Build a Holiday Program Before They Ask

You don’t want to wait until the beginning of December for a client to call in a panic, looking for employee gifts.

Call them first. Don’t wait.

You don’t need a new client list either. Create a program for everyone.

Give Them Something Before They Know They Need It

Most clients aren’t planning their branded merchandise strategy months in advance. They’re busy running their business.

That’s when the scramble starts.

Instead of waiting for the request, show up with the answer already built. There’s no setup cost and no order minimum, so there’s no reason to hold back.

Create a holiday shop for the client. Add their logo. Curate a handful of products that make sense for their team, apparel, drinkware, bags, whatever fits. Then send them the link.

Now the conversation changes from:

“Do you need anything for the holidays?”

to:

“We put together a holiday shop for your team. Take a look.”

The important part is that you started the conversation.

Start With the Clients You Already Have

Your best holiday opportunities are probably already in your customer list.

Look at who ordered from you this year. The client who got polos for a conference. The company that ordered onboarding kits. The school that bought shirts in the spring. Even the customer who placed one small order six months ago.

Any of them could have a whole team to shop for in December.

You already have the relationship. The holiday program just gives you a reason to start another conversation.

One Client Can Have More Than One Holiday Program

Don’t limit the idea to a single employee store. The same client could have several opportunities:

• Employee holiday gifts
• Client appreciation
• Sales team gifts
• Remote employee merchandise
• Department or office shops
• Holiday event apparel
• Customer giveaways
• Year-end recognition
• New-hire gifts for January

Once you start talking about one program, you often uncover another. Instead of taking an order, you’re helping the client think through everything they may need.

Make Ordering Easier, Too

Holiday programs can get complicated fast. Different sizes, different products, individual shipping addresses, last-minute additions, someone who forgot to submit their size, someone else who wants to reorder three weeks later.

A shop gives everyone one place to order what they need.

Your client gets a branded experience. Their employees or customers choose their own products and sizes. Orders are produced on demand with a 1-2 day turnaround, so you don’t have to guess quantities or sit on leftover inventory.

And when another order comes in, you don’t have to rebuild the program. The shop is already there.

Their Shop Doesn’t Have to End With the Season

The shop you built for the holidays doesn’t have to close when the holidays are over.

Swap the seasonal designs for the client’s everyday branded essentials, and it becomes a standing shop their team can order from year-round. No new build. No new pitch.

Sharing it is easy too. A link in an email, a QR code on a flyer, a quick post in a team channel, or use one of our personal outreach tools to send it out for free; whatever gets it in front of people is already built into the tools you have.

The holiday push gives you a reason to build the shop. The shop itself is worth keeping.

Start Now

Holiday selling doesn’t begin when the first client emails you in December. It begins when you decide which clients you’re going to approach before they ask.

Open your client list.

Pick ten.

Build ten shops.

Send ten links.

Then do it again.

Some clients will be planning employee gifts, some will need customer appreciation, and some won’t know what they need until they see what you created.

That’s exactly the point.

Don’t wait for the holiday order. Build the holiday program that creates it.