When I visited San Francisco last month to speak at the Fancy Food Show, one of my gift basket clients invited me to visit her studio.
Her business has increased in recent months, and she agreed to let me share her three top ways to get business.
1. This designer is a member of the state’s visitors convention bureau. She said the yearly membership cost is high, but there are two things that work for her.
One is that the price convinces other gift basket designers not to join. Second, she makes every penny of the investment back and more through networking.
One meeting planner who brought a convention to town purchased $20,000 worth of gifts and baskets from the designer for attendees.
2. She pays a $100 finder’s fee, either in cash or in gift baskets, to clients who get her into “insider parties.” These are the events where high-powered businesspeople gather. They invite her, and she takes care of the rest. Her client roster and sales have increased.
3. She mails her marketing messages in colorful envelopes that have intriguing statements written on the outside, and no two are alike. This keeps an air of mystery in her campaigns, and clients and prospects open the envelopes right away to read each message.
Where do the intriguing statements come from? “Junk mailings,” she told me. “I change some of the words, and then I send out mailings every month.”
What’s your top tip for getting business in your town?
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