If you run a small business, you’ve probably felt the rollercoaster ride of having too much work one month and scrambling for clients the next. It’s a frustrating cycle that many entrepreneurs fall into—when you’re busy delivering work, sales and marketing take a back seat. Then, when projects wrap up, there’s no pipeline of new clients waiting, and suddenly, you’re in a slump.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. The key to breaking the feast-or-famine cycle is consistency—keeping sales and marketing efforts going even when business is booming. And the secret weapon? Better data. Let’s dive into how you can build a more stable, predictable business.
Keep Sales on Autopilot
When work piles up, the first thing to drop is usually sales. But to keep your business running smoothly, you need a system that keeps leads coming in—even when you’re swamped.
Block out time each week for outreach, whether that’s following up with past clients, networking or running ads and ensure that it’s taken into account when planning the delivery of ongoing work
A structured sales process ensures you’re always planting seeds for future work, rather than scrambling when things slow down.
Track Your Pipeline
Many small business owners rely on their bank balance to gauge financial health—but that’s looking in the rearview mirror. Instead, track forward-looking indicators, like:
✔️ How many leads are at each stage of your sales pipeline (e.g. enquiry, proposal, negotiation)?
✔️ What’s your average time to close a deal?
✔️ What’s your conversion rate?
Using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool can help, but an Excel sheet can be extremely effective, too, and it may not be as complicated to set up as you might think.
Prepare for Growth, Even When You’re Busy
One reason business owners hesitate to sell more work is fear of overload. But with the right systems in place, you can scale without burning out. Building a network of sub-contractors or freelancers who can help when needed is a good thing to do, but bear in mind that that approach could reduce the amount of profit you can make compared with doing the work in-house.
Having the right tools in place to be able to predict how much capacity you’ll need is essential for growth. To support this, it’s helpful to get a good understanding of how much time your processes take and to automate these as far as possible, as that’s not only more efficient, but assists with forecasting.
Build a Financial Safety Net
Even with the best systems, slow periods happen. Having a financial cushion gives you breathing room so you can make smart decisions rather than desperate ones.
Set aside a percentage of revenue each month for a buffer fund. How much that fund should be will be unique to each business and how predictable cashflows are. For some, it might be a month, for others, six months. The best time to do this is, of course, when times are good.
A strong safety net means you can ride out the slow periods without stress.
The Bottom Line
Breaking the feast-or-famine cycle isn’t about working harder—it’s about working smarter. By keeping sales steady, tracking your pipeline, introducing recurring revenue, and planning for growth, you can build a business that’s stable, predictable, and stress-free.
Imagine a business where you always know what’s coming next—where the panic of dry spells is a thing of the past. With the right approach, that’s completely within reach. Ready to break the cycle?
