What are You Missing?

Tuesday August 26, 2008 • Leave a Comment 

ewsplash-showfloor.jpgOne of the best pieces of advice I give new gift basket retailers is start where you are. This applies not just to getting your first customers. It also applies to keeping up with trends, replenishing inventory, getting marketing ideas and maintaining your enthusiasm.The more you can use vendors, suppliers and manufacturers near you, the more you save time, money and energy. Ultimately, this means more profits for you. 

One of the best places to find all of these things is at tradeshows. While the major tradeshows seem to take place in January and July, there are hundreds of other gift, beverage and gourmet tradeshows throughout the year where you can benefit, some of them near or in your area. 

If you don’t know about these shows, of course, you can’t participate. So, each day this week I will spotlight a tradeshow on my blog. Not only will you get links to registration, but also a sampling of a few of the exhibitors who will be attending that show.  

Yesterday I spotlighted the Las Vegas Souvenir and Gift Show. Check out which show I spotlight today and the rest of the week. 

Not all suppliers will exhibit at tradeshows, however. I’ve discovered some great sources of baskets, enhancements, shipping supplies within a few miles of my studio. You can too. To learn how, listen to Shirley Frazier and me share simple techniques for finding products in and around your town, on a special audio CD , “How to Find Products In and Around Your State.” 

You can also see what you’ve been missing in your area by searching the tradeshows grouped by state on my website here. 



You Asked for It

Tuesday August 19, 2008 • Leave a Comment 

A few  months ago I began asking readers to give me feedback about this newsletter in a survey that appears near the bottom of every issue. Here are some of their comments from the survey followed by my responses.

Reader Comment–I’m finding too many links to businesses that have “ready made” gift baskets. I make my own gift baskets and am not interested in “ready made” baskets. I would like to know where to get supplies without having to download your ebook.
 
My Response–All of my ebooks and e-courses are free, so I suspect that this reader is referring to my product directories that give the contact information for as many as hundreds of wholesalers. I created those directories to save my subscribers and visitors tons of time, energy and frustration searching for this information.For those of you who prefer to locate the information on your own, you certainly may do that. To learn where to get supplies without buying my product directories you only need to go to the same sources I researched to get that information:  directories distributed when you attend tradeshows, searches on Google and other search engines, combing through message boards, networking with other gift basket retailers, reading gift basket blogs and visiting the listing of wholesalers in your state. I compiled my product directories over 17 years of being in the gift basket industry.
Reader Comment–I like your newsletter, but I just wish it was longer.My Response–My newsletter was a lot longer in the beginning, but readers requested that I shorten it so they could read it more quickly. For more extensive coverage on the gift basket business, visit my blog and gift basket websites listed near the bottom of each issue.

Reader Comment –I would like to have more experienced gift basket owners tell of their success, and give ideas on how they found clients to make baskets for. Also, prices to charge based on the size of the basket and the contents.My Response–The recent interviews of gift basket owners covered these very issues and appear in my blog. To learn more about pricing your designs, see Price Right for Peerless Profits.

 Reader Comment–Some of the tips in your newsletter are sometimes too general.My Response–Detailed tips are inGift Basket BusinessWorld Blog
The Gift Basket Library
Easy Gift Basket Ideas
Make Gift Baskets Now
Reader Comment–I’d like to see topics on creating an advertising schedule, business plan, and different types of online contest to ENTER TO WIN A GIFT BASKET.My Response–Shirley Frazier, author of How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business and The Gift Basket Design Book, has covered these very well in her many materials, tutorials, DVDs, CDs, websites and blog. I encourage you to invest in the treasure of resources Shirley has provided based on her 18 years of experience. Visit her site now.




Keep Your Business Alive

Tuesday August 12, 2008 • Leave a Comment 

promote.JPGAugust 12, 2008–Issue 208

If your business is feeling the effects of the economic downturn, you are not alone. In a few years when the economy uprights itself and returns to good times, some businesses will still be alive. Will your business be one of them?  That all  depends on what steps you are taking today to keep your business afloat.

I recently received the following email from one of my subscribers who is concerned about this very issue. Perhaps you can relate to her situation and be helped by my response .

“I make beautiful baskets.  My good customers praise my work.
I have a cute little shop on a busy street.

I read articles on how to market and watch videos all the time. My question is how to get the cars  to stop. I am carrying tea in  my shop now and the other day I advertised for a week and had a tea tasting party for two hours. I had one customer. That was heartbreaking.

I put products out on nice tables and a  side walk sale and put sale signs every where.  They don’t stop.  I am busy for the holidays, but summer is hurting my business.

I need to take my baskets out  to the people. I have joined my local chamber and business women’s group.  They help a little, not much. We need more ideas on how to talk to corporate clients and how to sell our baskets.

My husband says that people have a WalMart mentality.  I love my business and I don’t want to lose it. “

This gift retailer is already doing many things right in her business: tea tasting party, sidewalk sales, advertising and participating in networking groups. I advise her to keep doing these things, but even more aggressively.

Make note of what other businesses are doing to stay afloat and use the techniques that can work for your business.

Lower prices, offer specials, tighten the budget.

Retailers probably resort to these strategies first. The popular sandwich chains, for example, began offering $5 options and the fast food stores stepped up their $1 menu.

I don’t advise you to lower prices of your custom gift basket designs, but you can consider offering more stand-alone gifts and even less expense alternatives such as balloon bouquets.

Don’t try to compete with WalMart, Costco or other big box stores. They can survive on a much lower profit margin, especially since their gift basket offerings are loss leaders.

Tightening the budget can be done by taking a hard look at your expenses and cutting what you no longer need.

My phone company, for example, charges a higher fee for voice mail on business lines than they do for residential lines. I decided to go back to an answer machine rather than pay for the voice mail service. With modern answer machines you can retrieve and manage messages remotely, so there’s no longer a need for the phone company’s overpriced voice mail.

Another area you may be able to cut is in buying supplies and inventory.  In the early days I stock shredded filler of all the major colors. Now I primarily use green, white, and tan filler.

Use local and nearby vendors to save time and money on shipping. If you need tips on finding vendors in your area, invest in my audio CD How to Find Products In and Around Your State.
 

Take your product to the street

Car dealers, pizza shops and other businesses in my area hire sign twirlers to stand on business corners in costumes and twirl signs pointing to the businesses location or announcing specials.

While this may not appeal to you, how about hiring someone to pass out a free balloon imprinted with your store name, website and phone number as they pass your store or on a busy pedestrian corner. Almost no one turns down a free balloon.

Capture contact information of visitors to your website.

Every visitor to your website won’t become a customer, but they could become part of your database. For this to happen, however, you must devise a way to get them to give you their names and email addresses, but also phone number would be great.
Website visitors love to sign up for free newsletters, free reports or a free list of tips.

Create one of these and using an autoresponder such as AWeber you can begin to build a list of potential customers.

After the visitor downloads the free item you’ve offered, you can now email special offers and promotions to them on a regular basis.

Follow up on current customers.

Stay in touch with your customers. Get the contact information of your customers to your retail store, as well as storing the information of your online customers. Then, send regular email or postcards announcing new products, events or specials.

Bath and Body Works is expert at this. Almost every week I get a mailing from them offering $10 off a $30 purchase, a free gift with purchase and sometimes a free gift without purchase. Then, after you buy something in the store you receive another coupon for money off a future purchase. All of their specials have expiration dates, thus encouraging you to act quickly.

Latch on to trends

Along with concerns about the economy, people are increasingly concerned about the environment. Let your customers know that you support this movement by offering products that are recyclable, organic and safe for our bodies and the environment.

What kind of items can you add to an environmentally friendly gift basket?
organic tea
Fair trade coffee
lip balm
essential oils
Tree in a Box
Baby Tree Gift Kit
Books on organic and vegetarian cooking 
Envirosax reusable shopping bags 
aromatherapy and organic bath products 

Read more about keeping green with your wedding gift baskets here.
For more ideas on keeping your business alive, read these articles.

Girlfriend Getaways are Hot Gift Basket Idea
Spark New Profits for Your Gift Basket Business
Sell Your Gift Baskets to the People Who Have Money
You Get an A+ for Cashing in on the Back to School Season

To best serve your the corporate market you have to find out their needs. The only way to learn this is get acquainted with the decision makers and gatekeepers and ask them or observe what drives their companies.

All small business and corporate clients want repeat and referral business. How can your gift basket business help them do that? If you can figure out how to help them do that, you can keep your business alive.

If you want to learn how to put these ideas into action in your particular gift basket business, get experienced help with my private consultation. My private clients are doing well because they get all their questions answered, they learn where to find products, how to conduct corporate presentations and they follow my guidance based on 17 years of experience in the gift basket industry.

If you’re ready to get the customized help you deserve, invest in private consultation, available by phone or in person now.

You’ve already tried struggling alone. Why do that any longer when you can invest in expert help? Get more details here now.