirds of B2B companies expertise a gross sales droop over the summer time, and of the companies affected, practically 75% reported a drop in gross sales of 20% or extra. Additionally, one in 5 claimed dips of 40% or extra.

In case you are in one of many industries that anticipate a summer sales slump, there are methods to confront it head-on and stroll out of August victorious. These three techniques have been examined by my workforce over time and have resulted in us reaching $100 million in annual income.

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1. Mail postcards each week; they obtain 600% extra income per lead

I’ve constructed my enterprise on the pure indisputable fact that direct mail marketing works. Postcards could not appear as engaging as a flashy social media advert, however they depart an enduring impression nonetheless. People can maintain a tangible card of their fingers and reserve it for a wet day. Analysis exhibits junk mail has an average engagement rate of 95% and is interacted with not less than 4 instances at residence.

However the efficacy of postcards actually is not any shock because of rising digital fatigue. One study that surveyed 10,250 customers discovered that 49% mentioned they spend an excessive amount of time on-line and wish to scale back that point.

The very nature of junk mail forces a person to cease and take time to learn the commercial. This provides you a much bigger alternative to hook your prospect and shut a sale. Enterprise homeowners even have much more concentrating on choices with junk mail than digital ads, so the marketing campaign will likely be more practical and ship higher outcomes.

Sixty-five p.c of households with incomes of $100,000 or extra made a purchase order previously 30 days due to junk mail promoting, research shows. So not solely do prospects pay extra consideration to mailers, however in addition they usually tend to buy a services or products from you because of this.

My firm mails 232,000 postcards per week solely selling our personal services like clockwork. Final yr, we analyzed 114,373 leads that transformed to gross sales in 2023 and located that we obtain 600% extra income per lead from postcards than digital advertisements. Particularly, $229.41 in income for each postcard lead versus $37.09 in income per lead from pay-per-click. You might obtain extra leads from different advertising and marketing channels, however they will not be as prime quality as those you get from mailers.

2. Enhance your advertising and marketing funds within the 4-6 weeks main as much as summer time to have extra leads within the pipeline

My only advertising and marketing precept is to market like crazy — market greater than you assume is sane. The rationale for it’s because the quantity of effort you place into your advertising and marketing will decide your outcomes. The extra you make investments into your promoting, the extra income you may generate.

So proper earlier than summer time begins, about 4-6 weeks earlier than, improve your advertising and marketing funds to extend leads. Whether or not which means you mail 1000’s of extra postcards, create extra video ads for Instagram or YouTube, or rent one other gross sales skilled to do outbound telephone calls, textual content messages and follow-ups, simply give it 1,000%. We rent 5 highschool college students on summer time break to assist make further telephone calls to previous prospects and clients each summer time.

Even when you do not have the extra cash to do that, give you low-cost or no-cost methods to succeed in out to prospects extra and unfold consciousness of your model. This might be public relations, extra posts on social media, e-mail blasts or increased telephone name quotas for gross sales reps if enterprise is slower they usually have extra free time.

By the point summer time is in full swing, it is best to have a great deal of results in pursue and much more gross sales to shut. This can get you thru the lull till October comes together with the traditional circulation of purchases.

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3. Re-ignite previous clients and outdated leads with new provides and retargeting

Acquiring new results in get you thru the summer time droop is essential, however remember about different alternatives to extend income, like bringing again clients for a second purchase and revisiting outdated leads that by no means bought from you.

For the contacts who’ve been sitting in your CRM for years and have nonetheless by no means purchased a service or product, create an inventory and ship them a particular supply within the mail to encourage a response. These mailings will be automated by way of a direct mail API connection. Whether or not you employ SalesForce, Zoho or different CRM platform, an API connection that automates these mailings will prevent money and time.

Do not assume these old contacts are a waste of sources. I’ve had prospects in my database that did not reply to our postcards and emails for years after which they lastly made the choice to succeed in out and begin advertising and marketing companies with us. I am glad we by no means gave up!

For the shoppers who have not purchased something shortly, section them into separate lists, equivalent to: have not purchased in a single month, six months or a yr. Then, add them to particular e-mail funnels and mail them postcards with an unique low cost code solely out there to present clients. In case you are an ecommerce enterprise, do one other advertising and marketing marketing campaign that targets individuals who abandoned their online shopping carts. A QR code on the mailer will make it straightforward for them to hop again into your web site and full the acquisition.

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Moreover implementing all of those techniques, you may as well use the additional time throughout the summer time slowdown to plan out the advertising and marketing for the remainder of the yr. The final quarter, very similar to a soccer sport, is all the time probably the most intense, so make investments some consideration on the right way to finish the yr sturdy. With all that further money coming in, you might simply find yourself rewarding your self with a margarita poolside.