Christmas can be a Fun or a Very Tough time of year for many people in Small Business. I hope these tips help you out at these tricky times friends!
I got a great email from a wonderful colleague of mine who shall remain nameless. They know who they are and I think they rock.
We have had some great conversations and they have been in business for quite a few years and they run one impressive Fitness Business. They are well regarded for high quality work and I am quite a fan of what they do.
As I was speaking to them, they were rightfully cautious about the Christmas Season in that many “Tend” to drop off the wagon and exercise less (which impacts their revenue). My friend is also quite an emerging Coach & Mentor and in that type of business, WE ACTUALLY ARE FLAT OUT THIS TIME OF YEAR!
My advice was based on taking this quieter Fitness Seasons and using it as an advantage to grow their Coaching and Mentoring. It was quite a great breakthrough for them in the respect of them being rightfully “Stressed Out” to be really “Happy”, “Focused” and “Back in the Zone!”.
This is quite a prominent challenge for many Small Business Owners in that business can get “Quiet” over the Christmas Season. This has never happened to me in my own business which has been great because of the way I have built it – and I always ramp up my Marketing a few months prior *just in case*.
What I suggest to people is that for the year following, tweak their business, marketing, products & services to prevent it from happening again. That helps the year onwards and then the next question is “Edward – that is great, but what do I do now to get myself out of the woods?”.
I can probably best answer that question from the following viewpoint where I once got into trouble before Christmas actually. When I started out, I had a massive client that was a real deal with the devil. I was doing long hours, they weren’t paying me much – and I was dependent on them to keep my afloat as I got my business going. They eventually tried to rip me off and didn’t pay an invoice and didn’t respect our agreement – leaving me in quite a bit of trouble!
Even though the reasons are different, I had the problem from a different angle and this is what I did to get out of it personally and I would be in business now if I didn’t do this. I trust these 7 x Tips will help give you some compelling insights:
1) Get People Over the Line: You may have clients who just need to be asked or pushed. Now is the time to ring them up!
2) Christmas Special: Nothing wrong with giving people a great deal to get in with you now. Let’s say you are a Mentor like my friend, they could even throw in a “Free Plan” as an incentive for people to sign up.
3) Put it on Social Media: Get it out on Facebook and LinkedIn – Spread the word that you are taking on new clients.
4) Focus on it with your Selling: If you are say Networking and doing great things like that – put it out there in your elevator pitches and the like.
5) Get the Value Proposition Right: Get the wording of your pitch right so people know WHY they should hire you!
6) Get out there & Tell Your Database! Depending on how you network, if you are quieter with less clients you got more time for selling. A simple, well worded message to your email database can work wonders. I get many leads using this technique.
7) Different Products & Services: Like my Fitness Friend, Christmas can be a tough time of year and they have higher value Coaching and Mentoring Services. Always good to ask if you should be selling a different Product / Service at this time of year!
I trust these tips out and if you are in a bit of “Hot Water” it’s okay! I have been there too and with some intelligent smart work you can get through it.
Trust these tips help you out and please contact me if I can assist you!
Love your work and thanks from Edward Zia – Marketing Mentor and “Crazy Persian”
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