Fall can be a slippery slope that leads straight to the holiday season. It can be easy to get lost in football, foliage and festivities and before you know it Halloween has given way to Thanksgiving and the holiday season is in full swing. Trust us we know! Every year this time our development cycles seem to get shorter, and everything seems to speed up with our online inventory system (your usage and our support demands). As a small business owner, you can’t afford to let the holidays catch you off guard. If you are a retailer, you need to maximize profits during the busiest shopping time of the year. For other small business owners, you are fighting for the attention of customers who are currently more focused on shopping. You can’t afford to wait until January or February for them to come back, you need to find ways to maintain your business and keep clients coming in.
Fall is a great time to review and reflect on what has and hasn’t worked for you in the past. If you’ve read our post on process mapping and followed our advice, you have a good idea of the workflow within your business. Now apply that same idea to your sales. Which promotion have worked well? Which sales fell flat? Documenting these successes and failures can really help you determine what your next strategy should be.
Our series on technology for your small business provided a number of tools to help you prepare for the upcoming quarter - like a review of our online inventory system built just for small business. Hopefully you’re already at work evaluating and implementing the things you need to grow your small business. Once the new technologies are in place, you’ll need to revise your process map to reflect the changes. Getting to work on this now will have you poised to succeed by the time December arrives.
One of the biggest challenges surrounding the holiday season can be employee requests for time off. Having a process map can help ease the stress associated with staff absences. When someone submits a request for time off you can check the board to see what role they play in workflow and decide on ways to cover that task in their absence. Fewer surprises equals less stress for everyone.
If you devote some time to preparation now, you’ll be rolling right through the holidays and ringing in the New Year with increased sales and an improved outlook for your business. Now that’s something to celebrate!
Don't Fall Behind! | Try our FREE Online Inventory System!
Don’t fall behind on inventory management issues. Try Stockpile today! Our online inventory system will allow you to access data anytime from anywhere and it's free. You’ll be able to track inventory across locations quickly and easily. Now is a great time to implement Stockpile and get a handle on your inventory.
