Partner Article

How to boost creativity in a seasonal business structure

Seasonality can be a real challenge for businesses. It is never ideal to have month-long or even week-long periods where business is slow or non-existent. As business gurus are fond of saying, however, challenges can also be thought of as opportunities. With a little creativity, a seasonal business can prepare for peaks and valleys and even expand to fill the gaps.

Below, we look at the top tips CEOs and directors have for boosting creativity in a seasonal business.

Use down time to focus on creative ideas.

Creativity is a muscle, and it benefits from use. Instead of using down time to simply prepare for other rushes, use it to hone your business’s and employees’ creativity. Jennie Rutterworth, creative director of personalised greeting card company TheDogsDoodahs.com, knows a thing or two about seasonality and creativity. With this company, getting creative is the difference between standing out and getting lost in the crowd.

She said, “our company has a very relaxed atmosphere where we can embrace new directions and bounce ideas around a dedicated team. Our card writers compete with each other and the 30 year back catalogue. Once the joke works, we have our own in-house design team to develop the product ready for sale. Then of course the website comes with it’s own demands. We get a lot of feedback from customers, so it’s a rapidly changing and highly reactive environment. It keeps us bouncing ideas, responding to each other and our customers and constantly improving.”

Anticipate problems and plan more solutions than you could need.

The same issues seem to pop up around the same time of year. Get a head start on them by thinking creatively about solutions in quieter months. Start by not saying ‘no’ to any solution. Then throw the bad ones away. What you’re left with are creative ideas that can bring some much needed innovation to your business.

Jonathan Warren, director of bedroom furniture retailer Time4Sleep, has several methods for meeting regular winter demands. First, he stocks up in the quiet times, then the company works out forecasts for what is likely to sell well in the future. Finally – and perhaps most creatively – he guarantees workers time off at the end of November and all of December. “To respond to this demand, we work with our colleagues and we have an agreement that we have a closed period for holidays during the month of November and in the run up to Christmas,” he has said. “We often find that our existing colleagues are happy to work additional hours in order to increase their earnings prior to Christmas.”

Think about creative ways to draw in business in the ’off’ seasons.

Off season is only off because businesses aren’t thinking broadly about what they could be selling. Instead of having half your staff either off or sitting around doing nothing, try expanding into a market that is related to your own. That is what James Lambert, CEO of R&R Ice Cream, did. His company thought more broadly about what they could sell, and they landed on an ice cream that sells best in the middle of winter.

“Seasonality isn’t necessarily a bad thing, you just have to manage it in line with your own strengths,” he has said. “What we’ve tried to do is reduce the effect of seasonality and optimise our sales. We do this by trying to pre-empt what our retailers and customers want. Our recently developed Skinny Cow range is a good example of this, as low-fat ice cream sells particularly well in January. While you can sell anything when it’s 85 degrees outside, in winter you have to be clever.”

Boosting creativity in a seasonal business is not just a way to innovate, then. It is a way to ensure your business has a steady cash flow, an energised work force and an almost unending supply of creativity. From marketing to sales and web development, creativity can enhance all parts of your business and push your employees to ever greater heights.

In fact, about the only part of your business you don’t want being too creative is accounts.

To learn more about TheDogsDoodahs.com and how the business works you can read about them here.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jennie Rutterworth .