Have no fear, 420 is here! Every dispensary owner looks forward to this hectic but advantageous day of the year because it brings in the most sales opportunities. In 2021, 420 week brought in over $175 million in the U.S. alone. But what many shop owners may not realize is that the holiday can also lead to boosted sales throughout the year.
420 is an opportunity to increase sales for the rest of the year!
As we start gearing up for the holiday, it’s time to learn a little more about its long-lasting benefits. Here is a brief overview of 5 ways 420 can help you increase dispensary sales year-round::
- You can get the attention of new clients.
- You can promote loyalty programs and email lists.
- You can use it to understand what people really like.
- You can use it as an opportunity to optimize your operations.
- You can use it as an opportunity to train your budtenders.
Keep reading to discover how you can take advantage of the long-lasting benefits of the 420 holiday season.
1 - You can get the attention of new clients.
As a dispensary owner, you should be running marketing campaigns to maximize your exposure throughout the year. Not surprisingly, a solid majority of your efforts should be focused on the 420 time of year in order to help get your brand in front of new people.
If you are a big enough dispensary, you could be lucky enough to have a marketing department to spearhead your 420 efforts. If not, you might be responsible for handling it yourself. Either way, here are a few ideas to help you get ahead of 420 and ultimately get the attention of new clients that will come back throughout the year.
Share promotions and special event times on social media during the weeks leading up to 420.
Living in the age of the internet, it’s no surprise that dispensaries are so dependent on social media platforms to help spread the word of their big 420 promotions. The good news is that you can utilize social media at no extra cost to your business.
Of course, you always have the option to run paid ads if that’s within your budget. Whichever you decide, know that your efforts during 420 will be felt long after the holiday has come and gone. The residual effects of brand exposure on this holiday are sure to benefit your dispensary long after the holiday has been and gone.
Consider hosting an event before 420.
Another great way to gain exposure for the holiday is to host an event before 420. Make up a holiday of your own — call it an early bird special, whatever you want! The world is your oyster.
The key is that you’ll get your name out there before the big day. Then, people will return to your space on the holiday because they’ve been following to see the big promotions you’ll be running.
Consider partnering with influencers in the space to promote 420.
You can also reach more potential clients by partnering with local influencers in the space to promote your 420 events. Never underestimate the power of social media influencers — they can truly help to make or break a dispensary.
Start reaching out early as they can be in high demand during the holiday. Get them on board with your company, your mission, and your values, and help them to see why promoting your dispensary can also be beneficial to them.
The primary focus of your efforts to bring in new customers for 420 is that if you get them into your store for the holiday, you can use the next steps to keep them returning.
2 - You can promote loyalty programs and email lists.
So, you’ve boosted your marketing efforts, and you have new people coming into the store for 420. Now, it’s time to make the most of it.
Have new customers join your loyalty program or email list.
Consider having a promotion where new customers can get a big deal if they sign up for a loyalty program. If you don’t have a loyalty program, don’t worry. You have other options. You could also consider giving them a deal when they join your mailing list.
Have a new customer gift now and later.
If you don’t have a loyalty program or email list, you can also encourage them to make a purchase in-store by telling them that if they buy something now they can receive a gift for free and also get something else for free later down the road. The now and later gift will help to bring them back into your store at a later date.
Have a gift card promotion.
Gift card deals are another great way to get customers into the store and potentially have them share it with their networks. An example of a gift card promotion would be to give them a $10 gift card to use for any purchase over $20 in 420 week.
3 - You can use it to understand what people really like.
During the week of 420, there will be a higher volume of people visiting your dispensary than normal. As a result, there could be more opportunities to share, try, and roll out new products.
A briefing at the end of every day during 420 week, or chats with customers beforehand, could be a great way to open the lines of communication to understand more about your target market and what their needs are.
4 - You can use it as an opportunity to optimize your operations.
In the days leading up to 420, it’s essential to consider how you can optimize your processes so things go smoothly on the day. Making things run smoothly on a special holiday will help ensure your business runs smoothly all the time and increase sales for the year to come.
Never underestimate the power of numbers.
It is incredibly powerful to gather data. Obviously, data tracking can help make sure your production numbers are where they need to be, but it can also help with much more.
Having the right data, like getting labor versus sales reports, can help you make smarter scheduling and buying decisions in the future. You can obtain these powerful numbers by simply integrating your POS with your workforce management.
You can also gather data on who is buying what, which can help you with ordering in the future.
Promote incentives for budtenders.
If you don’t already have regular incentives in place for your budtenders, 420 is the perfect time to start rolling out new programs. Even if 420 is the first time you try it, you can tweak it and continue using similar programs throughout the year to help drive more business.
Here are a few of the ways you can incentivize your budtenders this 420:
Show appreciation by giving budtenders sample products.
Distributors will often provide dispensaries with samples of their products. Use these as an opportunity to show your appreciation for budtenders. Some examples of times you could give out samples may be:
- High sales day or week
- Doing a couple of extra things outside of the typical day-to-day tasks
- Going above and beyond for a customer
Provide opportunities for budtenders to learn and grow.
Ensuring that your budtenders learn more about what they are selling to customers is crucial. One way to help promote this is by allowing them to sample products.
Ask your budtenders to provide you with a short paragraph or brief about their experience with the product when sampling. That way, you can make sure they know the product well and can therefore go on to sell it to someone else.
Not every budtender is driven and wants to learn more about products, but when you provide opportunities you can identify =those who are interested in learning more.
Create friendly competitions amongst high-selling budtenders.
Another great way to incentivize your budtenders is by promoting friendly competitions. These can take many forms, such as top sales for the day, week, or month. Or, if you're running promotional items, you can run a competition and have a prize for the budtender who sells the most of the promotional item.
When setting up friendly competitions it’s important that they don’t challenge the budtenders negatively — you don’t want them trying to destroy each other to get to the top! Instead, you’re just giving a little extra push to get your budtenders more involved because they have an incentive to earn more than their basic wages and tips.
5 - You can use it as an opportunity to train your budtenders.
You can use 420 as a time to invest in budtender training, knowledge learning, product learning, selling learning, and more. Ultimately, this can help increase your dispensary’s sales for the entire year.
Your budtenders and team play a massive role in the sales numbers on 420 and the weeks leading up to them. Thankfully, there are various ways you can help prepare your budtenders for the holiday.
Ensure budtenders and team members are up to date on how to use all systems.
Your budtenders may not be eager to tell you, but they might not necessarily know how to use all of the features on your current systems. Hold a training session and ensure everyone knows how to do everything they need to do. The smaller the training sessions, the more hands-on you can be with each team member.
Review the specials and features with budtenders.
Make sure everyone knows the 420 specials that will be happening. You can even run a contest to come up with the promotions themselves. The more involved you make your team, the more invested they will be in what’s going on.
Review all inventory to educate budtenders on products.
As a dispensary owner, you should always know what inventory you have on hand. Especially with the supply issues shops face today, know exactly what you’re going to have on your shelves for 420, so you can educate your budtenders accordingly. Don’t waste their time training them on products you won’t have available to sell.
Consider having budtenders take quizzes on Toptender for sales and product knowledge.
While PADs are always beneficial to help educate your team, scheduling them last minute in time for 420 can be challenging. Thankfully, there are online programs that can also be a helpful tool.
Toptender is one of the many learning and development platforms available online and accessible through mobile apps. It makes budtender education simple and easy since your budtenders can access it from the comfort of their phones whenever they want to.
Best of all, brands can reward your budtender for completing their informational sessions and quizzes all through the app program.
Do daily huddles at the end of each working day to chat about what worked and who bought what.
In the weeks and days leading up to 420, do daily huddles with your budtenders. Have a chat with everyone to learn about which products are being purchased and by whom.
Keeping close tabs on your inventory in the weeks leading up to the holiday will help you to narrow down your target market and what they’re after. In the end, this will result in more accurate ordering, less waste, and more successful sales.
Make your 420 sales last year round.
Now it should be easy enough to see the benefits of ramping up your marketing efforts for the 420 holiday. Understanding these 5 ways 420 can help you increase dispensary sales year-round will ultimately help you to seize this nearly limitless opportunity.
Get the attention of new clients, promote your loyalty programs, understand what your market likes, optimize your operations, and train your budtenders. Whatever you do, seize the day!
Oh yeah, and make sure you have yourself a happy 420 :)
Want more tips on how to increase your 420 dispensary sales? Check out our free checklist below!
