Anyone else obsessed with the holiday season? While it can be crazy busy, it’s just so fun! One of the reasons I love the holidays so much is all the creative ways you can work your business. You can try new things, introduce fun promos, interact with new customers – there are so many reasons this season is a huge opportunity for your business.
Now, not everyone’s schedule looks the same around the holidays. You may have to get a little creative with your scheduling and selling since there are so many things competing for your time. But don’t give up, don’t let the craziness of the season throw you off track – embrace it, get after it, and finish that year-end strong. I have faith in you, friends! And I’m also going to help you get there.
The following 16 tips are practices I introduced to my business around the holidays to have fun while making money and building relationships for my business. Let’s dig in!
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CREATE A PLAN AHEAD OF TIME
If you’ve been hanging out with me for more than a few minutes, you knew I would say this first. Plan early! Decide on what you’re trying to accomplish for your business, set some goals, and make a plan. Then put that plan into action.
Pull out your calendar and make sure you have all your personal obligations blocked out to work around those dates. Then take your business plan and map out all the dates you want to make available. Don’t forget to also block out days for follow-up with all the new people you’ll meet!
Not sure what activities to book? Look at those big goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year and determine where you may need the most significant boost. Do you need sales, or do you want to grow your followers? Make sure you set specific and measurable goals so that you can evaluate the success of your plan when you’re done.
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX
If your goal is sales, your number 1 priority this holiday season should be to make it easy for your customers to shop with you. Think outside the box to create new ways to make it convenient for your customers to shop with you early so that they won’t run into shipping deadlines.
Conversely, come up with creative marketing ideas for those last-minute shoppers. This includes marketing to those husbands who are shopping for their spouses at the last minute or perhaps offering free gift-wrapping or grab-and-go gifts if you carry inventory.
USE A THEME
If you’ve spent some time with me, you know I am obsessed with themes. But you know why I’m obsessed with themes? Because they work. It’s a super simple tool to enhance engagement and a great way to book parties.
Here are a few fun ideas:
- Holiday Prep for Your Home (Norwex ladies, I’m looking at you)
- DIY Holiday Crafts – give a quick how-to crafting demo with all the tools they need to complete the craft ready for sale (Stampin! Up ladies… ahem)
- Meal Prep Tips for Your Holiday Dinner – give them a step-by-step guide with tools to make their holiday prep super simple (Pampered Chef ladies, this one is gold)
Think about holiday situations we commonly find ourselves in and turn it into a theme with your product at the forefront of the solution. Works every time!
HOST A CUSTOMER APPRECIATION EVENT
If you’ve never hosted a customer appreciation event, it’s never too late to start, and they are super fun. Get all your favorite ladies on a Zoom call or Facebook party with cocktails and snacks and make it interactive. You could even send them little goodies to prep for the virtual party.
I would always do prize drawings with the product I had lying around the house. As direct sellers, you know just how much you can accumulate that can pile up at home. You’re swimming in it after a while, so why not share the wealth?
You can give away entries for a prize drawing if they place an order, book a party, or bring a friend. Allowing your current customers to bring a friend to your customer appreciation event is such an amazing tool. It’s a super-easy way to meet some new ladies and expand your network.
The annual customer appreciation event often becomes a tradition that people look forward to! If yours isn’t a hit right off the bat, don’t worry or be discouraged, not everything will have an explosive reaction the first time. Traction will grow if you stay consistent, and soon it’ll be the event no one wants to miss.
Another way to frame this is to do a hostess appreciation party, so invite all your hostesses for the year to join you for a VIP event. It’ll have you booking more parties because everyone will want an invite!
DO A CASH AND CARRY EVENT
This is another good one for all that extra product you have lying around. You can open up your home or set up a little outdoor event and sell the stuff right outside your door. Or do a quick demo, making sure the product you use for the demo is prepped and ready for them to buy and take home with them.
You can set a time or host a drop-in-style event, whatever works for you and your family. Just make sure they know that product is limited, and everything is first-come, first served. It’ll create a little FOMO and make certain people get there earlier.
OFFER A DADS AND DONUTS PARTY
Raise your hand if your spouse has no idea what to get you nine times out of ten. That’s where a Dads & Donuts party comes in. Host a party that has a setup for kids, whether it’s an arts and crafts project, a game, an easy, hands-off recipe, and let the dad’s shop while the kids are entertained. You get a wish list from every spouse, and then when Dad arrives, he can shop away, and his spouse can get exactly what they asked Santa for. Brownie points if you offer gift wrapping too!
MAKE OFFICE CALLS (EXPRESS OFFICE PARTY)
This was always one of my go-to’s. Find some local office buildings or even your own office and set up an express party during lunch or after work. Do a quick demo, and let people shop. You can do everything from demonstrating the perfect holiday gift to a hands-on workshop with your products ready for purchase – simple and effective.
You’re in and out in less than an hour, and they knock out some shopping and don’t have to leave the office. You can adapt this for remote work parties, too, but you will just have to add in online ordering and shipping, timing the party a little earlier in the season to accommodate.
DON’T FORGET FUNDRAISERS
There are a lot of non-profit organizations that get super inundated over the holidays. Think food banks, homeless shelters, women’s shelters, etc. We are all so lucky to have these businesses that help us put food on our family’s tables, and it’s important to give support to those in need.
I used to do Blessing Bags. My customers could sponsor a bag that I would put together with Pampered Chef goodies. I’d price it a little more than my cost to use that money to fill the bags with extra holiday-inspired goodies and toiletries. The last year I was in my direct sales business, I think I did over 100 bags – people want to give back. Your business is an avenue for you to help them do that. If your product doesn’t necessarily make sense to donate, run a clothing drive or a food drive and give away holiday raffle prizes to those who donate.
GO LIVE!
Live video allows you a great opportunity to engage with your audience and build relationships. And If your customers can shop at the same time, it’s a win/win! Consider doing a “Countdown to Christmas” or the “12 Days of Christmas” and showcase one gift idea every day. If your products need a bit of explanation, consider demonstrating why this would make a great gift. And don’t forget to showcase your inner Santa by dressing up in festive clothing – a necklace of flashing light bulbs can go a long way to upping the fun factor of your Lives!
FOLLOW UP WITH PAST CUSTOMERS
If you really want to rock your holiday season sales, make sure your customer care follow-up system sparkles ! Taking good care of your current customers is much easier than finding new ones. Make it a point to follow up with every single one of your current customers and go out of your way to make them feel special!
Not sure how to do that? Let them know you have an order going in, and you just wanted to check and make sure they didn’t need anything. If they do, you can offer to be their personal shopper or ask them if they’d like to book a holiday party to get some of those items for free.
After the order, make sure you follow up to let them know when their order will arrive. Check back in to make sure their order arrived safely, and if you run into shipping issues, work with your company to fix it. This is the best way to make sure your customers feel special and have them come back to you year after year.
FIND VENDOR EVENTS
The holiday season is the best time of year for vendor events. There are craft fairs, church fairs, farmer’s markets – look around your community and your online networks, and you’ll find one. Right now, it may be a little more difficult, but so many people are operating safe events outdoors right now, so it’s not out of the question. Many direct sellers are working together to create online virtual vendor events where multiple direct sellers invite their customers – spearhead one of those and meet a bunch of new ladies!
CREATE A HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
People love inspiration for holiday gifts. It is hard to come up with unique gift ideas every year, right? Put together a simple compilation of albums on your Facebook business page with categorized products. Think Gifts for Mom, Gifts for Dad, Gifts for the Wine Lover, Jewelry to Complement Your Holiday Look, etc. Make it simple and inspire ideas that will have people buying from you, and thank you for such a useful holiday season resource!
OFFER 12 DAYS OF DEALS
The 12 Days of Christmas opportunity is big during this season – check out our 12 days of Christmas inspiration post for some more ideas on how to execute this well. Discounts and bundles are an ideal place to start!
HAVE A MYSTERY HOST PARTY
Sometimes people don’t want to host during the holiday season, and that’s fine, don’t let it discourage you! They don’t want to host but would never say no to rewards, right? That’s where a mystery host party comes in. You invite many ladies, and the host prizes are distributed among attendees.
We have an Ultimate Guide to Mystery Host Parties you’ll want to read to prep for this one!
GROUP BEST SELLERS INTO BUNDLES
This one is super easy! I like to call this the “fast food value meal” of shopping. Take 2-3 of your best-selling products and group them into a bundle to make it easy for your customers to shop. If your company allows for it, offer a small discount, say 10%, as an incentive for purchasing the bundle.
You can also bundle products together that fit a theme – a bundle for teachers, a bundle for new moms, a bundle for grandparents, you get the idea. The easier you can make it for someone to shop with you, the more likely they will!
CONSISTENTLY SHOW UP ON SOCIAL
If you really want to set yourself apart from other direct sellers this holiday season, remember to create your own content in advance and then schedule it so that you can show up consistently on your favorite social media platforms. A little advance planning will make a difference here! While other direct sellers tend to “disappear” during the busy holiday season, your consistency and uniquely fun content will help people notice your posts in their newsfeed!
Are you ready to rock the holiday season? Use these tips to crush your holiday sales!
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Want a proven plan for growing your direct sales business without feeling like you're chasing your tail? The Direct Sellers Business Blueprint explains the 4 key areas you must master to build a simplified, systematic business. It will even tell you which area to tackle first, so you can stop feeling overwhelmed or confused about what to do next. The best part? It's completely FREE!
Mary Haynes is a highly successful direct sales leader turned strategist and coach. Her passion is helping party plan people streamline and scale their businesses using simple, proven strategies. Her goal is to eliminate business overwhelm so direct sellers know exactly what to do and when to do it. Mary is also a homeschooling mama that lives in sunny Florida with her husband, 4 kiddos, 2 dogs, and various other backyard animals.
