Shoppers Spent $17 Billion on Small Business Saturday Last Year. This Expert Says It's Not Too Late to Make It a Huge Day for You This Weekend.

November 30 marks the 14th Small Business Saturday, an yearly shopping vacation founded by American Express successful 2010 and officially cosponsored by the SBA since 2011. Approximately $17 billion was spent by consumers past twelvemonth and it's not excessively precocious for your mini business to do large things this weekend. We connected pinch Jennifer Van Buskirk, EVP & GM Mid-Markets astatine AT&T Business, to get her insights connected customer work strategies that will thief you make the astir of this monolithic opportunity. Here are her apical 5 tactics:

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1. People shop astatine mini businesses for the unsocial — springiness them specific, differentiated offerings.

It takes specified bravery to commencement a mini business, and there's a immense opportunity to clasp that bravery and return a unsocial attack to your offerings. It's a compelling worth proposition to beryllium capable to opportunity to a user that they can't find your merchandise aliases work anyplace other successful the area, and it's besides a measurement to find higher-margin opportunities. My family tries not to picnic successful the aforesaid spot doubly — there's thing very powerful astir knowing you're entering an wholly caller and different experience. Even if a customer hasn't group retired to look for it, characteristic is simply a powerful tie for consumers of each types.

2. Remember that the person-to-person relationship is your marketing!

Smart trade-offs are everything arsenic you grow. Whether it's talking connected the phone, face-to-face, aliases moreover connected integer chat (which is increasing successful take for moreover mini businesses), having a meaningful relationship pinch your customer that goes beyond the transaction grows information and retention. Dialogue improves the halfway economics of your business. When you are dealing pinch a customer, beryllium 100% coming and attraction connected fostering authentic, lasting relationships.

3. Learn from your customer's symptom points.

Establish a civilization that rewards uncovering customer symptom points — observe the messenger. Anytime you spot disorder aliases moments of hesitation, there's a maturation opportunity for your company. Leverage insights from sales, customer service, support teams and societal media managers who interact pinch customers daily. Ask them for patterns they notice. Ask customers if there's thing they wish you offered but don't aliases if there's immoderate measurement you tin make their life easier. Of course, way your societal media and integer footprint closely, but do the aforesaid for your competitors. This is simply a powerful measurement to place patterns that mightiness beryllium applicable for your business, now aliases down the road. Be joined to your imagination but not the way to get location — focusing connected your customer is the champion way to success.

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4. The cardinal to making maturation sustainable is focusing connected customer loyalty.

A cardinal instruction I've learned is that businesses thin to attraction connected caller customers, but the measurement to support your business typical is to make judge that nary 1 is treated amended than existing customers. The first measurement successful customer loyalty is ensuring a accordant customer experience. Think done each measurement of their journey. Every customer's acquisition shouldn't beryllium precisely the same, but each measurement should beryllium filtered done the aforesaid criteria. One point that some very mini and very scaled businesses are often the champion astatine is being highly elaborate astir who their customers are. Social impervious — customer testimonials and reviews — is remarkably important. Look for ways to astonishment and delight your astir loyal customers to build goodwill and promote loyalty. For the holidays, does this mean holding backmost a fewer units conscionable successful lawsuit a weighted customer comes successful astatine the past minute?

5. Stay focused connected what you do best.

You can't beryllium each things to each group and do it well. The way to sustainable maturation starts pinch knowing really you will differentiate your business successful the marketplace and enactment existent to that halfway mission. Complexity is inevitable and it's easy for businesses to get distracted by trying to meet each customer's needs and wants—often to the detriment of their halfway customer base. Simplicity takes difficult work, discipline, and the expertise to make smart trade-offs. But those trade-offs salary disconnected successful the extremity pinch a beardown marketplace position, engaged customer base, and increasing business.

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