Get Your Business Holidays-Ready
Thursday, December 01, 2005
As Christmas and winter holidays are just next door, don't wait until it's too late to get your business, no matter how small it is, holiday-ready. In the next days, I'll try to put up a series of posts on this matter.
For the beginning, here is a list of eight tips to get your biz in the holiday spirit:
1. Find out what your customers want
. A powerful rule no matter the question or the season, but - whether through word of mouth or formal surveys - know what your clientele wants. Chances are good that most will opt for a holiday flair - decorations, Christmas cookies, the whole fruitcake - but that's no certainty.2. Know your customers' tastes
. Make certain you accessorize accordingly. That means, if you run an occasionally noisy sports bar, your choice of decoration and lighting can be - shall we say - somewhat more liberal than a family-minded pet store. On top of that, decorate demographically - don't buy the same $1.25 plastic Santa headpiece that goes over the grill at a burger joint for a restaurant that provides home-equity loan applications with its entrees.3. Compartmentalize your holiday space, if you'd prefer
. There's no Yuletide law that mandates that every inch of your business has to smell like a pine-tree arboretum. Consider earmarking only a portion of your business space for holiday-related accoutrements. For instance, one business I know works up a holiday village that occupies only three center aisles. The atmosphere is holiday-laden, complete with music and ersatz snow drifting down. But the rest of the store could be in Maui in July for all you could tell.4. Be creative; consider new approaches
. Even the most ardent holiday decoration fan would admit that things can start to look rather - ahem - uniform after a bit. After all, 12 successive stores all playing "The 12 Days of Christmas" can really sap a tune's hum-ability. So, track down lesser-known holiday music, look out for out-of-the-ordinary decorations and think up holiday-tied programs your customers might appreciate.5. Service businesses:This affects you too.
The issues of decoration and other visual concerns may seem less important to you if your business is more of a service business. But that doesn't mean that the holidays aren't just as important - rather, the holiday season reinforces the importance of keeping in close touch with your client base. Find other ways of doing so, such as special promotions, event sponsorships or even charitable donations.6. Don't sound monolithic or impersonal.
One of the inadvertent yuks I get out of the holidays is the corporate Christmas card that's signed by the company - not the employees, but the operation itself, as though someone had somehow taught this intangible entity how to write ("Best wishes, from Monolith Co.") Don't make the same snafu - if you're sending out cards, have them signed personally (by you or members of your staff).7. Buy business gifts intelligently
. You may be able to save money on ribbon candy, but service businesses shouldn't overlook the importance of buying gifts for their best clients. But don't just run out and buy 100 chorizo and cheddar nibble 'n nosh boxes. Instead, research your top customers, find out what they would really appreciate and hit that target (within cost considerations, of course). If money's a concern, you can always trim expenses by buying lesser clients less expensive gifts. They're likely doing some belt-tightening this holiday season as well.8. Make the good tidings go beyond the holidays.
Even the most generous client gift outlay can ring hollow if you morph into Scrooge for the other 364 days. So, make certain that, however you communicate with your clients during the yuletide, it's part of a consistent, overall communications program.Tags: holiday ready, Christmas, small business
posted at 5:42 AM
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