How To Prepare Your Business For Christmas?

Christmas is that magical time of the year we all eagerly wait for. Autumn has already begun, and before you know it, people will be carolling in the streets and enjoying lavish Christmas feasts. You know what this means – it’s time to start making plans and gearing up for the festive season. With so much to do, it is never too soon to start Christmas preparations.

In this article, you will learn what you can do to build profit and attract new customers this holiday season, as well as four ways to set your business up for success.

How to Prepare Your Business for Christmas

Things Businesses Should Do to Prepare for Christmas

There is so much to be taken care of at Christmas that it is important to plan things ahead of time. Doing this can help you avoid last minute stress. Make sure you check the following off on your to-do list before Christmas.

1. Check the Inventory and Supplies

Inventory and supplies are vital in any business. This is time to review the year’s sales, and identify your needs for the coming year. If you need to restock supplies, order them in advance because at this time of year suppliers are tight on time and have tonnes of deadlines ahead of them.

It is very much a possibility that your supplier might turn down your last minute orders because of scarce resources. Furthermore, ordering beforehand saves a lot of cash because last-minute orders are expensive, and there is costly shipping on top.

If you are new to the business world and cannot refer to previous records, consult your network for insider tips. Understand and analyse the market, demand-supply ratios, and order accordingly. And lastly, always stock the basics like toiletries, paper rolls, gift cards, sanitisers, and sweets for kids. Don’t forget to buy Christmas jumpers for your loved ones.

Also Read: Enhancing Your Business’s Holiday Retail Experience

2. Coordinate Staff Leave

Every business owner should organize staff leave well in advance. Obviously, your employees have families too, and they deserve time of to spend with their family and celebrate Christmas. However, it is also fair on your part to expect them to meet their work commitments. So, what can you do?

For starters, establish rules and make them clear to all the employees. For example, you may say that leave applications must come through a month in advance. This will help you schedule employee leave and shifts accordingly without burdening anyone with too much work. Make sure that you’re fair to everyone. Nobody should get preferential treatment because, in the end, everybody wants to be with their families.

Furthermore, if you will require seasonal staff, start the hiring process now because getting seasonal staff at the last minute is not just frustrating, but inefficient too. Ensure that the seasonal staff you hire are trustworthy and sincere because the wrong employees could scare away your customers.

Also Read: How to find best Employment Agency?

3. Revamping Marketing and Promotional Strategies

It is critical to have the right marketing and promotional strategies in place so you can market your business effectively at the right time. Go through your feedback and find out what your clients love the most, their preferences, and how you can revamp your strategies to attract more customers.

If you have a website, it’s a good idea to have it temporarily redesigned in a Christmas theme. A little bit of creativity will not harm your brand. Also, make sure your catalogues are up to date with all current products.

And lastly, explore options for marketing your holiday offers and new arrivals. This may include:

  • Email Marketing
  • Facebook/Instagram Ads
  • Address cards and greeting tokens
  • Direct posts to regular clients

4. The Essence of Christmas

It’s important to make your business feel like Christmas – so get decorating! Put some lights on, and make a dazzling Christmas tree. In short, make your office or store feel festive. COVID-19 has taken so much from us, including our ability to celebrate special times of the year. Therefore, use this year to make up for this and really get into the Christmas spirit?

Although these decorations look beautiful, you can’t deny that decorating can be a hassle, not to mention expensive. However, this is where the professionals come in. You don’t need to buy a new Christmas tree – simply hire one from a specialist company like phsgreenleaf.co.uk. These companies can even incorporate special requests and tailor your Christmas display to your brand’s identity. You can ask them to make the decorations reflect your brand and make the most out of the display.

Wrapping Up

Christmas time can be stressful for businesses if they are not prepared. However, it can be the best and most profitable time of the year if you follow the right strategies. The most successful business owners often start their Christmas preparations in July or even June. If they can, you can too – so get started today!

Effective Ways to Minimize Waste on Construction Sites

For some people, the whole thing of “going green” is a trend, but in the world of construction, “going green” is definitely no trend… In fact, it’s a sustainable building practice that’s here to stay. As more cities adopt greener building regulations for new construction, contractors and construction companies alike are going to face the challenge of keeping up with these sustainable building practices.

One of the biggest areas in construction that greener changes need to happen in is construction waste. They say, “waste not, want not,”… well, in the world of construction, “when you waste less, you spend less.” Sustainable building practices, in the form of minimizing waste, means you’re not only building better, energy-efficient buildings but you’re also saving time and money on all your construction projects.

It’s just amazing to look at how the industry has changed over the years. True enough, certain things haven’t changed like state and industry-specific certifications and licenses… If you live in Oregon, you would still need to meet the Oregon continuing education requirements. But as far as sustainable practices, it’s amazing how more and more people are becoming conscious about reducing their carbon footprint to make the environment a better place… Back in the early 1940s to the 1960s, people could have cared less about their environmental impact.

construction-waste

 

But we are indeed in different times, and the construction industry is doing its part to implement green practices, including reducing construction waste. Here’s how construction companies and contractors are doing their part.

Effective Ways to Minimize Your Construction Waste

1. Avoid Creating Waste in the First Place

To truly manage your construction waste effectively, you should avoid creating it in the first place. Taking steps like taking exact measurements to ensure you have enough materials to build without any unnecessary leftovers is going to help tremendously. Conducting regular inventory checks will prevent you from overordering materials that you already have.

Additionally, properly training your team and educating them on the importance of construction waste management will help them to implement greener practices within their own job responsibilities.

2. Store Your Materials Properly

With construction sites, you’re not always going to be able to haul your materials in and out of a proper storage area; sometimes your materials have to set out on the site. But that also doesn’t mean your materials have to be ruined. You have to first and foremost, secure your site to minimize damage and even theft.

construction-wastes

For example, you can store lumber on blocking and make sure to cover it up to prevent any damages. You want to do the same with brick and other masonry. The main thing is that your materials are a huge investment and you need to do all you can to protect your investment.

According to the National Equipment Register, states that have a large economy percentage in agriculture and construction industries are the biggest targets for thieves, and the most common pieces of equipment to steal include valuable pieces that are easy to move, like tractors, mowers, and other tools. Heavier pieces like bulldozers and backhoes aren’t so common because they’re too difficult to move.

3. Add Organization to Your Construction Site

Construction sites seem like they can be a bit chaotic, which they can, but they don’t have to be by simply adding a little organization to your site. Consider separating your recyclable and salvageable materials together in an area to reduce confusion; this just puts everyone on the same page. When your site is organized and your team knows where everything is, it will cause you to spend less money on unnecessary materials, re-doing work, and sorting in the middle of a project.

4. Recycle and Re-Use Your Salvageable Materials

On all of your construction sites, make it a point to recycle materials like paper, plastic, metal, and glass… wood too. In that same token, also make sure that if there’s a way to reduce any costs in construction projects, re-using your salvaged materials is the way to do it. The purpose is to reuse these materials so that they don’t end up in a landfill somewhere… You can’t always avoid waste on all projects but landfills are one of the worst ways to handle your construction site waste.