Everyone gets frazzled around the holidays and it’s really easy for things to slip through the cracks. Instead of stressing over every last detail and running around unorganized, use these tips to get ahead and save yourself unnecessary stress.
Get Started Early
Spend the months ahead of the holidays doing what you can to be ready for them. Think about end of year reporting, plan your content and other assets for holiday marketing, coordinate client meetings… whatever you can get done ahead of time. Make a plan of action and stick to it. Give yourself and your staff ample time to work on each task a bit at a time, so there’s no risk of falling behind on the tasks that must be done over the course of the regular work day.
Rotate Everyone’s Schedules to Account for Time Off
Even though your office will more than likely be closed for the holidays, it’s likely that employees will also want to take time off before and after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s to spend time with their family and friends. Obviously, the entire company can’t take the same days off if everything is to run smoothly. Meet with the team in September or October and discuss policies about requesting time off. Make sure there’s a deadline for requests, so you can see who’s taking time off and when, to ensure their normal responsibilities are taken care of while they are away.
When an employee takes time off, ask that they use an autoresponder to alert any clients and provide contact information for someone else on the team who is aware of the account, so if there are any issues that cannot wait until the employee returns, customer service doesn’t suffer.
Prepare Your Customer Service Team Ahead of Time
This is especially important if you’re in the ecommerce business and you’re selling products that are given as gifts for the holidays. Sales will no doubt go up, and as they do, your customer service team may get overwhelmed with requests for assistance with ordering/purchasing, returns and exchanges, gift receipts, billing, and troubleshooting issues. Make sure they are up to date with everything they need to know to quickly and efficiently solve any problems customers may run into. If the customer service team doesn’t have the information they need, they cannot effectively assist customers, which negatively affects their experience. Considering 47% of customers would take their business to a competitor within a day after a bad experience, and customer retention is more cost effective than customer acquisition, a well-prepared support team is essential.
Relax with a Holiday Party
Everyone is subject to stress through the holidays, and work isn’t the only source. Before the office closes for the holidays, invite all the employees and their families to a relaxed, casual, holiday party event. It gives everyone a chance to unwind and bond on a personal level, without the stress of what’s going on in the office. Plus, you can celebrate a job well done in preparation for the time off.
Delegate, Delegate, Delegate
Managers often feel like they have to do everything – and with the amount of stuff that must get done early to keep stress level down, it’s going to take everyone. Delegate tasks to everyone accordingly, to ensure the job gets done, and no one has too much to do at once.
Most importantly, remember to breathe, take time to relax after work, and get enough sleep. It’s hectic for everyone, and it will be over much faster than it feels like in the heat of a stressful moment.
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