My favorite week of work every year is the week leading up to Valentine’s Day. For the last 20 years, I’ve spent this time touring supermarket floral departments and helping to execute thoughtfully planned balloon programs. This time at retail is the most effective way to understand the challenges and watch the execution of balloons during the busiest balloon holiday of the year. As you know, the best-laid plans for merchandising and execution can be foiled by weather, inexperienced staff, or staff not following the directions.

So, here are my favorite tips for Valentine’s Day balloon execution:

A well-stocked supermarket floral center should include plenty of balloons for Valentine’s Day. Inflate larger balloons in January. These jumbos, singing balloons and helium shapes float longer and alert your consumers that you have the gifts they need for Valentine’s Day. It also gets some of the work out of the way before the fresh flowers arrive and need attention.

Don’t worry about other stores in your shopping center that also sell balloons. Seriously. Wherever the customer shops, that is where they will buy balloons. They won’t leave your store and go to another store searching for a better price — not even a dollar store. Balloons are a blind item — they are purchased wherever the consumer is already shopping.

Keep like styles and price points floating together. So often, I walk into a store and see a very confusing cluster of balloons, all different sizes and prices, which makes it hard to decipher what I want to buy. Keep similar balloons together to make a stronger merchandising impact.

Stick balloons should be out on the floor in early January. Teach your cashiers to look for them in the consumer bunches as an add-on. If there is a UPC sticker on the balloon, it must be scanned separately. Otherwise, the balloon leaves the store for free.

Inflate all balloons at least five days before the Feb. 14. You’ll be too busy with fresh product to inflate if you wait until the day before. Trust me on this — I’ve seen this mistake over and over again. It is a painful problem because it costs the store sales and stresses out the staff.

Finally, expect your supplier to create a visual timeline for your stores to follow for inflation and display. Don’t assume your in-store team will know how to tackle this holiday and don’t spend your precious time creating it — that’s what a smart balloon vendor does for you as a value-added service.

Elissa Mast is president and chief executive officer at E&R Sales in Richmond, VA. She can be contacted at 1-800/234-7474 or [email protected].