How to Prepare Your Business for the Peak Season
The peak season, or busy season, is the time of the year that every business can’t wait for. Peak season is when people have the time and money to spend. Business is sure to be great during this time of the year. The big question is whether or not your business is going to be ready for it. Properly preparing your business before the peak season will allow you to meet customer demands when there’s that high volume of orders that you’ve been waiting for.
How to Prepare Your Business for the Peak Season
If your business is unprepared for the upcoming peak season, you might be unable to keep up. This can spell disaster for your business and potentially give your competitors a significant advantage.
Ensure your business is fully prepared with these tips to prepare for peak season. No matter what kind of business you’re in
Peak Season Planning- Are You Unprepared?
Peak season is when consumers are more oriented towards buying goods and services than the rest of the year. The holiday season and special events are usually associated with this time of the year. But that’s not always the sole reason for a sales peak.
If you’re not prepared for the high demands of peak season, then you should know that it’s likely your competing business is.
What are you going to do then?
Prepare for weeks or days before this season hits; you will be fully ready. Take advantage of a rush that only comes once or twice a year and keep it running smoothly.
Ready Your Stock and Supply
One of the most common obstacles businesses face during peak season is that they can’t keep up with the sudden demand for their service or product. If this is your first or second peak season, remember to ready your stock and supply.
Business owners and team members should be prepared for increased orders that might come to your business. Don’t run out of stock during the rush season!
It’s a simple piece of advice, however most small businesses underestimate how busy the peak season could be.
Ensure that your business is overstocked when peak season arrives rather than have it be the opposite.
Prepare Your Supply Chain
If your business is going to be busy during the peak period, you can guess that everyone else’s business will be just as busy. This might include the courier company or supply chain carrier you usually use.
Prepare your supply chain ahead of time for the peak rush. Ensure you can complete the order fulfillment process and deliver orders to your customers during this busy time.
Ensure you have more than one company to rely on to deliver orders. If there’s an emergency (or your regular company can’t help with this batch of orders for some reason), a backup plan that saves the day. Make time to find your backup.
Stick to reliable companies, and don’t use this as the time to strike up new deals with companies you don’t have a prior relationship with. Unreliable companies can turn the business rush into nothing short of a nightmare.
Special Deals
Run special deals around peak season. This can give customers a little bit more than other companies do. Sometimes marketing campaigns highlighting promotions and special deals. This can swing customers to your business rather than a competitor.
Combined these deals with:
- An advertising campaign
- Social media platforms
- Excellent customer service
This marketing strategy can help ensure your business is ready to capture customers looking for your products.
If you want the peak business period to get even busier for your business, special deals are a great way to do it.
Get Your Mailers Ready
Mailing lists are a great way to engage with past customers as well as potential new customers. In preparation for the busy season, this reminds people of your business and brand name – rather than a competitor in their inbox during the most crucial time of the year!
When peak season hits, you want to make sure that customers and clients think of your business first.
Update your mailing list with everything you’d like your customers to know, and make sure that these mailing lists are sent out a few weeks to days before peak season.
MAI Fulfillment | 3PL Warehouse Chicago, Illinois
Warehouse | Cross Docking | Fulfillment | Kitting | Inbound/Outbound Voice | Freight Broker
Established in 1981, MAI is a privately-held 3PL company in Chicago specializing in warehousing, fulfillment, and omnichannel contact services. As an experienced outsourced provider, we provide value-added solutions designed to help companies build and maintain relationships with their customers.
The MAI business model offers clients the efficiency and convenience of dealing with a single accountable resource for a wide range of services. MAI areas of specialization include:
- Custom B2B and B2C warehouse/fulfillment solutions
- Omni-channel contact center services
- Technology support
A wide range of service offerings, strategic problem-solving skills, and experience make MAI a valued partner to a broad range of Fortune 500 companies. “Quality” is more than just a word here – it’s the foundation of how we conduct business and an integral part of the processes and metrics we use to deliver value to our clients every day.
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