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How small businesses service business get max sales profits during holiday seasons
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How small businesses service business get max sales profits during holiday seasons

Most small businesses made as much as 20-40 percent of their annual sales in the final two months of the calendar year,according to the National Ratail Federation,the nation's largest retail trade association.Other service businesses, such as restaurateurs, caterers, travel agents, etc., are also dependent on doing brisk business each holiday season.

The following pages will detail how to distinguish your small business during the holiday season, how to develop a sales plan for the holidays, and how to use marketing strategies -- including online -- to boost holiday sales.

Laying the Groundwork for Holiday Sales
 
1.Get started by generating customer loyalty. One of the biggest mistakes small businesses make is waiting too long to develop a holiday sales strategy. The planning doesn't start in November. That's too late. An NRF survey of holiday shoppers in 2008 found that 40 percent had started their holiday shopping before Halloween. So your planning for holiday sales should start much sooner than that if you want to be a contender.

Here are ways to use this attribute to distinguish your business during the holidays:

Theme or localize your holiday promotions. 
Reach out to church, community, or school groups.
Sponsor demonstrations or events.

2.Developing a Holiday Sales Plan

Choose your merchandise assortment wisely. When it comes to actually pinpointing what merchandise to stock and how to market these products during the holidays, the best strategy is to narrow and focus merchandise assortments, so that by the end of the selling season, the weight of the remaining inventory is on the proven best sellers.

Narrow merchandise to focus on your best sellers. The products that sold best in September, October, and November are likely to be the key items to drive your sales in December,

Finalize plans for November and December sales
Determine how much inventory you want to end the season with
Develop detailed purchasing plans for the rest of the season.

 

3.Take steps while the holiday season is underway. Once you have developed a detailed holiday sales plan, you can't just sit back and rest on your laurels. A small business needs to remain nimble and able to respond quickly to market events and surges or drops in demand.

Stay on top of vendors.
Identify slow sellers and mark them down.
Plan for post-holiday gift card redemptions.

4.Timely marketing to drive holiday sales
Small businesses can be at a disadvantage when it comes to holiday advertising. The big chains take out full-page ads, or spring for inserts, in newspapers around the country. They buy TV spots during prime time. And they blanket the radio markets, too. Those advertising markets are also open to small and mid-sized businesses, although they may be too pricey. But the Internet has provided a host of new ways to reach customers for low or no cost. In fairness, the best marketing medium for your business depends who you are targeting. NRF found that 78 percent of adults over 55 read a daily newspaper, but 48 percent of young adults aged 18-34 use instant messaging at least once a week.

E-mail marketing.
Online ads.
Social media marketing.

How small businesses service business get max sales profits during holiday seasons