A great place to learn what works in marketing is for us small business folks to watch what the master marketers do. During the holiday season, some retailers need to realize 80% of their sales in the 6-week window between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. If that rings a bell with my tax accounting followers, it’s because they can relate. They have to cram a large percentage of their revenues in the 10-week period between February 1 and April 15. In any case, they have a short period of time to hustle, rack up sales, and boost their company revenues as well as they know how. What can we learn from the holiday retailers that we can apply to our businesses?

1. 1. Give your prospect a deadline. Christmas is the retailer’s built-in deadline, April 15 is the tax preparer’s deadline, but most of us entrepreneurs aren’t so lucky to have services that come with deadlines. If your service does not come with a built-in deadline such as a project deadline, an implementation date, a government due date, or a holiday, then make one up or associate with one. 

       

      For example, when you raise prices, send out an email that allows people to sign up for your services at the old rate for a limited time. You’ll be surprised at how many people get off the fence and sign up!

      Tie your service to a holiday or tradition. Many coaching, gym memberships, self-improvement, and weight loss programs are sold this time of year because people are thinking about New Year’s resolutions.

1. 1. Repetition is key. During November and December, we’ll see stores’ advertisements on TV over and over again. We don’t see that kind of repetition in the small business arena, but we should. Only 2% of sales are made on the first contact, and 3% on the second. So if you’re not following up with prospects in your marketing or sales process, you’re leaving 95% of your sales on the table.

1. 1. Go on sale. Everyone loves a bargain. Offer a special discounted prepay price, have a sale on your birthday, or throw in a free bonus with a volume purchase. We see this with products all the time, but there’s no reason we can’t do this with our services too as long as we watch our margins.

1. 1. Pay attention to timing. Retailers wait all year until the demand is present. We could do the same. What attracted me to Ali Brown’s coaching program was that she received commitments from her coaching members in November and December, then she closed the program. Imagine having $2 million in receivables booked before the year even started. (I wanted to learn how to do that!) You can really keep the marketing costs down when you don’t have to market all year.

1. Make it easy for us to buy. Retailers have longer hours for our convenience. They have extra salespeople. The parking lots have traffic personnel. They take credit cards, debit cards, and all sorts of payment methods. They will even open up a store credit card account for us. There is entertainment in the mall for us to make a special visit to see. Santa Claus is available for the kids. 

    

   What could you do? Take a look at your new customer intake process and see if you can streamline it. Offer multiple payment methods. Offer educational sessions that are entertaining and relevant your business services. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and figure out what they’d like to have to make it easy to work with you, or better yet, ask some of your trusted clients how you can make their experience even better.

Try out these 5 tips for a more prosperous business.