What’s Your First Reaction to Competition?
Concerned, nervous, and scared.
Those were my feelings early in my gift basket life when I saw a competitor’s baskets sitting in a store window.
I wouldn’t stop long enough to look at the product for comparisons or to review the design techniques. All I knew was that there was someone else making a product I wanted exclusively available through me.
Looking back, I realize that these emotions were due to lack of mentorship. I had no idea how to view competitive products, how to talk to competitors (as if I were a prospective customer) to learn about their products, and how to uncover their weaknesses to boost my own strengths.
When you see a new, local source for residents and visitors to buy gift baskets, what’s your initial thought? Is it to:
Your next move may be something totally different than what’s listed here. The bottom line is to not bury your head in the sand. There’s a reason why this company has set up shop in your locale.
Perhaps gift baskets are a natural line extension because of the products sold separately within the shop. Perhaps one of their employees worked at a gift basket shop and is in charge of creating designs.
You may never learn the reason, but you can be thankful that competition is there, because they add instant credibility to a product that may have been difficult to sell in the past. This is a strange way of viewing the competition, but their presence can actually increase your revenue.
When you first saw a new gift basket seller in town, what was your first reaction?
Even Temporary Competition Needs to Be Watched
During the fourth quarter every year, gift basket competition of some type comes to town. They set up makeshift shops in malls, standalone stores, and even in supermarkets.
This is in addition to the competition you already prepare for at superstores, discount retailers, and office supply chains. How do you convince clients to order from you rather than the other outlets that try to trump your sales?
One gift basket designer I recently spoke with says she deflects competitors by expanding her services during the holiday season.
That includes the distribution of free gifts (beautifully wrapped, slow-moving merchandise) and the mailing or Emailing of a customized gift-giving list generated according to the client’s order list from last year.
She says that she knows her clients appreciate her services because her sales increase each year.
What’s your plan for watching how and when the competition comes to your town, and how do you convince customers to buy from you and not from them?
How Do You Watch Your Back?
Competition appears online and in your community as quickly as you blink. Take your eyes off this part of your business, and here’s what may happen:
1. The corner drug store displays baskets in the store window supplied to them by a home-based business you didn’t know existed.
2. The business section of the local newspaper publishes a feature article about another designer.
3. A search of gift basket companies in your area reveals that another firm is always listed above yours.
Solving this maddening problem are part of the Golden Basket Club‘s benefits.
What are the ways you convince buyers to come to you rather than go to the competition?
How to Establish a Realtor Relationship
One of the my favorite cable television shows is House Hunters. It’s part of the HGTV (Home & Garden Television) lineup and features a person or family searching for a new home.
As a viewer, you get to tour the inside and outside of homes throughout the U.S., all from the comfort of your seat.
House Hunters International is also a favorite. It’s the same premise as the U.S. version, touring you through homes in Spain, Italy, France, the Caribbean, and other lands.
Some homes are breathtaking inside and out. Some are perched on a hill so that a full view of the landscape or ocean are positioned perfectly through a window or back porch.
The person or family searching for a home is guided by a real estate agent, and after looking at three homes, the realtor writes an offer for the chosen home. You then see the new home owner inside of their residence months after possession, happy as can be in the new surroundings.
At the conclusion of each segment, I want to see one of your gift baskets in the real estate agent’s hands, welcoming the owners to their new home. The potential to make this come true in your business exists.
Yesterday, I talked about how the media’s mission is to focus on the negative. This is also true about problems in the housing industry. But contrary to what the media says, realtors are still selling homes and earning commissions.
It’s your goal to network with them, develop relationships, and convince them to buy a quantity of gift baskets from you each month that coincides with the average number of homes they sell each month.
Developing a relationship entails:
Adding real estate agents to your client list is a goal you can achieve.
Someone is house hunting right now. What steps will you take to make sure that your gift basket welcomes them when the paperwork is signed?
Gift Basket Competition – Are You Ready?
Lots of people have been downsized from the corporate world, and those people are looking for ways to continue feeding their families while searching for new jobs.
Some of these individuals will find employment, and others will start a business.
What will you do if one or more people in your city begin selling gift baskets? Are you prepared for the competition?
One designer client I spoke with recently is facing this situation, and she’s nervous.
“This company put an advertisement in the paper’s business section. How can I make sure my clients don’t buy from her?”
My answer:
Building a relationship around gift baskets and within clients’ personal lives will increase loyalty, and the competition will not be able to scale and wall you build with those clients.
If competitors begin showing up in print and at events, how will you react?
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