How To Follow Through On Your New Year's Resolutions In 2012

New Year's Eve has always been a time for evaluating the past and setting goals for the coming year. It's a time to reflect on changes we want and a time to resolve to do something about it. Since making a resolution without taking action is useless, this post outlines a simple “how to follow through” to achieve your 2012 goals. 

Creating a strategic action plan for each resolution will help you attain each of your goals. The following steps will guide you in building a focused plan, and empower you to make good on all of your New Year’s resolutions: 

1. Conduct a thorough evaluation of the past year and what you want to change – having a clear understanding of the current situation will help you in assessing what needs to be done.  And be brutally honest with yourself, what’s working, what’s not, and what should be done differently.
   
2. Write your goal down on paper – this solidifies it as a real goal and not just a fleeting thought. Also, be realistic and set goals that are actually achievable through your effort rather than a dream of chance like winning the lottery.
   
3. Clarify the purpose – be as specific as possible with your underlying reasons for wanting to accomplish this goal. Having a strong motivating reason will keep you focused and determined when things aren’t going as smoothly as anticipated.
   
4.  Breakdown larger goals into the smaller tasks that must be completed in order to succeed – a well-defined plan of action will help you stay on track with what you need to be doing.  It also serves as encouragement as you review all that you’ve accomplished so far.
   
5. Create a timeline for each task to be completed – this holds you accountable for your actions while keeping you on track towards accomplishing the final objective.

Whatever your goal is, it’s important to continually evaluate the current situation against your future goal and be flexible enough to change accordingly if challenges arise or an opportunity knocks.

Remember, you can either make excuses or you can make your dreams come true, but you can't make both so get moving and get a fresh start for 2012! 

Preparing for a Successful Holiday Season

For many merchants, the holiday season from Thanksgiving through New Year’s generates approximately 40% of their annual sales. As the holiday season is quickly approaching, make sure your business doesn't get caught off-guard by making preparations now. Black Friday is just around the corner so don't wait until it's too late. The following tips will help you plan for a productive and profitable season without the headaches.




1. Evaluate your previous year’s performance for any big picture needs: 

• Do you have enough areas to process all types of payments? Should you add another terminal or wireless processor in a new aisle or can you create a cash-only lane? Be creative to your specific situation.
• Make sure you have enough supplies in stock, such as terminal paper; this is not the time to run out. 
• Are you offering enough payment options? Should you expand the card types you accept? Or should you add another payment option such as EPS90 No Credit Check EZ Payment Plan to bring in more customers? Remember, the more payment options you have available, the more customers are able to buy.

2. Create compelling promotions, generate traffic and increase sales:

• Promoting $5 or $10 gift card giveaways to the first 20 or more customers is a small cost to bring shoppers in. Or tie the gift card giveaway to a purchase where they have to spend $50 to get a $10 gift card. You can also make it redeemable at later date like week after Christmas or the first week of January. This promotion doesn't cost anything until the gift card is actually redeemed, so it either brings customers back to shop again or doesn't cost anything. With either promotion, the cost is well worth it as the majority of shoppers end up spending more than the card value. Just make sure you have plenty gift cards preloaded ahead of time for efficiency. 
• Utilize social media to get the word out about your promotions. If you run any other advertisements, make sure to include it there as well.

3. Make sure your checkouts run smoothly:

• Hire and train new hires now - don't wait until the last minute. Stopping the line during rush time to teach your new employees how to run a gift card transaction or how to change the terminal paper is definitely not optimal.
• Make sure your employees are capable of processing every type of payment transaction you have available quickly and efficiently as shoppers tend to get frustrated in slow checkout lines. The check out experience can make a lifelong customer or lose one so use your less experienced, seasonal holiday employees to help customers in other areas, if possible.
• Institute refund policies ahead of time so employees know the process to follow. For instance, require manager approval for refunds. And training employees to always offer store credit or exchange items first rather than simply refunding money back is a good way to keep sales.

4. Prepare yourself for the upcoming costs associated with increased sales:

• Eliminate the after-holiday bill shock by planning ahead and expecting a higher than usual payment processing cost. Tripling business over the season is really great, especially since these months typically account for more than a third of yearly sales, but save yourself some aggravation afterwards by being prepared for the higher bill as well.  Keep in mind that as your sales increase, so do the cost associated with payment processing. 
• If you think your current processing rates are too high, shop around and switch now. Typically a new merchant account is set-up in 72 hours or less and lowering your rates can save you a lot of money as your processing hits its all time high. If you're not sure about your rates or are confused over what your true processing cost are, call EPS for a free statement analysis, there is no obligation and understanding your rates is extremely important for any business owner.

Being prepared ahead of time will not only make the busy season a lot less stressful for you but will also make your customers shopping experience much more enjoyable increasing their likelihood to spend more in their current visit while encouraging return visits.

Click to learn more about how EPS90 No Credit Check EZ Payment Plan can increase your businesses profits. Or call us for a FREE statement analysis at 800-863-5995 to see how much money you could be saving on your processing cost - we guarantee the lowest processing rates or will give  free processing for a year!