It’s early October and I know what less than five of my clients will be doing for holiday gifts.
Our company held our Third Annual Holiday Showcase event in August to get our clients to start thinking about holiday gifts early. Through factory direct reps and multiline reps, we had over 20 lines present for our clients to see in person. The event itself was a huge success and it’s easy for us to monitor the ROI as we just tag the new projects coming in through commonsku.
So, you may be thinking, “Wait a second, you just said you only know what five or less of your clients are doing for the holidays… how can you say this event was a success?” Easy…
The event definitely opened new opportunities with our clients, resulting in new business prior to the holidays. Sure, we were doing the event specifically for holiday gifts but let’s be real – clients are going to procrastinate and we just haven’t closed that many holiday gift projects yet.
Here are two steps we’ll be taking to speed up this process and be prepared for the rushes to come flowing in:
Drip Campaign: It is October so I wouldn’t argue that it might be a little late to do a drip campaign now if you haven’t taken the time to develop your strategy and goals. However, having said that, it’s actually pretty simple to just choose one or a few items and start sending them to your clients via email. I’ve been taking the approach of highlighting one specific product within the email and providing a presentation with more items. This should sound familiar because it’s not rocket science… so what’s holding you back from doing a simple strategy like this?
I’ve always wanted to do a true drip campaign coupled with an ebook for holiday gifts rather than the aforementioned broadcast style approach. I’m huge into goal setting and I didn’t write that down as a goal, so you can bet that I’ll be reporting back next year on the success of the holiday drip campaign as it will be a 2018 goal for sure.
Spec Samples: This is where the presumptive close strategy can really play to our benefit. We’re doing a variety of spec samples for key clients. Some will receive self promo items we’re doing specifically relating to holidays. We’ve taken an approach of designing the product itself to promote holiday gift ideas in addition to just choosing items that would lend itself nicely to holidays. The presumptive part of this is the specs we’re doing with our client logos. We know their tastes so simply just getting some specs in front of them can easily speed up the conversation so we’re all not scrambling last minute.
Whatever your approach is, it doesn’t really matter how you do it. Rather it matters that you just do it. I’m a huge believer in just taking action. I don’t spend too much time mapping things out because in my experience, procrastination will ensue. It can be so hard to make the time to sit down and map something new out. I know myself and for me, in these situations, I’ll just keep delaying it (pushing to the bottom of the list).
My advice to you would be to just get started. Whatever your style is… maybe it’s a drop-in to your client's office, picking up the phone and calling (or even texting), send samples, etc. Just get the conversation started and show your clients that you are thinking in advance so that they won’t have to stress and the projects will come flooding in.
Happy Selling!
Sam Kabert is the creative director of ValueBP Marketing Group and the creator and co-host of the podcast “WhatUp Silicon Valley!” A risk taker who embraces permanent beta, Sam is leading the transformation of his family-run office supplies business into a promotional products powerhouse. Sam can be reached at Sam@ValueBP.com.