5 Ways Your Small Business Can Plan For Christmas

Christmas is a busy time not just in business but at home as well, and if you run a small business – perhaps it’s just you – then you might find that the Christmas holidays have crept up on you before you realized. This may simply be because you’ve just been so busy, and you’ve not been able to plan for the season at all. This is unfortunate for two main reasons. The first is that it means you will probably be working all over the Christmas period (or you’ll stop work and lose money because you hadn’t accounted for Christmas in your plans), and the second is that you will have missed out on the chance to sell more in the Christmas rush.

So that you don’t miss out this year, here are some great ways that your small business can plan for Christmas so that you can have a wonderful holiday and your business can make some extra money.

Remember To Be Festive

Not everyone likes Christmas, but even if you’re not fond of the season, your customers will be – at least the majority of them will be anyway. Due to this, it’s important that you decorate your store or office space, send Christmas cards, and generally celebrate the season as much as you can. It is amazing how much joy some simple decorations or a funny festive had can spread.

You might also want to think up a special Christmas promotion to spread festive cheer even further. This might be a special sale which will help people to spend their money with you and also clear out old stock ready for the new year. Perhaps you’ll give people a discount if they wear a Christmas sweater, or post images of their Christmas tree on your social media pages. Whatever it is, make it fun, silly, and worthwhile, and you’ll be able to reach more customers and enjoy Christmas at the same time.

Keep Social Media Up To Date

Christmas is a massively busy time of the year, and with everything else that is happening, you might be forgiven for forgetting to update your blog and social media pages. Not updating them, however, could have a serious impact on your work, and therefore you should try to keep on top of them whenever possible, even when you are really busy.

You can schedule your Facebook or Twitter posts in advance, and spending an hour or so writing them, finding the right images, and scheduling the posts will mean that you don’t miss out on the engagement they can bring you, but neither do you have to take time out from every day to remember to post something useful or interesting.

Your blog can also be scheduled in advance, although this will take longer than scheduling social media posts because there should be more content. However, this is the time of year when your customers will be just as busy as you are, and therefore shorter blog posts, perhaps simply detailing one item that you have for sale with all the product information, might be appreciated by customers who wouldn’t have time to read something longer.

Give Gifts

Christmas is about many different things, but one of the over-riding elements is gift giving. Not only do you want people to buy from you to give your products and services to other people as gifts, but you should also give gifts where you can. This will make sure you are remembered, and it will show that you are a caring company that wants its customers and clients to be happy.

Depending on your budget, you might want to give your biggest clients something more expensive such as a good bottle of wine, theater tickets, or a gift basket. For smaller budgets, and to give away to customers so that you aren’t forgotten over the Christmas period, you can give items such as personalized pens and notepads, or even Christmas decorations as this article explains.

Check Your Cashflow

It is incredibly easy to get carried away around Christmas and spend far too much without even realizing it. This is the same at home as it is in business, and it is why you should monitor your bank accounts and check your cash flow on a regular basis. Small gifts, lunches out with clients or your entire team, decorating the office, outsourcing some jobs to third parties because you are just so busy, not to mention taxes and the fact that there is a lull between Christmas and New Year can all mean that your money is tighter than you might have realized it would be, and you will be starting the new year in deficit.

The best way to deal with this is to start planning for Christmas as early as possible and to ensure that you know exactly what you will be spending in advance. To make things even easier, you could start paying for some activities or marketing campaigns early, so that the cost is spread out and easier to manage.

Give Bonuses

Another reason to monitor your cash flow and ensure there is enough money going forward is that at Christmas it is wonderful if you can offer some kind of Christmas bonus to your staff. Although this tradition is no longer expected in many businesses, if you are able to do it, it will boost your employees’ morale and ensure that when they return to work after Christmas, they are happy and willing to be there, working hard and feeling content. The last thing you want to happen is for your staff to take some time off and then decide not to return because they have realized that they want a different job.

Remember, without your employees your business, no matter what it sells or how great those products and services might be, you won’t have a business at all. Your people are all-important, so ensure you look after them, especially at this time of the year.