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.

Recently I was looking back over some of the great comments you’ve written on my blog and came across a comment requesting more about employee motivation. So, here are three tips you can start using today to pump up your team’s excitement and motivation this year.

1. Energize each day
We all know this but it serves as a good reminder especially following the holidays that, as business owners, we all create the environment and energy that flows through our workplace each day. So whatever energy you bring to work is what your employees will adopt. Do what you need to, whether it be exercise, meditation, or a latte to bring your natural spirit of motivation and excitement to work. Your employees will be inspired and be more excited to be at work, which will affect how they treat your customers as well.

2. Know what motivates each person
See each employee as an individual and remember that different things motivate different people. You do not always have to reward with money. Learn what each wants to be when they grow up – even if they are 63, ask what motivates them, learn what their interests are, and what they’re saving their money for. Knowing this information can help you motivate each person individually. For example, one employee may be motivated by getting to attend a tradeshow or taking a training course, whereas another might prefer receiving merchandise or a gift card as a bonus. Taking a personal interest in your employees will build their loyalty to you and your customers.

3. Be a good communicator
Communication is key to building a motivated, cohesive team. Remember to communicate even the most basic things about your store like the story of how you got started and what your vision is for your store. Share everything from store-wide goals to individual sales goals and praise positive results often. Give recognition when earned by sharing successes with the entire team and even posting congratulations on social media and in-store.

What have you found effective in motivating your team?

With the holiday season upon us, it's the perfect time to remember to always build a message of "thankfulness" into your sales and marketing efforts—not just now, but throughout the year (while I'm at it, thanks for reading!).

I was reminded of the importance of a simple "thank you" message this week while attending the Gift and Home Trade Association Conference in Phoenix. While there, I stopped by a local (independently owned) toy store, and after making a purchase for my seven year old daughter, chatted with the owner for a few minutes. On my way out, I thanked her for her time, but was surprised when she didn't thank me for my purchase. As a customer and retail veteran, I find it shocking that so many retailers forget the value of thanking their customers (regardless of the size of the purchase).

Here are five ways you can express your thanks to your customers:

1. Establish a store policy that every customer is given a genuine "thank you." Whether customers are thanked when completing a purchase, or for simply visiting the store, it's absolutely critical that every employee adopt the policy (be sure to remind them at staff meetings).

2. Send handwritten thank you notes to all customers who spend over a certain amount in your store per year, or during a specific store visit (i.e., $500).

3. Host a VIP customer shopping night and reward your top customers with a free gift.

4. Express customer appreciation through your marketing efforts (post cards, email marketing pieces, etc.) this month and periodically throughout the year.

5. Post a professional sign near the register, or a note on the store receipt, or a card that is placed in every bag that reads "thank you for your business." You might even tie this messaging into your shop local campaign in a store sign placed near the register that reads, "thank you for choosing to shop at XYZ store and supporting your local retailer."

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

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!

I recently read in a newspaper article that specialty stores are using in-store workforce management computer systems to increase sales and cut costs. For example, the system that Ann Taylor installed calculates such performance metrics as average sales per hour, units sold and dollars per transaction. The system is then used to schedule the most productive workers during the busiest hours.

Proponents of the system argue that productivity can be increased by 15% or more, while costs can be cut by 5% or more. These numbers are significant and important because of the slow economy—retailers need to figure out ways to make more money while cutting costs.

On the other hand, the downside of the system is that it doesn't take into account variables (like an employee's seniority) and employees won't have the same level of flexibility in their schedule as in the past. Another disadvantage is that the selling environment at Ann Taylor switched from a more casual and fun place to a competitive, and sometimes underhanded, place of employment.

As a smaller independent store, you're probably not looking to install a workforce management system. However, here are three ideas I got from the article that you could apply in your store:

• Think about scheduling your top producing sales people during the busiest store hours.

• Assess whether your store schedule has too many people working during down time and not enough during prime time—then fix it.

• Make sure you have a way to track your employees' metrics. Reward those who have top grossing sales with a gift certificate and recognition, then schedule them to work at the busier times.

In the final two week stretch leading up to Christmas (13 days left! I can't believe it!), it's easy to get overloaded with demanding customers and re-stocking shelves.

Think about holding a quick five minute staff meeting every day over the next two weeks to encourage and challenge your staff.

Some topics you may want to cover:

1. Customer service… customer service should be the TOTAL focus during the final countdown.
2. Up-sell… Remember to up-sell every customer. Christmas time is great for this, because EVERYONE needs stocking stuffers.
3. Greet… say hello to every customer, even during the busy hours.
4. Theft prevention… keep an eye on the merchandise. Remind your employees what to do if theft is suspected.
5. Visual merchandising… re-stock as much as possible throughout the day and keep the displays looking fresh, even if inventory gets low.

Just keep on selling. Every dollar counts.

I had a comment on the previous staffing post and since my response is long (and it's a universal question), I'm posting my response up here.

The question was: "I am ready to interview my first manager on Monday, and need 10 good questions to ask."

Most employers like to ask behavioral interview questions. Questions like these tap into your job candidate's previous behavior and performance, rather than questions that focus on what the interviewee might do in the future. Most companies have adopted a behavioral interviewing strategy because people's past performance tends to be the best indicators for their future performance.

Also, an important part of our interviewing strategy is not just developing the right questions to ask, but also creating a list of adjectives that describes the traits you're looking for in the position (some of your interview questions should tap into making sure you're hiring the right person for the right position). For example, if I was hiring a store manager, these are some of the traits I'd be looking for: honesty/integrity, ability to manage people/leadership skills, creativity, strong communication skills, confidence, resourcefulness and organizational skills.

Here are 12 behavioral/trait-based interview questions for you to ask your candidate, and a few things to keep in mind as you listen to the anwers:

Question 1: What would motivate you to optimal performance?
Answer: Not only should you be looking for the candidate to be motivated by money (especially if you're offering a bonus program which I highly suggest), but also get a sense that the candidate really loves managing people and making customers happy.

Question 2: Can you tell me about a time at work when you faced a difficult situation and how you worked to resolve it?
Answer: You're looking for an answer that ensures your candidate is resourceful and/or can handle a tough situation.

Question 3: How would you measure the success of this position?
Answer: You're looking for an answer that focuses on hitting the (sales) goals for the store while doing a great job managing the team. From my perspective, a great store manager is not only goal-oriented, but also loves working on a team.

Question 4: Can you tell me about a time that you handled a tough customer situation, what happened and how did you resolve it?
Answer: You're looking to make sure that the candidate has strong customer service skills.

Question 5: Have you ever had to use your creativity/resourcefulness to solve a problem, what was the situation and how did you resolve it?
Answer: Again, this question addresses resourcefulness and creativity. A variety of answers are acceptable as long as the candidate is referring to past examples instead of what they would do in the future.

Question 6: What would you do if you suspected that an employee was stealing?
Answer: You're looking for the manager to come to you, or investigate the situation. This question taps into their integrity and ethics.

Question 7: Are you the type of person for whom things never seem to fall through the cracks?
Answer: The candidate shows a strong sense of ownership and organization and gives specific examples.

Question 8: How do you feel about making a tough decision?
Anwer: The candidate indicates that they are very comfortable and provides a specific example of doing so in the past. This question may also tap into their leadership skills as well.

Question 9: What principles guide your conduct?
Answer: Candidate stresses honesty, integrity, and truthfulness.

Question 10: What role do you believe relationships play in making a sale?
Annswer: Indicates relationships are very important to making a sale and in creating repeat customers.

Question 11: What do you use to develop a quick rapport with customers? Do you use any special techniques?
Answer: Identifies specific techniques for developing a rapport/connecting with customers.

Question 12: How important is it for you to develop a strong rapport with your employees? Why is that?
Answer: Emphasizes the importance creating a relationship with staff so they are happy and feel motivated to perform.

Good luck. Interviews are always challenging for everyone involved. I'd love to hear about the results.

I get asked frequently if I have any suggestions for hiring new employees, and in particular, sales people. Because not only do you need a sales person who is energetic and motivated, but they also must have impeccable people skills AND get along with the team you already have in place.

So far my top two strategies have been:

Employee Referral Program… Your top employees can be a tremendous asset in recommending new hires. They know firsthand if the person would fit on the team and if they possess the skills necessary to be a top sales person (what I call a "power seller"). You might want to consider implementing a bonus/reward program for employees who are able to help you find new people. Once the new hire has been signed (or has been there 90 days), the employee who recommended them gets a gift card or perhaps a couple extra paid days off.

Let Your Customers Know You're Hiring… Sometimes customers make the best new employees because they're interested in (maybe even passionate about) what you're selling. I've heard stories about customers who have been loyal shoppers for 10+ years at a store and were quite excited about the opportunity to work at their favorite shopping destination. To attract customers to apply for a position, create professional signage touting some of the benefits of working for your company, such as flexible hours, great pay and the attractive store discount, or consider promoting the opening in a store newsletter, on your website, or through an email blast.

Since I strongly believe that your customers can make the best employees, I wanted to post that we have an opening in our ad sales department for a full-time national account manager. I encourage motivated and ambitious candidates to email a resume to: hr@specialtyretail.com. If it's not you we're looking for, feel free to pass this information along if you know someone who'd be perfect for us!