Indeed, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Over here in South-East Nigeria, the mornings are getting colder, the air drier but most of all there’s so much Christmas cheer in the city. When I was younger, from the month of September every year, my mum would start Christmas shopping. She would tell me “Obianuju, this flour is for making chin-chin this Christmas. if I catch your hand there, I will break your fingers” LOL. She was obviously joking but I always wondered why my mom started Christmas shopping way in advance.
As I became a young adult myself, I began to understand her logic. The truth is that most businesses don’t prepare for the holidays. They hardly respond to emails or they can’t offer any service until the new year. And when their lack of preparedness catches up with them, they have lost a lot of revenue and loyal customers in the process. So today I have put together some tips on how you can prepare your business for the holidays. Stay tuned.
1. Staff meeting: As the year is coming to an end and the holidays are drawing closer, Employers need to evaluate how the year has been with their staff. Inquire what went wrong and what the company could improve on in the new year. Furthermore, because it’s the holidays, a system has to put in place where staff can put in extra hours to round up the end of the year sales and also developing a holiday crew to keep an eye on things is really important. From time to time, someone has to keep an eye on the email and someone has to run last-minute orders. Try throwing in some incentives to encourage your employees to put in their best this season.
2. Organization will save you: This is the right time to start researching online tools that will help your business and start implementing them. These might be scheduling tools for social media or inventory and shipping tools to keep track of everything going out and coming in, also try some email marketing tools to keep your business in the hearts of your customers throughout the holiday period. Since you have determined how many people you need during the holidays, start assigning them their hours and days of the week.
3. Promotions/Holiday Sales: The holiday season is a perfect time to entice your customers with coupons or exclusive deals and it’s such a great marketing tool as it promotes the business. But remember, let your moderation be known to all men. You still have to make profit.
4. Update your website: This is a great time prepare your website for the holiday rush. More customers will be shopping online, so you have to make sure your website has the capacity to handle new and existing clients. Also, make sure all payment portals are adequately linked, troubleshoot all payment processing because you don’t want to lose any revenue because your website is down.
5. Lastly, create a Marketing Strategy: The season will only benefit your business if you have a plan in place. Sit down with your marketing team and brainstorm. All creative ideas have potential so try out different things until you get the result you are after. Remember it’s the holiday season so a personalized email wishing them happy holidays is a good place to start.
The goal is to have a fun filled holiday but also make sure your business doesn’t suffer. If you read through these tips, download our checklist and work with it, you can return to business in 2022 relaxed and ready to move unto the next chapter of your business.
Enjoy the holiday season and we'll see you in 2022!
Until next time, Bye.