Month: December 2016

When it comes to Christmas shopping there are three kinds of people.  The ones who have it all done and wrapped up by October, the ones who leave it until Christmas Eve and the rest of us, who are somewhere in between.

If your business sells anything that could be given as a Christmas gift, this is going to be your busiest time of year.  Hopefully the marketing you’ve done throughout the year will have paid dividends, but what else can you do?

Answer: target the last minute shoppers.  They’ll be looking to make a quick decision and you can capitalise on that.  But how do you do it without sounding desperate?  Here’s how.

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Are you taking time off over the Christmas holiday?  I certainly am.  It might be freezing but as long as it isn’t raining I’m happy.  I’m partly Scottish so I partially subscribe to the idea that there is no bad weather, just inappropriate clothing.  My children may have to be wrapped up until they resemble mini Michelin men but we’ll definitely be going outside.  Then of course we’ll have to have some hot chocolate to warm up again afterwards.  It’s a tough job, but I’ll struggle through.

The thing is, as much as it might pain me to turn work away, I can if I want to.  As far as I know all of my clients are off over Christmas.  (OK, I’m crossing my fingers as I write that.)  I’ve got enough control over my workload that I can do a few extra hours before the holiday to get myself up to date.  I just have to make sure that people know when they can get hold of me.

But what if you have employees?  Maybe you can’t just shut down for the Christmas break.  There might be some tough decisions to be made but good communication should make it easier.

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