This time of year always brings small business owners who think people aren’t buying. Just because Christmas is approaching, it’s common to think that your prospects don’t want to spend money in your business because they’re too busy preserving money for gifts, holidays, or they’re just generally in save-save-save mode because of how expensive things are today.
This is simply not true.
Consider that at this time of year, your prospects are in the exact buying mode you’re convinced otherwise of. In fact, many small businesses who strategically prepare for the 6 weeks spanning Black Friday to Christmas, report some of the best sales months they have all year long, regardless of what industry they’re in.
The key? They prepared for it.
If you want to make the most of these next six holiday weeks in your small business, you’ve got to be prepared for three main parts: getting new clients, keeping your current clients engaged, and creating future excitement for both parties.
Getting New Clients
Having a sound marketing strategy through the next six weeks is important to extending your reach and acquiring new clients who are set on making a final change before the year is over. These people exist – don’t think otherwise! But the biggest mistake most small business owners make is that they shut down from their own personal projections about how this time of year makes them feel. Because they may not be spending themselves, or their personal projections about money to begin with, they think that this is how everyone else is.
However, people are looking to make a final push before the year is over. They realize that this is a great time to get ahead, to have a plan in place, and to tie up the loose ends they’ve let go all year long. Being in the forefront mind of your prospects is more important this time of year than most others.
To be front and centre, keep up with your lead nurturing, your emailing, and your social content production so you stay current and relevant. Employ a strategic marketing offer that encompasses offers and programs you already utilize, but adds more value for the new prospects to grab before the end of the year. Lastly, engage with leads that have come in throughout the year, those who have entertained working with you but didn’t buy, and those who may have quit previously. These people already know, like, and trust you, and will be a welcomed conversation.
Keep Your Current Clients Engaged
While you need to be growing your business and acquiring new clients, it’s important that you don’t forget about your current clients who are already paying to work with you. However, they’re also in holiday mode too, so bombarding them with to-do lists, homework, or extra things is not always the answer here either.
To keep your current clients engaged, consider giving them small tasks to complete over the next holiday period. If you work with clients in a one-on-one or one-to-many scenario, consider multiple touchpoints over the next coming weeks, ways to get reviews or testimonials from them, or things that will help them get closer to their goals or results they’re looking for.
Obviously this depends on your business type, but no matter what type of clients you work with, you want to keep them engaged. When you disappear, they disappear. If you disappear, you’re more likely to encounter, “We’re not using this, I’d like to quit,” types of conversations. To avoid those, continue dropping engagement to your clients in various methods (depending on your business type).
Show The Future Excitement
Both parties (prospects and current clients) will continue to upgrade their engagement with you and your business if you can showcase what is all coming for them in the near future. You want to show both parties that you’ve got more things mapped out to help them get the results they’re looking for, new things for them to attend or participate in, and more work that you’re doing with your team to give them a better experience.
Depending on your business type, you’ll need to get creative about how you do this, but the simplest way is this: Don’t be scared to talk about what you’re working on. You don’t need to keep secrets, but instead, strategically drop hints and showcase bits and pieces of things you’ll have for them in January. This will create FOMO from your prospects, and excitement from your current clients, which will keep both parties engaged, so they want to continue to be a part of your ecosystem.
Don’t Shut Down
The biggest mistake you can make as a small business owner over the holidays is to shut down your efforts and coast through the next six weeks. Remember that the work you’re doing today is actually setting you up for 90 days ahead. If you want a full January to come back to after the holidays, you’ve got to be strategic about your efforts today.
If you’d like help making a plan to get new clients before Christmas, and keep your current clients engaged and excited, book a Brainstorm Session with me here.