Summer/Early Fall, 2012

The Gift Professional's Guide to Building Long-Lasting Business

the report

Late Summer/ Early Fall, 2012 $12.00

Jenny Conrad In this Issue

of Conrad Creative

www.basketwhiz.com

table of contents

Summer 2012 4 6

8

Balancing Act

2

Diversifying Your Business

4

In Your Neck of the Woods

6

E-Commerce

8

Management

10

Money Matters

11

Growth Engine Series

12

Marketing

14

Sales

16

table of contents

11

16

Vendor in the Spotlight

18

Year Round Business

22

Industry Hint

24

Cover Story

32

Relation Tips

36

editor’s note

the report

DIRECTORY Editor-In-Chief & Publisher Kimberly Cole kimberly@basketwhiz.com Chief Financial Officer Jerry Cole Contributing Editors Carmelita Collier Shirley Tolbert Anissa White Art Director Paolo Dela Rosa Advertising Team pls call 866.635.9990 Staff Writers Lynn Keeler SL Ruffdan Chiara Fucarino Professional Design Team Jennifer Conrad James Hartier Judy McWethy Susan Temple Contributing Gift Professionals Sherry Allen

Can you believe it? This year is coming to an end very fast! That means it’s time to start getting geared up for the forthcoming holidays. Now is the time to start planning, get into action, and be the first one out there with some great innovative ideas that are going to soar your sales to the top. If you are thinking that it may be a touch premature to start thinking about Christmas now and the New Year as well, then just wait till Halloween is past and see how quick the stores get their merchandise on the shelves. They already have their plans in place, and their merchandise ready and waiting. Follow the success of the big guns in the sales world and make your mark in this last quarter of the year as the best ever yet. Lots of ideas in this edition to help you get your thinking cap on! Let’s go get it!!!

Kimberly Cole, MBA Editor in Chief/Publisher The Basket Whiz Report www.basketwhiz.com

Executive Assistant Debra Winter

The Basket Whiz Report , a Division of The Confetti Group, LLC 2214 Main Street, Porterdale, GA 30014 is published 4 times a year. One year subscriptions are free to companies in the industry and $39.95 to non industry subscribers. The Basket Whiz Report is a digital publication that is delivered by email quarterly.

COPYRIGHT © 2012 BY THE CONFETTI GROUP, LLC. All rights reserved. Material in this publication may notbe stored or reproduced without permission from the publisher.

Requests for permission should bedirected to The Confetti Group at: Kimberly@ theconfettigroup.com or call: 1-866-635-9990.

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Balancing Act

Finding the Center of Your Business Success by sl ruffdan

At the center of success is a place called focus. It is also the place where the core goals that help to define a business can be found. Ultimately, when someone stays focused on their core goals, their business will likely thrive and move forward to its most profitable and successful state. That’s in the ideal world. However, to get to that point, one thing that must also happen is for a business to stay consistent on all levels as it progresses toward their goals.

Staying consistent sounds a lot easier than it actually is, and many businesses know all too well how easy it is to stray from their core. It often begins with a desire to reach a broader audience to increase profitability. Seems innocent enough, but sometimes, straying could lead to some of the biggest financial and business mistakes ever!

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to gauge whether your business is where it should be, as well as, how effective you have been with making the core goals of the business its reality.

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Balancing Act

1

Does your business sell the products and services that you envisioned from its inception? Simply put, if you started out selling gift baskets, then, if all is well in your business, you are likely still selling gift baskets on some level. However, if you are not selling any type of gift baskets, and you set out to be a major business force in the gift industry, then, you have strayed from your core. Diversifying is wonderful for a business as long as you don’t forget what’s at the heart of your labor. If you do, you are no longer staying consistent with your plan and business goals.

business, but its one of the ways that their business can also stray from its purpose of selling gift baskets and gifting services.

4

Have you consistently branded your products and services? By not being consistent with their marketing materials, businesses can lose sight of their brand. Without a brand, a gift business is a non-descript entity that will struggle with growing, primarily because no one will know what to call it or what to expect of it. Branding your business with colors, slogans, a name, or a style are extremely important eleDo you deliver service at ments that can further define your the level that you believe business for your customers and powill allow your business tential business partners. to continue to be successful? You know whether or not your Is your business consistcustomers are satisfied. If they are ently profitable? Unfortusatisfied, they may come back and nately, this last question they may refer others. If they are not finds many business ownsatisfied, you are sure to lose them ers at their final crossroad between in time. If your business has not de- continuing to stay in business or livered exceptional service, consist- abandoning their goal. Nobody feels ently, then you should re-evaluate the pains of a business more than your process, revisit your standards, its owner. Consider the books, your and make every effort to right the product line, your vendors, your wrongs. marketing collateral, and your staff and determine if you have been sucIs your marketing col- cessful in every aspect of your busilateral relevant for your ness or have you strayed too far in business, and does it one direction, favoring one area over showcase your products another. Your ability to consistently and services in the best possible lead, manage, and deliver will be the light? Small business owners some- final predictor in whether your busitimes focus a tremendous amount ness will sink or float. Take steps to of attention on themselves, their ac- evaluate your position and each faccomplishment as a business owner tor that drives your gift basket busiin their marketing material, and less ness. The things that are broken, fix on the actual products and services them, and always strive to consistthat they are trying to sell. It stems ently improve. from the pride that they take in their

2

3

5

5 to try

1. Diversity, but stay true to the core goals that you’ve set for your business.

2. Revisit your processes, standards, and overall expectations for your service delivery.

3. Create marketing collateral that is relevant and reflects what you are selling.

4. Brand your business and always promote your brand.

5. Evaluate each facet of your business to determine its profitability and make changes as necessary to consistently improve your position and operations.

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3

diversifying your business

Get in on a Piece of the Corporate Action

by sl ruffdan Corporations hire people. But, one thing that is often overlooked by small businesses is the fact that corporations also hire businesses. Just like an individual or smaller operation, corporations have needs to keep their businesses running smoothly and their employees happy and productive. So, it’s only natural that corporations would seek out assistance from those in the gift industry to help them with their events. Their need is the perfect opportunity for your business to expand and to become a part of an even larger network.

Some ways that you can promote your gift basket business is to create marketing materials specifically geared toward corporate events or directed toward helping them to promote their business in new and creative ways. Be sure to produce collateral that emphasizes your ability to service events or promotional needs for businesses of all

sizes, and make an effort tell them exactly how you could help them to make a spectacular impression on clients, prospective business partners, or employees.

Be positive, think beyond the traditional uses for gift baskets, and truly consider all of the ways in which a business could utilize them. For example, you may want to send a proposal to hotel chains that may include the gift baskets as a part of an amenities package for their rooms.

Or, you may introduce your services to a myriad of corporations as the perfect gifts for their community outreach programs, to hospitals to use for conference speaker gifts, or even local car dealerships that are always looking for really great products for giveaways and raffles. The possibilities are as varied as the types of businesses that exist in the world. Just take the first step and reach out, knowing that you have a fabulous product line that they need!

Editor’s Note: Get Inspired! Be sure to read the Company Spotlight on Jennifer Conrad!

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5

in your neck of the woods

In Your Neck of the Woods Here is the new location of The Confetti Group, home of Confetti Gift Baskets and BasketWhiz in Porterdale, GA.

Show us YOUR Neck of the Woods!

Send photos to basketwhiz@gmail.com 6

The Basket Whiz Report

in your neck of the woods

Lorna Danylchuk converted her garage into a cozy work space and office.

Lorna’s company is Your Perfect Gift in Vancouver Island in Canada. Her gift designs can be seen at www.yourperfectgift.ca.

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7

e-commerce

Don’t Just Become an Online Store Front by lynn keeler

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Blogging for your ecommerce site is just as important as you chatting with a client that would come into your on land store, if you happened to have one. A blog can be a fabulous way of offering additional information to your clients, as well as promotion. However, the approach to do this has to be totally different. The key to a good blog is to have it offer lots of valuable information. If your clients feel like they are getting some valuable information from you, then you will be building a trust relationship with them. Once you do this then you have won their loyalty.

Besides making your blogs informative write them as if you were having a conversation with the client. Add pictures to your blogs, make your paragraphs short and don’t make any one blog any longer than 400 to 500 words. (About the length of this article) Try to engage your reader so they will participate. You can end your blog by asking a question that is related to the content of the blog and encourage your readers to leave a comment. When this happens, always make sure that you respond to the comments.

In respect to content for the blog you want it related to your business but you are not doing hard selling here. One blog could be about upcoming trends and talk about how a gift basket could be themed around this. You could give party suggestions and at some point find a way to talk a little about how a gift basket would fit in.

You don’t have to directly fit into each blog something specific about gift baskets. For example, at the end you could put a PS: such as …oh by the way don’t forget to check out this month’s promos!

After you have written your first few blogs, you will become most comfortable with it, and you will find that it will bring more traffic to your site. One hint though, and that is always make sure you write a catchy title so the major search engines will index it.

smart business favorites

CookieZen Bites Cary’s

Amazing Grazing

www.carysoforegon.com It is always important to look for a classic to include in your gift baskets.

This is because these types of gifts are well known. Quality is important and that’s what makes the fine English toffee that is available here at Cary’s of Oregon the best choice.

What is also important to you is that you have a great selection to choose from. This means that all of your gift baskets can include this top quality product, but the different packaging that it comes in will allow you to create totally different looks amongst your baskets.

www.amazinggrazing.com Here you are going to find some great choices, but one of the most important aspects about Amazing Grazing is their creativity. A prime example of this is their golden caramel popcorn ball. Almost everyone loves popcorn and when it’s the caramel type then you have a sure winner. It is the unique shape of the ball that will create the attraction to your gift baskets though. It adds that extra touch of not only being a favorite but it is unique. It is the type of basket inclusion that creates a lasting memory and that makes for good marketing.

www.cookiezenbites.com Cookies really are a must have for a gift basket. They are just something that every gift basket recipient expects. The quality and choice is what is going to make your baskets extra special and a big hit. Often a recipient may forget in time what was in their basket, but when it has contained something that creates a lasting memory then you can be sure of some repeat business. You should easily be able to accomplish this with a good selection from Cookie Zen Bites. It is becoming well known that their Sea Salt Chocolate Oatmeal and Zesty Lemon selections are something to rave about!

Hammond’s Candies SerendipiTea: Plum Crazy tea www.Serendipitea.com You can never ever go wrong by putting a tea selection in any of your adult gift baskets. You can make a great statement as to the quality of your gift basket though by making the appropriate selection of not only brand, but blend. SerendipiTea will not fail you in either of these.

They are well known and respected for their quality, but now it is your chore to choose the right blend that is appropriate for your baskets. For your Christmas baskets you won’t go wrong if you choose the plum crazy blend.

After all Christmas is all about sugar plums right? Well this tea fits right in with the Christmas theme with its fruity flavor and just the right sweetness.

www.hammondscandies.com Choosing the best products from Hammond’s Candies can be a tough one, because all of them are just great. With the upcoming Christmas season though, you may want to give some extra thought to including some of their candy canes in your gift baskets. You have some great choices here as you can choose the flavors individually and make up your own selections in your gift basket, or you can choose the pre-packaged sets. If you decide to go with the individuals then you won’t be restricted to just the Christmas season, and will be able to use your left over stock, and the great selection of flavors won’t restrict you.

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management

Introducing Your Business to Database by lynn keeler There are a lot of purposes that database management systems serve, but if you are new to online business and not too tech savvy as yet, then you may just want to focus on one area of their use for now, and that’s to keep track of your customers.

First, to understand a database think of it this way, (without giving away my age), before the internet boom, small on land businesses would use a recipe card to manually write client information on. Or perhaps a rolodex would be a slightly more modern example. Then for you new online business owners, who aren’t tuned into how to use a lot of software yet, perhaps you are just keeping a document file, or spreadsheet with your customer’s info on.

A much more efficient way is to keep all the info about your customers on a database. This will allow you to sort and access information immediately. For example, let’s say you wanted a list of all your customers whose birthday is in November. Then will just a few easy commands you could get a report that gives you just this specific information. The more information you load into your database the more valuable it becomes and the more you can identify specific groups of information quickly.

Now don’t panic and think that this type of software is expensive or hard to learn. There are lots for you to choose from, and most of them are quite simple to learn. Here are a few for you to check out.

http://www.databaseoasis.com/ http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/ http://www.zoho.com/creator/database-software.html http://www.brilliantdatabase.com/ http://www.salesforce.com/

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money matters

What is Your Real Return on

Investment? by lynn keeler

Sometimes especially during your busy periods it’s really hard to know what your rate of return is on your investment. It is easy to develop tunnel vision when the sales come in. At the end of the day if you have made 50 sales you breathe a sigh of relief, and say, “Wow! It’s a great day look at the money made today. The real reality sets in when you do your accounting at the end of the week, or you need to take a good chunk of the money generated through the week, and now re-invest it back into replenishing your stock. It can be so difficult wearing all the hats that comes with running a business. In the beginning you probably started out with the fact that you make fantastic gift baskets and you knew you could sell them.

What often starts out on a personal level in the gift basket business turns into a business, and you may not have been prepared with all the additional responsibilities that go with it.

The bottom line is how much money are you getting back for what you have put in to your business to get it going, and then how much over and above your operating expenses (PLUS your labor)? It may seem discouraging at first, because you are not hitting the true profit margin. It usually takes a few years for any business to reach that level, so don’t think you have failed because you are not there yet.

What you need to watch closely during this getting established stage, is that there is continual growth in the amount of money you are bringing in each year compared to the previous year. You can be even more tuned into this if you look at the monthly picture. Your knowledge will grow in the financial sector of your business as you continue with the business. For now though, you want to strive to increase your monthly sales compared to the same time last year, and compared to the month prior in this year. At the same time you want to keep your expenses at the same or ideally lower.

Working these two ends towards the middle will soon allow you to identify your weak areas as well as your strong ones.

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growth engine series

Your Business is

Monthly not

Yearly by lynn keeler

The biggest key to your business success is customer relationships. If you master this then you are going to instill loyalty. This is a big asset to your business and one that is often overlooked. It can be hard though, trying to build a good relationship with customers that maybe at the moment you are only dealing with two or three times a year. Once you develop a good strategy you will be seeing a lot more of these customers, and your relationship building will then become more of a maintenance strategy which is a lot easier.

People buy gifts more than two or three times a year.

You need to put your business at the top of the list as the

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gift giving solution for everyone. Also, you don’t want to be putting yourself in a position where your customers view you as a seasonal business. You need to let them know that you are available 12 months of the year for their gift giving needs.

This means you need to build a monthly relationship with each and every customer. There are lots of ways you can do this, but it means some form of communication. The best way to know how to communicate is by knowing the needs of your customers. Keeping a client journal about them can really help. Here are a few hints to help you do that.

growth engine series

Always be sure that you get your client to fill out a small information card or form. It should have their company name, name, address, telephone number, and email. Now you will always get some clients who will not give this information or some will just give partial info. That’s fine. There are two reasons for doing this.

One is you want some form of contact address, and the second is the purpose of the gift. You could fine tune your information card and have a check list for the purpose of the gift. For example, ladies birthday gift, baby shower gift etc.

Now each month you can go through your client cards and see who bought what kind of gift basket. So

let’s say you have 5 clients that bought a ladies birthday gift in October. Now is the time to send out an email to them telling them about all the new and exciting things you have for this year’s birthday baskets.

This is just one example of how to build customer relationships in the off months when there are not special occasions creating the need for baskets. You need to create a contact idea for each and every month of the year in order to start building your unique customer relationships.

Editor’s note: This system can also be done using an automated database. But remember to make the system easy enough to use to be effective!

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13

marketing

Are You Branding and You Don’t Know It? by lynn keel

er

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marketing

Your brand here

Most likely throughout your quest for knowledge on how to build your business you have heard about branding. Chances are you may think this type of business application is way out of your league, and only for the big conglomerates. Well, actually it’s not and you can Brand your company, service, product and you just as easily as these big companies, and make it just as viable and successful to you as their branding is for them.

All you have to do is get past all the technical jargon that is used to make branding seem difficult and complex, and look at what Branding is supposed to do and you will see that a lot of it you have already done in some small way. Now it’s just a matter of perfecting and expanding those small branding steps that you have taken that you probably don’t even know about.

• Branding is like a unique statement in the business world.

• It could be your slogan or logo.

• Something that consumers are going to remember, and relate it to your business.

• A catchy but simple business name that relates to what you offer or what your business is about.

• You can think of it as a connection, or a life line.

• It is something that makes you stand out in the crowd.

Your branding is then heavily marketed so people will relate it to your company & service.

So you see, you really have been involved in branding when you chose your business name, for example.

Perhaps you already have a slogan or buzz line that you use on your business cards or on your website under your business name. Maybe you use a unique way of wrapping all of your gift baskets. If so, then when someone outside of your shop looks at one of your baskets they should know immediately where it came from.

What you may not be doing however, is marketing your brand as well as your product. So now it’s up to you to either expand what branding you already have in place, or create some branding, and go ahead and market it.

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15

sales

Forecasting the

Future by lynn keeler

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sales

You can never stand still in business no matter what industry you are in. This is particularly true in the gift giving business because your competition is huge. You need to be constantly planning ahead, and this means in all areas of your business, not just next month’s gift basket theme. It can be a little daunting in the beginning, as running the daily operations of your business most likely takes up most of your time. It is the time factor that prevents many “would be” business entrepreneurs from actually starting a business.

Your dedicated time now will pay off though if you have the passion and enthusiasm it takes to be successful. As long as you believe in what you are doing then that is your business foundation. The moment you begin to doubt yourself then the real problems begin.

So planning for the future begins with determination and enthusiasm.

If you adopt the attitude, plan for the worst and hope for the best, then you will have the future covered. Money is tight right now because many people are feeling the pinch of the poor economy. If you plan that the future is going to be basically the same, then you have no real transitions to make. You also have to walk a fine line here, as well. If the economy booms then you want a piece of the pie too. However, you cannot all of a sudden inflate your prices. Your regular clients are familiar and accustomed to your price range, and even if they can afford to pay more they are going to feel like you are gouging them or taking advantage. This is one reason why you don’t ever want to make a huge reduction in your overall gift basket pricing just to make a minimal profit sale.

You use sales promotions to tackle that problem.

So what you need to do is follow the trends and the economy and make your price increase subtle.

What you can do to is offer a new line of gift baskets that are higher priced giving people the option to buy this new introduction. If money is more available then more often than not they will buy the higher priced ticket items because they can afford it.

This is just one of many ways that you can plan for the future. New ideas will come to you as you begin your future planning. The important thing is that you do plan for the future.

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vendor in the spotlight

Maple

Ridge

Farms by chiara fucarino

by chiara fucarino

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vendor in the spotlight A continuing feature of the Basket Whiz Report is our interviews with leading vendors in the gift basket industry. For this issue, we have selected Maple Ridge Farms, the largest company in America specializing in corporate food gift programs.

Founded in 1979 by Tom Riordan, Maple Ridge Farms creates and stamps gift boxes with custom company logos, fills the boxes with nuts, sweets, and candy, and sends the beautifully assembled food gifts to many clients all over the country.

Tom Riordan took the time to tell us a little bit more about Maple Ridge Farms. We began by asking Tom to tell us how Maple Ridge Farms came into being.

Tom: In the late 70s, I was building wooden gift boxes in Honduras, Central America and selling them to the large food gift companies.

One night, while imprinting the Hickory Farms logo on some box lids, the thought occurred to me that if I put a company’s logo on the lid of the box and filled it with cheese like my customers were doing, I’d have a great business gift. That’s where it started. We had one product to sell: a block of cheese packed in a wooden box with the customer’s logo printed on the cover. In November of 1979, from going door to door in Wausau, Wisconsin, we were able to write $24,000 in the food gift business. A year later, we wrote $48,000 in 3 weeks. It didn’t take us long to discover that we had a couple of unique selling propositions.

The first [unique selling proposition] was branding. We offered to imprint a company’s logo on the cover of the wooden box that contained the cheese. Buyers had never seen this before and were surprised and thrilled with it.

The second was convenience. We made it so easy to do business with us. We went to their office; they didn’t have to come to us.

We would bring in samples of cheese for their evaluation. We’d offer to handle the whole program for them including individual shipment and card enclosure. They loved the convenience, and they gave us the orders.

BWR: Obviously going door-to-door worked out very well for you. In today’s day

and age, do you still consider it an effective form of marketing?

Tom: Yes, but it’s more difficult. Rather than making cold calls, it is easier to take advantage of all the possible networking opportunities and then make “warm” calls on people you’ve met through your networking efforts.

BWR: Aside from going door-to-door, what other marketing approaches did you take in the early years of your business?

Tom: We did some direct mail to get leads and then called on the respondents personally. We also did some telemarketing to get appointments.

BWR: What has been your most successful marketing approach so far?

Tom: Our “One Taste” program has been our most successful marketing program ever.

Here’s how this great program works: In an ivory gift box, we package three delicious brownies or freshly roasted jumbo cashews, your choice.

Then we pack that gift box in a sturdy mailing carton with your return address on the label and enclose your business card and a Maple Ridge Farms 12 page mini-catalog in the box. Plus – now here’s a real incentive for your customers to order – a coupon for a 20% discount if they order by October 31st.

When your customers taste the delicious sample, they’ll want to place their holiday food gift order with you.

We will mail this delicious sample package to twenty of your best customers for only $125.00 including first class postage! That’s just over $6.00 per client, and you can add additional customers for just $6.25 each.

BWR: That sounds like a very innovative program. How will the participants benefit from the program? Do they receive a type of commission for every sale they make?

Tom: The participants benefit by getting prospects or leads. Then, if they are fortunate enough to sell food gifts to the prospects, the profit on the sale.

BWR: How did Maple Ridge Farms come to be America’s largest corporate gift basket company?

Tom: We listened to our customers, heard what they were saying and developed gifts and

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vendor in the spotlight services to meet their needs. One of my heroes is the legendary retailer Marshall Field. My great uncle actually worked for him. When asked to explain his phenomenal success he said it came down to one thing, “Give the lady what she wants.”

BWR: What sets Maple Ridge Farms apart from its competitors?

Tom: Great tasting products, freshly packed food gifts, innovative packaging and extraordinary customer service.

BWR: What is your best selling product?

Tom: For decades, our best selling gift has been our #K124 Chocolate Covered Almonds in a wooden collector’s box.

BWR: Is there a reason #K124 is your best selling product?

Tom: It’s a tremendous value and people just like the combination of almonds and chocolate.

BWR: How do you choose your distributors?

Tom: We look for distributors who understand, or are willing to learn, how to sell business food gifts. Business to business is quite different from the business to customer model.

BWR: What do you consider the greatest achievement of Maple Ridge Farms?

Tom: That we’ve built a wonderful business with happy employees and happy customers.

BWR: What are some of the best testimonials you’ve received from your customers, and how do you use them to improve your business?

Tom: A woman who works for CT Corporate Gifts in New Orleans once said this: “Selling Maple Ridge Farms products is easy because the products sell themselves. You offer unbeatable marketing tools, including free imprinted catalogs and early order discounts. All feedback that we’ve received has been of the highest praise. Maple Ridge has helped me increase my sales effortlessly!”

We use the testimonials in our efforts to recruit new distributors.

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BWR: We understand that you have a ‘fail-safe’ system that ensures that you ship all your orders on time. Please tell us more about it.

Tom: Our fail-safe system is based upon a computer program we designed to track every order from the time it is entered into our system until it leaves our loading dock. If an order is running behind, it shows up on an exception report.

We have one person in charge of viewing the report, tracking down exception orders, and getting them back on track.

BWR: How does that person get a late order back on track?

Tom: If there is something holding up the order, like we haven’t received a mailing list, the order is turned over to customer service to call and let the customer know that we have not yet received their list.

BWR: How do you ship your perishable goods, like cheese and sausage?

Tom: We ship 95% of our orders in between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. At that time of the year, perishability is not a big issue. However, when we ship chocolate and natural cheese during the summer, we use insulated cartons with 4 – 8 pounds of liquid ice. We can ship

by UPS ground to almost all destinations east of the Rocky Mountains, but need to use UPS 3 day to destinations on the west coast.

BWR: What advice would you offer to others starting out in the gift basket business?

Tom: Be extremely attentive to quality and service. That is what will differentiate you from your competitors.

BWR: Could you give an example, please?

Tom: It’s hard to come up with a specific instance where our attention to quality and service made the difference, but in the longer view of things, our attention to quality and service has built a large group of “raving fans” among our customer base.

These people are vey loyal customers.

BWR: Thank you, Tom.

vendor in the spotlight

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year round business

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year round business

Expand Your Target Market With Vacation Rental and Regional Gifts (and more!) by lynn keeler

The longer you are in the gift basket business the more you will begin to broaden your business thinking. The driving force behind this is that you want to make money. You already know who your regular customers are, and you know that your best sales come around the special occasions and holidays.

Your business can go far beyond this and your expansion begins with knowing your region. What do you really know about the area your business services? With an internet business you have a lot of territory to cover!

People shopping online don’t mind paying the shipping fees of your product, if you are selling a top quality and unique product, which is what you should be focusing on with your gift baskets.

Think about marketing your gift baskets as a thank you or welcome gifts to the vacation rental business sector. Consider marketing to the snowbirds. These individuals usually go to the same resorts every year and often take a gift to the establishment that they are staying at.

Even if you are strictly an internet business you have on land businesses surrounding your region that could be a goldmine for you once you establish a business to business relationship. Think about all the realty companies in your area. Many realtors like to buy a small gift for their buying and selling clients. Think of the local schools that often offer achievement awards, give them new ideas as to ways they can give applicable gift baskets to students.

Think about those in the community that use home care services, as these individuals often like to give appreciation gifts, and you can make it easy for them by letting them know they can shop online. If you are having difficulty thinking about who could take advantage of what you have to offer, a good way to get your creative juice flowing is to pick up your regional yellow pages phone book. Just go through all the categories and think about each one of these and what you have that could be of assistance to them.

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industry hint

james

hartier James Hartier of Gourmet GiftPros Greer, SC www.gourmetgiftpros.com

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industry hint

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industry hint

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industry hint

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industry hint

jenny conrad

Jenney Conrad of Conrad Creative Mansfield, TX www.conradcreative.com Learn more Company Spotlight Feature Article!

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industry hint

judy mcwethy Judy McWethy of Biscuit in a Basket Centennial, CO www.abiscuitinabasket.com

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industry hint

susan temple Susan Temple of Baskets N Boughs Ashville, OH www.basketsnboughs.com

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gift pros

Debbie Quintana Announces the 2013 National Gift Basket Convention Location On August 15, 2012 Orlando FL was named as the “2013 Destination Success” location. The convention will be held at the newly built, Embassy Suites at Lake Buena Vista. The convention will be held on August 2, 3 and 4, 2013. Tickets are on sale now! http://www.thengbc.com/press.html Click here to see the full announcement

gift pros

online

Elements of Excellence Entrepreneurial Keys for Success Acquire the Knowledge, Guidance, and Support From Experienced Educated Designers While Learning & Utilizing “You Can Spend A Lifetime Learning How To Do Something Incorrectly, Or You Can Simply Master It In Just Hours, Days Or Weeks If You’re Willing To Listen, Learn, Study & Practice Industry Techniques From Our Talented, Creative & Knowledgeable Gift Designers”.

James W. Hartier

Sign Up Today: www.giftprosonline.com The Basket Whiz Report

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cover story

Thinking Outside the Box:

Conrad Creative by: chiara fucarino

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cover story

Albert Einstein once said, “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.”

No truer words have ever been spoken. That’s why we chose to feature the founder and owner of Conrad Creative, Jenny Conrad, in this issue’s cover story. Not only does this creative entrepreneur invent, experiment, take risks, break rules, make mistakes, and have fun, she also thinks outside the box. Her unconventional mindset is the driving force behind Conrad Creative, which is one of the most unique gift basket businesses we’ve ever seen.

Conrad Creative offers unconventional gifts for businesses. Some include mini refrigerators, crockpots, pitchers, tailgate grills, and breast cancer kits. You might be asking, “Why don’t they just offer baskets full of fruit or candy?”

The answer is marketing.

Before Jenny founded Conrad Creative in November 2006, she worked as a marketing director. She says that her experience as a marketing director has tremendously contributed to the success of her business. “I want my gifts to be tools for marketing,” Jenny says. “I want the person receiving the gift to remember who gave it to them, and [eventually] want to do business with that person. I create baskets with the mindset of how [my clients] would use them to market their businesses. I also think the marketing background has helped me create marketing tools, plans, and budgets to help me run my business better behind the scenes.

I know how to place media, create ads, and formulate a marketing strategy, so [my experience as a marketing director] has helped me out a lot!”

To help her clients market themselves through Conrad Creative, Jenny makes sure that the gifts are useful and will be likely to be on full display all year round. “I [also] use logo items. I use company colors. I logo the ribbon on the bow, and I theme the basket based on their business. For example, a logistics company might have a truck planter as the base of the gift, or a landscaping company might have a gardening bag.”

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cover story

The fact that Jenny’s cute gift baskets are also marketing tools gives her an edge over her competition. Even though Conrad Creative has only been in business for almost six years, it’s already being recognized as a successful business. Last January, Conrad Creative was named the small business of the year by the Mansfield Area Chamber of Commerce in Mansfield, Texas. “This was a huge accomplishment for us,” Jenny beams. “Because [the award] is voted on by our peers. Mansfield has over 60,000 residents and has a chamber with over 600 businesses. I was honored to be recognized for our contributions to the business community here.”

A lot of creative people get their inspiration from famous figures and industry trendsetters. Not Jenny. “My source of inspiration is really my kids and family. I have two beautiful children, an 8-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy. They are so proud of Mommy. I want to show them that you can be a mommy and own a successful business. My husband of 12 years has been very supportive. He is always there to help with deliveries, lift heavy boxes, or just let me vent my stresses. I am a Christian woman, and I feel that making gifts is a talent I was given [by God].”

In fact, Jenny’s children are the reason she decided to get into the gift basket business. As a marketing director, she traveled a lot, but she wanted to spend more time with her two small children. She also purchased gift baskets for her employer, so she knew that there was a large demand of creative gifts for businesses.

So, one day, on the plane home from a business trip, Jenny grabbed a Southwest Airlines napkin and started scribbling down ideas. She delineated the pros and cons of owning her own business, her target market, and how it would work online. “I knew it was a good idea when I couldn’t stop writing,” she reminisces.

Jenny saved money for a year, and then used all of it to start her business. Conrad Creative commenced as an online business, and then, after about a year, it gained a showroom above Jenny’s garage at her house, where she could bring clients in by appointment to show them products and put items together for them

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on-site. The business’s newfound success was due to the fact that Jenny began networking and making presentations to businesses. She also executed some creative marketing strategies in order to get noticed. “[When I first started out,] I did a mail-out with jingle bells attached to the card, which said, ‘Give me a jingle for your holiday gift orders!’ People kept the cards for a long time, and I had a great return on investment. Two years ago, we did little boxes of popcorn in our company colors, and they came with a card that said, ‘Gifts that pop!’ We handed them out to potential clients and dropped them off at their offices. This strategy also worked extremely well. Finally, one of the best things I ever did was create a catalog and mail it out. It brought me a lot of business I would not have ever had. It gave people a real feel for my ideas with tangible examples. It was a piece with a long shelf life, so I received orders throughout the year from that one mail-out!”

However, Jenny did face some struggles during Conrad Creative’s early days. She tried some product ideas that did not sell well, and executed some marketing ideas that ended up being a waste of money. “[It’s okay, because] you live and you learn a lot in the first two years,” she advises. One of the most important things she has learned as an entrepreneur is to pay a lot of attention to what she gets out of her time. “To anyone starting out in the gift basket business,” she advises. “Don’t forget to factor your time into your price. Gift baskets are different from a typical retail item that you purchase wholesale, mark up, and then resell for a profit. You are making items into a gift, and you need to price in design time. As entrepreneurs, we often devalue our time, and this is a mistake. We need to remember the old saying, ‘Time is money!’”

Today, Conrad Creative is considered a very successful profitable business. In fact, they just opened a storefront store on Main Street in Mansfield! Jenny couldn’t be any happier. She feels that she’s contributing a lot more to the world than when she was a marketing director. She wouldn’t have had it any other way.

cover story

“

“

you live and you learn a lot in the first two years

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RelationTips Keep Your Clients Coming Back!

It can be pretty difficult to come up with ideas on how to build relationships with your clients, but the more creative and innovative you are the more you will be remembered and appreciated. Here are a few tips to get you thinking. Once you get used to thinking about ways to do this you will soon start coming up with ideas of your own that will make your business unique.

It is perhaps a little more difficult to build online relationships because you don’t have that direct contact, however it is very much a part of making your business a success. If you have an on land business you really need to have a website presence as well. It is an added convenience for your walk in clients.

Facebook & Twitter Some of the common ways of building a relationship online is of course through your social media. Even if you have an auto system that posts to both of these social platforms, make it a point to personally post to these venues a few times a week. Your followers and fans know the difference between your auto posts and your personal posting. Your personal posts add a human touch.

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Online videos You may want to encourage your customers to submit videos to you of a special event where you can have a section on your site about this. It again builds personal contact and realism. Even if they don’t want to submit a video, you could have a customer section where you relate a story about something special that involves them.

Donations to special events Giving away something free to your customers who are maybe hosting a charity of some sort is another good way to build recognition and appreciation. In addition to this, you could treat them to a small token gift on their birthday as well.

Onsite events You could plan an online get together such as a webinar where you could feature something for the upcoming holidays. Have it so your clients can interact.

These are just a few suggestions, now it’s up to you to start escalating your client relationships.

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