Maximizing Profits Over the Holiday Season Season, Part One: Planning

Are you thinking about your strategy for the holiday season yet?

If not, then you need to!

Why? Because the holiday season is the make-or-break period when it comes to promotional gifts.

Holidays provide companies with opportunities to show employees their appreciation, to thank customers for their business and to win new business.

Companies are often willing to spend quite a bit more $$$$ than usual on gifts for the holiday season, and, if you’re smart, capitalizing on that can pay off big.  But, how exactly do you do that?

Over the next two articles, we’ll share our experiences on maximizing your profits over the holiday season, and the strategies you can use to take your client relationships and spend to the next level.

 

Today, we’re talking about the importance of getting ahead of the game, because starting planning early is the key to a successful holiday season.

Start planning now!

Right now, summer is in full swing, meaning you’re probably preoccupied with sunscreen, barbecuing, and everything else that the warm weather entails. The holiday season? That’s likely the last thing on your mind.

But, the key to maximizing your profits over the holiday season is getting ahead of the game. As the old adage goes, it’s the early bird that catches the worm. If you don’t start thinking about your game plan for the holidays soon, by the time it comes around, you’ll be pulling your hair out.

The first step to getting ahead of the game is knowing what’s out there. This means putting together your arsenal of trusted suppliers so that you’re ready to approach your clients with the very best promotional products out there. This is going to seriously streamline your process when it comes to finding the right items for your customers, making things much smoother nearer to crunch time.

What kind of suppliers are you looking for? Well, trusted suppliers that offer great products is a no-brainer. We’d also recommend finding a supplier that offers free virtuals (it’s a major plus if the supplier offers 3D interactive virtuals). The ability for your client to visualize a product is seriously one of the most useful tools when it comes to showing them the perfect item for their holiday gifts or promotions.

Oh, and suppliers that don’t charge extra for full-color imprints and have minimal add-on fees is a great bonus, especially when it comes to keeping things on-budget (here at Toddy, we’re proud to say we do both).

Deck the Halls

You’ve got your suppliers locked in. Now you need a game plan. But, what should that game plan look like?

Well, first and foremost, you need to identify what your client’s objectives are for the holiday period. Chances are they might not have thought about it yet, but that’s not a problem. Fire off an e-mail to get their perspective and get the ball rolling – they’ll appreciate your proactivity in doing so.

In our experience, this approach gets much better results than jumping in and merely recommending the latest products or trends to your clients.

Why? Because getting caught up in trends is a sure-fire way to lose sight of what really matters to your clients. Clients appreciate it when you understand their goals – it makes them feel respected, listened to, and what brings them back to you for repeat business.

Once you’ve understood your client’s objectives for the holiday season, then you can start identifying the specific products that appeal to them.

From there, you can present that client with options – good, better and best – and start locking in the products for their promotional holiday campaign.

Oh, and one more thing. The advantage of starting this process early is that it gives you the space to get really creative. Coming up with inventive and memorable ways for your clients to thank their customers, thank their employees and help them win new business is what’s going to set you apart from the pack and show that you’re a true rock star of the field. Not just that, it gives your supplier the time to really knock the product design out of the park. By getting the artwork done early, suppliers have the time to produce the kind of next-level design that will score big points with your clients. So, make sure you give yourself that breathing room.