11 Ways a Service Business Can Take Advantage of the Holidays


service business


There is no reason that just because you don’t have a storefront or offer a tangible product you can’t get in on the holiday season offers. That’s why we asked entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

“What is the best way for a service business to take advantage of the coming holiday season?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Start Planning Now

“You need to have your holiday campaigns planned out early. Determine what special offers you are going to roll out, have the landing pages completed early, identify your marketing channels and begin to work on your ad copy and creatives. The sooner you have this ready, the more prepared you will be. Trying to throw something together at the last minute is a recipe for failure.” ~ Jonathan Long, Market Domination Media

2. Create Revenue-Generating Intellectual Property

“The holidays are the perfect time to create an intellectual property asset that can generate revenue for your business during your slow months. Use this time to create a group course or informative product so you can diversify your revenue. Or presell a productized service at a special price before the end of the year (that you don’t have to deliver until next year).” ~ Rachel Rodgers, Rachel Rodgers Law Office

3. Encourage Staff to Use Vacations

“We are an IT service company and have less work during the holiday season. I encourage all of my staff to take more days off and plan long vacations this time. This way it doesn’t hurt the business and staff also gets ready for the workload that begins after the second week of January. If they stay back, I organize a retreat. This increases bonding and passion for work.” ~ Piyush JainSIMpalm

4. Send Out (Secular) Holiday Cards

“It’s a great excuse to remind prospects that you exist. You can take a very neutral approach and send out a non-specific holiday card offering a holiday (or end-of-year) discount.” ~ Andrew NammingaAndesign

5. Send Creative Holiday Gifts

“Everyone sends generic holiday cards. Stand out by sending creative holiday-themed gifts. Hot cocoa, candy canes or even a bag of fake snow! Think creatively, your leads will appreciate it.” ~ Brian Curliss, MailLift

6. Turn Your Service Into the Perfect Gift

“People spend more during the holidays, so take advantage of that by productizing your service into the perfect gift. Let people buy a one-hour consultation, a 10-hour or three-day trial of your software, or any other small chunk of what you offer as a gift for others. B2B businesses can offer great corporate gifts. For B2C businesses, your potential market is even larger.” ~ Dave NevogtHubstaff.com

7. Become EMV-Compliant Before the Commercial Rush

“EMV chips offer a safer way to process card transactions and protect against fraud. If a business is not EMV-compliant, it becomes liable for fraud that results from their lack of compliance. Considering the commercial rush during the holiday season, servicebased businesses should be compliant in time. Some merchant service companies even offer free EMV-compliant card terminal upgrades.” ~ Jason Thanh La, Merchant Service Group, LLC & K5 Ventures

8. Do Small Acts of Unexpected Kindness

“The holidays are about showing people how much we appreciate them, so show your clients and potential clients all that you appreciate. Create content related to the holidays to gain your audience’s interest and provide your clients with care packages that contain gifts relevant to the service you provide. This small act of kindness will be unexpected and will show your client how much you care.” ~ David TomasCyberclick

9. Utilize Social Media

“Use your social media accounts to remind your previous clients or alert possible new ones of the services you provide, but not necessarily by asking for theirbusiness. Take a more informational approach. A retail business might send out a post or newsletter about Black Friday shopping tips, and a housecleaningservice might put together a list of strategies for effective dinner party hosting.” ~ Andrew SchrageMoney Crashers Personal Finance

10. Thank Your Clients

“Say thank you to your clients. Too many companies spend all of the fourth quarter worried about squeezing the last drop out of their customers. Don’t forget to embrace the holiday spirit, and express your gratitude for their support with no strings attached.” ~ Christopher KellyConvene

11. Create a Friendly Holiday Thank You Video

“Seize this opportunity to show off what you have to offer and roll out a special holiday deal that you can promote in this video. Better yet, don’t promote anything and simply wish your partners and clients a happy holiday from your team to theirs. This shows that you care about your business relationships and not just making money.” ~ Stanley MeytinTrue Film Production

Coffee photo via Shutterstock


More in: 5 Comments ▼

The Young Entrepreneur Council The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

5 Reactions
  1. There are ways for Service Providers to take advantage of those slow holi-days! – A

  2. I think that it is the perfect time to send out some Christmas cheers. It will make people happy. But it has to be personalized and somewhat exclusive for it to really mean anything.

  3. That a nice photo of an espresso with a snow flake pattern! I wonder if I can be able to create that in my matcha green tea latte? 😉

    I will send out a secular holiday greeting to my clients, fans, supporters, etc.! 🙂

  4. I love number 10: Thank your clients — they’ve helped to get you where you are! I would add that it’s a great time to also acknowledge and thank any vendors, contractors, or other partnerships with whom you’ve shared business. They too have contributed to your success.

  5. You could also send out a handwritten note, the personal touch definitely stands out.