Three Tips from a Successful Gift Basket Designer
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?
A Great Idea from a Competitive Catalog
While in the doctor’s office waiting for my mom to complete her x-rays, I found and reviewed an Edible Arrangements catalog in the examination room.
The pictures representing each month highlights a celebration and features a fresh fruit assortment to order for the specified occasion.
Although your budget may not allow for a 12-month brochure or catalog, you can supplement this marketing idea by distributing a print newsletter, Emailing a monthly Ezine, or sending postcards by mail.
This task is made easy by reviewing photographs you’ve taken of gift basket designs before shipping or delivering them to recipients.
Pair those photos with one or two sentences that remind readers about occasions and events that occur during specific months.
The Edible Arrangements’ photos also include plush animals, balloons, and table settings alongside the featured designs, a cozy styling that you can create in your workspace.
This is another reminder of why re-inventing the wheel is not necessary. Take what a multi-million dollar company creates and pair that strategy down to a size that fits your business.
If you’ve seen the Edible Arrangements catalog, was your first impression:
A Report to Benefit Your Gift Basket Business
Setting the tone for a productive and profitable year starts by:
1. Reviewing your current systems for changes and updates.
2. Adding new practices to streamline production.
3. Incorporating habits that are practiced every day by veteran designers.
Here are three more tips that create a great experience for your clients.
1. Learn one new bowmaking technique (a great starter bow is found here at GiftBasketVideo.com).
2. Send your best customers a sample sweet with a note of appreciation for last year’s orders.
3. Ask these same clients how you can be of help to them this year. What do they want to achieve, and how can you be part of attaining that goal?
I’ve asked my designer clients this question, and to help them, I created a special report entitled, Five Steps to Achieve Success with Gift Baskets.
You also have access to this special report. Just join the Gift Basket Business fan page on Facebook. Here’s the link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gift-Basket-Business/271093563655
Once there, click the “Become a Fan” link on the page (at the top), and you’ll then have access to the report’s download link.
This page complements the Gift Basket Business Facebook group page, which is here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=74453386284
The difference between each Facebook page is that the group is where we discuss industry issues. The fan page is where you’ll receive downloads and other unique reports for your success.
I’m pleased to make this report available to you and look forward to receiving your comments through this blog and suggestions for other information to benefit your business in 2010.
What Will You Achieve This Year with Gift Baskets?
Those are three of the accomplishments that my designer clients have shared with me as their ultimate business goal this year.
Learning why a gift basket designer starts a business and asking each of them about their dreams for success are part of the mentorship process. It lets me know what they’re thinking, how much they’ve studied successful people, and where my assistance is needed most.
When you think about your goals on a one year, five year, or ten-year basis, no answer is ever wrong.
New designers often want to make changes in their lives and in the lives of their families.
Veteran designers graduate from focusing on vacations and lifestyles (as they’ve incorporated both into their lives) and think more about the impact their businesses make within the community and throughout the state, country, and world.
Have you taken time to consider what you wish to achieve by year’s end? If not, you still have time to write down your goals and also document the steps you’ll take each month to get there.
You are welcomed to share you goals here, but most of all, make your plan and head to the finish line.
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