As we are moving close to the end of the year, what should be the attitude of the business person that wants to take advantage of the end-of-the year buying spree either to launch a new product or service or to grow an existing one into market leadership?
The season should be approached the way churches prepare for the crossover service. The crossover service takes place in the evening of the 31st December of every year. That day, the old year gives way to the new year. Most people troop to church that day to thank God for what God did for them in the outgoing year and pray that God will continue to take care of them in the incoming year.
So, those who have never moved near a church all-year long flock to any church that they can find around them. Most churches are jammed and churches make a great deal of preparation to accommodate extra chairs and give those first-timers a good treatment, hoping that as they enjoy the service of that day, they will be motivated to keep coming. date the overflowing crowd. Some rent
The same way, just like what happens at the crossover night in churches, when a year is inching towards the end and a new one will soon replace it, a process that starts right at the beginning of the last quarter, early October, businesses prepare for a huge surge in patronage. Actually in some cases, lot of businesses record up to 50-80% of sales for the whole year, during the last quarter of the year. What makes this to happen? The reason is the anticipation of the festivities of Christmas and New year when several events like weddings, village meetings, all sorts of celebrations that require heavy financial expenditure are staged.
People buy new clothes and all other new things to match, including some unthinkable things like building new houses and buying new cars. To help fuel the buying binge, employers fix the timing of payment of bonuses during this period. Profit sharing, 13th month pay, Christmas bonus, etc., are given to workers with so much money going into circulation.
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The same way churches prepare for that critical crossover night and use the opportunity to grow membership, business owners should do likewise to build their businesses and if possible gain critical market share at the expense of those who might just be lackadaisical in employing the advantage of the opportunity of this time.
How can this be done? You must sit down to come up with an end of the year business promotional plan. You have to start it with the purpose that you have in mind to achieve with the plan. Do you want to increase sales by hundred percent? Do you want to use the season to introduce a new product or service into the market or even enter into a new geographical territory? Once the purpose is well laid out, you can then put together the strategy you want to employ to achieve the purpose. Businesses are very careful in the choice of the strategy they will employ at this time. It must not be a strategy that will bring immediate results but in the long run, the business is worse off. For example if you entice customers to buy a product of defective quality because of the rush of demand at that time, people will punish you with negative word of mouth that will injure your reputation irreparably.
At the same time you must not take advantage of buyers by offering a value that the business cannot deliver. There must be a comprehensive attention to what is required to make a customer buy and keep buying. That is the customer should be offered service far beyond what he is paying for. The customer must have a ‘whao’ experience that will make him switch allegiance from the brands he was used to. The customer must be made to feel like he has made a kill from buying from you (the feeling people have when they buy products at bargain-sales).
In our next post we shall consider, some actual promotional strategies that one can take advantage of, for the much touted business transforming end-of-the year season.
• Kola Owolabi, (FIMC) Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants,08023203198, is the Executive Director of Centre of Entrepreneurial Research and Development based in Igbesa, a surburb of greater Lagos, in the vicinity of Crawford University. The organization has had the opportunity to execute landmark business development (business plan preparation and conduct of feasibility studies) and market research briefs for organizations both within and outside Nigeria. He can be reached by phone or WhatsApp through 08023203198.
