Are you going to be amongst the millions taking holidays in the next few weeks? What will happen to your business whilst you are away?
For many one man bands business stops for two or three weeks whilst we’re off recharging the batteries. We rush round like maniacs tying up all the loose ends before we go away and then nothing, zilch, nada happens for several weeks. We drop off the radar.
I’m not suggesting that you spend your entire holiday answering the ‘phone, checking your emails or posting to social media but a bit of advanced planning will ensure that your business remains visible whilst you are taking a well earned break.
Managing the telephone.
How will you deal with telephone enquiries when you are away? After all you don’t want to leave a message saying we’re on annual holiday until some date in the future, that’s like saying ‘come and rob us’. If you get a lot of calls you could use a call handling service or forward your calls to a VA (Virtual Assistant). If you only get a few calls you could consider forwarding them to your mobile ‘phone or come to an arrangement with a trusted friend or colleague. Which ever method you choose make sure that you brief the call handler on how you want the calls to be dealt with. Ensure that they have accurate product information and, if necessary, access to your diary so they can pencil appointments in for your return.
Marketing.
Don’t become invisible for the entire summer. These days it is very easy to automate marketing activities. Use autoresponders to reply to website enquiries. Schedule blog and email posts to go out at your usual times/regularly. Connect your blog account to your social media accounts so that when the blog post goes out your Twitter, Facebook, Linked In accounts update automatically. Use a programme like Hootsuite to schedule updates regularly whilst you are away. You can direct people to previous blog posts, event invitations or share some of your favourite quotes. Try to maintain some variety and not make everything about selling. You might choose to make a few posts to social media whilst you are away but take care not to reveal that you are away on holiday or you could find your home or office burgled in your absence.
Use a CRM (Customer Relationship Marketing) package to schedule email and newsletters to your customer and prospect lists. There are a number of free programmes such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact etc. or we recommend www.intrabench.com which offers additional tools including invoicing, event bookings, task management and more.
Make sure that the activities that you schedule are consistent with your marketing plan and your brand.
Many of your competitors will disappear from view during the summer so by keeping marketing and maintaining your visibility with your customers and prospects you will be giving yourself a competitive advantage. Enjoy your holiday and may you come back to a profitable end to the year. If you need some help drop me an email to glenda.shawley@thetrainingpack.co.uk
