Getting Ready for Easter
May 4th, 2008 by alleenraymondBy Geoff McGarvey Christmas is not long past, but I saw Easter eggs in mylocal supermarket before Christmas! I think that is a bitcrazy, but I guess they sell, otherwise they would not do it. So why not get in on the action? Easter is not far away and you need to start planning now.But what to do? We will look at a couple of ideas that youmight try this Easter, to boost your sales or improvecustomer relationships. A tried and tested method is to have an Easter sale. An oldie but a goodie. Now is the time to go through youfigures and find out what sells and what does not. Maybe youcould use Easter to give your second or third best sellingitem a little push. How about that old stock that you havebeen hanging on to for too long? Here is an opportunity togive a good discount and watch it walk out the door. Remember to look closely at your margins for each product.An ‘across the store’ 20% discount may just make your marginvery slim on certain products! You could have an ‘up to 50%’sale, where most products only have a 10-20% discount. Youcan take 50% off those things that just will not sellotherwise. Get rid of them and get product on the shelvesthat will sell. Something else could be a free giveaway with each purchase. It can be a simple as giving everyone a small Easter egg.The parents will love you, because it keeps the kids happy.Maybe you have some old stock that you could give away? Itdoes not have to be expensive. It is the thought that counts. How about a special gift for special clients? If your business is one that has a small amount of customersthat buy large amounts from you, you need to look afterthem. Make this Easter one they will remember you for. How faryou go is dependent on how much this client could be worthto you during your business life. Wine, fine chocolates, afree dinner at a nice restaurant, a massage, you know them,so think hard about what they would like. It could be time to create an event. Can you make an event out of your business. A fashionparade, a local band, a local comedian, an author, sportingpersonality, a character meet & greet. What can you do? Other things to consider. How about posters. If you are having a sale, let everyone know aboutit. You want enough to cover your shop front and have plenty for in store decorations. Have some advertisements. Your local papers offer a direct route to your local customers. Two weeks of advertisements prior tothe sale should help get the interest up. Get some flyers. Get the local kids earning some money deliveringflyers to households. Local paper editorial. The same papers may be interested in your story,but you have to have an angle. Everyone has a sale. Whatwill make yours different? Do you have a limited product?Are you giving away something with each purchase? Will yourstaff sing a song on the hour? Use your imagination. Your sale could have a limited time. Make sure you let everyone know that this saleis for the Easter holidays only. You could even limit it toone day. Limiting the time, makes it seem more attractive. Time to run a competition? Can you run a competition with your sale? Howabout getting customers to fill in a form to enter? That wayyou also get their mail and email addresses which allows youto market directly with the people who buy from you. How about a group offer? Can you offer products or services to groups?Get large local businesses to buy a lot and give them agreat discount. Look at your web site. Do you have a web site? Can you run your saleonline at the same time? Someone on the other side of theworld may be just as interested in your sale. A children’s character. Do you get a lot of children in your shop? Whynot have an Easter Bunny pay a visit? You could run a meetand greet at certain times. If the kids know about it,they will want to be there. Have a look at the checklist. Buy in extra stock, or sort out what you have and make alist of sale items. Organise printing (posters, flyers, competition forms, etc) Flyers need to go out in the week before the sale. Get your local papers press happening early. Remember theywork ahead a few weeks at least. Organise extra staff for the sale. Train your staff for the sale. They have to work hard andfast. Dress your shop. Make it bright, fun, colourful. Stack saleitems so they look plentiful. Make sure you have happy musicplaying as well. Small gifts for customers or special gifts for clients. Getthe ball rolling. Using Easter as a selling device is not new, but it doeswork. Why not investigate what you can do to get those salesfigures up for the Easter period? Geoff McGarvey is a member of the team from Makes Business Easy. Our website is devoted to gving you real world, useable advice about business. Learn about how we made it through sixteen years of business as well as great information from our regular contributors who specialise in many areas of business. We also feature our ‘Millionaire a Month’ interview where you get to hear strategies and tips from business people who have made a million or more. We think you should hear it straight from the mouth of those that have done it. Find out more at http://www.makesbusinesseasy.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Geoff_McGarvey http://EzineArticles.com/?Getting-Ready-for-Easter&id=504089 hard money loan financial lenders bad credit low income arizona mortgage no credit check loans australia christmas payday loan