The holiday season is an exciting and busy time for businesses. There’s an air of anticipation, and for many businesses, this season brings in a massive chunk of their annual revenue. Although it can be a very profitable time, it can also be a disaster if you don’t manage it properly. Griffin Ainsworth discusses five common mistakes managers make during the holidays and what they can do to avoid them.
1. Not Planning Ahead
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make during the holiday season is not planning ahead. Without proper planning, businesses won’t have enough staff or supplies to meet customer demand. It’s essential to plan ahead to know how much staff and inventory you need and when and where to get them.
By planning ahead, you will be able to anticipate any potential issues before they happen and ensure that your business runs smoothly throughout the holiday season.
2. Failing To Hire Enough Staff
During the holiday season, more customers visit your store or website looking for products or services than ever before. As a result, it is essential that you hire enough staff to handle the increased demand.
If you fail to hire enough staff, customers may become frustrated by long wait times or lack of assistance when they need help with something in your store or on your website. This can lead to poor reviews, which could hurt your business in the long run.
3. Not Managing Inventory Properly
Another common mistake managers make during the holiday season is not managing their inventory properly. With so many customers coming through your doors or visiting your website looking for products or services, it’s easy for businesses to run out of stock quickly if they are not prepared with enough inventory on hand.
To avoid this issue, managers must keep track of their inventory regularly so that they know what needs to be reordered in advance and how much needs to be ordered each time in order to keep up with demand without overstocking items that won’t sell quickly enough by the end of the season.
4. Ignoring Customer Service
During the holidays, when there are so many customers looking for products and services from your business at once, customer service should always remain a top priority, no matter how busy things get. It can be tempting for managers to focus solely on getting orders out quickly without paying attention to providing good customer service. However, this could have negative consequences, such as bad reviews online, which could hurt your business in both short-term sales and long-term customer loyalty.
Therefore, make sure that all customer service inquiries are handled promptly and professionally by someone who knows what they’re doing.
5. Failing To Use Data Analytics
Finally, one mistake that sometimes gets overlooked during the holiday season is failing to use data analytics when making decisions about marketing campaigns promotions, etc. This means that instead of relying solely on gut instinct, managers should utilize available data such as customer purchase history and previous sales figures in order to determine which strategies will yield better results.
For example, using historical data might show which promotions worked best last year. This would give some insight into what promotions might work well this year. Also, utilizing analytics tools like predictive models can help managers make informed decisions about future campaigns.
6. Not Taking Advantage of Social Media
Another common mistake businesses make during the holiday season is failing to take advantage of social media. With so many people using social media platforms on a daily basis, it is an essential tool for businesses to reach potential customers and engage them with their products or services. However, if a business does not have an active social media presence, they are missing out on an excellent opportunity to reach potential customers and build brand awareness. Therefore, it is crucial for businesses to create and maintain an engaging social media presence in order to maximize their holiday sales potential.
If management cannot run their social media themselves, they should consider hiring a social media manager who is familiar with the platforms and can post relevant content regularly to help promote the business. Additionally, businesses can take advantage of paid advertising on social media platforms during the holidays to reach more customers and increase sales.
Conclusion
During the holidays, it’s easy for managers to overlook certain things like planning, hiring, and customer service. If these mistakes aren’t addressed in time, businesses could suffer significant losses, especially during such a crucial period. Griffin Ainsworth says most of these management mistakes are relatively easy fixes once identified.
All it takes is being conscious of these five areas and having proper systems in place throughout the season so things run smoothly.