Leadpile’s Blog

The holidays are the busiest time of the year for stores to bring in revenue. They will pretty much do whatever they can to bring customers to the store and make them buy their merchandise. But what is the one area where their focus isn’t? Customer Service. According to Brandweek.com, customer service among retail stores only scored a 48.2 out of 100. It seems that many stores are not going out of their way to try and help people or when they are helping someone, more time than not, they do not have an answer/will no try to find the answer for the consumer.
Customer service can really make or break the decision of where a consumer buys their product from. Just the other weekend I was at The Home Depot in the gardening section looking for lawn care help and the sales associate was useless in helping me find what I needed (however, the people in the hardware department couldn’t have been more helpful!). I ended up leaving without what I was looking for. You may think that is just one sale lost, but think about the many consumers this may have happened to among all their stores. That could be a substantial unneeded profit loss.
Customer service should be a large focus not just around the holidays, but all year round. With marketing budgets being cut with many companies, sometimes a knowledgeable and friendly work force will keep the customers coming back. I know that there are some places that I will not go back to because of the service that I received.
At LeadPile we always provide top notch service to all of our customers. It not only keeps the customers coming back, but keeps them happy knowing that they are getting the service that they need and deserve. The question is……. What are YOU doing to better YOUR customer service?

There are many different versions as to how the candy cane was originated, but the general consensus seems to recognize that prior to the 1900’s candy canes were pure white, and not until the early 20th century that they began to appear with their holiday spirit filled red stripes. The pure white candy canes, straight sticks of sugar candy often used in Europe as decorations for Christmas trees were incorporated with many of the other decorations including cookies and candy. It is believed that the use of candy canes on Christmas trees began appearing in America by the 1800’s . The theory thought by some is that the candy cane known today got its shape to represent a shepherd’s cane. Any way shape or form about it, they are a delicious holiday treat!
The holidays would not be as yummy without Hanukkah gelt! “Gelt” a Yiddish term for money is a traditional treat of chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil. Hanukkah gelt coins are used to create the “winnings pot” for the game of dreidel where a spinning top with a different Hebrew letter on each side is used to play and win the game. Traditional chocolate Hanukkah gelt is a symbol of sharing your good fortune with others in need or for a good cause.
We are ALL excited for the Holiday season, and can’t wait to start enjoying all kinds of holiday treats!

The Thanksgiving rush is now over, and retailers seem to be pretty pleased with the Black Friday results. However, now Cyber Monday is here and the kickoff to online shopping has begun. Internetnews.com is reporting sites such as Amazon.com and Walmart.com to be the potential big winners. Time will tell who is going to be the big winner this holiday season. Web sales only represent a small portion of the holiday sales, however year after year more and more people are turning to the internet for their shopping.
Leadpile is hoping to capitalize on some of this increased web traffic with some additional lead generation. Payday loansare in high demand, and we are hoping some will see these short term loans as an additional way to potentially purchase their much needed Christmas gifts.

For many of you, it still might be a little early to do your holiday shopping. When you do start your shopping many people may ask which is better; to shop online or to go to stores? In several cases it can really depend on numerous factors. Many people think of Black Friday as a kick off to the holiday shopping season. Consumers will wake up at four in the morning (myself included) to go and get the incredible deals that are being offered. Many of them even have a certain route that they will go to hit up the stores in a certain order to make sure they can get the best deals before everyone else.
But what about everyone who wants to get the great deals, but can not justify getting up at four in the morning to save a few bucks – just hop out of bed and shop online. More times than not, a consumer will be able to get the same deals that they would online as they would when going to the store. According to adweek.com“…buying online saves on trips to the store and gas expenses (53 percent) and makes it easier to compare prices between retailers online than in the store (51 percent), the other top-cited reasons all came back to convenience. The No. 1 reason for shopping online (69 percent) was that “when I buy online I can shop whenever I’d like,” while 57 percent of respondents said it “allows me to avoid the holiday shopping crowds at stores.”
Even though the convenience factor of shopping online is huge, it can make it a little more difficult as well. Since most of the holiday season is spent shopping for other people, consumers want to make sure that the products they are buying are the right size, ensure quality, and ask questions about the product to a sales associate. At the end of the day it all comes down to the consumer and which method of shopping they like better. I know that I usually do a combo of the two. Hard to find items I will purchase online, but toys I will go to the store. Below are some useful tips for when you go shopping this season:
1. Do your research before buying – Compare prices online to make sure you are getting the best deal out there
2. Look for the holiday specials – everywhere is having discounts so paying for full price should not be an option
3. When ordering online, always check for free shipping
4. Use coupons/coupon codes – If you are going to be buying a certain item there is no reason not to get percentage off. A lot of product coupon code can be found online just by doing a simple search
5. Know the return policy of the store/items just in case your item is not a hit
6. Make a list and stick to it – this will help prevent going over budget and buying unnecessary items

I hope that you find these few tips helpful and save you some money. Have a wonderful shopping season!

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks and express gratitude. The LeadPile team would like to express our appreciation for your business! In combination of saying thank you, we thought we would share some helpful ideas on increasing your sales during this holiday season:

- Send Thanksgiving cards to your customers, everyone likes to hear thank you!
- Send out an email blast to your clients offering discounted services. This keeps your name in front of your customers and potentially brings them back for more services.
- Get involved with your community and do local sponsorships, to get your name in front of more people. Now is the time to share and people appreciate companies that help the community.
- Look at utilizing social networking as a source for advertising and building relationships, because families and friends stay well connected over the holidays.
- Emphasize family in your communications with your customers.

These are all ideas that might help you jump start your sales during this holiday season.

LeadPile wishes you a warm and happy holiday.