Holiday Preparations
Getting ready for the holiday season…
It happens earlier and earlier each year. I am making my phone calls to the database toward the middle of October, and I’ll hear it:
“Oh thank you for calling me, but I am just so busy this holiday season I couldn’t begin to think about this... give me a call after the new year?”
When is the earliest in the season that you have heard this on your phone outs? I think the earliest I heard it might have been at the end of September. I could just picture the nice lady on the other side of the phone busily carving her pumpkin while she was planning her Thanksgiving menu and thinking of all the Christmas presents she needed to wrap.
If we are busy during the holiday season preparing to see friends and family, we are blessed! It is easy to put off the housekeeping of taking care of ourselves while we run around taking care of all of our family and friends.
How do we get around this obstacle? Let’s first lean into reality… What are our customers really “busy” doing? Most adults of a certain age are no longer running around from Target to Walmart finding the perfect toy or blouse for family members.
Many are finding themselves alone during the holiday season because their children are visiting other relatives. Now is a great time to do some discovery on what is keeping your customer “busy” during this time of year.
Are they engaged in a local church or synagogue that they regularly attend?
Are they volunteering during this time?
What does travel look like? Has that changed over the years?
What kind of family meals were important to them growing up?
Another great idea is to celebrate the holidays in a small way with our prospects. This is an easy way to do home visits.
The week of Halloween, choose 20 local prospects in your database. Give them a call to let them know you’ll be in their neighborhood tomorrow, and you’ll be stopping by with a little treat. Stop at the local pumpkin patch and load up pumpkins in the trunk of your community car. Plug in their address into a Google Map tool to map out a route. Jot down a hand-written note for each pumpkin. “Happy Fall! I know we at XX Community are delighted to have some cooler temps, and we hope you are enjoying the season!” Put on your favorite fall scarf and go pumpkin delivering! Everyone loves a fresh pumpkin on their porch.
You can try this again for the holiday season as well. You’d be surprised how many people ask you in. When you visit someone at home, you are acknowledging how important this space is to them, furthering a trusting relationship.
Morgan and her family at a pumpkin patch!
