When it comes to Black Friday advice for retailers, many might say, “Hang on tight, cross your fingers and hope nothing goes wrong!”  But this week, I read an excellent blog post from Capterra marketing associate Cara Wood that actually presented some insightful tips I’d never heard before. Among them:

• Don’t make any discounts or special offers complex.  Keep it simple and easily understandable.
• Spread your deals throughout your store so that bargain hunters aren’t on top of each other. This also guarantees that people will see your non-sale merchandise.
• Make sure all special-deal merchandise is visible from the doorway.
• Have sales associates tell clients leading up to Friday things like, “Don’t tell anyone about it, but our special deal on Black Friday is X.”  This guarantees that they will tell their friends about it.
• Use a series of photos on social media leading up to Black Friday to hint at your sale plans.
• Make sure your best associates are working on Black Friday.
• Empower your employees to make decisions about selling items at a discount that aren’t necessarily on sale.  (You’ll want to read Cara’s story about a woman who wanted seven items at 60 percent off … it’s “Real Deal” worthy.)
• Check in with your software vendors to ensure that your POS can ring up sales even if the wi-fi goes out – or that you are capable of ringing an unlimited number of sales.
• Consider using a mobile POS to ring people up throughout the sales floor.
• Have a back-up plan in case things go wrong.  This could be an extra special discount or refreshments for people waiting in line.
• Treat your staff. This could be a buffet set up in the back office, or extra pay, or a staff contest.

Black Friday weekend will set the tone for the rest of your holiday selling season. Be sure you are ready!  Check out the full blog post here.