In five months, give or take, you will receive your first holiday order. If you are like me, that seems like a long time away. When your “to do” exceeds your time, it is hard to think about tomorrow. Thinking two seasons forward is almost impossible.
But, what if I told you that what you do now can make or break your holiday season? Would that make a difference? I’m not talking just about marketing either. Now is the time to get your operations and technology ready to handle the volume.
Last holiday season there were things that happened to delay orders, increase returns, and reduce sales. You probably said, “If only I had the time to fix [fill in this space]. Now is the time.
Even if you already know that you need to get started, your team members may need some convincing. These five reasons may help motivation:
Reason 1: It will make your job easier in the fourth quarter. If you don’t have time to do it now, how will you find time to do it then?
Reason 2: You make more money. Eliminate the bottlenecks in the ordering and shipping processes. It increases sales because customers can order quickly. It improves satisfaction because it makes the process easier. And, it reduces costs because efficiency is less expensive.
Reason 3: You improve customer satisfaction. Change your marketing strategy from pushing promotions to attracting sales. Your buyers will want to shop with you (this translates to more sales at less cost.)
Reason 4. You reduce stress. Remember those days where the orders are backlogged in the system, then they are backlogged in the warehouse, and then the customers are screaming “where is my order?” Was that last December? Don’t let it be this December!
Reason 5. Good people are always hard to find. The high unemployment rate is deceptive. It makes everyone think that there are plenty of qualified people waiting to join their company. Quantity isn’t the same as quality. Start lining up your temporary staff early so you have the best team.
Happy Holidays!
