Chances are, your business has just finished up with its busiest season of the year- Christmas. For many companies, it’s all ‘go go go’ over the festive period, followed swiftly by a slump where fewer customers are shopping, leading to a temporary drop in profits (and perhaps lower morale in general in your team due to post-holiday blues). Ups and downs are to be expected in most businesses, retail is an obvious example of a sector that will experience lower sales in January but the holiday season can impact even those that aren’t directly related to customer sales.
Here are some ways to pick back up this January and make 2023 a great year.
Uplift your team
Your team might be fantastic workers, but they’re still human beings. We’ve all experienced the post-Christmas blues when it comes to returning to work, and regardless of how much they enjoy their job, it usually doesn’t mean they’re immune from this. Take this into account as the boss and do what you can to provide a positive and uplifting environment to work from in the new year. You could go over last year’s successes and set up fun team-building activities or introduce perks to boost everyone. Happy employees will work harder for you and feel more satisfied within their roles, which benefits everyone.
Set new goals
Like you probably set new year’s resolutions for yourself, why not do the same for your business? Based on past performance, you can set realistic goals for the twelve months ahead and then work out what you need to do to achieve each. It can help to give you focus, get motivated and make positive changes that will get your business to where you want it to be. Perhaps you want to outsource less and do more in-house? Maybe you want to improve your company’s blog or social media pages? Perhaps you want to go to your first trade exhibition or set up your company’s first event. Whatever it is, note it down and work on achieving these goals.
Get organized
If you’re a small or newer business, the lack of cash flow in the early months of the year might feel a bit stressful. It’s important to be organized; if you’re in a business that tends to sell well over Christmas, then it’s reasonable to expect a slump later on, so prepare for that. Ensure you have enough funds to cover everything when profits are smaller so everything can continue ticking over. Utilise rich media analytics and software that can help you understand your financial and sales information at a glance so it’s easier to see what you need to do going forward.
Do you run a business in a sector that is experiencing a post- Christmas slump? What kind of things do you do in the new year to get back on track?
