Preparing your small business for the holiday season

As the year draws to a close, we can anticipate a busy holiday season. Among Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday, Christmas and other year-end religious holidays, people will be spending more money purchasing gifts for their loved ones.

This is good for small businesses (especially those that rely on sales at this time of year), but rising order volumes can also be tricky to navigate for companies that don't have access to the same resources as their larger counterparts.

Fortunately, there are a number of strategies your organization can employ to keep up with increased seasonal demand. Whether you have a physical store or sell your goods online (or use a combination of both), there are some best practices that every small business can follow. Let's take a look at a few:

Order in bulk

As OnDeck suggests, it's a good idea to contact your suppliers ahead of time to confirm that you have enough stock. The last thing you need is to run out of products halfway through the holiday season and lose out on valuable sales while you wait for more merchandise to arrive. Further, you should consider having a solid plan in place to ensure you get more wares quickly, should the need arise. According to Bankrate, there are still some supply chain issues such as congested ports, so you'll want to circumnavigate these timeously.

Train and schedule your employees

There's no better time than to take a few hours brushing up on your standard operating procedures with current staff to make certain that everyone knows what's expected of them. By rehashing sales processes with your workers, you'll guarantee that every team member is familiar with their unique roles and responsibilities and aware of what to do if something goes haywire. If you have new employees, get them up to speed as soon as possible.

Additionally, if you anticipate that you'll need more hands on deck, get your seasonal part-time workers onboard sooner rather than later. Whether you'll be using more employees or not, make sure their shifts are scheduled properly, especially if you plan to extend your business hours during this time.

Double-check your software and hardware

As PC Mag explains, it's prudent to ascertain whether your physical and digital equipment is functioning optimally ahead of time. This means making sure that your card machines, computers, cash registers and other tools are working as they should. Also, take some time to look over any computer software you use (such as accounting or inventory management programs) and your website to see whether anything is glitching or broken.

If you need assistance with legalities relating to your year-end small business operations, reach out to the Law Offices of Donald W. Hudspeth, P.C.

Categorised in: Arizona LLCs, Starting a Business in Arizona

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