The holiday season is an exciting and critical time for cannabis businesses, with two major sales events standing out in the calendar: Black Friday and Green Wednesday. As the cannabis market continues to grow, these shopping holidays present a massive opportunity for dispensaries and vendors to attract customers, boost sales, and strengthen their presence in the community. With a few strategic preparations, you can make the most of these high-traffic days and create a memorable experience for your customers.
To stand out from the crowd and maximize your business potential this holiday season, it’s essential to plan ahead and leverage every tool available. In this guide, we’ll cover how you can best prepare for Black Friday and Green Wednesday, with a focus on using employee rewards programs like SparkPlug to drive success.
1. Create a Buzz with Strategic Promotions
Black Friday and Green Wednesday are all about giving customers the deals they crave, sure, but consider doing the same with your budtenders as well! Alongside getting the team to promote discounts, deals, and bundles, try creating a buzz and generating excitement within the team by offering incentives for every sale they make. Reward them for their hard work by offering generous rewards such as commissions, or get creative by offering tickets to a nearby concert or game, or even a sponsored team lunch — use the motivation to earn these rewards to your advantage and watch it become a win-win situation for everyone. nt.
2. Educate and Empower Your Budtenders
Your budtenders are the front line of your business, and their product knowledge and enthusiasm can make a huge difference in how successful your sales events are. This is where employee incentives play a crucial role—empowering your team and ensuring they’re well-prepared to promote your offerings.
Using a platform like SparkPlug can significantly enhance the preparation process. SparkPlug allows you to set up "Sparks," which are incentive programs that reward budtenders for achieving specific sales goals, topping charts in leaderboards, or just by earning commissions per unit. Sparks can be tailored to the products that you want to push most during Black Friday and Green Wednesday, incentivizing budtenders to sell those items.
With the newest feature – SparkPlug Snaps, you can educate budtenders beforehand and get them hyped for upcoming sales events. These Snaps can be designed to share product knowledge, tips on how to upsell, and detailed explanations of current promotions—all while offering exciting rewards for increased engagement. SparkPlug Snaps not only provides educational value but also keeps your team motivated to reach new sales heights during the busiest time of the year.
3. Coordinate with Vendors and Retail Partners
If you’re a vendor, this is the perfect time to collaborate with your retail partners to create Sparks that align with both your goals and theirs. Coordinate with dispensaries to set up special promotions on your products and use SparkPlug to offer budtender incentives that encourage higher sales. Providing retail partners with rewards programs allows them to motivate their employees to focus on your products, creating a win-win situation for everyone involved.
For example, consider creating an exclusive Spark that rewards budtenders every time they sell a particular product in bulk or meet a target sales threshold. This type of collaboration ensures that both dispensaries and vendors are aligned to make the most of Black Friday and Green Wednesday.
4. Optimize Your Inventory and Staffing
The last thing you want is to run out of inventory on your most popular products during Black Friday or Green Wednesday. Analyze sales data from previous years to determine which items are likely to be in high demand and stock up accordingly. Make sure you also have plenty of supplies like bags, promotional materials, and any holiday freebies or gifts you might be giving out. SparkPlug’s new and improved Inventory Tracking might be just what you need to ensure you’re meeting the demand.
Staffing is equally important. Ensure you have enough team members on hand to manage the increased traffic, both on the sales floor and at the registers. Scheduling extra budtenders and using SparkPlug’s incentive programs to motivate them to go above and beyond during these busy days can help create a smooth, positive experience for your customers.
5. Create a Customer Experience to Remember
In addition to discounts and product bundles, try to create an experience that sets your dispensary apart from others. This could be through holiday decorations, giveaways, live entertainment, or even hosting vendor pop-ups to offer exclusive items. Engaging the senses and creating a festive atmosphere can go a long way in making customers feel special and more inclined to make a purchase.
SparkPlug can help make this experience even more exciting for your budtenders. With the promise of rewards for meeting sales goals, your team will be even more enthusiastic and motivated to make sure customers have an exceptional shopping experience. When your staff is excited, that energy is contagious—and it makes the entire experience more enjoyable for your customers.
Setting Your Cannabis Business Up for Success
The holiday season brings plenty of opportunities to boost your cannabis business, but it also brings challenges—such as increased competition and higher customer expectations. By planning ahead, optimizing your inventory and staffing, and utilizing employee rewards programs like SparkPlug, you can maximize sales on Black Friday and Green Wednesday while also creating a memorable experience for your customers.
Employee incentives are a key element in ensuring your success during these busy shopping days. With SparkPlug, you can easily implement Sparks to motivate budtenders, coordinate with retail partners, and educate your team with SparkPlug Snaps to keep them engaged. By leveraging these tools, you can turn Black Friday and Green Wednesday into true celebrations of cannabis culture and set your business up for success through the holiday season and beyond.
