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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Jan

20

Finding Products, Failure versus Success

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SUPPLY SIDE STORY
A wholesaler sells exactly what you want, and they’re local, which makes it even better. But now you learn they’re closing. What’s the first step, besides crying, to find a suitable replacement? Wednesday’s newsletter contains solutions to keep your resource options open.

IS IT BETTER TO FAIL?
I don’t often find good humor online, but this story will make your sides ache. “Failure is Now An Option” explains why it’s okay to give up your pursuit of just about anything. You’ll find a link to the article at Solo Business Marketing.

A PHOTO MAY WIN YOU TWO BOOKS
Why is your Valentine’s Day gift basket the one everyone must have next month? Tell me in this new contest, and you might win you two of my books, autographed to you. See the rules and enter by Wednesday, January 23.

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Jan

16

When a Supplier Goes Out of Business…

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The last thing any of us want to see is a trusted and conveniently-located supplier hang a “closing sale” sign above their door. It affects the owner’s lifestyle, the community’s strength, and your business. How do you prepare to move forward without this resource?

1. Buy as much of the goods, within budget, that you’re sure to resell. Paying for speculative merchandise is an unnecessary expense, and it also wastes storage space. Stick with products and supplies you know customers will order.

2. Make time to search for the next best facility. Begin your search by asking the owner if he knows of or works with competing firms in your area. Next, conduct an online search through Google, Yahoo, and MSN. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that another supplier has opened in close proximity.

The audio CD, How to Find Products In and Around Your State, unleashes dozens of ideas to locate hidden warehouses. It’s the last title listed in the CD section.

3. Begin placing orders at well-known sources that deliver to your door. If you add up the miles traveled to suppliers, the numbers may be telling you it’s time to start ordering by phone. That will leave you more time for designing and marketing.

A Borders bookstore in my area is closing, and I made one trip there yesterday to save 40-75 percent.

My book, How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business (4th edition), was in the business section. I’m giving away this book along with my new title, Marketing Solutions for the Home-Based Business, in a contest that ends on Wednesday, January 23.

This contest is open to worldwide gift basket designers. See the rules here.

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