How to Make the Most of the Festive Season

By Colin Wilson
Director, Key Business Advisors

The December-January period might have been a hit or miss for some businesses in the last couple of years, but the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s biannual SME Confidence Report*, which was released earlier this month, indicates that small- and medium-sized businesses are feeling optimistic about this Christmas.

The report, which surveyed businesses with an annual turnover of $500,000 to $10 million about their biggest concerns as well as their predictions for revenue, profit and demand over the next six months, shows that 43 percent of businesses expect their profits and revenue to be higher this Christmas compared to last Christmas. Seventy-six percent of businesses said they expect customer demand to either rise or remain steady in November and December, while the rest expect less demand over the same period.

Whichever the case might be for your business, there are some things you can do to drive bigger results over the festive season:

• Educate your staff on how to promote Christmas and New Year campaigns to your customers and get them engaged
• Focus on being a customer service-driven business and make suggestions, i.e. cross-sell and upsell, to all customers
• Set goals with your staff and track them daily – considering having bonuses or incentives attached to your company goals
• Reflect on and celebrate the previous 12 months
• Plan for a great 2015

You can learn exactly how to do each one of these in the free webinar I will be conducting on Tuesday, 2 December, from 11am to 11:45am. If you haven’t already, click here to register – don’t worry if you can’t join the live webinar because we can send you a recording if you have registered. Let me and my team at Key Business Advisors support you in making sure this festive season is a wonderful time for your business!

*Bennett, A. 2014. Confidence in the air. The Sydney Morning Herald, [online] 11th November. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/trends/confidence-in-the-air-20141111-3k1ra.html#ixzz3KDOEQh2x [Accessed: 24th Nov 2014).