If your store offers holiday gift wrapping, here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing while planning for this year’s holiday wrapping season.

• Recycled paper – Give new life to old paper by using non-traditional papers to wrap customers' purchases, such as vintage wallpaper.
• Bows – Consider keeping your paper choice simple and use lots of bows (or just fancy bows).
• Learn a new technique – On the Internet you can find photos and detailed instructions to learn various gift wrapping techniques, such as the Furoshiki Japanese Cloth Wrapping Technique.
• Use a new material – Consider choosing material that coincides with your primary product line. For example, if you are a linen retailer, use cloth. If you sell books, use foreign newspaper or old maps. And use different materials to tie up presents instead of ribbon, such as yarn or baker’s twine.
• Create your own wrapping paper – Be totally unique by decorating your own plain wrapping paper with stamps (be sure to include a stamp of your business logo).
• Pick a theme – Consider choosing a theme such as holiday candy and use bright colors and candy stripes for ribbon and paper; or a Christmas tree theme with wood grain paper and tree trimmings as decorations.

What are some fun ideas you’ve used or seen used?

Electric car manufacturer, Coda Automotive, is fighting an uphill battle (against other major competitors like Nissan and Mitsubishi) to become better known. So it’s come up with a new, hip sales strategy that may just give them a leg up on the big guys.

Perhaps what Coda’s doing may inspire you to freshen up your image and make some changes to increase your competitive edge.

Revolutionizing the car buying experience
Possibly inspired by Apple’s stores, Coda has opened sleek, stylish retail outlets in major malls, like the Westfield Century City Shopping Center in Los Angeles, that are named Coda Experience Centers where no pressure “gurus” answer questions.y
 
Unique location
Coda is going where few car dealerships have gone…the mall. Within the store they have created a hip Electric Vehicle Bar where shoppers can use interactive displays to learn more about electric vehicles. How and where can you sell your products that would be unexpected, revolutionary… and successful?
 
Changing the image of EV buyers
The vibe of the Coda stores attempts to draw a younger, hipper demographic than the older earthy-crunchy crowd that has originally been associated with electric cars. How can you tweak the environment of your store to attract a new generation of loyal shoppers?
 
Unexpectedly great service
Coda is also revolutionary on the service side. According to what I’ve read, when your car needs service they will come to you, pick up your vehicle, fix it and return it to you. What are some new ways you can provide unexpectedly great service?
 
Read more about Coda on CNET.

Recently I read an article about a study on customer trust commissioned by Pitney Bowes Business Insight. Not surprisingly, the study reported that fostering customer trust leads to greater loyalty, one of the hallmarks of a successful retail business.

So, how do we foster greater trust among our customers? Here are some examples cited in the study:

Front-line employees
The study found that front-line employees are the most-considered factor among customers in whether they can trust your business. Hiring great people is critical to your business success and training those great people is just as important. Teach your people how to give customers a memorable, trustworthy experience when they visit your store.

Transparency
Increasing transparency in your policies and procedures is another way the study found to increase customer trust. Make sure your return policies, price adjustment policies and procedures for how customer complaints are handled are clear, explicit and well-communicated. Also, teach your employees to be transparent and honest with customers. When they don’t know something, teach them to say “I don’t know, but I will find out for you.”

Effective communications
How you communicate with customers also affects whether they trust you or not. Examine all the ways your business communicates with the customers and prospective and make sure that each communication opportunity reflects clarity, competence, and honesty.

Past experiences
Customers’ past experience with your business is also one of the top factors in whether they trust you or not, says the study. Thus, it’s imperative that each time your customer interacts with your business – from something simple like calling and ask your hours of operation to a more sensitive situation like solving a customer complaint – if it’s done in a competent, transparent, respectful and honest manner you will earn not only the trust, but also the loyalty of your customers.

A colleague of mine told me about a great seasonal promotion event that I thought would be great to share with you as inspiration for one of your upcoming events. A small, locally owned garden center in Minturn, CO (Johnie’s Garden Center), celebrates its opening day for the growing season each year with a special Lady Bug Release Party. It's a family-friendly event with crafts for the kids, a free cookout lunch with hamburgers and hotdogs and plenty of free gardening advice. The highlight of the event is when each child in attendance is given a packet of over 300 lady bugs to release on the grounds of the garden center. The retailer promoted the event on its Facebook page with regular posts about the benefits of having lady bugs in your garden, as well as with commercials on radio and in print.

What I love about this event is that it has almost nothing to do with selling trees, plants and shrubs, but it attracts hundreds of customers to its location, many of whom had likely never been there before and likely did not plan to go the local garden center that day. The event also provided fodder for numerous social media posts, interaction and community building. And I imagine it attracted more sales that early-season day than at any of the other garden centers in the surrounding area.

What equally creative and effective seasonal events can you come up with for your store?

Employee motivation is a very popular topic on my blog. After all, a highly motivated team is one the key ingredients to phenomenal customer service and subsequently, increased sales. To complement an upcoming free HR webinar we are hosting next week (see speaker and participation details below), I thought I’d offer a few HR tips of my own: 

Try some one-on-one face time
Good employees will ideally possess a healthy amount of self-motivation, so if their excitement seems to be lacking take the time to speak with them to see if you can determine why. Perhaps it’s due to feeling that they lack proper training, valuable feedback or are losing their sense of purpose within your organization. Most people have the genuine desire to succeed so if you take an interest in learning why they seem less motivated and address the issue, your efforts alone are likely to go a long way in increasing their enthusiasm and effectiveness at work.

Offer to give your people a purpose
Do you know how your employees would finish the statement “I work here because…"? If not, perhaps now is the time to ask. Spend time getting to the root of the purpose your organization plays in the lives of your employees. Then you will know how to motivate them. For example, if an employee glibly replies, “I work here because I need the paycheck,” then you’ll know that he or she is motivated by financial rewards. If another replies “I work here because I want to learn more about retailing” you can reward and motivate that person with further education to support them in learning and furthering their career. Remember that at the end of the day we all want to feel that what we’re doing with our days has some meaning, so help your employees achieve meaning with their job and you will have succeeded in motivating them.

Recognition goes a long way
Employees love to know that you, as their manager, see and appreciate their accomplishments. Recognition of their accomplishments doesn’t necessarily mean passing out expensive bonuses all the time, perhaps just a simple gift, as well as recognizing them among their peers by posting their name and photo in the break room or in your company e-newsletter.

Remember that the best managers avoid micro-management and focus on clearly defined outcomes rather than nit-picking and second-guessing employees. Also, do what you can to build relationships with your employees and keep fun in the workplace, all which costs little-to-nothing, but goes far in keeping great people motivated.

Next week we are offering a free webinar on Essential Human Resources Management Tips. This important webinar is being taught by the VP of Human Resources for American Kiosk Management, a giant in our industry. As HR Director for AKM, she oversees more than 1600 employees. We’d love to have you join us for this important seminar so you can avoid some of the most common mistakes in managing your team. Register today… it's free!

Last week we wrapped up the largest, most successful SPREE to date. I met, spoke to, shook hands, and shared ideas with more inspiring, intelligent specialty retail entrepreneurs than ever before. This week is back to work at the office and I now find myself at my desk with pockets full of business cards and notes… which got me thinking about the importance of follow through in business.

It seems to me that we're more closely connected in business than ever, which makes staying in touch and following through on promises more important to our businesses. Here are some tips on improving follow through and customer service to build and nurture all the business relationships that are so important.

Keep up with contacts as you go
I used to think that saving important emails and follow up calls for a quieter point in my day was the best way to handle them. However, that catch up time never seemed to materialize and I would get more and more backlogged. Since then I’ve found that it’s easier to keep up with people and handle issues as I go along—although it doesn’t always happen this way. Life and schedules move quickly, so enter new contacts in your database and/or social media right away. This is also a great policy with customer and client service issues—handling them right away will let others know that they're important to you.

Never let anyone fall through the cracks
Create a well-planned system that works for you and your business to take in new contacts and follow up on customer/client inquiries. A recent study by Forbes showed that 69 percent of businesses have customer retention/service as a top priority, but only 18 percent have a company-wide strategy. That’s a recipe for customers and issues to fall through the cracks. If customer service is a priority, you must have a system in place to provide superior service.

Use social networks
Communications are increasingly happening online and using social media. People appreciate knowing they are being thought of. Use these networks to help you save time and keep in contact with your customers and business contacts. It’s a great way to keep your business front-of-mind for your customers and send quick notes to contacts that you want to keep up with.

Becoming a good communicator with great follow through will always work in your favor, and is critical to building a lasting business.

We heard in the news a few days back that Harry & David filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the company believes it will survive, once given some breathing room, and continue shipping its famous pears and other assorted treats. For us in “the business” one lesson to learn from Harry & David is that having a great brand is not the end all, be all. Although there are probably many factors at play in Harry & David’s financial woes, from what I’ve read poor customer service may be one of them.

So, how can you collect, monitor and address customer service issues that may be affecting your business? Here are some thoughts:

Monitor social networks
One failure of Harry & David may have been that they didn't monitor what shoppers thought of them online. These days shoppers are more likely to record their experiences with your store online… as a popular shopping blogger did, posting a scathing review of Harry & David’s customer service.

A great place for you to get a read on the quality of your customer service is to regularly scan the Internet for customer feedback. Set up a Google Alert for your store’s name (and your name) and when just about anything is posted on the Internet that includes your search terms, you'll receive an email. If you see a negative review online, don’t panic, deal with the complaint in the same public fashion so that those reading the post will see that you care and respectfully handle customer complaints.

Go out of your way to let customers know you want to hear from them
Make sure you're asking for customer feedback at all points of your customer touch. Ask for it on your website, in your email marketing, on your social networks… and make it simple and easy for customers to offer feedback both online and in-store. Of course, make sure your staff explicitly tells customers that you desire their feedback. Customers want to know they’re important to you and generally like being asked for their opinion.

Spend time speaking with your staff
As we know, asking customers what they think is important, but remember that your staff collects customer feedback constantly, even when they’re not at work. Take time to pick their brains and create an atmosphere where they feel comfortable sharing negative comments with you. Perhaps have an off-site, roundtable meeting at a local coffee shop to share comments and brainstorm ideas to improve customers’ experiences.

Paying special attention to offering exemplary customer service will help ensure your store doesn’t go the way of Harry & David.

I have seen a number of retailers, after a purchase, offer their customers an opportunity to choose an inspirational message from a jar. I think this is a nice gesture and one that can easily be duplicated in your store.

Plus it will give your customers a happy thought when thinking of your store.

For ideas on inspirational quotes, turn to these websites:

MotivatingQuotes.com
HeartsandMinds.org
FinestQuotes.com

Today's guest post is from Poornima Apte, Editor-in-Chief of GIFT SHOP Magazine and Specialty Retail Report.

Around two weeks ago, my oldest daughter and I headed out to the local mall (Natick Collection) to find a precise shade of eye shadow for her dinner dance dress. Once she was done with that, we wandered over to her favorite store, American Eagle. We were just checking things out—not really planning on buying anything—but we ended up spending quite a bit. Why? The store's customer service was excellent.

First case in point: When my daughter went into the fitting room to try on a couple of shirts, the attendant told us he could get her the same shirts in other sizes if she needed them. All she had to do was press a bell on the wall. The message American Eagle was sending? “Don't abandon the shirt because looking for other sizes might be a chore. We'll do the legwork for you.” He also told “mom” to relax and enjoy five minutes to herself. Second case in point: The attendant noticed which shirts she picked up, and about five minutes later, he tossed my daughter a couple of lace tank tops that would match her shirts. We ended up buying those as well.

Here's what American Eagle did really well: They looked at things from the customer's point of view and designed a simple solution that worked. They probably found that many who tried on clothes abandoned them because they were too overwhelmed to go back out on the shop floor, find the right size and retry them on. Solution? “We’ll do that work for you—you, the customer, just stay right there and keep trying on new clothes (and buying them all).” As a mom I also appreciated not having to do that legwork myself.

Two days later, we decided to buy a last-minute gift for my younger daughter for her birthday. We bought her a video game online from Best Buy and decided to try out their “Pick up at Store” option. This was supposed to be a quick in-and-out. It wasn't. There was to be a separate line for the “Pick up at Store” option—there wasn’t. What’s worse, we were assigned to the returns line—which took forever. So while Best Buy's idea might be a good one, the follow-through fell short of expectations.

When it comes to customer service every detail counts, as these experiences demonstrate! There are lessons in here for every retailer.

How are you anticipating your customer's needs? Are you implementing ideas, making sure you have staff on hand for follow up and execution from top to bottom? Because if you do, you too might have customers wandering into your store and walking away with more purchases than they planned on.