Is there anything we can learn about business from Santa? Absolutely. Here are 4 things you can learn from St. Nick about running a profitable business online.

1. Santa is the ultimate list building expert. List building for small business owners has been around for quite a while, actually since the 1800s. If a business had a database of prospects and customers, they could let them know when something was in stock or there were specials. Later, the rolodex became a great way to keep track of prospects, customers, vendors and potential partners. Recently, the value of list building has increased because of the power of the internet. Businesses can communicate with prospects and customers by the millions at the click of a “send” button. But there’s somebody who’s been doing list building in his business a lot longer and that’s list building mega-expert is Santa Claus.  Even Santa knows the importance of list building to keep a business sustainable and expanding.

 2. Santa Claus positions himself as the ultimate expert.  He’s pretty much cornered the market on Christmas. He doesn’t bring in anyone else as the expert in his particular area of expertise in the world.  He’s not shy about showing off his services. And, as all great experts, he’s built a team to support him that are second to none. That way, he can focus on what he does best and leave the rest to his team of elves and flying reindeer.

3. Even Santa has to fire customers from time to time. Santa makes his list community work for it.  Santa waits to see if his community has been naughty or nice and then determines if they get a gift. As all small business owners know, sometimes you have to fire a customer. In terms of a small business communicating with their prospects and customers via virtual communication, opening their e-mails and reading the content, and then actually using the content determines whether they’re a good list community member or not.  Commenting on blog posts or letting the list owner know what you need as a community are ways of being a good list community member.  Santa has his community write what they want and need, right? As a list community member, you can’t just sit there and do nothing.

4. Santa delivers on his promise.  He promises that he’s going to bring great joy around the Christmas season, and he does just that.  As a small business owner,  you want to make sure that you’re always delivering on your promise.  What do you promise people when they become a member of your list community?  Do you deliver that promise?  You want to make sure not to over-deliver so that your prospects and customers have no reason to buy, but you just want to make sure to deliver on what you promised.