When sales are declining, this is the time when the Managing Director usually requests the marketing team to dial back on their promotions to rein in spending.
Depending on whether it’s the marketing approach or the product/service that’s the cause of the sales decline or a broader economic problem, this may hamper the marketing team’s ability to drum up new sales.
In this article, we address this issue head-on to see what can be done about it.
What is the Cause of the Sales Decline?
Getting to the bottom of the reason for the sales decline is very important when there’s been a significant drop. One failure of management is either in not properly examining the data, asking questions or surveying buyers and people who declined to make a purchase.
When asking the hard questions, you can discover what’s been going on. Only when getting this kind of business data can it be reasonably determined what the cause might be.
It’s also necessary to look at customer satisfaction data leading up to and at the point of the sales decline. What are customers unhappy about?
Has there been a write-up about the company that was overly negative or critical about a product or service that’s now not selling as well?
If a previously best-selling product is sold on a third-party e-commerce platform like eBay or Amazon, is there a negative review that’s not been spotted before which is causing people to abandon their shopping basket before completing the purchase?
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How Can the Issues Be Addressed?
Once the causes have been identified, it’s necessary to address them.
There are different approaches that can be taken. Sometimes, a business will issue a press release trying to sidestep the issue or appoint blame elsewhere. This is rarely convincing to disgruntled customers.
It’s far better to take the honest approach by acknowledging the issue and confirming what the company has changed to resolve it.
Approaching the problem from an honest perspective is appreciated by customers who respect the brand for taking full responsibility.
How to Deal with a Recession-Linked Sales Decline
With sales declines that are related to the economy, there are different approaches that can be taken.
The most common one is to tuck the tail between their legs and reduce marketing spend. This is accepting the reality and not trying to work around it.
Another approach is to accept that customers need more persuading to make a purchase and to market just as much or more than before. While other brands merrily cut back on their marketing, even the same marketing budget is going to garner more attention than before and likely lead to a great market share.
Funding Marketing Campaigns in the Face of Cutbacks
In the face of management that don’t wish to spend as much on marketing, the best way to convince them is to organise spending cutbacks. These cutbacks can free up money previously spent in other areas which can be funnelled back into the marketing budget.
For instance, look to get a cheaper business electricity supply by using Utility Bidder which can provide online quotes. These price quotes are comparable to the existing billing to see how much money can be saved.
Look at all expenditures top to bottom to see whether cuts or renegotiations can save the company money this year.
When approaching sales declines in a pragmatic way, it’s possible to eventually come out ahead. This is far better than the Ostrich syndrome of sticking the company’s head in the sand and hoping the problem magically resolves itself.
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— Will Corry (@slievemore) May 3, 2019