Caroline Kennedy

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Things Happen and Customers Will Complain

This is just a fact of being in a retail business, especially at this busy time of year. Handling customer complaints is not always easy or pleasant. But the way that you deal iwth the situation will most likely result in whether you keep the individual as a customer or lose their business. A recent article in USA Today, "Nine steps toward handling customer complaints," offers some good... More

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More Aisle Dancers

It seems that I am not the only one who "dances in the aisles." It seems that employees at Global Views have a "little dance party break" on Fridays, according to the company’s Facebook page. It seems like a great way to end the week, build team spirit and relieve stress and tension all at the same time. What things do you do where you work to create employee bonding, stress relief and just plain... More

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Finding Inspiration

Once again, my friend Nancy has chided me about this blog. "Yes!" she complained to me more than once recently, "I have read your blog lately (that’s the tagline on my email signature), but you haven’t posted anything new for me to read." And she is right. I have been remiss.  It has been said that writing is 1 percent inspiration and the rest is perspiration. That can be said for much of what we... More

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What's New Isn't Necessarily What's New

At market, generally the first question a buyer asks is, "What’s new?" And in this industry, that is the one thing on which we are primarily focused — that and the hot trends. We tend to forget about or overlook what is or has been successful, things that are the tried and true. The tried and true just doesn’t get our antenna tingling with excitement, until maybe we rediscover it and look at it in... More

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What Kind of Loyal Customers Do You Have?

Do you have such loyal customers as Willow Glen, CA, retailer Natalie Thompson discovered that she has? Who is Natalie Thompson and why do I ask, you wonder … Her story, which ran in the San Jose Mercury News was brought to my attention. As with many independent retailers, 2009 was difficult year for Thompson’s gift store Fleurish. Her 8-year-old business was struggling in a difficult economy, s... More