~Issue Number 27~
Oct 28, 2011 [Next Issue: Nov 4, 2011]
Hello Friend,
It's almost holiday time, and depending on your business, this could be prime time. Many eCommerce store owners wait anxiously for the holiday season of selling, knowing their profit and business are going to grow. As exciting as the holiday season can be, alternatively it can be incredibly stressful.
You probably have started planning. You have been working on your website. You have worked on getting your website to the top of the search engine results, and customers are calling non-stop. You have orders, customers... but who is handling all this increase?
Increase in sales means more time and workers needed to handle the customer calls, the orders, maybe the shipping, the calls after the sale and more. Should you not pass this trial by fire, your business could permanently suffer. Your customers may go to your competitors, or they may proclaim their misfortune with your business to any person who will hear them. Your season of holly jolly just turned into a season of doom and gloom.
But planning ahead can turn it into joy once again. Start planning now and not only will your business be prepared, you may be able to handle the business your competitors lose from not preparing before crunch time like you will, thanks to today's article. And if the holidays are not your prime time, remember this article can help you prepare before your busy season gets started.
Lee Collins
Managing Director
StomperNet, LLC
"Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but that's
exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking."
~ Anita Roddick ~
Founder, The Body Shop
'Tis the season' doesn't have quite the same ring when you're going on no sleep and trying to deal with stressed-out employees and / or customers. The holidays are a time to step up, not a time to slump to the ground at the end of each workday.
So what do you need to think about now to avoid this scenario? Two major things: little helpers and your workshops. We'll start with the hard one.
Little Helpers, i.e. employees. If you have none, you might need some. And if you already have some, you might need more. Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you determine if you need another body or bodies to help you handle the season.
Are you ready for more calls?
If you take calls, have your employees keep track of the number of calls per day and duration of each for a week or two. Then ask yourself if your current employees can handle double that volume?
If the answer is either no or "but that's all they will have time to do", you want to think about getting help or set up with a call center for the season.
You do not have to continue using them once your business returns to normal volume if you don't want.
If you currently use a call center... give them a call! Ask for more operators if you need them. Be sure to do this before things start to get busy. If you wait, the service center may not have as many operators available.
Do you run extended holiday hours?
I would recommend that you do!
Remember, this is a stressful time of year for shoppers. No one wants to be the one person whose present is still in the mail, and they typically get less friendly with each voicemail or email they send that doesn't get answered until the next day.
Angry customers around this time of year exponentially add to your stress levels. Offering more opportunities for them to contact you, gives you happier customers and employees.
If you can talk your current staff into extended hours, awesome. If not, getting another person or a call center to handle the extra time. Even if the call operators cannot answer speci?c order questions, your customers will be happier that they are leaving a message with a human rather than an automated message system.
Will you be open weekends?
As with extended hours, I recommend weekend hours during the holidays. If a customer has a product question on Saturday do you think they'll patiently wait until Monday for an answer? No, they'll go to whichever competitor can answer them first.
Rules change during this season. Whoever provides the best service not only wins the holiday sale, they will also have a higher chance of winning any repeat business that comes from that customer.
It is important to have someone who is knowledgeable enough about your products to be able to answer questions. So in this case I recommend having an actual employee working on the weekend, and not just a call center. Your need to available to your employees in case they get a question beyond their ability to answer.
After answering these you should have a good idea whether or not you need a new hire.
What should your new temp be able to do?
Your new temp needs to be able to do more than answer the phone and take orders; you can get a call center operator to do that for much less. Your temp should take more of the burden off your regular staff.
I require a basic knowledge of what my stores sell, the ability to quickly navigate the sites to find information, and a flexible schedule to work nights and / or weekends.
This is stuff I expect them to pick up and be fairly competent at within one week. They need to learn the basic skills it takes to service customers, my current employees can handle all the brainy stuff.
What about your workshop?
In other words - making sure your vendors are set to service you the best way they can. That means you need to get on the phone and talk to them.
Ask what products they have the better stock on and what stock is going to look like in the coming months. Add the products with a lot of stock to your gift and holiday pages and promote them. As long as you know it to be true, you can advertise "In stock and ready to ship!" Also find out what products have low or no stock. Don't spend time advertising these since there is a good chance they won't be available.
You could also pre-order extra quantities of your bestsellers. Every year I get a list of my top 5 to 10 bestsellers and buy them in bulk before the season hits. This way I can keep advertising them as in stock after my competitors use up the vendors' stock. An added bene?t to this is that buying bulk is cheaper than drop shipping single items so you're making extra pro?t, which is always welcome.
Before you do this, make sure it fits your budget.
If it comes down to buying stock or doing more paid advertising, go for the ads. You also have to think about storing the products. Some vendors may hold and ship the products, bulk orders. Not all vendors will do this and some will do it only for customers who bring them a certain amount of business.
Increased holiday business is awesome. Just make sure you have the people and resources in place to handle it... otherwise it can turn the best season of the year into a nightmare of stress and frustration. Luckily, some simple analysis and a few calls can keep the holiday "jolly".
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Holiday Preparation:
- Tally your calls and their duration; factor the holiday rush into it to determine whether you need extra hands to handle calls.
- Decide what your extended holiday hours are going to be and who is going to work those hours for you.
- Determine your weekend hours and who is going to work those.
- Hire a temp or a call center to ?ll in any holes in your holiday business plan.
- Call your vendors and talk to them about stock.
- Pre-order quantities of best sellers to make more pro?t.
- Enjoy the holiday rush
Remember: Next Stomper Intelligence Report:
Friday, Nov 4, 2011
NEXT WEEK'S FOCUS: Relationship Marketing
FACULTY OFFICE HOURS NEXT WEEK:
TUESDAY, Nov 1st, 2011 ~ 3:00 pm Eastern "How To Build Your Value In The Eyes Of Your Customers" with Vin Montello Join Vin and learn how you can sell your same old products or services to your same old customers... but for much more money.
StomperNet Members: Register Now!
FREE LIVE WEBINARS NEXT WEEK:
THURSDAY November 3, 2011 ~ 8 pm Eastern "How to Cash in on the $38 Billion Dollar Mobile Apps Goldmine" with Jeff Mills Join Jeff as he goes over how to make "Multiple Streams of Income" that you can easily earn immediately by creating and marketing mobile apps to small businesses. There are 5.2 Billion mobile phone users out there. Apps are quickly replacing web sites! iPhones, iPads and Androids are replacing computers! You'll learn that if you can send an email, make a document in Word, or make a post in a blog - then you can make money and profit in the Mobile App Revolution! Register Now
Have a Question? We Have ANSWERS for YOU! "StomperNet Open Forum" Fridays at 11EDT Have questions about your business? Do you keep running into the same stumbling blocks? Do you feel like you have hit a "glass ceiling" and can't grow any further and don't know what to do?
Just bring your questions to the table during our Open Forum. With the combined training and experience of our Coaches you will get the direction you need to get you back on your road to success! The next StomperNet Open Forum Call with our Professional Coaches happens next Friday at 11am EDT and we hope to see you there! These calls are intended to be live Q&A sessions and playback will not be available. | StomperNet. Empowering Your Online Success.
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