No doubt you’re super busy right now, ensuring that the last of your 2019 clients’ kitchens are ready to go for the onslaught that’ll take place during the festive period.
But, have you given a thought to what happens AFTER Christmas?
In my experience, the few weeks following Christmas and into January are some of the most vital in determining how busy you’ll be in the early part of the next year. So, if you’ve got nothing planned, keep reading.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll be looking forward to those golden days after the 25th. Every day feels like a Saturday, with time stretching out ahead of you and nothing pressing to fill it.
Many couples and families are together, not working, which means they’ve actually got some thinking and talking time.
And when you combine those two things, big decisions start to get made.
What are we going to do this year? Where are we going to go on holiday? What are we going to do the house?
Home improvement is often a big part of that conversation, and when you combine that with the, ‘I’m never cooking Christmas dinner in that kitchen again’ mindset, you end up with new potential buyers flooding into the market.
Which means that if you want to hit the ground running in the new year, you need to ensure that you shoehorn yourself into that conversation, especially if you’re in the budget to middle end of the market.
Of the people who do decide to commit to a new kitchen in 2020, many of them will be enthusiastic enough to start looking immediately and will be enticed to commit early on, to take advantage of the deals and offers available.
The big sheds like Wren and B&Q will typically be hammering promotions in January, which means that if you’re serious about ensuring you get your fair share of the pie, you need to be competing.
And honestly, the only way to do that is with some type of promotion.
It doesn’t have to be a Wren-esque discount (in fact, I’d recommend you don’t slash prices and add value instead). But it needs to be something that your target market will sit up and take notice of.
In conversations with several kitchen retailers earlier this year, what’s clear is that the companies that started the year off well, all did promotions. While those who didn’t, suffered and ended up being quiet until later in February.
So, if you operate in the area of the market in question, what are you doing to be in and amongst the heady mix of opportunity that January holds?