Here are some sales and marketing tips small and independent retailers could consider in the lead up to the end of the financial year on June 30:

▪ End of Financial Year Sale. Nothing too special or complex in this idea. Get together items which are slow movers, bring them to the front of the shop on a table. Pitch them with a healthy discount.

▪ Grab a deduction Sale. Put together items for which a tax deduction could be claimed. These items should speak to the EOFY opportunity.

▪ Prepay and save. Invite your local business customers to prepay for newspaper pickup for months in advance or for photocopying in advance. These expenses can be claimed this year even though the services are rendered next year. There are tax Office rules around the value which can be prepaid.

▪ Tax Pack sale. If you give away Tax Packs for the Tax Office. Display these toward the front of the shop with a special stationery offer nearby.

▪ Tax Time Clinic. Invite a local accountant or tax agent in for a session of tax advice (with appropriate disclaimers around the advice). They could sit at a able in your business somewhere and take individual questions for, say, five minutes at a time.

▪ Tax free lottery. Build a promotion of lottery product around the tax theme – if you sell lottery products. Since prize money is tax free.

▪ New Year party. Dress up the shop around June 30 and have a big old celebration. With streamers, poppers and helium filled balloons it could bring some warmth to an otherwise cold winter.

▪ New Year resolutions. Setup a white board or some butchers paper and invite customers to write down their new financial year resolutions.

▪ New Year coupon. Make up a small business card size discount coupon – 25% off greeting cards, 10% of a magazine … any discount you think will speak to your customer. Call it your Happy New Financial Year Discount. While most customers will not care about the new financial year, enough are sure to engage with your efforts around this.

There are plenty more simple ideas like these. The idea is to seize the opportunity to bring some excitement to the business. Subtly, these promotions remind your customers of your connection with the New Year – diaries, new financial books and other items people are likely to buy around this time.