Have you started gearing up for the Christmas period?
By Colin Wilson
Director, Key Business Advisors
The months leading up to Christmas, and of course, Christmas itself, is usually a very busy period for a lot of businesses in various industries. Do you take advantage of this period to maximise your sales growth? How can you ensure that you best serve your customers and bring in as much sales and profits as possible during the second quarter of the financial year?
Advice: First of all, if you haven’t already done so, review how the first quarter of the financial year has been going for your business. Are you on track to achieve your goals for the quarter? If you are on track, then continue doing what has been working for you and your team; if you’ve already reached your quarterly targets, then take advantage of the momentum and stay motivated to make sure the rest of the year is a success (perhaps even break records while you’re at it!). Do not forget to drive performance and expectation from one quarter to the next. Encourage everyone to excel.
In case the targets for the quarter aren’t likely to be achieved within the next two weeks, then determine what challenges you faced and learn from them. What can you and your team do better as the consumers and business customers warm up for Christmas? Sit down as a group and one-on-one, and remind your staff about your vision for the year, which you (hopefully) shared with them at the start of the financial year. Revisit goals and make any necessary adjustments. Get your staff involved with your goals and ask them for their input on how to improve their performance and your business.
Remember that with so much competition out there, customers know they have a lot of choices and therefore tend to buy from businesses that provide them not only with the product they need at the price they want, but also customer service – and outstanding customer service always seals the deal . When you have an excellent product and service offering, then there is no reason for you to be deterred by customers’ excuses such as, “I’m going to wait until the stocktake sale or the new year to make a decision.” Your goal this quarter is to get customers to commit to buy from you now and before Christmas, instead of holding off on their decision.
Ensure your team is set up to excel at every step of the sales process. Download our handy sales guides, 7 Steps to Successful Retail Sales, 12 Steps to Successful B2B Sales, 11 Steps to Successful B2C Sales, and 9 Steps to Successful Prospecting and Selling over the Phone, which you can print and distribute to your staff. If you need further assistance, call us on 1300 4 ADVICE or email info@keyba.com.au.
