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Corporate Cabin Fever
Even if you don’t live in the freezing temps common place
this time of year in my own state of Minnesota, you may
still be experiencing Cabin Fever – on a corporate level.
After the highs
(or last year’s slight rise) in excitement, optimism and
maybe sales, that surrounded the holiday season, the
stagnant daily grind of January, February and March, while
we wait to promote the excitement and optimism of Summer, is
downright unbearable!
So how can you
avoid this Corporate Cabin Fever? It’ll take more than an
aspirin and a few days in bed to brighten your outlook, but
these ideas may help you through.
BORED? TIME TO
LET LOOSE
You can bet if you’re bored, your customers are too. With
nothing much going on in the first few months of the year,
it’s the perfect time to create your own event. Have a
retail location? Turn it into a sale.
An Example: Book Store
Generate a laugh and some sales with a book recycling
event. Plan and promote it as a help w/ spring cleaning or
time off the couch so the cushions can bounce back. Have
customers bring in their old books and get $ certificates
for new books.
Here’s how I would do it:
Track down a BIG scale and get it in the store a week before
the event, have signage explaining the promotion on the
scale so customers know what is going on. Give it a catchy
name like “Biggest Bookhound” (like Biggest Loser) and some
snappy copy, like “Do the winter blues have you stacking up
the pounds? Lighten your load at the ABC bookstore. The
promotion would be a weekend event (two days for media
coverage) the store would shoot to collect a certain
poundage of books (goals make it interesting). Customers
bring in old books and toss them on the big scale. The store
pays $X per X pounds. (You can limit the $ amount incase
someone brings in the encyclopedia Britannica – but let them
bring as many pounds as they want – remember you have a goal
to meet!) Give the certificates a tight expiration so they
shop soon. Donate the “Load” of books to schools,
libraries, shelters or sell them as used and have fun!
This type of promotion can be adapted to any type of product
and you can use any measure (quantity, weight, length).
Adaptations: Make a spectacle out of it – depending
on your product or service – or demographic – you can go
crazy… just think of something that will keep people busy
and entertained in the cold winter months – make it great
and they will talk about it until the first day they can
wear sandals (sorry, but nothing can top that!).
-
Shoe Store:
Most Beat Up Boots Content – have local judges pick a
winner (gets a new pair of boots) have them judge
exterior, interior, odor, sole, any other goofy
features. Give all those that drop off their old boots
a coupon for their next pair of boots.
-
Liquor Store:
Best Beer Can Sculpture – while the wives may cringe at
this one, there’s not much else to do when you’re ice
fishing than drinking a few beers – so why not give them
an incentive… Have one of your vendors sponsor and
provide the prize.
-
Hardware
Store: “This Piece of Crap” Promotion. Let customers
throw broken tools through a sheetrock wall (build a
freestanding – supported, of course – wall for them to
aim at – would work best in a parking lot or warehouse
type space) – or let them smash the tool with the sledge
hammer. Again, give them an incentive for participating
– like $’s Off their next tool purchase.
KEEP THE
HOLIDAY HYPE
Focus on existing customers and get them back in for
additional products or services that compliment the “Big
Holiday Item”. It’s not as fun as a big promotion but it’s
less work too! Focus on your big Christmas seller and figure
out what other items you sell compliment it.
Can’t think of a single thing? Admit it and promote
something else (tongue-in-cheek) as a “necessary” must have
if you already own the Big Xmas Product! The key: People
like to hear about the things they like or already own –
confirming that they are “the (wo)man” for having this hot
product. Making this product the focus of your promotion
will catch those eyes and ears.
An Example:
Electronics Store
“Attention Hot Xmas MP3 Product Owners! We know you like
listening to music with your EARS – so we thought you would
love using your EYES to watch our new portable DVD player… “
Silly? Yes. But sometimes silly works. You’ll notice
in the example I used 2 portable media devices, to make this
work the products should similar in some way. You can
assume they aren’t listening to their MP3 players on the
couch next to their stereo – and if they like portable
music, they probably like other portable media too. An MP3
Player and a Big Screen TV wouldn’t be a good match in this
type of ad.
FOCUS ON YOUR
INNER BIZ
Just can’t make the other ideas happen? If you’ve resigned
yourself to a slow first quarter, that’s up to you. But you
can still break free of the Cabin Fever within your business
by inspiring and exciting your employees. Create contests
to keep them interested in work, products and services. Ask
for input on promotions, sales, product placement and
decoration. For most businesses the employees are an
untapped goldmine. They deal with your customers
face-to-face on a daily basis. They see how they shop, how
they pay, what grabs their attention and what they totally
miss.
Compile their knowledge when they’re sitting around waiting
for customers to help and put it to work when the Cabin
Fever subsides. Your employees will feel great about being
asked and even better when they see their input in use. And
your business will be better because your thinking about it
in a three-dimensional way.
The key: Don’t bombard the employees with a whole list of
questions at once. Pick one question a week to focus on.
Put a big tag board in an employee area (or a notebook in
the front desk, or a corkboard in the break room w/ paper
and pens) and let them go. No takers? Create an incentive.
Seeing everyone else’s responses will help them recall their
own opinions or observations. Don’t forget to thank them
for their input and even ask them to expand on observations,
so you can get a clear idea of what they are seeing/
experiencing.
You can keep this up all year long, but Cabin Fever is the
perfect starting time, then they will have the hang of it by
the time the customers are streaming in. They will know
what to notice and remember it.
BOTTOM
LINE
Corporate Cabin Fever doesn’t have to get you down, whether
you come up with a crazy, fun promotion or just focus on
making your business better from the inside – out, you’ll
give the first quarter some signs of life!
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