Gift Basket Business Blog

Effective Training for Gift Basket Designers

So you’re getting ready to hire a new designer….or a new delivery person….or a new bookkeeper. How do you create a training program that results in an employee who performs to your expectations?

Maggie Bayless, author of “Management’s Role in Effective Training”, suggests that training only works when both the trainer and the trainee have an investment in the outcome. Yes, it is your job to outline all the tasks and responsibilities that the new hire is expected to carry out. And yes, it is your job to assess whether your new hire has the skills needed and to teach him/her those skills if not. But it is also critical for you to communicate the importance of the training process to make sure that the new employee is aware of the outcomes that you expect.

To increase a new hire’s engagement in the training process, Bayless says that employers need to:

• “Provide context for the training”…make sure the person knows what will be covered and what he/she will be expected to do after training is completed.
• “Reinforce how the training supports the trainee’s success”…let the person know how he/she can get the most out of the training.
• “Help the trainee put the new learnings to good use”…provide immediate opportunities for the person to use the information learned and be prepared to give feedback.

Read the full article for more information about how to put an effective training program in place for all of your gift basket business employees.

Add comment February 20th, 2010

Meaningful Conversations with Gift Basket Employees

During the busy holiday season, it is especially important that you are talking frequently with employees and communicating, communicating, communicating! Everyone is busy, and it’s critical that you share information effectively. There’s no time for lengthy meetings when you are trying to get out holiday orders! This applies to conversations with an individual employee who may need to be redirected regarding some aspect of his/her work or to a whole group of employees who need to clear about tasks and goals for the upcoming week.

I read something in ManageSmarter.com on-line magazine that provides some good ideas about how to be thorough when having these conversations with employees. Read the full article entitled “Seven Tips for Effective 20 Minute Leadership Conversations”. The suggestions are straight forward and easy to implement.

1. Have a plan.
2. Keep it simple.
3. Take care of relationships.
4. Listen completely.
5. State expectations clearly.
6. Write it down.
7. Follow up.

Take the time to read the article and you’ll be able to communicate with your employees in a way where everyone wins.

1 comment December 15th, 2009

Last Minute Details for Holiday Gift Basket Businesses

Well, the holidays are here. Black Friday and Cyber Monday signaled the official start of the hectic holiday shopping season. By this time, you’ve already developed your holiday designs, created advertising materials, and started to implement your marketing plans.

But there are still some last minute details that you can take care of to make these last few weeks run more smoothly.

• Chart out your employees work schedules for the remainder of the month. Make sure that all employees double check the schedule to insure that you have adequate coverage every day. During December, employees may request some extra time off to attend  their children’s school pagents,  help an aging parent with some shopping, or just need a little extra time for their own holiday preparations. Instead of being caught off guard at the last minute, plan for these situations ahead of time. Your employees who need some time off will appreciate your understanding and be more willing to put out some extra effort on the day that one of their colleagues takes some time off.

• Double check your shipping and packing supplies. You’ve been so busy thinking about your designs, now make sure that you have everything you need to pack those gorgeous baskets so that they’ll arrive safely and intact. Check your boxes, bubble wrap, peanuts, tape, shipping labels, or whatever else you use for shipping. Contact your delivery service (UPS, Fed EX, etc) and get a copy of their holiday pick up and delivery schedules.

• Take care of yourself! In an article in the September issue of Trends and Tips Magazine, author Mary Ann Jacobs lists some “life saving tips”: take your vitamins, cut down on your sugar, select your social engagements carefully, delegate to others. I would also add that it is especially important to not miss the important things you regularly do for yourself: keep up with your exercise, yoga, meditation or whatever it is that you usually do for relaxation. Remember that you will be able to take care of your responsibilities and the important people in your life only if you’ve first taken care of yourself!

1 comment December 5th, 2009

Boosting Employee Morale

Although we hear in the news that the recession is ending, many small businesses are still feeling the pinch. Moreover, our employees are feeling the stress. Many business owners have had to ask employees to work longer hours, or take on more responsibilities with no increase in pay. For many employees, they are just “holding on”: doing what they have to do to get by and get through these hard times. And these attitudes of course, affect how they do their jobs. “When fear and uncertainty become staples of daily work and life, they lead to a lack of trust, decreased productivity, poor focus, uninspired teamwork and subpar performance.”

But there is a way to change the tide. An excellent article, “Managing Motivation”, by Jon Gordon, offers an interesting array of ideas that leaders in any business can use to help their employees excel during troubling times. Read the full article, but I especially like the first suggestion: “focus on people, not numbers”.

When business is slow, most small business owners that I know talk about cutting expenses and trimming the fat. But this is only one part of a winning strategy. We have to pay attention to our employees and help them maintain positive attitudes and behaviors by modeling those ourselves.

Consider what author Gordon has to say and think about how you apply this to your business: “Right now, negativity and fear are probably knocking your people off balance. It’s a scientifically proven fact that the nature of our thoughts affects our lives in tangible ways. I firmly believe that if you think your best days are behind you, they are. However, if you think your best days are ahead of you, they are. Therefore, it’s time to regroup, refocus and unite your people to create a winning mindset, culture and positive team environment. Remember, culture drives behavior. You win in the office first. Then you win in the marketplace. With a winning team you create strength on the inside that can withstand the negativity, naysayers and adversity on the outside.”

2 comments November 14th, 2009

Customer Complaints are a “Good Thing”

Have you ever had a customer who was unhappy with your products and/or services, yet didn’t let you know? Have you ever considered that this customer may have told all their friends and family about their dissatisfaction? Have you ever thought that customer complaints were really a good thing?

If customers let us know that they are dissatisfied, we have the opportunity to do something positive and hopefully, retain that customer’s business. But for many of us, it not easy to handle complaints. Let’s face it: no one likes to be yelled at!

In an article in The Gourmet Retailer, author Maggie Bayless describes five steps for handling customer complaints:

• Acknowledge the complaint.
• Sincerely apologize.
• Make it right.
• Say thanks.
• Write it up.

I suggest that you read the full article to get the full benefit. An important thing that I was reminded is that dealing to customer complaints is not a matter of finding out “who’s right and who’s wrong”. Rather, it’s a recognition that for some reason, our customer is dissatisfied and as business owners, it’s our job to turn this “dissatisfaction” into “satisfaction”. If we can focus on this “service” aspect of doing business, I believe that success will automatically follow!

2 comments October 12th, 2009

You Can’t “Make” Your Employees Work Harder

Although you may be the owner of your gift basket business, and you sign the paychecks each week, you just can’t “make” your employees do a good job. Ultimately, we have no control of how others behave. Sure, we can ask employees to perform certain tasks, but their investment in doing those tasks to the best of their ability rests entirely with them.

So what can we do to “encourage” employees to do the best that they can? First, we can treat them as adults: with respect and honesty. We can recognize that they come to our businesses with a certain set of skills and experiences and we can honor them by asking for their opinions and considering their suggestions.

We can also remember that they may come to work with problems from home. While they need to put these issues aside while at work, we need to remember that their “bad moods” or “anxieties” are theirs to control. Depending on our own comfort levels, we can listen, but not offer advice. Sometimes by sharing our own similar experiences and how we dealt with them is enough to let the other person know that we understand….and sometimes that just enough.

2 comments September 15th, 2009

Hiring the Right People for Your Gift Basket Business

With the holiday season approaching, you may be considering whether you need extra help. If you’re thinking about hiring soon, first take some time to figure out exactly what you need. Here are some tips for tackling this process.

Spend several days with your staff and just observe. When do your procedures break down? When does customer service begin to deteriorate? If your designers have trouble getting back to their work after they answer a phone call, maybe you need someone to answer the phone and take orders. If finished basket designs are sitting in the design room for too long, maybe you need extra help in your shipping department. If the shipping department is backed up, watch what they’re doing. Maybe your shippers need some help preparing shipping boxes for packing and replenishing supplies. If your staff asks the same questions repeatedly, maybe you need to clarify certain procedures. Once you correctly identify the problem, you can more accurately come up with a solution.

Once you’ve identified where you need extra help, think about the skills needed to carry out those tasks. While we traditionally use interview questions to find out about an interviewee’s skills and experiences, many applicants know the “right answers”, but don’t really know how to do what they say they can do.

How about trying some role playing? Watch how the person puts together the pieces of the puzzle. If you need someone to answer the phone and take orders, watch and listen to them answer a phone call. Let the person you’re interviewing pretend that he/she works in a clothing store (or sporting goods store, food store or any business he/she is familiar with). Have one of your other employees be the “customer” and call in to place an order. How does the interviewee answer the phone? How does he/she begin the conversation? Are suggestions offered? Are good questions asked? Does he/she ask all of the pertinent information needed for getting an order right. If the interviewee handles the call well, it is likely he/she will be able to learn your products and procedures and apply his/her “telephone skills” to your business.

You can use role playing to discern skills needed for any task that needs to be done. Ask the person who is applying for a job in your shipping department to pack a fragile item. Have a “would be” designer create a basket using your products.  Have a potential customer service person handle a “customer” who comes into your store with a complaint.

What are some techniques you use to hire the right people for your business?

Add comment August 9th, 2009

Help Your Employees Succeed and Help Your Gift Basket Business

Maybe you’ve found the perfect person to hire! She has experience in a similar business and demonstrates all the skills that are required for the job. But how can you be sure that she’ll succeed in your business?

Even a person with experience needs to know your expectations and learn your procedures. When you hire someone new, take some time to teach them what they need to know to be successful. Be clear about your vision and mission for your business as well as the values you hold about handling customers and working cooperatively with other employees. Make sure that you’re very clear about your “rules”: what time they are expected to get to work, how long breaks and lunch should be, whether they can accept personal phone calls, etc.  Then, be concise about how you want things done. If you have certain expectations for cleaning the work room, make sure they know it. If you have want specific information from all new customers, give them a list of questions to cover when they’re helping a customer.

Once a new employee knows what you expect, give her lots of feedback during her first weeks at work. Correct mistakes, but also point out when things have been done exactly as you want. Ask her questions: take advantage of her experience. And most importantly, model the behaviors you want. If you expect your customers to be treated with dignity and respect, then treat your employees in the same way.

Helping your employees be “the best they can be” will work well for them, for your customers and for your business!

4 comments July 26th, 2009

Good Service Relieves High Stress

In the July/August issue of Specialty Foods Magazine, author Ari Weinzweig offers “Even More Low-Cost Service Tips for High-Stress Times”. This is the third installment of this three part series. If you missed the beginning of this series, read Part 1 and Part 2 for some great ideas.

I especially like two of the tips that Weinzweig suggests in the final portion of this series.

• “Just Say Yes”. When a customer calls you with a problem, he/she is often angry, disappointed or frustrated. Before dealing with the problem, it’s important to deal with the feelings. After listening to the customer make his/her points, you can simply say “yes, that sounds like a problem, let’s work something out”.  This type of response can diffuse the negitive feelings. It offers the opportunity for the customer to feel “right” and gives you a chance to start to solve the problem rather than being the recipient of all those negitive vibes. After all, if you’ve been agreeable, why would the customer need to stay angry? Now, you can offer some suggestions to resolve the issue.

• “Be Careful Where You Say I’m Going on a Break“. If I’m waiting for a someone to take care of me, there’s nothing more annoying than a sales clerk who sees me standing there, then announces “it’s time for my break”. It’s not that it’s wrong for your employee to take a break when there are customers around, but there’s a better way to deal with this situation. Approach the customer and acknowledge that he/she is waiting. Then tell the customer that you will find someone to help them immediately. This way, the customer feels “noticed” instead of annoyed. Once your employee brings someone else over to the customer and says, “this is Anna; she’ll help you right now”, your employee can quietly leave for a break without ruffling feathers.

These simple, straightforward customer service tips will impress your customers and make them feel that they’ve come to the right place! What other low-cost customer service tips do you use in your business?

Add comment July 21st, 2009

Good Service Can Be “Heard”

Author Ari Weinzweig offers low cost tips for giving great customer service in the June issue of Specialty Food Magazine. As Mr. Weinzweig points out, “great service is about getting the big and small things right—and in this economy, keeping customers happy has even greater significance”.

Read the full article to learn how you can help your staff give your customers the service they want and deserve. One of my favorite tips that he offers is to “be welcoming on the phone”. Too often, we answer the phone while we’re working on other projects. Possibly, we’re working on something that has been frustrating. Or maybe, we just finished dealing with a difficult situation. What we might not realize is that the caller can “hear” our distraction and moods.

Weinzweig suggests that we answer the phone as we would open the door to welcome a customer. “No one would say to a customer walking in the front door: Hurry up and get in here!” Nor should we answer the phone with that tone, but rather should welcome the caller into our business. Instead of just declaring our business name when answering the phone, we can say our name, and ask how we can of service. Instead of just transfering callers to someone they’ve asked to speak with, we can assure them that we’ll check back to make sure they’re not hanging “on hold”.

Sometimes, it’s the little things that leave the best impression on our customers. What other phone techniques have you tried to welcome your customers to your business?

Add comment June 30th, 2009