186 – Bake the Cookies, Spin the Dreidel, Capture Those Holiday Sales!
It’s fourth quarter and you know what that means. There is magic in the retail air. Credit cards are being swiped and Apple pay is in full swing. You want a piece of this holiday sales action, don’t you?
I know you said, “yes.”
If you’re really serious, what are you doing differently right now than during the rest of the year? What have you put in place to turn on the holiday cheer and light up your holiday sales?
You see, if you only do the things you always do all year, your sales will be okay but not lighting up the bank account. Let’s kick that black coal to the side of the road and hang some glistening tinsel so you capture your joyful share of the holiday sales cheer.
It’s lining up to be a great year for gifting sales. Make sure your pile of presents are stacked high.
Okay, enough of the holiday metaphors, but it’s okay to be a little glittery. It’s the holiday season!
Business Building Insights
- You have to take action and do things differently to magnify your 4th quarter sales
- There are 3 categories where you can affect sales: Visibility, Promotions and Price
- People are opening their wallets and set to spend money. It’s your opportunity to show why they should be spending it with you.
- You don’t have to sell holiday-themed products to make your offerings look festive.
- Point out what service or purpose your product offers for the holidays.
- Don’t forget about your customer who is buying gifts for others. Do you have something for them too?
- Holiday promotion is not all about cutting your prices.
Resources Mentioned
- Become a Network Ninja
- Open House Details – The Only Holiday in August
- Open House Details – Ensuring Success at Your Business Event
- Pop Up Shops – Pop Up Shops for the Corporate Win
- Power Partners – Power Clusters to Spark Sales
Contact Links
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Gift Biz Resources
Download Our Free
Holiday Promo Planner
Here
Join Our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
Become a Member of Gift Biz Breeze
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe so you automatically get the next episode downloaded for your convenience. Click on your preferred platform below to get started.
Also, if you’d like to do me a huge favor- please leave a review. It helps other creators like you find the show and build their business too. You can do so right here: Rate This Podcast
Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify
Thank you so much! Sue
Know someone who needs to hear this episode?
Click a button below to share it!
Transcript
This is gift biz unwrapped episode 186 there's still time to
Speaker:throw some tinsel on your marketing plan and capture more sales
Speaker:than you ever have before.
Speaker:Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters,
Speaker:and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Before we get in To the show,
Speaker:I want to make sure you know about my newly released
Speaker:free masterclass.
Speaker:It's called how to turn your hobby into a business.
Speaker:How do you know if this is for you?
Speaker:Well, if you're starting a business right now,
Speaker:you've gotten that dream,
Speaker:but you're just not sure what steps you should be taking.
Speaker:This masterclass is for you if you're already in business,
Speaker:but something just isn't clicking.
Speaker:It's not bringing in the sales or it's just not performing
Speaker:the way you think it should.
Speaker:This masterclass is also for you to check it out.
Speaker:Just go over to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash masterclass I look forward to seeing you over
Speaker:there and for now let's get into the show.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue and thank you so much for spending a little
Speaker:bit of your time with me today and guess what?
Speaker:No guests today,
Speaker:it's just you and me talking about this time of year,
Speaker:how important it is for your business and I'm going to
Speaker:give you loads of tips and how to capture sales for
Speaker:the fourth quarter.
Speaker:If you're listening to this episode right as it's going live,
Speaker:it's fall 2018 and the end of October.
Speaker:A chill is in the air.
Speaker:There's Apple picking here.
Speaker:The trees are all changing colors.
Speaker:Everyone's pulling out their heavier sweaters and lighting up the fireplaces
Speaker:because we know what's coming in here in Chicago.
Speaker:If you're just getting a chance to know me now,
Speaker:I am all about the snow and the snowflakes and cold
Speaker:weather comes a little bit with that but not too cold.
Speaker:I think actually if you get too cold it doesn't even
Speaker:snow. But anyway,
Speaker:I am anticipating that season of winter and flurries and all
Speaker:that and you'll definitely see on social media that I will
Speaker:be playing around in the Snell,
Speaker:but first we have some business to attend to.
Speaker:It is fourth quarter and I'm not talking about a football
Speaker:game. I'm talking about the retail world.
Speaker:I know many of you who make 50% or more of
Speaker:your sales during this quarter,
Speaker:so this could not be more important to pay attention to
Speaker:and to put some energy and focus on.
Speaker:People are opening up their wallets at this time of year.
Speaker:They're expecting to buy,
Speaker:so they're standing right in the path where you can capture
Speaker:their sales.
Speaker:As the season goes on,
Speaker:people start to get desperate.
Speaker:They start seeing that their gift lists are still as long
Speaker:as they once were because they've been procrastinating.
Speaker:And as it gets closer and closer to the holidays,
Speaker:people are willing to spend more and more because they just
Speaker:have to get these things done.
Speaker:The parties are coming.
Speaker:There's hostess gifts to buy.
Speaker:There's presence for the family,
Speaker:some local,
Speaker:so they can put it off a little bit longer,
Speaker:but some have to get mailed,
Speaker:which means it's going to become urgent.
Speaker:How do you make sure that you get your fair share
Speaker:of the sales that are happening all around us?
Speaker:Well, for sure you can't just do the same thing that
Speaker:you've been doing all year.
Speaker:You need to up the energy of your promoting and marketing
Speaker:just like the energy for the holiday season has increased and
Speaker:perhaps you've already been doing so,
Speaker:and if that's the case,
Speaker:kudos because you have been planning,
Speaker:but no worries if you've just been going along promoting the
Speaker:business in the same way that you have all year,
Speaker:there's still time to throw some tinsel on your marketing plan
Speaker:and capture more sales than you ever have before.
Speaker:All predictions are that this holiday season will be stellar.
Speaker:Let's work on setting some new sales records for you,
Speaker:shall we?
Speaker:For clarity,
Speaker:I'm separating my business building strategies into three different categories,
Speaker:visibility, promotions,
Speaker:and price.
Speaker:Under each of these,
Speaker:we're going to talk about specific things that you can do
Speaker:to attract business,
Speaker:increase revenue,
Speaker:and increase sales.
Speaker:Now, this does not mean you need to do all of
Speaker:them. I don't think at this point,
Speaker:nor even in planning.
Speaker:You should do all of them,
Speaker:but take a few and do them right and please do
Speaker:not think it's too late.
Speaker:Listen to this episode a couple of times.
Speaker:Select the tactics that you want to use and then employ
Speaker:them. First up is visibility.
Speaker:This is a wonderful time for new people to learn about
Speaker:your business where they may have never even known that you
Speaker:existed before.
Speaker:There are four ways that you can get additional visibility during
Speaker:the holidays.
Speaker:The first one,
Speaker:which I advocate all year round,
Speaker:those of you who have been with me for a while
Speaker:know that I talk about this a lot,
Speaker:but it's flat out simple,
Speaker:easy. Yet for many people,
Speaker:a little nerve wracking and scary networking.
Speaker:If you're a member of the chamber or some other business
Speaker:building lead passing group,
Speaker:are you attending the meetings?
Speaker:Are you going out there and showing what your business can
Speaker:help them with?
Speaker:Every single company now is thinking of how am I going
Speaker:to thank my customers for their business throughout the year.
Speaker:Send holiday greetings to prospects,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:You could be the solution that they're looking for.
Speaker:Plus, remember two business owners have families and there's that whole
Speaker:list as well,
Speaker:so if your product doesn't really fit in with the corporate
Speaker:environment, you can still help them out with their personal list.
Speaker:Number two,
Speaker:holiday markets.
Speaker:There are craft shows galore.
Speaker:I know in my community every single weekend you can drive
Speaker:one direction or another and land upon some holiday markets.
Speaker:Sometimes they're in churches,
Speaker:they're in schools,
Speaker:and of course there are professional organizations who are putting on
Speaker:holiday shows and craft markets,
Speaker:particularly during the season.
Speaker:There are lots of opportunities.
Speaker:Just check in your local area and see what you can
Speaker:do in terms of getting a table.
Speaker:At one of these shows,
Speaker:right in your local community.
Speaker:The great thing about that is you're interacting with people who
Speaker:could also purchase from you throughout the year.
Speaker:Perhaps they didn't know about you before,
Speaker:especially if you're home-based and now they will.
Speaker:Plus you'll have their contact information so you'll be able to
Speaker:promote to them later.
Speaker:Next up,
Speaker:visibility. Strategy number three is having a holiday open house in
Speaker:your shop.
Speaker:Now, if you don't have a shop,
Speaker:if you're home-based,
Speaker:you could partner with somebody who is local in the community
Speaker:and have a holiday,
Speaker:get together,
Speaker:open house in their location and promote together.
Speaker:If that's the case and you're looking for someone to partner
Speaker:with. The important point here is to make sure that you
Speaker:both are looking at a similar audience.
Speaker:In other words,
Speaker:your product serves a similar audience,
Speaker:so someone who is coming into your open house will be
Speaker:able to use products from both of you.
Speaker:The nice thing with that is both of you have customer
Speaker:lists and prospect lists and you'll be able to share your
Speaker:audience to each other.
Speaker:So you both benefit from this type of a setup.
Speaker:With an open house,
Speaker:of course there's a little bit of planning.
Speaker:You want it to be festive,
Speaker:you'll need to send out invitations.
Speaker:I'm not going to get into all of the events set
Speaker:up here,
Speaker:but the concept of having an open house and getting some
Speaker:celebration going on,
Speaker:it's a great way for new customers to see and interact
Speaker:with your business.
Speaker:And you.
Speaker:And finally,
Speaker:what about having a holiday popup shop?
Speaker:Many big office buildings now are seeing the value of bringing
Speaker:people in,
Speaker:having you set up in the lobby and providing service for
Speaker:the tenant of the buildings.
Speaker:If you're not familiar with popups,
Speaker:I would like to direct you to a podcast episode I
Speaker:did just a short while back with a net per Dawn
Speaker:of fill my jar.
Speaker:You can find that episode at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash fill my jar and it will give you
Speaker:everything you need to know about setting up pop up shops,
Speaker:not just for the holidays but all year round.
Speaker:However, during the holidays,
Speaker:corporate buildings will be much more interested in having this type
Speaker:of a concept so it could jumpstart your whole popup shop
Speaker:strategy. You can come back and thank me later for that
Speaker:one. Let's move on now and talk about the second category
Speaker:and that is promotions under promotions.
Speaker:I want to talk about your product and then also how
Speaker:exactly to approach it in terms of wording and messaging to
Speaker:your customer.
Speaker:Let's start off with the obvious thing.
Speaker:If you have a product that is specifically themed to a
Speaker:holiday, those are,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:I know I don't even have to say it here,
Speaker:but those are the products that you want to be highlighting
Speaker:in your materials online,
Speaker:whether you're doing print or even when you're going out into
Speaker:your community for networking events.
Speaker:What I'm talking about in terms of special holiday designs are
Speaker:those earrings that look like little swigs of Holly or the
Speaker:scarves that are embroidered with Santa Claus or happy Hanukkah cards
Speaker:or dreidels on cookies,
Speaker:whatever it is that signifies or is a symbol of the
Speaker:different holidays that are celebrated this time of year should of
Speaker:course be the ones that you're promoting.
Speaker:And I know this sounds so obvious and you're all probably
Speaker:saying SU,
Speaker:duh, I know I need to do that,
Speaker:but I can't tell you how many people at the last
Speaker:minute think about putting up advertising because they're like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:yes, I haven't even thought about advertising.
Speaker:I need to put something out there.
Speaker:And then they pull some type of content from an ad
Speaker:that they did the past summer.
Speaker:So I do feel that it's important to point out that
Speaker:you should be promoting your holiday merchandise.
Speaker:Having said that,
Speaker:I know that a lot of you don't do specialty themed
Speaker:products in the manner that I just described.
Speaker:You too can still spruce up your products so that they
Speaker:have a more festive look.
Speaker:So that even if they're the same core product,
Speaker:they look different.
Speaker:They're glammed up and take on an added holiday feel for
Speaker:this time of year.
Speaker:How do you do that?
Speaker:One way is simply in your packaging.
Speaker:You could have special bags or special labels or you could
Speaker:put together holiday colors that are your product normally throughout the
Speaker:year, but by combining them together,
Speaker:they take on that festive holiday.
Speaker:Obviously the red and the greens,
Speaker:sometimes the holidays are the bright blues and pinks are the
Speaker:more metallic colors.
Speaker:Merge those together and then put a festive bow on it
Speaker:or some ribbon or Tencel or glitter.
Speaker:You're taking your base product and you're just packaging it a
Speaker:little bit special,
Speaker:a little bit different so that you're focusing and in the
Speaker:spirit of the holiday season within your packaging.
Speaker:There's a great opportunity this time of year too for merging
Speaker:products together that specifically work well for the holidays.
Speaker:Examples of this could be three candles that are all put
Speaker:together that are white,
Speaker:red and green and their sense are spruce peppermint and I
Speaker:don't know,
Speaker:fresh baked gingerbread cookies,
Speaker:but you can merge all of those together and they then
Speaker:create your holiday package.
Speaker:The same type of idea could be done with spices,
Speaker:cinnamon, nutmeg,
Speaker:Rosemary, and time could all be put together.
Speaker:Although individually they're spices that we use throughout the whole year
Speaker:combined as one and packaged in a festive holiday wrapper.
Speaker:They become a holiday product.
Speaker:A huge advantage with this technique is after the holidays,
Speaker:you're still able to sell that inventory in January.
Speaker:When you have a scarf with a Santa Claus on it,
Speaker:you're not going to be able to sell that as easily
Speaker:in January.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:except for close out sales,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:end of season,
Speaker:getting rid of stock.
Speaker:But the great thing about merging just regular nonspecific holiday season
Speaker:products together is you can always unpackage what doesn't sell and
Speaker:you're not stuck holding onto inventory going into the next year.
Speaker:The final point I want to make here on promotions is
Speaker:it's really important and you're going to get the most play
Speaker:off of your promotions.
Speaker:If you specifically point out to your purchaser what the benefits
Speaker:are of your product,
Speaker:why is your product something that they would absolutely want to
Speaker:have for the holidays,
Speaker:either for themselves or for gifting?
Speaker:This could come in the form of how to use a
Speaker:product. Are there special ways to use your lotions or your
Speaker:fragrances that enhance your spirit,
Speaker:serve some medicinal purposes to get you through,
Speaker:to create more energy to make you look more beautiful on
Speaker:those really special party nights?
Speaker:We've had a couple of people on the show recently who
Speaker:do candy nuts.
Speaker:They do blog articles that talk about how you can use
Speaker:their product,
Speaker:what the lifestyle is around the product,
Speaker:and then also recipes of how you can take their product
Speaker:and then use it and apply it to making a bigger
Speaker:dish. You know,
Speaker:possibly pie crusts or putting it into cakes or merging it
Speaker:with other types of things for a<inaudible> tray.
Speaker:All those types of things are options.
Speaker:In terms of additional information you can layer on not just
Speaker:talking about your product,
Speaker:but how can be integrated into the lifestyle of your recipient
Speaker:recipes, how tos,
Speaker:holiday tips,
Speaker:all of that are things that you can think about to
Speaker:apply to your messaging.
Speaker:Then you can also talk about why your product is so
Speaker:useful. They're a solution for stocking stuffers,
Speaker:hostess gifts.
Speaker:Think about how many parties they're going through for throughout the
Speaker:season. I don't know.
Speaker:I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and
Speaker:say people are going to three,
Speaker:four, five parties during the holiday season.
Speaker:Stock up on your hostess gifts so you don't have to
Speaker:worry about it at the last minute and all important,
Speaker:and here's an idea.
Speaker:I don't see people promoting very much at all,
Speaker:but so useful.
Speaker:You ever been in a situation where someone presents you with
Speaker:a gift,
Speaker:they've come to your house and they've come with a gift
Speaker:specifically for you and you're like,
Speaker:Oh no,
Speaker:I don't have anything for them,
Speaker:right? You forgot,
Speaker:either you forgot about them or you didn't think they were
Speaker:going to give a gift and it's awkward because you don't
Speaker:have anything for them.
Speaker:Could your product possibly be that forgotten gift back up?
Speaker:Have it all wrapped,
Speaker:all labeled and already so someone in a situation like I
Speaker:just described can say,
Speaker:Oh wait,
Speaker:I have something for you,
Speaker:and they can run in the other room.
Speaker:Put a little message on the tag of the gift and
Speaker:bring it on out as if it was planned for all
Speaker:the way along.
Speaker:Another benefit of your products could be services that you offer.
Speaker:Do you mail directly from your shop to the recipient so
Speaker:a customer can order right from you?
Speaker:They don't have to wrap it.
Speaker:They don't have to go to the post office and mail
Speaker:it. It can get directly sent from your shop.
Speaker:If so,
Speaker:you want to promote that.
Speaker:You also want to promote any customization that you do.
Speaker:Do you add names?
Speaker:Can you add special messaging?
Speaker:Can customers select a certain color that they want,
Speaker:that they know the person who's receiving the gift loves all
Speaker:this type of customization are things also you want to point
Speaker:out and I bring up all these topics in terms of
Speaker:benefits for your purchaser because they're all reasons then that they're
Speaker:going to come and buy from you and not go somewhere
Speaker:else. Finally,
Speaker:I don't want to forget.
Speaker:What about the idea of promoting what your product can do
Speaker:directly for your customer.
Speaker:The one who's making the purchase.
Speaker:We're so busy at this time of year with all the
Speaker:hustle and bustle of the season of getting things checked off
Speaker:our list because we're buying for others.
Speaker:Does your product provide value for the purchaser as well?
Speaker:Maybe with that three pack of candles along with that is
Speaker:another little candle that the purchaser then can use for themselves
Speaker:to celebrate the season and find joy in the season as
Speaker:they're doing all the package wrapping or the cooking or all
Speaker:the various activities that we do as we're getting ready for
Speaker:the holidays.
Speaker:So these are all messages and benefits that you can present
Speaker:to your customer as reasons why they should buy from you.
Speaker:To summarize again this holiday focus in terms of promotions.
Speaker:Does your product have a special holiday theme?
Speaker:Those are the images that you want to have in your
Speaker:promotions. Secondly,
Speaker:if your product can be used year round,
Speaker:how can you merge things together so that they look more
Speaker:festive made for the holiday season,
Speaker:but really afterwards you can pull them apart and sell them
Speaker:separately. And finally,
Speaker:don't forget to point out the benefits to the purchaser of
Speaker:why they should be buying from you and not just walk
Speaker:out of your store or jump over to another website to
Speaker:continue their search for that perfect gift.
Speaker:The final category I want to talk about here is price
Speaker:and get this.
Speaker:Really think about this.
Speaker:So sit still,
Speaker:pay attention if you were multitasking while we're talking,
Speaker:stop. Listen,
Speaker:holiday promotion does not always mean you have to drop your
Speaker:price. I want to focus here on pricing,
Speaker:but it doesn't mean how do I continue to drop my
Speaker:price lower so that I can attract more people in?
Speaker:No, because remember every single time you drop your price lower,
Speaker:you are dipping into your profit.
Speaker:Okay, so what can you do?
Speaker:All right,
Speaker:so Sue,
Speaker:I get that.
Speaker:That makes sense.
Speaker:What do I do then?
Speaker:What are my options?
Speaker:One of them plays off of what we were talking about
Speaker:just a minute ago about merging some products together so that
Speaker:they make sense and are more themed to a holiday.
Speaker:This same strategy helps you when you're considering pricing because as
Speaker:you merge products together,
Speaker:whether it's the candle idea that I presented earlier or the
Speaker:spices, when you start merging products together,
Speaker:the overall cost begins to be masked.
Speaker:For instance,
Speaker:when I was talking about candles,
Speaker:if you merge those three candles together and maybe in the
Speaker:bow at a personalized ornament or a package of cinnamon popery
Speaker:or a beautiful,
Speaker:cute, adorable plush reindeer,
Speaker:there's a perceived value over and above what the individual pieces
Speaker:are. So the more you merge things together,
Speaker:the more you're masking your price.
Speaker:It's not to deceive the customer,
Speaker:but it's so that you can keep your margins higher and
Speaker:people will still buy the product and they're feeling like they're
Speaker:getting a deal because they're getting all of these pieces together.
Speaker:Candles, as I said,
Speaker:was a great one.
Speaker:Why do I always gravitate to candles?
Speaker:You guys,
Speaker:I wonder,
Speaker:so candles,
Speaker:but how about a holiday plate with cookies and hot chocolate?
Speaker:So it's a whole little treat center all packaged together.
Speaker:People aren't going to go back and say,
Speaker:okay, how much was the cost of the holiday play?
Speaker:Thomas was the cost of these cookies?
Speaker:How much was that hot chocolate?
Speaker:Oh gosh.
Speaker:Throw a mug in there too.
Speaker:That would fit nicely.
Speaker:The mix,
Speaker:all of this together.
Speaker:Then again,
Speaker:you can command a decent price at decent margins,
Speaker:so that's the first one is bundling multiples.
Speaker:The second is ad-ons.
Speaker:What types of things can you add onto your product that
Speaker:then increase the perceived value?
Speaker:We talked about this a little bit as we were talking
Speaker:about what messaging can do,
Speaker:but what if you actually created a physical piece of paper?
Speaker:Well, you'd make it nice,
Speaker:right? Printed on card stock or perhaps a little pamphlet,
Speaker:but different guides.
Speaker:Perhaps it's what are the top tips of how to burn
Speaker:a candle correctly?
Speaker:What about all different types of ways to wear a scarf?
Speaker:So it comes with a scarf and then it comes with
Speaker:all of these ideas of how to tie the scarf.
Speaker:How about health tips?
Speaker:What is it that makes your chocolates so healthy and a
Speaker:reason why it's all right,
Speaker:have wanted so good,
Speaker:but it's also really,
Speaker:really healthy for you.
Speaker:Also included are a whole list of other healthy heart and
Speaker:weight friendly snacks for the holidays.
Speaker:Okay. I'm making this up on the fly,
Speaker:but you get what I mean or combinations.
Speaker:If you are talking shop again,
Speaker:maybe you would recommend certain wines from your neighbor.
Speaker:Here we're getting into a power partnering concept.
Speaker:Your neighbor is a wine shop.
Speaker:You have the talk klutz.
Speaker:What type of combos could you recommend that would work well
Speaker:for both?
Speaker:Remember, you're the expert within whatever the product category is that
Speaker:you create and a lot of this insight and knowledge you
Speaker:have about your product,
Speaker:how it should be stored,
Speaker:how it can be worn are of great value and interest
Speaker:to your customer.
Speaker:I don't think we take advantage of this nearly enough in
Speaker:terms of writing it down,
Speaker:documenting it and adding it to our product.
Speaker:Sure, it takes a little bit of time to put together
Speaker:what I'm describing,
Speaker:but you only need to do it once and when you're
Speaker:able then to increase the price of your product,
Speaker:you get paid for it over and over again.
Speaker:That's the beauty in some of these ad-ons that are intangibles
Speaker:that you're putting down your knowledge on paper as the guides,
Speaker:the tips,
Speaker:checklists, health benefits,
Speaker:all the things that I've just been describing.
Speaker:Another thing I want to bring up here is the opportunity
Speaker:to get rid of single piece items that have been sitting
Speaker:around in stock for a while.
Speaker:Maybe they're sitting back in your warehouse or on your sales
Speaker:floor, but they're sitting in a basket of items you are
Speaker:trying to get rid of because you only have one left.
Speaker:Now, make I make a point.
Speaker:The product is still good enough,
Speaker:top quality but doesn't seem to be moving.
Speaker:You have that cheese knife that is so beautiful,
Speaker:but just nobody seems to want to buy it.
Speaker:It's this certain turquoise color.
Speaker:Add that onto a shiny silver platter.
Speaker:Add a couple of other things together.
Speaker:Top it off with a glittery bow.
Speaker:Boom. You've got a new year's hostess gift.
Speaker:So what products do you have in singles or maybe you
Speaker:just have two or three left that you'd like to try
Speaker:and get rid of.
Speaker:Consider bundling for this.
Speaker:Another idea in terms of different ways you can get around
Speaker:the pricing issue.
Speaker:Consider doing kickback offers.
Speaker:By this,
Speaker:I mean if someone buys a holiday gift from you in
Speaker:December, they are going to get a mailing for Valentine's day
Speaker:with some type of additional promotion.
Speaker:Now you might say,
Speaker:well wait,
Speaker:that sounds like discounting because if they're buying in December,
Speaker:they might be buying at a regular price,
Speaker:but then you're offering some type of a discount in February
Speaker:on Valentine's day.
Speaker:Yes, that's true.
Speaker:But this is a potential customer that you would never have
Speaker:for Valentine's day.
Speaker:So the upside is still there.
Speaker:Kickback offers.
Speaker:Now having said all this about pricing and suggesting that you
Speaker:should not just automatically jump to dropping your prices,
Speaker:we all know about black Friday and cyber Monday and these
Speaker:are great opportunities for you to offer some type of a
Speaker:discount or something special with one of your products so that
Speaker:you can take advantage of at least one of these days.
Speaker:Black Friday of course is the Friday,
Speaker:right after Thanksgiving when people are like,
Speaker:okay, this holiday is over.
Speaker:Now I got to get started and get really serious about
Speaker:Christmas and cyber Monday is the exact same thing online.
Speaker:So black Friday usually is retail based and cyber Monday of
Speaker:course is all of your online promotion.
Speaker:I do suggest that you take advantage of one of these
Speaker:if not both.
Speaker:And the reason is this way you're putting yourself right in
Speaker:the path of someone who's ready to purchase.
Speaker:If someone's going out to the mall on the Friday after
Speaker:Thanksgiving, you know that they're ready to open their pocketbooks and
Speaker:they are ready to buy.
Speaker:That's their whole intent is being out there and not just
Speaker:looking around like people sometimes do,
Speaker:but they're actually ready to purchase.
Speaker:They want to start whittling away at their holiday list.
Speaker:You want to take advantage of their mindset,
Speaker:which is to buy,
Speaker:which moves me perfectly into the whole psychology of selling and
Speaker:buying when it comes to the holidays.
Speaker:Little bit of an ebb and a flow to people's thinking
Speaker:here because as we were just talking about right after Thanksgiving,
Speaker:everyone's in the mood,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:black Friday,
Speaker:cyber Monday and taking advantage of all the deals.
Speaker:Then people get back to work,
Speaker:they start attending holiday parties and many things get in the
Speaker:way of them completing all of the tasks.
Speaker:And of course there are a lot of us who are
Speaker:procrastinators. So we think we have a lot of time before
Speaker:Christmas, but we really don't.
Speaker:Business owners get involved in selling of their own products and
Speaker:the fulfilling of gifting lists kind of slips and the preparing
Speaker:for those holiday dinners,
Speaker:the holiday parties and getting that perfect dress,
Speaker:all of that kind of slips to the wayside.
Speaker:So at some point they transition into desperation mode.
Speaker:They've got to go out and get something and price becomes
Speaker:less of an issue.
Speaker:It's getting that nice gift or near the end getting just
Speaker:something, anything because so many stores,
Speaker:of course their inventory starts to whittle down,
Speaker:especially in years like this when it's anticipated there's going to
Speaker:be a lot of spending for the holidays and so they're
Speaker:just looking for that great purchase.
Speaker:You can take advantage of that by not automatically dropping prices
Speaker:or dropping prices too early and of course near the end
Speaker:as the holiday is only days away,
Speaker:that is a fine time to start dropping prices on strategic
Speaker:products. Those products that you've bundled together,
Speaker:that can be pulled apart later.
Speaker:I wouldn't drop the price as deep,
Speaker:but Santa Claus themed products,
Speaker:frosty the snowman mugs or lollipops.
Speaker:Those are things I definitely would discount so that you can
Speaker:move the stock away.
Speaker:Perishable items can't last a year so you want to get
Speaker:them out but you want to do it at the right
Speaker:time. It seems like these are little points perhaps,
Speaker:but if you do this properly it can wind up being
Speaker:big dollars that stay with you when you don't drop your
Speaker:price too early and there you have it.
Speaker:Gift business nerves,
Speaker:tips for visibility,
Speaker:promotions and price strategy all wrapped up in a neat little
Speaker:podcast with a bright little bow for you.
Speaker:Now I recognize that I gave you a whole lot of
Speaker:information, tons of tips and possibly if you new to this
Speaker:podcast some strategies that you haven't heard before,
Speaker:so I have a few resources for you that I'm going
Speaker:to put over in the show notes.
Speaker:I've talked a lot about networking in the past.
Speaker:I also have a mini networking program that you can go
Speaker:through. I'm going to give you the link to that in
Speaker:the show notes.
Speaker:I also have several episodes on how to put together a
Speaker:proper open house.
Speaker:I'm going to connect a net popup shop episode for you
Speaker:and I'm also going to connect up information on power partners
Speaker:because that may also be a new concept for you.
Speaker:So I want to be able to give you the complete
Speaker:package of everything you need to make this holiday season the
Speaker:best one yet.
Speaker:You'll be able to find all those goodies over at gift
Speaker:biz, unwrapped.com
Speaker:forward slash holiday Saleen And as an additional holiday gift to
Speaker:you. If you've been listening to the sponsor of this podcast,
Speaker:you know that we promote custom ribbon printing.
Speaker:If this is something on your wishlist and you would like
Speaker:to know about a holiday promotion for a custom ribbon printer
Speaker:of your very own,
Speaker:get in touch with us via email sales@theribbonprintcompany.com
Speaker:to learn more about your very special holiday offer.
Speaker:This promotion is only available through November 30th,
Speaker:2018 so that's a full month of opportunity.
Speaker:If you're not sure what I'm talking about,
Speaker:just take a listen right here to our sponsor.
Speaker:This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of the
Speaker:ribbon print company.
Speaker:Create custom ribbons right in your store.
Speaker:Craft studio in seconds.
Speaker:Visit the ribbon,
Speaker:print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:Here's to you and your business in a very,
Speaker:very happy holiday season.