This Time of Year is Creepy, but Your Black Friday Strategy Doesn't Have to Be

In a hurry? Click here to Steal My Black Friday Sale Plan + Emails

(Yes, they’re pre-written and ready for you to drop in your deets, copy/paste and hit send.)

This time of year is so creepy. I find myself constantly averting my eyes from commercials lest I peek and see some kind of gross body part and screaming hollywood hottie.

Halloween is alllllll about being scary… scary movies, scary costumes, scary decorations, and creeping up behind people to say BOO!!! (Okay, maybe that’s just me to everyone I know)

It’s all just fun and games when you’re only out to enjoy the season and have fun—but what if you’re a business owner? Do you know what’s really frightening?

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are only three weeks away. Eeeekkk!!!

As business owners, we all  know we should be taking advantage of this sales opportunity, but frankly, most of us would rather take our chances in the local haunted house instead.

I was in this boat just a couple of years ago. I hadn’t prepared at all for Black Friday weekend and scrambled to send out four last-minute emails to my list. I did okay (luckily!) but I vowed I’d never do that again!

If cry-scarfing your way through a bowl of candy sounds appealing than making a plan for Black Friday, I totally know where you’re coming from.

Getting through a four-day gauntlet of sales and promotions—especially the first time around—sounds about equal to any A-rated horror flick.

What do you DO? How many emails should you send? What should you say?!

Here are three quick tips to get your Black Friday strategy in place:

Decide now what your special offer(s) will be, and stick to it:

Don’t be the person sitting up late on Thanksgiving night, staring blearily at your products and dashing off a last minute sales email. Decide ahead of time (like, right now!) what product or service you plan to offer. And don’t second guess yourself once the Black Friday advertising blitz starts, either! I know it will be tempting to change up your offer once you see what other people are doing, but you can mix it up next year, once you’ve evaluated how your sales went and what you want to change.

Promote your offer early and often:

One thing I learned after my first Black Friday is that there’s no such thing as too much information! Give your followers the who (you), what (your specific products), when (give ‘em the deets!), where (online? in person?), and why (cuz why not?!) frequently and often!!! If you want to supercharge your Black Friday plan,check out these pre-done email scripts that we’re offering over in The Contract Shop. All you have to do is drop in the information specific to your business and offer and then set them up to go out the given schedule. (Make your life easy and enjoy your second slice of pecan pie #guiltfree.)

Strengthen and streamline your business ahead of time:

Can your website stand up to high levels of traffic? Are you (and/or your team) physically capable of handling the work involved with your offer? (Think packaging and mailing products or responding to sales inquiries.) What can you do now to prepare in the event of overwhelming sales?

Happily, this year my business is inmuch better shape — my Ghostbusters TCS Team is prepped, and we have a game plan for now through the end of December, meaning we can all kick back and enjoy our pumpkin lattes and eggnog without guilt! (I ain’t afraid of no ghost!)

Already have your Black Friday weekend strategy mapped out and implemented? That’s awesome! Do you have Terms & Conditions to cover those pesky refund requests that are sure to come through? If not,click here to supercharge your Customer Service Proton Pack!