The Countdown is On - 52 Days Until Christmas
Ready or not, here it comes. I asked my very good friend, Brandon Young from http://www.ldsbookstore.com/, who has been running a very successful LDS products business for several years to share some of his tips on surviving and thriving this Christmas season. Following is his guest post on the blog with some very good helpful hints. THANKS BRANDON!
Overpriced Steaks and All-nighters
I love Christmas. How could you not? It’s a time filled with family, food, friends, snowmen, sledding, and Santa. As our business has grown, so has my love for this wonderful holiday season. Christmas is now a time filled with busy employees, buying customers, and a bigger bank account. I have found that November and December account for roughly 40% of my annual sales. With that much business coming “through my door” during those 2 months, I HAVE to make sure I do everything I can to capitalize on customers ready and willing to buy. Here are a few tips to help you survive and thrive during the Christmas season.
How To Survive
Hire Temp Workers - We hire temp workers in our office to help pull inventory, package, and ship orders; something that anyone can be trained on. This is going to allow the full-time people to keep doing what they’re doing. In other words, we’re not going to stop sending newsletters or posting on Facebook because we’re too busy packing orders. It’s important to keep the wheels rolling without shutting off the engine.
Rest When You Can - Employees will get burnt out and overwhelmed with the influx of business that comes in. We found turning the phones off for a hour and ordering pizza last year provided a much needed rest, even if only once a week. We also have a Christmas party a couple weeks before Christmas and let everyone know we appreciate their help. Make sure employees are still taking lunch during the day to get away from the office. It will provide a much needed rest for the last half of the day.
Increase Inventory & Supplies on Hand - Speaking from personal experience, there is nothing worse than selling out of a popular item, then having to wait a week to get it during peak holiday season. There is also nothing worse than having to run home and use my ink-jet printer to print orders because we ran out of toner (then had to pay $40 to overnight a new toner cartridge). Be sure you stock up on popular products and plenty of office supplies. Maybe even have a backup printer!
Don’t Neglect - Even though processing orders and helping customers at the door is very important... don’t forget the customers that got you there! It’s easy to stop listening to voicemails and responding to emails with everything that is going on. But remember, it’s always easier to keep an existing customer than it is to find a new one.
Don’t Fall Behind - Falling behind is the worse thing you can do during the holidays. If you get a day or two behind, you will have a snowball (no pun intended) effect. Last December I worked one day from 8am to 7pm the following day. Yup, 35 hours. I gift wrapped rings all night because we let it pile up and got WAY behind. Needless to say, I dreamt of gift wrapping rings the next night.
Organize - Get organized where you can. We re-arranged our office this year to make the work flow better for receiving, packing, and shipping. We also labeled everything in our warehouse (for temps), added more tables and shelves for sorting, and organized shipping supplies by size. Any little bit helps when it comes down to getting product, or customers out the door faster.
How To Thrive
Complete Other Projects - Get anything that will help increase sales done yesterday. We essentially work all year on other little projects that will help increase our Christmas sales. For example, we just finished listing our products in Google Shopping. This gives Google plenty of time to list the products and get them ranking in the search engines, well before the Holidays. If you try to do this Thanksgiving weekend, it is too late and won’t benefit you. Keep in mind the search engines work on their own time, not yours.
Extend hours - Customers that can’t get help tonight, will most likely call or email tomorrow. Extending customer service and store hours will accomplish a couple of things. It will enable you to give your customers a better shopping experience during what can become a very stressful shopping time. It will also lighten the load for your employees the following day. Extended hours will pay off.
Upsell - My wife and I recently went to my favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse. When I ordered my 9oz. steak, my server asked, “Would you like sauteed onions or mushrooms with that?” It sounded yummy, so I said, “Yeah, sure.” When I ordered my house salad with blue cheese dressing, he asked, “Do you want blue cheese crumbles with that?” Again, the same response. When I got my bill, those two extras cost me almost $6. Offer anything that will make Christmas easier for your customers this year. For example, gift wrapping, gift cards, greeting cards, and ring boxes, all make excellent extras.
Increase your Marketing Budget - Since our sales go up during Christmas, so does our marketing budget. The cool thing about Christmas is that more people are looking to buy now than other time of the year. If your business appears where customers are looking, you will get the sale. Many newspapers, magazines, websites, etc. will have holiday packages where you can get more bang for your advertising buck.
Promotions - We all know about Black Friday, but what about Cyber Monday? Even Cyber Monday is now being called “Cyber Monday & Tuesday!” Take advantage of major holiday promotions as your customers will be looking for them. Why not make your own? We have a “Weekly Deal Wednesday” and a “Freebie Friday” that our customers watch for. These promotions will also help create a buzz amongst your customers. Everyone loves a good deal, and free is even better!
Business owners that prepare to survive, and learn to thrive during the holiday season, will have a Christmas filled with family, food, friends, snowmen, sledding, and Santa; which is really what matters most during this time of year.
Good luck and have a wonderful Christmas season!
