Ways to Increase Sales in 4th Quarter

It’s crunch time. A lot of small handmade businesses make most of their sales during 4th quarter. I’ve put together ways to help you increase your 4th quarter sales below.

1. Sell on Etsy – Etsy is a marketplace meaning they do all the work to drive the traffic to Etsy for you. All you need to do is show up consistently with great photos, use keywords your buyers would use, price accordingly and have quantity.
2. Craft Shows – Craft shows are a great way to get sales and develop brand awareness in your area. I’ve spoken with makers who’ve made 5 figures in 2 days by attending craft shows. I have an article here in the portal on how to find craft shows in your area. To be successful at craft shows, you must have a variety of items in quantity and find the right craft fair geared for handmade items.  However, with the pandemic, craft shows may be nonexistent in your town. Instead of a physical craft show, you can run an online craft show on your business page as we discussed last month in the group. You can choose to use a 3rd party app such as Comment Sold (watch the video here), or develop your own system. However, with an online craft show, you don’t want to have as many products as you would an in person craft show as you’ll want to keep your show to under an hour in length. Make sure to do online craft shows frequently but on a schedule so your buyers can remember to tune in. Always make sure to gather emails no matter if you’re holding an in person craft show or an online craft show.
3. Holiday in Home Show – If you’re willing and able, hosting an in-home craft show is small and intimate and a great way to display your handmade items as they are intended to be uses. Make sure to switch up your or around your products throughout the day or as items sell out. You’ll want to have a few helpers to make sure your show is successful. One helper to great guest as they arrive and give direction, one to help with beverages and one to help with checking out. This way you can be available for questions, selling and taking orders for custom orders. Try partnering with another seller to combine contact list to get more shoppers in and have a shopping window as time frame. Example drop in times are between 1-5 PM, this way you only need to feed snacks and not a meal.
4. Get the word out – Let everyone in the community know you’re selling handmade items this year and if they are interested in supporting a small local business to remember you. Make sure to notify, friends, family, church friends, your physicians, etc. Don’t discount neighborhood Facebook groups, neighbors are typically very eager to help you out by spreading the word even if they don’t purchase from you.
5. Use your product – If you sell wreaths, decorate your home! Nothing stands out and gets people asking questions than an over the top decorated home! The supplies you use are considered a business expense for advertising. If you sell t-shirts, wear them! If you sell signs, post pictures on social media using them in your home.
6. Refer a Friend Campaign – When you sell an item, give a business card to your customer with their name handwritten on it. Encourage them to hand out this card when referring you to friends and family. When a referred customer turns in the card in to you and makes a purchase, offer the original customer a percentage off their next purchase.
7. Upsell & Downsell – This is done all over the place in major retails. When someone purchases, ask them if they would like to add on to their order, if they say no, offer another item for a smaller price than the previous offer.  Example, someone purchases a wreath from my Etsy shop. I contact them thanking them and confirm their shipping address. Then I ask if they would like a matching 9 foot garland to go with their wreath to complete the look on their door.  If they say yes, then I send them a link to purchase the garland. If they say no, ask if they would like a matching mailbox bow. It’s less price than the garland but still another offer for them to try to increase their overall purchase.
8. Offer Make & Take Classes – Now’s a great time to be teaching crafts! So many are interested in learning from your knowledge. This does take time to implement but if people are already asking you, why not take the plunge. You’ll want to charge not only retail prices for the supplies used but also, for your time and expertise.
9. Participate in Sales – There are more sales happening in 4th quarter than any other time of the year. Make sure to hold your own Black Friday Sale, Cyber Sale, After Christmas Sale, Small Business Saturday sale. I honestly feel the shorter the time period for the sale, the better. And promotion is key. Post about it daily on Facebook or Instagram. Do lives about it. Send out lots of emails. Make sure everyone knows the end of the sale date.  The sale should be a significant discount – not 10% off. Do 20-30% off. In fact, you could have a sale for 30% off for 48 hours and then make the sale 20% off after the sale ends so those last minute buyers, still have an incentive to buy because they see the sale. Download this Sales Calendar to know when you could potentially run a sale.
10. Reach Out to Local Celebrities – Think TV personalities in the news, any well known bloggers, etc.
11. Set Goals – You’ll want to set goals for the whole quarter but break the large goals into mini attainable and measurable goals with a deadline. I find that once I assign a number and date to what I’m trying to achieve, I’m more likely to achieve the quarterly goal. Use my Quarterly Strategic Priorities Worksheet to help set your priorities.
12. Say NO – This is the hardest time to focus on your business but you must give yourself permission to say NO. Say no to volunteering to organize class parties, to lunch out with the ladies, to baking every xmas cookie under the sun, to making every meal (leftovers and pick a can night work fine), to in person xmas shopping, to watching TV, whatever you can in order to focus on making, stocking, marketing and filling orders.