Get your business ready for Christmas – your checklist
It’s nearly time to get your business ready for Christmas. From essential health and safety to sharing the festive spirit, there’s always a lot to do. So here’s a little pre-Christmas present from Get Ahead – our Christmas checklist for business owners.
Health and safety
If you have a business premises like a shop, factory or office, it’s important that it remains safe and secure when you’re closed. Christmas falls on a Monday in 2023, so you might be closed for four days or more.
Remember to turn off the regular lights and turn on the security lights. Set the heating so it kicks in if temperatures drop – you don’t want to come back to frozen or leaking pipes.
Depending on your business and what you offer, you or a team member might be “on call” over the Christmas break. Make sure the right people know who this is. If necessary, include the on-call person’s phone number on your emergency plan, answerphone message or email auto-reply.
Outsource your office cover
Get Ahead has a range of office services to keep your business ticking along when you’re closed. We provide inbox monitoring so the important messages don’t get lost in the sea of junk mail. And our phone answering service means there’s always a professional response to any inquiries that come in over Christmas.
Holiday and Christmas cover from Get Ahead can be set up in as little as one day – please get in touch if you’d benefit from our support!
Add a Christmas message to your website
If you’re closing over Christmas, it’s a good idea to let your community know via a message on your website. This should help you take the break you deserve over Christmas, as well as being good customer service.
Write a Christmas message to your clients and customers
Your business would be nothing without your customers and clients. Take some time this December to thank your business community for their support over the past year, and wish them a very merry Christmas!
Set your email auto-response
If you’re lucky enough to not have to check emails over the Christmas break, remember to set up an auto-reply to let your clients, customers and business family know. Get Ahead are great advocates of taking time off, so if you’re able to take a Christmas break, make it a complete switch-off.
Word your out-of-office carefully. Don’t promise to reply if you don’t intend to. We’ve noticed that the number of Get Ahead clients taking a complete break over Christmas has increased every year. So please don’t feel guilty for taking time off – lots of others are too!
If you do need to leave an emergency phone number (see above), be clear that it’s for emergencies only.
Check the fridge before you lock up the office.
If you’re closing for ten days over Christmas and New Year, please, please take the milk home when you lock up. Throw out anything that’s not going to survive the Christmas shut down and enjoy (literally) a fresh start to the New Year!
Get your business ready for Christmas with support from Get Ahead
If you have outstanding work you need to finish before Christmas, Get Ahead are here to help. We can cover your back-office responsibilities so you can get on with your core business, tying up loose ends before you take a complete break. Explore our site to find out more, or contact your local regional director today.
