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View Full Version : Question about Small Business Saturday



Melanie O
11-14-2018, 11:38 PM
Has anyone here actually experienced an uptick in sales from the annual Small Business Saturday holiday? I am also interested to know if any small business has actually built an advertising campaign around the holiday.

Share away :cool:

Harold Mansfield
11-15-2018, 11:17 AM
Nope. But then again I'm a technical services company and it seems to be made for retailers and Mom and Pops.

retailjack
11-16-2018, 01:00 PM
This will be our first one this year. If anyone has any tips to turn that day into more business, I'm all ears!!

Harold Mansfield
11-16-2018, 02:02 PM
This will be our first one this year. If anyone has any tips to turn that day into more business, I'm all ears!!
American Express has tips and marketing materials here https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/shop-small/promote

pearl granite countertops
11-18-2018, 09:41 PM
We do something for this day every year. We partner up with a local bakery and offer free cookies and baked goods that we know folks like. We tell them come on by, say hi, you don't have to buy anything, just grab a treat. Once they're there, that's our opportunity to introduce ourselves and sell what we do. Even if they're not in the market for a home improvement item right then, we try to make them remember their friendly chat with a staff member. If we can't turn a percentage of those into sales then or down the road, then we're not doing our jobs. No matter what you're in, you have to do sales. Sales don't make themselves.

We get an incredible discount on the baked goods because it's free advertising for the bakery. We make sure folks can see their name and know where they came from. At least one person from the bakery is always around all day. It helps that we did some of the interior work in the bakery too because they can recommend our work and folks feel good when they see that we're capable and part of the community.

You can't just tell someone to Shop Small, you have to make them emotionally want to. We never even mention that it's small business Saturday, we just invite the good folks down for free treats and good conversation. We make sure to have all sorts of flyers and catalogs to take home with them too. I can assure that there is no mention of American Express. Folks won't want to do business with you because you're a small business. They'll want to do business with you because they like you.

Melanie O
11-18-2018, 11:19 PM
This is just fantastic!! It reminds me of an episode of Million Dollar Listing on Bravo where real estate broker Ryan Serhant is trying to win the right to sell units in a building so he hosts a food fair in the building's courtyard with local food vendors and when people come, he offers to represent them as buyers. He ended up selling a few units in that actual building because of the fair. The building then hires him to sell the remaining units. Long story short, I love your approach.

Quick question though, since you don't mention Small Business Saturday in your campaign, why even have it on that day? Why not just do what you do any day of the year?

pearl granite countertops
11-18-2018, 11:50 PM
Quick question though, since you don't mention Small Business Saturday in your campaign, why even have it on that day? Why not just do what you do any day of the year?

Our approach works any day of the year but we choose to do it on Small Business Saturday because the seed to shop small has already been planted. It's a game of psychology. If we asked you to shop with us because we're small and need your support, the buyer will think that buying something from our store is an act of charity. That's the wrong power dynamic in a sale and not a recipe to create a long-term customer. If we wow you into loving us on a day that a customer is predisposed to thinking small, they'll convince themselves that it's okay to like doing business with you because you fit the profile of small.

Imagine going to a fundraiser where several vendors are selling clothing to raise money for a cause. You don't like any of the clothing but people are making you feel obligated to buy some of it for the "cause." Torn between the cause and what you actually like, you head over to the food station and eat the most delicious snacks you've ever had. It's so good and the staff are so nice that you buy a whole bunch of snacks to take back for your family and friends. As you're about to leave with your goodies, the staff thanks you and tells you that 15% of all the snack proceeds are going to the cause. You feel elated and no longer feel guilty if you end up not buying clothes you don't even want. You bought what you loved and what you loved contributed to the cause. None of it felt like charity. That's what Small Business Saturday is about.

American Express's job, in my humble opinion, is to get people to think small. Our job is to sell our products and services, not try to convince them we're small. Consumers will figure out we're small on their own and feel they did their part and more if they loved what they got in the first place.

retailjack
11-19-2018, 08:15 PM
Pearl Granite, I have saved this thread with your advice. We do our marketing on social media and we're more of a 1-time customer type deal because we're in the middle of a tourist destination but it opened up my eyes to ways to be even more creative.

Blue Hen
11-23-2018, 12:52 PM
Tomorrow's the day!

1025

retailjack
11-26-2018, 09:10 PM
Well we had our first one. We put up some of the standard small business saturday signage you can get online for free but nobody noticed or gave it any thought. We waited too long to do something really planned in advance. Lots of customers joked around about the weekend being one long Black Friday holiday and I almost think it makes more sense to try and capitalize on that in the future.

Pearl, how did you make out on yours?

pearl granite countertops
11-27-2018, 12:01 PM
Well we had our first one. We put up some of the standard small business saturday signage you can get online for free but nobody noticed or gave it any thought. We waited too long to do something really planned in advance. Lots of customers joked around about the weekend being one long Black Friday holiday and I almost think it makes more sense to try and capitalize on that in the future.

Pearl, how did you make out on yours?

We did great. Still catching up from it!