Gift Baskets Newsletter » Corporate Baskets

Three Ways to Increase Your Corporate Sales

Shirley George Frazier — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:51:00 +0000

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.

© 2008-2010 Shirley George Frazier. All rights reserved. Shirley George Frazier is the world's expert on the gift basket industry, professional speaker, and author of How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business, The Gift Basket Design Book, and Marketing Strategies for the Home-Based Business: Solutions You Can Use Today. Visit GiftBasketBusiness.com for DVDs, CDs, reports, tips, and more to learn, grow, and profit with gift baskets.

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How to Plan Now for Christmas Gift Basket Orders

Shirley George Frazier — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:44:34 +0000

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.

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How Containers Can Get You a Big Account

Shirley George Frazier — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:47:49 +0000

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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How to Create a Web Site that Markets Your Gift Baskets

Shirley George Frazier — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:50:16 +0000

Serve Up Support Staff Sales

Administrative assistants, secretaries, clerks – these titles are part of the corporate support umbrella in every firm worldwide.

What’s your plan for marketing to supervisors who want to show appreciation and need your help?

Watch this video tutorial all about gift baskets for Administrative Professionals Week.

Wow Them on the Web

How do you change your Web site to market spring gift baskets?

Adding photographs, text, and customer comments are part of the mission, but there’s more to convince prospects to become clients.

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How Gift Baskets for Support Staff Increase Your Corporate Client List

Shirley George Frazier — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:51:27 +0000

No matter how much a company downsizes, support staff continues to be the backbone of every firm.

This highly-skilled position, whether called receptionist, clerk, secretary, or administrative executive, is prized because the person in charge knows how to balance duties and discretion.

Selling gift baskets to large and small companies for Administrative Professionals Week begins by reviewing contacts in each company. It doesn’t matter if you know the janitor or junior vice president; the key is to ask the person for support to contact people in charge of purchasing in one, several or many departments, depending on how the company is structured.

Your inventory must be comprised of products that will reward those who serve in the front office and board room. If you’re ready to show your best, prospects will buy from you to thank their support staff for a job well done.

10 Sure-Fire Ways to Cash In on Administrative Professionals Week addresses this topic more extensively. Click here to learn more about this business building CD.

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