What are you doing over Christmas and New Year?
A few days ago over a dinner I attended, we were talking about Christmas and New Year and what we are all doing, when the conversation of an email someone had received came up and which we all thought was quite a good idea….
The email was a bit like a school timetable detailing the fortnight starting on Monday 23rd of December 2012 broken down into two-hour blocks from 8.00am until 6.00pm Monday to Saturday with half days until 2.00pm on Christmas and New Year’s Eve’s plus Christmas, Boxing and New Year’s Days’ off, oh and the Sunday’s off too. The rest of the blocks showed some blocks taken and the others available if located with 15 minutes drive of X postcode. All two-hour blocks where being offered at a 25% discount if booked before 20th December 2013 but a 25% surcharged if booked after this date.
After discussing this for a while, we all thought what a smart idea this person had come up – offering people the opportunity to get out of doing some jobs that they no doubt had promised to do over the Christmas and New Year break but didn’t really want too. By offering to make himself available at a certain time over the festive period, people can get things done they don’t want to do.
As some suggested, was the email the only thing he did? Well to get the email, he must have had their details, so the emails he didn’t have, did he put flyers through their doors? Another twist, what if he had no work on at all but filled in blocks on the emails or flyers based on certain areas, so people booked the empty slots based on the email/flyer they got, whilst the booked slots have been offered as available to people as free in other areas?
We then all agreed that we could be right or we could be wrong but either way, what a good example of outside of the box thinking for marketing your business and take advantage of the one time of the year this was, where people don’t want to do jobs that need doing. The idea of offering a fixed rate for two-hour slots over the Festive period for these jobs is a smart piece of marketing and one that could be replicated in so many ways….
So, think about your business, what can you do in an hour or two-hour slot that you could offer to existing clients over the Christmas period at a special rate? Can these offers be provided at a different price for new clients too? Sometimes just a simple idea can reap benefits by taking advantage of a situation where most people decide to close down and take a break.
Thus, have a quick think as to how you could do something to advantage of the festive period……and see how you can bring festive cheer to others by providing a service that can generate extra revenue for your business……
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