Planning for Success: Make Your Gift Basket Business Work
March 15th, 2007 at 01:36pm Lorie Obernauer
Rave Reviews Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 1, includes a great article by Lisa Stenson entitled “Day by Day, Daily & Monthly Schedules for Downtime”. As many of us in the gift basket industry know, we work in a seasonal business. There are times when we are so busy (eg. holidays) that we don’t have time to breathe! There are other times of the year (eg. summer) that we’re looking for things for our employees to do. Author Stenson offers some fabulous ideas for using this “downtime” effectively.
In my opinion, one of her best ideas is to use the weeks immediately following a holiday to analyze what has worked and what needs to be changed. She suggests that this process starts during the weeks approaching the holiday. To start, ask all staff members keep notes about what they see and hear. Here are some ideas that can help them focus:
What products did customers love and talk about when they shopped?
Which products just didn’t sell?
What products customers asked for, but you didn’t have?
What designs customers liked but may not have bought and reasons why?
How customers responded to delivery charges?
What women ordered?
What men ordered?
Ask your staff to jot down their impressions throughout each day and just collect them in a desk drawer. Then, when the holiday rush is over, the real work begins. This is when you all get together and discuss what you learned, what worked, what needs to be changed.
Try this for the Spring holidays that are coming up. See what kind of information you collect after Easter, then again after Mother’s Day. Let your staff know that you are eager for their input. Use the “downtime” after each holiday to learn from your successes and your failures. What a great way to make your business better!
Entry Filed under: Business Tips
2 Comments Add your own
1. Gift Basket Business | March 16th, 2007 at 7:28 am
This is one part of the business that can be difficult to complete, but at the same time, it’s the most-useful informaiton to take sales from good to great.
I say it can be difficult because when you are “in the moment,” it seems that the frenzy does not allow you to slow down long enough to take notes on what’s happening so you don’t forget.
One thing I do, in that case, is to put pens and paper in every nook and cranny of my shop and office, in places where they are permanently stationed. At day’s end, I walk around looking for those notes, gathering and placing them in a binder pocket for inspection at a later date.
It’s done, and I don’t have to search my memory banks, wondering what I was thinking two days before.
2. Flora Morris Brown | March 18th, 2007 at 1:27 am
In the gift basket business there is actually no “downtime.” The time between holidays spent in analyzing and planning is critical to the health of business. Designers who invest time in using past sales and experiences to plan for future sales ensure their success.
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