The new year. It’s HERE. I love this time of year because it suggests new beginnings, new motivations, and fresh goals for the year. It feels like a fresh start, and whatever happened last year seems far in the rear-view mirror. For our customers, they are likely experiencing holiday spending hangovers, exhaustion, might be dazed from too-much-family-together time and could even be trying to tackle new fitness and health goals.
What does that mean for Business Owner? This combination of post-holiday events can mean less consumer spending at the start of the new year – right when you wanted to get a strong start to 2023. So, if you didn’t put a plan in place last November, here are some ideas on last-minute things you can do to combat these typical holiday business hangovers and will ensure your January starts strong. Whatever you do, provide Solutions. This is the most sluggish time of the year and therefore we must make our offers and promotions easy to understand and redeem.
POINT BUMP
I talked about this in the last edition and just HAD to cover it again as it’s a great way to combat a slow start to 2023. Not sure how it works? Check back to 2022 Edition 5 or ask your Coach for details. Award certificates are my best redeeming promotion with the highest ROI, so a point bump increases my sales by thousands. When the award arrives, it behaves as an “earned” certificate that triggers a strong emotional response of “I earned this, so I better use this.”
When you do this, be sure to use an expiration date that doesn’t push too far into February and overlapping with Valentine’s Day. I like to target these point bumps to specific customers. Consider bumping customers that haven’t been in for 90 days or longer – this will entice them to come in and remember you for 2023. Doing this not only serves as a business boost, but also a re-activation campaign.
Double, Triple, and Bonus Point Specials
Many guests can be enticed by offering extra points for a specific period or day of the week. BE GENEROUS! Don’t be afraid to offer something outrageous – remember these points will generate another future visit in about 6 weeks. It’s the perfect way to generate a visit PLUS a future visit.
Bounce Back Offers
Restaurant Owner?
Leverage Take-Out & Dine-In Specials
BE A SOLUTION in your customers’ lives. Solve their cooking dilemmas, their dishes dilemmas’, their “what’s for dinner tonight?” dilemmas.
Offer package meals for families, couples, and singles at a competitive price-point. (I often offer a complete meal for 4 people with very few choices, so it doesn’t slow the kitchen down. The perceived value is high, and it travels well.
Feature drink or meal specials that can fit new health goals. Maybe it’s a special meal never offered before, maybe it’s a shareable meal.
These offerings don’t need to be discounted but DO need to be something that SOLVES a solution.
Another excellent way to generate increased sales is to get the customers, who are already in your Business, to come back again quickly. A Bounce Back offer is a great way to achieve this. It works by giving a customer in your Business a reason to return within a short window of time with an enticing offer. This may be something small, a Free $7.00 Off, Free Window Wipers or Inspection, even a bonus point offer for their return visit (I like the bonus points offer because not only are you getting a quick return visit but then ANOTHER visit with the earned award certificate mailed weeks later.) Whatever offer you decide, it needs to be appealing and with a VERY short expiration date.
After the holiday bump in sales, don’t let January catch you off guard. Use one or all these strategies to get your 2023 going strong.
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