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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
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
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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
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Speaker:Create custom ribbons right in your store.
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Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:Here's to you and your business in a very,
Speaker:very happy holiday season.