--Make your office a pleasant place to be

--Give everyone on your staff a pumpkin at Halloween and put candy on everyone's desk

--Take your staff and their families on a hay ride

--Have an ice skating party

--Had a good year? Share it with your employees in form of a bonus

--Put a miniature flag on their desk on national holidays

--Praise them when praise is due --Sponsor family barbecues

--Start a softball team

--Send anniversary cards marking anniversary of when they joined your company

--Give them a sweat shirt with your company name on it when they start work. It's a marketing tool for you and for them, and a nice gesture which says, "Welcome to our team."

--Have a wine and cheese party in office once a month

--Let them know your door is always open

--Ask about their familiy members and use their names when you do.

--Treat them with respect

--Stock your kitchen area with munchies

--Celebrate Christmas in July! Take team out to lunch in summer as well as at end of year

--Hold an employee appreciation day

--Place a gift certificate to Starbucks on everyone's desk

--Send a a postcard to everyone in office when you're on vacation

--Out of blue, hire a bunch of kids to wash everyone's car

--Ask your employees for referrals!!!

Other companies may do some of these things, but how many do LOTS of them? Try it. You'll wind up with happy employees who beget happy employees who beget happy employees, and on and on and on! Now you have not only retained your employees, but you've attracted more of same caliber. These suggestions are inexpensive and, I guarantee you, will pay you far more than they cost!

* A woman’s work day does not start at nine and end at five. Many women finish traditional work day with family, shopping and household responsibilities still ahead of them. In women’s complicated lives, they are often too busy to respond to products that are overly complicated, or advertising that requires too much time and attention. In short, simplify, simplify, simplify.

* Be realistic in your advertising. Women are too smart to fall for advertising that features a mother of three who looks like a supermodel. They are too smart to watch teenage girls with porcelain smooth skin complain about how bad their acne is. Don’t try to fool them. They are onto you.

* If all else fails, ASK A WOMAN! If you want to know how to make your product more visually appealing, ask a woman. If you want to know if your advertising makes offensive generalizations, ask a woman. Contrary to popular belief, women do know what they want. If you want to know too, ask them.