Attract Customers with Unique Store Decorations

When it comes to attracting customers to your store, decorations are your greatest commodity. They make your store a fun place to shop by giving customers a treasure trove of things to look at. The more you use decorations to create a fun and exciting environment for shoppers, the more customers you will attract.

A custom engraved acrylic desk block in a retail store as part of a business' store decorations.

Decorating a store goes to the heart of what makes great retailing. … It piques a shopper’s curiosity to discover what is new. When you introduce new, yet familiar elements to the shopping experience, you change the energy of your entire store.

Store decorations also increase your sales by putting your customers in a good mood. For most people, decorations remind them of the happy times they’ve spent with friends and family celebrating birthdays, holidays and other special occasions. Triggering these happy memories makes your customers feel good, which causes them to see your products in a positive light. The more customers see your products as desirable, the more they will want to buy them.

While it is better to have decorations than none at all, remember that decorating your store is a continual effort. To attract customers to your store, give them something new to see by constantly adding or rearranging your decorations. Yes, this can include decorating your store for every holiday, but it can also be something you do for other occasions such as back to school week or sporting events. In the end, you don’t need a reason to decorate your store other than to bring in more customers.

Using Store Decorations for Business Success

Store decorating is a strategy many businesses use to attract customers. To stand out from these competitors, give your customers a unique shopping experience using custom decorations. Accessorize your store with stunning custom products such as acrylic blocks, wooden plaques and more. Using personalized decorative pieces will not only strengthen your brand identity but will also promote word of mouth marketing as customers tell their friends about their unique shopping experience.

To get your creative ideas flowing, here are five custom store decorations you can make to get shoppers into your store.

Acrylic Blocks and Desk Wedges

Decorate your cashier desk, shelves and window displays with these exquisite acrylic blocks and desk wedges. Made of quality materials, these blocks and wedges are sure to impress your customers. And turning them into beautiful decorations is easy. Just customize the text with a famous quote, the name of a song or something else you think your customers might like. With different color and style options available, customize these blocks and wedges to match your store’s interior design.

Wall Plaques

A custom engraved plaque to use for store decorations.

Keep customers in your store for longer by giving them decorative wall plaques to look at. Customize these plaques to entertain your customers with movie quotes or inspire them with a poem. No matter what type of store you own, wall plaques can help you create an atmosphere that will attract your ideal customer. Stores that sell graphic t-shirts can customize plaques with pop culture references, while vitamin shops can use them to share health tips with their customers. So, use the custom options available to make the perfect plaques for your business.

Store Signs

Give customers an incentive to come into your store using custom signs. Customize them with sales and other perks then display them in your window. When customers walk by and read these signs, they will want to take advantage of the special deals you offer. And with their bright colors and optional graphics, these signs will make your window display look even better!

Custom Shaped Name Tags

A retail employee wearing a custom shaped name tag as part of the business' store decorations.

Make sure your employees look festive too by giving them fun custom shaped name tags to wear. These name tags will add to your store’s overall look and will make your employees appear friendlier. After all, who wouldn’t find someone wearing a pumpkin shaped name tag approachable? So, put these custom shaped name tags to good use. Get name tags for every holiday, or choose one name tag shape that reflects your product line, such as boot shaped name tags for a shoe store. However you choose to customize these tags, make sure to stick to simple shapes that allow enough space for a person’s name.

Customize the Perfect Store Decorations

Use custom decorations to highlight new products, mark items on clearance and provide your customers with an exceptional shopping experience. As you decorate your store for success, you will bring in more customers and sustain your business.

Providing Royal Treatment for Your Customers

No matter who your customers are, you should always strive to make sure they feel welcome. After all, a happy customer is your greatest asset as a business. So, work on giving everyone who walks through your door the royal treatment, and you’re sure to be set in your business for many years.

Remember that happy customers are also buying customers. Whether it’s goods or services you offer as a company, your customer is there because of how you make them feel. And, good referrals happen when your customers are satisfied with those feelings. Here are some tips for keeping your customers happy and giving them the royal treatment.

giving your customer the royal treatment

Customers; without them, your business is nothing.

Whether you’re just starting a business or have been running a company for several years, you should understand that it is your customers who keep you in business. And getting to know each customer will help your business grow.

Four Products to Guarantee Your Customers’ Royal Treatment

Name Tags

color logo name tags

By providing identification of your employees, you allow your customers to become familiar with those who can help them. Name tags are one of the best tools you can use to make sure your customers are happy with your business. They provide a friendly and quick “hello” for everyone who walks through your door. And they also act sort of like a permission slip to people who see your name tag that you are open to talking. This allows immediate engagement between your business and your customers.

Signs

Provide a quality experience for everyone who enters your business with custom made signs. These signs can display your working hours or vital information that keeps everyone in your company safe.

Plaques

Custom plaques add a classy feel to the average sign and let the customer know that you care about your company’s value because of how upscale they are.

Lanyards


Cord Badge Lanyards

Meet your security and identification needs for all of your employees with custom lanyards. They are a key tool for any business. And, there are so many ways to use them. Lanyards are perfect for identifying visitors or keeping security cards handy for employees. No matter what you need custom lanyards for, they have so many uses that everyone needs them.

Six Professional Tips to Create the Best Customer Experience

At the end of the day, successful companies don’t just deliver better customer service at one point in time; they constantly change their businesses in response to evolving consumer behavior. If you can understand your customers well enough to anticipate their needs and empower your teams to deliver A-level service, you’ll differentiate yourself from the crowd and go a long way toward creating enduring success for your company.

1. Set Goals

Find ways that your business benefits your customers, and then make them known. Whether that is through a sale or getting the word out about your product, your customer should know what you’re all about.

2. Be Friendly

It is customer SERVICE, after all. Make sure your customers know that you are there for them, no matter what.

3. Provide Value

No matter what your product or service is, make sure it’s valuable to your clientele.

4. Make Improvements

Always be on the lookout for ways to improve your relationship with your customers. Up your game with new products or services that will still benefit your customers.

5. Find Consistency

Once you have your product line and value, keep it going. Try not to discontinue something that your customer has come to expect.

6. Always Say Thank You

Providing a quality experience is your job as a business owner. Remember that it’s your customers who keep you in business. So, no matter what you do, always thank your customers for sticking around and keeping you open.

remember to say thank you to your customer to give them the royal treatment

A Teacher’s Guide to Student Engagement

You may think having students who want to be at school and learn from their teachers sounds to good to be true. But that’s what schools that focus on increasing student engagement are seeing. More than coming to class and turning in homework, engaged students are enthusiastic about their education and have a desire to excel in their classes. If you want to see your students succeed, you must figure out how to engage them in the learning process.

A custom sign with classroom rules and a plaque with an inspirational quote, each designed to increase student engagement.

What is student engagement?

In education, student engagement refers to the degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that students show when they are learning or being taught, which extends to the level of motivation they have to learn and progress in their education.

How does student engagement affect learning?

Multiple research studies have found that students who arrive on time, pay attention in class and complete assignments are more likely to get higher grades and graduate on time. On the flip side, studies have found that students who do not pay attention or participate in classwork have lower grades and are less likely to graduate on time. Because student engagement directly impacts student performance, it is essential for teachers to recognize when students are engaged and increase that level of engagement.

How can you tell when students are engaged?

There are three types of student engagement: behavioral, cognitive and emotional.

Behavioral Engagement is when students actively participate in the learning process. They show up on time, turn in their homework and bring the materials they need for class. They also participate in class discussions, do what their teacher says and consistently try their best.

Cognitive Engagement is when students try to learn as much as they can. Not only do they pay attention in class, but they also ask thought provoking questions and go beyond what you ask them to do.

Emotional Engagement is when students have a positive outlook on their educational experience. You can tell students are emotionally engaged when they treat you and their classmates with respect and approach schoolwork with optimism.

To know how invested your students are in their education, look for all three types of engagement. If you only concentrate on behavioral engagement, you may overlook students who feel left out or need to be intellectually challenged.

What makes student engagement challenging?

Custom ribbons with a school mascot and logo attached to an apple, used to increase student engagement.

Keeping students engaged is hard, both in a classroom setting and an online learning program. In a classroom, you have to teach all of your students at once. This makes it hard for you to determine how quickly you should go through a lesson. If you go too fast, some students will get frustrated as they fall behind. If you go too slow, other students will lose interest as they wait for the next activity

The difficult part about teaching students online is that they can get easily distracted. Not only can they get lost in browsing the internet or playing video games, but they can also get disrupted by other people who do not realize they are in class.

Online learning also makes it hard for students to connect with the class emotionally. If students feel that they don’t have a relationship with you or their classmates, then they are less motivated to participate in discussions or do their homework.

Student Engagement Strategies

Now it is time to plan how you will increase student engagement. To help you get started, here are some ideas that apply to almost every grade level. And they work for classroom and online teaching.

Behavioral Engagement Strategies

Students will know how to behave when you give them class rules to follow. List your class rules on a custom sign or plaque, and hang it where students can see it. Make sure to include a rule about students treating each other (and you) with respect so that everyone has a positive experience.

Get more students to participate in class discussions by putting each student’s name on a name tag. When you have a question for the class, draw a name tag out of a box and ask that student to answer it. This strategy prevents the same students from answering all of the questions. It also motivates your students to stay alert because they never know when their name is going to be chosen.

Another way to get students to stay alert is to use blank ribbons as attention signals. Hold up one color ribbon to say when it is time to listen and another color when it is time to discuss. Using these visual cues helps your students know what to do and stay engaged throughout the lesson.

Cognitive Engagement Strategies

Motivate your students to do their best by coming up with learning objectives for your class. Learning objectives show your students what they can achieve if they pay attention and complete assignments. Once they understand how your class benefits them, they will take it seriously. To keep these learning objectives on the forefront of their minds, add them to a custom sign or plaque for all your students to see.

Keep your students focused on their schoolwork by making educational bookmarks for them. Use Custom Top Ribbons to make full-color bookmarks that teach grammar rules or math formulas that will help students with their homework. Your students are sure to appreciate these learning tools and use them for textbooks and other class materials.

Part of keeping your students engaged mentally is giving them a chance to unwind. To make this easy, customize name tags with a wide variety of mental breaks (e.g., sing a song or play rock, paper, scissors) and put them in a jar. When it is time for a mental break, take a tag out of the jar and have your students do that activity.

Emotional Engagement Strategies

Get your students excited to learn by decorating your classroom with ribbons, plaques and more. Even if you teach online, decorating the room you are in with bright colors and custom designs will stimulate your students’ imaginations. Hang a ribbon chandelier from the ceiling or drape a ribbon garland along a wall. Give your whiteboard a little flair by lining the edges with a brightly colored ribbon. To decorate your desk, customize an acrylic plaque or desk wedge with an inspirational quote and graphic.

Emotionally engage your students by helping them get to know you and their classmates better. Customize badge ribbons with a wide assortment of positive characteristics, such as Life of the Party or Proud Computer Geek. Have each student wear these ribbons during class by attaching them to their shirt. (Don’t forget to wear ribbons that describe you.) By using these descriptive ribbons, your students will emotionally connect to you and their classmates as they see (literally) how much you all have in common.

Students will have a positive attitude toward learning when you make it fun. Use paper inserts to play trivia and other games with your students. While you are at it, why not throw in some friendly competition with spelling bees and other contests. Don’t forget to pass out Prize Ribbons so your students will always remember the fun they had in your class.

What engagement strategies have worked for you? Share them in a comment so other educators can benefit from your expertise.

Improve Performance Through Student Engagement

No matter if you are teaching online or in person, keeping your students engaged in the learning process will improve their school performance. They will earn better grades, score higher on tests and graduate on time. So what are you waiting for? Put custom name tags, ribbons, plaques and signs to work for you so your students will reach their potential.

Effective Networking While Working from Home

From video apps to professional development, networking while working from home takes focus and planning.

You think that you have it all figured out, right? Then life gets in the way. Whether it’s an illness or a family matter that takes precedence over being in the office, you might be asking how you can keep your networking alive and well when you are out.

It doesn’t have to be hard to network while away from an office or other business setting. Using available tools will help you gain control over your networking. And by using these tools, your remote working experience will be better than you expect.

wearing a name tag during a conference call for networking while working from home

We live in a time where networking is one of the primary keys to making a business work. And, when you use networking properly, not only will your business flourish, but it will also make an impact in your community. So, here are several easy ways to make sure that your networking while working from home doesn’t fall short.

Staying in a Routine

Whether it’s setting up a home office (desk and computer included) or just making sure you keep to regular hours, staying in a routine will help with networking while working from home. First things first, make sure getting dressed (and even putting on a name tag) remains part of your daily schedule. This routine should also help you keep out distractions, like TV or phone use. If you have kids, make sure you sit down and talk to them about your working hours.

Video Conferencing and Phone Calls

While getting together may not always work for other people, you still need to make yourself available for face-to-face connections. These connections should include video and phone calls. And, by using online tools and apps to increase the time you spend talking to people, your networking will still thrive even if you are using a home office.

Keep Messaging Alive (Texts, Emails or Apps)

Just like video conferences, sending written exchanges is still a great way to network while working remotely. Texts, emails or using other apps to stay connected are important to any business. You can communicate with employees, colleagues and customers alike via these online channels. Make sure when using this form of communication that you remember to edit your text before hitting send. When it comes to networking, you need to make sure you are putting your best foot forward, and your grammar and voice in these emails are important.

“Meet” Colleagues for Coffee or Drinks

Staying social is just as crucial as using video or phone calls when working. Your social efforts may be limited to a video chat through your favorite social media channel or another easy-to-use app. But, these connections are just as important to your networking goals.

Make an effort to remember birthdays and congratulate colleagues on a work or life accomplishment during the next team call. When you learn about upcoming vacations or weekend plans, make it a point to ask them how their trip went. Remembering the small things will make everyone feel appreciated and more connected.

Use Social Media

From LinkedIn Groups to Reddit, utilize every platform you can when using social media for networking. Make sure your profile is designed appropriately for networking and then jump in. Most social media sites are easy to use and require very little time to set up. Just remember to keep your networking goals in mind while using social media. Without focus, you can end up surfing instead of working.

TIP: Join a LinkedIn Group that can benefit from your specific knowledge and skill set.

Continue Professional Development and Pursue Your Hobbies

Keep learning. And keep dreaming. From hobbies (like crafting holiday wreaths) to distance learning, your brain is your most valuable asset when networking while working from home. Keep yourself sharp in your understanding of how your business needs to run. And, keep your creative side available to combat any stress or distractions.

Overall, remember that networking while working from home isn’t as hard as some people think it is. Keep your goals in mind, and keep working. You’ve got this!

How Unique Name Tags Provide Fun for the Holidays

A name is what makes you unique. Well, that and your personality, quirks and other traits. But, without your name, you wouldn’t be who you are. Having a name is important. It makes you feel wanted and that you are a part of something. Well, the same goes for having unique name tags.

And what better way to show off your individuality than by wearing a tag with your name on it. There are many types of name tags to choose from: metal, plastic or paper; all sorts of different colors; different printing processes or engraving. The custom choices that you can make for your name tag will make them just as unique as you are.

From custom shapes to blank plastic, name tags have all sorts of uses. Especially around the holidays. Some of our customers use their name tags exclusively for identification. And others use them for creative and fun projects. There is no wrong way to use a name tag. And we have proof that everyone (and everything) needs a name tag! Check out this recent news article.

Here’s What Makes this Christmas Tree Farm Different

Nathan Wilcox started selling Christmas trees when he was 11 years old, and he doesn’t plan to stop any time soon.

“I would have a hard time quitting this because I’d feel I’d let a lot of people down,” Wilcox, 51, said.

The trees come from Wilcox’s farm in Floyd County, about 20 minutes from Radford University, and other parts of Virginia and North Carolina.

And get this: His trees all have names.

His older sister, Becky Belote, came up with the idea of naming the trees and when she stopped selling Christmas trees about 30 years ago, Wilcox decided to carry on the tradition.

Each year, his wife, Karen and their three daughters, Candice, Summer and Julia, would spend Thanksgiving filling out tags with names from family members, friends and classmates. (Karen) said she averages a box of 50 to 100 names a night while watching TV. In the past couple years, she has used popular celebrity names like Justin Bieber.

Both Karen and Nathan try their best to match the names to the right trees, i.e., putting “Charlie Brown” on a small, dinky tree rather than a big one. Once purchased, the trees are given a fresh cut and the employees remove the tree’s price from the name tag. Nathan said customers have told him they keep the name tags and use them as tree ornaments.

“A lot of people actually keep the name tag, for 10, 12, 15 years and use them as ornaments,” he said.

We love that someone is being so unique with their name tag usage.

green plastic unique name tags for Christmas party

Even here at Coller Industries, we have been known to get creative with name tag uses. Gift tags, shelf labels for organizing ribbons and so much more! We have even used them for prizes for picking a creative elf or reindeer name for our company Christmas parties. This creativity should know very few limitations. And adding names isn’t the only thing you should be able to do with name tags.

From brand recognition to conversation starters, name tags are just like names: useful in getting to know someone. And the holidays are no exception. Name tags are often seen as props for party games during company and family get-togethers. They are also great for family reunions and just hanging around with a group of friends.

Name tags are the glue that holds conferences and other events together. From decorations to meeting new clients, creativity is the key to making your name and name tags stand out. Add bright logos, graphics, names, titles and nearly any creative thing you want. Just remember to keep them as unique as you are.