Is your Home Business ready for the Holiday season?(read these 5 tips)

The holiday season is set to start out very soon, from Black Friday sales to Cyber Monday, Christmas sales, Small business Saturday to end of the year outright sales, etc.

If you have been a constant reader of my Blog you will know by now that I am that woman that believes in encouraging stay at home moms and any other person that is interested to start a Home business that supports their lifestyle.

This is because I believe that what one does for a living should allow you to enjoy life as well and not just squeeze in your own lifestyle into it.

The Holiday season is set to begin soon, some early birds have already started getting ready.

If you are a Home Business owner no matter what is it you sell, this is a season when you will be selling more so why not be strategic about making the most of this season.

To enable you to do just that, I have some 5 tips you could make use of to ensure a successful holiday season business delivery

1 Check Your Sales Data from the Last Holiday Season

This data will give you an idea of what worked last year and what did not work, that way you can learn what to tweak in other to get moving for the holiday season.

Your ability to pull this data out and have a thorough look will also reveal to you what marketing channels were the best in pulling over your customers and getting them to buy.

-If you just started your Home business this year as a result of reading my Blog then this is obviously your first sales season.

I will advise that you look at your last 90 days of sales and know what has worked for you and what has not worked that way you can identify your top sellers and stock up on that product.

-You can also use that information you have gotten to plan your marketing campaigns.

What are the advertising channels that have given you more sales than others?

What can you do to increase your sales via those channels?.

Remember that the season flies by fast so this is not the time to be trying out new sales strategy but the time to use proven marketing and sales strategy to get your customers.

2 Prepare Your Sales Strategies

In this season, there will be a lot of people willing to buy products because it is the season for gift giving but this does not mean that you should not plan to target your ideal customers in your marketing campaigns.

-Set up your marketing campaigns to hit the sweet spot for your consumers, offer deals and discounts that will enable people who will not ordinarily buy from you to capitulate and buy from you.

-Your marketing strategies should be geared towards ensuring that your most converting audience: be it on Instagram, Facebook or via emails will be targeted and given the opportunity to buy from you.

3 Season proof your website:

-Your Website is your Mobile shop front, so you have to ensure that you are ready to sell at any point in time that your customers find you.

-Ensure that your sales cart is working well, test it out to be sure that there are no hitches in purchasing your products to avoid a high rate of abandoned carts.

-Ensure that you have a good customer service line or email available to attend to customer requests and issues and ensure speedy resolution of issues that may arise from purchasing your products. This will create repeat purchase from new customers and make them loyal to you.

-Advertise your coupons or discounts codes clearly for anyone that is on your site so they can know that there is a discount or sales period currently ongoing in your shop or business. In fact, do everything possible to ensure that anyone who visits your site is aware of what possible deals are on currently ongoing.

-Ensure that your site is Mobile friendly, Most people will access your website via their mobile phones ,so ensure that your site is tested ahead for mobile friendliness, you can check it out right now here. If there are issues, fix it and get ready.

-Check with your payment platforms to ensure that you have a sizeable limit that will accommodate your sales period, this is to avoid shut down of your account during the sales period.

-Protect your Site from Hacking and other security-related issues. Take correct security measures like installing an SSL certificate for your site if you haven’t already, putting in security plugins like Loginizer and wordfence. Ensure that your site is security proof to avoid theft of credit card details from your site.

4 Stock up on inventory

This will only apply to you if you are selling tangible products only if you are selling digital products you only need to create them once and set them on automation and you are good to go. However, if you are selling physical products which need to be made then you have to take it into consideration while preparing your store for the holiday season. Your diligent preparation will ensure that you do not run out of inventory during the holiday season.

If drop shipping is your method for your home based business, then you have to contact your suppliers or vendors to ensure that they have a good stock of products that will fulfill all your orders during the holiday season. I believe that proper communication will ensure a seamless build-up and delivery of products and services without hitches.

-It’s also important to clearly set out your delivery days and how long it will take for your products to arrive at your customer’s doorstep, this will ensure that you have fewer refunds and returns and also reduce the loss of customers.

5 Market Like a Pro:

Prepare yourself for the very big sales days e.g Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas sales and small business Saturday.

These are days that a lot of people are offering huge discounts to attract customers, ensure that your products you have on sale have these price markdowns visible where your customers are can see it so they know what is available.

Trust me nothing makes shopping for Christmas or any occasion for that matter better like 20% off the original price. It often makes one feel like you are getting a good deal.

To ensure that you drive this season to the get the last bit of sales, set a target for yourselves in this season and aim to beat it.

With these preparatory tips in your kitty and your commitment to apply it, your sales season should be a breeze.

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