How Ready are You for Mother’s Day?
My most-profitable year for making Mother’s Day gift baskets was three years ago.
An insurance company ordered 1,380 baskets, one for each woman working at the headquarters location.
This mega order took a lot of organization, and the sales contract ensured that the deal would be smooth from end to end.
Outside of one heart-stopping moment, that year’s Mother’s Day was a happy event for each of the working moms and me.
The keys to making sure that you’re prepared for this special day lies in three areas.
1. Contacting everyone in your client database, as each has someone in their life who is a candidate for a gift.
2. Deciding which of your in-stock merchandise is appropriate and what must be purchased as soon as possible.
3. Collaborating with restaurants and other facilities that will host Mother’s Day events to offer your baskets as incentives.
What are your plans to ensure that many moms are happy and lots of sales are captured?
Lots of Confidence Equals Lots of Sales
Are you:
These three situations are top reasons why new gift basket designers soon hang an “out of business” shingle on their Web site or storefront.
All of the passion that went into starting a business dried up when the thought of selling came front and center in the marketing plan.
I’ve seen this happen quite often after a budding designer realized that it takes more than making gift baskets to make money.
It’s not difficult to convince prospects to become buyers. I know this first hand and is the main reason why I wrote Marketing Strategies for the Home-Based Business.
Understanding clients’ needs, building a relationship, and becoming an indispensable part of their success smooths the sales road. This is what builds a client’s confidence in you, and in turn, you realize that the anguish was all in your mind.
Start with the three skills mentioned above to inspire confidence in your approach. That will quickly take you from designing to selling.
Substitutes Often Get the Sale
Starting a gift basket business may seem a bit rocky at the beginning. Understanding what clients want and satisfying them isn’t always easy.
I found this to be true when I started.
What worked for me to get sales going was to offer alternatives to what clients said they wanted.
For example, one prospect asked me for Girl Scout Cookies, but I had no access to them (and neither did anyone else) because the cookies were out of season.
Instead, I offered the alternative of thin mint cookies that I had in stock. Although they weren’t in Girl Scout packaging, the prospect accepted my suggestion, and with that, the prospect official became a client.
My suggestion to you is to keep alternatives in mind each time a person requests something you don’t stock, and also remember that even experienced designers don’t always have every requested item. It’s impossible.
When you focus on offering alternatives, you’ll make more sales and satisfy clients just as if you have exactly what they want.
Pretty Containers Increase Profitability
If you are looking for beautifully-painted containers for spring gift baskets, you’re in luck.
You’ll find gorgeous selections available now through manufacturers and distributors that are stocking great options for designs looking for alternatives to baskets.
I’ve seen some wonderful, tall products with painted flowers, birds, or nature scenes on round and oval containers, and I believe that what I’ve seen isn’t just available on the east coast.
I checked with three designers, one in the south and two in the west. They report sightings of alternative vessels similar to what I see in my area.
You may not get requests from customers for this basket option, but keep this type of container in mind for Mother’s Day and spring gifts given to women for any occasion. The requests will come.
In Gift Baskets, Persistence is Better than Perfection
I admit not following one of the suggestions I share with you in How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business.
I’ve just recorded audio CDs for each chapter in case you need reminders about specific topics (choosing inventory, corporate sales, business plans, etc.), and this is how I realized what I haven’t done.
Some of my gift basket designs stay intact after showing them at adult school classes and trade show seminars. But to keep them looking good, it’s important to place a lightweight cover atop them so that dust does not settle onto the cellophane or shrink wrap.
I just noticed that I didn’t cover the baskets. So what do I see on the wrapping? You guessed it – dust. Shame on me.
Thankfully, I do have a lambswool duster to remove the grime, another suggestion I provide in the book. Now that the designs are looking good, you can bet that the covering is back in place on the completed baskets.
I’m far from perfect and never want to give you the impression that I do everything right.
In classes, products magically jump off the display table onto the floor, and some of those things shatter into pieces. I’m also good at making big holes in shrink wrap so that I have to start the wrapping process over again.
These examples prove that getting better at what you do takes practice and patience. Be sure to give yourself healthy doses of both as you continue to grow and profit with gift baskets.
What has happened to you while in this industry that makes you look back and ask yourself, “How did that happen?”
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