From Slump to Success: How to Dominate your Shoulder Season (part 1)

Shoulder season? Use this time to supercharge your business!

Here are some ideas to bridge those shoulder seasons with profitable and proactive activities to keep morale high, and the cash register ringing.

• Take some training to sharpen your skills while the rush is off.
  • Not online training – in person training where you meet people, interact with the instructors and fellow students. Stay for lunch, that’s where 50% of the learning can take place.
  • Earn a certificate from a college, professional organization, or a manufacturer that you represent, post it in your social feed, on your website, LinkedIn and office wall.
•  Have a company retreat to stimulate new ideas and enhance team communications.
  • Suggested Guidelines
  • Take everyone!! Take your sales team, the marketing team, administrators, accounting, customer service, and management, to connect everyone again, discover efficiencies, have fun, and do some brainstorming.
  • Some tips for an offsite weekend retreat:
  • Tip: Don’t invite significant others, but do invite them to the windup lunch on Sunday.
  • Book a location within 90 minutes drive from your office.
  • Start Friday at noon, and leave Sunday at noon.
    • Friday: check in, review the agenda, team building, and dinner.
    • Saturday 9 – noon: brainstorming, a 2-3 hour outdoor activity, then dinner at the pub!
    • Sunday: a quick summary of the brainstorming (be sure to list some action items), post some pics on your social feeds, then have a casual windup lunch, then head home.
• Have a personal retreat to organize your calendar.
  • When is the last time YOU got off the treadmill and planned out your calendar for the year?
  • What does your ideal:
    • Day
    • Week
    • Month
    • Quarter
    • Six months
    • Year
  • Look like for you? (Note to self: include a holiday or two!!)
  • Write it down on a whiteboard and update your calendar.
• Develop your marketing and sales plan with EVERYONE in the office
  • Take time to ensure that your staff knows what you are selling, who to sell it to, and how to spot an opportunity.
  • Define your ideal customer, so you know what your messaging is, and how to recognize them.
  • Ensure your team knows how to:
    • Have an effective conversation to engage a shopper. (Role play!! Yeah baby, yeah!!)
    • Handle the 5 most common objections from customers.
    • Get contact information so you can follow up.
  • Review your key marketing and sales strategies, to get valuable feedback from your team, customers and stakeholders to ensure that you get their brainpower to make it better.

Agree/disagree?
Not sure how to get started?

Reach out to me at via our Contact Page and we can set up a meeting to discuss some ideas to supercharge your shoulder season. My specialty is in digital marketing, but I love thinking out of the box to generate ideas to promote your business. Our digital marketing roadmap is a toolkit that works for franchises or independent small businesses without blowing out your bank account. Pick and choose what works for you and see the results come in.

Thanks for reading this far, see you in the next blog!!

Promotionally yours,

Blair Shunk,
Founder, Unrivald Digital