By Ahmed al-Akber/Dubai


There is a perception that Ramadan brings about a slower pace of business, which is an absolute fallacy. There are plenty of things to do to increase sales during the holy month - here are four things you can do today:
1) Call each of your top clients and wish them well. Even better, send them a hand-written note. This is a great way to connect with people, whether they are fasting or not. Some people are a lot more accessible during Ramadan than at other times of the year. It’s also a good time to ask them how business is, book a meeting with them and tell them about your new products and services that they may not know about. For most businesses, a large chunk of the opportunity for growth resides with existing customers.
2) Host a Ramadan event, like an Iftar (the breaking the fast after the Maghrib prayer) or Suhoor (usually consumed early morning but sometimes consumed at dinner after Iftar later that evening). Getting customers and prospects together to relax and enjoy themselves after a long day of fasting is key, and it’s a great way to build trust. Getting happy customers to explain to prospects how you have helped them to improve their businesses and their lives is the ultimate marketing tactic. Most hotels are easy to book tables or banquet halls at.
3) Meeting a prospect or client to close an important deal. Not only is it critical to be considerate if they are fasting, but we must be conscious of when they will have most concentration. Ramadan is now in the middle of the summer, so not only is the weather really hot, but the fasting period is over 17 hours a day. Not everyone has the same type of body clock and peak concentration times. However, when it comes to cognitive work, for example, most adults perform best in the late morning. So book sales meetings accordingly.
4) Use any spare time you have in Ramadan to work on your marketing. As employees tend to leave earlier during the day, you’ll have the “quiet time” in the office to work on a powerful post-Ramadan implementation plan. Many of my clients use this time to create amazing content – recording videos and writing blogs, all of which will be ready to be posted after Eid.
Ramadan is a great time for growing your business. Do away with the mindset that it’s a slow time and fire up your revenue!

♦ Ahmed al-Akber is the managing director of ACK Solutions, a firm that helps companies to improve their marketing and sales results by offering more effective ways attracting customers and significantly better products and services. Ahmed has worked internationally in marketing, sales, and strategic planning at companies such as the Coca-Cola Company, Philip Morris International and Dell. Questions or comments can be sent to Ahmed on ahmed@acksolutions.com