The 411 On Managing Your Business Throughout The Holidays

Knowing how to manage your business throughout the holidays will make a huge difference to your success throughout the last part of the year, and even the start of the next one. If you continue attempting to run your business the same way you always have, then you could experience problems. You’ll need to change a few things to make your business more suited to the season.

Read on for the 411 on managing your business throughout the holidays:

Plan Your Rush Period In Advance
If you have past experience during the holiday season, then you likely know when to expect your holiday rush. Make sure you make a note of variables, like the weather forecast and things that may change your busiest times. You may also need to look at casual and temporary employees to handle the amount of business you’re getting. You need to be prepared for an influx of work! You could also ask your current employees if they know anybody looking for a temporary position.

Manage Leave In Advance
You need to make sure manage all leave in advance too. It’s likely your employees will want some time off over the holidays, especially if you don’t plan on pausing your business for very long. Make sure you are fair with this, and totally transparent to avoid angering and disappointing your staff. Make sure that leave is taken before or after the holidays, and that staff are given a closing date for leave applications. It’s up to you how you prioritize requests, for example, whether a senior employee takes priority over a junior.

Make Sure You Maximize Customer Interaction With Your Star Staff Members
Attempt to arrange your work load so that your star members of staff can maximize their customer interaction, rather than doing things that don’t directly contribute to higher sales. If customer service is their strength, they’ll likely be happier and more productive.

Maybe you’ll need to rethink how certain tasks get done, but it’ll be worth it when your staff are happier and your customers are receiving the best level of service imaginable. For instance, it may be worth outsourcing a certain service, such as cleaning, so that your staff can focus on what’s important. This way everybody can spend more time doing the important stuff, and you’ll keep things tidy and organised throughout your busiest time of year.

Make Breaks Clearer
It’s important your employees still get breaks during the holiday season so they can continue to provide a great level of service to customers. You should make it clear when it comes to how breaks should happen during this time, and manage them properly so that you’re not understaffed during key customer contact points. Make sure your employees are encouraged to return on time, and consider making things even easier by organizing supplies on site during the busy periods. This means they can spend less time making their way through crowds and busy stores and simply enjoy their break time. However, sometimes it’s beneficial for them to leave the work place so they can come back feeling ready to take on the rest of the day. It could be an idea to ask for feedback on how you can help them if you’re stuck.

Treat Staff For Their Hard Work
The holidays is the perfect time to treat your staff and show them that you appreciate all they do for you. Look at the Dynamic Gift homepage to get an idea of what sort of things you could give staff to take home with them. Don’t forget to treat them in general either; plan an awesome party, maybe give them a holiday bonus. This is the perfect time of year to increase their morale and job satisfaction, as well as get the new year off to a wonderful start.

Plan For The Unexpected
It’s always a good idea to plan for the unexpected. Having contingency plans in place is crucial. You can never be too prepared for a spanner in the works! What could go wrong, and what will you do about it? What if a key employee falls ill? Make sure you come up with solutions as best as possible so you don’t end up in panic mode.  

Arrange A Christmas Sale
Christmas sales really work, so don’t worry about losing money if you’re apprehensive about setting one up this time of year. You don’t have to offer everything on sale. You could simply put one thing on offer each day. You could also offer something small for free with all purchases. When it comes to offering discounts, the higher the better. Make sure you advertise across social media!

Prioritize Tasks
Make sure you have your key tasks prioritized throughout the holidays. Plan ahead so that tasks can still be taken care of when key employees are on leave. Remember that it also helps when employees leave detailed handover notes that anyone in the business can understand – not just those written for specific colleagues.

Ease Staff Back In
Remember that after some time off, staff may not always feel raring to dive back into work. They may feel lethargic, and suffer from the holiday blues more than you’d like to imagine. This means you need to make sure you ease staff back in, rather than throw them into the deep end. Don’t overload them with work. Give them space to digest things that have happened and things like emails, as well as catching up with colleagues who may have covered for them while they’ve been off. Do your best to be enthusiastic and motivational and it might rub off on them! Remember, arranging a ton of meetings to get them up to speed as soon as they return likely isn’t going to help at all.

Hopefully, these pointers help you to manage your business throughout the holidays with as little stress as possible. Minimize issues and hassle by planning in advance and doing your best to make the life of your staff easier!