Aug
6
Mega Tips for the Mega Sale
Filed Under Organize Your Workspace, Sales-Increasing Strategies | Leave a Comment
This morning you enter your office and find a mega order waiting for you. A new client wants 500 gift baskets made and delivered to a local conference center. How can you complete this order on time, satisfy and client, and ensure that you’re ready for the next big sale?
Many designers turn to high school juniors and seniors or college students for help. They are full of energy and eager to get the job done.
Contact a high school or college counselor. Tell him how many students are needed, time length for the project, and per hour salary for the task. Salaries, on average, range from $7 to $10 per hour, depending on duties.
Set up your workspace in a well ventilated area with lots of room for busy hands. Determine which duties can be completed by the students and which tasks are suited for you.
You’re delivering the gift baskets, so it may be best to rent a small truck since most cars and personal vans are incapable of handling the load. You’ll only need the truck for several hours, which will keep the cost to a minimum.
Be sure to collect a minimum 50 percent deposit to cover the cost for products, salaries, trash disposal, and truck rental.
Keep meticulous notes about the project, including what worked and what didn’t.
Also list the names of the best students, keeping the information in a file to contact them again through the school’s counselor, and get their home telephone numbers in case the next mega order arrives during the Christmas break or the following summer.
This plan is crucial to grow your business. Get ready - Christmas is coming, and so are the mega orders.
How to Find Holiday Help provides more insight to prepare you for the big event.
Jul
27
How to Sell in the Summer, Insurance Tips, Target Market
Filed Under Insurance, Sales-Increasing Strategies | Leave a Comment
YOUR SUMMER SURVIVAL GUIDE
July and August are two months with notorious reputations for slow sales, but that’s not true for designers who’ve prepared a number of promotions that turn the tide from slow to super. Wednesday’s newsletter explains why it’s not too late to increase your sales right now. Try one of the options next week.
COVER YOUR ASSETS
I operated my gift basket business without insurance the first year I started designing. Then I read how someone working in another industry might lose their personal possessions because they were uninsured. Are you also working without a net? Learn more here about business insurance and how protect what your own.
HOW TO TARGET YOUR MARKET
Who is your customer? What are their traits, and how do you find them? Here’s one definition of target market, and this quick article shares information I cover in my PR and marketing seminar, which I’ll share in detail next weekend at the Orlando Gift Show.
Jul
20
Trade Shows, Asking Questions, Imprinting Machines
Filed Under Customers, TRADE SHOWS, Wholesale Suppliers | Leave a Comment
FROM CHAOS TO CALM
There are certain expectations when you begin making gift baskets. First, you wonder if you’ll get sales, and when they arrive, you wonder how to organize everything, including travel. Wednesday’s newsletter provides trade show alternatives when you cannot travel, which includes magazines to get this month to read gift basket articles.
WHAT’S YOUR QUESTION?
Learning about the receiver, before you begin designing, ensures that the gift basket matches their preferences. What do you ask, and are the questions organized on paper rather than by memory? Here’s what I asked a client before dazzling 25 members of her day care staff.
HOW TO PRINT UP SALES
What type of ribbon imprinter is in your workspace, and can it do more than imprint on ribbon? One designer is searching for a special imprinter to satisfy her clients with different types of personalization. Her question is at Ask The Gift Basket Expert. Can you help her?
Jul
6
Bereavement Baskets, Quick Changes, Accounting Tips
Filed Under Bereavement, Money, Sales-Increasing Strategies | Leave a Comment
IT’S BEREAVED, YET BEAUTIFUL
How many bereavement baskets did you create between January and June? As with all baskets, these heartfelt creations are made with tender-loving care. Wednesday’s newsletter provides a number of options for what to place in your bereavement baskets and how to ensure that clients will choose your gifts for this and all occasions.
HOW TO BE A QUICK CHANGE ARTIST
“Can you take out the cookies and put in cranberries?” is a question one client asked me a year ago. The latter is more expensive, so I had to do some quick thinking to satisfy her and still make a profit. You’ll get pointers from this article on making sure you don’t give away the store in one basket.
ACCOUNT FOR YOUR CASH
Keeping your business records intact takes initiative and dedication, and keeping your money out of the wrong hands takes lots of double checking. Even if you don’t outsource your accounting, this article shares advice on choosing trustworthy people to watch over your money.
Jun
29
Money for Business, Fragrance Mixing, Client Surveys
Filed Under Money, Sales-Increasing Strategies | Leave a Comment
BASKET CASH FOR BUSINESS
Years ago, a New Jersey-based gift basket owner won $10,000 in cash and a laptop through an American Express contest. I was thrilled to read the story, but I’m sure she was more thrilled to use the money for her shop, which still thrives today. Wednesday’s newsletter tells you about another gift basket designer who won a grant and how you can uncover funds for your business.
MIXING CHOCOLATES AND SUDS
Can sweets and scents be combined in the same basket? I never gave the two a thought until I realized how strong a smell came from my perfumed soaps. This quick article provides more insight into this seemingly-problematic situation.
SERVING CLIENTS WITH SURVEYS
How do you know if your gift baskets benefit clients? Creating and distributing surveys are one way to find out. Best of all, it doesn’t take lots of time to put one together. This tip will lead you to another source that helps you launch a survey to sell more gifts and baskets.
