As a small business entering the ‘golden weeks’ – the six-week run-up to Christmas – you’re no doubt looking for ways to maximise your sales at a time that can represent more than 50% of your annual turnover.

I’ve spoken before of the four fundamental ways to grow sales – getting more people to come, getting more people to spend when they do come, getting customers to spend more each time and getting customers to come back more often. These strategies still apply when it comes to Christmas, but ultimately you won’t see the results of things like working on your SEO now in this time frame – we’re not looking for long-term solutions at this point.

In episode 118 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I’m going to give you my top four ways to grow your sales at Christmas. We’ll look at being present, whether online on social media, or offline at events. We look at the importance of giving people all the information they need to make a purchase, from gifting options to product demonstrations. We’ll discuss how to encourage spending by creating win-win situations for you and your customers. We’ll also review how vital your most loyal customers are to your business and how to best interact with them.