Everyday Marketing Makes Business Better
How many times this year have you entered your workspace and asked yourself, “How will I let people know about my gift baskets?”
Within a 52-week time period each year, you have the ability to market your baskets at least one time each day.
If you’re unable to develop 365 marketing ideas, try 52, which is one every week. That’s the minimum number of opportunities to create and launch from a calendar you prepare and review each month.
The 101 Ways to Market Your Gift Baskets book is one source to develop your calendar, and you’ll find more inspiration through these posts:
How Do I Market My Gift Baskets?
Get Designs and Marketing In Gear Now
Do You Market Gift Baskets While Driving?
How do you create a marketing calendar so that this part of your business is automatic?
How Have Custom Notes Saved You Time and Money?
Who can remember which bow looks better on a hostess gift basket or how bad the traffic pattern was when delivering gift baskets to a corporate address in a busy downtown area?
My answer is made up of two words - not me.
I can’t recall what I had for breakfast this morning, so there’s no way my mind knows which door I entered last year when bringing gift baskets into an office located in New York City’s Times Square.
That’s why I take notes after creating gift baskets, delivering them, or documenting what customers prefer during the order process.
Do you do the same?
Sure, it takes time to stop what you’re doing and write down the instructions and insights, but doesn’t that make the next opportunity easier? If so, then taking notes is worth your time.
Here’s another example: a customer recently asked me to add “that thing” on the bow, “just like you did on last year’s Christmas baskets,” she said. If I didn’t write down that “the thing” was miniature bubble clusters, I’d disappoint her, and she might start working with another designer because I didn’t pay attention to detail.
If you haven’t started documenting what works and what doesn’t in business, consider starting a journal now.
How have your custom notes saved you time or saved you from embarrassment?
Elegant Enhancements Add Class and Style
The first time I saw a long, floral garland at a wholesale outlet, my first question was “How do I take this big thing and add it to my gift baskets?”
Little did I know that all that I needed was a pair of wire clippers to snip and cut the garland into short and long pieces.
I thought that all enhancements were purchased in the exact length as shown in other gift basket designs, so there I was, looking for pre-cut products to add into my baskets.
Was that your mode of thinking when you decided to start making your designs?
As the years passed, designers worldwide showed me different tips and tricks about enhancements that stay with me today, making quick work of adding these items to complete each theme.
1. Purchase seasonal picks during the off season. Spring picks bought during the fall or winter are often 70 to 80 percent off the regular price.
2. Remove the wire from wired enhancements that are too full to add as one piece. This is a frequent habit for me each time I purchase three-pronged pine picks.
3. Curl star spray and onion grass stems with open scissors to create a full and abundant appearance.
Ribbons and bows, which you’ll read about here, are two more enhancements that are added atop the completed design or included inside next to foods and gifts.
What’s your favorite method for adding or buying enhancements?
How to Sell with Confidence
Your mind plays tricks with you every day. Its main task in business is to try and talk you out of moving forward to get orders.
This is not done on purpose. The mind wants to protect you from harm.
You realize this when it tells you, “Don’t play with fire” and “Watch your step,” but thoughts that tell you, “Don’t bother trying to get the account” or “She won’t buy from you” are immediately to be erased, canceled, and cleared.
Your gift basket business is the means by which you pay bills, save for vacations and retirements, and enjoy a rich and rewarding lifestyle, and that’s not all.
Gift baskets also provide the exact same reward for clients who buy them. Each design is a means to build businesses, receive referrals, and secure sales that would not ordinarily come without the bountiful gifts that connect two people or two companies.
This is the reason why denying yourself the sales you deserve ultimately harms you and all of your clients.
When I wrote the article, Competing with the Real Competition, it was meant to help you understand who your competing against. Your mind can also be viewed as a competitor, but now you realize how to stop this internal force from taking control.
The next time your mind tries to trick you into not going after business, tell it to be quiet so that you can move forward with confidence.
What are some of the things your mind says to you to try talking you out of building your business?
-
Gift Basket Biz Plan
-
Gift Basket Books
-
-
Welcome, from Shirley George Frazier
-
Visit Our Sponsors
