Brace yourself, THE CUSTOMERS ARE COMING!

Is it really October already? Where has this year gone? The holiday season is sneaking up on us pretty quick. For some, this is the best time of the year for shopping adventures! We’ll start to see some very big, very awesome deals on a particular Friday. But there’s two other days who have been making a name for themselves over the past few years – Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday (if you’re a homebody like I am, Cyber Monday sounds particularly enticing.)

Regardless of your venue, it is important to make sure that your company is ready. There will be plethora of eager customers, new and old, willing to pay for your service or product. Being busy isn’t an excuse to ignore customer’s requests – a happy customer is a repeat customer! Here at Metaverse Mod Squad, we’ve made it a point to know the ropes, and we’re in full swing for the holiday ramp up. There are some general guidelines that can be followed to help things go smoothly.

Plan ahead – If you think that you may be planning to far in advance for the holiday season, you aren’t. If you think you’ll start planning on time, plan before. Have a system already in place or ready to implement as soon as it is feasible to do so. You don’t want to get find yourself behind, because at that point the proverbial snowball has already started rolling.

Set goals – Whether it be hiring goals, or a particular date that something needs to be available to the public, or a time where an internal process needs to be begin, list these things out. Follow them, or don’t. These generally shouldn’t be the rules that are meant to be broken, but if the snowball has started rolling, be flexible. Prioritize the most important things first, and get them done. Calendars and check lists can work wonders here.

Training – Chances are, you will have to bring in a few (or 50) new people to help with the influx on customers. Make sure that you have a solid training process in place. And be consistent with the training. If you find yourself answering the same question a bazillion times, it is probably time to put the answer where everyone can see it.

Usable resources – After your newbies are out of training, they will still have questions. So will your vets. Have something set in place that has all of this information. And keep it updated. A well-managed resource document can help your team run like a well-oiled machine.

Breathe, have fun – if you see any kind of spike during the holiday season, then there is a potential for it to get stressful for everyone. Try to alleviate some of that stress by finding work appropriate activities that won’t bog down the team’s productivity. A game of BINGO anyone? Or maybe a DJing session full of 90s boy bands and other troll-esque songs about never letting someone down and always believing?

However you choose to handle your holiday season, just remember to brace yourself, because the customers are coming.

Michelle Bacon
Project Manager