What happens to ribbon when it arrives in your studio? Here are four options.

Ribbon wastes your money if it’s not coordinated and ready for placement either on a gift box or fashioned into a bow for a basket, as you see displayed in the ribbon section of this site. That’s what happened to ribbon in the picture on the Gift Basket Design Studio Extreme Makeover page.

When ribbon arrives in your workspace, whether in a delivered box or carried by you from a warehouse, add it to your design area right away.

Treat your ribbon right, and it will reward you with sales and smiles from happy customers.

Learn more about ribbons and bows at Retail Wraps.

Shirley George Frazier

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An aspiring gift basket designer in Scotland asked about marketing strategies and finding trade shows in her country and in the U.K. I’ve responded at Ask The Gift Basket Expert, where you’ll find past questions and are welcomed to submit your own.

Lorie Obernauer of Apex Gift Basket Pros shares three tips to advance your Web marketing skills. I’m planning a series on this subject to help you reach as many targets online as you do through traditional mail and networking.

Flora Brown of Gift Basket Business World shares a story submitted by contest winner Melissa Schultz. It’s a riveting account and great lesson in preparing alternatives in case the first plan fails.

My thanks to all of you who submitted your responses to the survey I launched in Wednesday’s newsletter. The brief, multiple-choice questionnaire will allow me to create better tools, services, and resource materials to build your business.

Please click this link to participate. The deadline is Thursday, May 15.

Shirley George Frazier

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Thank goodness customers can’t see where we are when writing their orders. Our personal and business lifestyles find us in many places outside of the office when the phone suddenly rings.

I remember taking and placing phone orders in offbeat settings. But the location didn’t matter. The bottom line was that I got the order. I once:

This topic, though not addressed in How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business or The Gift Basket Design Book, is one that’s under the radar but critical to earning a living. Be ready to get the sale no matter where you are.

What’s the most-memorable place you’ve captured an order?

Shirley George Frazier

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A few weeks ago, one gift basket shop hosted their long-time clients to at an invitation-only event in their facility.

They wanted to accomplish three things: 1) thank clients for their patronage, 2) introduce new products through taste testing, and 3) boost revenues now and in the future.

I don’t know if the event was considered successful or dismal (probably the former because of the shop’s reputation), but it’s evident that owning a store made this event easier to plan than if they did not have a facility.

What’s available if you want to host the same type of event but don’t have a store to create this same great experience for your customers?

1. Ask a service provider to sponsor the event. Most corporate clients have board rooms that can double as your event space. I’ve attended these types of events at accounting firms, so consider asking your accountant if he’s willing to partner with you.

There may be some insurance issues for the host to research (number of people allowed in the building at one time, etc.), so be sure to discuss this with him before a date is determined.

2. Learn where other groups meet. Each week, local newspapers list group meetings and locations. This information may provide you with solid ideas on where to hold your event.

Consider giving away some type of parting gift at the end.

The final answer is not here, but these two options are the starting point to bring your customers together for a memorable event where the cost is low compared to the return.

Have you hosted a party for your clients? What did you learn, and are you planning another one?

Shirley George Frazier

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A person who owns or is somehow involved with a gift basket business was just named as treasurer of his local chamber of commerce. The story about his position and others named to posts is featured on this news site.

Do you understand what that means in terms of business promotion and future sales?

Becoming part of an entity outside of your business brings you notoriety, exposure, and the ability to put your gift baskets into the hands of corporations and visiting dignitaries that isn’t otherwise available.

Of course, there’s a tradeoff. The main function, in this example, is to maintain the chamber of commerce’s books for a specified period of time. That’s no small deed. However, at term’s end, this gift basket business will be the first company corporations turn to for all-occasion gifts as long as the representative has planted seeds during his tenure.

This stature is also open to you if you choose to pursue it. Such an opportunity takes time and patience to establish. I remember my accountant telling me that it took 10 years of building her membership status to become president of a powerful state-based women’s group. Her business is well known because of her diligence, and her name is synonymous with trust.

On the other hand, it took me less than an hour into my first meeting to become in charge of a golf group’s newsletter. What a waste of time. After months of networking, no one was buying or even interested in my gift baskets. I never truly bonded with the group and should not have accepted the newsletter responsibility during my first meeting with them.

This is a story I share in How to Start a Home-Based Gift Basket Business, one that doesn’t end on a high note. But that doesn’t mean your experience with a chamber group will mirror mine.

If you’re already part of a chamber of commerce, women’s group, or another organization, consider being more than a member, especially if your gut tells you that it’s a good relationship. One day your name may be featured in an article, similar to the one cited in this story. From there, your sales have only one way to go: up.

Here’s another tip to get your name in the news.

Shirley George Frazier

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Last Tuesday, my area’s newspaper (The Record) published a front-page story on gas prices and how small businesses are coping with deliveries, charges, and making sure costs are covered without losing lots of customers.

The reporter interviewed several businesses including a limousine firm, pizza shop, and mattress distributer. The company that most interested me was a flower shop. They recently increased the price of flower deliveries from $7.50 to $8.50.

“That hasn’t had much effect on orders,…People know it costs them just as much to drive here and pick it up.”

Rather than increase their local $1.25 delivery fee, the pizza shop owner raised the price of a plain large pizza from $11.75 to $12.50.

Are you making sure that your delivery costs are covered? Here are three tips, one which hopefully fits the way you do business.

1. Schedule gift basket deliveries for once daily. Deliveries outside of this schedule (rush or special orders) include a gas surcharge fee.

2. Resist driving to retail stores to buy gift basket inventory. This practice consumes many gallons of gas that’s best conserved for marketing purposes.

3. Become familiar with streamlined ordering from manufacturers and distributors than you may have in the past. Such firms are listed on the wholesalers’ page and at Gift Basket Wholesale Supplies. Expect a nominal increase in their delivery charges, which is offset by the increase in your gift basket prices.

How are you coping with the gas price explosion? Is it difficult for you to raise prices, or are you absorbing the cost on your own?

Shirley George Frazier

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One of the first lessons I teach at gift basket classes comes as a warning when creating get well baskets.

I suggest to budding designers that they omit certain edible products that may put the receiver back in the hospital. Alternatives to traditional gift basket contents are soups, teas, puzzles, and books.

A recent article published in Courant.com focuses on get well baskets. They interview several designers that create “baskets of cheer.”

Photos aren’t available, but I believe you’ll appreciate the background and insights on what makes their baskets unique and appealing, especially since it’s sometimes difficult to decide what to put in comforting gifts.

I explain product and design options for get well baskets in this video.

Is “baskets of cheer” a better way to say “get well baskets?” Before changing your theme’s name, consider what customers will think. If they understand the meaning of “get well” more than they understand “baskets of cheer,” then don’t change the name.

When making get well baskets or other themes, make sure you know how customers will pay ahead of time. That’s the weekend subject at Ask The Gift Basket Expert.

Shirley George Frazier

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While running errands last weekend, I saw the cutest baby and toddler shoes selling at deep discounts. Shoes are one of many specialty containers I talk about in this article.

They’re not only a great reminder of how small my daughter once was, I also immediately thought about how these petite shoes create wonderful “foot in the door” and appreciation gifts.

At four dollars for each pair, it was difficult to not buy several dozen. Do you also find yourself applying brakes before overbuying?

It’s smart to take a deep breath and consider a sales plan before spending your hard-earned cash on products and services. That’s how I curbed my spending before buying the decorative shoe you see above which I filled with bath beads. It’s a great item that sold well, but I was careful not to purchase too many even though they were six dollars a pair.

Overspending not only extended my budget, it also exhausted my storage space, a problem mentioned in Buying and Storing Products.

Here are three ideas that worked to sell my shoe-based gifts:

What do you think about shoe-based gifts? Do you currently offer them to clients, or do you believe that they’re an item that clients will walk by?

Shirley George Frazier

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