Black Friday is in 44 days. You need some sales tactics.

Linus was right all along: The Great Pumpkin really does exist. Turns out it’s a 2,554-pound gourd grown in upstate New York — the heaviest in U.S. history. 

Hot off the SMB press this week: 

• Winning sales tactics for your SMB’s Black Friday.
• Taking notes from a small business that’s radically changing the trajectory of women’s footwear.
• 3 digital tools your business absolutely needs before going remote (or hybrid).  

But first, here are some headlines that caught our attention this week.

TL; DR

This week's highlight reel

• It ain’t braggin’ if it’s true. Look at you. Just absolutely killin’ it at this entrepreneur thing. You really should apply for the U.S. Small Business Association’s National Small Business Week Awards. Nominations for 2023 are open now through December 8 — may the best in the (small) biz win. 
• Does anyone have a charger? We’re dyyying. We don’t know about you, but finding a charger at the last minute gives us flashbacks to The Great TP Hunt of 2020. The EU took steps to mitigate that panic by agreeing to a world-first — mandating a single charging port that works for all mobile phones, tablets, and cameras by 2024. Apple’s none too pleased, but now the U.S. knows what to ask Santa for this year.
• WFH, FTW. There are plenty of opinions on the work-from-home movement, but one thing’s undeniable — it’s been a game-changer for people with disabilities, mostly because it removes the obstacles around commuting. The group reached a 37.6% labor-force participation rate in August, approaching a record from 2008.
• <Winter hibernation has entered the chat> Fat Bear Week — an annual event that pits bears in Katmai National Park against each other in a bracket-style competition to create awareness for national parks — came to an end yesterday and serves as a reminder to us all: Eat the candy. Drink the cider. Winter is coming.

44 DAYS 

Sales tactics for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday

It’s not too early to start.

The numbers don’t lie — there are only 44 days until Black Friday. (And 43 until Small Business Saturday.) 

After all, they’re only two of the biggest shopping holidays of the year for SMBs. Last year, customers each spent an average of $430 on Black Friday, and U.S. consumers spent an estimated total of $23.3B on Small Business Saturday. Oh, and let’s not forget Cyber Monday — in 2021, online revenue came in at $10.7B. 

Talk about cash money.

These are prime opportunities for some serious sales. But when you’re a small business competing for customers against some of the biggest retail giants in the world, coming up with a holiday sales strategy can feel a bit daunting. That’s why we’ve compiled tips to help SMBs start off the holiday shopping season strong:

1. Start preparing now. Stock up on your bestsellers and leverage your email campaigns, social media, and local announcements now. Customers won’t buy if they don’t know you’re going ham on deals.
2. Find the balance between enticing and lucrative. Decide which discounts, sales, and deals will bring in customers while still being profitable. Limited-time offers, free gifts, coupon discounts — take your pick.

‍And for service businesses…

Black Friday isn’t just the domain of retailers and product businesses — these tactics will still work for service-oriented businesses, with some slight tweaking. Try value-add offers or special service packages to bring in those holiday shoppers.

👉 Find more tactics.

GOING FOR GOLD

How two track stars founded an SMB that changed women’s footwear forever

Allyson and Wes Felix are the co-founders of Saysh, a community-centered shoe and lifestyle brand. Older brother Wes, who serves as CEO, was an All-American track athlete before transitioning to sports management. And Allyson Felix is not only the president of Saysh, but an Olympic gold medalist and one of Time’s most influential people of 2021 — need we say more?

Running toward a different finish line.

This brother-sister duo originally started Saysh because Allyson needed shoes for the Tokyo Olympics. But while building their company, the siblings learned a bombshell fact: Shoes aren’t made for women. In fact, all shoes are designed based on men’s feet — even so-called “women’s” footwear. When Wes and Allyson discovered this, they knew they needed to do something about it. 

So the siblings founded Saysh, a footwear brand specializing in shoes made by women for women’s feet. And now, big brands like Lululemon are following in their footsteps — delivering the right products to the women they serve.

The goal now?

Change. They don’t want to be the runaway winners of the women’s footwear industry — they want to inspire growth amongst their competitors. “We also want to push the industry and [prove] this is the way we can show up,” Allyson said.

👉 Watch the full Playbook 2022-exclusive interview.

LET'S GET DIGITAL 

Building a remote workforce? These 3 things need to go digital.

Not-so-breaking news: 

The world is going virtual, and workplaces are starting to follow suit. In fact, it’s a benefit that would keep 82% of workers from quitting. Plus, three-quarters of workers largely base their decision to take a job on remote flexibility — and over a third have straight-up rejected job offers due to a lack of remote work options. Oof. 

Got it. So how do I make my team successful with WFH flexibility?

Here are the first three business operations you should bring online:

1. Your interviewing process. When you use a tool like Zoom for online interviewing, you get a larger pool of qualified, diverse, and passionate applicants you’d otherwise never get to meet. And (shameless plug ahead) when you use a digital documentation tool like Trainual, you can share your mission statement, vision, and core values with candidates so they can make sure their own beliefs and goals line up with yours.
2. Training with built-in e-signing. When your training and new hire forms live in the same place, you have digital confirmation your team understands and agrees to the important policies that keep them safe, accountable, and aligned — like safety guidelines, non-compete agreements, and non-disclosure agreements. Plus, you can automatically require existing employees to re-sign any policies you update.

👉 See the last digital must-have.

WE HAVE A PODCAST

What you might’ve missed on Organize Chaos 

When the grind takes more than 9 to 5, you need to take a couple of pauses throughout the day to stay sane. Grab a pumpkin spice latte and kick back because we’ve got the perfect break activity for you. Every weekday, founder and CEO of Trainual, Chris Ronzio, hosts the Organize Chaos podcast, offering up entrepreneurial and small business leadership advice that covers everything from people to processes to productivity — and how to organize your life around it all.

HubSpot executive Dan Tyre would sure make Drake proud. He started from the bottom (as the company’s only salesperson), and now he’s here — flexing their next-to-perfect sales team he built from scratch. Learn how Dan achieved inbound sales success with the right kind of team training and management. Not only is he the king of everything inbound, but his energy is absolutely infectious. This is one you don’t want to miss.

Only have 10 minutes to spare? Check out these mini pods:

• Prepare for the grand return of… boomerang employees. 
• Catch up on Playbook 2022 highlights with Seth Godin, Liquid Death, and more!