We made it! We made it through July 4th, our busy season! Not sure my people could’ve lasted one more day. I don’t think any of us realized how much adrenaline we were running on until it was over. If it were not for customers calling about lost shipments on Tuesday, July 3rd, you could have heard a pin drop in my sales office along with deep sighs of satisfaction and weariness from the staff.
I’m full of gratitude that our sales goals were met and our people worked with extraordinary team spirit. But I want more. Not from my people, but from me…because that’s what entrepreneurs do, keep striving.
This is the question I keep asking myself, “What’s next?” Sure, flags sell year-round but not to the degree they do in the second quarter of the year. I’ve polled friends and acquaintances for product suggestions that I could advertise and sell in the second half of the year.
Flagandbanner.com has the capability to sell just about anything. We have a competent staff, a centrally located warehouse, and the knowledge to market and ship just about anywhere. So, let’s use it! What can we add to our product line?
One of my friends suggested high end, individual hot tubs for aging baby boomer’s aches and pains. I like that creative and expensive suggestion over another idea for Christmas ornaments, which actually we already sell. It takes a lot of $3 patriotic Christmas ornaments to hit a sales goal.
I blogged a few months back about hiring a company to scrub my database. It has been a much slower process than expected. Slowly we’re getting little bits of information with which I have yet to do anything. Recently they told me my residential customers eat out, have a retirement plan and own their own home. And that my commercial buyers also buy cleaning and office supplies. This is really cool information. Why? Not sure yet, but I think it could lead me towards discovering that new product line I was just talking about.
For now, I’m gathering data.
