Mar

9

Gift Basket Supplies, How to Network With Others

Filed Under Startup Help, Wholesale Suppliers | Comments Off

FINDING WHAT YOU NEED TO DESIGN
There are times you need sausage, cheese, crackers, and other main stays to create a design, but you also require specialty products when making a masterpiece the client will always remember.

Wednesday’s newsletter leads you to product sources in your state and in other regions to sell more of your gifts and baskets every day.

HOW TO MAKE NETWORKING EASIER
Is it difficult for you to meet new people during networking sessions? Sometimes it’s not easy for me either, but I bet that three steps I outline in How Not to Work a Room will help you make the most of each event.

HELP THIS DESIGNER
A designer asked a question on how to name gift baskets made with Amish products. Do you have any ideas? Read her dilemma (and respond if you wish) at Ask The Gift Basket Expert. Do you have a question about gift baskets? Send it through the Question Submission Rules link at the top of each page.

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Mar

5

How to Find Products Online

Filed Under Wholesale Suppliers | 2 Comments

Your office phone rings. It’s a new customer, and she’s prepared to order a custom birthday basket. But there’s a problem. She’s asking for products you don’t have in stock.

How can you complete the sale to her satisfaction (and yours) without running around town as an unpaid personal shopper, retrieving the items she requests?

Here are two tips that help designers like you to keep as many sales as possible without going overboard on a shopping excursion.

1. Offer Alternatives. When a client asks for a product that is different from anything you normally stock, review your product list and suggest something else in its place. The alternative doesn’t have to be an exact match, but it should mirror the requested product’s theme or flavor.

Clients don’t know what you have until you tell them about your product selection. I bet that your customers aren’t so rigid that they would turn down every alternative.

The new Gift Basket Wholesale Supplies site lets you search your state to find specific products or research other states for everyday favorites. A search tool is available as well. Most states are online now, and all will be available by this weekend.

2. Create New Terms. If you wish to go the personal shopping route, inform the client that you’ll be happy to find the requested item — for a custom shopper’s fee.

Many designers post their personal shopping terms in their literature and on their Web sites. These prices start at $25 an hour to find specific products. When found, designers increase the retail price by 20-30 percent. Both costs (hourly and retail price increase) are passed on to the customer.

If the client agrees, then you’ve found a great customer who understands that your time comes with a price. If the client declines, go back to Option No. 1.

Making Money with Special Services uncovers more tips on making money with personal shopping.

Commit to the above tips, or years from now you’ll be looking at strange products in your inventory that no one requests for their baskets.

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Mar

2

How to Contact Customers, Do You Name Your Baskets?

Filed Under Customers, Sales-Increasing Strategies | Comments Off

HOW TO CONNECT WITH CORPORATIONS
Selling to the corporate market provides you with more opportunities to earn revenue on a consistent basis. Are you doing everything possible to make those connections? Wednesday’s newsletter shares three tips to find success selling to corporations. Use those ideas to jumpstart a new or stalled plan.

KEEP CURRENT CLIENTS CLOSE
Why do we focus on finding new customers when current ones are more likely to buy again and refer others? This article reveals three ways I stay in touch with people who’ve purchased. Use this blueprint to stay in touch with clients who’ll stay loyal because you’ve done the same with them.

NAME THAT BASKET
Do you know that by giving each gift basket a name, you give it instant personality? Ask The Gift Basket Expert answers a designer’s question on choosing names for gift baskets. Learn how theme names play a role to increase sales.

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