Oct

14

Is It Time to Fire a Client?

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CALLING IT QUITS
Is it time to say “goodbye” to difficult clients? When the stress of dealing with certain customers gets to the breaking point, use these steps to end the relationship.
 
DONATIONS DONE RIGHT
Do organizations ask you for gift baskets? Here’s smart advice to make sure your donation lands you more contacts and clients.

Oct

10

Three Marketing Methods

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If you find yourself grasping for marketing ideas, it’s time to create a better plan with information you already own. Here’s how to start.
 
1. Use your best-selling themes as a marketing tool.
 
Create postcards featuring photos of two top-selling baskets. Choose one personal and one corporate design. Mail a minimum of 50 postcards each month (more if possible) to current clients and strong leads.
 
Mail your postcards at the beginning of each month to remind clients about personal and business gift-giving occasions.
 
2. Let past purchases be your guide.
 
Your sales records show when and for what occasions clients order gift baskets. Next year, contact clients one month before birthdays, anniversaries, corporate events, etc., which occurred in 2007 to capture new orders for the same event.
 
3. Incorporate monthly celebrations into your plan.
 
People buy gifts for non-traditional reasons. Why not offer baskets that coincide with monthly occasions such as popcorn month or healthy foot care month? List these gifts on your Web site or in your electronic newsletter. Your inventory allows you to create these baskets without buying extra stock.
 
There’s no need to re-invent the wheel when marketing ideas are found in your own files.

Oct

7

Halloween Baskets

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CUSTOMERS ARE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK
How many new clients are you overlooking by not attending local events? This true story inspires ideas to start looking for sales in your own backyard.
 
GET MORE TREATS THAN TRICKS
Want help to increase your year-round sales? Here’s a link to four quick-to-read articles that make selling less scary.

Oct

3

Turn Sorry Into Sales

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Businesses don’t only need gift baskets in good times. They also require your designs when they mistakenly create ill will towards customers. When this happens, it’s time for you to offer them apology baskets, and fast.
 
Three things to remember when creating apology baskets:
 
1. Don’t make these gifts too glamorous. It must say “I’m sorry” without making the offending company look dazzling. Your client will have plenty of chances to order something grand, but for now, a low-key basket looks sincere and rebuilds trust.
 
2. Ask questions about the ordered basket so that the intention doesn’t backfire. Is the recipient dieting, allergic to certain foods, partial to Kosher products, etc.?
 
3. Suggest to the client that this gift basket be hand delivered by one of their company’s representatives. If the recipient is located out of town, that makes the personal touch impossible, but the suggestion shows your concern and expertise in knowing what works to mend a relationship.
 
I purchased several pairs of decorative shoes to create “foot in the mouth” apology gifts. A photo of the shoe is featured with the article Three Tips for Gift Basket Promotion.
 
It’s smart business to sell gift baskets in good times and bad, and the revenue from both isn’t sorry at all.

Oct

1

Welcome to the Gift Baskets Newsletter

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Since the early 1990s, it’s been my pleasure to share gift basket design ideas, news, tips, and more to aspiring and veteran designers.

I remember driving to Office Max to make copies of Basketell, one early version of my newsletter. This eight-page, bi-monthly publication was copied onto green 11 by 17-inch sheets which were stapled in half and mailed to subscribers.

Today, the Web makes newsletter delivery quick and easy. No more driving to an outside source to publish information that increases your profits. It’s all done right here, in front of my computer, so that you can grow your business at a pace you can handle.

This site serves as an archive to my gift basket business newsletter published every Wednesday and Sunday. Subscribe to the publication by clicking to this page. The information will arrive in your Email so you can quickly take advantage of the ideas.

Bookmark this site and visit often. I also welcome your comments. Send me a message anytime.

Shirley George Frazier
Author, How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business
Author, The Gift Basket Design Book

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