It’s fabulous how the web brings a wealth of information directly to you to learn and enjoy in the comfort of your home.

I’m certainly glad we can interact here in ways other than by phone and through faxes.

Emails that arrive in my office every day come from many of you asking for video-based information showing gift basket design techniques that you cannot locate online or find at local classes which, in many instances, don’t exist in your communities.

That’s why this summer my staff and I are preparing an extensive number of how-to videos that will show you how to create gift baskets in a variety of methods, and that’s not all. We’ll address tray designs, shrink wrapping, stacking, shipping, and other techniques that will make designing and deliveries much easier.

A private newsletter is also part of the package, which will focus on in-depth issues such as corporate sales, mega orders, and financing.

All of this will be delivered through the Golden Basket Club. Twice monthly, you’ll receive a link by Email notifying you that the video and newsletter are ready for watching and reading.

If these topics are what you’re searching for, click here to visit the page at Golden Basket Club with all the details.

I welcome your comments about this new video series and newsletter and hope you’ll join many of your colleagues who are raising the bar and treating their businesses like businesses.

Shirley George Frazier

No related posts.

Together, we’ve discussed, brainstormed, and successfully achieved lots of design techniques and uncovered many business solutions.

You are now at the finish line for 2010, and I congratulate each and every one of you for accomplishing what you thought, at the beginning of the year, was unattainable. You:

• Retained many of your former customers
• Committed to continuing education
• Increased your sales, if only by a small percentage over last year’s numbers

Most of all, what you learned this year pretty much guarantees that business next year will be even better.

I’m honored that you’ve allowed this blog and the GiftBasketBusiness.com website to be your silent success partner, and I have a gift for you called 20 Top Tips for Gift Basket Makers. It’s a 48-page publication with valuable ideas to complement your 2011 plan.

Click here for the page at GiftBasketBusiness.com to immediately receive your copy.

I look forward to sharing much, much more with you next year.

Shirley George Frazier

No related posts.

If you don’t yet offer your customers an online newsletter, here are three reasons to consider creating one next year.

1. It increases your following.
2. It keeps clients returning to your site.
3. It helps to distribute your incentive offers to keep customers buying from you.

Basket Biz, written by me for the gift basket industry, is published every Thursday, but if you’re just starting your own publication, monthly distribution is appropriate until another, more frequent schedule becomes a habit.

What has been the one problem keeping you from creating your online newsletter?

NOTICE: Basket Biz is moving to a new distribution service. Instead of only being available online at www.GiftBasketNewsletter.com, it will now be distributed by Email. Sign up here to start receiving your copy in January.

What’s the difference between the online version and what you’ll receive by Email? Videos or audio content will be included with the new version, while those two components will not be available at www.GiftBasketNewsletter.com. Sign up today for your enhanced copy through this link: www.GiftBasketBusiness.com/newsletter.htm.

Shirley George Frazier

No related posts.

Traveling by car, plane, and train for personal or business reasons lets you market your gift basket business in more ways than you can imagine.

Last year I shared ideas on marketing gift baskets while driving. How many of you turned that information into an action plan?

In the past I’ve heard about problems with the magnetic signs that adhere to car doors, the type that’s placed just below the driver’s side window.

If you’re wary of buying such signs, you can purchase the plastic type, about 10 inches long and 3 inches high, that attaches to the inside of your rear windshield. I’ve traveled with that type of sign, placing it in rental cars.

You can also market while flying. Business card distribution occurs when you start a conversation with people in your immediate area.

There’s also luggage marketing. If your luggage is inspected, a few prominently-placed business cards may encourage inspectors to keep one. The worst that can happen is that the inspectors don’t take a card.

In the days when I traveled by air with sweets and snacks in my luggage to conduct gift basket classes (I still conduct them, but not with food in tow), my bags were always inspected, and cards were taken.

How do you plan to market your gift basket business this summer?

Shirley George Frazier

No related posts.

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?

Shirley George Frazier

No related posts.

New Jersey, the state in which I live and work, has a sales tax law that’s easy to understand. If you buy something to wear, there’s no tax. But if you cannot wear the product, tax is applied.

There is an exception with toilet tissue and other commodities, but what’s written above is the main rule. This is one reason why many New Yorkers drive across bridges and through tunnels to shop in New Jersey, as New York applies tax to everything.

Gift baskets are taxed in New Jersey. Even if a T-shirt or baby’s bib is included within the gift, the design’s total cost is taxed.

Gift baskets in your state are also a taxable product, but don’t take my word for it. Check your state’s sales tax law for details.

Go to your state’s official Web site, look for the search box (most state’s offer a search box on the site), and type the words “sales tax” in quotes as shown here. That will take you to the correct information, including how to collect and remit the amount due.

Another frequently-asked question about taxes is, “Who gets charged sales tax?”

New Jersey’s sales tax law may be basic enough to understand, but here’s one part of the sales tax that’s different than other states: shipping is taxed.

So, if a designer based in New Jersey creates a gift basket for a client who also lives in New Jersey, shipping through any carrier (the postal service, UPS, a courier, or you, etc.) is taxed. That’s the law.

Your state or country may have a similar law, which is why I encourage you to check your area’s official Web site to ensure that you know, once and for all, when to collect sales tax.

Your accountant can also provide details, and the frequently-asked questions section of GiftBasketBusiness.com reveals answers to other common dilemmas.

I’m not an accountant or a financial adviser, so it’s wise for you to seek an accountant’s assistance to learn about collecting and submitting sales tax.

Shirley George Frazier

No related posts.

Have you joined the Gift Basket Facebook Group?

Taharia Fong, my assistant, is the group’s new administrator.

She’ll make sure that I address questions or comments that you submit and also keep me on track to offer you freebies not available elsewhere.

Join the group, and please welcome Taharia.

————

Did you miss this week’s newsletter? The latest issue is at GiftBasketNewsletter.com, along with a valuable offer that expires on Monday.

————

A new designer asks if there is a correlation between basket size and number of items. My response is at Ask The Gift Basket Expert. How do you choose how many items to place in your baskets?

Shirley George Frazier

No related posts.

The newsletter which many of you receive from me by Email every Wednesday and Sunday is migrating to a new distribution service.

Decisions to make these changes are a process I think about long and hard beforehand. The main question I ask myself is, “How will this benefit designers?” If the benefits match my checklist, then I move forward.

Is that one of the questions you ask yourself about clients before deciding to go forward or stay on the same course?

Some of the items on my checklist include easier:

With this update, which will officially occur on April 1, the newsletter’s name changes from Gift Basket Newsletter to Basket Biz. It will continue to provide you with solid skills to increase your promotions and profits.

Please complete the two areas below to re-subscribe (or subscribe for the first time) to the newsletter. I truly appreciate your subscription and look forward to my continuation as your silent business partner.

If, for some reason, the form malfunctions (it should not happen, but technology can sometimes be challenging), you’ll find the same subscription form on the GiftBasketBusiness.com newsletter page.

Shirley George Frazier

No related posts.