10 Things to do This Off-Season

Top 10 things you can do in your off-season. Depending on what region you reside in, your off-season(s) could vary quite a bit. For those dealers in and above the “snow belt,” you pretty much have one offseason, and it’s a doozy. For those more in the “cactus/grapefruit” zones, your offseason may be shorter, or you may have two in some cases. If you are buried in snow and ice for months, you will need to plan far in advance for any significant capital expenditures during the slow season as cash flow is critical. So, what are some things you can do?

1. Do a thorough physical inventory and get your POS count dialed in. This is super important! First, you need accurate data for ordering, planning, and end of year financial and tax info, and second, touching everything in your store and counting it shines a light on items that need attention. Bikes buried in the back corner someone robbed a part from to mismatched shoe sizes etc. The physical inventory/pos reconciliation is a hard reset. I also think you should put some alerts in your calendar for the next season if there are categories that were way off to spot check a few times in a season to stay on top of. 
2. Now’s the time to experiment with store rearrangements, do minor fixes like touching up paint, and “facing up” your store. The workshop should be examined closely for tools that need attention and identify the tools you will need to stay up to date with ever-changing needs. Consider adding needed shop items to orders you may need to do to get to freight/terms and hit those pesky numbers your vendors as you reach for P&A requirements. 
3. Along the inventory theme, now is the time to take a look at your staff. Cover everything from total expenditures to verify you are in the correct range to evaluating each person’s role and well they performed. Sit down with each staff member a few times and get to know them better. You may find out someone you were going to keep on staff throughout the winter has plans to move in the Spring, and in a friendly chat, they let their hair down enough to let you know. People often don’t realize that you are paying them through the winter to have them next spring/summer. I unfortunately, I had this situation happen twice, and it is brutal. We are talking thousands of dollars to sweep and clean floors, spend countless hours on online training modules, etc., only to lose them when the season ramps up.
4. Hopefully, you aren’t overloaded from preseason orders, but now is the time to go through any existing open orders with a fine-toothed comb, twice. Inventory is a liability to a certain point. You can always get more tomorrow. Stay lean, and stress levels will recede. 
5. Develop a plan for social media. There is TONS of free information out there in the google machine regarding best practices. Some people love social media and do great with it. Others, well, they don’t get it, so they don’t do it. I was ambivalent about SM myself, but it’s essential. If you hate SM and dread trying to figure out how to do it, I’ll give a straightforward template to follow. I call the three Ps. People, Product, Passion. Here’s the plan, Monday= People. Post a picture of a person smiling with a new bike or an employee smiling while working on an interesting bike or doing any task in the store but looking enthusiastic. New bike day photos are my preference. Wednesday = Product. Highlight something new in the shop or an item you are discounting to get rid of. This post won’t get as many likes, but it will show what you’ve got. Friday= Passion. This a “hey looks at this bike” being ridden or leaning against a tree in a pretty backdrop photo. Your vendors may have canned photos you can use, and these can be very helpful, but I like the homespun more personal and organic feeling pictures you take yourself. Bonus points for using hashtags, recording video, and linking to products on your website.
6.  Website maintenance, or outright overhaul. The ironic part of the bicycle retailers fighting to maintain market share in an increasingly digital world is retailers not having a current website and showing your inventory with the ability to purchase. I get it, social media does do a lot of what we used to use a website for, and google shows your hours, address, and reviews, but you still need a strong website. While I never experienced a surge of online sales, I noticed that customers often referred to the site in the store and stated they were looking for a bike that we had in stock. Luckily in the bicycle retail industry, we have a great option with Smartetailing. I’m not affiliated, and I won’t tell you it’s cheap. But, it is an easy button to professional and is highly customizable. You need to be open 24/7, and a great website does that. 
7. If you are sending regular emails, you are awesome. For the other, probably 85% of you start! First, harvest every single customer’s data. You will run into some resistance to share from some customers, and some employees will push back that customers don’t want to share. Be relentless. We cultivated a list of thousands of clean emails. Even if only 20% get opened, that is 100’s to 1000’s depending on list size, and even more, you will see your subject line, making it a good one. 
8. Get organized for the above. Make a marketing plan. If you are too busy to send emails during the busy season, complete them when it’s slow and schedule them.
9. Shop around and question everywhere you spend money. From credit card processing to your vendors. Not happy with the margins you are getting? Schedule a meeting and explain to whoever will listen to your concerns. Lobby to move up a level, ask for something. You have been pushed to do more, turn the tables a little. It is important to do this tactfully. Use data that can’t be argued about to disarm emotion and validate your ask. With a constant upward march in expenses, you have to cover those continually and hopefully keep profits from declining. 
10. Take a break!! Go on vacation, even if it’s a staycation. Everyone needs to come up for air and hit the reset button. Completely remove yourself for at least a week, more if you can. You return hopefully reinvigorated and ready to get busy. 

So there are ten things to do this off-season that don’t cost anything but some gumption. It is effortless to get lulled into complacency during a long and quiet off-season, but you need to be prepared to come to Spring or your season kicks off. 

Words by David DeKeyser