Well, hello, everybody, it’s Bob. And in this episode of Real Retail TV, we’re going to explore an often overlooked holiday success strategy.

So before we get into this overlooked strategy, I want to invite you Wednesday, December ten, one holiday hotline. You know, it’s just one of those events we’re going to get together, share some tips, tricks, techniques, answer questions, you know, really keep that momentum going, making your holiday season the best that it could possibly be. So hope to see you there Wednesday, one Now, having said that, let’s talk about this overlooked strategy. What am I talking about?

I’m talking about two things here, self care and team care.

You know, I’ve spent a lot of years working the floor in my retail business, in my toy store, in my kite store. And one of the things that I learned the hard way is you have to be your best if your team’s going to be at their best.

And so let’s sort of talk about some of the things that you can do to be better and some of the things that you can do for your team so that they can be better. Remember, the energy that you and your team bring is going to determine how people feel when they’re in your store shopping. And if they’re feeling good because you’re feeling good, they’re going to get excited. They’re going to buy more stuff.

They’re going to come back to your store. They’re going to be happier customers, right? And that’s the name of the game. Happier customers.

Love your customers. The money will follow. So let’s start with you.

And, you know, I can remember one Christmas we had a store in Meridian Mall in Lansing. So I was actually living a couple days a week apart from Susan. Lansing’s about an hour and a half here from Grand Haven. And Christmas Eve, Lisbeth, our manager, cut me loose.

And I remember driving home and just being so desperate not to get into an accident, right? It’s snowing. I just didn’t want to get in the ditch because I just wanted to get home to Susan and I wanted to be done with the holidays. And the next day was Christmas and we went over to Susan’s mom and dad’s house and I was just so tired.

I wasn’t able to be in the spirit at all. I just burned myself out through the holidays.

Not good. Not what you want. I was burned to a crisp, and I’m sure that it was affecting my performance that last week. And again, it’s just not what you want.

The holidays are supposed to be fun. They’re supposed to be exciting. They’re supposed to be good. They’re supposed to be good for you personally as well as you and your business.

So you know how when they do the the the announcement on the airplane and they say, If the mask has come down, put it on yourself first. Don’t put it on your kids. Take care of yourself first so you can take care of other people. This is exactly the mentality you should have going into the holidays.

So what are the things that I recommend? I’ve got a list of six things here I’m going to go through quickly. First of all, get your shots.

We don’t need to get into the politics of shots, but I can tell you that there is always a chance that COVID is going to run through your team, run through your town, that the flu could run through your team and run through your town.

And if you can diminish the probability that you get sick, you’re going to be able to be a better leader and to be able to do a better job. So if you can keep yourself healthy, it’s a good start on the holiday season.

Number two, and this is really important. Get enough sleep. This is self care one hundred one, but get enough sleep. Don’t scroll till one in the morning.

Make a point of getting to bed on time. Don’t scroll in bed. You know, just get a good night’s sleep. It will do amazing things.

You know it. I know it. I don’t need to tell you. But be aware and be proactive about your sleep.

Number three, these are the obvious things. I know you’re going, come on, Bob, give me something real. Eat healthy. You know, mean, again, your energy level, you have long days, you have stressful days, you’ve got a lot of stuff going on in the floor.

If you feel good, you’re going to do a lot better job. The other thing that I want to say is drink in moderation.

I’m not telling you not to drink, I’m not telling you not to have a glass of wine, but it’s easy. I know when you’re tired to have three glasses of wine or two glasses of wine instead of one or, you know, just to not be aware of your eating and drinking behaviors. And then through the course of the four weeks, all your best intentions fall away and you find yourself engaging in bad habits that show up in less energy, less enthusiasm and a lower level of performance. Number four, and this is really important, get outside every once in a while, walk around, even if it’s only for ten minutes.

All the science shows that getting outside, getting some fresh air is just really important to your sense of well-being. Your sense of well-being is what it’s all about. So that’s the fourth tip I have for you. The fifth tip is be present.

This is really important, actually. These last two are probably the best.

But what do I mean by be present?

I’m asking you to be aware and be mindful of where you are and what you are doing at any given moment. And so what does that mean? That means when you’re in your store, you’re not thinking about home. When you’re in your store, you’re on the floor, you’re in the back room, you’re working with your team, you’re working with customers, whatever it is that you’re doing, you’re present in it, you’re fully focused in it.

And when you develop that habit of presence, then when you go home, you leave all of the things from your business behind. Then you are with your family. Then you are with your friends. When you’re at a Christmas party, a holiday party with your friends, you’re not thinking about all the things that happened during the day.

And so this idea of being present and being mindful and being where you are fully in the moment will go a long ways towards making your holiday season a lot better. Have you ever found yourself when you’re at work, you’re thinking about home. When you’re at home, you’re thinking about work. This is why I always advocate developing a mindfulness habit, developing mindfulness practice so that this becomes the way that you live your life throughout your life, not just during the holidays, but during the holidays.

I think it’s particularly important because you do want to be there for your business when it’s that time, for your family and friends when it is that time. So that’s my fifth tip for you. And my sixth and probably the best one is have fun. Have fun this holiday season.

You know, I tell you what, I told you the story of me being totally burned out, but I learned my lesson and I developed this attitude of when I hit the lease line, was in the mall or when I opened that back door and went into my store, everything that happened that was happening outside of my business went away and I was focused. I was in the toy business for crying out loud. If you can’t have fun when you’re in the toy business, you shouldn’t be in business. If you’re in retail, this is the holidays.

This is your time to have fun with your business. Remember, you don’t have to do this. You get to do this. You are living a grand adventure as a retailer.

Have fun with it. This is your best time of year.

Embrace it. Love it. Have fun with it. So those are my tips for you.

And again, these are tips that I learned the hard way. But if you apply it, you’re going to have a better holiday season.

But this is really, really important.

You’ve got a team, you got a team who’s out there and your team is looking to you. This is your opportunity to lead. The energy that you bring to your business during the holidays is the energy that your team is going to pick up on and the energy that they’re going to bring out to the floor, to your customers, to your store. And it’s going to result in better service, happier customers, higher sales.

So just remember, you’re the leader. This is why I started with you taking care of yourself first. So their energy mirrors your energy. But so what are I have a couple of things, four tips for you here.

Number one, help them get their shots. You know, we always paid. This is before COVID when I was in retail, but we always paid for and paid for the time our team members needed if they wanted to get flu shots. We paid for it.

We made sure if they wanted flu shots, we were doing everything we could to help them get flu shots. Another thing is to have a bowl of healthy snacks and water, iced tea, not pop, healthy snacks, healthy drinks in the back at all times, maybe some nuts, some protein bars, but give your team access to the healthy fuel they need to get themselves through the day.

So if you can fuel them correctly, you’re going to get more from them. And that’s the name of the game, right? You want them to be feeling good, to be enthusiastic, be out on the floor doing the deal.

This is a little counterintuitive, but every once in a while you want to get unhealthy. I can tell you that the last Saturday before Christmas, if you bring in a couple of pizzas, it’s going to do wonders for your team. I was a big fan of bringing in pizzas, bringing in tacos. You know, again, this is part of leadership, right? You’re showing appreciation for the fact that they’re busting their butts for you and you just want to show them some love and bringing some food in. It doesn’t have to be healthy. You want to have healthy snacks, but you can bring in some unhealthy food as long as it feels good to them.

And so then the final thing that I want to share, and I think this is absolutely brilliant, by the way, this comes from Platinum Mastermind Group member Marie Foley. And here’s what she said. I sent her an email because I knew about this, but I wanted to know the details. And she said, during the holidays, the Saturday before Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, every ninety minutes, my team members are required to take a break out of the building for ten minutes.

See, she said sometimes they just go sit in their cars, but they have to leave the buildings.

Sometimes that ninety minutes ran to two hours. If they were, you know, in the middle of a sale with a customer, you don’t want to, you know, you’re in the middle of a big sale. You don’t want your team member to go, Oh, I’ve got to take a break now.

But as she said, I also made sure everybody had a thirty minute lunch break where they were not allowed to be interrupted, which involves planning the lunch breaks ahead. This is a logistical issue. You can make this happen, but you have to be thoughtful and intentional about the whole thing. It seemed, she says, when we started planning the lunch breaks, it helped my teams with their anxiety around time off the floor. Knowing two two to two thirty was off the floor was especially helpful for one employee.

So recognize this, your team members are in high stress situations. There’s lots of people who are looking for their attention and that you want them to have the energy they need to give your customers the attention they deserve. And the way to do that in the way that Marie shared is a wonderful way for you to be incredibly proactive about making sure that your team members the energy they need to make it through the day.

But what you’re going to find is if you are proactive and you do what Marie shared is that they are going to last a lot longer into the season.

One of the tricks that I learned from my experience at Meridian Mall is that you want to do the things you need to do and you want to do the things so that your team can do the things that they need to do all the way up to the end, all the way to the first of January, because it doesn’t end at Christmas, does it? You still have that post holiday rush. And so you really need to develop the systems, the processes, the schedule so that your team has the energy to stay strong, to stay positive, to stay enthusiastic all the way to the end.

So there it is, overlooked strategy.

Most people don’t really get intentional about what I shared, but I guarantee you that if you do get intentional and apply what I’ve shared in this episode of Real Retail TV, you’re going to have a better holiday season.

So if you have any tips on how to make it through the season with more style, with more enthusiasm, with more aplomb, please put them in the comments down below. Two final things. One again, Wednesday, December ten, one p. M.

Eastern, the holiday hotline. Let’s keep the momentum going. This hour is just all about helping you stay focused, stay positive, giving you the information you need to get better. And finally, power promotions is happening next January.

Not this coming January. It’s a full day where Susan and I are going to really, really drill down deep and help you build a really, really, really great promotional calendar. And so right now you can say five hundred dollars Normally it’s nine ninety seven Right now it’s four ninety seven. There’s a link down below.

But if you haven’t registered yet, I guarantee that this will be one of the very best investments of time and money that you can make for your business in twenty twenty six. All right, everybody, I hope you found that helpful. I’m Bob. We’ll talk to you later.

Bye.