Black Friday Is a Whole Month Now: Plan Your Sale in October
- Michelle Rukny
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Table of Contents
A one-weekend sale puts your entire holiday income on a 72-hour clock.
If that weekend brings the flu, a rainy Saturday, or clients who do not get paid until the following Friday, the whole plan goes with it.
Your clients do not shop on a weekend clock either. In last year’s NRF holiday survey, 42% of shoppers planned to begin browsing and buying before November, and nearly two-thirds planned to wait until Thanksgiving weekend for most of their shopping. A Northwestern analysis of the same survey data found that consumers were starting earlier than ever while holding off on bigger purchases until promotions appeared. Your clients are already thinking about the holidays, and many are looking for a reason to book. A sale that runs across November meets them wherever they are on their list.
Why a month works
The top reason shoppers gave for starting early was spreading out their budget, and a longer window gives your clients room to do exactly that. It also spreads your bookings across several weeks, so your chair is not slammed on one weekend and empty the next. Clients with different paydays all get a fair shot, and you get time to rebook, follow up, and keep your schedule realistic. You can anchor the window around Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, and let the rest of the month build up to them.
Know your numbers first
Before you announce anything, work out what each service costs you to deliver. Count supplies, the time you spend on the consultation, setup, procedure, cleanup, and aftercare follow-up, plus overhead like rent or booth fees and payment processing. A lip blush appointment takes longer than the clock time in the chair, and your minimum acceptable revenue should reflect all of it. Once you know that number, you can build an offer that never dips below it.
Choose what goes on the table
A discount is one option, and there are plenty of others that add value while protecting your pricing:
- Touch-up or refresh bundles
- Add-on services
- Prepaid packages
- Gift certificates, if you offer them
- Early access or loyalty perks for existing clients
If you do decide to discount, settle on the amount before you post so you are not negotiating it in the DMs.
Set the guardrails now
Tell your people first
Your existing clients are your warmest audience, so let them in before the public. Tease the sale in late October, give it a name (everything sounds better with a name), and share early access with the people who already trust you. Track every booking that comes from the promotion so you can look back in December and see what it actually did for your business, including which sale clients came back.
The artists who look calm during Black Friday are the ones who did the boring work in October.
