Christmas trade can be up to 60% of a retailer's annual sales. This slideshow is designed to ignite you and your team, ensuring you have a highly profitable and fun Christmas!

1. Ignite the Christmas Spirit! Ignite the Christmas Spirit! Debra Templar: Retail Check ups, Tune Ups & Makeovers....It’s in the bag!

2. 2 Most people find Christmas shopping a *yawn*

3. 3 Any retailer who can successfully promote their business will attract more customers at this festive time and, importantly, generate more sales.

4. 4 Consider

5. Most customers will spend their gift-giving $ with retailers they’ve established relationships with over the past 46 weeks. Level of service during “slow times” determines if customers will shop with you in December. 5

6. Relationships are built when floor traffic is manageable. Salespeople must have ability to handle multiple customers. Recruiting & hiring should be done prior to December. Selling at Christmas is often about getting to customers as quickly as possible. 6

7. 7 Prepare Your Shop

8. Ensure your store is not so crowded with stock that customers can’t move around You may need to consider a queuing system over the peak Christmas period Consider a separate area for giftwrapping rather than clogging your POS area 8

9. 9 Windows

10. Windows are not about money, but PRIDE and ENERGY! Change your windows at least once a fortnight – weekly if possible over Christmas. Light your windows at night. Don’t over-clutter your windows. 10

11. © Australian Retail Services. 2005 11

12. 12 Create Atmosphere

13. Focus on all the senses to make an impact on the Christmas customer: Taste Fragrance Noise Touch 13

14. 14 Build Christmas Displays

15. Animated Fun Zany Interesting Unusual Newsworthy Educational Magical 15 Animated displays: Research carried out in the US shows a 43% consumer recall from static displays and a 94% consumer recall from animated displays, plus 80% of consumers could remember the product.

16. 16 Ticketing

17. Research has revealed that during the same sales period, if 100 products were sold with no signage, then 170 were sold with handwritten signs were used, and 265 products were sold when signs were professionally produced to sell the product. 17

18. 18

19. 19 Motivate the Team

20. Involve team in the planning stages. Be objective in terms of precise goals: Targeted total sales Average sale per customer Number of items per transaction Conversion rate 20

21. Holiday Countdown Campaign Have a Christmas countdown campaign where each day everyone can compare results against targets. 21

22. 22 Raise Security Awareness

23. Be aware of collusion. The more you create a culture of honesty, the more difficult collusion will be. Train staff on your security standards. Increase customer service. Focus on your cash handling procedures. Do NOT accept fake $$. [Quietly ask customer if they have another form of payment as you think the note could be fake. Advise them to go and check the note with their bank asap. Do NOT accept the note.] ALWAYS check credit card signatures. 23

24. 24 Monitor Information Flow

25. Good quality, succinct information transfers. Control both the volume + content. Mid-November – reschedule regular compliance items. ‘Sense-check’ all communication. 25

26. Keep people informed Christmas ‘Tip’ Sheets. What’s ‘going on’ in the shopping precinct. Newsletter – Seasonal. Latest arrivals emails. Bag Stuffers. 26

27. 27 Set a Christmas Marketing Calendar

28. Marketing Calendar of Promotions, Bag Stuffers, Events, Sales, Offers, Advertisements – Radio, Newspaper, Magazine, TV, Online, Other. Prepare for each event. © Australian Retail Services. 2008 28

29. 29 Christmas Promotions

30. Take up a local charity cause over the Christmas period and be visibly seen to promote it. Network promotions with local retailers. Have a Christmas Party for senior citizens and toddlers. [Note: 2 separate parties...] 30

31. Organise special customer events during the lead-up to Christmas. Have a value-added promotions period, featuring lucky dips, balloons with gifts in them, and the like. 31

32. Low Cost Holiday Promotions Dear Santa Program Trim a Tree Colouring Contest Toys for Tots Cross Promote Give Away New Year’s Party 32

33. Send Christmas cards to your regular customers and put a handwritten note of thank-you in the card. 33

34. 34 Dear Diary

35. Targeted total sales vs actual Targeted average sale per customer vs actual Targeted number of items per transaction vs actual Targeted conversion rate vs actual 35

36. Write down the unanticipated: “ran out of hams”; Hail + snow – Heatwave – Bushfires.. Casual recruitment start date: 36

37. 37 Train the Team

38. How to remain cool and calm in times of stress. Induction for new casuals. Gift suggestions – Have you provided your team with lists of such suggestions? 38

39. The 10 Most Commonly Asked Questions Does it come with batteries? Can I return it if it isn’t suitable? Will it work overseas? Have you a follow-up service? What happens if it’s the wrong size? Is it guaranteed? What instructions are provided? Can we change colours if they don’t like it? Do you have other sizes if it has to be changed? Do you gift wrap? What are yours? Train your team on the answers… 39

40. 40 Reduce Team Stress

41. Employ someone to do the cleaning at the end of each busy day, leaving shop clean and fresh for the next day’s trading. Hire a masseur to give complimentary massages to staff (and even as a Christmas service to customers). Schedule time off for staff to do their own Christmas shopping. Make an effort to catch team members “doing something right” and reward them publicly. 41

42. Keep an eye on the temperature to avoid discomfort. Respect staff breaks even when busy. Losing sight of taking care of your staff could leave you with a BIG retail hang-over! 42

43. 43 Staff Employment Needs

44. Change rosters. Hire Christmas casuals early. Deal with poor performance as it occurs. If you leave it until after Christmas, your high performers may well become disillusioned with those who aren’t pulling their weight. 44

45. 45 Make Christmas Special

46. I’ll make you glad to talk with me Welcome your customers Care for the elderly The male shopper Giftwrapping Make it easy 46

47. 47 Christmas Selling

48. Staff should not wait for customers to approach them, they need to approach the customers. Christmas selling is: Welcome Use open questions Sell during busy periods Add on sell Ask for the sale Work multiple customers 48

49. 4 Easy Measures to Monitor 49

50. 50 Recognise me. Make me feel comfortable. Help me get what I need and want. Did you see this?

51. 51 Have an enjoyable, profitable Christmas season!

52. One of Australia’s leading retailing experts, Debra Templar just hates bad customer service and stupid business practices. So… she’s on a mission to change them – one slideshow, presentation, book, or training session at a time: "I don't just want to improve how we do business for the customer’s sake but also that we, as business owners, sell more stuff, make lots more profit, and love our businesses back to life!“ E: debra@thetemplargroup.com.auMobile: 0417 532383 Skype: debra.templar www.linkedin.com/in/debratemplar www.thetemplargroup.com.au www.twitter.com/DebraTemplar Pic Credits: http://www.istockphoto.com and http://shoppologist.blogspot.com