How can small businesses plan for Christmas?
John Nelligan
16-12-20With yuletide almost upon us, how can businesses ensure they properly prepare for the holiday close-down?
We share some tips to ensure the process is as hassle-free as possible.
1. Make sure your customers are aware of your plans over the Christmas period.
Sending clear communications of any reduced trading days or hours will manage customer expectations, so they can start to plan accordingly. The key to client retention is good communication. Businesses need to think about how their clients would feel if they could not make a live contact with someone. Which will in turn affect your working relationships going forward. Ensuring continuity of communication throughout the period is really important.
2. Talk to your suppliers so they understand any closing periods and last order dates.
You may need to forward order to maintain stock levels, if there are suppliers that close for an extended period over Christmas. Ask customers if they would like extra stock to cover the holidays. However, if you are encouraging them to take extra stock to suit you rather than them, you may want to offer credit customers a few days extra credit to encourage them to help you.
3. Consider using the Christmas period to explore ways to innovate.
By taking advantage of the changing demands and conditions this time of year brings. For example, looking for ways employees could operate more flexibly and even remotely. A Christmas period trial may actually give some useful insights into potential new ways of working, by reducing demands on physical workspace and offering employees the flexibility they may crave.
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