As consumers are gearing up for gift giving this holiday season, companies are similarly gearing up for the likely influx of business they’ll see over the next few months. From a greater demand for products and services to increased customer service needs, there are a multitude of ways in which businesses must ready themselves for the holidays—or else be too caught up in putting out fires to meet the needs of customers.
Having experienced multiple holiday seasons themselves, the business leaders of Young Entrepreneur Council know what it takes to ensure you’re ready and able to tackle the challenges ahead. Here, they each share one tip they’d recommend for preparing your business for the busy holiday season and why following this tip will ensure you’re able to ring in the new year with ease.
1. Ask For Employee PTO Ahead Of Time
To better prepare for the upcoming holiday season, it’s best to ask your employees to inform you of their vacation plans or paid-time-off requests preemptively. The last thing you want to experience during the rush season is a shortage of staff. Hence, you need to ask your employees to send time-off requests beforehand so you can plan accordingly. This way, you’ll get through the holiday rush without a hitch and without having to deny time off or require your active teams to work extra hours. – Jared Atchison, WPForms
2. Strengthen Collaborations With Affiliate Partners
For businesses like mine which specialize in affiliate test prep marketing websites, the holiday season often means students and professionals are looking to utilize their break for exam preparations. One key recommendation, drawing from our own experience, is to strengthen collaborations with affiliate partners. Ahead of the holiday rush, ensure that all affiliate links, promotional materials and offers are updated and optimized. Additionally, coordinate with your partners for special holiday promotions or bundles. This not only enhances the user experience but also ensures smooth navigation and purchase processes for potential customers. – Bryce Welker, Accounting Institute of CPAs
3. Train Newly Onboarded Employees On Holiday Processes
A common mistake many businesses make is not training their newly onboarded employees for the holiday rush. So, in order to maximize your efficiency and ensure that you perform at your absolute best, you should educate new members of your team on how to assess things in real time and choose fitting tactics accordingly. No matter how well you are prepared, the holiday season has its fair share of surprises. So, it’s best that you have trained your teams to be flexible and adaptable enough to keep up with what the situation demands. – Chris Klosowski, Easy Digital Downloads
4. Forecast The Demand
The best way for a company to prepare for the likely influx of holiday business is by forecasting the demand. What we do is look at the past five years of data we have and pair it with market trends and customer insights to forecast the demand we’ll be expecting this holiday season. This helps us plan better and ensure that all things are in order to fulfill the demand of customers. Whether we need more inventory or staff (temporary or permanent), our forecast helps us make arrangements in advance so that, when the time comes, we are focused on fulfilling the demand of our customers rather than fighting fires. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
5. Bolster Your Customer Service With Tools And Team Members
The biggest shopping season is here, and you don’t have enough customer service representatives. Sounds like a nightmare, right? You can avoid this problem by ensuring your on-site chat, social media and email functions all have team members on standby to help customers with questions about your products or services. People demand fast service during this busy time. Many will leave without taking action if they have to wait hours for someone to reply on social media or even wait 20 minutes to talk to someone on live chat. Hire people to fill these roles, even if they’re seasonal positions. – Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights
6. Get Ahead On Your Marketing Materials
One way you should gear up for the influx of business is to start creating your marketing materials and graphics right now. You don’t want to wait until the last minute when you’re supposed to be connecting with prospects and securing sales. Taking the time to create eye-catching banners, landing pages and irresistible offers in October will make a big difference during the last stretch of the year. – Daman Jeet Singh, FunnelKit
7. Optimize Your Website For Performance
As we gear up for the holiday season, one thing we should all be careful about is how well-optimized our websites are for performance. Your website should be able to handle the influx of traffic no matter how big the traffic is. So, take all the necessary steps you need to accommodate the traffic on your website. This is essential to offer a good user experience to anyone who visits your site. This can help you retain your users and eventually convert them into customers. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
8. Prepare A Content Calendar
Create a calendar for the holidays. You should have a calendar for publishing content, building social media posts and graphics and for scheduling them to the right platforms. A professional content calendar using a social media management tool or a project management tool will allow you to assign content to team members. You can track each task across different statuses and monitor the effectiveness of your content creation platform and distribution easily. I suggest working with Canva, Buffer or Asana—or whatever is comfortable for you. This simple step can make a powerful difference to your business during the holiday season. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
9. Ready Seasonal Deals And Offers
Offering seasonal deals is one smart move to gear up for the holiday rush. It’s like rolling out a welcome mat for customers and inviting them to shop with you during this festive time. Based on my own experiences, these deals can be a real magnet for business. People are on the lookout for bargains during the holidays, and offering them can help you stand out from the crowd. Consider what makes the most sense for your business: discounts, bundle offers or freebies. Make sure your promotions are clear and easy for customers to understand. And remember: The key is not just offering deals but also promoting them effectively through your marketing channels. Whether it’s on your website, social media or in your email newsletters, let your audience know about the exciting deals you have in store for them. – Sujay Pawar, CartFlows
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