762. Sales DON’T Have to Slow Down In The Summer. Here’s The Playbook

For the entrepreneur watching your June sales drop and quietly asking yourself if you're the problem, I see you. I've been you, and I want you to hear something before we even start this episode. You're not the problem. June is the problem. July is going to be a similar problem. January is the same problem in a different season, cuz there is a pattern that product businesses have that nobody's really teaching about. And once you see it, you cannot unsee it. And you can finally stop blaming yourself for something that is structural, predictable, and fixable. Today's episode is for the entrepreneur whose candle sales just dropped, or whose Etsy shop is quieter, or whose Shopify dashboard is showing 20 to 40% less than May. So the jewelry orders, if they're not coming in, or whose CPG retailer stopped reordering. Maybe your wholesale buyers stopped emailing you back. You guys are like, oh my God, Jacqueline, really? Well, listen, the point is, is if you feel like your sales have fallen off a cliff right around Memorial Day to Labor Day, you're not alone. And this episode is for you. And by the end of it, you are going to understand exactly why this is happening and the 3 moves that 7-figure product-based business owners are making right now and that you can make too. Let's get into it.

Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder, and this is the Product Boss Podcast. I've helped launch and grow thousands of product-based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists, or food and beverage businesses, I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into successful business, And what are the strategies that they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers? And this is what this show is all about. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to become a million-dollar product boss, I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy, and support, and you too can be the next million-dollar product boss. Let's do this.

Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder, and I help product-based business owners build the 7-figure brand and the life-first business that they actually want. I'm the founder of The Product Boss, and I've launched and consulted over 2,000 brands and mentored more than 100,000 product entrepreneurs here at The Product Boss. And the first thing that I want you to hear is this: the J months, January, June, and July, are the slowest stretch of the product business year. Every product business across categories, across price points, across channels, around the world, this happens, and this is real. It's documented. This is universal, and almost nobody warns new product business owners or even established product business owners about it. So when it hits, and it hits every single year, the entrepreneur panics and blames themselves and either burns out trying to fix it or quietly starts losing faith in the business. And I do not want that to be you. And here is what is actually happening in the consumer market. In January, your customer is recovering. They're recovering from the holidays, from spending, from the family stress, from food, from the credit card statements that just started arriving because that customer bought from you. Uh, if we plan this all right, they bought from you just a couple months ago. Okay? Your customer is starting the New Year resolutions that involve eating better, exercising, paying down debt, none of which translates to buying your candle, your jewelry, your apparel, unless it's fitness-based, your handmade product. Every budget went to the gym, the meal kit subscription, the new running shoes. Her shopping brain is off. But I will say that if your product makes sense with that New Year, New You, right? Maybe it's journaling, calendars, anything fitness, New Year, New You, January will be a busy month for you, okay? So that's the caveat. Now let's get into June. In June, your customer is shifting the school year, right? The school year is ending. And so she's planning vacations, she's putting cash into camps, plane tickets, pool memberships, and summer babysitters. Now I'm gonna reference the customer as she, because the general consumer is a woman. If you sell to men, then let's just swap that out. Okay? But a lot of the, the decisions, consumer behavior is driven by the, the woman that's in the household. Okay? Her household budget gets reallocated at this season and discretionary spending pivoted from things to experiences. So she's not just browsing Etsy unless she's planning something that Etsy needs. She's planning the Disney trip. Maybe she'll go to your store because she's getting the shirts, but also that's a copyright infringement, so don't do that. All right. All right. In July, she's gone. Literally, she's at the lake, she's at the beach, she's in at her in-laws, she's on a plane. Her emails are up and down, right? But she's not necessarily all in her emails. Her social media use hopefully is down 'cause she's with the people she loves. Her phone is sitting face down by the pool. Her credit card is at the restaurants and hotels, not your e-commerce store. And that's the J-Month pattern. It's not your candles, it's not your jewelry, it's not your CPG label. It's the consumer being unavailable. And the entrepreneurs that I've worked with at 6 and 7 figures and 8 figures even, they all know this. And they've stopped taking it personally, and they've built businesses that account for it. They've moved their psychology and their strategy past the J month issue, and you can do this too. Now I wanna take this somewhere bigger because I think there is a lesson hiding inside Amazon's response to the J months that is one of the most important business lessons I can give you. Amazon Prime Day was created in 2015.

Why?

Because Amazon, with all of its data, looked at July, historically was the slowest e-commerce month of the year, and they made a decision. They said, we are not going to wait for demand. We are going to manufacture it. So they invented Prime Day. They made up a holiday. They gave consumers a reason to buy in July, and in that process, they generated billions of dollars in additional revenue in a month that should have been dead. Retailers have been doing this forever. Okay? That's where Christmas in July comes from. And in fact, speaking about this year's Amazon Prime Day, they did it in June, which is telling you something. They're actually trying to kick sales even earlier into the summer. So they did it late June and then July. Okay? So a lot of retailers run a version of Christmas in July, or they're running summer events, and they've been running summer events for decades, and they do this to manufacture buying behavior during slow months. That's why people put stuff on sales. So what this tells you, and I really want you to hear this, is the most important business lesson nobody is teaching you about product business is demand is not given, demand is manufactured. And the entrepreneurs who succeed in slow months, they're not the ones with better products, they're not the ones with bigger budgets, they're the ones who give their customers a reason to buy in months, when she otherwise wouldn't. And you do not have to wait for your customer to feel like buying. You can give her a reason, and that's the unlock, and that's the shift, and that's the move. This is what promotions are for. This is why there's sales. Okay, really quick, I just wanna interrupt this. If you are listening to this and you have a friend or someone who's panicking about their June and July sales right now, would you mind just sending this episode to them? Send it to her now, right now, okay? The whole way this podcast grows is by people sending it to other people, other product bosses. And while you're at it, make sure that you're following the show. Okay, so back to how do you actually do this? What are the 3 moves that 7-figure product founders are making this week and that you can too? So move 1 is run a Christmas in July sale, a real one. Pick a date, mid-July is perfect. After 4th of July and make it a 1-day, 2-day, or 3-day event. Email your list, promote on social, discount your bestsellers by 15% to 25%. Run it like a holiday. I will say the steeper the discount, the better the sales will be, and it doesn't have to be on everything, okay? So that's just a little tip. But here's the critical part. Give it a name. Don't email summer sale, email Christmas in July at your brand name. One day only, bestsellers 15% off, or bestsellers 30% off. The name and the deadline are the moves, the discount alone is not. So that's really, really important. And why does this work? Well, your customer needs an excuse to buy. My husband literally always says to me, he's like, Jacqueline, just 'cause it's on sale doesn't mean you need to buy it. And I go, I differ with you on that one, right? Because customers think the way I think. Most of the time, she does not just buy your candle because she wants it, she's gotta have another reason. She buys it when there's a gift to give, an event to attend, a discount to take advantage of, or a deadline to hit. Like, it's on sale is fine, but it's on sale for Christmas in July one day only is 100 times better. Can you guys see that? Like, you would just, you're like, can I buy it now? For jewelry brands, for example, you could do Christmas in July Sparkle Edition. If you're a candle maker, run a Christmas in July summer scent trio. If you sell apparel, Christmas in July Resort Collection. For food products, you could run a Christmas in July summer pantry restock, something like that, right? Match the theme, run the event, and watch the sales. Okay, move 2. I want you to create a summer-themed bundle, not a discount, a bundle. Take 3 or 4 of your bestsellers and package them into a summer-themed kit. The Patio Hosting Set, the Summer Travel Trio, the Pool Day Essentials Bundle, the Beach House Box. Bundles work because they let you raise the perceived value and the average order value at the same time. Oh my God, this is a win-win. So for example, a candle maker can do a Summer Vibes Trio. If you have your best summer scents, 10% off versus buying separately. You do not have to give a massive discount for bundles. You could give a very, very, very small discount. Really just make it easy for your customers to say yes. Okay? They just, they don't wanna put it all together. Just give it to them. How about this? A jewelry brand can do a resort edit. A necklace, bracelet, and earring stack at 12% off. Do you have to say 12% off? No, but take the full price, cross it off, and put whatever the new price is. Or maybe you're a bakery, you can do the summer picnic bundle. Or if you're a CPG brand, you can do the summer pantry restock. The bundle works for two reasons. One, it lets your customers feel like she's getting a deal even though you are making the same margin per dollar. And two, it gives her a reason to buy multiple items instead of just one. This is one of the highest leverage summer moves you can make. All right, and let's get to move 3, past customer reactivation, the single highest revenue move in slow months. This is the move most product entrepreneurs skip, and it's the move that pays the most. I want you to pull the list of customers who have not bought from you in the last 90 days. Open your email platform and write a single short, warm, personal email. Not a sale, not a promo blast, a real email. Something like, I've been thinking about you. We have a few new things in stock. We also still have your favorite, whatever the last thing is that they bought. Okay. Available. If you'd like me to set anything aside for you, just hit reply. And then you guys send it, just send it. This happens if you're a small list, a big list. If you have people on Instagram, like you have text messages, I don't care what it is. Send this version of email to somebody who's bought from you before and maybe hasn't bought in the last 90 days. You can even say 30 days, like just play. So for most of my product business clients, this single email sent in June or July to a list of 300 to 1,000 past customers can pull in $5,000 to $15,000 in a week. I'm just making up numbers because it depends on what you sell, right? But you can do this without a launch, without a sale, without any new product, without a single new customer, because your past customers already love you. They just got distracted. They're not thinking about you all the time, unfortunately. And the summer email is that reminder. The J-month slump is not a sales problem. The J-month slump is an asking problem. The customer's not gone, she's just busy. You are busy, you know that. So you have to remind her, you have to give her a reason, you have to ask. This is like when you're on my email list, We email you every week and we're like, there's a new episode because your life gets busy. We just gotta remind you. So the entrepreneurs who go quiet in the slow months, they're gonna stay quiet in the slow months. The entrepreneurs who ask get answered. So now I want to add one more thing to this because this episode is not just about driving sales. It's also about the mindset of what the slow months actually mean for a real business. So slow months are not a problem to solve. Slow months are the strategic season of the year. June and July, right? Those are the months where you build the engine that runs in October, November, and December. Q4 is 40 to 60% of your annual revenue for most product brands. So if you spend June and July panic launching to fix the slump, you do not have the bandwidth to prep for Q4, and then you miss Q4 in addition to missing the summer. So the right move is the blend. I want you to drive some sales this week using the 3 moves I just gave you and spend the bulk of your strategic energy preparing for Q4. We're gonna do a whole episode on Q4 prep, so stay tuned for that, right? That's coming up in a future episode. And if you take nothing else from today, take these 3 things. One, the J-month slump is real. It's not your fault, it's structural. Every product business in America is feeling it right now. And 2, demand is manufactured. This is like so important for the entire year. The brands that will win in slow months are the brands that give the customer a reason to buy. Run a Christmas in July event, build a summer bundle, reactivate past customers. And 3, slow months are also strategic months. Drive sales this week with the 3 moves and start prepping for Q4. The season that pays you for the whole year. Like this is where the profit is made. These are where the new customers are found. So here is your homework. This week, pick one of the three moves and just do one. Don't try to do them all. So if it's the Christmas in July event, pick the date, name the event, draft the emails, and the emails get to be e-commerce emails. And if you're a Collective student, you know this, we, we teach you all of this, like how to sell, send an e-com email. Either way, and send it before Friday. If you're listening to this on Thursday, can you do it in 24 hours or give yourself a schedule? If it's a bundle, bundle them up, but keep, like, make the bundle name and list it on your website. Let's make it by Monday. And if it's a past customer reactivation, I want you to pull the list, write the email, and send it by Monday. One move this week before Monday. And then report back to me in my DMs, okay? Come over to the Product Boss on Instagram. Come find me, slide into my DMs, but make sure you're following me and following the show. If you're not following me on Instagram, then it's hard for messages to link up. So make sure we're all following each other and send me a message. Let me know how it goes. And in my DMs, you can also write me messages like, dear Jacqueline Snyder Snyder, and your question, because these ones become future episodes. Two more things before we go. Every single week, I host a free training called How to Build a Million Dollar Product Business Without Becoming the Bottleneck. This is for those of you who are trying to get to your 6 figures, 7 figures, and we have a ton of students that are multi-7 figures that are the bottleneck because it happens at every level. And in this training, I walk you through the strategy, the belief shift, and the next move. All you have to do is go to theproductbossworkshops.com to grab your seat or click the link in the show notes. And number 2, if you are ready to actually sit down and talk about where you are, where you're stuck, and where you wanna go, Book a free 1-hour call with one of my product business growth advisors. We'll walk you through your business, find the sales hiding in plain sight, and figure out your next move. So all you have to do there is go to theproductboss.com/bookacall or click the link anywhere around this in the show notes. Next time we're going to go deep into prep for Q4, so I'll see you in the next episode.

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