It’s the End of the Year As We Know It: Breaking the End-of-the-Year Business Slump

It is the month of October. The days are suddenly becoming shorter, the darkness is encroaching, and the greatest terror to your business is right around the corner. 

No, it isn’t a terrifying monster that you’d see in the myriad horror movies being played on television throughout the month; rather, it is the dreaded end-of-the-year business slump. For many B2C brands, the holidays can drive massive revenue, but B2B-centric businesses and service-oriented companies aren’t quite so lucky. Many decision-makers and sales points of contact are out of office taking extended leave during the holidays. Plus, many prospects and clients are most likely marking off their end of the year checklists. This will, in turn, affect profits as everyone is much harder to reach and time is precious.

However, the holidays don’t have to be a low profit-driven time for B2B businesses, and we at VIPRE Security have assembled some surefire ways to improve your business and accelerate growth during the end of the year.

1. Share in Success, Thank Customers, and Build Long-Term Loyalty

The end of the year is a festive and celebratory season for celebrating the prior year’s successes with your staff. However, don’t forget the key reason you get to celebrate any success: your customers! Without them you wouldn’t have any successes whatsoever.

Build out specific ways to engage your customers and celebrate with them. By engaging them in non-sales-related activities you can delight your customers while creating stronger loyalty, which will lead to potentially greater lifetime value.

2. Get a Head Start on Planning for the New Year

While you may spend less time talking with your customers during the holiday season, you have a unique opportunity to work on improving your business and preparing for the new year. Take the extra time to evaluate the prior year, take what you’ve learned, and use it to build better strategies and plans for the upcoming year.

With the new year right around the corner you have a unique opportunity to launch a new theme and campaigns to guide your overarching marketing efforts for the upcoming fiscal year. Build out your marketing and PR plans so all efforts are coordinated and synced with your sales team’s strategies for maximum effectiveness and impact.

Another key area to invest time in during the holiday season is your customer experience. Find the pain points for your customers with your business through survey research and sales conversations. This data will allow you to refine your customer experience and remove friction in the buying process to help customers have a more enjoyable sales experience with your company.

3. Invest in Your Team and Their Tools

Your team is only as good as the training it receives, so use the extra time available to invest in education and training to better serve your customer base. Additionally, while evaluating your successes from the past year, it is beneficial to evaluate the tools your team is using. Ask them what is working, what is not, and what new tools/solutions on the market may benefit the team in the future.

Conclusion

As the end of the year approaches there are numerous ways to not only accelerate profits, but also improve upon your existing business practices. The biggest recommendation we can give you is to be creative and innovative as you approach the end of the year. Take risks and test out some of your more inventive ideas and potential new solutions. It’s a great time to attempt these types of ideas.

This guest blog is part of a Channel Futures sponsorship.