Hello, welcome back to a slice of success big business book podcast.
Hope you' had a good week Have you been busy Be been doing a lot of cakes I've been busy with cakes this week not wearing cakes or celebration cakes, but actually cake samples, so had about four boxes go out in the last few days, got another box going out tomorrow so busy busy for me baking, which has been lovely because I've been obviously really focused on the cake business academy so doing lots of courses and and that kind of thing so it's it's really lovely to get back into baking. Wedding seasons coming up and it's it's just really nice to get back to what I started and get back to what I absolutely love.
So I hope you've been busy , but if you haven't and you're having a bit of a slow time at the moment, then this episode I think is going to help you a lot.
It's not a super long episode.
It's a short actionable episode, so I'm gonna give you some ideas and some tips and some tricks to boost your slow periods basically. Um so as I said, it's been relatively slow for me because I've had my focus on the key business academy, so when I'm getting back into cakes and I want to boost all of my orders and and make sure that I'm coming back into my cake page nice and ready to engage my audience and get everything else . These are what I do. Um you know, business, especially keep businesses, they eb and they float.
You know there's there's a Southern Russ of orders and then sometimes it's it's just super quiet and there are times when you're fully booked and there's times when you feel like no one is ordering when that happens, when you start to see the orders dropping and the DMs stop coming through so much, it is really easy to spiral into the thoughts of my business is falling , but people don't like my cakes anymore.
What should I do?
Should I offer discounts to get more orders?
And you're not alone if you think this because I think every single cake maker goes through this at some point.
So today I'm gonna walk you through what I do when business is slow so you can keep the momentum going without panic discounting or without doubting yourself essentially so grab a cup of tea, cup of coffee, and let's get into it.
So before we jump into the solutions, I want you to take a deep breath and zoom out, because slow periods are normal, okay, you might be thinking it's just you, but it really isn't.
They're so normal and there are loads and loads of reasons why your orders might slow down so it could be that there's seasonal changes.
You know, if you're a wedding cake maker , then wedding cake sort of they tend to be slower in the winter birthdays can dip after the holidays, you know, after Christmas, people have have splurged and spent and celebrated.
Then the celebration cakes kind of take a dip after the holidays and it's normal.
These are seasonal changes, you know, you can't avoid them, but you can do things that can that can help imprieve.
Your audience is in a different buying cycle.
Maybe they're looking , but they're not ready to buy.
That could just be it.
There's a lot of people that take the time.
They take the time to look first, and then they need convincing, essentially.
So they could be that they're in the looking phase and they're not ready to book yet.
It could be that you've been posting less on social media, so fewer people are seeing you.
It could be that there's a new cake maker locally who is temporarily grabbing all the attention.
It could be any of these reasons.
It could be other reasons that you know, there's so many reasons why we tend to assume that it's our fault.
It's something that we've done , but usually it's not, so you have to zoom out.
You have to look at the world around you.
It's 199%, not your fault.
The key thing to remember is, it really isn't a reflection on your talent or on your worth.
Business is a long game and slow periods are really just a part of it. So the real question is, what can we do about it?
So before we dive into what you should be doing, I just wanna talk about a couple of the common mistakes that I see cake makers do when business is slow and if you have been thinking at any of these or doing any of these, you know, you alone, we all make these mistakes, but they are mistakes and they're things you should avoid doing, so that's why I'm covering them. So the first mistake that I usually see is the panic discounting and you might be tempted to lower your prices because you think if you offer a discount it's gonna bring in more orders but discounting too much attracts the bargain hunters you don't the bargain hunters you want the ones who value you your work bargain hunters don't value your work.
They just want cheap prices and if you keep discounting that's all you're gonna get another mistake is when you're slow when you have nothing to post you disappear from social media disappearing from Instagram and Facebook is the worst thing you can do because your audience needs to see you consistently so they remember to book you when they're ready so even though you have what you think is nothing to post going silent on social media is a big mistake and the third thing that I see cake makers doing is blaming the market instead of adjusting.
It's really easy to sit there and say, oh, it's fine.
No one's buying right now, but sometimes it's not that people aren't buying . It's that we just need to market it differently.
If you've always done everything the same way and that suddenly stops working, you need to switch it up.
You can't always do the same things because you need to adjust sometimes, um and that seems scary because it's always worked for you doing it a certain way, but sometimes everything changes and you need to market yourself differently.
So we've covered what not today.
Now let's cover what's actually gonna work for you.
So here some like practical things that you can do when business is slow.
So grab yourself if you've got a chance, grab yourself a notebook and write this down because these are really actionable steps when you to take something away from this episode and put it to work if you need to.
So first one is to focus on visibility, which essentially means show up more, not less.
If there are fewer inquiries coming in , your priority should be getting in front of more people.
That means posting more to social media.
Post more behind the scenes content show your process, show your past work, share some cake tips, go live on Instagram Facebook, answer frequently ask questions, talk about your design process.
Do a cake Q&A engage with your audience.
You know, go and comment on posts, reply to DMs if you sort of let that slip.
Start conversations in your stories.
You want people to see you and remember you, and even though you may not have any particular cake orders to talk about or to show off , you cannot just run away from social media.
You have to stay visible.
Okay, so that that you know, that's probably the the number one tip, I would say, out of all of these, that is number one. Show up more, not less.
And I see this so, so often. Um Kate makes to say well, I've got nothing to post . But actually, you probably do.
You probably do.
You will have content that you just haven't posted.
It would be things like posting a testimonial from a past cake.
It could be posting.
It could just be going and repurposing an old image you know customers don't remember what they saw six months ago repost the same cake just give it a new caption just because you don't have something new to post doesn't mean you don't have anything to post and remember get into your stories get into your Instagram and Facebook stories because that's where the connections are made . OK so number two on the practical things that you can do, run a limited time offer without discounting.
OK, so I told you the biggest mistake is discounting. Run a limited time offer that doesn't involve discounting your prices.
So it's instead of slashing your prices, try adding something so if somebody's books a cake in the next three weeks, you offer a free upgrade, like some cupcakes or instead of a six inch, they get a 7 inch for free.
You're not reducing your prices, you are giving them something extra . Everybody likes getting something extra.
They see them value in it.
So offer a free upgrade for bookings that are made within like a certain time frame.
You know, if anybody who books a cake before the end of March gets six free cupcakes with their order, it's really simple.
You could also have a like a feature cake design that you love and you can offer a set price on a certain cake design.
So rather than like reducing the price of the cake, pick a design that you've done in the past that it's really easy to whip out and set a certain price and say this cake for a limited time over only you can get this exact cake for this price . That's you know, it's it's not so much a custom cake anymore, but it is like ready to buy kind of cake.
They tell me, I can make this cake for you.
They don't get any they don't get any choice to change anything.
It is what it is, but it's a really quick, simple win for the customer because they'll go, that's a really nice cake.
I'll have that rather than sitting there and go well, I need a cake for my friend's birthday.
I don't quite know what they like and you know, they have to think about it and for Effin into it.
This way they' only need to put the effort.
It's just right there for them.
So it creates urgency without devaluing your work.
Number three connect with past customers your best customers are the ones who have already bought from you.
You K asend like a check in message and say hey I love making your cake last year.
I know that you know it's coming up to the next birthday or it's coming up to your anniversary.
I love making your cake and you know if you've got any upcoming celebrations, I'd love to create something special for you.
Don't feel like you are pestering them.
You know you're doing it once a year if it's something like a birthday or an anniversary , you just drop them a note saying I made your cake for your son's birthday last year.
If you're looking for a cake this year, I am available or I would love to help how, you know, if you've got email addresses, you can email them and if not, you can pop it on social media.
It doesn't matter.
Don't be scared to reach out to customers.
So I have already mentioned this one already so you can supposed to throw back a photo as a previous cake, and when you do that, make sure you tag the person who received the cake because it reminds them of the time you created their cake for you.
Their friends get to see it too.
They may share that on their social media saying oh my God I remember this cake.
It was absolutely amazing.
All of their friends see it.
They recommend you boom you've got loads of orders.
OK so don't be afraid to post through back photos.
I will say don't post a photo and say throw back Thursday and that' be it.
You've got you've still got it like put some emotion into that caption and I'm gonna do a whole other episode on captions, but pick a photo from last year as long as you remember who had that cake, you probably should have their details written down somewhere.
So go on social media, post the picture, say, I made this cake for, make sure you tag them in the photo . They had this beautiful cake.
I absolutely loved making it and I hope to make many more in the future something like that. That person's like yes, this cake was amazing.
I'd forgotten about this cake.
I need you to make the next one . Do you see how simple it really is?
Okay, and number four, update your portfolio and refresh your content.
Okay, so a slow period when you've got nothing to make is a really great time to do sort of admini work.
I'm not talking about like your finances or your your accounts or anything like that.
I'm talking about stuff that is is gonna help you get more orders.
So take new fo cake photos, create dummy cakes, go through your cake images and choose the best ones and put them into a little folder that you can reuse . Create the dummy cakes, take lotss of photos, you know, even if it's birthday cakes, create a dummy birthday cake.
You I think most people think that dummy cakes are reserved for weddings.
That's absolutely not the case . What if you want to practice a new skill?
Okay.
Having no sort of orders coming in, I can just sit there and twitter off thumbs, watch a bit of TV, do some housework.
But what if you could learn a new scale?
Is there something that you've been wanting to try out for so long and just haven't had the chance?
Well, now is your chance?
Get a dummy cake and decorate it using your new skill . Practice, then take the photos, then you've got new content, haven't you?
You've created And then refresh all your websites and your Instagram highlights and then you've got content to post for a little while longer. And the orders are gonna start coming in again you so that's all you need.
It's like a fill the gap kind of thing.
You can write new captions and schedule posts, so you stay visible.
Instead of just waking up in the morning, thinking, oh, I don't know what to post today. Take an hour on a Sunday or a Monday or Tuesday. Or whatever whatever day of the week is best for you and write out some captions.
The captions obviously, they're the bits of text that go on the photos and videos on social media, and your captions are so important . They are so important.
It's how the algorithm ranks your stuff.
Okay?
So you need to be really sure about what you're writing.
It has to resonate with people.
It has to be emotional, it has tooke something for the reader.
So you're gonna batch create and then you're gonna schedule.
If you've got nothing to do, create your social media posts for the next week . Another thing to do is, work on your website or your branding.s the last time you updated your website?
When was the last time you went through the images on your website and updated them to new designs?
Do you still have images on there from last year that you really didn't wanna make any more?
How's your style changed?
Has the trends changed and something that seemed just a little bit outdated?
Maybe you want to update your branding?
Maybe you're pink cupcake logo doesn't match you making elegant cakes rather than cupcakes you know that does it ever does it all match still?
Look at it.
This is the time peak the time to work on your business You can share testimonials, social proof, put screenshots of messages from happy customers.
You know, if you don't have images of cakes to post, then you can post testimonials . Educate audience share like how to order posts, um how to look after your cakes.
Any questions that people that do you deliver, explain to people their delivery process.
Make it easy for people to book with you just because you don't have any cakes right now doesn't mean you don't have anything to say that this is the number one mistake that I see is people running away from social media and it's not on purpose.
It's because they really don't think they have anything to post but when you run away from social media because you've got nothing to post, your customs can't find you to order and you are in a perpetuating cycle of got nothing to post people can't find you.
People don't order. People don't order.
I've got nothing to post so I've got nothing to show. And you see how it goes round and round and round you have to stay updated on your social media post more often than you normally would because you want people to remember you . I know that the slow periods can be really stressful, but they don't last forever.
So one thing that helps me is keeping a confidence board so this is a place where I pin my thank you notes, any screenshots I've got, any kind messages, cakes I'm really proud of so I actually have mine in my office, in my home.
I have my thank you cards.
I've got some postcards with the images of the cakes and the lovely words on the back.
I have on my phone.
I've got a folder dedicated to the photos of the screenshots I've taken with the like lovely messages because I'm gonna use them again.
I'm gonna use those messages for future content on my social media when I don't have a cake to post so do that go through all your posts, look at all the comments, take screenshots of all the lovely ideas.
If you've received any thank you cards through the post, go through them, take photos, put them up on your board and have this confidence board.
You know, if I'm having a really tough day, I just look at the board and it reminds me why I love what I do and if you don't have one of these boards, start one OK, and and and have that, you know, happy customer testimonials folder on your phone with the positive messages because it not only helps when you've got you know, you the feeling of it down.
It helps you to go through that, but it also gives you the content to postal on social media . Most importantly, just keep showing up, even if the orders are slow now, the effort that you put in today will bring in the bookings in weeks and months ahead. All right let's do a quick recap so if this is slow, don't panic discount don't disappear stay visible. Use a value based offer instead of lowering your prices so instead of lowering your prices, give them something extra.
Not a huge thing.op a cupcakes, doesn't have to be big.
Reach out to past customers and engage moral on social media.
Use this time to refresh your content or your portfolio, your website, The most importantly stay confident. Slow periods are temporary If this episode has helped you, I would love to hear from you so screenshot that you are listening to me, posted on Instagram and hag me at the cake Business Academy, drop me a DM.
I always love love love chatting with you.
Um Bef before I go, I wanted to let you know that I am running a four day free, completely free minic course on digital c cake sketching. Minic course starts on the 30 March.
They are live lessons inside a private face Facebook group.
7 PM each day, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday where I'm gonna teach you digital cake sketching OK so it is completely free.
I would love for you to join me so if it's something that you've been seeing around social media and you want to try, maybe you've tried it and it's been too difficult.
You couldn't quite get your head around it . Then this is really is for you.
I will leave the link to sign up in the show notes, so go ahead and join us.
It's completely free.
You know, all you've got to do is join live.
There are gonna be surprises too, so for anybody who joins live, there are gonna be some prizes for you.
So, you know, even better incentive to come along and learn how to digitly sketchakes.
So, thank you for listening, until next time, keep showing up, keep believing in yourself, and remember your business is growing, even on the slow days . See you next week.
