Most businesses experience what I like to call Sales Waves; They refer to quiet times, busy times and then every 7th wave that causes chaos as your peak or quiet season comes and goes throughout the year. If you have one of these businesses then staying on top of things when you are too busy and getting by when you are quiet is an art that must be mastered. We’ve found that many of our clients oftentimes struggle with this and because this is something that we specialise in, we’d like to share a few tips and tricks with you.

When business is booming you suddenly have too much work, not enough staff and no one is getting to anything because the days are too short.

Sounds familiar? In reality, you probably have enough time and staff, they can just be managed more effectively.

How to manage your time and staff most efficiently in January to kick-start your year:

• Take an hour and sit with your team to determine which of the projects that they are currently working on, can be delayed until your busiest time has passed. This frees up time for staff to focus on immediate things like an influx of sales.
• Find suppliers that offer flexibility depending on how your business is doing. WAPPoint’s clients benefit from the freedom to upgrade, downgrade, add terminals and return terminals as their seasons come and go. This ensures that the merchant always has the most profitable and valuable option available to them.
• Also, make sure that your suppliers can help you stock up on short notice. Many of WAPPoint’s merchants give us as little as a day’s notice, sometimes less, for an additional debit and credit card terminal and we always deliver!
• Team building and staff happiness is most important during these times. If your team is overworked and overstressed they will begin to underperform. Keep them happy emotionally and they will keep you happy financially. Look into fun that can be had in the office/store that will boost your office/store’s morale without taking away too much time from the job.
• Divide your staff into teams. One team focuses purely on sales whilst other teams focus purely on sales admin, logistics etc. Only when one team is struggling to cope, are staff from other teams allowed to assist. Carefully determine who is vital to the running of the business at that moment and keep them where they belong. Staff/Teams that can afford to lose a few hours or a day to help out somewhere else are encouraged to do so.
• Most importantly, and never ever forget this one; SAVE! The extra income that you’ve earned during your peak season will have to carry your business through the quiet times. Carefully work with your money and diligently consider expenses during this time.
• With more sales orders come more late payments and when you’re busy, nobody has time to follow up on payments resulting in lost sales. Speed up your payment process and put our MasterPass Terminal in a hyperlink on your invoices to get instant credit card payments!

Now that you’ve got a little bit of advice for the busy times, what are you supposed to do when it’s dead quiet?

• The things that you never get to! Tackle your to-do list and give staff the opportunity to prove their strengths to you by letting them work on some of your projects. Guide and teach them during this time to be your top employees.
• Remember your flexible suppliers? Return what you don’t need and save money! Better yet, convert your debit and credit card facility to one of our most affordable options like the Pocket Pro or MasterPass Snap-&-Pay System. Many of WAPPoint’s clients literally only trade for a few months every year and we are very happy to suspend and re-activate contracts as and when needed.
• Check out the latest buying trends. eCommerce has turned into a multi-billion Dollar business over recent years and WAPPoint offers merchants a wide variety of 3D Secure eCommerce Payment Gateways that plug into your website hassle-free.
• Network and catch up with your client base. Since the implementation of the WAPPoint Account Management department, we have been able to successfully help our clients grow their businesses and increase their turnover and profits. Your clients are humans and want to be treated as such.
• Have you ever considered creating a social media page or 2 and investing in paid marketing? If not, you definitely should. Paid marketing doesn’t have to be expensive so it’s perfect for quiet times and most of the world is using some form or another of social media so it’s a great marketing platform that will definitely boost business.