Want to know how to finish the year strong as a small business owner? As…
Want to know what the golden quarter is and how to make the most of it? If so you are in the right place. The Golden Quarter is a key selling period for many businesses and making the most of the quarter can have a drastic impact on annual sales. Keep on reading to find out what the Golden Quarter is and how to make the most of it.
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What is the Golden Quarter?
The Golden Quarter is a term used to describe the quarter that takes place between October and December. This quarter was a key selling period for retail businesses and for many businesses the sales in this quarter are considerably better than the other three quarters of the year.
Historically Christmas played a key role in why sales were up in this quarter whether it be people buying gifts or getting themselves and their homes ready for Christmas. And now days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday have meant there are even more reasons for sales to be up in this quarter.
Given the above average performance of the quarter this quarter plays a key role in the year as a whole and therefore businesses will ensure they have a more robust plan in place to ensure they make the most of the Golden Quarter.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF THE GOLDEN QUARTER
Step 1: Consider whether your business can / will take advantage of seasonal dates and activities
Part of the reason why this quarter is notoriously good for businesses is due to some key seasonal dates and activites. These dates include Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas. Unlike many e-commerce and retail businesses, some service-based businesses think that they can’t get involved in this seasonal activity but that is very far from the truth.
Black Friday / Cyber Monday
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are discount-focused days.Businesses will often offer the best discount you’ll find all year round on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. The number of businesses offering Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals has increased drastically in recent years. And whilst that means there is more competition it has also trained people to buy during that period of time. There are people who are open to buying and will eagerly check the Black Friday or Cyber Monday offers that come their way.
As someone who provides a service, and predominately works with service-based business owners I’m very wary of discounts. Whereas if you sell a product you’ll have a profit margin and you can offer a discount and still make a profit the fact is as a service-based business owner if you reduce the price of a service and you are delivering a service all you are doing is paying yourself less.
However, if you are going to ever consider offering a discount then there are good reasons to do it as part of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Because businesses worldwide take part in these days it doesn’t have the same damage to your brand as discounting at another period of time.
But even if you don’t want to specfically discount one of your usual services there are other ways to get involved. For example, you can create something specifically for Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
Christmas
Do you sell something that people would like to buy for someone else as a present or that someone would like to be bought as a gift? If the answer is yes then you can get involved in Christmas promotions. The length oft time before Christmas that you start focusing on Christmas is entirely up to you. In some business Christmas campaigns start as early as September, but many start later than that.
And even if you don’t want to do a full Christmas campaign there are a few things you can do to take advantage. For example, you could simply add the option for someone to buy something as a gift or buy a gift voucher. Both of these additons can be fairly simple but means you can have some Christmas marketing and share the message that your business could be perfect as a igifting option.
Step 2: Set clear sales goals
Once you’ve decided whether your business will get involved with any seasonal activities it is important to set clear sales goals. Ideally you’ll want to look at past sales data. As a minimum you’ll want to look at the last 3 quarters. Ideally you’ll want to look at your quarterly sales over the past few years. Look at your past sales in October to December compared to other quarters and take into consideration the level of marketing and sales you had done during that period.
Then you can set your sales goals for the quarter. Remember the point of the Golden Quarter is to make more than a normal quarter. Ideally you’ll want an overall sales goals in terms of revenue and then if you have multiple offers have sales goals for each offer.
| WANT TO PLAN FOR THE GOLDEN QUARTER?
I run group quarterly planning workshops and the Q4 one (October – December 2024) is happening on Tuesday 1st October. In this workshop I’ll help you to set clear goals and then put a plan that you can follow in order to achieve those goals. |
Step 3: Put together your marketing plan
Having an ambitious sales goals is great, but if you want those sales to happen you’ll need to be actively marketing your business and offers. Ideally you’ll want to create marketing plan across all of your marketing channels and that includes a timeline. The aim is to clearly know what you are going to be promoting, where and when.
Step 4: Ensure you can operational deal with a sales surge
Last, but not least, you’ll need to make sure you can operational deal with a sales surge. There is no point in setting high sales goals, doing the marketing to generate the sales, but then not being able to deal with those sales.
Look at your sales goals and think through operationally whether you have the capabilities to deal with that volume of sales. If you can’t then you’ll need to decide whether you can make adjustments to fit the demand, or reduce your sales goals.
That’s it. You now know what the golden quarter is and how to make the most.
There is no denying that a good Golden Quarter can drastically change a businesses annual performance and because of that it makes sense to set aside the time to plan how to make the most of the Golden Quarter.
If you haven’t already signed up to join my Q4 Planning Workshop you can do so by clicking here.
And I would love to know in the comments what your biggest takeaway has been.
| WANT HELP PLANNING FOR THE NEXT 12 MONTHS?
This blog post has focused specifically on the Golden Quarter, but if you want to go beyond planning for a quarter I do offer Annual Planning Strategy Days where I will help you plan for the next 12 months. I have a tried-and-tested process that I’ve used for years to guide business owners to set goals for their business for the upcoming 12 months and then map out the overarching strategy to achieve that. Oh and did I mention it only takes one day! You fill in a questionnaire before our day together. Then on the day I’ll guide you through my annual planning process, take notes so you are free to just talk and then create your annual plan and timeline. The next day you can get back to your day-to-day work and you’ll receive your plan and timeline. It couldn’t be easier! For more information and to book a 2024/25 Strategy Day click here. |
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