Artwork for podcast Gift Biz Unwrapped
186 – Bake the Cookies, Spin the Dreidel, Capture Those Holiday Sales!
Episode 18629th October 2018 • Gift Biz Unwrapped • Sue Monhait
00:00:00 00:30:33

Share Episode

Shownotes

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

Contact Links

WebsiteFacebookInstagramGift Biz Resources

Holiday Promo Planner - GiftBizUnwrapped-com

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 PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify Thank you so much! Sue

Know someone who needs to hear this episode? Click a button below to share it!

Transcripts

Speaker:

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 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.

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube