Apr
30
Ready to Try a Trade Show?
Filed Under Marketing Materials, TRADE SHOWS | 2 Comments
Today’s mail just arrived. It includes an invitation to show your gift baskets at an upcoming regional business show and promises to be visited by local firms, from temp agency reps to landscapers.
This may be a great opportunity to show your gift baskets to hundreds of potential corporate clients. Will you exhibit? Here’s what to consider before signing up.
1. Get the facts. Ask the show producers about last year’s attendance numbers. Also request last year’s show directory so you can call random exhibitors for their feedback on the past event.
2. Choose your marketing materials. Flyers, catalog sheets, and a giveaway drawing that lets you collect business cards for post-event contact are the norm. If you have no literature to distribute, don’t exhibit at this show.
Do you recall the brochure samples I shared with you?
Brochure Flyer
Trifold Brochure
Standard Catalog
Four Page Catalog
3. Create your database. Your post-show strategy includes entering prospects’ names and addresses into a database (or hiring an outsourcing company to complete the project), and calling as many of them as possible to sell them on your baskets for general appreciation and upcoming occasions.
Trade show exhibiting connects you with prospects whom you normally have no access to, and it’s a fantastic way to increase your sales throughout the year.
Learn more on how to create a simple Web site contact page for prospects to ask questions before ordering.
Technorati Tags: gift baskets business, how to exhibit at trade shows, marketing materials, catalogs and flyers
Apr
27
Summer Gift Baskets, Photography, Marketing Materials
Filed Under Corporate Baskets, Marketing Materials, Photography | 2 Comments
MAKE SUMMER SALES SIZZLE
You’re working fast and furiously to create spring gift baskets, and suddenly, sales fall flat. It’s now summer, and you didn’t create a plan to keep sales strong. What can you do now to keep the revenue flowing? Wednesday’s newsletter reveals five methods to make the summer a sales bonanza and plant seeds you’ll reap in the fall and winter.
TAKE PHOTOS IN A SNAP
Do you remember to take pictures of each gift basket you make, whether for a customer or one made as an experimental design? Here’s a little encouragement to buy a camera that captures photos of your masterpieces.
ORDER YOUR MARKETING PIECES EARLY
I sometimes use all of my marketing materials and find that I have nothing else in stock as a substitute. Has this happened to you? Here’s a lesson in what may act as a backup and how not to let your materials deplete at the last minute.
Technorati Tags: gift baskets business, business marketing materials, how to increase summer sales, how to photograph your work
Apr
23
Prepare Now for Summer Sales
Filed Under Corporate Baskets, Planning | Leave a Comment
Certain questions are asked frequently at my trade show seminars, one of which is, “How do you keep sales up during the summer?”
I recall a few things before responding to this, keeping in mind that my answer doesn’t work for everyone, but at the least it provides fuel for other methods to maintain a healthy business during summer months.
First, I think about how much I needed a break versus working on designs. It’s certainly a balancing act when beautiful weather seems to call your name. Also, I remember the preparations I made in the spring to encourage sales and what other designers tell me they’ve done to keep revenues high.
Here are the five top methods that encourage summer sales.
1. Mention your collection of summertime baskets to customers as you deliver Administrative Professionals Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day baskets.
Here are ideas for Dad’s Day before you start buying.
2. Remind clients that summer baskets brighten the day for relatives whom you cannot visit during the season. Emotion is a big part of our sales message.
3. Create postcards showing a photograph of your children’s summer fun baskets, and send them to clients who have children and grandchildren. The convenience of quick delivery takes one more task off their list.
Learn more about postcard marketing.
4. Ask area colleges how you can include your back-to-school basket information in materials sent to students’ homes.
Here’s what’s popular in many back-to-school baskets.
5. Tell clients about your corporate baskets that express mid-year appreciation to independent offices or single departments within large corporations. Saying “thanks” before the December holidays stands out as a big gesture, and you’ll win loyalty.
One of these five ideas has the potential to create huge sales during the summer while you fit extended-weekend vacations into your plans.
Technorati Tags: gift baskets business, summer gift baskets, back to school baskets, corporate gift baskets, thank you gift baskets
Apr
20
HOSPITALS SEARCH FOR YOUR HELP
My first meeting at a hospital gift shop bombed. I didn’t research the market to learn what made them buy, and my gift baskets were rejected. Luckily, the manager gave me another chance, and they soon became a long-term client.
Wednesday’s newsletter provides the condensed version of how to sell to this lucrative industry so that your first meeting guarantees a healthy sale.
HOW TO SPEAK AND SELL
Your presentation in front of an audience will be successful if it answers one question: What do I want them to do when it’s over? Ask The Gift Basket Expert responds to this dilemma, and another designer’s comment adds to the conversation to ensure that your speech wins sales.
Technorati Tags: gift baskets business, hospital gift baskets, how to create a great presentation, speaking tips
Apr
16
Hospitals, like many institutions worldwide, are trimming staff and expenses, but the hospital gift shop is still booming. Why?
Gone are the days when we only considered delivering baskets to patients. Now the hospital gift shop is the primary place to offer our gifts and baskets for resale. Here are three tips to keep in mind before offering your goods.
1. Take a look at their merchandise before you proceed. Offering them items they already have in stock will get you a thumbs-down response.
2. Think low cost, high volume. Hospital gift shops sell small, off-the-shelf gifts rather than grand baskets. Combining items such as plush and lollipops or puzzles and dietetic candies wrapped in attractive cellophane will get their attention and this corporate account.
3. Keep your costs at a minimum. Remember that you are selling gift bundles outright and not on consignment. Gift shops must have enough cushion to re-price your products.
Working with hospital shops can be lucrative. This is a client with high turnover, which means that you’ll be busy replenishing items that sell each month. The packages you make require little fuss, thereby cutting down on your labor. That’s the best way to profit with this client.
The gift ideas at Retail Wraps, specifically the baby gift and cellophane wrapping examples, expand your creativity and potential to work with hospital gift shops.
Technorati Tags: gift baskets, hospital gift shops, how to outsource your services
