For a lot of my clients, the last month or two has seen a big dip in sales. There’s reasons for this, and trust me, you are going to be fine.
The economy is going to be fine.
Sales are going to be fine.
E-commerce has cycles and season, like any business.
However, I’ve started 7 companies, and I know how tough it is over the school holidays, when you should be relaxing with your families, and you are refreshing Shopify every hour to check your sales.
I know what it feels like to have your family and partner question why you are even trying to build a brand.
Lying in bed at night worrying about paying bills.
Having to post stuff on social media every day but then not seeing new sales come in. Or worse, getting them to your website and they don’t convert to sales. Having a room full of product you want to sell, but not enough customers to buy them.
This has also been me in the past.
But I’ve also overcome this and grown my sales into two x multi-million dollar brands, and a few more 5 and 6 figure brands.
So what did I do differently? And what can you be doing right now?
I deeply connected with my customers, including behind the scenes. Never underestimate that when sales slow, it doesn’t mean that your clients are not still watching your brand and social media. Don’t go quiet, or slow down. Build your presence, and let them see you and decide they want to buy from you (when they are ready).
I owned my customer journey. I knew exactly who my ideal customer was, and what language they used, when they purchased and what their problem was. I also knew they would buy when they needed my products and it was my job to keep nurturing them until then.
I sold them a product they needed, at a price point they could afford, and made it super easy for them to buy. I like to call it “give them all the yes options”. In this quieter time, work on your website flows so that from landing on the website it’s super simple for them to click a CTA button (a yes button) and then another and then another. A few clicks of yes buttons and they have paid. Make it easy!!!!
Once I had that customer, I treated them like gold. I thanked them, communicated with them regularly, asked them for reviews, remembered to sell them more product through automated emails and promotions.
You have to grow a “never give up, literally ever” attitude. You have to be tough and courageous to insist on growing this into something profitable. The brands that have grown into profitable businesses are those that have high achieving, driven owners at the helm.
Make sure you have a multi-channel marketing approach. The stats show that sales go up by 35% for each extra channel to market you have. How many different places can your customers find you? If it’s only your website and nowhere else, what else can you be adding?
And most importantly, I always looked to see who else could help me to improve, from a coach or mentor, or a successful business owner, so that I didn’t have to sit at home and figure it out on my own (or wing it – which almost never works!!!). Ask, ask, ask!!!!
So firstly, give yourself a pat on the back for being courageous and committed to your business, make yourself a coffee, get some blank paper and think about the points I’ve outlined above. How can you get clearer on your own business? Write a really clear strategy with action points!!