This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Is it too late to plan for holiday sales? That is the question we're gonna explore today on Side Hustle School. Welcome back. My name's Chris Guillebeau. Hope you had a good weekend.
Hope you had a good holiday. If you celebrated the hobby of Thanksgiving, of course you could be somewhere else in the world, I realize, but wherever you are, if you are selling anything online, then you know very well that we are entering peak marketplace. That's a phrase I used in gonzo capitalism, but peak marketplace of the year, at least in terms of online sales, lots of stuff is already happening. Businesses have been ramping up for weeks already and going into December, like this is the time in which so many businesses do a majority often of their sales. Their revenue comes in towards the end of the year.
Obviously not the same for every business, but definitely is a big time for many businesses. So what if you're out there and you've got an e-commerce shop or you're selling something online or you just started, perhaps you haven't been building up for months, but you're like, is there something I can still do? Like I want to take advantage of that big sales spike, even if maybe next year I'll be more organized and do a better job, but if I'm late to the game, what can I still do? And I love this question. We're gonna hear it specifically from Donna in Chattanooga, Tennessee, who feels like she is late, but doesn't want to miss out on potential revenue.
Good thinking Donna. And she's looking for strategies to catch the wave as it were, even if she's getting started a bit late. So is it too late to plan for holiday sales? No. Is there something you can do?
Yes. What is that thing? What are those things? That's what you're gonna hear in today's action packed episode right after this quick sponsor message. [Music]
Hi, my name is Donna from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
I run an online store where I sell handmade candles. The fourth quarter's already started and I'm worried I missed the boat on prepping for the holiday sales bike. What last minute strategies could I employ to capitalize on this crucial sales period? [Music]
All right Donna, great question. As I said, I know there's some listeners out there who need to focus on this.
And even if you are a little bit late, you can always do a better job next year, but there's still plenty you can do right now. So let's just focus on some quick wins. Okay, let's not try to reinvent the wheel. Let's not try to make a new website that doesn't exist or start some huge campaign that you haven't planned for. Quick wins, all right?
Optimize the most visited pages on your site. Make sure your checkout process is streamlined. You actually might wanna reduce the number of products you sell. If you have some products that sell much more than others, let's make sure those are front and center. Like make sure you've got some good product photos and descriptions for that.
And then next, you wanna engage your existing customer base or your prospects, whatever mailing list you've got, spam the list. Okay, don't spam it. But I mean, what I mean is don't be afraid to email your list. Like email your list repeatedly during this time. Yes, some people might unsubscribe.
Other people will purchase. That's the whole point. And especially if you can offer some kind of exclusive discount or early access to sales, like give them a reason to stay on that email list. Give them a reason to open it, to look forward to it. Again, don't be afraid to do this.
If you don't have mailing set up during this time, that's probably the second thing I would do right after making sure that the website is somewhat streamlined. Here's one more thing. If you haven't done so already, consider implementing a gift card system. Gift cards, gift certificates. During the holiday rush, a lot of people are looking for easy gifts.
Gift cards often fit the bill. Shopify, other platforms make it really easy to set that up. So definitely have a gift card or gift certificate, some sort of option. It can be a good upsell as well, especially if you can sell a $50 gift card for $40, for example, or $100 gift card for $90. Anything to encourage a little bump in sales, definitely some things you can do.
So if you haven't planned well, that's okay. I don't always plan well. You can always adjust and do some things to get those quick wins. Donna, I'm cheering you on. Listeners, I'm cheering you on as well.
I know it's a difficult time out there, a busy time out there. There's just a lot going on. It's easy to be overwhelmed. So maybe that's a good philosophy for all of life. Focus on some quick wins apart from e-commerce.
We'll talk about that more another time. For now, thank you for being out there. If you've got a question, sidehustleschool.com/questions. I'll be here every day with a new episode. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
from the Onward Project.
