Put A Lid On It

Now that Black Friday and Shop Small weekend and Cyber Monday is done, we can breathe a little bit. Well, not really. Now we have to scramble for Christmas. Biting and chewing nails to come up with some hip and catchy Christmas specials and deals, because this is the time of year that people spend money, right?

We jump on the bandwagon quickly to sell. But what kind of Pandora's box are we opening? Do we rush to push out the deals, and not focus on how to market our businesses?

It's very important that we must market our business and push the solution to what our clients really need. Am I against sales or discounts? No, but the focus shouldn't be so much on the sales and discounts, but more on marketing the business, and building the brand. Building your brand will do more to establish trust and longevity with your clients than just pushing the sale. Promote who you are and why you are in business to give your clients that comfort that regardless of what they're in need of, you are on their top list to get it.

If you run an event planning service, offer some helpful tips during the holiday season. Put a lid on it that "salesy" catering service that costs an arm and both legs to boost your commission. Just plainly appeal to the gift of empathy and sympathy to your clients. Even gift certificates are nice, but what your clients would appreciate most is that you understand what they're going through in planning a wedding or putting together a holiday shindig with the stress, budget, flowers - and let's not leave out dealing with the uncooperative staff.

I love giving gifts, but I'm learning that the best gifts to give in business are the ones that appeal to the need more than the wants. Put a lid on pushing clients to open up Pandora's box to frenzied shopping of gadgets and frills, and just simply open a gift of meeting the need.