Are you an entrepreneur seeking to make your presence felt during the festive season? After months of selling the best products to your customers, the moment of truth for business is beckoning you to take advantage of the year end booms. As the year draws closer to an end, many businesses are focusing on maximizing the Christmas retail season and getting their ‘house in order’ before the New Year.
“Before you capitalise on the opportunity of the festive rush or follow the norm of doing what everyone else does during this time of the year, there are a few things you should consider first,” says Sanjeev Orie, FNB head of business acquisitions.
Using the year-end frenzy
“The first thing to note is that you are competing against other retailers who are also taking prime advantage of the year end frenzy. As an entrepreneur you then have to face the reality that you may not have all the facilities to draw people to your shop. At this stage, we have a few solutions to help entrepreneurs in this festive season to have a ‘better’ and ‘safer’ Christmas period,” says Orie.
These include:
- FNB ATM Advance machines assist customers to save time and money with free cheque deposits and cheaper cash deposits. These machines are a first in the market, with more than 500 machines at over 380 sites across the country.
- With an increase in cash deposits of more than 180% over the last year. The number of cheques being deposited at the machines has also increased substantially (83%), with entrepreneurs getting a printed image of the deposited cheque as proof of transaction.
- With the sms Help campaigns, FNB alerts clients who are making expensive cash and cheque deposits with branch tellers where there is an ATM Advance machine. Clients are informed that they not only have a cheaper alternative but a cheaper channel as well. Over the last year, clients who have deposited their cash at these machines have recorded huge savings.
- For safety and ease during this time, it is advised to utilize the range of electronic cash devices (secure automated cash acceptance terminals) that meet the needs of both smaller businesses as well as larger retailers. The devices count, validate, verify and store bank notes, while providing security and same day value for optimized interest and cashflow for our customers.
Know your business
At this point it is important that you know at all times what is happening within your business. Knowing what comes in and out of your business instantly is critical as this allows you to reduce the risk of theft in your business and allows you to capitalize on making important decisions during the festive season. Reducing your costs wherever possible is also imperative such as analyzing whether there are things that you are over or under spending on. This will then assist business owners to consider resources such as technology and time saving techniques which will empower owners to do business immediately and inevitably help expand the business’s growth potential.
“At FNB we pride ourselves in assisting entrepreneurs to make business in the most convenient of ways. As a company with entrepreneurial spirit at its heart, we are committed to supporting South African entrepreneurs to take advantage of the business opportunities present in our country by offering sound financial services and innovative banking solutions,” concludes Orie.