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Experiencing a sudden and significant drop in sales can be a distressing ordeal for any business owner. When faced with this challenging situation, it is crucial to act swiftly and decisively to diagnose the root causes and implement effective solutions. By understanding the reasons behind the decline in sales, businesses can make informed decisions and deploy targeted measures to reinvigorate growth and reclaim their competitive edge.
Below, 10 Rolling Stone Culture Council members explore essential steps to troubleshoot sales slumps, enabling businesses to identify underlying issues and devise strategies to reverse any downward trends.
Talk to the Sales Team
Talk to your sales team to learn what they’re hearing from current and potential customers. Then talk to some of your customers to find out what’s impacting their businesses. Once you have taken these steps, focus on strengthening your trust with your sales team and your customers. Additionally, focus on better training for your salespeople and adapt what you’re offering to address the current marketplace. – Joe Hart, Dale Carnegie & Associates
Delve into Your Data
When sales start to decline, the initial step should be to delve into your data. Analyze sales trends, customer behavior and market conditions to identify potential causes. It could be anything from a new competitor to changes in customer needs. Understanding the “why” behind the drop enables your business to develop an informed, targeted strategy to regain momentum. – Tim Haldorsson, Lunar Strategy
Assess, Analyze and Address
Follow the AAA formula: assess, analyze and address. An assessment can lead to you discovering issues. Then, analyzing the data discovered can lead to diagnosing an actionable plan to address declined sales. – Sonia Singh, Center of Inner Transformations
Adjust to Current Events
I think about what major event in the world is going on that may affect sales, then adjust. Depending on that event, the messaging — or use of the product — would be different. – Susan Johnston, New Media Film Festival®
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Look at the Full Picture and Regain Momentum
Since no single thing will give you the full picture, you need to reassess your target audience, analyze the competitive landscape, evaluate your brand perception and review your marketing strategies to identify the underlying causes for the decline. This approach ensures that you can develop an agile plan to address the issues and regain momentum in driving sales. – Harrison Wise, Wise Collective Inc.
Reassure Your Teams
When a sales decline occurs, the first step is to triage — spend personal time reassuring your internal and external teams, and glean valuable insight from what has plagued them. The second step is to do a deep dive into any potential issues across your organization. Once you have this information, the third step is to speak to your customers to determine where and why the breakdown occurred. – Evan Rubinson, Dean Guitars
Utilize Social Listening and Search Listening
I look for complaints in reviews as well as comments about trade-offs like, “I replaced brand X with brand Y.” I supplement this by analyzing search trends in Google Trends and AnswerThePublic. Searching incomplete sentences like, “brand X or…” and “brand X is…” shows what people are thinking and searching by the auto-populated suggestions. – Sarah DaVanzo, Pierre Fabre
Reevaluate Your Pricing Model
In today’s creator economy, the competition you didn’t have yesterday may leap to the fore today and change your audience’s understanding of what is available to them and for how much. Perceived value for cost cannot be underestimated. Sales falter when math is done on ROI only and pricing based from there — in a silo — rather than the current market totality. – Cate Rubenstein
Look for Patterns and Trends
Analyzing sales data allows you to identify patterns and trends that may influence the decline in sales. Look for significant changes in customer behavior, market conditions or the competitive landscape that could impact your sales performance. By understanding the underlying causes, you can develop targeted solutions to address them. – Kristin Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
Seek Customer Feedback
We reach out to customers — both existing and lost — to gather feedback about their experiences, preferences and reasons for their purchasing decisions. This is done through surveys, interviews or online reviews. I found that understanding our customers’ perspectives provides valuable insights into potential issues and areas for improvement. – Billy Carson, 4biddenknowledge Inc.
