Say Goodbye Summer, Hello Holidays
As the seasons change so should your business tactics, from your marketing to your sales plan. Depending on your specific industry, the summer months may have been slower than usual. As summer begins to wind down, owners should take advantage of this last bit of down time to prepare for the months ahead; especially the holiday season, a peak time for many industries.
So how should you do this? What are the most important things to keep in mind? Here are some ideas to help you along as you plan out the final months of the year.
Talk to your Staff: Before you begin planning anything, now may be a good time to check in with your staff. See how they feel about different things that the business has done during the past year. Ask for suggestions on things they would like to see in the coming months.
Set Goals: Take a step back and look at all the goals you had lined up for your business this year. How many of them did you accomplish and how far off are you from accomplishing the rest? Decide what goals are most important and most obtainable and then plan accordingly.
Get Informed: As you look ahead to the final months of the year and re-evaluate your goals, you should also take some time to do some research and look at those around you. This year, has there been any new advances in your field? Take a look at your competitors and see what has and hasn’t been working for them. Use this information as you develop a plan for the rest of the year.
Tune Up: Take some time at the end of summer, before business kicks into full gear for the holidays and update your website. Make sure all the information is up to date and that your website is driving the goal and message you are most concerned with. This is also an excellent time to update all your social platforms.
Plan for the Big Things: Do your end of year plans involve any special events, contests or sales? Now is the time to decide. Outline the months to come and decide when all these things should be happening. What is your Black Friday sale going to look like? Would your business benefit from a Halloween photo contest? Get creative and plan the right events and promotions for your business. Also, use this time to plan out when and how you should be promoting such things to guarantee you achieve the results you want.
Travel: Speaking of planning big things, will you need to travel at all during the next few months. Whether for business or visiting family, the last months of the year are peak travel months, so plan in advance. High prices and poor weather make for even longer airport hours. Decide how much travel is absolutely necessary and begin booking now.
Holiday Schedules: Speaking of travel, most likely your employees will be planning some sort of time off during the holidays. Rather than trying to deal with and manage everyone’s schedule once the busy holiday season is in full swing, begin having this conversation with your employees now. Find out who wants to take time off when and what shifts and/or tasks are going to have to be covered. The earlier you work out a holiday schedule the less stressed everyone will be.
Taxes: Although the year is not over yet, now is the perfect time to start getting organized for tax season. By getting organized now, and staying organized through the last final months of the year, tax season will be much less stressful.
Additional business tips can be found on the BBB website.
