Gift Basket Business Blog

Sick of Gift Basket Deliveries to Hospitals?

April 5th, 2006 at 01:58pm Lorie Obernauer

Does your gift basket business make deliveries? Do you have many deliveries to hospitals? This can indeed be a sickening prospect! Sometimes it’s difficult to find patients’ rooms. Sometimes, the patient has already checked out!

In Floral Finance, March, 2006, this issue was addressed. This publication is put out by Teleflora and is geared to retail florists. I think there are some great points that apply to those of you in gift basket busineses. Here are some suggestions for a remedy to hospital delivery ailments.

Hospital stays are getting shorter and shorter. Here’s an idea to help you deal with the stress of trying to get the basket delivered in a timely manner. When you take an order for a hospital delivery, suggest that if a short stay is anticipated, the patient may prefer to have their gift basket delivered to their home. Point out that the patient won’t have to carry home a bulky basket AND they’ll receive a gift at home when they’re more relaxed and ready to enjoy the gift.

If hospital deliveries are a big part of your business, it might also be worth your while to get to know the volunteer staff. Often, it’s the volunteers who actually deliver your baskets to the patients’ rooms.

Try to meet with the person who manages the volunteers and ask what you can do to make their job easier. For example, something as simple as making sure that the patient’s name is spelled correctly could save the volunteer a lot of time in searching for the recipient. Or maybe it is easier to transport the basket if it is placed inside of a box. Whatever their suggestions may be, it’s worthwhile to consider them in order to ensure that your basket gets delivered in perfect condition.

Entry Filed under: Business Tips