Sometimes as CEO it's easy to get inundated with day-to-day operations, especially when you're gearing up for the holiday season. You wear so many hats as an owner… don't forget that one of your most important roles is company cheerleader. I challenge you to think of 10 creative ways to cheer your team on this holiday season.

Here are five ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

1. Create a team goal and reward your staff for achieving it.
   Create a chart for the back room wall depicting November and December and the final sales goal for those months. Decide on a prize for the team for achieving your store sales, such as a pizza party. Every day ask your team to fill in the store numbers. It will be very motivating to see the bar raising on the chart, and the team will feel they're all part of the process for hitting the goal.

2. Hold a daily team meeting to energize everyone.
   Think about creating a few themed meetings, such as a "faux" prep rally. Bring in a few fun props (whistle, pom-poms, etc.) and get everyone excited for the day. This meeting would be a great place to introduce the chart from above.

3. Acknowledge a sales person of the week or month.
   Great sales people love recognition. Recognize your star performer of the week/month in a staff meeting, and post a picture on the company bulletin board.

4. Reward individual employees based on sales volume.
   Provide additional store discounts or bonuses for hitting monthly sales goals.

5. Stay positive even if you're having a tough day.
   As CEO, you are the role model, remember to always stay positive.

A number of retailers have commented on the GIFT SHOP Forum that they are a bit concerned about their sales this holiday season. While the focus of the average holiday shopper this year may be value and price, the average household is still slated to spend $525.

Here are five strategies to ensure you get your piece of the pie:

1. Sell unique, quality products: Customers will be on the lookout for wonderful holiday gifts that can't be found elsewhere. Also, if you're their only source for the product, you're guaranteed to make the sale.

2. Personalization: Consumers love to give products that are personalized—it gives them a way to gift an item that is truly unique and recipients love it. There are so many product options available, and with many of them you only need to carry one sample in your store (helps you control inventory expenditures). To learn more about the benefits of selling personalized products, and for a vendor resource list, check out the GIFT SHOP article Personal Profits.

3. Customization: Offering pre-made gift baskets, or a program to help your clients create their own gift baskets, is a fantastic way to allow customers to customize the perfect gift.

4. Customer service: Promote your exceptional customer service. For example, create a sign if you offer complimentary gift wrap during the holiday season, an extended return policy, a customer wish list program or other services that make shopping your store a pleasure.

5. Price: Offer a range of great products with price points under $30. Shoppers will be seeking a good value and price.

Today I received an email from a hospital gift manager asking for a few suggestions on how she could improve her visual merchandising display. One of her biggest challenges is that the hospital never created a large enough space for the store, so she's operating in a very small area. After reviewing her store photos, I have come up with eight ideas (in no particular order) that are relatively low cost, to create maximum impact. (see photos below)

1. Add color: Paint the back wall a rich, warm neutral color, such as a darker taupe. This would really help the merchandise pop and warm up the space, making it seem less like a hospital environment and more like a permanent store.

2. Addition of store signage: The hospital manager mentioned that customers often walk right by her store—they even don't notice it's there. I'd love to see the screen come down and various smaller hanging signs moved further back so a professional sign could be installed behind the cash register area. Also, while we're on the subject of store signage, I always recommend that a paper sign never be used. If you're going to make your own on a computer, I'd suggest finishing it off by framing it. Inexpensive frames can be found at your local craft store.

3. De-clutter: Since this retailer is operating in such a small space, it's absolutely critical that she create some white space (also know as resting space for the eye). She doesn't actually need to subtract merchandise from the floor to make this happen, she just needs to consolidate some of the merchandise into a tighter area. Also, I'd recommend removing all merchandise from the floor. This will help make the store appear a little larger.

4. Utilize more vertical space: This retailer is taking advantage of the horizontal display space but there is very little vertical space utilized (with the exception of the signs). I'd suggest purchasing some inexpensive acrylic risers from a fixture company to give the products different heights.

5. Create a focal point: Currently, the focal point of the store is the candy. While I'm sure candy sales make up a large percentage of store sales, I'd like to see the area to the right of the cash/wrap area be the focal point of the store. A cute themed display could be created here or you might want to consider installing wider shelving. In a more extensive re-model, I would consider removing all the built-in shelving to opt for bigger and deeper bookshelves. This would also give you options to move the store around to create a new look.

6. Add an area for impulse items on the cash/wrap table: Currently the only items I see for sale on the cash wrap are candy bars. I might opt to replace the candy (move it below) with the bracelets I see in the jewelry area, or the wooden roses—a great impulse item.

7. Product selection: While it looks like you carry a lot of charming gifts, it seems to me that you might be missing out on some sales of merchandise that visitors might buy for friends who are in the hospital, such as bath and body products, really plush robes, slippers, cards, etc. One more suggestion in terms of products is that sometimes you can create a more stunning display with more merchandise. If money were no object, I'd suggest adding more plush to the store—it could be a really cute display.

8. Displays that pop: The merchandise itself is grouped into similar categories, but there are no really strong displays within each category. Here a few ways to create a strong display: a) enough merchandise to make it look interesting, b) products displayed at different heights, c) interesting props or display pieces if the merchandise itself cannot be stacked to create height or d) repeat patterns of colors which can come from the merchandise itself or from props.

Does anyone else have any other ideas or suggestions?

One of the biggest challenges facing retailers this holiday season is how to drive more customers to your store and get them to buy your products. Considering the economy, now is the time. It's absolutely critical to reach your customers via email blasts at least once a month. Why? If done right it can lead to increased traffic and purchasing in your store AND your competition is already doing it.

It may seem daunting if you haven't started collecting names, or attempts to collect names in the past were met with little or no success, but one of the biggest successes in the retail industry is Bath & Body Works who was able to collect 10 million names in a shocking three months. How did they do it? They offered customers the chance to receive a free tube of lip gloss for sharing their email address, with the catch being you had to go home and print out the coupon and bring it back. Not only were they able to confirm the email address was valid, but it also gave customers a reason to come back to the store, where, on average, they spent another $25.

Here are six suggestions for email blast content for the holidays:

1. Promote a special offer—even if you discount just one product line by 20%-30%, you'll be giving your customers a valuable reason to come into the store.

2. Talk about new product arrivals—one of the main reasons that customers shop your store is because of the unique mix of products. Feature items that aren't easily found elsewhere.

3. Market a store promotion—let your customers know about fun events you're hosting this holiday season (or start now and promote your fall events).

4. Store classes—invite your customers in for a lesson on trimming the tree or holiday decorating.

5. Content—Deliver valuable ideas, recipes or information. For example, if you sell Polish pottery, include a recipe for a casserole, then make the dish and show an image of it in your email blast.

6. Contests—Hold a contest, like "best decorated tree" or "house for the holidays" (to be judged by your staff). The winner could receive a $100 gift certificate to your store, or a selection of ornaments.

There are many companies who can help you design and send your email blast. Check out this list of email marketing companies from our web editor and get started!

I just read about an interesting research study which found that value-oriented customers perceive some products to have more value when presented with prices that end in the number "9" vs. those with "0" price endings. But a while back I did a blog post about a research study that found that perceived value could be increased when numbers that end in "9" weren't used. So as a retailer, what are you to do, especially if you're trying to position your store as a mid- to high-end shop?

During healthier economic times, I'd suggest sticking with prices that end with "0." However, in light of the fact that everyone seems to be looking for a bargain nowadays you might consider doing some price testing this fall and holiday season, particularly with smaller impulse items.

I was interviewed today by an editor for a magazine that is geared to dance studio retailers and she asked me what advice I would give her retailers for this holiday season. My immediate response was, "more important than ever before, don't take a wait-and-see approach—be proactive."

Then I suggested that retailers focus on four core areas:

1. Marketing: Take advantage of low-cost email marketing to promote in-store specials (or a frequent buyer program) and to give reasons why your customers should stop by your store.

2. Superb staffing: Don't settle for mediocre employees. Determine who your top performers are by looking at your store's daily sales figures. Keep only the employees who fall in the top 25% and establish a reward for your sales team for hitting sales goals. Perhaps a special in-store party, or a $50 gift certificate for everyone if the goal is achieved.

3. Improve visual merchandising: Visual merchandising can impact sales by as much as 40%, so make sure you have really strong store windows. They're a fantastic focal point when you walk in the store, and a new holiday look can inspire walk-ins.

4. Product selection: One of the top reasons that consumers shop at a gift store is to find unique products. Make sure your holiday inventory includes fun new products that can't be found elsewhere, and think about promoting some of these in your marketing.

Stay tuned for more tips on preparing for the holiday season.