The tills are busy, the tables are full and every day feels like a good day. Then the season turns. Visitors head home, foot traffic thins out and the same rent, wages and supplier bills arrive on a much quieter month. For seasonal businesses, the quiet months arrive at roughly the same time every year. The owners who get through them comfortably start planning while the money is still coming in.
Know your pattern
Pull your sales for the last 12 months and mark your strongest and weakest months. If you have been trading for longer, go back two or three years. Most seasonal businesses, from holiday accommodation to ice cream shops and garden centres, see the same shape every year, even if the exact dates shift a little.
Your card machine reports and bank statements make this easier than it sounds. Many card machine apps show your sales by day, week and month, so you can see how quiet your quiet months really get. A month that brings in half your peak turnover needs a very different plan to one that only dips by 10%.
Then put your costs next to your sales. Rent, salaries, insurance and subscriptions stay much the same all year, while stock and casual wages can usually flex. The gap between what comes in and what has to go out in your quietest months is the number you are planning for. Once you can see it, you can plan for it.
Get ready while trade is strong
- Build a reserve. Move a set share of every busy month's takings into a separate account.
- Plan stock and staff. Order for the quieter months you expect and agree reduced hours with staff early.
- Talk to suppliers and landlords. Ask about spreading payments over the year before you need to.
- Find off-season income. Specials, local promotions or a new service can bring in money when visitors are fewer.
Use the quiet months well
The slow season gives you something peak trade never does: time. Use it to work on your business rather than in it, so you arrive at the next busy season stronger than you left the last one. Start with your equipment. Book services for fridges, ovens, coffee machines and air conditioning now, when a day of downtime costs you little. A breakdown in the middle of your busiest weekend costs far more than a planned repair in a quiet week.
Next, look at your people and your systems. Train new staff and cross-train your regulars so anyone can step in when it gets busy. Review your menu, product range or prices against what sold well and what did not. Ask your team what slowed them down at peak, such as a cramped layout or a slow till. Then fix it while you have room to.
Finally, refresh your marketing. Update your photos, Google My Business Profile and social pages, build your customer contact list and plan your promotions for the next peak period in advance. Arriving at the next busy season ready means you make the most of every busy day.
Funding that follows your seasons
If your reserve will not stretch far enough, apply for funding before the quiet months start rather than in the middle of them. With a GoTyme Business Advance you pay one fixed fee agreed up front, with no interest. Choose flexible payments linked to your turnover and your payments follow your trading, smaller in a quiet month and larger when trade picks up.
See how a GoTyme Business Advance can work with your seasons.