Oct. 1-7
MARKETING If you normally wait until around Thanksgiving before holding holiday season events, try going a little earlier this year. You’ll get an early indicator of what items and brands will be popular for the holidays and still have a chance to place orders.
STORE DESIGN Commercial interior design can and does go out of style. While the time might not yet be right for a major renovation, explore a small refresh by painting an accent wall or creating a case filled with styles and trends popular on TikTok. Brainstorm with your staff to come up with creative seasonal window displays and update your lighting.
Oct. 8-14
WEBSITE Instagram monitors engagement rates and awards less traffic to low engagement accounts. If you have a ton of inactive followers you are being penalized. Start cleaning up your follower list to get rid of inactive accounts. Go to your profile, tap followers and manually remove them. Now go engage with the active ones.
INVENTORY “Schedule reps now to fill up your frame boards to have plenty of inventory for the busy end-of-year season,” reminds Carissa Dunphy, optician and Marketing Specialist at PECCA.
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Oct. 15-21
OPERATIONS Confirm work schedules for the next 12 weeks (including the first half of January). Check your staff’s obligations and work around any clashes.
MARKETING Finalize your holiday email blasts; it’s by far the lowest-cost and most effective way to reach clients. Offer helpful gift ideas and feature exclusive deals to make your clients feel special. Top five days and times to send emails: end of October, Thanksgiving evening, Black Friday mid-morning, Cyber Monday afternoon, one week before Christmas.
Oct. 22-28
SALES FLOOR Walk through your store as if it were the first time. What do you see? Are you being pulled in certain directions? How is the try-on experience in terms of lighting and mirrors? Fix anything that hurts the experience.
MARKETING How are you going to push flex and FSA spending this year? Angel Miller of Cynthiana Vision Center in Cynthiana, KY, says she likes “to remind people of two things: That some flexible spending may be expiring, and that prescription eyewear and contacts are covered.” It doesn’t hurt to mention slots fill up fast at this time of year too. For more ideas, check out Benchmarks on page 74.
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