The hiring process can be very daunting, and as I mentioned before, we're in the process of filling two positions and it's time consuming. But make sure you make the time, because if you don't, you won't be sure to hire the right person.

Here are five of the most common mistakes I see retailers make during the hiring process:

Mistake #1: The average store owner spends far too little time during the actual interview process. I'd recommend spending between two-three hours interviewing, because you need to hire the best possible employees for your store. Hiring mediocre employees can cost you thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

Mistake #2: Asking potential candidates "leading" questions. There are many underlying reasons why employers ask leading questions ("We're looking for a great sales person. Do you think you excel in that area?"), but I suggest that retailers use behavioral interview questions. In this style of interviewing you're asking open-ended questions where job candidates give you specific examples of previous experience. This methodology is successful because past performance is usually the best indicator of future performance. When interviewees don't have previous experience in an area, or skills for a certain task, they are unable to give specific examples, signaling they may not be as strong as another candidate.

Mistake #3: Only using one source to find potential leads. I post our job openings in various newspapers (online and off), on Craigslist and on our website—then I conduct a paid search of resumes on Monster.com, ask our current employees for referrals of people they know who might be interested and sometimes even ask customers for suggestions. Through this multi-prong approach, I'm able to find a wide variety of candidates.

Mistake #4: Always check references and do a background check. When you're hiring for your store you should always run a background check and check references.

Mistake #5: Spending too much time talking and not enough enough time listening. As an enthusiastic store owner, it's easy to spend a lot of time talking about the position, why your store is unique and why you offer such a great work environment. While it "breaks the ice" for the employer to spend the first five to ten minutes giving a brief overview of the store, I'd suggest getting into the behavioral interviewing process very quickly. During that time, it's critical to really listen to what your candidates are saying and try to minimize "jumping in" while they are answering the question.

One last thing… I record most of the interviews we do on my iPhone (research has shown that interviewers only retain about 30% of what they hear)—it makes it helpful to go back and listen again, especially when you're trying to narrow the field of candidates.

I have two positions I'm trying to fill at our company and I've spent the last week sifting through online resumes and emails. For one spot, we're in the process of interviewing 10 candidates. You might wonder why we interview so many people for one job—I've found that interviewing a number of qualified applicants helps us determine who will be the best fit.

Once we narrow the search to two to three candidates we bring them back for a second interview. At that time, they meet with several of our key employees and vote on the candidate they thought was most qualified.

I've never forgotten the advice I received at a staffing seminar. In an intensive two-day training program, we were encouraged to spend three to five times the amount of time we used to spend interviewing to make sure we were hiring top performers. Prior to the seminar, I was only spending about an hour interviewing each new hire—now I spend several hours in the interview process.

As a store owner you may want to invite potential employees back for a second interview and set that up as a "working" interview, so you can see them in action. I always suggest that an employer bring every new hire on for a 90-day test period, so you can assess if your candidate is meeting the goals you established.

If you haven't already adopted the hiring-slowly strategy, I recommend you implement it next time.

This week I was interviewed by an editor from VOWS, a trade magazine for bridal store owners. She is doing an article on the challenges of managing part-time employees and she wanted to know why it's important for store owners to keep their part-time employees motivated and committed to doing a great job.

The bottom line is this: every employee is critical to your success. You can't settle for any mediocre employees on your team. That said, once you have star performers, you need to work hard to keep them and here are five tips to make sure you do:

Praise often
Recognition is the number one way that employers can reward their team. Studies have shown repeatedly that employees are motivated by recognition—even more than money.

Goals
I think it's critical that every sales associate have at least a monthly sales goal. That way they know what's expected of them, and strive to hit their goal.

Team meetings
I am a big believer in strong communication. Plus, when the team gets together everyone can thrive off that energy—I encourage you to hold a daily sales meeting.

Rewards
Think about offering team rewards for hitting a monthly or quarterly sales goal, such as a pizza party, store gift certificates or a small bonus. You can also individually recognize top performers.

Contests
Contests are a fun way for your team to get every excited about a particular product. When I used to work for the apparel chain store Casual Corner, they hosted two annual contests—a suit contest and a dress contest. Employees would receive a $5 bonus for every suit or dress sold during a specific two week period. You better believe everyone in the store was using suggestive selling to encourage customers to try on a suit or dress!

In GS's weekly email newsletter we covered a story about merchants who are still expanding despite the challenging economy.

Two store owners decided to expand their apparel business and opened a second store, a children's boutique. Owner Stacie Maier said in the article, "When the economy is hard, like it is now, I want people to understand that they can still survive and prosper. We have customers every day that come in, and it’s such a gift, but it’s something that we’ve earned, and anybody can do it if they really wanted to."

Have you been considering opening a second store location? Now might be an ideal time—especially since you have the unique opportunity of being able to negotiate a great deal on your store lease, which can make all the difference when it comes to profits.

Even if you're not ready for expansion right now, keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities down the road. Listen to the needs of your customers, clip articles about consumer spending and trends, etc. Opening a second store location is a great way to grow your business and your profitability.

P.S. If you haven't subscribed to our email newsletter yet, and you're looking for the latest information on new products, hot trends, inspirational stories, breaking news, etc., then click here to set-up your free subscription.

Let's face it, we're all busier than ever before. Sometimes I wonder at how an entire day has passed when it seems it's only been a few hours since I sat at my desk.

This morning I was thinking about a fantastic seminar I attended a few years ago. The speaker encouraged us (all business owners) to spend 80-90% of our time thinking strategically, and only 10-20% of our time on day-to-day operations. I know it can be challenging to prioritize and devote this amount of time away from selling (or unloading inventory, or managing your team), but it's necessary to the success of your business.

Take at least one afternoon a week to think about your store's (or business') "bigger picture." Plan marketing initiatives, new product directions, creative new visual merchandising displays or unique ways to deliver customer service, etc. You have to invest your time in order to reap the benefits.

I just returned home from the fabulous WholesaleCrafts.com-produced ACRE show in Las Vegas where I saw lots of well-made, unique products. One reason I love ACRE is the 500 exhibitors who are all producing gorgeous, handcrafted products, most of which are a perfect fit for any type of gift shop. Here are four fun companies and products from the show:

The 3 Sisters
An eco-friendly company using reclaimed products to create wearable art, their line includes handbags and accessories ranging in price from $9-$29 wholesale. They stand behind their line by offering a terrific wholesale trade-out program—if one product is not selling in your store, simply trade it for another one in their line that will sell better. A functional and fabulous line!

My Mothers Buttons
My Mothers Buttons offers one-of-kind jewelry made with authentic buttons from the 1800s. The artist also just launched a new line creating jewelry from antique horse bridle rosettes that also date back to the 1800s. These ornate bridles were used in the past to represent the family's status, personality or interests and the neck chains are remade true to the 1860s era. At the show, My Mothers Buttons showed the pieces using antiques as props, which was a very clever way to attract interest (plus show how to display the items in your store). The wholesale prices range from $14-125.

Amery Carriere
This wonderful line can best be described as romantic jewelry with an edge. The line is available in four different metals (sterling silver, 14K gold, rose gold and yellow and gold vermeil). I absolutely loved every piece in this line—in fact, I spent a while in the booth trying on pieces. The jewelry is definitely fantastic and will work in a variety of gift shops.

Bliss Boutique & Studio
A green company who makes their products from wine, soda bottles and sterling silver. Their designs are all interchangeable and work together and it's a very clean, attractive line.

Right now I'm at ACRE, but I'm not done with all the great products I found at the National Stationery Show, so here are five more that are really fun:

Carved Solutions
A fantastic line of engraved candles, soaps and towels. And they offer a blind drop ship program, so your customers will never see their information. They also sell the only round monogrammed candle in the market and their wholesale price points are very reasonable and the quality is terrific. The nice thing about the line is you only need to stock one sample of everything, thereby eliminating the need to have heavy quantities in order to fill your display.

Iota
Iota just released four patterned aprons and what I love about this line is twofold: the patterns are very unique and bold, and the packaging is wonderful. I think it will do very well for the holiday season. Plus I love the display she put together at the show—I hope you use it for inspiration in your store.

Journals Unlimited
They just launched two adorable new journals at the show, "Out of the Mouths of Babes" and "Kid Stuff—My First Journal." A great addition for the baby/kid department in your store, and a lovely holiday gift for moms. As a mother myself, I kept wanting to write down the funny stuff my daughter was saying but never did. Every mother should own an "Out of the Mouths of Babes" journal—I predict this product will be a very strong seller!

Wellspring
Wellspring just launched a new line at the show called "Wellspring of Colour," and it's a bit of a different direction for them. I think the line is very cute for home office and I love the coordinating notepads and magnets, and the price points are great. Again, another line that will display well.

CR Gibson
CR Gibson had quite a few new lines at the show and their adorable new gift holders were voted "Best New Product" at the show. I also fell in love with their travel journals—a great stocking stuffer, or the perfect item to stock if your store is in a tourist area.

Once again my camera is filled with images of great new products and some refreshing takes on existing products. If you weren't able to make it to the National Stationery Show, or you couldn't get to every booth, here are five fun products worth noting:

International Arrivals
This company displayed a new line of scented pens called "Sniffy Scented Pens" and I fell in love with them. The scents are very accurate, have a delightful fragrance and remind me of my old scratch-and-sniff stickers I used to love as a kid. There are currently four now available: strawberry, watermelon, bubblegum and vanilla cupcake, two more holiday scents will be available in October (peppermint and gingerbread) and two additional scents will be released in July (blueberry and soda pop). The pens are priced right at only $1 wholesale and are sold in an assorted pre-pack of 50 pens. International Arrivals also offers a great assortment of file folders (I love the wood grain inspired one). The folders are available in a pre-pack of 6 and wholesale for $3.50.

Lady Jayne, Inc.
Lady Jayne just launched their new line of lunch totes at the show. The totes are currently available with 16 initials, and eight assorted patterns and wholesale for $10. They have a food safe insulated lining, a convenient zipper on the top and an outside pocket for utensils or easy access to a cell phone. They also offer a stainless steel matching travel mug, and stainless steel water bottle with coordinating Koozzie available in 16 initials. They debuted a cute and affordable angel line at the show that includes a bookmark, notepad and angel keepsake ornament (the three pieces wholesale for less than $3.50).

Anna Griffin
Anna Griffin debuted a new print pattern at the show called "Alix," with bags available in nine styles. Plus they re-packaged their holiday card packs to include a sample card on the outside of the box—their holiday card collection is very high-quality and worth noting if you're looking for a new line.

Designing Ducks
Designing Ducks was a great new company debuting their line at the show—they specialize in wedding and shower favors. I fell in love with their monogrammed lip balms which are all natural, SPF 15 and that wholesale for $.83-$1.45. I think they're also great for an impulse item near the register, as it makes a very striking display and the price point is right.

Up with Paper
Up with Paper debuted a new line of adorable pop-up greeting cards at the show (ones with very sophiticated engineering mechanisms behind them) with a great price point. The new cards are available in 12 designs, and for a limited time, they are offering a free display with the purchase of nine designs.

Stay tuned for more products from the show. Did you go to the show? If so, what was your favorite new product?

I just returned home from the National Stationery Show in New York where I hosted two retailer roundtable events to brainstorm low-cost and no cost marketing strategies to help retailers increase foot traffic and sales. It was a great group and collectively we came up with some fabulous ideas:

1. Work with local schools—One retailer shared that she prints 10,000 5×7 postcards at the beginning of the school year and hands them out at PTA meetings at 10 schools in her area. She is able to get school support by donating 5% of all the proceeds generated from sales directly attributable to the postcards back to the participating schools. This coupon works on two levels: the retailer offers a special discount on the coupon (i.e., 15% off store purchase) and she promotes that 5% of all proceeds generated from the postcard will be given back to the schools.

2. Partner with other retailers—At the weight loss center Jenny Craig, a local apparel retailer was offering a coupon saying, "Need new clothes that show off your new figure? Come and see us and save." At the apparel retailer, Jenny Craig had postcards that read, "Looking to shed some weight this summer? Come and see us." Another retailer in the room offered another great suggestion—she partners with her local dry cleaner. The dry cleaners staple her store postcard to every dry cleaning bag and in exchange, she drops a dry cleaning coupon in each customer's bag.

3. Word of mouth promotion—There are a lot of local group meetings and online town forums where you can promote your store, and I highly recommend that you get active with your Chamber of Commerce. As you build relationships at the meeting, your colleagues will certainly go and check out your store. The more active you are in your community, the more people you get to know, the more people you'll drive to your store.

4. Market your store at a town event—There are lot of local events where you can inexpensively rent a table (i.e., church or synagogue fair, town fair or farmer's market, school bazaar, or downtown sports event). Take a sample of smaller items from your store to sell, and raffle off a gift basket in exchange for their email address. Make sure you tell them that in addition to the gift basket raffle, you'll also use their email to send a special gift they can redeem in the store.

Stay tuned to see some of the exciting new products I saw at the show.

Earlier today I was thinking back to an experiment we did in a business management course I took in college. First we were given a handout which described a hypothetical situation in which we were flying on plane that crashed in the middle of a desert. We had a limited amount of supplies and as an individual you had to decide which course of action to take—sit there and wait for help or leave the crash site and try to go get help. Then we were divided into groups and asked to discuss the dilemma again and come up with a group consensus for what we should do. We were able to collectively share survival information that we had all individually learned—and by working together we increased our chances for survival. Most groups came up with the right answer—the best decision was to stay at the crash site and wait for help.

To this day I value getting together with our staff to brainstorm an idea, or meeting with colleagues to share business plans. At the upcoming National Stationery Show, I'll be hosting two retailer roundtables (which are free to attend)—the first on May 17th at 4PM, and the second on May 18th at 4PM. We'll be brainstorming lots of topics (no-cost and low-cost marketing ideas, creative store promotions and unique visual merchandising displays) with one goal: how to increase foot traffic and sales in your store.

I hope you can join me, but if you can't make it to the session, please stop by GIFT SHOP