Why are your gift baskets not selling?  Here’s eight reasons you’re still not making money, reasons you can fix to turn the situation around.

Own it, and fix it

Right now, as you read this, thousands of individuals and corporations are calling a gift company to place an order.

That order is for anything from a birthday gift to a thank you basket for a department with 100 employees.

Did you get one of those calls? If not, your gift basket business isn’t on anyone’s radar, and that’s a shame.

After all of the studio setup, product selections, and getting money to begin this creative business, you’re still not the front runner who’s called for the sale.

The money, as well as the opportunity for additional sales and referrals, don’t belong to you.

That situation must end.

It’s time to make smart moves that change your sales from lackluster to lucrative.

Changes include better buying practices, a more-focused state of mind, and steady promotions. With that, you’ll notice sales arriving slowly and then at a fast pace if you plant seeds now.

Eight reasons why you’re not making money

Here are the biggest shortcomings you can change.

Not going after bigger accounts
Get out of your comfort zone and start promoting to firms with big budgets.

Satisfying everyone except you
Are you making too many concessions to get a sale resulting in low profits?

Using the wrong pricing model
Keystoning may be fine to test the market, but you cannot make money in the long run at that level.

Bending over backwards just to get a sale
Try not to act desperate while trying to get the order. Recognize the value in your expertise.

Buying everything from retailers
Guess who’s making the real money here, retailers or you? Buying single products will always cost more.

Not selling every week
Sporadic sales are fine if gift baskets are a hobby. As a business, it’s mandatory to sell weekly if not daily.

Letting competitors get most orders
People buy gifts every day, and if those sales aren’t yours, take action to get those orders.

Not marketing, period
Every action revolves around marketing. I’ve written about marketing most recently in this article and this article, too. Market every day without fail.

Change the condition

Start the make money ball rolling by taking action on one of these eight problems.

My suggestion is to choose the easiest one to solve first. Let the next select be one that seems difficult because that’s just it — it seems difficult. The action you’ll take is new but one you can fix faster than you realize, which is a satisfying reality for the many designers I coach each week. Let’s talk today to get your business on track.

Which of these situations will you solve first, or is there another problem you need to handle?