Gear Up Early For Holiday Sales

The holidays seem to come around more quickly each year, particularly for those who own retail and service firms that count on this special season for a large portion of their annual sales.

To ensure your business gets noticed among the flurry of snow and shoppers, we've compiled the following list of tips that may prove useful to you as you face the busy holiday season.

• The holidays are a season of gratitude. Don't forget that when interacting with your customers. Yes, you want to make sales, but the holidays are a good time to acknowledge their patronage throughout the rest of the year with a simple thank-you card or e-mail message. No matter high-tech we get, we can't forget to be high-touch too.
  
  
• If you send a card, have it signed personally by members of your staff. Receiving a card mechanically stamped with "Holiday Greetings from the ABC Shop" doesn't create that warm holiday feeling you're seeking. Start early in the year, and have employees sign the greetings when they have some spare time.
  
  
• Give your customers a gift by offering a special promotion or incentive. Extend the promotion past the holidays into the new year so customers can spend any gift cash at your business. Discounts always help consumers make spending decisions, particularly on items they may want for themselves.
  
  
• Talk to your customers – not just in person but on e-mail or through blogs on your Web site. Ask them for input on your business. Ask them what new products or services they'd like to see in the coming year. Invite them to special events and offer a special "bring a friend" promotion.
  
  
• Institute a wish-list program. Tell your customers you'd like to contact their family members or friends with gift ideas – for your customers!
  
  
• Use gift certificates – and put them online! People who buy gift certificates are more likely to do it online than they are to walk in the store for one. Make it easy – and secure!
  
  
• No matter high-tech we get, we can't forget to be high-touch too.
  Make sure you have enough, and properly trained, staff. Nothing frustrates a consumer more than being in a rush to finish holiday shopping and having to wait for service or wait for the staff to find you to answer a question. Be prepared! Make customer service your competitive advantage over the lines in the big box stores.
  
  
• If you rely on vehicles for delivery or transportation, have them serviced in November so you aren't sidelined by last-minute vehicle repairs.
  
  
• Build time in your schedule for display preparation. Make sure you have plenty of supplies such as gift wrapping, tape, scissors, tags, boxes, packing and labels.
  
  
• Be original in creating displays and a holiday atmosphere in your store. Find new and interesting holiday music that shoppers won't hear in every other store. Find unique decorations. Include an activity for kids. Snacks and cider are always a hit too.
  
  
• Have contingency plans. If demand exceeds staffing, be sure you have the number of a temp service at the ready. If sales are slow, be prepared with a clearance plan that you can implement almost overnight. Don't assume things will go as planned.
  
  
• Use down-time to brainstorm about the holidays. When days are slow, spend time thinking up new promotions, look for trendy merchandise and meet with your staff to harvest the best ideas. Don't assume you'll have time later.
  
  
• Don't skimp on advertising. Instead, start early and research with your customers how they hear about you and determine what advertising strategies work. Pay a little more to get your Web site optimized on search engines. Most online shoppers go to one of the first four Web sites they find that offer the product they're seeking. Make sure your site is one of those four.
  
  
• Be prepared for last-minute shoppers. Make sure your inventory and staff are ready for the "just-in-time" consumer. Consider enhancing promotions the last two days before Christmas, for example, to capture your share of the final-hour sales. And remember that more and more consumers are exchanging gifts for Kwanzaa as well as New Years. Buying doesn't necessarily end on Dec. 24.
  
  
• And, if you want to include displays of gifts for holidays other than Christmas, be sure you know what you're doing so you display things appropriately.
  
  
• Be sure your personal life is organized for the holidays as well. That will go a long way to alleviating the stress you'll feel as a business owner. Keep things simple. Acknowledge you can't do it all. Do your own shopping ahead of time. Take your staff out for a holiday celebration after the rush has passed. Don't agree to work till 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve then get up and prepare a holiday dinner for 20 the next day.
  
  
• Be good to yourself, and enjoy the season.

For help exploring your business ideas, contact a business specialist at a Small Business & Technology Development Center. Visit our calendar of events for a listing of business training events in Missouri.