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"You have to really keep your ego in check and make sure you're making the right decisions for your business. Don't just focus on the top line. Look at the bottom line as well."
This week, Inc.com published an article written by staff reporter Guadalupe Gonzales entitled 6 Ways to Reel in Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers. In this article, Gonzales names 6 marketing tips to help business owners bring in sales during the last part of the holiday season with the help of several business owners.
Gonzales's 6 ways to reel in last minute shoppers include: (1) Offer daily specials, (2) allow Shoppers to buy now and pay later (using a "lay-away style" program called Afterpay), (3) Right size your discount strategy, (4) Give email another shot, (5) Let your inner storyteller shine, and (6) Watch out for fulfillment traps.
In her development of tip number 6, Gonzales credits Julien Plouffe, founder and CEO of an online jewelry site called Moonglow with saying, "Before orders start pouring in, you have to make sure you're able to manage all of them". She then quotes Darn Good Yarn's founder and CEO, Nicole Snow, in the following paragraph:
"Fail to do this and you'll be dealing with the consequences way into the new year, says Nicole Snow, founder and CEO of Darn Good Yarn, a Halfmoon, New York-based online knitting supplies store. 'It's not just [dealing] with the high volume of sales and all of your problems magically go away come January 1. You have customer service ramifications, too,' she says, noting that usually manifests in the form of online reviews, which you have little to no control over. 'If you tick someone off and they call your customer service saying you really ruined Christmas for them, it's extremely hard to win that customer back,' she adds, warning that you will probably end up increasing your customer service budget during the first quarter trying to put out fires like that.
"It's not just [dealing] with the high volume of sales and all of your problems magically go away come January 1. You have customer service ramifications, too."
'You have to really keep your ego in check and make sure you're making the right decisions for your business," adds Snow. 'Don't just focus on the top line. Look at the bottom line as well.' "
The holiday season is a high pressure time for many businesses. With her article, Gonzales seeks to help our business owners everywhere with some wise words from CEOs who have been in the sales game for a number of years.
