The holiday season is fast approaching and with it, the chance to grow your business. Due to the gift-giving nature of the season impulse spending increases dramatically and if you play your cards right, your business will experience a large boost to sales over the period.

Due to the potential for large sales growth over the period businesses often increase their marketing activities over this period. As a result your activities could be drowned out unless you have the biggest marketing budget. However, spending more time and money on marketing activities may not be the best way to increase your sales these holidays as increased costs cut into your profits.

This could be the time of year to switch to alternate strategies – why not offer your customers something new this Christmas? For instance, if you are a small business that still only accepts cash or cheques for payments, why not diversify your sales options this season? Many small businesses are stepping up their game in preparation for the holidays by using their smartphones or tablets paired with credit card readers. Platforms such as CyberCom Pay allow you to do this at a fraction of the cost of investing in a credit card machine – and what’s more it also allows you to go mobile.

This means that instead of trying to get the customers to come to you – now you can go to them and accept credit card payments on the spot! Imagine being able to offer this valuable convenience during the consumer’s busiest time of the year? When they cringe at the thought of having to go out amidst the chaos of the season, you are offering them the option of having their shopping come to them.

This doesn’t mean that you can stay away from marketing activities altogether – it just makes your conversation more focused. You are offering something unique in terms of convenience and service at the most competitive time of the year, improving your customer’s experience – make this your holiday message instead of trying to out-shout the competition on who has the biggest discount offer.