While the Christmas countdown is on for those looking forward to gift giving and holidays, for business now is the time to take advantage of the season as well as preparing for the year ahead.
We are either flat out working ‘in the business’ to fill Christmas orders and make money while the sun shines as they say. But it’s just as important to be planning for next year. Ideally as a start-up our week should be split 30 / 30/ 30/10. 30% should be spent working in the business to service customers, make orders etc.; 30% to be for marketing; 30% for administration and taking care of business and 10% as a buffer for what needs your focus ie. at this time of year it might be Christmas sales. If you deviate too much from this basic equation, you can create your own peaks and troughs. If our head is down using most of our time to work in the business where are our sales going to come from in January. And if you plan on taking some of January off – where are the sales for February going to come from?
So plan your January and February now (ideally the whole year!). One of the ways you can diminish these holiday troughs is to offer incentives during the Christmas period for January and February sales. Contact your leads for the start of next year now and lock in meetings now for February as January will be too late. Bring your marketing plan to life now. Consider engaging your clients with new year offers, memberships, bonuses for pre-ordering or bookings.
While you should be planning to enjoy time off, don’t let it cripple your business for the entire year.
