With Christmas and the school holidays fast approaching, many businesses around Australia will either be be flat out, or very quiet period with little sales. We look at how to manage your business’ seasonal fluctuations and how to manage your cash flow during these ups and downs.
WHAT ARE SEASONAL BUSINESSES?
Seasonal businesses are determined by a number of triggers, such as Christmas, school holidays, summer and winter, and the end of the financial year. During these periods some business will be busy and some quite
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE BUSY ?
Christmas is a really busy time for most businesses. Retail and tourism are booming, builders and painters are completing renovations in the lead up to Christmas, mechanics are getting cars ready for summer holidays.
To make the most of the festive season, it’s important to be prepared, so consider the following:
- Make sure you have plenty of stock to carry you through this period. You can’t sell off empty shelves. A good way to work out how much stock will be enough is to review your stock levels and sales from last year’s holiday season.
- Some of your suppliers may shut down for a period over Christmas and New Year period, so find out when they’re available to deliver stock, and if necessary contact other suppliers to see if they are able to help plug any gaps.
- It can be a stressful time for your staff, so offer them a quick refresher in providing a great customer experience.
- Make sure your Christmas roster is prepared well in advance, so you can maximise your staff resources and cope with the increase in demand. Another reason why it’s good to give your staff plenty of notice and options of the roster over the Christmas period, as they’ll likely want to take time off to be with their family.
WHAT TO DO WHEN IT’S QUIET
Use that off-season time to plan, so that you can hit the ground running when the busy season kicks off. There are some really productive ways to put that quiet time to use:
- Get your budget sorted out. If you need cash from the busy period to carry you through the quiet time, budget accordingly. More on this here.
- Give your business a facelift – if you have a retail business there’s nothing like a lick of paint and some new signage to freshen things up.
- Start organising the staff you’re going to need so you’ve got enough time to train your new employees and you’re ready to roll as soon as business picks up.
- Consider some professional development. If there are courses you could take to give you an edge in your business, such as our “Build a Better Business” program or “Turn Your Ideas Into Reality“ , take advantage of the quiet time to hone your skills.
- Review your Marketing plan and or Business Plan, make sure your website and other advertising materials are up-to-date. Join our “Planning Day” on January 15th 2016
- And of course, take time to put your feet up and enjoy the quiet period – after a busy season, you deserve it.
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