Where Do You Find New Design Ideas?
It seems that back in the 1990s, it was so much easier to discover new ways to design gift baskets.
This was due to three places that all of us could count on for help:
1. Trade shows that consistently offered gift basket seminars twice yearly (most of today’s shows no longer feature these seminars).
2. Trade magazines frequently featuring gift basket articles and photographs (today this information is rarely printed).
3. Gift baskets available at competitive retail shops (many of the stores no longer exist).
My private library contains gift basket magazines and articles that date back to 1990, starting with Gift Basket Review, Volume 1, No. 1.
I also own all of the By Design Magazine issues published throughout the late 1990s into the early 2000s, and several well-known trade magazines that featured design ideas and statistical information.
Looking through these magazines, I still see gift basket designs on the pages that put a smile on my face because the design techniques are still valid today.
If you don’t have back issues of the magazines I’ve mentioned or photographs taken at past gift basket trade shows, where’s the one place you can still count on to expand your design ideas?
How Do You Store Pre-Designed Baskets?
When your gift basket business is located in a home-based office, there may not be lots of room to store samples to take to corporate and non-profit group presentations.
You may be wondering why samples would be stored, waiting for someone to view them. It:
I remember my years of wrangling with this dilemma. My sample baskets first stayed in an extra bedroom converted into my office space. Then I transferred everything to my attic because the extra bedroom was re-converted into office space for my husband.
Finally, I built a new space within my home (but not in the attic) for easier access to my business.
Everyone does not have spare bedrooms, attics, and the ability to build new spaces, but all of us manage to find solutions to storage problems.
Where do you keep your samples, or have you decided to not keep any samples available due to space issues?
Summer is the Season for a Sweet Problem
Who can raise their hand to admit that they’ve added chocolate to a gift basket during the summer, hoping that the confection would not melt before arriving at its destination?
Years before I entered this industry, Macy’s gave me a free, four-piece box of Godiva Chocolates as an incentive for something I purchased.
I was giddy about receiving the chocolates, but the day I received them happened to be a wickedly-hot summer day.
By the time I walked to my car, drove home, and opened the box, the chocolate had melted and was now one huge, shiny glob. It looked strange, but I didn’t care.
The box was deposited into the refrigerator, and the next day I demolished the giant mold piece by piece.
That memory stayed with me when I began my gift basket business. I didn’t want anyone to experience that. One customer insisted on having a favorite bag of chocolate-coated popcorn in a gift basket, which was to travel from my east coast warehouse to Phoenix during the summer.
The customer not only paid for the cold packs and overnight delivery, I also had her sign a waiver stating that she understood the consequences of shipping chocolates during the summer and that any melting that occurred would not be rectified.
What problems have you had shipping chocolates during summer months? Did the situation occur because you were unaware of how quickly chocolate melts, because of a transportation delay, or another unexpected dilemma?
How Do You Deal with Phone Harassment?
Years ago, when I was a frequent guest on the Food Network displaying gift baskets for special events and holidays, I decided to install a toll-free number to enhance my promotion.
Showcasing gift baskets to 22+ million people worldwide convinced me that a local telephone number would lessen my chances for huge sales, while a toll-free number allowed prospects around the globe to call and order.
I, of course, wanted a vanity number similar to 1-800-Baskets but settled for an equally-easy number that clients could memorize.
How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business documents my experience with toll-free number installation and what questions to ask the provider before agreeing to the terms.
Once the number was displayed during a Mother’s Day gift basket segment, my business started to gain success because of the toll-free option. Sales jumped 43 percent the first month and 85 percent the next due to Father’s Day and graduation baskets.
Then wrong and crank numbers began arriving. Wrong calls were placed by individuals who thought the toll-free number still belonged to an insurance company. These people couldn’t be blamed. The number was printed on literature they received along with their policies.
That I could handle. It was the crank calls that were overwhelming. One guy, located in Pennsylvania, started calling my toll-free number every 10 minutes. Such calls were not only a nuisance, it also increased the toll-free phone bill.
The guy started threatening me for no reason, so I had to get the police involved. What was supposed to be a successful time selling gift baskets turned into a scary situation.
This month’s printed issue of Basket Biz includes an article about telephone etiquette. It’s important to know how to encourage sales, but the crank call experience is on a totally different track.
If you have a toll-free number to enhance your sales, how do you deal with wrong numbers and crank calls?
How Do You Handle Rude Treatment at Trade Shows?
Have you been treated rudely at trade shows by exhibitors that don’t take your business seriously?
I heard about this situation several years ago when designers shopping at certain shows (I don’t remember the exact ones) were treated as though their gift basket businesses were hobbies rather than full-fledged money makers.
How would you handle such rudeness?
1. Talk loudly to the person to let others know about the rude treatment.
2. Document the company’s name and let other gift basket designers know how you were treated.
3. Walk away and not give that company another thought; you have a business to run and know that other exhibitors are interested in working with you.
If you qualified to enter the show, you’ve passed the credentials’ test that deems you eligible to purchase. Otherwise, why would you waste time circling exhibit aisles when you could be relaxing at a beach or watching a movie?
What problems have you encountered at trade shows by representatives who’ve dismissed you because you’re part of the gift basket business?
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