How To Prepare For Big Spending Times
From Black Friday to Boxing Day and everything in between Huge sales eVents come around multiple times a year and it’s important for your small business to be ready for them. Whether you operate a brick and mortar store, offer a service or have an online-based business, preparing for these major sales eVents will turn a hectic shopping season into a stress-free success. We’ve compiled a list of top tips…
From Black Friday to Boxing Day and everything in between
Huge sales eVents come around multiple times a year and it’s important for your small business to be ready for them.
Whether you operate a brick and mortar store, offer a service or have an online-based business, preparing for these major sales eVents will turn a hectic shopping season into a stress-free success.
We’ve compiled a list of top tips to help get your small business ready for when the next big sales day rolls around.
5 ways to get your business sales-day ready
1. Listen to what your customers want
The product you’re selling, or the service you offer, is for your customers. And because it’s for your customers, it’s crucial that you listen to what they have to say.
What are they talking about? How do they feel about your product? Do they want a pricier alternative that works or a cheaper one that only semi-does?
Research everything that you can about your target audience to better market your product, prepare your business and give the people what they want.
And as you’re doing all that, be sure to engage with your customers. Whether they’re loyal clients or potential newbies, they’re much more likely to come back to your site, socials or store if you connect with them on a genuine level.
2. Make your business mobile-friendly
Mobiles are all the rage these days, with cellphones being a must-have accessory as much as they are an interactive tool.
The average smartphone user spends upwards of 3 hours on their mobile every day. Whether they’re commuting, scrolling through socials on the couch or ignoring their dinner date, people use their phones for all manner of reasons at all hours of the day.
If your business is online (which it should be), it needs to be accessible on mobile. Capturing new leads and gaining new customers means having an online presence that is aesthetically pleasing, digestible and easy to access across desktop and mobile.
3. Personalise the customer experience
The beauty of being a small business is that you have the ability to meet customers on a personal level.
You have an advantage here over big brands and businesses who don’t have the time, the capacity or (in some cases) the care required to truly look after their customers.
Get creative and brainstorm unique ways to add a personal touch to all interactions that you have with your customers, whether regular, new or just passing by.
People who have a positive experience with your business online or in-store are much more likely to come back for a second (or third, or tenth) visit.
4. Build hype in advance
In preparation for a big sales day, get on social media, promote upcoming sales in-store and offer special extras to email subscribers.
You can work with influencers to share any upcoming promotions across socials and engage with everyone who shows interest.
Sending out sales-day emails will remind subscribers who you are, what you offer and the stellar deals you can give them on sales day.
Put up flyers or banners in-store, have your staff promote upcoming sales to guests and make it known on your website that your business will be 100% participating in the next major sales eVent.
5. Make sure your store – whether online or in the real world – is ready
Is your store ready for a whole load of people to browse through it? Have you streamlined the checkout process? Do you need to feng shui the layout a little?
Whether your business is an online or brick and mortar store, you need to prepare it for sales day. If either crashes just as customers are gearing up to spend some serious cash, you could lose out on sales – big time.
Keep a countdown so you know exactly when the sales are upon you. Be sure to have all of your sales organised in advance, too – know what’s being discounted, where discounted items will be located and why customers should buy your goods.
When it comes to raking in sales during big spending times, your online presence is key
Your website and social media platforms need to be easy to access, entertaining to view or navigate around, and valuable to your customer.
Having an influential online presence is crucial to reaching potential customers prior to sales day.
Drive traffic to your site in advance and direct customers to your store in time for major sales eVents.
