ROAP Coaching is a little play on words. Made up of Robin O’Leary (RO), a trained lawyer–turned–professional climbing coach, and Alex Puccio (AP), an eleven-time American Bouldering National champion and longtime coach, ROAP offers an online coaching platform for climbers all over the world.
Every rock climber knows the value of precision and trust when tackling a challenging route. Similarly, at ROAP Coaching, we understand the significance of precision in operations and trust in our strategies, especially during the bustling holiday season. That’s why in this Ask The Expert Series, we’re addressing how to keep your business climbing during the holiday season.
Focus on the climb, not the summit
At ROAP, we focus on the climb, not the summit. Focusing on mini goals for our company, especially during the holidays, helps make tackling the big decisions before us much less daunting.
For ROAP Coaching, our wealth isn't only in financial growth but also in the richness of our offerings. We continuously aim to diversify and enhance our service range. Throughout the year, we focus on introducing new ways of offering coaching services, ensuring our clientele always has something fresh to look forward to. We do this by constantly setting mini goals and then, upon achieving them, setting the next step for growth. This is what allows us to stay relevant in our industry.
Managing a thriving online business, especially one with a varied product line like ours, requires meticulous financial planning. By leveraging QuickBooks, we've been able to efficiently manage and monitor the sales of our training plans. This precision is especially crucial during the peak seasons, when demand surges. While we love introducing new products, we also understand how important it is to ensure that our classics are well-prepared during the holidays. QuickBooks assists us in allocating our budgets effectively. With real-time insights, we can make informed decisions about every aspect of our business, whether it's about managing our time, introducing discounts, or investing in advertising.
Using Ecommerce to reach new heights during the holiday season
The holiday season poses unique challenges. There's the joy of increased sales—but that uptick is coupled with the pressures of facilitating timely deliveries and maintaining stock levels. Understanding what products we are selling in our market is crucial. We put our bestsellers front and center, and then we cross-sell other products on the same pages to ensure our customers are exposed to multiple products that may be attractive to them.
ROAP Coaching isn't just a business; it's a community hub. Every product we introduce and every training plan we craft is celebrated and promoted through our social channels. This sense of community, intertwined with our commitment to quality, has helped us foster trust among our robust client base. Our active presence on social channels helps us to promote new product launches, and to get real-time feedback from our customers. We are always asking our community one vital question: What would you like ROAP Coaching to produce? This engagement ensures we're in tune with our customers' needs and always delivering products we know we have an eager audience for.
And of course, just as a climber needs a contingency plan, we maintain a buffer in our inventory and finances for unexpected surges in demand or other unforeseen challenges.
At ROAP, we know that people often set New Year resolutions to “get in shape” and achieve new goals, so each year we develop new training programs to implement in the New Year. Small business owners should ask themselves how they, too, can capitalize on the New Year. What can they offer that could help their customers start off on the right foot?
The journey from a passionate climbing community to a flourishing online business has been exhilarating. Balancing the precision of tools like QuickBooks with the drive to introduce and promote new products, especially during demanding times like the holiday season, has been our key to scaling success. Whether on the rock face or in the digital marketplace, it's all about the right grip, strategy, and trust in the process. Thank you for tuning in; hopefully, with the help of our advice, your business will keep climbing this holiday season!
