Boost Sales with Christmas Cheer

Renée Mayne reveals how you and your team can eat, drink and be merry to boost sales this festive retail season with the correct Christmas planning.

Twas’ the night before Christmas and you are sitting down with a glass of wine feeling fantastic! You have made heaps of money, clients are happy and staff have done an amazing job. Bonus, this year you’re not even exhausted!

The lead up to Christmas can be exhausting and you get that feeling of dread before it even starts. Right now is the calm before the storm, so it’s a good time to prepare for a profitable Christmas period.

Here I discuss the nine things you can implement into your business that will get the sales flowing with ease. You will then discover seven things that will drive traffic into your website and increase your sales online.

Step One: Dominate in store
Get Your Team Prepared. Not only do you want to make lots of sales leading up to Christmas you also want to have fun so make sure your team ready and super motivated.

Have a thank you/ Christmas party to build up moral and get that team bonding happening. The more motivated, happy and appreciated your team feels the better they will work for you.
Order up: get your stock ready and on hand.
Prepare the rosters early and for the entire Christmas period. Try and be mindful that your staff have functions and take them into account — that way personnel won’t get resentful and will continue to give your clients a great experience.
Have a clear outline of what is expected of them and what journey you want your clients to go on. Have a clear process for gift purchases etc.
Create goals and incentives for your team: You might have a daily focus, a weekly focus; it might be an item or sales process. Then have weekly “bonuses” up for grabs. It could be a movie tickets, a dinner, a body scrub or a massage. Then at the end of the Christmas period you might offer them a cash incentive.
If you haven’t already, order some ‘gift fillers’ because they make great addition items to your sales and they can complete a gift for your customers.
Order in gift boxes because it will save time wrapping and you can on sell them to boost sales.
Create some ways that your staff can have fun within the team and clients. Position staff so the process is friendly, efficient and thorough.
You may want to host a VIP night for your clients, their friends and partners.

Step Two: Smash It Online
At this stage it is crucial you create a well thought though savvy marketing campaign.

Who are you targeting? It may be different to your usual customer base, for example it may be their partners? Write down a brief outlining who it is.
Research and create a keyword list, what are people Googling?
Create an editorial plan for your blog or newsletter leading up to Christmas.
Consider paid Facebook advertising and to look at organic SEO.
Ensure customers are getting a quick, seamless, enjoyable experience in your online store. There is nothing more annoying than wanting to buy something and it takes forever.
Get a strong social media plan happening: Use fun lighted images, schedule posts/ tweets and updates so you don’t have to think about it. Remember not to go over the top and have a balance between promotional and connecting with others.
You might even look at doing an online event for VIP customers or for their partners.

Most importantly, keep the energy up along the way so refuel every day and enjoy the festive season!