A sale or special promotion at a retail clothing store increases cash flow and the flow of customers into your store. Advertise the sale in the local newspaper, your website and engage your social media followers. Hand out flyers to all the customers several weeks before the sale. Hang banners in the store's windows during the sale.

Preseason Sale

Sales are usually held at the end of the season to make room for the upcoming season. In other words, bathing suits go on sale in August, so there's room for the fall clothes in September. A preseason sale offers in-season clothing at the beginning of the season to draw in customers. For instance, in October offer all winter coats at 33 percent off for one weekend. Another alternative are shorts and tops for summer at a discount in May.

Escalating Discounts

This is sometimes called a gambler's sale. Start the sale with a 45 percent discount on Thursday. Increase the discount to 60 percent on Friday and 75 percent on Saturday, the last day of the sale. It's called a gambler's sale, because the customers are betting the items they want will still be available on the last day at a higher discount. The sale could be held on one day with the highest discounts offered the last two hours before the store closes.

Holidays

Christmas is the make it or break it season for retail sales. However there are other holidays that could increase your sales. Hold a St. Patrick's Day sale with all green or gold clothing on sale. Provide shoppers with an envelope that contains a red, white and blue coupon with a discount from 10 percent to 75 percent to shop your Fourth of July sale. Other holidays include Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Halloween.

Used Clothing for Charity

Supporting a charity provides a service to the community and is an opportunity to increase visibility for your store -- as well as sales. Customers receive $1 in savings for every item of gently used clothing they bring into the store. You could limit the savings to a maximum of $20 per customer. Other options include a food drive or contributions for medical care for homeless children. For every dollar customers donate to medical care they receive a $1 in merchandise.

Early Bird

Opening the store early with huge discounts is a tried and true method of luring in customers on Black Friday -- the Friday after Thanksgiving. It works at other times of the year as well. Start the sale off at 6 a.m. with a 75 percent discount. Decrease the discount 2 percentage points every five minutes. For example at 6:30 a.m. the discount drops to 63 percent, at 7 a.m. the discount is 51 percent, at 7:30 a.m. it's 39 percent. Another option is offering a $50 free shopping coupon to the first 10 or 20 people in line when the store opens or buy $50 worth of merchandise and receive $50 off on your next purchase.