Sometimes businesses just go through a period of downturn. Maybe a bad online review is scaring away customers or the economy is slowing down. Perhaps a new competitor just opened up down the street or the demand for your product has suddenly gone soft. The first key to stopping a downward slide is figuring out exactly why it is happening.

Once you have pinpointed the reason for the downturn, you can turn your attention toward what you need to do to stop it. For instance:

• If the reason for the downturn is a bad economy, you may need to seek out new markets and expand your customer base to maintain or increase sales. You can also add inventory that is more recession-proof so that you can still offer items people need to buy even in a recession.
• If the reason for the downturn is poor customer service that has driven away a number of repeat customers, you can reach out to customers, apologize, and offer them a free product or extra discount to come back. You will also need to hire more staff or retrain existing staff so that the same mistakes don't get made and drive away even more business.
• If you have one or more bad online reviews, there is usually a way to respond to them so that potential customers see that there's more than one side to the story, or that you are willing to resolve the problem. Sometimes you can even petition the review site to take down a negative review if you can prove it is unfounded or fraudulent. Another way to counteract bad reviews is to put customer testimonials on your business website and link to them in your response to the bad review.
• If you find that money is being wasted, stolen or misspent, you need to take steps to fix these problems as soon as possible. This could be anything from cutting expenses to firing (or even prosecuting) staff that has stolen from you. There are lots of ways to cut expenses, so get creative and find the ones that work best for your business without disrupting important priorities.
• If you find that new customers aren't coming in, you will need to increase your marketing spend. There are low cost forms of marketing, such as social media and digital marketing, which can be remarkably effective. Most inexpensive forms of marketing take more time. You will probably be spending either time or money, and maybe both, for effective marketing to bring in more customers.
• Another way to bring in new customers is to capitalize on current trends or to make your business stand out. What can your business offer that isn't being offered by others in your niche? You don't need to fear competition if you can provide superior products and service at competitive prices. Be sure to highlight your unique selling proposition in your marketing materials to attract the most new business.

Stopping a downward slide is possible, but it can take some resources in order to do so. A business cash advance can provide working capital for marketing, staffing changes, and adding inventory. If your company needs state-of-the-art equipment to stand out, a business cash advance can make it possible to buy the equipment right away. The advance is then repaid over a period of months, with a set percentage of credit card sales being automatically debited each day.

In many cases small business owners lack the credit or collateral to access the money needed to remain flexible.  Quikstone Capital Solutions provides fast cash for businesses.  A merchant cash advance from Quikstone Capital Solutions is a business loan alternative that can help your business thrive and prosper, whether you need cash to buy equipment, cash to renovate or expand, cash to purchase inventory, cash to advertise or cash for emergencies. Quikstone Capital Solutions can help provide you with the business capital you need.