Loudoun & Fairfax Small Businesses: It’s that time of year again... the holidays.

Embraced, dreaded, chaotic, busy and seemingly arriving earlier each year, the holiday season, for most of us, is anything but restful.  And, usually starting right around Halloween, our office gets calls from our tenant businesses asking what we can do to help generate sales or what they can do in the form of promotion.  As a property management firm, that’s natural.  Our years of experience have given us a unique perspective that can help you have a successful and productive holiday season.  And while we’re not going to tell you what to do (that’s your job!), below are a few tips that might be of value. They might even help you find a little more rest during the holiday hustle and bustle...

• Use Customer Common Sense - Sometimes it’s the simple things.  Try to put yourself in your customers’ shoes.  How can you make things easier for them?  What would make total sense to them?  Here’s an example... You want your customers to have easy, convenient access to your entrance, right?  Then shouldn’t you and your employees park away from your entrance?  Common...or customer...sense lets the little things shine through.
• Before You Decorate - Clean up your place! Make it inviting, warm and welcoming.
• OK, Now Decorate - Tastefully!  And do so with respect to the exterior.  You should run any holiday decoration by your landlord - chances are, they’ll be able to help you take your ideas further!  We enjoy doing our part to make our buildings welcoming and festive... without going over the top. (After all, we might lose a few customers if we decorate our space like Clark Griswold.)
• Know When Your Customer Buys - Again, we’re not going to tell you what to do, but we will tell you to determine who your customers are, why they need your product or service and why they might need it more now, during the holiday season, than throughout the rest of the year.  Now you can do what you do!
• Oh, there is one thing we’ll tell you to do: BE OPEN FOR BUSINESS!  We’ll say it again: BE OPEN FOR BUSINESS!  That means longer, convenient hours.  And this should go without saying, but when we say “convenient hours” we mean for your customer, not you!

So again, these tips are just our two cents we’ve picked up along the way.  We’re not here to tell you what to do; we’re here to provide some tips based on our experience, as property managers, with countless small businesses.

And one last job for you as we head into the holidays: if we missed something at any of our properties, tell us!  This goes for the biz tips above as well as the day-to-day.  This time of the year is ushered in with falling leaves and even the occasional  snowstorm.  And while we do a terrific job of clearing, cleaning and maximizing safety at our properties in Northern Virginia, even we miss something every now and then.  So if you see an issue, give the landlord a ring!

Ed Zigo is the President of Clarke-Hook Corporation, a leading development, leasing and management firm of commercial, industrial and retail properties located in the Washington DC region, Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Virginia.