Nov. 2-8
MANAGEMENT Novemberrrrrr! Winter is on the way and with it, flu season. If you don’t have an issue with vaccines, recommend staff members get a flu shot, on company time if need be.
OPERATIONS Study your parking lot. Many buying decisions are made before your customer sets foot inside, and your parking lot is often the first impression a visitor will get. Is your lot clean? Are store signs clearly visible from the parking lot? Does your staff snag the best spots? Take action where necessary.
Nov. 9-15
INVENTORY Run through your orders and stay on top of your vendors. Timely delivery is critical now. You don’t want those Santa plush toys arriving Christmas week.
MARKETING Keep posting your end-of-year event schedule on your social media outlets — email and mailed invites can go astray.
MANAGEMENT You and your staff should start soon on your own holiday shopping to get it out of the way. Have business cards for your store handy so you can hand them out to the people you meet.
Nov. 16-22
STAFF In honor of National Pet Adoption Day (Nov. 17), reach out to local rescues to identify one particular animal in need of a home and make that the focus of a special Thanksgiving-related effort. It’s the kind of thing that infuses your team with the right festive spirit to help them get through the holiday grind.
IN-STORE Start feeding holiday songs into the store lineup. At first, aim for every fourth song, and then over the next six weeks slowly increase the rotation.
MANAGEMENT Start a store tradition to let people know the holiday season is here. It could be a special red bowtie for your store mascot (nothing’s cuter than a Bulldog in formal attire).
MARKETING With only a little over four weeks to go until Christmas, step up your email campaigns to twice per week, scheduling campaigns on Thursdays or Fridays to stimulate purchases on the weekend, when conversion rates typically peak.
Nov. 23-29
OPERATIONS Update your local pages on Google, Facebook and elsewhere to ensure they reflect any longer store hours or special services over the holiday season. Add terms such as “holiday hours” and “holiday sales” to your meta descriptions to give your web pages a better chance of ranking above those of the competition and drawing a click.
STORE Close the store early on Nov. 27, the day before Thanksgiving, for a decorating party. Order in some pizza and maybe a little wine, crank up the tunes (no Christmas carols) and make it fun.
STAFF Hold short staff meetings every day to keep everyone informed on your progress these holidays. Lay on some snacks, do what you can to boost morale and end the meetings on an upbeat note.