Do you wait until October to start marketing your Christmas gift baskets? There’s a better way. Here’s what to do now for holiday sales so business booms at end of year.

Planning never stops

There’s a phrase I recall during the holiday season that reminds me to work on personal fitness:

“Summer bodies are made in the winter.”

The same type of mindset is possible when preparing for end-of-year gift basket sales:

“Holiday orders are secured in the summer.”

I don’t want you to overlook having fun during the summer season. That’s not the point here.

There’s plenty of time to enjoy the warm weather wherever you decide to travel for a week or a few days. The rest of the time is spent:

  • Staying in touch with clients who order frequently
  • Reconnecting with last year’s customers
  • Contacting referrals with strong potential to order

This is what your strongest and smartest competitors are doing right now. They’re planning designs, calculating profits, and creating marketing plans that make their holiday sales dreams come true.

If that’s what you’re also doing throughout the summer season, great. If not, and you want to double last year’s sales, it’s time to pick a quiet time and perfect space to map out your plan.

Here’s what to do now for holiday sales

It’s okay if you’ve never done this before. Lots of us start by clearing everything from the computer screen (except a new Word document) or picking up pen and paper (my favorite) to start outlining financial goals and objectives to achieve it all.

Sales don’t just materialize. Fairy godmothers will not contact clients for you while you sleep and deliver the results when you wake. If you expect big sales and profits, you must be a non-stop marketer to get what you want.

Marketing is a popular topic in the Start Your Own Gift Basket Business online course. Have you signed up? Learn more about the course content here.

I’m in the midst of creating my next year’s plan. Why? Because early planning is one trait I learned long ago while working at a corporate job, and it’s the one trait that I took from corporate that actually works.

Pain delivers pleasure

Let me share something with you that I rarely share with anyone.

Taking action is bothersome. I want everything to automatically come my way without effort. However, I know what automatic looks like. It produces no sales, period.

That’s not the result I want, so I turn taking action into a game. I challenge myself to topple old sales figures. When I achieve that, I win a huge reward chosen according to something I really, truly want.

How about you? Are you going to prepare for holiday orders now or place your hopes on possibilities that will never come true?