What steps can you take to keep clients happy and avoid frustration during the holiday season, especially if there are shortages?
1. Advertise early
When advertising, start early. You don't want to miss out on the potential of growing your business during what will be one of the heaviest delivery seasons.
2. Start shopping earlier
As the holidays get closer, shelves may continue to empty. Advise your client to order non-perishables for holiday shopping as soon as possible.
3. Speak with your clients about any scheduling changes
To avoid any type of miscommunication, mishap, or frustration, make it a point to let your clients know what your schedule will look like. If you have regular clients that order on specific days they may need to get their order in sooner.
4. Set clear expectations with your clients about potential shortages
Sometimes, clients who aren't in the stores often aren't used to seeing bare shelves. Keeping them up to date on what you are seeing or just letting them know in general helps them understand the challenges you are facing before the order is ever placed.
5. Review potential price increases
Increased grocery costs are challenging. We know that prices within the Dumpling app are estimates, but now is a good time to reiterate to clients that they will potentially see a higher-than-normal total once the order has been completed. It is also a good time to remind clients that they will always pay in-store prices without any markups.
6. Help where you can and go the extra mile
Take some time for budget-conscious clients to research which stores in your area have “turkey deals” to help with the increased cost of groceries. For example, Winco typically does a free turkey with a $100 purchase. Calling around for your clients is a great way to go the extra mile!
Pro Tip!
Only 22% of shoppers polled in 2020 waited until after Thanksgiving to begin gift shopping – Starting conversations with your clients early may get them thinking about what to put in their next order. You can ask your clients about their kids’ ages/ preferences to “keep an eye out” for deals (and as a bonus, you can offer to hang on to any purchases from those orders and work out delivering them when the kids are not present!).
6. Expand your service offerings this holiday season
There are many ways to advertise your business however, holidays give us an extra set of tools that we can use to our advantage when trying to reach new clients or keep the ones you already have excited about your business. Let’s face it, people are busy, tired, and forgetful during the holiday season. So the key here is how do you make things just a little easier, and how do you get your business front and center as a solution?
Offer up services that are outside of your norm
Offer gift wrapping for your clients, and offer to help Santa out by delivering some goodies to family and friends, or coworkers in the area. Maybe you’re willing to run things to the post office or stand in line for holiday deals. Possibilities are endless, find your niche!
Pro tip: You can use the adjustment tool within the order on the Boss app to charge for these other services, as long as your fees are within your allotted adjustment amount. You must make sure your client is aware of and agrees to your fee structure for your additional services before adding them to the order.
Make it a point to show your support for small local businesses
Share images of gift ideas from those businesses directly to your Facebook business page. You can use this promotion to help introduce your small business to other small businesses – and even to remind your customers that supporting you is shopping small!
Give cards and/or small gifts
Who doesn’t love getting a gift? It's that time of year and clients love knowing that their support is more than just swapping goods and services. A small gift or card can make a huge impact. These can range from purchasing items or hand-making them.
Here are some ideas to get you started.
Turn a simple recipe card into a gift your client can use for the holiday and pass on. Special to you recipe on one side, and thank you note on the other.
Take the recipe card idea to new heights and purchase some or all of the ingredients to gift with the card and the next order.
Handmade or purchased holiday cards. Personalize them with a special thank you note.
Some other small gift ideas we heard from other business owners are candles, warm drink mixes, and activity kits to do with the kids over winter break.
Promote your holiday services
Simple graphics on your social media, in a direct message to clients, or even on a flyer at one of their orders are a great way to do this!
Pro tip: When creating graphics remember to keep it simple – Less is more! Use clean fonts and colors that are easy to read. Remember to include important info such as your dumpling URL and phone number.