How can small businesses be better prepared for Christmas?
By Holly Tucker, founder of Holly & Co
If you’re waking in the middle of the night with heart flutters, your default setting is ‘panic’ and you’re finding you’re constantly reaching for the emergency chocolate, there’s a good chance you are a founder in the run-up to Christmas! It can be terrifying. A small business survey that we conducted last year highlighted that this Christmas is especially critical for small businesses, so it’s likely we’re all feeling the pressure even more than usual.
So how can you put your business in the strongest possible position with the little time that’s available? With an estimated £88.29bn expected to be spent during this festive period, how can you maximise the opportunity?* Well firstly, don’t panic. There are still tactics you can try and everything to play for. So let me share some ideas…
1. Put yourself in the shoes of your customer
What do they most need from you? With money being tight for many this year, we all need to think creatively this Christmas. Whether that’s about sharing lower price point items or giving ideas of how to give gifts in a thoughtful way, what could you do to add value for customers? Help them find what they’re searching for easily. Reduce stress. Remind them of the last posting dates to ensure they can get gifts sent out to family and friends in time — think of new ways to be helpful for them.
2. Remind yourself what’s worked previously
How have your Christmas campaigns performed in the past? What could you build on or bring back? What worked well or didn’t? Let go of anything negative and try to give yourself three clear actions to complete each day to bring in new customers and improve your sales for Christmas. Test and learn. If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to change it. That’s the beauty of being small, right? We can be flexible and that’s a real advantage.
3. Streamline your processes and become more efficient
First off, look into Royal Mail’s services to see if any of them can help make your life easier. They are real champions of small businesses and know what we need by way of support. For example, Royal Mail’s Click and Drop allows you to pay for postage online, print labels at home and drop them at a drop-off point — no post office queues required (I don’t have to tell you what a benefit that is for us at this time of year!). Using their Tracked service means you’ll always be able to trace your packages for your customers (which is especially handy in ‘Silly Season’).
4. Set yourself mini (realistic!) goals
Breaking down your tasks makes them less overwhelming. Measuring them and seeing your progress can give you the steam you need to press ahead (and also, something important to benchmark yourself against next year). I use a clipboard for each area to separate them out and I find this helps keep me ‘on it’ and organised. The trick is to make these goals a stretch — but definitely achievable.
5. Remember, customers love ‘newness’
How can you keep it fresh in the run-up to Christmas? Can you tap into what they are looking for and theme your weeks accordingly? Is it about decorating the tree? Making a list? Wrapping presents? Are these themes you could then use to build your social media plan or email schedule around? Customers love to see new things. They also often relish being the first or getting an exclusive preview, so what could you offer customers in exchange for their attention?
6. Give customers a memorable experience
If you’ve got a shop, could you find magical ways to decorate it? If you’re an online business, could you run a competition to drive traffic to your storefront? How could you personalise the experience and make customers feel extra special — perhaps with a handwritten note in an order or an email just to them? Now is a great time to build loyalty to secure customers for the inevitable quieter period in the New Year, too.
7. Reshare the benefits of supporting small businesses
Remind people why they should be voting with their money for the kind of world they want to live in. Show the difference it makes to you personally when they shop with you. Share the optimism it can create. The more customers understand this, the more likely they are to choose your products above those of a bigger business. As small businesses, we’re often able to show the person behind the logo — and that’s when a real human connection can happen which is magical.
8. Breathe!
Believe me, I know better than anyone how hard it is when people tell us as founders to ‘just rest’ or to take a break at weekends when you feel you absolutely can’t take your foot off the gas — but I also know that they are sometimes right. Taking a moment to go for a walk can be just what’s needed to get a fresh perspective on a challenge you’re having. It’s often when ideas come. I’m also a total convert to breathing exercises. It gets your body properly prepared rather than being in a festive ‘fight or flight’ mode and I can’t recommend that highly enough.
Ultimately, my best advice is just to ‘stick at it’. There are still ways to get your business better prepared for Christmas and now is absolutely the time to try everything. So I wish you all the luck, I am rooting for you and I hope this turns out to be your best one yet.