Chaos, Creativity, and Control |
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With all the challenges surrounding special gifting seasons, it makes sense to heed proven tips — real-life techniques for weathering unpredictable sales seasons. The following advice has been gleaned from veterans with decades of amassed experience in the gift basket business.
Tips for Inventory Control
1) Aside from ordering product early, streamline designs by using the same products in different designs.
2) Offer a good mix of products but keep the majority of the products “generic” or non seasonal – something that can be used during other heavy gifting times.
3) If your original products are unavailable, suggest products to your customers that you do have in stock. Move the things that you have ordered too heavily. You are in control.
Design and Client Preferences,
1) Anticipate your clientele’s needs. Order product and pre-assemble designs before a busy gifting season hits your business.
2) Pull custom-made baskets from basic brochure designs.
3] Order product that can be used in various themes. Be careful about purchasing time-sensitive or “cutesy” products. Corporate clients typically avoid anything frivolous, seeking instead, quality and good taste.
4] Restrict the number of designs you do. “You can’t have infinite designs, it takes too much time. Concentrate instead on a few carefully chosen designs and core product lines and expand on them by putting them together in different ways.
5] If you are tired of your product line, change it. Most likely, if you become bored with your products, so are your regular customers. Stay on the cutting edge. If you don’t want to change the product, think about finding the same product in different packaging.
Management Control
1) Creativity isn’t the number one skill you need to be successful. Marketing and business skills are number one. During the slow season, arm yourself with brochures and cookies and go into offices marketing your products. This is elementary, but you can never stop doing it; especially now, with all the budget cutting.
2) Charge for delivery. Customers expect it, and it’s too costly not to charge for delivery.
3) Be ready for incoming telephone calls by having a description of the available designs immediately available by the phone.
4) A web site is essential. Mailing brochures sometimes takes too long and has become too costly. It is critical to be able to send an interested client directly to your web site for information.
5) Realize that you don’t have to accept every order. Some designs, especially last minute custom designs, involve too much work and time.
6) Be sure to include a substitution disclaimer, specifics about prepaying the order; and have the e-mail or fax signed by the decision-maker. Begin work on the order only after you have their signature and credit card information.
7) Seek out local product sources as much as possible to avoid shipping delays. p437