5 Tips To Help You Handle Surge in Sales This Season

Shopping season is just around the corner, especially as we approach the festive period. Quite likely, this translates to increased sales and of course, more profits! While you look forward to the sales, it is just as essential to prepare to handle the challenges that this surge in sales could cause.

Some hitches that you may encounter during this period fall under:

• Supply
• Customer service
• Logistics

Supply

An increase in demand also means an increase in supply. Therefore, insufficient notice to your suppliers can cause a delay in restocking items and meeting up with demand. You might also have to deal with handling different suppliers at the same time and getting overwhelmed by the tracking process. There might be less time to check the quality of the supply thoroughly. Where you produce yourself, you might run out of some raw materials to make your products which could break your supply process.

Customer Service

Dealing with customers during this holiday period can also be quite stressful, considering that you have to manage more orders through phone calls, DMs and timeline messages. Patience might run thin, and sometimes when errors occur, a social media crisis might follow.

Logistics

In simple terms, logistics, in this case, refers to the process of moving your products and services till it reaches your customer. An increase in demand will mean that you have to work faster to ensure that you meet up with customer’s needs. A downside to this is that it also gives more room for errors to occur, especially in your delivery process. It could be delivering late, sending a wrong item or taking it to the incorrect address.

1. Fix Your Inventory

• Detail -. A detailed inventory helps you track where you are with delivery and supply. That way, you do not miss out on deliveries or get short on supply without due notice. It should include things like Maximum re-order level, Minimum re-order level, Out of stock items, Schedule for delivery, Due deliveries, etcetera. You can keep separate inventories to manage different aspects of your business, like delivery, stock count/supply, maintenance of equipment, etcetera.
• Automate-. This is very useful in this case. It saves you time from having to manually log data or getting lost in lists upon lists of items. Certain notifications and some repetitive tasks can be automated. To do this, consider using commands on an excel sheet or a free inventory app. 

You can set notifications for when: you are units away from your re-order level, out of stock of certain items, deliveries that will soon be due, etcetera.

2. Use The Pre-Order Method

This helps you manage the number of orders you handle per time and gives your supplier sufficient notice. Through this, you can also share specifics of the products or service that the customer can expect, like price, delivery timeline, quality, look and feel.

3. Excellent Customer Service

Find better ways to relate with your customers. Write out calming buzz words to use when your patience is running out, or you are dealing with a rude customer. You could also prepare a list of FAQs, for use when customers have enquiries. You could also make out an “order list” that each customer fills so that you do not miss out any detail. The list could contain name & phone number of a contact person, delivery address and any special requests.

4. Avoid Overpromising and Share Prompt Feedback

As the famous saying goes “it is better to under-promise and over-deliver. If customers are making demands that you cannot fulfil, whether at all or partially, politely explain to them and suggest other alternatives. For instance, where deadlines are tight, it is better to come clean with your customer while offering additional options.

5. Use An Efficient Logistics Service

This will help you manage your supply and delivery better. For instance, use a service that is prompt with picking up & making deliveries, is convenient, affordable and reliable. It will be an added advantage if you find one that provides consolidated shipping which allows you to seamlessly order from multiple suppliers and deliver through one channel, straight to your doorstep. We recommend that you check out the GIGGo App, by GIG Logistics, as it fulfils these needs.

In addition to all this, remember your team! Quite likely, you might have a few people helping to sort your orders and make deliveries. The stress from the extra workload will affect them too. They might have to work later than usual and for longer. Acknowledging their effort motivates them to do more. Little things like buying them lunch, extra airtime, paying for some of their transportation expenses home, etc. mean a lot!