How to Bolster Your Busy Season

Every business experiences seasonal peaks and valleys throughout the year. It may seem natural to some to spend marketing dollars during the off-season to increase sales, but what about when business is booming? How much better could the peak be with the appropriate resources? Proper planning will help your organization make the lows easier and the highs higher.

Pull out the stops. Having a greater pool of resources at your fingertips when business starts picking up will put you ahead of the pack: well-designed and targeted promotions, dealer incentives, and smooth running facilities all working together when things start picking up will differentiate you from the competition. Limit spending when things are slow so you can pull out all the stops in the busy season.

Leverage the downtime. Planning is sometimes easier said than done, but it is probably not the best time to plan for the future while things are busy. Instead, use the slow season to review your existing customer base, their needs, and the unique value proposition you offer. Build relationships, find ways to make it easier to do business by leveraging the power of the web, and when things pick up, the research you performed on your customer base can help you gain a more significant share of the pie.

Keep folks busy. Having sleek, agile, up-to-date tools and procedures will help you deliver the best, most glitch-free service (or ordering process) you can when things are busy. Use the slow season to switch out your systems and train to use them. Evaluating and purchasing during the down season will mean that vendors are more likely to make concessions to win your business (see a previous article here about this same strategy. Additionally, if you use downtime to work on back-burner projects, you’ll improve the company so that things run smoothly when you’re busy. Taking the time to refine your processes will set you head and shoulders above the competition.

The holiday season is an excellent example of one year’s busiest freight shipping times as retail businesses stock up for shoppers. If you couldn’t put plans and procedures in place during this year’s downtime, CSA is ready to help you pick up the slack! As trucking logistics professionals with vast experience in LTL freight to big-box retailers, we welcome the opportunity to help distribute your goods through our on-time and worry-free network system. Get started by requesting a freight quote today.

For further insight on how to get ready for the dynamic surge, check out more great entries on the CSA trucking logistics blog.