From the Vault: 5 Critical Tips for Holiday Sales

Okay. It's that time. Oh.

Even if you don't think it's that time, it's always that time.

You know what time it is.

It's time for the fourth quarter. It's time for the holidays. It's time for the biggest retail season of the year. So bringing you back to this bonus episode, all about five critical tips for holiday Sales. I'm going to dig into some of the biggest mistakes that I see boutiques making, but the biggest opportunities that you could be leveraging right now as you get ready for the holiday season. So. So get ready for this bonus episode on five critical tips for holiday sales. Let's go. Let's talk about your business strategy and the juicy details of what actually works. From mainstream fashion to fashion on Main street and the entire ecosystem behind it. How do we scale your company and do it with the balance and the happiness that we all seek? Let's hear from those insiders, experts, and strategists that actually make it happen. I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub. Can't wait to chat.

Hey, guys. Welcome back to this week's podcast. And we're ready to do it a little bit different this week. This time, it's just me, all by my lonesome, coming to you directly to speak to you about one of the most important things that should be on your plate right now. Now, I know we are full speed ahead into the fourth quarter, and we're just a few weeks away from the crazy holiday season. And traditionally, this is the time of year that retailers make the majority of their money, right? Traditionally, Black Friday was Black Friday because retailers were running in the red all year long. And it wasn't until Black Friday that they actually made enough profit to put their balance sheet and their profit and loss statement back into the black. Now, hopefully that's not the case for you, but whether or not it is, we're going to talk about how can you maximize your sales and your strategy during the fourth quarter and during the crazy holiday season? Because we all know that retail is. It's a business of peaks and valleys, isn't it? There's months that are strong and sales are steady, and there's months that aren't so strong and aren't so steady. And if we don't prepare now during the busy time and the good time for what's to come in the slower time, it can really put our business in harm's way. And I know I don't want that for any one of you who are listening to the podcast. So let's talk about how can you maximize your sales this holiday season by looking at five critical tips for success. Are you with me? You guys, I love talking about strategy and I love digging into these topics. So let's go. Let's start by talking about, number one most critical tip for success. If you are a growing retailer this holiday season and that is training your staff. Now, it might seem like a no brainer, but you guys, you'd be surprised at the stories that we hear inside of the Hub. Just about how easy it is to become busy and overwhelmed. And the second that we hire a new staff member, we feel like, man, such a weight's been lifted off of our shoulders. And so we, we kind of throw them to the wolves, if you will. We put them on the sales floor or we put them behind a computer, or we put them in the warehouse and we try to train them up by throwing them to the fire. But we know that if we take just a few more minutes to train our staff that we are empowering them to create such a stronger fourth quarter for our business. Right? For example, let's talk about the Container Store. The Container Store is known across the retail industry for their significant training program which includes over 187 hours worth of training before any of those employees go onto the floor. Imagine for a second how much better your employees would perform if they had 187 hours worth of training. Now I know for most small businesses, for you and for me, it's probably not possible to give them that level of training. But let's start with the basics. You know, one of the analogies that I really love the most is one that comes from Sarah Burks on our team. Sarah often talks about inside of our course, Retail Bootcamp. She does a good job of putting this analogy into play. She's a big sports fanatic, as am I. So I love this analogy. And she talks about training your employees the same way you would coach a basketball team. Does your staff actually know the goal of the fourth quarter? Do they know the goals that you're shooting for on a daily basis? Meaning if you were coaching a basketball team, does your team actually know what hoop is yours? Do they know what plays you're going to run? And do they know when you get down to the final two minutes of the fourth quarter and you're tied up and you've got all kinds of fouls on the board, what is the strategy that you're going to use and what are the plays that you're going to run now, it wouldn't be a basketball team, would it? Without running regular practices for your team, it's no different in your business. Without running regular meetings and speaking to your employees on a regular basis, it's hard for them to know what the strategy and what the goal is going to be. So let's talk about your staff and if they actually know your goals and what it takes to be successful in your business, right? What are the daily sales goals? What are the average order value goals? What is it that you want to accomplish that's going to help you get to your big goal at the end of the quarter? And how are you sharing it with them? Is it through a poster you've made in the back room? Is it through a file or a Google Doc that you update daily? And do you celebrate them once they hit those little milestones along the way? Have you planned out how you're going to celebrate your staff by getting them a pedicure or taking them on a movie date or giving them some extra paid time off? You have to think about who's on your team and what is motivating them to work harder for you and your business. And then when you create goals, you can create rewards that speak to them specifically once those goals are hit. Have you also talked to your staff about how exactly you want them to serve your customers? Because, guys, you may be familiar with the old kiss of death question, right? Have you ever walked into a retail store and someone asks, can I help you find something? And of course, you're like a fight or flight animal. And you're like, oh, no, just looking. And you quickly, like, put your head down and look at your phone and keep walking. Most people don't want to be approached directly, asking if they can find something. Because the truth is, we're just browsing. We might have an idea of something in our mind that we want, but we don't want to feel pressed, pressured into making immediate decision before we have all the information that we need. So train your staff on what kind of questions they can ask your customers when they come in the store. What kind of greetings should they use? How could they build a relationship with your customers first when they come in the store? By paying them a compliment or asking them a genuine question or making a connection through some type of small talk. And then work themselves into more specific questions. And they can help them uncover a need and then provide a solution through giving them a product. Now, the holiday season is a perfect time for that, because an easy icebreaker is simply to ask your guests in the store about their holiday shopping experience and if they're here looking for something for someone else or something for themselves. And if there's any questions you can answer along the way, hey, I'll be over here by the register if you need me. And giving them the space they need to come discover the store. But put them at ease that you're ready to help them along the way. Is there anyone else on your list I can help cross off for you? Once that purchase has already been initiated and your staff has taken your guest up to the cash register, is there anyone else on your list I can help cross off for you? Easy question to again help your customer, but also increase that average order value at the same time. So make sure you've taken plenty of time, whether it's through weekly team meetings or daily huddles with your team that they know what basket they're shooting at, what plays we're going to run, and how we're going to measure success along the way. Now, if you're not a brick and mortar boutique and you're listening to this and you're an online boutique, I would say another way that you can empower and train your staff is to speak with them regularly about what gift ideas you do have in the store and empower your staff, if they have been a leader in your business, to come up come up with unique ways to to market those gift ideas. Is it through writing an additional blog post highlighting five gift ideas for men that you have on the site or five gift ideas for the college goer that you have on the site? Let your staff know whoever's running social media or helping you with the website, that they're empowered to help curate the content that you have, the products that you have to help better serve your customers. Another key way to train your staff and you guys can it can't be overlooked is knowing what your policies are because it is going to save you, your customer and your team so much time and headache. What are your layaway policies? What are your return policies? Right? Do you offer gift wrap? What's the last day items can be shipped in order to be guaranteed delivered by Christmas? What specials are you going to run during Black Friday and Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday? What do you have going on so that if anybody has a question, whether it's in store or on social media or by calling your 1-800-number, what questions are going to be asked so that your team is all empowered to answer those questions because this is a really easy way to upset your customers and have them lose faith and trust in you and your team if they're getting the incorrect information. So keep your team up to date. And finally, how can you reward your staff and your team by really taking initiative this time of year and demonstrating leadership amongst your team this time of year. Train your staff on what it means to be a leader in your business. Because you guys, if there's one thing that's true about being a retailer, yes, this is the craziest time of year. But man, you got a life too. You've probably got a family at home that wants to see you during the holiday season, don't they? So it can't always come down to you to make the final decision or to execute or to answer the questions, or to be the only one that stays late. The more you can empower and train your staff to see the things that need to be done on a regular basis, the more time it's going to free up for you in the long run so that you can actually enjoy this time of year. Now, another common misconception this time of year is the only way to grow is by gaining more new customers. But let's talk about for a second what it means to actually build financial success this time of year. And again, how you can empower your staff to help you along this game plan. There's only three ways to grow your business, right? One is to get new customers. Two is to sell more to existing customers. Three is to sell more per purchase. So increase your average order value. So empower your team to understand how can they grow in each of those three areas. And going back to what I said at the very beginning, running contests and empowering them to meet those goals on a daily basis is going to help increase each of these three areas. So in terms of selling more, what are they showing more of? And have you challenged them each time new arrivals come into your store and to show these products? You know, the old saying goes, you only sell what you show, right? So the more you show, the more you sell. Hence the reason having shoes by the dressing room is a good idea, because you're more likely to show shoes when people are trying on denim or trying on some different type of bottom or the more reason there's jewelry and these little add ons at your cash wrap at the counter, because it's an easy place to show and sell more product and increase that average order value, right? So show more to sell more. The same thing with increasing average order value. If your staff is fully trained on a weekly basis or in a morning huddle on what new products are coming in and how new products can be paired and styled together. There's more chance they're going to show those products, your customers are going to purchase more and again increase that average order value. And then when it comes to bringing new customers in the store, I'm sure your staff has a number of new ideas that they can be empowered to employ in your business to bring in new holiday traffic. Whether it's promotions, collaborating with other local businesses or Instagram takeovers or Instagram try on sessions or new giveaways and contests that you're going to run on social media, there's a number of ways your staff can have a hand in bringing new customers into the store. So guys, at the end of the day, most important takeaway here is your staff can be the key to success during the holiday season. Not just financially, but for your own personal state of being, right? For your own personal enjoyment during the holiday season. So empower them and measure and celebrate their success each step along the way. All right, strategy number two is keep it simple. Simple, stupid. It's the KISS method. Keep it simple, stupid. So whether it's promotions that you're running on Black Friday weekend or what you have going on for goals inside of the store, I want you to make sure you start by being really, really clear on what it is that you're after, what goals you have, and how the promotions that you're running and the events that you're hosting can help you get there. Because guys, I'm going to go into this in more detail in a minute, but at the end of the day, winning in the fourth quarter and during the holiday season is not about gross volume. It is not about the total number of dollars you sell. It is about the amount of profit and margin that you can make. Right? Selling more and simply burning through more product but not making any money on that product only keeps you busy. So keep in mind, what is your goal for the end of the fourth quarter? And then when you're creating your again, your promotions or your events, you're going to plan around that to whatever your overall goal for success is. So let's talk about that. If you're going to run events on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, don't muddy the waters with your customer by offering a gazillion different types of promotions. Bogo on certain categories, percentage off on other categories, discounts and gifts at checkout on other categories. Keep it to one to two promotions only and be Very, very clear in your messaging. It goes to when you're creating social media graphics for these days. You don't want to muddy up a bunch of graphics with 1900 promotions you're doing. You want two so that your customers can clearly see demonstrated value and really understand why they should come and shop with you. It's also important for your staff, right, that they don't get confused on what the promotions you were running yesterday versus Today today will be. Keep it simple, stupid for your customers and for your staff. Now this also translates into the strategy of using bundles for promotions during the holiday during the holiday season. And I'm getting ahead of myself because I'm getting so excited. You guys feel like such a nerd talking about this because it just gets my blood pumping. But bundles are one of my favorite marketing strategies because bundles make it so easy to shop. Now, if you're already a member of the Boutique Hub or if you're in Retail Bootcamp, you've heard me talk about this, you've seen videos that I've done about this, or you've watched you know some of the strategy that have outlined on how you can use bundles in your business. But just remember, when you bundle and you make it easy, especially for men that are going to be shopping with you or bundle appreciation gifts, say for teachers or your pastor or someone who's your babysitter. When you bundle those things, it's like a quick add on that your customers don't even have to think about and they can add to your cart. Whether it's shopping in store or shopping online with you this season. The same goes with easy to follow collections. You know, it could be bundling to make it easy, or it could be just the collection layout that you have on your website or the way that you've merchandised your brick and mortar store. Highlighting here's our New Year's Eve dress ideas or here's comfy Christmas morning outfit ideas or here's outfit ideas to wear to rub it in your ex's face when you visit Christmas at home for the first time in four years since college. I don't know, what are your customers struggling with right now? Figure out a way to solve that problem and build it into a collection. Just remember, at the end of the day, the key takeaway here is don't get lost in offering so many promotions and pieces that you create confusion among your staff or among your customers. Because at the end of the day, what's most important is the experience. It's the experience that your customers are going to remember more than the discount that they got on denim in your store. All right, holiday strategy number three. And I touched on this a little bit, but guys, this is me like pulling up my pants and stepping up onto my soapbox. So buckle up. And this is profit versus sales. And I just want to make this clear that you grow what really matters most in your business. I know we're all so busy this time of year and I want to make sure that you're not breaking your back trying to push the volume of gross sales in your business but forgetting it for the sake of profitability, right? If you're running blanket sales across your store consistently and big time discounts throughout the holiday season, it's only eating into your bottom line while you're growing your overall sales. Especially at a time of year where people are already shopping, right? They're already looking for someone to help fill that need. So fill it. But you don't have to do it at the expense of your bottom line. You can offer them a carrot, offer them an incentive. But guys don't give away the farm in the process, right? After three months of hard work in the fourth quarter, you don't want to get to the end and have nothing to for it, right? So make sure if you're pushing a single category that you can put on sale or you're doing a discount that they can draw for at the register that's good for one item or you're doing bogo or you're doing gift with purchase. When they purchase over a hundred dollars, let's say, make sure that you're running offers and promotions that encourage people to spend more with you and have higher average order values during this time of year. This kind of goes back to what I also said about creating bundles in your business. Creating outfit bundles so that you can sell more volume, right? But reward them with a slight discount because they are buying multiple products with you. The same goes for gift boxes or however else again you can pre bundle those items. Teacher appreciation gifts that go together so you can sell a greater volume of items and again give them that little offer or that little gift carrot at the same time. Because guys, it's okay to sell less volume but make more profit at the end of the quarter, right? Because there's no prizes. There's no prizes at the end of the day for greatest gross volume. But there are some pretty significant negative prizes or negative consequences when you can't pay your rent or when you can't make your mortgage at home. So make sure you have started this season and you go into the next couple of weeks with a really clear goal and a strategy on how you're going to get there. All right, guys, number four. Number four is it is all about the experience. It's all about the experience. The holidays are such a perfect time to serve two different unique customers in your business. The first group is existing customers. Now, existing customers are customers that already trust you, right? And so this is the perfect time of year to give them extra value and extra support this season, right? They are already looking ahead of time for gift ideas from you and things that you can suggest to them. So make it easy and then reward them with extra specials and VIP events for your top 20 to 50 customers, whether it's in store or online, to ensure that these existing customers are coming back to purchase from you again and again versus going to Amazon. You know, the old saying is that 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your list. So make sure that you've outlined a good strategy to really give great experience to your existing customers because they're the ones that are going to make up the majority of your sales volume this time of year. Now, on the contrary to that, there's a second customer type to really pay attention to this time of year, and that is your new customers. New customers who are busy shopping and they're ready to test you out just to see if you're a good fit. I'll tell you guys, I'm sure you're right here with me. But during the fourth quarter, since it's so hectic and there's so many different gifts to give, it's a time of year where I do often try out new businesses that I've not shopped with before. But the key here is test, right? Because remember that the purchase experience doesn't just end at the counter and it doesn't just end at the online shopping cart, right? It's an experience that you're wanting them to remember long after the holidays. Because the goal in every single one of our businesses is to grow customer lifetime value. How many times can we get that same customer to come back and do business with us again and again and again? And the best way to do it is to provide them an awesome experience. So let's think about this. How do you want to make them feel, right, Your customers, online or off, when they do business with you, how do you want them to feel? And how are you conveying that message? Through the copy, through the social media posts, through the emails, the thank you emails, the Package inserts, How are you making them feel? What was your follow up like? After someone purchased something, what was your follow up like? Was it personal? You know, did they feel like just another number or do they feel like you really cared? Did you have a really good email follow up and an experience or even a phone call? Are your staff members trained that every week they pick out your top 10 customers with the 10 highest order volumes? They call them personally to thank them. Those are things that are high touch experiences that only take a couple of seconds to execute and are never forgotten. So how do you want them to feel? And what was that follow up like? Are you trying to get them back in January? Are you offering them gift cards or incentives? Cash back to come back in January. And guys, ooh, this is an important one. What's your return policy? You know, I know as a small business it's really easy to get caught up in the fact that I only have limited quantity or, you know, I can't put my money out there like that selling product and then having it returned to me. But guys, there's been a number of studies that have been done and I'll say Zappos is definitely a leader in this area that the more you create ease in your return policy by offering free returns and exchanges, the more people will order for you and the fewer returns you will process. There's been a number of studies that have have said that because when you have a great return policy, people are less likely to return, but the idea and signal of trust you provide them goes up and so they're more likely to order. So what's your return policy? And even if you can't wiggle much on your return policy, are you at least making it easy to find? I'll tell you guys a story. My husband is not a shopper. He hates shopping. Hates it. But because we love to go to the NFR every year, the National Finals Rodeo. And yes, for western people, having the right boots and maybe getting a couple pair of jeans at the end of the year, that's important to him. So he will order them online because he hates going to a mall or hates going anywhere else. And he's also picky about his style, right? He's like a denim snob. So he'll order things online, but he'll order them online and he will return things if they don't fit. The other day he ordered five pair of jeans and a couple shirts from a well known company and to his surprise, the majority of them worked out. But he did have One or two things he did want to return and he spent almost an hour trying to figure out what was his company's return policy, where to find it and how to execute it. And he was so ticked by the time he was done executing this return policy that I'm pretty sure he's not going to order from them again. So just think about how much easier it would have been if that return policy would have been right there for them. He's a big customer of this specific brand. He shops with them quite a bit. If they could just make it easy. He's probably going to continue to order more and more over a period of time. So remember, it's the experience that you're trying to provide in the fourth quarter when tensions are high, money is tight and people simply want to get stuff done. Make it easy for them to have a good experience with you. And then guys, at the end of the day, the question is this, how will people compare their time shopping with you to other retail experiences they've had? Because most of us, when we're recalling a great shopping experience we've had, it's not necessarily that we're comparing boutique to boutique, but it's retail to retail. So whether it's Amazon, whether it's Zappos, whether it's a small boutique, whether it's a home goods store, you name it, the Container Store, it's retail to retail. How do I compare the experiences that I've had shopping with these different businesses? And remember how you want to make people feel through that experience. Alright, holiday takeaway number five. Tip for success is to get personal. Get personal, guys. This time of year is a time of year where most people feel sentimental, right? It could be sentimental in a positive way where they're feeling gratitude and thankfulness and they're longing for connection. They're really slowing down to try to enjoy that time with their family and experience the life that they've created or for others. You know, it can be a time of year that brings more painful memories, maybe memories that they don't want to think about. It can be a really difficult time of year for some. So this is a really good time of year to really slow down and connect with your customers. How can you build a stronger connection with them and get real with them this time of year? Is it a charity event that you're going to invite them to? Is it a recipe exchange you're going to run on social media? Is it that you're going to invite them to share family photos or share gift ideas? Or are you going to cut loose and make it fun by hosting an ugly sweater party? Or, you know, photos of an ugly sweater party, you name it. This is the time of year to get to the core of who we are as human beings. At the end of the day, we're not just selling products, right? We're selling emotions. We're providing a need for our customers. We're helping women that we serve feel confident and feel beautiful and feel connected and feel loved. That's what successful boutique owners do. They make women feel like they have a home in their place of business. So don't get so lost in the hustle and bustle of trying to execute your business that you lose the personal touch with your customers. Remember that, you guys, sales are great this time of year. That's why we're in business. But how we make other people feel matters the most and keeps them coming back for more. Right, guys? I hope you've enjoyed these five tips for success over the holiday season. And as you think about each of these, getting personal, creating an experience, driving profit versus just sales. Keep it simple, stupid, and how to train your staff. I'd love to know what your biggest takeaway has been so far and maybe what's the most successful strategy you've used in your holidays, either present or past. I'd love to hear from all the listeners what you've got going on this holiday season. Share it with me over on Instagram, AJ Alderson, or in our business account, boutiquehubbusiness. And for the benefit of everybody who's following along and listening to this episode, I'll repost them in our Insta stories when I hear your tips for success for the holidays. So don't, don't forget, ask your questions, give your holiday tips for success and we'll repost them for everybody who's following along. And if you'd like more tips like these ones. And I'll tell you what, if you'd like to go much deeper than we did in these top five tips, we've got a complete training for Boutique Hub, not just Boutique Hub members, but boutique owners that covers six parts of creating success over the holiday season and it's called the Holiday Marketing Masterclass. So inside of the Holiday Marketing Masterclass, we dig into both online and offline strategies and that includes promotional ideas, e commerce strategy, marketing strategy, Christmas wishlist strategy, landing page strategy, you name it. We go into everything you can do to maximize your business this time of year. And we've had, I guess over two holiday seasons now over 400 retailers take part in this training event and I'll tell you what it's retailers of all sizes, from brand new boutiques to boutiques who have been in business 10 plus years and sell in the multiple millions of dollars. And the feedback we've gotten is pretty awesome. There's been people just in the first module alone who've come back and said they've taken five to six pages of notes. So if you'd like more information on that, I'll drop it in the show notes. It's holidaymarketingmasterclass.com and it's provided you by the Boutique Hub again for boutique owners of all sizes. So if you want more information, there's the course to take part in or jump on again over to Instagram Boutique Hubusiness or AJ Alderson and let's keep this conversation going. And guys, if you're already members of the Hub, don't forget there's tons of holiday threads inside of our Facebook groups right now. So jump on, join the conversation. And guys, let's make this the best holiday season that you've ever had. Don't wait to go into the black till the fourth quarter, but let's maximize what your business is capable of and how you're capable of making other people feel in the most important season of the year. Thanks for listening you guys. I hope you've enjoyed this episode.

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We'll see you next week. Sam.