Gift Baskets Newsletter » Planning

How to Start 2012 with Success You Really Can Achieve

Shirley George Frazier — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:45:10 +0000

Your time is now divided between filling holiday orders and reviewing your 2012 sales and marketing plan so you know what to do and how to proceed in business before the New Year arrives.

You not only have all products in stock, at this point, to design holiday baskets but have also created a sales estimate for the first quarter of 2012 and know what type of promotions you will set in motion to achieve your goals.

Informal surveys show that companies that plan ahead in this manner profit up to 35 percent more than those that don’t.

The most profitable plans for each quarter include:

Marketing every day
Calling customers
Attending events
Reading success stories
Improving customer service
Perfecting the elevator pitch

It’s time to push your fears aside and try something better in the New Year. Why? Because your business will not succeed if you don’t go beyond where you are right now.

Your success is the focus of the teleseminar, 3 Things I Did in My Business from January to March to Increase Earnings by $10,000 and How You Can, Too, scheduled for Thursday, November 17.

You’ll find information about the event through this link. If you’re serious about gift baskets being the business that pays for a lifestyle you want to enjoy, join us to learn how to do it.

© 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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Three Ways to Get Those Orders You’re Waiting For

Shirley George Frazier — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:03:46 +0000

Right now, you’re monitoring the phone and watching your Email to learn if the customers you’ve contacted will soon place gift basket orders.

And it’s not coming.

Is there anything you can do right now to get those customers off the fence and into the order line? Here are three things to do as soon as you can.

1. Call them directly.

No, you’re not pushy. In fact, the call is a service that helps them get this all-important task off their desk. Remember that your customers are busy people. A call from you helps them finalize this one detail. You get the order; they get appreciation from receivers.

2. Participate in Friday’s free shipping day.

I mention this upcoming event in an article at GiftBasketBusiness.com. If you participate, your offer can be contained within a certain geographic location rather than provide free shipping globally. There are other ways to modify this offer, as 18 of my designer clients will pursue. Be sure to let clients know about your one day event.

3. Make them aware of your deadline.

Most of us won’t be making and delivering gift baskets in a Santa-like frenzy, cranking out custom designs and getting them to addresses by Christmas morning. No, we’ve long realized that setting a deadline day encourages early orders or at least orders that arrive before our posted deadlines. Be sure that customers know your schedule.

There’s not much time left to put one or all of these practices in motion. Take action now, because your customers deserve to make family and friends happy with your beautiful gifts made just for them.

IMPORTANT CHANGE: As of January 2011 this newsletter, Basket Biz, will be delivered through a new system rather than through the method you receive it now. Sign up here today for the new, updated newsletter.

What’s the difference between the old and new? The new delivery method of Basket Biz will include videos and audios directly in the newsletter, where the old method will not.

Thank you in advance for your continued subscription to Basket Biz, the free newsletter that connects you with the latest tips, trends, and ideas to make gift baskets and grow a successful business.

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Reposition Your Business to Focus on Benefits

Shirley George Frazier — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:44:33 +0000

“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.

———-

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.

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Your Corporate Gift Basket Profit Plan

Shirley George Frazier — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:10:37 +0000

July and August are months when corporations make their decisions about how they’ll profit, what they’ll pay employees, and into which departments monies will be distributed in the upcoming year.

This is a wise time for you to make commitments about your business as well for end-of-year sales and your 2011 action plan.

Start by reviewing last year’s sales and deciding to increase that amount by a certain percentage such as 15 or 25 percent.
Then begin deciding how you’ll contact new and current customers to capture their early holiday orders.
Finally, write on paper your big goals for the new year and objectives that will secure those plans.

What I share above is how I developed plans for my business many years ago. My percentage increase plan was 20 percent, and that was exceeded by gaining accounts from my bank’s manager and insurance agent.

Postcards were my big contact plan along with sales that came from a newspaper feature story about my business. Television appearances were my big goals for the next year, a feat I once thought was not achievable but transformed my business for the better.

The GiftBasketBusiness.com blog post, Four Ways to Woo Corporate Clients, shares insights that were inspired by designers’ questions about getting corporate sales.

Your success story will be different than mine, and most of all you will accomplish more and increase sales quicker because of the low and no-cost promotional opportunities available to you today.

Plan to succeed, or don’t plan at all. You’ll receive whichever reward fits into the category of your choosing.

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An Easy Way to Market Each Month

Shirley George Frazier — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:18:12 +0000

It’s possible for you to get so wrapped up in creating gift baskets that you overlook the need to market your business.

When that happens, your gift basket business becomes more of a hobby than a profit-based enterprise.

How do long-time designers ensure that marketing is an automatic process? They implement three steps:

1. Choose the product that customers prefer receiving each month to learn about new designs.

2. Rotate several options for clients to review and purchase occasional and everyday themes.

3. Set up the marketing system in six months intervals so that automation is completed in that time frame.

You’ll find more marketing options in the book, 101 Ways to Market Your Gift Baskets.

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