MBA2694 5 Ways To Use The Holidays To Make More Money

0:00So, the holidays are about to be upon us and it's one of the best times of the year to make more money in your business. but not because of the gimmicks or the giant discounts that people offer. This is when people are already in the buying mode, and you want to capitalize on that. People want to spend. People want to give, and they're looking for reasons to say yes. Today, I'm going to show you five smart holiday strategies that can boost your revenue, deepen loyalty with your customers, and even make your business look better in the process. It's going to improve your brand, improve how people perceive you.

0:33I'm going to show you step-by-step how to deploy each of these five.

0:43Welcome back to the$100 MBA show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to help you start, grow, and scale your business. Real quick, if these episodes help you in any way, hit the follow button on this podcast app. It helps us to keep bringing you practical business insights three times a week for free. Thanks. First, I want to address the fact that I'm talking about this right now so you can start working on this, start implementing the things I'm talking to you about today, because during November and December, statistically, purchase intent skyrockets.

1:19People expect to get offers from you. They want a deal. They want a reason to buy, really. And the goal isn't to slash prices until you bleed out all your margins. what you want to do is you want to create timely reasons to act now. And what I found in my experience is that the best offers that tie into the season, tie into them emotionally with generosity, with giving, with gratitude, or a fresh start for the new year. You want to tie into those emotions so that you give them a compelling reason to buy now. Let me start with strategy number one to increase your revenue this holiday season. And that's buy one, give one.

2:00Now, a lot of people know buy one, get one, where like you buy one item from a store and they give you one for free. So basically it's like a two for one special. But this is a feel good strategy. This kind of turns it on its head. A good example of this is Masterclass. They do this brilliantly with their buy a membership, get a second one for a friend. And they run this promotion during the holidays. Why? Because they are tapping into the holiday generosity. They know you need to get a gift for somebody in your family that maybe you're not sure what to get them. And Masterclass is probably perfect for most people that want to grow, that want to learn, because there's videos and courses on pretty much every topic.

2:39So what Masterclass is doing is allowing their customers to be the hero. They're buying for themselves, but they also get a membership for a friend that they can gift. So how can you use it? Well, you can sell your course or your membership the same exact way and offer a gift a friend code. So basically, you don't have to make this super complicated. You could just ask the customer to email you once they buy and you will give them a code, a coupon code for their friend. That code will give them 100 % off. Make sure that this coupon code is limited to one and is also unique. So that way you can give out unique codes to every purchase.

3:15Now, you also want to run it in a limited window. So like if you buy today, you'll also be able to get a gift code for your friend in the next seven days. You got to buy within seven days. But you can also run the limited window for the actual voucher itself so that your friend has to cash it in at some point. So you want to give a little bit of leeway here because you want them to be able to give it during the holidays. So maybe you can say they need to cash in within six months. So you want to make it easy for them to gift this code. So you can give them a template of messages they can send to their friend.

3:45Or you can just go above and beyond and say, hey, we will send it to your friend if you'd like with a special message. You can provide any kind of extra message you want to, similar to what Amazon does when you gift a item that you're buying. So you could just send the email directly to the person that's getting the gift and say, hey, your friend so-and-so bought you this gift for their holidays. Here you go. The key here is to make this gift feel valuable and not cheap. And this is what I love about it is that, yes, you are buying a membership for a year, but then you're getting a free year of membership for a friend.

4:13So it feels like two birds in one stone. You're buying something for yourself, but you're also buying something for somebody else with the same amount of money. It's kind of fun, buy one, get one free, but also in the context of learning and courses and programs and memberships, I think this is even more powerful because by getting a friend to do the courses with you, you kind of have a study buddy and you have an accountability buddy and you're more likely to do the work and do the courses and implement and get results. My second strategy for the holidays is a little bit of a different spin of the previous one.

4:47This is get one, get a$100 gift card. This is a perfect offer if your buyers are very practical. And the offer is basically buy today and I'm going to give you a$100 Amazon gift card for your holiday shopping. So your holiday shopping is sorted. So why does it work? Well, it reframes the purchase. Instead of discounting your product, you're allowing them to save time and you're basically giving them money so they can buy gifts on Amazon. Now, I like the Amazon example or any online store really, and that way you can ship the gifts to whoever you want with that gift certificate. It literally feels like you're giving them money.

5:25Now, this works for products that have a little bit of a higher price point, that have high margins, and you can afford to spend the$100 gift certificate on Amazon. A good example of this is like a SaaS company, a software that you buy an annual plan for and then you get the gift card. So higher price kind of deals, it makes sense. Another one could be a coaching program. Maybe you have a coaching program for$5 ,000 or$10 ,000. Your margins are pretty high. And you could say, hey, enroll in the course, enroll in the program, and you'll get a$100 gift card that you can use on books or gear that you need to implement some of the stuff that we're going to be talking about in the program.

6:02The only little stipulation I would give when it comes to this strategy is you want to have a grace period before you give them the gift card. And you want to allow some time for refunds or chargebacks. so maybe it's seven days maybe it's 14 days you make that judgment but the point here is is that you don't want to give everything at once and then they want a refund and then they already use the gift card it's a little bit messy and you're kind of out of pocket so usually in the strategy people wait seven or 14 days until the refund policy is over with maybe some leeway as well and you know there is no kind of buyer's remorse or chargeback strategy number three in in my opinion, is my favorite.

6:42It's brilliant. I've seen it implemented a few times with some of my friends, and it's just smart. Here it is. The price goes up next year. What is this? This is all about urgency, and it's all about transparency. You're going to announce to your customers that right now is the best time to buy. Why? Because prices increase on January 1st. This is your last chance to get lifetime access or my rates at this rate in 2025. So basically, if you want my product or service at the best price possible, now it's time to buy because the price will go up on January 1st. Like I mentioned, a friend of mine runs the same promo every year.

7:19His customers expect it and they buy before the price goes up. So they know for sure the price is going up because it happened last year and they capitalize on the opportunity. So this offer actually gets better over time. This plays to the fear of paying more later and not the fear of missing out on some Black Friday deal. It rewards people who take action early without devaluing your product and slashing prices. You're still making as much money as you would have made yesterday, but you're showing people that you are improving your product, you're improving your service, and therefore the prices are going up, and now is the time to buy.

7:55Here's a pro tip. Announce the price increase publicly. Okay, so say, for example, it's during the holidays, and you send the email out to your list, and you say, hey, my prices are going up January 1st, so now's the time to buy. January 1st rolls around. Email the same people who haven't bought, though, obviously, and say, hey, my price did go up. And say, here's the new price. Wish you guys all a great year ahead. Happy to serve you. That builds trust for the next year, saying that you kept your word. Just like if something sells out, you tell people it actually sells out and they can't buy.

8:27Strategy number four, buy today, pay most in 2026. This is a payment flexibility play. People are a lot of times strapped on cash, low on funds, especially towards the end of the year where they spent a lot of money on gifts already. You want to offer a generous payment plan. Maybe they can pay a small deposit now in 2025 and they can pay the bulk in 2026 over a course of a few months. So why does this work? Well, like I mentioned, December is a high expense month, gifts, travels, holidays, people just buying groceries to make Thanksgiving dinner and making Christmas dinner and all that kind of stuff.

9:08You also remove the financial friction so people can say yes now. So you say, hey, we know things are tight, so why don't you go ahead and buy it now by just having a small deposit or one payment and we'll break up the rest of the amount over the next four or five months in the new year. So for example, if you have a program that's$997, you can say, hey, pay$97 now and the rest over 12 months starting in February. So even you give them a whole month of grace period in January. We've done this a lot in my software company, Webinar Ninja. You sign up today, first payment in 30 days. But make sure you communicate.

9:46You lock in today's price even though payments start later. That's a win-win. So you get a good deal and you don't have to pay most of the money until later. Strategy number five, the anti-Black Friday. We've done this so many times at Webinar Ninja year after year. It's one that's close to my heart. And what it is all about is that instead of doing Black Friday, we do Green Friday. It's a campaign that we decided to do for new customers who want to buy our product, but need a compelling reason why to buy now. So what is Green Friday? Well, for every new customer during that period of time, we planted 10 trees on their behalf.

10:25We didn't discount the product. We gave back. We gave them something that maybe they would be interested in. So people that are really into goodwill, into the environment, love the idea of nature. This kind of stood out from the crowd of noise and, you know, Black Friday deals and slashing prices. People like, hey, I like your platform. I don't need a discount. Or maybe I rather have this instead. Listen, you may not be this way, but there's a lot of people out there that think differently. So you might want to do something similar, like donate a portion of the sales to charity or sponsor local families or schools, or a portion of the proceeds go to feeding families that don't have Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinners.

11:07You could do what we did, plant trees, fund clean water, or support entrepreneurship programs, all kinds of stuff. So once everyone else is screaming, you know, sale and buy now, you can stand up by just saying, hey, we're giving back. We're giving back this holiday season and you're helping us out. Customers remember that. And it goes a long way after the holidays. And it's a good boost for your brand and shows that, hey, you're not just trying to make money. You're also trying to make a difference. So I want to give you some advice when it comes to which strategy to use for which scenarios. So if you have a low-priced product, the buy one, gift one idea is a really good one because it really shows a lot of value.

11:45They're getting double the value basically every time they buy your product. So when they buy your product, they can gift that product to a friend as well. If you have a high-ticket offer, an expensive product, try payment plans or price increases next year. So they feel like, hey, this is the best offer possible. And if you're a mission-driven brand, go green on Friday, right? Go green on that. Black Friday or that Cyber Monday. Whichever you pick, make the deadline clear, keep your messaging simple, and you really want to just make sure you're delivering real value. If you're a customer of your own product, would you find this to be compelling?

12:20Would you find this to be a good deal? Ask yourself that question and it'll be pretty clear on what to do. So to recap real quick, here are five ways to use your holidays to make more money. The buy one, give one offer. The gift card bonus. Prices go up next year. buy now pay later and then finally number five green friday giving back whichever choice you choose whatever route you choose do it with intention make your customer feel good about buying from you opposed to your competitor they're going to come back year after year if they feel like they're getting value but also feel like you're doing this for the right reasons and what i like to do is in my emails in my marketing is just be transparent honest why we're doing this hey, we are giving away a free membership for every membership that is purchased so that you can gift it to a friend to make your holiday shopping easy.

13:10But also we want to spread the word about our program and we want to make sure that you can invite like-minded people to the program by gifting them this for the holiday. Just be honest and people will kind of resonate with that and be like, cool, I get that. That makes sense. Let me find out how I can buy this product. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. The holidays are a time for you to get creative and it doesn't have to be this mad rush it doesn't have to be crazy and maybe the holidays are not like a make or break thing for you you know i used to work at a toys r us corporate big toy store in the u.s and i used to do tech support when i was in university there and do a lot of like it work there and help with their security and their computers and all that kind of stuff and it was insane november december and even into january because some people celebrated the orthodox Christmas that's into January.

13:58And, you know, it's toys, obviously. So this is the season. And, you know, Toys R Us made, I believe, 25 to 30 % of all their annual revenue in the holiday season. So a crazy amount of revenue was made in that time. And it was kind of make or break for them. Your business may not be that way. You know, it may just be, you know, let's try to maintain the sales numbers we do every month. So don't feel like you have to have this huge boost of sales in the season just because it's the holiday season. Use some of the strategies I shared with you today, but understand you want to make sure that this is not just a time where you make all this money and you don't make money throughout the year.

14:40Know your business, know your market, know your product. And with Toys R Us, for example, they know that they're going to make the bulk of their money in the holiday season because that's when people buy toys and gifts for kids. If you found today's episode helpful and you want more practical business lessons to help you start grow and scale your business, the best thing you could do is subscribe to this podcast. Hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app, the one that you're using right now, whether it's Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. By hitting subscribe, you get our next episode automatically, and it's the best way to support the show.

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