Every industry has its own busy season. Some of these rush periods are based on predictable, annual cycles while others occur at wholly unexpected times. For merchants of all types, these weeks and months of frenetic activity pose special challenges for managers, workers, and owners. Of course, the holiday season is perhaps the time of year when merchants in dozens of fields are forced to contend with massive numbers of customer orders. On one hand, that’s a sign that the company is hitting profit targets and moving products. On the other, it’s a signal to put all hands on deck in order to get goods out the door and deliverer on time to buyers. How do businesses deal with holiday rushes? The following approaches have worked well for many and could help you deal with the upcoming seasonal crunch.
Use Fleet Management Solutions
Fleet management software is a game-changer for managers who worry about meeting additional deadlines during the busiest buying season of the year, the holidays. If the details of how fleet management solutions work are new to you, get the key facts by reviewing an online guide that includes pertinent points, including how to choose the best dash cams for your entire fleet. Excellent cameras are a core component of fleet systems, especially when owners are looking for better visibility of what their drivers are seeing in real-time.
High-resolution dash cams give you an unbiased look at road conditions, hazards, and a whole host of other situations. When your fleets operate efficiently, even rush days and weeks have less of a chance of leading to missed deliveries and unhappy customers. Plus, periods of high demand don’t always take place during the holidays, so it’s essential to have a solid fleet management system in place year-round.
Implement Planned Overtime
One of the time-tested techniques for dealing with high volume order periods is planned or scheduled overtime. This strategy works especially well for organizations that have been around for a few years and know their business cycles quite well. One of the first steps is to gain employee acceptance of planned overtime, make it easy for workers throughout the company to sign up, and offer financial incentives for people to commit to particularly heavy ordering periods. It’s also wise to encourage everyone to take saved vacation days during slower seasons, which for many companies occur during the summer months.
Ramp Up Customer Care
During gift-giving season, consumers tend to be especially sensitive about on-time delivery, intact parcels, and getting the right paperwork with their shipments. Managers should take special care to do detailed follow-ups on all customer inquiries during rush months. Additionally, adding 24-hour chat and phone lines can prevent small customer service issues from becoming major problems. Consider offering rainchecks and discounts to buyers who encounter not-in-stock notices when they try to make online purchases. Customer care is necessary year-round, but during your peak periods of operations, when buyers have lots of questions and concerns about delivery, availability, and other issues, it’s vital to step up the effort to satisfy the needs of the people who keep your company profitable.