Tis the season! People are in a buying mood. Many retailers
make half their yearly revenue from now until Christmas. People
will be shopping for gifts, decor, food, and more for Christmas,
Hanukkah and Kwanza. How can you increase your sales during the
holiday season? If you run a small or home-based business, make
sure you plan to incorporate some special promotions during this
time. It?s tempting to put off business until ?after the
holidays? and focus on your own celebrations?there?s always so
much to do. That?s fine if it?s your choice. But if you are
trying to increase business, now is a great opportunity to do
so.

Here are some simple, low-cost ways to increase your revenues
during this busy shopping season:

Revamp your descriptions:

Think about how your product/service would make a nice gift and
tell your prospective customers. ?Makes a great gift for the
special guy in your life?. Perhaps you could create a gift
suggestions flyer. People need help choosing great presents for
their friends and family. Help them out by telling them what to
buy for their mom, dad, wife, husband, sweetheart, child,
co-worker, aunt, etc. Offer your ?gift-buying? guide free on
your website, put it in with all your orders, and distribute it
around town.

If you provide a service, those make great gifts, too?who
doesn?t like a massage, or a free housecleaning, or a free tax
planning session? Sell gift certificates for your services. A
key selling point is that people don?t think to give services,
but they can be very unique and appreciated gifts. You might
have to come up with ideal recipients?i.e., for the harried
homemaker, the busy executive, the loving mother, and so on.
Tell your customer (the gift-giver) how much the recipient
would love your service instead of a fruitcake

Create Gift Packages:

Perhaps you could bundle several products into a basket. Think
about the ?recipients? and create special baskets?for example,
if you sell cosmetics, create a ?teen-dream? makeup kit, an
?anti-aging? kit, a ?glamour party makeup? kit, and so on.
Almost any business can come up with creative packaging or
bundling for their products and for their services. For
services, you could do a ?buy one, get half-off? package. Or a
buy three, get one free package. You can even team up with
partners to create super packages?a spa and a housecleaning
service could combine a massage & a house-cleaning for a
fabulous gift for working moms.

Offer Free Gift Wrapping or Free Shipping:

The word ?free? gets attention. Wrapping and shipping are two
things that add to the cost of the gift and if you can include
it, that would increase your sales. To make it worthwhile, set
a spending requirement?free gift wrap on items over $50 or
something similar. Ditto for shipping. You can even run
specials where shipping is only $5 for all orders by a certain
date, or gift wrapping is free on Mondays.

Holiday Give-Aways:

It?s nice to do something extra for your customers during the
holidays. If you have a retail store, bring in Christmas
cookies or candy or hot chocolate. If you ship products, buy
some ornaments at the dollar store and toss them in with the
orders. If you visit clients, take a small goodie bag or fruit
basket. The ideas are endless. For spa-type businesses
(products or services for anything from manicures to bath gel),
consider a sample of a product ? a holiday-printed emery board
costs pennies and is a nice thought. For an event planner, send
everyone a ?holiday party guide? even if you don?t have their
business this year?fill it with great ideas and you?ll get more
business! For a wedding planner, a personalized ornament for all
your wedding couples will create much good will.

My Holiday Card Rule:

If you are going to send holiday cards, please, please, please
sign them. Having your company name pre-printed on the card is
so impersonal that you?d do better saving your money.
Hand-addressing your cards is nice, too, but some people have
illegible handwriting, so printing the envelopes is okay. But,
really, an unsigned card is simply going to send the message
that you don?t have time to be bothered with things like
signing cards and you never want your customers to think you
don?t have time for them. It?s the greeting card version of a
form letter.

Action Item: Take a few minutes to write down some holiday
ideas you can implement in your own business?just one could be
enough. Don?t overload yourself-one idea well executed will be
more fruitful than 20 haphazard ones. Then, put it on your
calendar and spread some holiday happiness to your customers!


About The Author: Deborah Crawford, owner of
http://www.smart-marketing-works provides coaching and
consulting services to help small business owners creatively
grow their businesses. She is also an online columnist at
http://www.BellaOnline.com/site/soho.