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Aug
26
Three Ways to Increase Your Corporate Sales
Filed Under Corporate Baskets | Comments Off
A winning plan to increase your gift baskets sales won’t fall from the sky. You must be committed to follow a solid, well-organized action plan that you either write yourself or get help to write from outside sources.
Joining a local gift basket group can be helpful, a topic that’s raised in this article about creating a mastermind group.
But what if you’re not a mastermind member or have a gift basket group near you? If that’s the case, here’s three ways to get your plan crafted for action.
1. Write down the results you want first, then work backwards to set the objectives.
2. Broaden your pool of potential clients. If one real estate firm is your customer, contact other industry participants.
3. Check your budget, making sure that you have enough money to start and follow up on every aspect of your plan.
Putting your plan on paper and creating action steps will increase your corporate gift basket sales quicker than simply wishing and hoping that your business turns around.
Learn More:
Want help in designing a gift basket sales plan?
Sign up for the upcoming teleseminar, Corporate Gift Baskets: How to Find Clients and Get Orders. The 15-minute preview call is Tuesday, August 31. Click here for details.
Aug
19
“Sending your deluxe thank you gift basket to the nurses was the first thing on my mind when I heard that my aunt was recovering from surgery. How fast can you get it there?”
That’s one customer’s telephone conversation a gift basket designer shared with me during our weekly mentorship meeting.
She’s noticed a big and positive change in her sales since she began contacting customers, online and offline, to remind them about her gift basket service.
Notice that the above doesn’t state that she talks about gift baskets. Instead, she reminds them about the reasons for giving and the value that her gifts represent both to the customer and recipient.
The more she positions her gifts and baskets in that manner, the more calls, customers, and sales she receives.
Like this designer, when you focus on benefits, your sales will rise. That’s the key to increasing profits in every economy.
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Need to re-position your business or want to talk about another problem that’s keeping sales stagnant?
You still have time to speak with me (this special service ends on August 31). Just click the Setster link below to make an appointment, and we’ll talk by phone at the time you choose. It’s just $1 a minute, and you’ll have one or several great solutions in 30 minutes or less.
Aug
12
How to Plan Now for Christmas Gift Basket Orders
Filed Under Corporate Baskets, Sales-Increasing Strategies | Comments Off
Even if you’re the greatest designer in your region, customers will not line up at your door to buy gift baskets! There are simply too many competitors for them to choose from whether due to convenience or budget.
This means you must create a step-by-step campaign by computer or on paper to contact your customers every two or three weeks starting now to get attention and sales.
The need for such a campaign is necessary today as it was years ago.
A gift basket store owner I interviewed in 2001 gained most of her Christmas orders by sending customers a Year 2000 printout in early October showing who received past orders along with an easy way to order new gift baskets with delivery instructions on the same printout.
Yesterday, I delivered a customized snack bag to a bank teller, something I promised to create because of the teller’s impeccable service. The cellophane-wrapped gift included multiple snacks, bowls, and napkins for every employee’s enjoyment, including the branch manager who requested my services on the spot to create holidays gift baskets for her top clients.
Whether by mail or in person, the time is now to develop and launch your Christmas action plan to encourage customers to order holiday gift baskets.
You’ll find ‘Tis the Season to Start Selling and Pre-Holiday Q&A Part 1 and Part 2 helpful with this mission.
How will you proceed? Share your plans in the comment section below, or ask questions here to get your plan underway.
Aug
5
How Containers Can Get You a Big Account
Filed Under Corporate Baskets | Comments Off
Back-to-school season reminds me of a lesson I’ll always remember, one that won me a college account to make 280 gifts for new and returning professors.
The lesson was basic – display educational gifts in containers, in place of or in addition to baskets, when showing administrators what you design.
The meeting to show the types of available gifts for professors was confirmed when I visited the college to speak with one of my former teachers who happens to also work at the school. She introduced me to her supervisor, and I mentioned my business and the types of companies I serve.
I could almost see the wheels spinning in the supervisor’s mind. She wanted to say something, so I stopped talking.
“You know, we were thinking of ordering some gifts to welcome teachers back to school. Do you make those types of gifts?,” quickly adding, “But we’re not necessarily looking for baskets.”
I mentioned some alternative containers and styling, and we scheduled a meeting for the next day.
Here’s what I showed her with items packed inside each.
- Square, decorative box
- Tote bag
- Small trunk
- Oval bucket
- Tin pail
She selected four, and the contract specified that the number of gifts be evenly divided in the chosen containers (70 each).
Gift creation for back to school and other events often begins with a basket selection from your inventory, but there are times when a container will stand out and be approved faster because the customer knows that the recipient will appreciate displaying the container elsewhere in a home or office.
Chapter 10 in The Gift Basket Design Book shows many non-basket options, including instructions to design a trunk gift and tea cup.
What occasion can you recall where displaying a gift in a container, rather than a basket, generated a sale?
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