With the holidays fast approaching you will be asked to make in-person presentations at the offices of potential clients. There are ten steps to giving successful presentations that help ensure that you walk away with the order.

1 Ask questions before you go and use those answers to plan. Be sure you know the budget, occasion and preferences so you can design baskets accordingly.

2. Dress professionally. That first impression will either put your clients at ease or make them uneasy about trusting their gift-giving to you.

3. Take only one to three baskets in the price range requested. Some business owners believe that should take their top-of-the-line showcase baskets in the hope of driving up the sale. But if a client has told you her budget, why step outside of it?

4. Shoot photos of your designs and print them along with descriptions to distribute to the committee.

5. Take charge of the meeting by giving a very brief, but formal introduction to yourself and company background. This is important even if you have personal friends and acquaintances on the committee.

6. Then do your Vanna White thing. Hold each basket up individually, explaining what’s inside and how each item can be used.

7. When you finish showing the baskets, ask for the order. Ask how many they will be needing, the delivery date and contact person for receiving baskets.

8. Get the order prepaid before you begin ordering inventory and creating designs. Have a form ready for them to sign agreeing to the order as discussed, giving their credit card information and the signature of the decision maker. This way your order is prepaid before you leave the office.

If you must make changes to the agreement before they sign, do so as soon as you return to your office. Then fax the agreement back to them for credit card info and signature.

9. If they want the order shipped, request that they provide an emailed or faxed list of addresses. This will help avoid spelling and other errors.Thank them for their time and leave with your order.

10. Don’t leave baskets behind unless the client buys them. Potential clients who love your work but don’t want to pay your price will often try to recreate the design or ask an employee to copy it. You can’t stop them from copying it, but there’s no need in making it easier for them.

The holiday season can be an exciting and profitable time for your business. Your success depends on how well you conduct and conclude during your presentation.

Like any other business product or service, gift baskets must be marketed. Those who promote their businesses do well, and those who don’t will be disappointed.

Three ways to make your gift basket business profitable.

1. Set up a way to capture the names and emails of visitors to your site.

You’ve no doubt been on many websites where a box floats into the page asking you to sign up for a free item.

You can do this by offering a free newsletter, free reports, tips or other item they may value. This list is very valuable. If you don’t capture this contact information, you may have lost the chance to sell to these potential customers forever.

But if you are emailing them announcements, special sales information, gift-giving tips and so on, they are more likely to return or call to buy a gift basket.

2. Sell more to your current customers

Once you’ve landed customers, stay in frequent touch with them. Encourage them to expand their purchases by adding a balloon or other added value for which you can charge an additional fee.

Your current customers are valuable because they’ve already shown faith in your company and product. One example of a company that does this well is Vistaprint. You probably know them for their free business card offer.

Each time I take Vistaprint up on an offer for free postcards, a free t-shirt, or other imprinted product, I must go through several pages of offers to upgrade my order or add additional products. I don’t mind going through these because I’m getting the product free.

How do they make money, you wonder? Well, they don’t offer everything free. And, you must pay to use your own image if you don’t want to use their stock images.

Each time I receive a shipment from them, there’s another little sales booklet offering more free items with the special access code to purchase from their website. They are smart marketers and know that waving the offer of free products in front of me works. Besides, once I receive the products and see the quality of their products I’m much more inclined to buy at regular price.

3. Hustle

The owner of a balloon supply store once shared with me that folks keep calling his store asking if they sell gift baskets. He had to keep turning them away. He said to me, “You gift basket designers aren’t doing your marketing.”

Unfortunately he was right. During the 18 years I’ve been consulting and speaking to gift basket business owners, I’m amazed at how many do very little to go after business. Putting an ad in the paper and putting up a website is not marketing.

To make your business profitable you must

• take advantage of every networking opportunity possible to ask for orders
• follow up on every person you meet at Chamber and network meetings
• keep up with trends such as putting updates on Twitter and Facebook to keep news about your business in the public’s mind
• modify your business to draw in more business. This may mean partnering with another company, raising your prices (some of you aren’t charging enough and people think you must offer an inferior product,)  or changing your designs and offering to meet trends and current demands.

I recently heard a story about a sandwich shop that was in a busy shopping center. During the summer, people kept coming in the store all day long asking, “Do you sell ice cream?”"No,” the owner announced to each person. Finally, he got so annoyed that he put a sign in the window: WE DON’T SELL ICE CREAM.

What would have been a smarter thing for the store owner to have done since there was obviously a demand for ice cream?

Are you meeting current demands of customers, or are you turning away money?

If you’ve spent the year attending networking meetings and building business relationships, it’s time to reap the benefits of all that connecting. Begin by sending greetings expressing your gratitude for the help, advice, leads and encouragement you’ve received.

If you aren’t a member of a networking group, perhaps you enjoyed exchanging tips, strategies and constructive criticism with a mentor, colleague, peer or informal group of business associates. Time out for tea or brunch would be a wonderful way to show your appreciation. If this isn’t convenient, how about sending a small gift with a card.

Next, let your contacts know how you can save them time and stay within their budget by taking the stress of holiday giving off their hands. Wise companies know that the recession is no time to cut back on their gift-giving. With keen competition going aggressively after customers, it’s time for your business clients to thank and reassure their customers with tasteful and affordable gifts.

The time you spent nurturing your network can pay off in holiday orders if you take the steps now. The rewards of a business network are countless and priceless.

As you plan your holiday designs note that during times of economic downturn one of the hottest niches is the spiritual and inspirational market. Many people are drawn to products that comfort, encourage and draw them closer to family and friends. To find the wholesale sources you need for this niche, get our directory, Religious and Spiritual Products Directory, priced affordably at $17.

Many gift basket designers bemoan the fact that they are turned away by major retailers and hotels who employ their own in-house designers. One way to approach this problem is to ask the retailer or hotel how you can become an in-house vendor. Another is to seek out companies who support local entrepreneurs.

If you have a product that’s absolutely fantastic perhaps the store will ask you to create your product in their facility. That’s what happened at Kowalski, a popular Minnesota specialty supermarket, reported in a Specialty Food article. They sold so much of a shortbread from a local company, Bramblewood Cottage, that they asked the owner to make it at their central bakery.

Kowalski is noted for promoting their local food entrepreneurs. They carry locally-produced products in the store, even giving them special signage. The store encourages them to bring their products in for tasting.

Other stores support local entrepreneurs also, such as my local Border’s that displays the work of local writers in a special section.

Search your community for companies who support local entrepreneurs and using low-cost secrets to landing corporate accounts, you will soon enjoy increased profits.

After watching a bowmaking demonstration at a gift basket convention many years ago, I excitedly rushed back to my studio to try the new techniques I had learned.

Or so I thought.

Little did I realize, until I was teaching the technique in a class years later, that I was doing a variation of what I had originally learned.

Has that happened to you? You put a new twist on a design or bowmaking technique that yields a slightly different and perhaps even better version of the original.

At an inventors audition at a development center, first place went to creators of a peanut butter and jelly gun. These inventors were motivated to find a better way or an improved gadget for something they already did.

Now you’re probably thinking, what does this have to do with gift baskets?

Lots.

Over the years, many new inventions have entered the gift basket industry: shrinkwrap bags, themed gift boxes with matching accessories, glue dots, printed cellophane and mesh netting. At the same time, designers have created clever ways to make designing, selling and even storing supplies easier.

One technique I like when using shrinkwrap bags, for example, is to place the empty basket in the shrink bag first, then build the design. That way I don’t have to risk toppling the contents when I lift the full basket to place it in the bag. I demonstrate this technique on my DVD, Basic Gift Basket Design.

What about you? What’s in your gift basket of tricks? You may have created a gadget, a substance, a technique or even a marketable product. Share how you’ve made the business of gift baskets easier.

============

Learn the do’s and don’ts about making money from niche corporate sales. Listen as I share how I captured niche lucrative sales on a newly released audio CD, Make Money with Corporate Niche Sales. I spill insider secrets and reveal some mistakes I made so you can avoid them.
 
Place your order by June 1st and receive these bonuses:

•  a special report, “Corporate v.s. Consumer Sales”
• a sample letter of introduction
• a sample proposal
• a special report, “How to Successfully Target Niche Markets”, that includes things to consider, who to contact and suggested niche markets
   

Determining your niche market can maximize your marketing budget and increast your profits. Here are three ways to do that.

1. What do your current and most frequent clients have in common?

For example, when you analyze your current customer base let’s say you discover that a number of them order golf-themed gift baskets. Because you already stock some golf-themed gift items and packaging for them, you already have supplies to serve a niche. Conduct research to see if there is a market for golf-themed speciality gift basket.

2. What is unique about your product or service?

You may have a product or service that is different from the average. One gift basket designer created a unique container that had a pedestal and was requested a lot by her interior designer clients. This unique container may be focal point for creating a niche that would different from others.

3. What part of the market is not being served or is underserved?

One gift basket designer discovered that no one in her area was serving the funeral market. She attended a funeral convention, met people in the mortuary industry and created a niche designing a unique sympathy gift basket. Funeral directors would take one of her baskets each time they called on a family to discuss funeral plans.

If you haven’t considered serving corporate niche markets, it’s time you did. Learn the do’s and don’ts about making money from niche corporate sales. Listen as I share how I captured niche lucrative sales on a newly released audio CD, Make Money with Corporate Niche Sales. I spill insider secrets and reveal some mistakes I made so you can avoid them.
 
Place your order by June 1st and receive these bonuses:

•  a special report, “Corporate v.s. Consumer Sales”
• a sample letter of introduction
• a sample proposal
• a special report, “How to Successfully Target Niche Markets”, that includes things to consider, who to contact and suggested niche markets
   

Corporate and consumer sales differ in a number of ways. Here are three of them.

1. The potential for profit is greater with corporate sales.

The consumer typically buys a gift basket on rare occasions, and only for very special gifts.

The corporate client who selects gift baskets for her needs, on the other hand, will often place frequent or recurring orders.

2. The corporate client has a budget.

Ask a consumer how much they want to spend on a gift basket and their eyes glaze over.

A corporate client knows exactly how much they have budgeted for gifts.

3. The corporate client has limited time and is ready to get down to business.

Whether placing an order by phone or in your store,the consumer loves to browse before buying.

Although the corporate client can be very selective, they also count on your expertise to help them zero in on just the right gift basket idea.

If you haven’t considered serving corporate markets, it’s time you did. Learn the do’s and don’ts about making money from niche corporate sales. Listen as I share how I captured niche lucrative sales on a newly released audio CD, Make Money with Corporate Niche Sales. I spill insider secrets and reveal some mistakes I made so you can avoid them.
 
Place your order by June 1st and receive these bonuses:

•  a special report, “Corporate v.s. Consumer Sales”
• a sample letter of introduction
• a sample proposal
• a special report, “How to Successfully Target Niche Markets”, that includes things to consider, who to contact and suggested niche markets
   

It is common for new gift basket business owners to start off trying to serve a wide variety of customers. One of my clients, for example, not only sells over 20 themes of gift baskets, but also makes floral bouquets, balloon arrangements and candy bouquets. My advice to her and you is to consider corporate niche sales.

Corporate niche sales focus on a specialized part of a larger market.

If you wanted to have your blinds cleaned well would you call a general cleaning service or a specialist in cleaning blinds who knew exactly which products to use to avoid damaging your blinds and make them look like new?

A company specializing in cleaning blinds is serving a niche market. There are three reasons niche sales can bring more profits.

1. People seeking a specialized service are willing to pay more. Cosmetic dentists command higher fees than general dentists because patients seeking cosmetic dentistry are motivated to pay more.

2. You can narrow your inventory costs and storage. When placing orders you may qualify for better volume discounts since you know exactly what to order for your niche.

3. There is not as much competition in a niche market as in the general market place. Gift basket companies that specialize in sending college care packages are far fewer than general gift basket companies.

If you haven’t considered serving corporate niche markets, it’s time you did. Learn the do’s and don’ts about making money from niche corporate sales. Listen as I share how I captured niche lucrative sales on a newly released audio CD, Make Money with Corporate Niche Sales. I spill insider secrets and reveal some mistakes I made so you can avoid them.
 
Place your order by June 1st and receive these bonuses:

•  a special report, “Corporate v.s. Consumer Sales”
• a sample letter of introduction
• a sample proposal
• a special report, “How to Successfully Target Niche Markets”, that includes things to consider, who to contact and suggested niche markets